Newsletter for King’s Thorn,The Birches & Aconbury

A newsletter for the villages of King’s Thorn, Little Birch, Much Birch & Aconbury October 2014. First published 1977

Please send copy for the NovemberNewsletter to birchesnews@gmail.

com or written contributions to JohnBryant at Bramley Bungalow, Aconbury

Close by 18th. October

Diary DatesSeptember

24th Gardening Club LBVH27th Pub Evening LBVH

October2nd Much Birch Parish Council MBCH9th History Group Film Evening LBVH11th Book Exchange LBVH14th Whist Drive LBVH14th Evergreen Club Outing17th Hereford Revealed MBCH21st Womens Institute MBCH24th Village market MBCH29th Gardening Club LBVH

November6th Much Birch Parish Council MBCH12th Little Birch Parish Council LBVH15th Harvest Supper Evening LBVH

December31st New Years Eve Party LBVH

LOSTPrescription sunglasses, brown tinted on 7thSeptember, while blackberrying and dogwalking on Aconbury Hillfort.

If found please contact: Jennifer FrenchTel. 01432 870549 Mob. 07539 262569

DonationsThanks to all readers who have made donationsrecently to help with the costs of this newsletter,

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Local BusesBus services in the area were changed onSeptember 1st. Full details can be found on theHerefordshire Council website.Two new services that will be of interest to localpeople. were introduced. Timetables are attachedto this newsletter and also displayed on villagenoticeboards

Service 444Includes Little Birch, Wormelow and MuchDewchurch and operates on Mondays,Wednesdays and Fridays. It is scheduled toconnect with Hereford­Ross service 33 at King'sThorn bus shelter.

Service 44This route operates four times a day Ross­Hoarwithy­Little Dewchurch­King's Thorn busshelter. It includes Caldicot crossroads, goes pastLittle Birch Village Hall and is scheduled toconnect with Hereford­Ross service 33 at King'sThorn bus shelter.

Annual Horticultural ShowThe King’s Thorn & Little Birch Gardening ClubAnnual Horticultural Show was held on Saturday6th September 2014 at Little Birch Village Hallwas, as usual, well attended by exhibitors andvisitors alike. There were 11 more entrantsproviding 25 more entries then last year. TheDomestic Class was very well supported andHelen Williams was the winner of the DomesticCup.The Flower Classes were a very colourfulcollection, the cup for which is the Rose Bowl. Thiswas won by Derek Scrivens, who also won theHorticultural Shield and the David Enoch Cupawarded for the Best in Show exhibit ­ which wasa Watermelon!Granddaughters Poppy and Sophie joined Derekto win the Llewellyn Sutton Cup as the family withthe largest combined score.Selby Lloyd won the Harold Salisbury Shield forhis fine collection of Vegetables and his wife Irisshared the Floral Art Shield with Gillian Clouder.The Children’s Section is always a delight and theVegetable Monsters were great fun. Many ofthese, along with some Garden’s on a Plate weremade the previous afternoon at our Children’sWorkshop. Jai Watlington won the cup forChildren aged under 8 years and Poppy Burtonwon the over 8 years cup and the Children’sShield.

Last but not least, well, the cup is rather small, butnone the less prestigious, and this is thePhotograph Cup. The winner is chosen by thevisitors and, as last year, was Mike Johnson witha lovely colourful photo of flowers.This annual extravaganza is all thanks to thededicated band of Garden Club Volunteers whowork extremely hard, and to all the visitors whocome to support us.A great time was had by all and we will do it allagain (given enough volunteers!) next year! Seeyou all there.

Gillian Clouder Show Secretary

Little Birch Village Hall Committee

Annual Dog ShowIt was delightful to see such a large number ofyoung people, as well as the usual contestants atthe dog show on 14th September. A good varietyof different breeds made for an interestingafternoon. The weather was good being warm anddry. Thanks to Kate and John Dillon for the use ofa sheltered field and providing straw bales forspectators to sit on. Thanks also for the friendswho helped with the organisation. We look forwardto seeing everyone again next year.

News Year’s Eve Celebration and PartyAt Little Birch Village HallFull details will be in the November newsletter.Last year the event was over­suscribed so earlybooking is recommended for this popular andenjoyable community event. Tickets will beavailable from 11th October. One of the attendeesfrom 2013 has already asked for 30.

Community Book Exchange/Lending LibraryThe October meeting for the “Book Exchange” willbe on Saturday 11 th.October at Little BirchVillage Hall.All members of the community are invited to joinus for this enjoyable monthly event which offersnot only a wide range of books and DVDs (to suitall ages and interests,) but also an opportunity tomeet others and exchange recommendations for“a good read”.A warm welcome, tea and coffee will be providedand we look forward to meeting up with regularand new visitors to the Book exchange.There is a charge of £1 per adult towards the costof the hire of hall and refreshments. We look

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forward to seeing you on 11 October. Tickets forthe New Years Eve party will be on sale price£7.50 each.

Whist DriveOur next Whist Drive is on Tuesday 14 October atLittle Birch Village Hall. We shall start at7.30.p.m.The entrance fee is £2.00.We are always on the ‘look out’ for new membersincluding those who are new to Whist and otherswho may not have played for some time. A warmwelcome, good company and enjoyment of anevening of Whist may be just what you need!Excellent prizes and refreshments will be available.

Local newsWelcome to Cassie and David Enoch who arerenovating the Old Cottage Little Birch where herGrandparents used to live. Cassie is the daughterof John and Toni Jones Sunnybank Cottage LittleBirch and went to Much Birch Primary then to SaintMary’s Lugwardine. They have moved fromWorcester and are living next door with Toni andJohn whilst the building work is carried out. Nowshe’s back in the village she will get to see more ofSarah and John during their frequent visits. Cassieworks at Sanctuary as a Data Analist and Dave isa qualified electrician currently working for asecurity and alarm company.Cassie’s sister Sarah is a well established sessiondrummer playing for many top bands, producersand studios all over the world only recently backfrom LA. She has made a number of televisionappearances including “Later with Jools Holland,Mercury Awards and the Dave Letterman show inthe states.Her brother John is currently touring the USAplaying guitar for Bring Me the Horizon andbesides touring the world the band are headliningWembley in December this year.Congratulations are extended to Vivienne Rouseof King's Thorn as she cycled in a group offundraisers from London to Paris, almost 300miles. A family photograph with husband, Harry,and children, Matthew and Mollie appeared in theHereford Times at the end of August and wereobviously very proud of Vivienne's achievement.Congratulations also go to Sarah Nichol, erstwhileof King's Thorn, who joined the BBC in London twoand a half years ago and has since had 2promotions the latest being announced on 18th.Sep. when she was promoted to Business Analyst.

Well done Sarah!Further Congratulations go to Keith Williams ofKings Caple who won the Ferguson Class at theLlanwarne Ploughing Match held on Sep.13th andto Huw Enoch who was runner up. The followingday, Keith won the European Championship nearCardiff Airport while Huw won the Ferguson Classat the Vintage Club meeting at Massington nearLedbury, against some very experiencedploughmen. Well done to both!Beryl Townsend of King's Thorn suffered abroken hip following a fall at home on Sat. 6th.Sep. after the Open Gardening Show and we don'tknow what was put into the cups of tea on the day.Currently, she is in Ross Community Hospital andwe send our best wishes for a speedy recovery.It is sad to report the death of Olivet Lewis at theage of 85 years in Brockhampton Nursing Homewhere she received excellent care during the last18 months. She was born in March 1929 when the'great depression' was at its worst and times werehard, at Tooting, South London. Her father andmother ran a family shop and Olivet helped themin the business when she left school. She also hada brother, Peter.Olivet met husband to be, Derek, in the early1950's, they married in Sep. 1952 and had over50 years together before Derek's death in 2003.They thoroughly enjoyed playing tennis and oftenplayed 'doubles' together. Derek worked for theWhite Star Line and later P&O on cruise ships. Hetravelled the world and sometimes there wasspace for Olivet to travel with him. She got to meetsome of the famous people of the time who werethen taking cruises. Indeed, she must have beenone of the world's best secret travellers but shenever boasted where she had been or who shehad met.Derek and Olivet had one son, David, who was agreat delight to them and when David moved toSouth Wales and they had retired, they moved toKing's Thorn in a bungalow in Wrigglebrook.They joined the Gardening Club and distributedMeals on Wheels throughout adjoining parishesfor about 7 years until Derek's health deterioratedand they had to give up. Derek had also beenHon. Treasurer of Little Birch Hall ManagementCommittee for some 5 years when Joan Ingramwas Chairperson. Derek's death in 2003 wasdevastating for Olivet but she bravely battled onand with great stoicism even drove to Oxford andother venues to meet up with relations and

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Derek's brother 'Jim' and his wife, Inga.She joined the WI, Evergreen Club, Pop in Cluband the Village Monthly Market at Much Birch hall.She attended both Little Birch Church and theMethodist Chapel with her friends, Edith Daviesand Christine and Peter Dowsett. She was alsowell supported by her neighbours and friends formany years.Olivet's life was not without other tragedies, asDavid and his first wife had a baby, Ellinor, whosadly died of 'sudden infant death syndrome' atthe age of 8 months. Olivet said that was one ofthe saddest days of her life. Several years later,David met Anne and both were extremely keencyclists. Olivet was able to attend their weddingand all was going well until David was diagnosedwith cancer and despite the best treatment andcare in Swansea, he too died just over a year ago.Nephew, Roger, with his specially adapted peoplecarrier for his tetraplegic son, was able totransport Olivet to the hospice to visit David andlater to David's funeral.At the time, Olivet had been in BrockhamptonNursing Home for about 5 months and her 'qualityof life' was not great as she could not stand andhad to be hoisted in and out of bed in to her chair.The staff there could not have been more caring,patient and pleasant. She moved to a much morepleasant room with good views and bird feedersattached to and just outside the window. Shebecame much more settled but earlier this year,she suffered several 'mini strokes' which affectedher speech making conversation quite difficult attimes.She was a very private person but loved to havevisitors who were greeted with an enigmatic smileand Leona and Roger, niece and nephew,gradually got to know Olivet better over the lastfew years in a way that they hadn't had chance tomany years ago. She never complained about herillness and we shall miss her steadfastness in theface of all that life threw at her. She will be greatlymissed. We send to the nieces and nephew andBrother in law, Jim and Inga and daughter in law,Anne, our deepest sympathies.It was a shock to many in the community to hearof the passing of Jean Mason of King's Thorn atthe age of 88 years. She was well known to manyparents with children at Much Birch School in the1970's and later saw those children grow up andhave children of their own who came to the schooland benefited from Jean's care during the lunch

time breaks. Her funeral takes place on Thursday,3rd. October at Much Birch Church where she wasa regular attender. A fuller tribute will be given inthe next Newsletter.

Much Birch WIMuch Birch WI holds meetings on the thirdTuesday of each month, at 7.30pm in Much BirchCommunity Hall.On October 21st Bronwen Owens will take us fora ‘romp through the history and techniques ofknitting, spinning and all things wool’ with her talk‘Fibretastic’.November is the AGM and in December we holdthe Member’s Christmas Celebrations.Visitors and potential new members are welcome.Our speaker for August was Rosemary Prosserwith her talk entitled "One Lump or Two", referringto the part of her life where she did B&B and SelfCatering accommodation as part diversification ofbeing a farmer’s wife. She was excellent,entertaining, funny & everyone could hear everyword. Highly Recommended.

Much Birch Village MarketMBVM takes place on the 4th Friday of the month(except December, when it is the 3rd Friday), inMuch Birch Community Hall, between 2.30pm and4.30pm. The October market takes place on 24th.Stalls will include;Moor Meals, award winning, local suppliers ofDexter beef, ready meals and pies, LlandinaboFarm shop, selling sausages, chicken, duck, lambetc. as well as some cooked meats and cheese.Also we have Castle Cheese, Mr. G’s awardwinning chutney and preserves and a vegetablestall.There are craft stands and a Fair Trade stand.If you would like to have a stall, or to find out moreabout the market, please contact Mark on 01432278026Please support our producers who bring local foodand crafts almost ‘to our door’.(PS. It would appear that, nationally, we are beingencouraged to ‘Buy British’. Even better, ‘BuyLocal’ and help the Herefordshire economy.)

The Evergreen ClubOur final trip for this year will be on Tuesday, 14October. We will be going to Packwood House, aNational Trust Property. Lunch and tea can befound in their newly­opened restaurant.The cost will be £18 for members (£20 for visitors)

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less £8.20 for National Trust members.For enquiries or to book, please ring Bridget on01981 540932The pick­up times are:Brandon Coach Depot 8.45The Park, Wormelow 8.55

Kings Thorn bus shelter 9.05Much Birch Church bus stop 9.10Axe & Cleaver bus stop 9.15Peterstow (Broome Farm lay­by) 9.25

Fonteine Court 9.35

Much Birch Parish CouncilParish Clerk Mrs Alison Wright Longfield HouseGooses Foot, Kingstone Herefordshire HR2 9NETel. 01981 250860Email: muchbirchclerk@hotmail.co.ukPARISH MEETING – at the Parish CouncilMeeting held on the 4th September at the MuchBirch Community Hall. The Parish Council met thenew Locality Steward for the area, Dave Atkinsonfrom Balfour Beatty, and he explained how BalfourBeatty would be working with the Parish Council,and the community, to help to improve mattersregarding the condition of the roads, drains andother related issues. All items for consideration,such as pot holes etc. should be referred throughthe Parish Council, in the first instance, or they canbe registered on the Herefordshire CouncilWebsite.There was a reminder about an “Oil Club” which isseeking to obtain bulk purchase discounts forthose purchasing fuel oil for heating. The Oil Clubmay be contacted at www.oil­club.co.uk and isinternet based, so internet access will be requiredto join. You may e mail any enquiries tosally.alldis@oil­club.co.ukThe next meeting of the Parish Council will be onThursday 2nd October 2014 at 7.30pm ­ at TheMuch Birch Community Hall. Please see noticeboards and website for agendas. As always thepublic and press are more than welcome to attendand will have the opportunity to speak directly totheir representatives.A reminder that:­Your Much Birch Parish Councillors are:­Cllr Alison Cook (Chair) Jasmine Cottage,Wrigglebrook Lane, Kingsthorne, Hereford, HR28AW, e mail thecooks@wyenet.co.uk Tel. 01981540703Cllr Steve Turner (Vice Chair) The Underhills,

Hollybush Lane, Much Birch, Hereford, HR2 8HX,e mail turnersofcrossways@btinternet.com andTel. 01981 540090Cllr Andrew Crum Anfield House, Barrack Hill,Kingsthorne, Hereford, HR2 8AX, e maila.crum@btinternet.comTel. 01981 540002Cllr Jon Norris Whitewells, Laskett Lane,Much Birch, Hereford, HR2 8HZ, e mailjon@jonnorris.co.uk Tel. 07944 301250Cllr Keith James The Slinget, Tump Lane,Much Birch, Hereford, HR2 8HP, e mailkeithjamesphotos@btinternet.com Tel 01981540171Cllr Tim Jones The Wriggle, Wrigglebrook,Kingsthorne, Hereford, HR2 8AW e mailtjsj@me.com Tel. 01981 540242Full minutes of the meetings and information etc.can be found on the Parish Council websitefollowing the link found in thissummary.www.muchbirchparish.org.uk

Pew Cushions in Much Birch ChurchLast month unfortunately the compression of awrong computer button meant that the wrongarticle (which had been published recently) wassent to the Editor. This month I hope to rectify thesituation by pressing the right button resulting inan article of very grateful thanks to everyone. Seebelow:During the last few weeks cardinal red coveredfoam pew cushions have been installed on all thepews in Much Birch Church and at last we havebeen able to dispose of the old bits of carpetrunners that have lined the pews for many years.Not only do the cushions look so much nicer butthey also provide far more comfortable seating.The PCC is so very grateful to all of those peoplein the community who so kindly donated towardsthe overall cost of the new cushions and we hopethat they will be much appreciated for some timeto come. Thank you all so much for yourgenerosity.

Sylvia Jones

King's Thorn and Little Birch Gardening Club

On Sep. 24th., the subject will be 'The Geologyand Landscape of South Herefordshire'.On Oct. 29th. Will Scott will discuss 'WalledKitchen Gardens' and on Nov. 28th. Alan Clarkewill give an illustrated talk on 'The Isles of Scilly'.

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All meetings take place at Little Birch Village Hallat 7.30pm.New members are most welcome.

John Bryant 01981 540316

John Kinross of Much Birch continues hisseries on local castles:­

Huntington Castle, near KingtonThis was a large Norman Castle, mostly includedin Wales until 1535 when Henry VIII made surethat it was placed on the English side of theborder. In King Henry III's time, it belonged toWilliam de Braose, Lord of Brecknock. On hisdeath, his wife held it until 1248 when herdaughter married Humphrey de Bohum, son of theearl of Hereford. Humphrey sided with Simon deMontfort in spite of his father fighting for the King.Prince Edward, with help from the 2 sons of theearl of Leicester, captured Huntington with Hayand Brecon. De Bohum was captured at Eveshamwhere Simon was killed and sent to BeestonCastle, Cheshire as a prisoner. Here he died buthis family continued to hold Huntington andHumphrey, third Earl, married Edward 1st'sdaughter, Elizabeth Plantagenet. Humphrey diedat the battle of Boroughbridge (1322) where theBarons tried to put down the de Spencers,favourites of Edward IIThe castle now passed to the sixth Earl and when

he died, his younger daughter married the Earl ofDerby who became King Henry IV. The Kingpassed it to the Earl of Buckingham who, in 1403,died fighting for the King at Shrewsbury. Hiswidow, the Countess (the castle had a CountessTower) asked one Captain Smart, her Constable,to fortify the castle. It was re­roofed with shinglesand Smart got in a quantity of arrows. The greatgate was re­hung and today the two bits ofstonework that remain on the curtain wall, one alump of wall and the other a chamber with a stairgoing up and one down to a dungeon, are all thatis left of the Countess's works.The second Duke (chased by Richard III tookrefuge here without luck as he was caught and putto death) had it valued and it was worth nothing atall. In the 16th. century, one tower was still aprison and there was a Constable but it was all tooruinous to take part in the Civil War.Ownership passed to Caves, Garnons,Townsends and Holmans and in 1818, it was theproperty of Edmund Cheese,Today it belongs to a local farmer who has cleared

the undergrowth. Those wanting to see what is leftshould park at the village hall and take a shortwalk into the site where there is still much work tobe done.

And FinallySeveral readers have submitted suggestions forthis last newsletter item that will be kept forpossible future use. This is one of the best ones.

FrankA man walks out into the street and catches a taxiwhich just happens to be going by. He gets intothe taxi and the cabbie says , “Perfect timing. Youare just like Frank”Passenger: “Who?”Cabbie: “Frank Feldman. He's a guy who dideverything right all the time. Like coming alongwhen you needed a cab, things happened like thatto Frank Feldman every time.”Passenger: Nah! There are always a few cloudsover anybody.”Cabbie: “Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrificathlete, He could have won the Grand Slam attennis. He could play a round of golf with thepros. He sang like an opera baritone and dancedlike a Broadway star... and you should have heardhim play the piano! He was an amazing guy.”Passenger: “Sounds like somebody really specialthen.”Cabbie: “Oh hell..... and there's more. He had amemory like a computer. He rememberedeverybody's birthday. He knew all about wine,which foods to order and which knife and fork toeat with....he could fix anything; not like me­Ichange a fuse or a light bulb and the whole streetblacks out. But Frank Feldman, he could doanything and everything right”Passenger: “Wow, he was some guy then.”Cabbie: “ He always knew the quickest way to goin traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, Ialways seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, henever made mistakes and he really knew how totreat a woman too and make her feel good. Hewould never argue back, even if he she was in thewrong and his clothing was always immaculate;his shoes highly polished too. He was the perfectman! I never knew him to make a mistake! Noone could ever measure up to Frank Feldman.”Passenger: “An amazing fellow. How did youmeet him?”Cabbie: “Well....I never actually met Frank. Hedied and I married his b....y wife!”