Recent Events.
Quiz Evening November 2022
After almost three years, our legendary Quiz Night with Fish & Chip supper was back. The questions were fun, thought-provoking and some were downright difficult. After a very closely-fought competition, the 'Matt Hancock' team triumphed by a whisker to become the Hinton Martell Quiz Champions. In second place were the 'Drunkards', who have all the prestige of showing their talents, without having the (possibly dubious?) task of having to organise our next Quiz Night! This will no doubt have an Irish theme, as it is due to take place on St.Patrick's Day - Friday 17th March 2023.
Halloween Pumpkin Competition 2022
This year's Halloween Pumpkin Competition was a great success. We invited Jacqui Wharfe back to the Village to judge the competition and she was amazed at the quality and imagination of the doorstep displays. Many thanks to our generous sponsors, who provided prizes of money, book tokens and chocolates for the winning entries.
'Thumbelina' was a sell-out success!
It was our first 'Artsreach' event for children and we were delighted that we sold all available tickets for this half-term event. Young and old alike enjoyed the magic of a live performance given by the Norwich Puppet Theatre. Squeals of delight and laughter were heard as puppets were revealed and Thumbelina set off on her adventures. Everyone was invited to meet the puppets afterwards and to enjoy some delicious home-made cakes. Some lucky children won raffle prizes of glove puppets, finger puppets and a book telling the tale of Thumbelina.
Coffee Morning in aid of The Dorset Cancer Centre
Our thanks go to everyone who supported our October Coffee Morning, organised by Jenny Carrington and Deni Frost. Volunteers baked cakes, donated raffle prizes and helped to serve cups of tea and coffee to the many visitors, who were generous in showing their support for our local Cancer Charity. The total raised for The Dorset Cancer Centre was a massive £1,270, of which £1,100 qualifies for gift aid. Sadly, this proved to be Deni's final fundraising event as she finally lost her hard-fought battle with cancer just two weeks after the Coffee Morning - she will be very much missed by everyone who had the privilege of knowing her.
Harvest Supper - September 2022
Our home-cooks did us proud, producing a whole variety of cottage pies and apple, or apple and blackberry crumbles for us to enjoy. Although there was no charge for the meals, everyone was encouraged to bring food for the local food bank, or to make a generous donation. A very enjoyable evening was had by all. Rev. Suzie Allen gave a blessing and said a prayer after the meal. Liz Curtis received a lovely letter of thanks from the Wimborne Food bank, so we know our support has been much appreciated.
We celebrated the Jubilee Weekend in style!
Talk by Lauren Dyson - Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance
Lauren Dyson, who works as a paramedic with the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance, treated us to a very enlightening and entertaining talk at the Village Hall on 12th May. In addition to regaling us with accounts of some of the most amazing rescues she has been involved in, Lauren also gave us some much needed instruction on how and when to use our defibrillator. We sincerely hope that we will never have to use the training Lauren gave us on the night, but those of us who went to the talk certainly left feeling much more confident about how to deal with an emergency situation, should it ever arise!
Artsreach concert - Fi-Fi La Mer
The day after our re-opening, a capacity audience enjoyed a wonderful evening of toe-tapping French music expertly played by Fi-Fi & Oliver (Fi-Fi La Mer). It was a real pleasure to be able to host a live event once again and to be able to invite so many people back into our newly-re-decorated Hall. We are extremely grateful to Steve & Fran Rock, two of our Village Hall Volunteers, for organising the event and to Sue & Stuart Warnock for running the bar.
Village Hall re-opening 19th March 2022
After two years of closure due to Covid and then the roofing and interior renovation works, we finally re-opened the Village Hall on 19th March 2022. Sue & Stuart Warnock kindly donated a celebratory cake to mark the event. On a Sunny Saturday afternoon, with the Rugby in full swing, we welcomed over 40 people to see the changes we have made to the Hall. I think everyone who came along could see just what a huge transformation there has been and the exciting news is that we now have a Hall which is open for bookings. There is still much which needs to be done in terms of improving the Hall, but we do have a Hall we can be proud of.
Halloween Pumpkin Competition - 31st October 2021
Once again the outstanding talents of our villagers were on display during the Halloween period. We had amazingly intricate carvings and some very imaginative doorstep presentations to keep the ghosts and ghouls away from our homes! There were some difficult decisions to be made, but the winning entries were:
The most artistic pumpkin: Rosie Hardy for her fabulous witch crashing into a tree
The most intricate carving: Harry from Lawes Cottages for his 'Trick or Treat' pumpkin
The one which made us laugh: Harry Van Etten for his pumpkin with teeth and 'Harry Potter' gravestones
The best junior pumpkin: Finn Pillai for his imaginative car pumpkin
The best doorstep presentation: Tia, Ava and Joe Ainley from Hinton Cottage.
Many thanks to Waitrose in Wimborne for donating the 'Trick or Treat' treats which were given to all entrants and well done everyone, for making Halloween special.
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Picnic in the Paddock - August 2021
This year, because of concerns over Covid and the uncertainty about which regulations would be in place and which might be lifted, we decided that rather than risk having to cancel the annual Summer Fete at short notice, we would hold a more relaxed event instead. Brendon and Tasha were kind enough to allow us the use of one of their donkey and alpaca paddocks so that we could hold a Village picnic. Thankfully, after an extremely rainy morning, the weather was kind to us, and well over sixty people came along with their hampers, picnic blankets, children and dogs to enjoy an afternoon chatting to friends and playing informal games of football. It was lovely to see the afternoon enjoyed by both the youngest and the oldest residents alike and we all felt as though life might just be returning to some sort of normal once again.
