by lmphs | Jul 1, 2015 | Events, News
THOMAS CHAPMAN was a gentleman farmer who lived and worked Folly Farm in Potash Lane for most of his life. An upbeat and kindly man he was always generous with both his time and money. For a number of years, he was chairman of the Long Marston & Puttenham Horticultural Society as well as being involved in all aspects of village life.
He particularly loved the Annual Village Show especially the ‘Stepping the Chain’ game for which he would always donate a bottle of whisky as a prize. The Tombola was also a popular draw thanks to his generous patronage. With his philosophy ‘never you mind boy, everything will be alright on the day’ he endeared himself to all aspects of village life.
It was therefore right that the Society decided to create a trophy to honour his memory –
‘in recognition of their outstanding contribution, over many years, to the life of the village communities of Long Marston, Puttenham, Gubblecote and Astrope’.
The trophy chosen was for Outstanding Contribution to the Village and the wording above, used on the certificate being carefully chosen by the society to reflect how the society felt about Tom’s contribution to the village during his lifetime. The trophy itself is a model of Tom’s old tractor and was made by Tring School.
The first time the award was presented, the Horticultural Society wanted to involve Tom’s family so they asked his son Adrian to come along to the show and he presented the first trophy. We are sure, knowing Tom, that he would have loved having an award in his name.
The Horticultural Society are now looking for nominations for this year’s award to be presented at the Village Show on 1st August.
If you know of a worthy recipient, please contact the Chairman, Vicky Hayes. Email: vmh604@gmail.com
Previous winners of the Thomas Chapman Award.
2001 Phyllis Proctor
2002 Eunice Hall
2003 Tina Puwar
2004 Brian Prior
2005 Christine Rutter
2006 Carole Harrison
2007 Daphne Bateman
2008 Ken Crawford
2009 John & Margaret Noakes
2010 Colette Bernard
2011 Jean Bygate
2012 Michael Tomlinson
2013 Glenys Jeffrey
2014 Serena Williams
Article by Toby Davidson.
Village News Article – July 2015.
by lmphs | Jul 1, 2015 | News
Spring is in the air approaching and, following our village pantomime in February, the Long Marston & Puttenham Horticultural Society are busy planning our summer schedule. We start with supporting the Annual Charity Football Match between the ‘School’ side of the village and the ‘Pub’ side. Plans are coming along nicely thanks to sponsors Fullers Brewery and locals all pulling together to make the night a success. We hope to get a large turnout and raise a lot of money & every penny goes back into the local community.
The Midsummer Picnic / Rounders Day and the Marsworth Steam Rally (see adverts) take place in June, followed by the annual Village Show on 1st August. More details on these events to follow next month.
Article by Toby Davidson.
by lmphs | Apr 19, 2014 | News
Writing this article whilst the sun is beaming down gives us all hope of a lovely summer after this winter’s rains. Plans for the annual village show in Long Marston continue a-pace and let’s hope this weather will bring us another record number of entries for the flower and produce section.
We also have a new event in June – a midsummer picnic for the whole village to enjoy. This will feature a rounders competition, so get your teams together and come and play. All the fun takes place on the recreation ground behind the Victory Hall on Sunday 22nd June from 1pm.
The Horti are also looking forward to helping out at this year’s Marsworth Steam Rally where we will be running the barbeque next to the beer tent. This massively popular event is now in its 16th year and will again be staged to support a range of local charities and worthy fundraising causes. The fun starts at 11am and goes on until 5pm, admission is £4 for adults and £2 for children with every ticket qualifying for entry into a free raffle prize draw.
Attracting visitors from miles around, it’s a great day out for all the family and a great Fathers Day treat for any machinery-minded man! See historic steam engines, agricultural vehicles, classic and vintage cars, motorcycles and trucks, PLUS a lot of family fun too. Tring fire brigade will be showing their fire engine, emergencies permitting, and as usual there will be various events in the arena throughout the day including the dog agility display, back by popular request, and steam engine rides for children (of all ages)!
The next village event however is the annual football match being played on the 2nd May. Lee has organised a full evening do that day with a bar (courtesy of Fullers brewery), disco and a curry. The event is FREE and is raising money to be put back into the village, so do please come along and support.
Article by Toby Davidson.
by lmphs | Mar 22, 2014 | News
The Horti committee are now recovering after an exhausting few weeks of staging our annual village pantomime, given an excellent review in last month’s magazine by our old friends, Luke & Rosa B Hind-Yew! Even so, we continue to plan for the future and are now thinking about our summer activities.
We are fully supporting Lee Diamond and his second Charity Football Match, which this year is being played on 2nd May (see poster). With an evening disco planned, he hopes to raise well over £1000 which is then distributed 5 ways to village groups. We then move on to the Marsworth Steam Rally on the 15th June, where the Horti and the village hall committee are running the burger bar. This promises to be a great day out so long as the weather holds, with several steam traction engines as well as a classic car rally and a wide variety of side stalls.
Our final event before the Annual Village Show in August is a community picnic to be held on the 22nd June. At the moment, no firm plans are in place on what to do on that day. I would like to use this column to ask the villagers of Long Marston what they would like to see happen.
The idea behind this is to provide a FREE community event that we can get as many Long Marston residents to come along to and enjoy, hence the idea of a simple picnic on the recreation ground behind the Victory Hall.
In order to get as many as possible to come along and join in, should I be looking to organise something along the lines of Tea at the Tower/Scarecrows Competition or just keep it simply asking people to turn up with their own individual picnics. In discussion with a few of my friends in the village, most agree that it would be a good idea to put on some sporting activity like a game of rounders, which people of all ages can play. Others have talked about a ‘theme’ for the day, like organising a cookery competition. Maybe people like the idea of ‘sharing’ food where everyone turns up with something different.
I am keen to take the lead on this, but need to get some ideas and support in order for us all to have a memorable afternoon (hopefully) in bright sunlight! I would welcome any comments before I plan anything, so would be very grateful if anybody would like to discuss this with me at their earliest convenience.
My phone number is 07970 636168/660754 or you can email me thejug@lmcc.org.uk or even catch me whilst I am walking through the village!
Article by Toby Davidson.
by lmphs | Apr 13, 2013 | News
At our March meeting, we heard extremely favourable comments about the Neil Gurney Pantomime Spectacular the previous month, several people commenting that it was the best ever! The turnout on the Saturday was also full of locals who turned up to say thank you to our long-standing postman, Dave Grove, who came as our special guest. During the audience participation song (where the words got mysteriously lost in the post!), Dave was presented with an engraved tankard with the inscription “Dave the Postie” Best Wishes for A Long & Happy Retirement From your friends in Long Marston.
Time moves on and the Horti are busy preparing other events that we hope to put on in 2013. Our main event as usual will be the Annual Village Show. Although planning is in its infancy, we are hoping to rearrange the Jazzercise exhibition which went down well last year and the possibility of Morris dancing returning to the arena. The flower and produce show in the Village Hall also goes ahead and we hope to provide guidelines for entry into the show over the coming months.
There is also plans to build on the wonderful Jubilee year of 2012 by holding a Midsummer Picnic on Saturday June 15th. The whole idea of this is to create an informal get-together for all the villagers of Long Marston on the recreation ground behind the Village Hall where everyone can relax, meet new friends and create a sense of community spirit. We hope to put on some games for people to play, including our space hoppers and would be grateful for any ideas on what could be put on.
We are also in the process of working with all the community groups in Long Marston to create a facebook page to run alongside are marvellous website, www.longmarston.org, to help publicise events taking place during the year. We are also running a competition to win £50! All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is email our chairman, Martin Winship, with your address (martinwinship@live.co.uk) or pop a note through his door (13 Marston Court). Good Luck!
On the subject of sports, the Queens Head Golf Society have just come back from a rain-soaked weekend away which had to be abandoned on the Sunday because of snow! There will also be a football match being played on the recreation ground on Friday 12th April at 6pm between the ‘Pub’ side and the ‘School’ side of the main road, dependant on where you live. All are welcome to come and support on the day with both sides fielding teams with varying ‘football’ abilities!
There is in any community, be they in town or in the countryside, a thriving underbelly of events taking place for those that want to join in. I have however recently noticed an upsurge in events being held to raise money for World Challenge. This is a worthwhile cause for the youngsters who learn valuable life skills whilst learning the value of fundraising in order to realise their goals. I recently attended a delicious pop-up restaurant and played “Rock’N’Roll” Bingo in the pub. Long may these events continue!
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