February Half Term Golf Coaching for Age 5+ Boys and Girls.
For further information and to sign up contact Mark Pitcher. Mobile 0779 485 7807
From the Stinchcombe WhatsApp group, an innocuous post:
Whilst digging the small trench for the new planter at the beginning of the Avenue, I struck this lump of metal. It is very heavy metal (not radioactive – at least I hope not…). Trudy is trying to discover what it is, or was. Any guesses? It measures 110 x 80 x 35mm.
So far…
If you know what it is, or have one just like it, please put it in the comments below.
Following on from our first apple day last autumn, and with high demand from several villagers (Jess, Jayne and Steve for a start) AND the kind offer of the use of the orchard at Eaves Barn by Lynn and John, there will be an informal village wassail THIS SATURDAY 15th Jan 3pm-6pm.
What’s a wassail? Firstly it’s a chance to get together and toast one another’s good health (Waes Hael in the anglosaxon… to which the reply is Drinc Hael), secondly it is a chance to thank and bless our trees for their bounteous crops last year, and WAKE THEM UP so they give us a good crop this year! It’s noisy and it’s fun. There will be mulled cider and apple juice to warm us up. And you may just get crowned Lord or Lady of Misrule! Dress warmly and bring something noisy for the part in the ceremony when we wake up the trees and bring a mug to share the wassail bowl.
More information on wassailing can be found on the village website
Also read this page
This post started as a question. What does COP26 stand for? And why 26? Well, it started back in 1975 in Berlin with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the only thing I can find about that was, they agreed to meet up the following year in Switzerland. In Switzerland they rejected “harmonized policies” in favour of “flexibility”. This was the general pattern of what was to follow….
In 1997 it was off again, this time to Kyoto where the famous Kyoto Protocol was born and most countries agreed to legally binding reductions in greenhouse gasses to below 1990 levels by 2012. How did that go? Anyone?
Then it was off on the never-ending world tour, 98 Argentina, 99 Germany, 2000 Netherlands, 2001 back to Germany. These guys racked up the Air miles! To prove it they had a second meeting in 2001 in Morocco to get the winter sun. They did agree here on international emissions trading which goes something like, “to cut my emissions, I pay you to plant a tree. Whether you actually plant it or just cut it down later is not up to me…”
They it was back on the exhausting circuit, 2002 India, 2003 Italy in time for Christmas Shopping, 2004 back to Argentina and so forth, Kenya, Bali, Poland, Denmark, Mexico, South Africa, Qatar, Poland, Peru, Paris, Morocco, Germany, Poland, Spain and now finally SCOTLAND!! And in NOVEMBER!!
So, WHAT is COP? COP stands for “Conference of Parties”! Yes, I would never have guessed that either. Apparently, the man who writes the nametags couldn’t be bothered with “The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” so he just called it C.O.P.1, C.O.P.2 etc. I think he meant that to this lot life is one long party.
The BBC reporter Richard Black once called the delegates “climate tourists” . The 25,000 delegates and hangers-on certainly have done a lot of travelling in 26 years!
Certain countries still do not attend and even the Queen does not know who is coming to this one!
COP has never travelled to the USA, Russia, or China. Researching for this article I find no real agreements reached, no real targets met, and nothing yet politically binding.
So don’t think for a moment that COP 26 will be any different. Just words. Or as someone said Blah, Blah, Blah
I would love to hear your comments below on this “tongue in cheek” post and your thoughts on COP26.
Why is it important? What will be decided? What is YOUR view?
This must be a subject we all have an opinion on.
These last two years have been like no other. During this time Stinchcombe residents, both old and new, have shown great community spirit. Residents have shown concern for one another and involvement with neighbours.
So now, this Christmas, it’s time to CELEBRATE, to come together and enjoy ourselves as a United Village. – Stinchcombe.
It is proposed that we have a Community Christmas Party in the Village Hall to enable all people to come and mix, enjoy each other’s company, make merry and have a nibble and drink.
There is always a but! BUT, First I need you to answer some questions….
To make this Community Christmas Party happen you need to answer with three Yes’s to the three questions above.
To make the Community Christmas Party work help will be needed. Not a great amount, but help will be needed on all sorts of things…it will be a case of more hands, less work.
To obtain your answers a special form has been designed for you to fill in. So PLEASE FILL IN THE FORM BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER by clicking on the button below or the link above.
P.S. The form will require to capture your email so that we know who is answering…so the last bit is a bit fiddly, especially on a phone…but I did it… so I’m sure you can too.
The Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards published on 1st September the images shortlisted for its 2021 competition and opens voting for the People’s Choice Award – offering the public the chance to vote for their favourite funny photo.
This year’s final shortlist of photographs showcases the biggest mix of animals seen in the competition to date. The final 42 images, plus the Portfolio and Video category entries from around the world include a laughing vine snake from India, a trio of strutting Gentoo penguins on the beaches of the Falkland Islands and a Kangaroo performing a picture-perfect Pavarotti impersonation in Australia.
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards was co-founded in 2015 by professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam who wanted to create a competition that focused on the lighter side of wildlife photography and help promote wildlife conservation through humour. This year, the competition is supporting Save Wild Orangutans by donating 10% of its total net revenue to the charity. The initiative safeguards wild orangutans in and around Gunung Palung National Park, Borneo.
Voting is also open for members of the public to choose the animal snap that made them laugh the loudest in the Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award. Sponsored by Affinity Photo, the People Choice Award’s previous winners include a singing ground squirrel and a bemused Alaskan otter. The public can cast their vote at www.comedywildlifephoto.com until 10 October 2021 and be in with the chance of winning a brand-new iPad.
Note we only had a few photos here, many more are on the WildlifePhoto website.
I had a lot of trouble writing this post as when I was researching the phrase “Stairway to Heaven”, using the Google God all I got was 3 pages of a song by Led Zeppelin which was banned!! (Do your own research on that).
Where I lived as a child there was a footpath called “Jacob’s Ladder” but a search on that ended with a path in the Derbyshire Peak District.
Trying a new search “Who built the Stairway to heaven?” came up with a footpath in Hawaii built during WW2 which is now closed and illegal to use.
I do feel that these tremendous treads, this stately stairwell, deserves a name deserving of the hard work by John Pinch in providing them for the community. Maybe “Pinches Progress” ?
What do you think they should be named? Comments below.