August 2024

Deadline for the September 2024 newsletter is 25 August

Preston Parish Council

Bottle Tombola

The Parish Council is organising a bottle tombola on Village Day on Saturday 7 September and will be grateful for any donations of unopened and in date bottles. Contributions can be either left with Jane Clark at Castle Farm where a suitable container will be provided or brought to The Green on the day.

Questionnaire On Village Activities

The Parish Council and the Village Hall Committee would like to thank everyone for completing the electronic questionnaire on possible village activities. The responses are being analysed and further information will be circulated as soon as it is available.

Consultation On Parish Councils

Residents, parishes, and businesses in North Herts are invited to shape future electoral and governance arrangements for parishes within the area.

A Parish Council is the first level of local government. They provide towns and villages with a democratic voice and a structure for taking local action.

Following the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) review of district wards, North Herts Council is now undertaking a Community Governance Review (CGR) for the whole district which focuses on arrangements at parish level.

As part of the first stage of the Review, the council is inviting residents to have their say on current arrangements and suggestions for future arrangements via a survey, which is open until 7 October 2024.

To take part in the consultation follow the link to Community Governance Review on the North Herts website: https://www.north-herts.gov.uk/

St Martin’s Church and All Saints’ Church Services

Sunday  4th August 10.00am Joint Service. All Saints All Age Communion.
Tuesday 6th August    9.40am Informal prayers and quiet time in church followed by coffee
Sunday 11th August 10.00am

Joint Service . St Martin’s. Holy Communion

Sunday 18th August 10.00am

Joint Service at All Saints. Holy Communion

Tuesday 20th August    9.40am Informal prayers and quiet time in church followed by coffee
Sunday 25th August 10.00am

Joint Service. St Martin’s. Holy Communion

September

Sunday 1st September

 

10.00am

 

Joint Service at All Saints, All Age Communion

Please note the Pet Service will be on 8th September at All Saints at 10.00am and will be the only service that Sunday.

Team Vicar of St Paul’s Walden with Preston:

Letter From The Vicar

Dear All,

It’s been a full and rich few weeks. A new government resetting the political agenda, the Wimbledon finals, the first West Indian tests, the final of the Euros and the start of the Proms. What a lot has been going on!

It has also been a rich time in our churches. Here at St Martin’s, we had a highly successful Songs of Praise within a wonderful Art and Flower Exhibition.

Could I just mention the fortnightly session of Community Prayers at St Martin’s. At 9.40, every other Tuesday, after I have been to take the school singing assembly, we meet to pray for our village, and the school and the pub, and for those who contribute to our local life.  We also think about people who are going through tough times.  All are welcome.  It is low key and undemonstrative; and there is coffee afterwards.

It is wonderful to be part of the communities at Whitwell, St Paul’s Walden, Bendish and Preston – it really is; and I’m deeply appreciative of the many kindnesses shown to me as vicar.

For the next couple of months, at least, I’m going to be out of action as I undergo open-heart surgery in London followed by a longish period of recuperation although I do not have a date for the operation yet. We have tried to provide cover for most Sundays, but I know that you will be understanding if there are one or two Sundays where sadly there is no service.

Do please note that in August we have only one service in the parish each Sunday. One Sunday will be at All Saints the next Sunday at Martin’s and so on. Always at 10am. Please look at the calendar. It is a lovely chance to visit a different church and share in the worship there.

With every blessing,

Stephen

St Martin’s Church 150 Club 2024/2025

The winners in the 2024/25 150 Club (£30 each) were:

No. 120 Mr R Coles
No. 5 Mr & Mrs C Cooper

This is an important source of income for St Martin’s church to help maintain the building and churchyard.  If you would like to join please email

Postponed Village Day Saturday July 6th

The Preston Trust Committee apologise that July’s Village Day had to be postponed at the very last minute due to the abysmal weather.

The wet weather plan we had simply wasn’t good enough (lessons learned) and we are sorry to have disappointed so many people. We are also sorry we were unable to contact volunteers individually to say the day was postponed.

Our thanks are due to all of you: to everyone who came out to start setting up and helped us with suggestions and weather forecasts, all showing different outcomes, as we made the final decision to postpone; to the Scarecrow Constructors whose creations were incredible, yet again, and who valiantly tried to keep their scarecrows up and to those people who walked round, judging the creations, whilst dodging downfalls on Saturday and Sunday; to the bakers and buyers of goodies for the refreshments and the Guess the Weight of the Cake; to all those who sent messages of support or we have spoken to , who said that we had made a difficult but, in their minds, the correct decision; to all the volunteers who gave out Scarecrow Trails and the Red Lion for letting us use the snug to do so; Everyone who wanted to come to enjoy Village Day- we hope you will join us on Saturday September 7th.

Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust – Sponsored Bike And Hike 2024

Every year the “Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust” organises this major fund-raising event. This year, the event will take place on Saturday the 14th September from 0900 hrs to 1700 hrs and will, as always, involve St Martins Church at Preston.

The Event involves sponsored individuals, or indeed small teams of individuals, riding (their bikes) or walking to as many local churches and chapels as possible within this time frame. The object is to raise as much money as possible so that the Trust can assist in the repair of both our local historic churches and those in the two counties of Beds and Herts.

Sponsorship can be given either on an event basis, or one that reflects the number of churches you actually visit. In Beds and Herts there are some 600 churches and chapels so there are plenty to choose from! Most churches will be open and nearly all, including our own, will provide light refreshments. All visitors will be most welcome.

Anyone interested in taking part in this fun event, should contact

to obtain a sponsorship pack.

Village Day Saturday September 7

All the fun and games planned for July, including Welly Wanging and Beerless Pong, but this time without the rain and wind!

The scarecrows will be back with some new friends and Emoji puzzles to solve, the Birds of Prey will be flying high and there will be a number of dogs shaking their behinds frantically in the hope of becoming Preston’s Dog with the Waggiest tail!

The BBQ will be cooking up a storm, the refreshments’ offerings will be going like hot cakes and the Red Lion will open all day serving up its delicious fare of food and drink.

The day will once again become ‘Village Evening’, everything will be packed away, and the fun will continue as the incredible SG4 (and maybe others) entertain in the pub garden.

The theme for the Scarecrows and Scarecrow Trail will be the same, Disney, or Favourite Childhood Literary Characters…The nominees for the July OSCARecrowS were fabulous. The winners will be announced in the Octoember Newsletter.
We’d love to have even more scarecrows to join in the fun in the September, so please let us know if you’re planning on making a scarecrow, or that your scarecrow from July (or any other time) will be able to ‘come out and play again’… We don’t need the name of your scarecrow until 10 30 am Thursday 5th of September. Knowing who will be making one, will help us complete the Trail Map and arrange for the Scarecrow Hotels.

Where possible the Scarecrows will be on display from Friday evening through to the evening of Sunday 8th September. Unless changed for this Village Day the Competition will run as previously. This will be confirmed on the PNS and in the September Newsletter…

The Judge’s scores will be counted at the end of Village Day, to determine the winners of the Junior and Senior Awards of 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Award certificates will be placed next to the winning scarecrows on Sunday morning. The constructors of the scarecrows in 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will receive a wonderful memento of the day and those in 1st place will also receive a winner’s trophy!

Please remember that even if you walked round the July Scarecrow Trail the September Trail will have differences, including to some of the returning scarecrows… The Emoji Quiz will take place, with a puzzle at each Scarecrow number board.


to let us know you are entering / re entering a scarecrow and their name when you know it.

Things to remember: (From the July newsletter)

it’s your scarecrow and you may create whatever you want to, it doesn’t have to be Disney or your favourite literary character
remember scarecrows from previous years are always welcome!
you don’t need to live on the Scarecrow Trail to make a scarecrow, it can stay at a ‘hotel’
you don’t need to let us know the name of your creation until Wednesday 4th September
you don’t have to join the competition to make a scarecrow, please say at the same time you give the name that you want to share the fun but not the competition

From Jane Clark: (From the July newsletter)

Straw is available, free of charge, for those chomping at the bit to get their scarecrows made.

For those new to the village, don’t be shy. This is a great event and the Scarecrow trail around the village makes it EVEN MORE spectacular, so come on folks get creating.

Some top construction tips from me:

if you have a set of overalls these make a great filling structure to base your design on. You can then dress as you like
you don’t really need that much straw – maybe a bin liner or 2 (bring your own bags)
think of a character that already has a ‘stand’ ie bike (ET) / chair (queen or princess)
this year I have had the genius idea of running thick electrical wire through pipe lagging and putting inside the overalls before the straw filling so the arms and legs can bend into desired shaped. (Game changer!)
I will leave that with you to get your creative juices flowing!!

Straw collection is from Castle Farm …come into the farm and round the corner past the bungalow you will see an open fronted shed … the straw will be just inside there so rock up whenever suits you and help yourself …for the Pro’s amongst you it is now in small bales so don’t start pulling at the big round bales of hay!! Any problems just give me a shout on

Parking on Village Day – The Primary School has kindly said that its car park can be used on Village Day, leaving The Green clear for the fun and festivities. The section of road in front of the pub will be closed for the day.

Cakes and Goodies – We hope those of you who made or bought goodies for July were able to freeze or enjoyed eating them. We would be extremely grateful if you, or anyone else, would please make or buy something for others to savour, for this Village Day, whether it be a cake or crisps! The Refreshments success is made possible by the scrumptious sweet and savoury goodies that are contributed.

Please could we ask that you don’t buy or make anything with nuts in, and that if your donation is homemade, you include a list of ingredients.

Donations can be dropped off at St. Martin’s Place on Church Lane before the day or brought to The Green on Village Day.

Preston’s Artists September Village Day -We are very happy that one or two artists will be sharing their talents, some of which will be available to buy on Village Day. Please let us know if you are an artist and would like to join them.

Preston’s Loved & Preloved September Village Day -There is still time if anyone would like to book a space for a Loved or Preloved stall on Village Day. As previously explained the PNS has seen a rise in the number of parishioners wishing to ‘ recycle ‘ items they no longer have a use for, whether by selling, or giving them away. We introduced a Loved/ Preloved area, for Village Day, in the hope it is something that will be enjoyed…Please be aware that it is not a car boot sale and we ask that all cars are removed before 12 30. We will supply the space (and table if you need one)

As well as preloved items, should any parishioner wish to sell their own ‘wares’, eg.jam, chutney, crafts they will be more than welcome to do so.

There will be no charge for the ‘pitches’ but any donations to The Preston Trust, at the end of the day, would be very much appreciated.

Please Help -Thank you again to everyone who volunteered in July and who helped in the run up to the day. If anyone can help on September 7th – whether they could or not in July, please let us know. Please also let us know if you’d like the same or different times /areas. We would appreciate you getting in touch with us before we contact you, if possible, please. We are extremely grateful for any help we receive whether it’s for one hour or five.

For Artists, Loved and PreLoved, Volunteering Help or if you have any questions

Please Bring Cash – Whilst we understand that people tend to use their bank cards for virtually every transaction, most stalls / games on Village Day will be cash only. Please remember to bring some with you…

The Timetable for the day will be shared via the PNS and in September’s Newsletter.- Please be aware that The Preston Dog Show will be starting early in the day.

We are really looking forward to seeing your creations and you on Village Day.

Liz Hunter and Rae Reynolds – The Preston Trust committee members.