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Events
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Events
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Ladies Football Match November 12th 2003 The Old Stratford Remembered Group (OSRG) held the first ladies football much after probably 40 years in the ground of Kingston House. The weather was pleasant - for mid October - the attendance good, the crowd supportive and the players enthusiastic. The score was 2-0 in favour of the Old fossils, the Truly inspired were not up to the expectations....There was even a pitch invasion from the children teams, since they wanted to teach mums a thing or two, since they managed to score an incredible amount of goals, with a final result of 11-9 The younger children found enough to entertain themselves in the old fashion way, climbing trees, battling with sticks and making up houses. It was a fun day and we will repeat it soon.
At our last pub meeting we have discussed to arrange a regular walk, the second Sunday of the month, (postponed to the following one in case of rain), starting from the Swan Pub at 9.30. Join us and discover the village in all its glory!
Third summer walk, Cosgrove September 14th, 2003 A larger group, despite the absence of Jim & Arnold, left the Swan Pub on a glorious end-of-summer day, for Cosgrove. We followed the river by the Oxfield Park estate and cut across the field crossing the Dog's Mouth brook on a very picturesque little bridge and climbed on the bank of the old canal.
The abandoned ice house of Cosgrove Manor attracted our attention and we went to see it closer to take some photographs. We reached to Marina and then crossed over the canal at the lock.
A lovely walk along the bank admiring the many barges a bit envious of the peaceful way of life on the slow lane. We even managed to rescue two butterflies from drowning. So our good deed for the day accomplished we crossed the canal again, under it this time, walked through the churchyard and managed to climb the 84 steps up the top of the bell tower. Fantastic views for miles and miles around, with all of us taking pictures. And then back on our way home.
Our walks are enjoyed by the participants and we are planning to make them a regular happening, like to pub meetings, with a fixed date so that people will not miss out if the press or the local leaflets are not seen in time.
After the next meeting we will decide the "walk Sunday" in the month, the itineraries will vary but
The Spring walk Sunday 23rd March, 10 am-The Swan Pub The sun was shining, the spirit were high and a dozen of so enthusiastic people were ready to start the first walk organized by the OSRG. Our itinerary was a meandering along the fields and down memory lane to re-discover the places were many of the participants used to roam free when children could still do so in enjoyable safety. We were all wrapped up but the pace was brisk and soon we were comfortably warm, what with the idyllic scenery and the usual banter between the leaders of the group, mainly Malcolm and Jim exchanging memories and gossips of times long gone.
Some of the people were not local but had joined us to discover places they had heard of, or wanted to find out the parts of the village that were not yet covered in concrete and orderly gardens: in fact each of us had a personal reason to be walking that morning. We had planned to go along the old canal, down the fields on the Cosgrove side and look-up the source of the Dogs' Mouth brook.
The trees were just the tender green of spring and the violets were blooming timidly on the canal banks, the bed of the canal itself was showing sign of a good clean-up and the path was clear of bramble, perhaps a bit too much tidy for my taste. I think I love it better when I had to cut my way through a jungle of nettles and there were no arrows to indicate the way to the canal in Cosgrove. Now with the path ending in the new estate I feel like walking in a park and I can only remember when I enjoyed going along with my dogs and the trees and bushes were making a green canopy above our heads. While we admired the landscape, peaceful and pleasant, family links were discovered when connecting past events and people that used to live here and work there, marriages and family relationships were discussed with a warm sense of neighbourhood that, unfortunately now is losing its power. At the end of the walk, just a couple of hours of pleasant ambler, and since everybody seemed to be enjoying this kind of "open air" reunion, it was agreed that we would do it again. It was planned for the summer, since the chosen destination, Furtho Church was quite a lot further and required perhaps walking across fields, so it would be safer to wait for a warmer and drier, time of the year.
Summer Fete Sunday 29th June - Community Hall The pleasant summer day was ideal for the fete since there was a slightly breeze to keep everybody comfortable and at the same time to have the children running around the Community Hall green and giving the parents a safe breather while they exchanged pleasantries and gossips with friends and acquaintances. The local school children performed their Morris Dance and the steam engine took them along in a puff of smoke, many ice creams were sold and few balloons chose freedom escaping from tiny hands.
Older people carried home the price-for-the-losers coconuts, while perhaps, munching bright pink candyfloss: everybody was a child for half a day. The atmosphere was too light and jolly and the OSRG did not sell many history booklets but made a nice little profit with the raffle, since very few people refused to buy at least a strip of tickets, and since it was so popular, we will do it again. The new booklet, by Dawn Bellingham "A brief History of Old Stratford" is available at £ 2.00 from the OSRG.
Summer walk Sunday 13th July, 9.30 The Swan Pub The OSRG summer walk started with a reduced number of participants, mainly due to problem with the press - the only time that the notice appeared on the local paper, copies were not delivered in the village. This is one of the major problems of our group: the difficulty in getting information across to the residents if we do not manage to be included in the "village section" of our newspaper: Ah, the power of the press… Anyway, few but good ones, we started along the old Watling Street to find the path, well hidden, but not from our leader, Malcolm who had done his homework the day before, in hot condition, dragging along the poor dog. The weather was glorious, the corn was higher than people and we prodded along the fields, noting, on our way, the landmarks indicated on the maps.
And then we reached Furtho, the farm is modernized and somehow the cows munching idly the grass looked a bit out of place until you looked up to the medieval dovecote and the church in the background: it was such a beautiful sight that made you forget the present day, the tractors and the vast expanse of glass in the office units. You were back in the 17th Century, when it was one of the parishes used by the Old Stratford residents. And the feeling was stronger when you walked inside St Bartholomew's church, delightfully small and beautifully restored, empty and peaceful, as a church should be. After a while spent admiring the place and the good work done by the Church Conservation Trust, we come out in the sun and wandered about the graveyard discovering interesting inscriptions on the worn old stones, and then we were off again. We went through farmland and fields, through nettles and woods, we met campers and, thankfully, the scouts, because, by then we were completely lost in the woods. After consultation on the position and exchanges of comments on how much the place had changed - to justify the losing track of the path - we were back again on a safe trail that brought us home. A longer trip but utterly enjoyable, as we said, better few but good ones, and we did not even need a picnic basket because we were back just in time for Sunday lunch, to eat or to cook it, depending on the gender.
Next walk to Shrob Lodge & Spinney Date to be decided
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NOVEMBER 2002 The new booklet, with a lot more stories on Old Stratford and the people who lived in it, is out. Have you already got your copy? If not, ask at the Bridge store or call us for one. Do not miss it, and if you have something to tell or to remember let us have it, we are already preparing volume 2, but we need your help. |
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DECEMBER 2002 OSRG RESUME' & PROGRAMME The Xmas Bazaar saw the formal introduction to many villagers of the Old Stratford Remembered Group (OSRG). We have started our activity in the spring with walk conducted by Ted & Jean Aries and from that we have recorded the bits & pieces of the village history, forming that jigsaw that we are living in today. We have arranged few meetings, both in the Memorial hall and recently in the local Pub, in order to have a fixed in advance, place and time, 7.30 on the first Tuesday of the Month at the Swan. These meeting are helping us to find out more about the past and recent history of O/S and also to add snippets of information to the whole picture of village life. At our round table at the pub, by the fireplace, we meet young and older people that can contribute to the general picture, both verbally or lending documents and obviously in that case the discussions & reminiscing is worth sitting there just to listen, especially if the item is an old photograph, and the more people in it, the better. Then the debate is really getting hot with the effort of giving names to the youngish faces! The meeting at The Swan are also serving the purpose to give back to pub the role of centre of the community life, because this is what we are working to achieve, a sense of village feeling that we fear will be lost with the growing size of O/S and the fact that most of the newcomers do not take part in the activities, apart from the more basic ones, the need for joining the local school and play group. We started with historic trips into the village past, but we do not want to confine ourselves to that. Many people have different interests, so we are going to explore more avenues to get closer to the residents choices, we are open to suggestions and advice, we want to hear from people of all ages to arrange for them and with them lectures, trips, visits, activities. During the last few month we have been selling a collection of stories concerning the village or written by local people. We have sold quite a number of copies of the booklet - Straight from the dogs mouth - and that, together with the Xmas cards/calendars sold at the Christmas Bazaar, provided funds for the setting up of our website (www.oldstratford.net). We have started to collect stories for the second booklet that would be ready at the end of the year, and we would like to organize interviews to be arranged so that people with stories or memories, but lacking the patience to write them down, can tell them to Janet, in the comfort of their own homes. Old photographs will be presented on our web pages so that a large audience will be able to enjoy them, while the translation of hand written documents would be incorporated in the next booklet. So, even if it is hard work to do, please do not stop lending me material to scan and copy! |
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Can anybody identify any of the participants? |
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JANUARY 2003 The monthly meeting at the Swan Pub, (first Tuesday from 7,30) are making a slow but steady progress. People are starting to come at the group round table and show photographs & documents and ask questions. Bits & pieces of information are filed-in and a more complete picture of the village life in the past is starting to emerge, but we still need to know more about. We will start a page of questions and we wait for your answers: 1) Many pubs used to be in O/S but we have lost track of them. We need more information on the Black Horse, The Falcon Inn, the Saracen's Head. 2) Also we need to locate & verify, where and when there was a White Lyon, an Old Mother Redcups, a Greyhound & perhaps even a Green Man. |
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FEBRUARY 2003 MARCH -A spring walk in the countryside around the village, on Sunday March 23rd, with some of the old girls & boys showing the way & remembering the fun & games of few years ago, before television and computers come into our lives. APRIL -A Visual Art exhibition for all the undiscovered painters & line drawing artists (& photographers too) to show off their talents while discussing ways to record the village history in a graphic way. The show will take place at the Memorial hall during the Easter period. MAY - Approximately half a century after the event was last held in the village, we are organizing a MAY QUEEN & KING show to take place, with the help of enthusiastic young people and the advice of a old hand at the game. JUNE -To coincide with the Summer Fete, we will organise a fancy dress competition - no age limits. JULY - A treasure hunt around the village, all welcome, to test your wits and knowledge of the folklore and history. AUGUST - Harvest Festival for all the hard workers of gardens and allotments. SEPTEMBER - A Teddy Bear picnic in the woods, for all the children in the village. OCTOBER - Presentation of the best efforts for the Christmas Card competition - Start working now. NOVEMBER - Participation to the Bazaar of many more people and groups, with a selection of goodies never seen before (we hope). A show of arts and crafts at the Memorial Hall, to cheer us up in the gloomiest month of the year. DECEMBER - A presentation on the subject to be agreed by the villagers. Check for further details, or offer your help and advice, on 265 008 or oldstratford@hotmail.com
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