This was a fantastic social fundraiser for the Playing Fields Association, raising money for pavilion improvements and sport facilities for the village.
Marton Village, Warwickshire
Church Service 3rd July 2016
We will be ‘In the Spirit’ in St Esprit Church enjoying guitar-led worship.
Join us from 6pm for tea, coffee and cake. Worship will start at 6.30pm.
Marton Village Sports Day (Now postponed until Saturday 17 September) – It’s a Knockout, Sat 2nd July 2016 – 1pm
This years sports day fundraiser is an It’s a Knock Out style team event, as well as the annual individual fun races so everyone can get involved. Come and support the MPFA and enjoy an afternoon of sporting family fun including a hog roast, homemade cakes, bar, tombola, bric-a-brac and much, much more for you all to enjoy.
Supporting your MPFA
Over the coming year, the MPFA are attempting to drastically renovate the village pavilion. Adding a disabled toilets, upgrading the changing rooms and adding a deck, along with upgrading the sporting equipment available for use by the village. Sports day is our main fundraiser for the year so your support is much appreciated as always.
What are the team requirements?
Teams should ideally be mixed abilities and ages and made up of between 4 and 6 people. The games for the Sports Day have been designed so that all abilities can enjoy them and no one is forced to take part in games if they do not wish to. A towel and change of clothes is recommended, as you will get wet – it’s all part of the fun!
We ask that one of you take on the role of ‘Team Captain’ as this makes it easier for us to contact you if required. We also need you to come up with a team name – it can be as simple or as wacky as you like! There will also be prize for the best-dressed team!
How to register
To register please complete this registration form and return to Helen Keeves – 6 The Orchard including your registration fee by Wednesday 29th June.
Click here for the link to Registration Form
See you all on July 2nd !
Marton Museum inspires young authors
Children from Knightlow School have published a book of short stories and poems inspired by local heritage, including many curious objects from Marton Museum of Country Bygones. Working together as authors and illustrators, pupils aged between 4 and 11 made the pocket-sized book to send to children in some of the poorest regions of the world.
Objects from the museum were loaned to the school to help children use local stories and history as a basis for their creative writing. The results include time travel adventures, unexpected discoveries in old suitcases and even marriage thanks to a dusty hat.
The paperback is being sold – at £6 per book – to pay for copies to be gifted to children globally, with an emphasis on sending them to under-resourced schools in developing nations. Appropriately titled ‘Knightlow to the World’, it has already been sent to schools in four continents.
This is the fifth year in a row Knightlow pupils have worked with the charity STORIES4SCHOOLS but is the first time every child in the school has contributed to one book. To celebrate this achievement, the whole school organised a special book launch, attended by Cllr Sally Bragg, Mayor of Rugby, and representatives from Marton Museum.
Copies of ‘Knightlow to the World’ are available from www.stories4schools.com or from Faye at 13 North Street. Profits from each £6 sale will support the charity’s work to promote reading, creative writing and global education.
Local History Group: June 2016 Update
In May the Group went for a walking tour of the historic buildings in Dunchurch. This walk was researched and led, as usual for the “May history walk”, by Mike Johnson (photo shows group starting out on the walk). A brief summary of the buildings seen on the walk is given below.
The Group now has a summer break and the next meeting will be in the village hall on Monday October 31st. More details about this and the rest of the new programme will be publicised nearer the time.
Marton Post Office is Closing after more than 160 years
Sadly, but not unexpectedly, Marton is losing its post office—a facility that was established in the village more than 160 years ago. Zena Richards, the current postmistress, is giving up running the facility after more than 26 years. Her last day will be Friday 10 June.
After much publicity was given to find another site in the village, there was nobody prepared to give over part of their house and commit to the hours and poor remuneration as Zena has. These days, to be viable, village post offices need to be part of a broader business. Fortunately the Princethorpe Service Station has taken on the responsibility and they will open their post office on Monday 13 June. Although this will mean a journey of a mile outside the village, the alternatives would even further afield now that Long Itchington Post Office has closed
There is no doubt that many villagers will miss the friendship and support that has been offered by Zena over the years. It has gone above and beyond what was required and the post office offered a daily social hub. Many will hope that Zena will enjoy the freedom that not being tied to the post office will offer. However, it should not be forgotten than she will continue to provide newspapers for her customers in the village.
Local History Group: May 2016 Update
This month the Group had its AGM at which the past year was reviewed and possible talks for next season were discussed. The notes of this meeting have been circulated to Group members. Joan Sherratt (pictured) also gave a talk about the history of Marton WI. An overview of this talk can be found at this link.
The next Group meeting is a walk around the historic points of Dunchurch, led by Mike Johnson. This is on Monday May 16th meeting at The Green Man for a prompt 6:45 pm start.
The Group will then have its summer recess and start again at the end of October.
Pig club update
Marton’s latest pig cohort seem to be doing well, growing quickly and making the most of their field in the warmer days we’re starting to enjoy. The only glitches so far have been with the human side of the club, with former members accidently called on to feed the pigs from across the globe and youngest members learning about omnivores the hard way.
In the first case a couple was called in Australia and told to feed the pigs the following day, causing temporary confusion but no harm to the pigs who didn’t notice or mind the quick-thinking rota switch-around. In the second case a valuable lesson was learnt: put food in the field before you put small children in the field. The half-asleep parents (one of whom might actually be writing this, ahem…) had to do a rapid rescue when the pigs’ eagerness for breakfast hastily went from welly sniffing to leg nibbling. No harm done, though, and once snouts were happily in troughs of food, the children and pigs got on harmoniously as usual.
There could be further opportunities for creature encounters to come, as the club might be building on its success, with the idea of raising geese for Christmas already on the table (pardon the pun). The suggestion of a home brew club is also being floated, for those with a thirst for more…
Local History Group: March 2016 Update
This month the Group packed the village hall to hear a talk by Wiz and Ann about Marton in the Victorian era. An overview of this talk can be found at this link.
The next Group meeting is the AGM on Monday April 25th at 7.30pm in the village hall. A short presentation about the history of Marton WI will follow the AGM. Do come along and share your thoughts on how this season’s programme went and help shape the programme for next season.