Successes
Alderbury Village Church Fete
I was wearing a different hat at our Village
Fete on 6th September! I had designed the
programme and got £450 in sponsor money for the Church funds, with
Bill and my sister Eileen helping me to sell them. Sarum
Foresters had a charity tombola stall manned by Ena Kingstone,
Janet and Alan Sturgess and Pat and Bill Holstead raising money for
our “HELP for HEROES” charity.
The weather was NOT kind to us, it rained all
morning then it was fine for three hours during the fete, and
rained again as all the tents were being dismantled. We had
the option of having our stall in the village hall with most of the
other stallholders, this worked very well and our team took a very
welcome £200.
We took £142.50 on the programmes at 50p each,
we usually make just over £200 so you can see the attendance wasn’t
down too badly even though the weather in the previous week had
been atrocious.
Village fetes not only help us raise money,
but they also increase awareness of Foresters, as the stall had a
large banner across the top and people did ask questions about the
Branch.
Our next Tombola stall is on 20th
& 21st September at Naomi House Children’s Hospice
at Sutton Scotney, nr Stockbridge. They are holding their annual
open weekend and our Regional Council are helping to organise a Fun
Day in the field at the back. It is a very interesting
experience if you have never seen the facilities at Naomi House,
come along 10am to 5pm Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday.
Summer BBQ
We had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening
at the Bar-b-que hosted by Mike & Ena Kingstone and Alan &
Janet Sturgess at Sunrise, Broadchalke, the food was superb and the
event well attended by 31 members and friends. We were
pleased to welcome Mr and Mrs Whines from Warminster - it was nice
to see them again.
This event raised a total of almost £300 for
this year’s charity Help for Heroes (this included £61 raised by
the raffle tickets which Alan sold).
Sunday Lunch – 10 August 2008
We had another wonderful time at our charity
Sunday Lunch on 10 August held at our home (Bill and Pat Lawrence,
Lanterns, Whaddon). 23 members and friends attended this
feast and it was lovely to welcome our Regional President, Rosemary
Jasper, with her husband David, also Liaison Officer Mary and her
friend Pam. The lunch more than upheld Sarum’s high
reputation for catering.
I wish to thank everyone who helped at this
lunch, from the two Bills and Mike putting up the shelters, husband
Bill who cooked all the meats, Ena who did all the other food
including her cheesy potatoes ably helped by Janet Sturgess and
Janet Setchell. Janet also helped me in the morning, and did
mountains of washing up during the day. Our Vice Regional
President, Brian Setchell, was also on board serving the wine after
helping Bill move tables and chairs in the morning and again at the
end of the day. My thanks to Alan for again doing the
raffle.
I did lay the tables and sorted out dishes
etc, but as I really cannot do a lot now, it was a combined effort,
the weather was kind to us, with bad days on either side, so we
were lucky.
It was a lovely day and such a pleasure to
have so many old friends together at our home, thank you all for
your help in raising £172.50 for our charity, plus £62.50 from the
raffle. Total £235.00.
Pat Lawrence
14th AEP Charity Golf Day
We thank Sarum Forester, Mark Lawrence for
organising the 14th AEP charity golf day, held on the
25th July 2008 in the beautiful surroundings of
Hamptworth Golf and Country Club.
Mark has organised this event for our
charities for the past 14 years, another AEP Director Roger
Brocksom also helps, he sees everyone off at the first tee,
Secretary Sue sends out all the forms and sees to all the paper
work, signing all the teams in etc. Usually we share the
proceeds between two children’s charities, but this time the whole
amount is going to Sarum Branch charity for 2008 “HELP for
HEROES”
We had 25 teams taking part this year, mostly
from the supplier/customer base at AEP, with a mixture of handicaps
from 2 to 24. A few Foresters also played, but not as
many as we usually have. The weather was kind to us with just
a few black clouds on the horizon from time to time. I
arranged a raffle and the video horse racing to [a] keep the early
golfers back at the 19th hole occupied and [b] to add
more funds to our charity coffers.
My husband Bill manned the Bar-B-Que at the
9th hole ably helped by Bill Holstead and Brian
Setchell. Our charity chairman Ena Kingstone sold raffle
tickets helped by Janet Setchell, raising over £800.
And last, but by no means least, I thank
Delphine Kinley for once again selling horses for me for the video
horse racing throughout the day, raising another £600.
Delphine has been doing this for seven or eight years and is
invaluable.
A huge thank you goes
to the 32 firms and individuals who named and sponsored the horses
in four races for me for £50 each, the final total will
probably be in excess of £6,000. The prize giving was
at 8pm, the winning team was Qintiq from Boscombe Down (see
photo).
The day wouldn’t be possible without the
GOLFERS themselves who give so generously, and without Mark who
motivates us all.
Thanks once more, Pat Lawrence
Summer Walks and Pub Lunches
On 22 June we enjoyed a walk at Whaddon - just seven of us and
our dog Chloe. It was a beautiful day, no cars, so peaceful,
many butterflies and dragon flies. We were joined by
non-walkers for lunch at the Green Dragon, Alderbury.
Walk and Pub Lunch at The King’s Head, Whiteparish – 13
July 2008
This is the village where my sister Janet and
I were born and brought up. Our home was about one mile outside of
the village. Alan thought it would be nice to see our old
home again. We had Jordan, (Janet and Alan’s Grandson) with us and
we enjoyed showing him where we lived when we were his age.
The walk across fields where we used to play brought back many good
memories.
We needed to
get out of the fields and onto the road back to the village, we
asked a farmer where the stile was and he directed us. It was
completely blocked with stinging nettles, brambles and farm
machinery, so we had to return the way we came. I’m sure that
farmer was laughing at our expense!
We enjoyed our lunch at the King’s Head, Alan
had forgotten to mention that the chef was on holiday, but the
landlady excelled herself cooking a delicious roast. In the
garden there are deer, pigs, dragons, mice etc. etc. plus a witch
on the roof! All life size and made out of wire and
straw by the landlady. I would have liked a deer for
Christmas, but at £1,500 I was told NO!!! The prices started
at about £30 for the mice though.
Walk and Club
Lunch at The Wooden Spoon, Downton – 17 August 2008
Our third walk was at Downton. We have done
this walk many times and have always enjoyed it. We go by the river
and over a bridge, quite a lot of fish, but difficult to see at
first. We came to a field where there was lots of water and
mud, so we had to turn around and go back the way we came, but to
go over the bridge again and see the water going through the
hatches was worth it. Twelve of us enjoyed a meal at the
Wooden Spoon in Downton which finished the day off nicely.
Ena Kingstone