February 2000

From the Editor-

As this is my first editorial and the first Newsletter of the millennium – Happy New Year to you all and welcome, to anyone new to the village.

I’m not planning any earth shattering changes to the Newsletter and the usual rules will still apply! The deadline for each months’ entries is the 22nd, and all contributions are welcome!

Articles can be any shape or size and on any topic, perhaps an anniversary, engagement, marriage or birth. Maybe you’d like to wish your children Happy Birthday or say well done for some achievement. Someone may have a large shrubby plant that they want to swap for spring bulbs or annuals! Short stories are always welcome, as are recollections of past events in the village.

Anything large, or small can reach me at

Mr Brathwaite lived for many years in Rudston, working on farms until his early retirement. His hobby was keeping bees and he was well known for his local honey and mead.

Mr Eric Martin died on the first day of the New Year aged 81 years. He lived for many years in Nightingale Row, with his wife Grace. The couple would have celebrated 60 years of marriage this month.

In his early years he served in the R.A.F. as a rear gunner, flying many times over Germany in the war. On leaving the R.A.F. he worked as a paint sprayer at Buckrose Motors, Adcock and Shipleys and Bridgeport in Bridlington. His hobbies included gardening and racing pigeons, serving 27 years as Secretary of Burton Agnes Homing Society.

Our condolences to the families and friends of Ernest and Eric, two long serving members of our village.

The next meeting will be the Federation Quiz to take place on February 1st at the home of Mrs Barbara Burgess at 7.15pm. The Speakers at the meeting on March 7th will be Mr & Mrs Horner speaking about the organisation that helps to make wishes come true for terminally ill children. They are asking for foreign coins – so if anyone in the village has any they would like to contribute – would they kindly give them to a WI member. The competition for March will be a Royal Souvenir.

The members of the Craft Group would like to thank everyone who supported our Evening of Carols in any way, to make it so enjoyable, and such a success.

You helped to raise £153.10 which meant the new crockery for the Village Hall is now paid for, and we were able to sponsor this months’ Newsletter. Very many thanks to you all.

We started our new 8-week session on Monday 17th January and would welcome any new members. We meet in the Village Hall every Monday afternoon from 1.30 to 3.30. We all would like to wish everyone a very Healthy and Happy Year 2000.

Dear Father Christmas,

Thank you for the Christmas Gift, received with pleasure. Best Wishes for the New Year – and may it be a Happy One!

Many Thanks

Thank you to everyone for supporting the Appeal for Oxfam Jumpers. 40 jumpers have already been sent to an orphanage in the Ukraine. They would arrive in time for the Orthodox Christmas. Please keep the jumpers coming until the end of March.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Audrey Forbes

Congratulations to the winners of the Christmas Quiz – AS Ezard, D&M Cocker and H Farrow got all the answers right and we shared the £7.50 prize money between them!

If you intend to compete in - the East Riding Competitions: Mens, Ladies, Mens Pairs, Ladies Pairs, Mixed Pairs, Open Triples. Driffield & District Bowls Association: Ladies S, Open S, Open Pairs, Open Triples, Veteran Triples, - Please let me know NOW. All entries have to be in by February 1st, but hopefully, we can still make it.

All enquiries regarding Rudston Bowls Club or Indoor Bowls – please contact, Pauline Warters, The Old Butchers Shop (Tel. 420410).

At the 1999 Annual General Meeting held on 29 November 1999, it was an almost unanimous decision by the 70+ residents present, that the offer of Sir Ian Macdonald of Sleat to make land available in the Bosville Arms Paddock opposite the existing Playing Field for a new Village Hall/Community Centre be accepted.

A Committee was formed as follows;

Sir Ian Macdonald (Chairman),

Mrs Jane Crossley (Booking Secretary, representing Rudston Tennis Club)

Mrs Wendy Proctor (Social Secretary/Fund Raising, representing Rudston Craft Group)

Mrs Fiona Turner (Caretaker)

Mr Douglas Clark (Representing Rudston Football Club)

Mr Stewart Harrison (Representing Rudston Football Club & Cricket Club)

Mrs Lorna Moore (Representing Rudston W.I.)

Mr Peter Gray (Representing Rudston Playground Committee)

Rev. Stephen Cope (Ex-Officio member as Chairman of Rudston Parish Council)

Mr Wesley Laws (Treasurer)

Mrs Anna Cowton (Secretary, representing Rudston Mothers and Toddlers Group)

Mr Richard Warters (Asst. Secretary, representing Rudston Bowls Club.

The Rudston Village Hall Charity also provides for representatives from each of the following;

Parochial Church Council of All Saints Rudston and Boynton.

Rudston Women’s Fellowship.

The Board of Governors Boynton Village School.

Amendments to the list of organisations entitled to nominate representatives will be sought from the Charity Commissioners, and should there be any existing or proposed organisation/club within the village whose members feel that representation would be beneficial, please let the Committee Secretary know.

Following a meeting between the Committee and the Village Halls Adviser from the Humber & Wolds Rural Community Council, it has been decided that an application for 100% grant aid be made to the National Lottery in August 2000. Much work will be entailed in preparing such an application, the first step being to carry out a village appraisal of the need for the new building. With this in mind, the 2000 Annual General Meeting will be held in the Village Hall on Monday February 2000 at 7.00pm, when all residents are invited to attend and put forward their views. In the meantime, enquiries are being made as to the likely response to an application for outline planning permission.

A proposal such as the one envisaged does not come to fruition overnight an there is much hard work ahead. To keep everyone in the picture, monthly updates will be published in the Newsletter. As from January 1st 2000, the proceeds of the Village Bingo will go towards the new venture. If you are not already contributing and would like to take part, please contact Fiona Turner on 420604. Any comments or suggestions will be welcome at any time to any member of the Committee.

Anna Cowton

Hon. Secretary, Rudston Village Hall Committee. Tel: 420709.

We Would like You To Come and Have a

Cup of Tea or Coffee and Chat

At

2.30 – 4.30 p.m.

Every 2nd Tuesday of the Month

At

White Cottage, near the Bridge

All Welcome

For any Ladies interested, the next meeting of AGLOW will be held on

Venue: Four Winds Court, Driffield

After Dinner Speakers

To reserve your place, telephone by Friday 4th February:

Doreen 01262 420668

Joyce 01262 257131

The Parish Council decided on no change for Funding for 2000/01, so no increase on that part of your next Council Tax. That was at the December meeting. The next is not until 9th February. If we were Scottish footballers, this would be our winter break! So, not much to report this month.

However, to look forward a bit: the Parish Council discovered last year that the village is supposed to hold an annual Parish Meeting. This is separate to the Parish Council, with only the Chairman and Clerk obliged to attend, but is ideally held just before the P.C. meeting in May. That is also called the "annual" one. (Confused?) Anyway, the point is that the Parish Meeting is open to any villager to raise for discussion items of Parish interest. (Presumably, those not already being dealt with by the Parish Council). However, more on all that nearer the time.

Just a reminder that the Millennium Window Fund is still open, and Mrs Chris Gatenby would be very pleased to receive further donations. Apparently the response from the village so far has been less than encouraging. It seems a pity to have to go cap-in-hand to "outside" sources just yet, to support a village project.

The Government have belatedly realised about the "threat to rural post offices" I see. The more things that are paid by Direct Debit etc., the less times people visit their local post office, until the time comes when not enough people are going for it to stay open at all. Rudston is lucky in still having the shop too, but if one goes they both do. Let’s keep supporting them as much as we can.

Finally, commiseration's to all those who suffered from the ‘Flu Bug – it turned out to be much worse than the Millennium one!

P. Crossland (Clerk)

A Local Agenda 21 Plan concerning social, economic and environmental issues has been issued with the East Riding News but it would appear that Rudston has been overlooked - below is a précis of the document.

Local Agenda 21 is a world - wide code name for local people protecting and improving the quality of life in the area in which they live. The name comes from the international agreement signed by world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – the Rio Summit – in 1992 to look after the World for everyone.

The project is about maintaining and improving our quality of life through linking with social, economic and environmental needs.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council is drawing up a plan based on your ideas and those of the local community. At 7.30 pm (till 9.00 pm) on Monday 7 February 2000 (one of 14 throughout the East Riding of Yorkshire) a public meeting is being held at Driffield Community Centre in order for ideas and views to be discussed. This result in a Special Conference – our own Earth Summit – to be held next June.

A Sub-Committee was formed after the AGM to progress the plan for flood-lit all weather court(s) so that Club Members could play tennis all year round, play would not be so dependent on the weather and we would meet the Driffield League requirements more satisfactorily.

At the present time discussions are taking place with the Parish Council over the land which used to be the car park for the old tip. Whilst this is not ideal, as it would only allow one court to be built, at the moment it seems to be the only option available.

There are a number of possibilities regarding funding, including Landfill Tax Credits, Foundation for Sport and the Arts and the National Lottery. If anyone would like to join the Sub-Committee or has any views on the development, please contact Jane Crossley Tel 420462 or Mike Sellars Tel 420327.

This year I see another new variety of parsnip called "Archer" suitable for showing which means it has good length, not ideal for shallow soils such as we have in many areas of the Wolds. I often wonder just how different these new varieties are from the existing ones; for many years have had the variety "Tender and True" for showing. On the shallow land "White Gem" is still the best parsnip which I grow each year: I love it roast beside the beef. Many gardeners sow the long pod broad beans in the autumn, but for continuity, a sowing now of a variety specially produced for this time of year will give tender pods to follow the early ones. "Jubilee Hysor" is one with good tender seeds, eight to a pod, it’s recommended together with Marshall’s new "Feligreen" for a March sowing. A few weeks can be gained by sowing beans singly in small pots in a glasshouse or garden frame to be planted out later. I do this next month with the runner beans; these need support in the pots once they start to climb. Where there is plenty of room in the glasshouse, a few of the climbing French beans can be started now in pots and planted out or potted on later to actually crop under glass; myself I much prefer the scarlet runners.

Have a good look at the blackcurrant bushes now before the new leaves start to show and where large round fat buds occur, pick them off the bushes and get rid. Do not put on the compost heap, the pest known as the gall mite or big bud lives in these swollen buds and reduces the cropping by often infecting the bushes with the reversion virus. Infected blackcurrant bushes do not recover from this virus and produce a poor crop; infected bushes are best destroyed. The virus is identified by the smaller leaves, which are often called "nettle leaves" and these show themselves usually in July and August. Never plant a new bush on the site where a diseased one has been taken out, select a new one, healthy blacks will crop well for many years.

I have an old gardening book called Beetons Shilling Gardening, on the first clear page it is written " Robert, wishing you a happy New Year, 1905; Robert being my Great Grandfather, a native of Langtoft.

Under the heading of February it says, " the mean temperature is nearly two degrees higher this month than in January, the average number of frosty nights is eleven, less rain falls in this month than any other and that hoar-frost usually precedes the rain during this time of year.

Given suitable soil conditions, I like to plant the tubers of Jerusalem artichokes 18" apart and about 5" deep. These chaps start to grow early in the year and don’t mind any bad weather that may come along. Although not everyone’s favourite vegetable, they are grown in many gardens and on allotments, being tall, even up to 8ft. they make a good annual windbreak on exposed plots, especially if planted on the western boundary, for it’s from the west that we get our prevailing winds. Like the shallot, it is thought that this crop will grow on any poor bit of land, but to get plump tubers worth preparing for the table it’s well worth planting on land that has had a dressing of manure, why grow a poor crop when a bit of feed will do the trick?

Jerusalem Artichokes are related to the tall annual sunflower, and although we don’t normally see them flower, they are very similar in growth to the sunflower. Acres of this vegetable are grown for London markets in Surrey on the sandy soils, but even on our thin chalks and heavy clays, crops do well. Slugs can attack the tubers just like the potato, so a dressing of bait at planting time is worth doing. Artichoke soup is a nice change, so why not pop a few tubers in this spring.

It is with sadness I report the death of Mr Eric Hallett of Bridlington on 24 January 2000, following a short illness. Loving father of Barbara, father-in-law of Pete, and grandfather of Jacqueline,

Stephen and Jane. Our deepest condolences to Barbara and family.

From friends and neighbours.

The great church celebration of February is Candlemass, when Jesus was presented in the Temple, and old Simeon recognised him as ‘the light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel’, which means that the whole world could look to Jesus as its Saviour. Were we to follow Jesus’s teaching, as shown us in the Bible, in all our lives, then we could shine the light which he came to bring into the rest of the world. Read it – try it… make a difference! STEPHEN