BRAYFORD      

A rural parish in North Devon, England including Brayford village, High Bray and Charles, and a part of Exmoor National Park

 
BRAYFORD PARISH COUNCIL
 
Annual Parish Meeting and Parish Council Meetings
The Annual Parish Meeting (all welcome) will be held on Thursday 19th April at 7.30pm in the Methodist Schoolroom (Agenda), followed by a normal Parish Council Meeting (Agenda).   The following month's Parish Council Meeting, including the AGM, will be held on Thursday 17th May in Brayford Village Hall at 7.30pm. (AGM Agenda)  (Agenda)
 
Road Closure
BT are renewing poles and overhead cabling in April resulting in the closure of the road from Kimbland Cross to Thornpark Cross from 15-22 April.
 
Lengthsman
The road maintenance budget has been cut, so although pot-holes are being filled in, other tasks are not being carried out at present. Including the sweeping of Grasspark Hill.
 
Best Kept Village Competition
A reminder to everyone that the judging of the best Kept Village Competition starts in May and a judge comes in May, June and July. Please help to keep the village tidy by picking up rubbish if you see any lying around.
 
Devon Adult & Community Learning
Caroline Verney gave an interesting presentation to the Parish Council about the courses that are available for rural communities. A day’s introductory workshop is free and there are lots of topics including painting, writing, spinning, dyeing, patchwork, willow weaving, soft furnishing, floristry, art history, digital photography and French. It is also hoped to run a computer course in the Village Hall. For more details telephone 01271 864171
 
Neighbourhood Watch
A parishioner has had domestic fuel stolen from his tank this month, so there is a thief around and PC George Furneaux urges continued vigilance.  The weather can still be wintery and as we know the cost of heating oil is high, a tankful is an attractive proposition to a thief; so keep a check on the contents.
 

Gardening Club
We had an enjoyable trip to Heddon Hall to see the February Hellebores and, of course, the rest of the gardens, followed by a chance to buy some Hellebores and then a welcome cup of tea indoors.  In March, Terry Shapland gave us a fascinating talk on the activities of the Community Composting Group at Bratton Fleming.  The Group takes in green waste from residents of the Parish, turns it into free compost, and is paid by the tonne for doing so.  If sufficient committed volunteers could be motivated, perhaps Brayford could do something similar?
 
On Wednesday 18th April at 7.30pm in the Village Hall we are having a hands-on session, planting up hanging baskets and tubs with David Hopkins - plants and compost will be available to buy, but bring your own tubs etc.
 
On Wednesday 16th May we are visiting the steeply terraced garden at Durcombe Water, Barbrook, set beside open moorland and featuring spring-fed streams, ponds and waterfalls.

Brayford School
Unfortunately we missed the February Newsletter so although it all seems along time ago now we wanted to thank all those supported our Christmas Fair, held jointly with Boomerangs and special thanks to the Mothers Union for providing refreshments after our Carol Service. The school has had a visit from Global Action to talk on all the things that can be recycled. The children enjoyed a morning of drumming with Drumcrazy when some children from Swimbridge School joined them. The school Junk Band would like to make a request for any Large plastic containers (cleaned and sterilised) that could be donated. The junior class have been to the North Wyke, Science Experimental Farm, at Okehampton to take part in some exciting workshops. We welcomed 4 new children to the school at the start of term, 2 in reception, 1 each in year 2 and 3. The children all took part in a Talent show within the class for Red Nose Day, the yr 6 children being the controversial judges. They all did extremely well and had good fun raising a total of £106.47 for Comic Relief . There will be an Easter Service at Brayford Methodist Chapel on Thursday 5^th April at 9.30 am and everyone is welcome.

Brayford Boomerangs
In addition to their topic for this half term, the children have enjoyed learning about the Chinese New Year and sampling some authentic dishes: They also celebrated World Book Day by bringing in their favourite books and dressing up as book characters. For Mother's Day and Comic Relief the children invited mums and grandparents to a lunch prepared by themselves (with a little help!) when their strawberry (Red Nose) cakes went down a treat! Hopefully by now anyone interested will have seen the jobs advertised. Chris has decided not to return to Boomerangs following the arrival of little Evan. If you are interested in applying please do so by the end of March. Please don't forget to mention us to friends and families with pre-school children. We have a lot to offer and run three and a half hour sessions on both Tuesdays and Thursdays. Parents are welcome to come along with their children to have a look and a prospectus is available. Please telephone Karen (Chair) or Sarah (Playleader) (either during session time or leave a message).

Charles Church
People from the Team of Four Churches met during Lent for a helpful study of the Lord’s Prayer with Peter Attwood. During Holy Week, starting on Monday 2 April, our Lent preparation for Easter will continue with daily services of Holy Communion at North Molton Parish Church at 8 pm, and on Good Friday, 6 April, an evening service at 7 pm. This year a new Electoral Roll is prepared in time for the Annual Church Meeting on Tuesday 24 April at the Old Chapel, Charles Bottom at 7.30 pm. 

A beautiful new notice-board for Church information has been given by Fay and Norman Harrison, in memory of Norman’s mother, Kathleen. This is a replacement and was fitted by Stuart Brooks. It will be appreciated by those with dainty fingers, being easier to use! Thank you to those involved. Please note the dates of three events during the summer. Pational Festival weekend 23/24 June, Concert by Moorland Singers 6 July, Return Concert by the popular "Meantime" group of musicians 21 July.

High Bray Church
Mothering Sunday flowers were arranged by Alice and Henry, with a bit of help from gran-ma Ruth. Thank you. Please join our Easter services. The Church organ is no longer "Squeaking" since Geoff Mitchell’s repair. Again we say a huge thank you to him.

Mothers' Union
At our February Meeting, Louise Burgess talked about the Taw & Torridge Sitting Service which was set up with Lottery Funding. She also ran the Bideford Half Marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support. In March we attended Exeter Cathedral for the commissioning service of Mary Steer, Diocesan President, Rev. Tim Deacon, MU Diocesan Chaplin, new Trustees and Deanery leaders and Rt Rev. Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter, as a full member of the Mothers’ Union.
 
On 18 April, our speaker will be Rona Eastman at 2.30 pm at Joan Greenwood’s.  At 10 am on 24 April there is a Deanery Committee Meeting at Duke Street, South Molton.  At 10 am on 3 May the speaker will be the Bishop of Crediton for the Barnstaple Branch Centenary at St Peter’s Church Barnstaple.  At 10.30 am on 11 May there is a Spring Council Meeting at Exeter.

Womens' Institute
As Norah Clark said, after Wednesday’s W.I. evening, there is little comedy on television these days, and it is good to have a laugh – which we all did while listening to Geoffrey Green from N.D. Library, Barnstaple, talk about "More than just books". Mr. Green had worked for the Library in different roles for 40 years, and has clearly brought entertainment with learning to a huge variety of people in North and mid-Devon – old and young, sometimes disabled or blind, but all encouraged to learn.
 
Liz Lilicrap from Kentisbury will introduce us to Herbal Medicine on 11^th April. The Spring Group meeting is being held in North Molton on Friday 27^th April at 7.30 p.m., and the Spring Council Meeting in Exeter is on Thursday 19^th April. The March walk is at Marwood on Wednesday 28^th, contact is Pauline Nichols, 710534. A group of W.I. ladies will be going to see The Mikado at Queen’s Theatre on Friday 23^rd March.

Calendar
Charles, High Bray, North Molton, and Twitchen Churches are looking for business people to purchase a month’s sponsorship of our 2008 calendar. The calendar will be in a month at a glance format, with verses of poetry and exquisite local photographs. It will also include a special local directory for very local businesses & services. We are hoping to have each month sponsored by one business, where your name, business, and telephone number will be exhibited just below the calendar, and be on view for that whole month. The cost for this will be £50 for a month‘s sponsorship. In addition, we are putting together a ‘local directory’ at the back for smaller businesses. This will include your name, business, telephone number, and location. This directory will limited to smaller businesses, and provide the villages with a list of very local businesses. Listing in this Directory will be available for £10. Time is going on for getting this together; so we have set a deadline for April 30, 2007 for sponsorship. If you are interested in participating in this church and community project, would you please contact Christopher & Alison Hewetson , Ray and Ruby White, or Jonathan and Madeleine Brownell.

Special thanks to the Newsletter Editor for providing extracts from the Newsletter.

Congratulations to
The Surrogate Floyd
on their Debut Show in
Brayford Village Hall
Review

Supported by Brayford Parish Council