Share your memories of village life! Monday 6 October, 7.30pm Village Hall See p. 2! Litterpick! Sunday 12 October, 10am See p.7 Brue? No, Bosphorus! (and p. 6) Fundraiser for Breast Cancer Parish Council, Community Group History Group Rich Tweedy’s Letter Village Hall Shapwick Starlets WI Dovecote School Allotments Arts and Crafts Group Cricket Club Shapwick meets Sultanahmet Shapwick Weather For the kids of Shapwick Sustainability Group What's On 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 In this issue: A U T U M N I S S U E , O C T O B E R 2 0 2 5 B R O U G H T T O Y O U B Y T H E S H A P W I C K C O M M U N I T Y G R O U P “The Bosphorus swim has been the most exciting event that I've been to. 2800 swimmers battling it out […] in one of the most scenic swims out there. Completing this Cross-Continental event has given me the hunger to swim similar events across the world.” Valerio Thompson. See p. 6! . Brue? No, Bosphorus! Saturday 18 October Afternoon Tea for Breast Cancer Now On 16 August, Lisa and Steve Plant held their annual fundraiser in Lawn Lane. Once again it was wonderful to see so many villagers gathering, enjoying the lovely Public Meeting Tuesday 21 October 7.00 p.m in the Village Hall on changing the status of the Village Hall charity see p. 3! weather and Lisa’s stunning array of cakes. Thanks to everyone's generosity, and including Gift Aid, last year’s total was beaten and a fabulous £725 will go to the charity. The cricket club and village showing the effects of a very dry summer. More on Shapwick Weather, and on the Cricket Club and Music on the Pitch on p. 6!
Shapwick Parish Council and Community Group We are pleased to confirm that £600 from this year's race proceeds have been given to Shapwick PC to put towards the Village Green Play Area. The remaining proceeds have been donated to Mind in Somerset. Thanks to all who joined Shapwick Runners and Street Striders back in April and contributed to the success of this event. It has enabled us to support two great causes. Finance: Each year every Parish & Town Council, small and large, is required to submit an Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) to the government’s external auditors. Shapwick’s 2024/25 submission has now been signed off. As part of the process all residents are encouraged to examine the submitted documents. The relevant notices, and other financial information, have been published on the Notice Board & Shapwick Village website, https://www.shapwickvillage.co.uk/: see Council Matters/Finance. If you would like to receive the documents in a different format please email clerk@shapwickparishcouncil.org.uk or call 07498160913. 2 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 GRAHAM CROUCHER CHAIR OF SHAPWICK PC . JOHN ANDERSON Shapwick History Group invites longer-term residents and friends to join us for a group discussion at the Village Hall from 7.30pm on Monday, 6 October. We'd love to hear your memories of village life in years gone by - either from your own experiences or passed down from previous generations - and to see any old photos or documents you'd like to share. It will be an informal and relaxed evening of chat and reminiscence, and we hope to record or film the session (with everyone's agreement) for future reference. Please spread the word if you know of anyone who might like to take part - it's an open session so just come along, we'd love to see you! In other news, the Group is planning a guided tour around the newly opened Clarks Shoemakers Museum, date TBC. For more information on both activities find us on Facebook or contact history@shapwick.org Play Area Development: Prolonged drought made it very difficult to establish a grass cover on the areas behind the temporary fencing. However following very welcome rain and continued warmth more grass seed has been sown and we expect to remove the temporary fencing shortly. Generous donations - Shapwick Open Gardens: £316, The Bunny Hop (organised by Street Striders): £600, the Roving Supper: £515 - plus Parish Council Funds, mean we are in a position to purchase additional, smaller, pieces of play equipment. To help the PC make the best decision, please do recommend potential items based on your experience as parents, grandparents, children or just interested residents. Suggestions so far include: “springers” slide, large static toy such as car or digger, sandpit… To make recommendations, please use the Contact Form or other channels listed on the website: Scribe Accounts: We have successfully implemented an accounting software package, Scribe, which is used by over 1500 councils. Scribe gives immediate benefits, for example: a) the creation of a paperless invoice approval and payment process; b) improved visibility of our financial position; c) easier forecasting of the council’s forward position in relation to budget; d) consistent reporting at Parish Council Meetings. Clerk to the Parish Council: Our Parish Clerk, Linda Hall, recently resigned, and the Parish Council thanks her for her work during the past 12 months. In the near future we will be advertising the Parish Clerk post through the usual channels. Councillors would be happy to talk to people at any stage in their career who have administrative skills and would perhaps like to build their skills / CV in this area. Working as part of Shapwick PC this would mean using a modern accounting package, administration and development of the Village website, managing the Facebook interface, alongside planning and minuting regular PC meetings and dealing with PC correspondence. The role is supported by a wide range of training courses and has the potential, if so desired, to provide an entry path into local government or other business roles. If you are interested, please give Graham a call on 07484 160913 or email graham@shapwickparishcouncil.org.uk Share Your Memories of Village Life Bunny Hop supports the new Play Area TERESA KING Nothing from the Horse’s Mouth this issue, But maybe next time! Shapwick News in full colour at: https://www.shapwickvillage.co.uk/newsletters/
AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 Finding it hard because the photos a bFlack and white? Find a flourition of Shapwick News at: https://www.shapwickparishcounci l.org.uk/parish-newsletters/ Bear Grylls is well known for his outdoor adventures – and he’s written many books as a result. However, the one he’s most recently written is the achievement he’s most proud of. He says himself: “All the Emmys, all the Everest summits – I’d give it all up just to have written this book.” We’re going to be joining the Big Church Read for five weeks from mid-October to mid-November, reading a chapter each week. Our first meeting will be in Shapwick Church on Wednesday October 15 at 7:30pm. Quoting from the website: “This fivechapter book invites you into the drama of Jesus’ th THE VILLAGE HALL (SHAPWICK) Charity No.232833 PRESS RELEASE The Village Hall adds immeasurably to the quality of life within Shapwick and its surrounding area. This important local facility is managed by a committee of Trustees of The Village Hall (Shapwick) charity, under a governing document dated 1992. The Trustees consider it is now in the best interests of the charity to update its governance and become a charity with corporate status, as allowed for by the Charities Act 2011. As the facilities are provided for public benefit, the Trustees feel it is important that people understand what is planned, which is to change the charity’s structure from an unincorporated association to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) as approved by the Charity Commission. The constitution would be similar, with some trustees being elected at the AGM and some nominated by user groups. “Amongst the several advantages of the proposed change, the Trustees hope this will make it easier to recruit new trustees, as incorporation provides limited liability for trustees, and it will enable the charity to hold property and enter into contracts in its own name” says Michael Motum, Chair of the Trustees. A Public Meeting will be held on Tuesday 21st October 2025 at 7.00 p.m. in the Village Hall, in accordance with the current constitution, in order to approve this change of the charity’s structure to a CIO, and the transfer of the current charity’s assets to the CIO once registered. For further information you are welcome to contact any of the current Trustees - Michael Motum, Bridget Dawes, Mary Rayment or Nerina Scott by email to shapwickvh@gmail.com Your paragraph text ext life like never before. With gripping storytelling and raw honesty, Bear Grylls retells the gospel through the eyes of those who knew Jesus best— Myriam (his mother Mary ), Ta’om (Thomas), Shimon ( Simon Peter), Yohanan (friend) & Myriam of Magdala (Mary Magdalene). Their first-hand encounters bring the story to life with intensity, warmth, and deep reverence. At the heart of it all are Jesus’ own words, taken directly from the Bible, letting the greatest story ever told speak for itself.” If you would like to join us, you would be most welcome. If you would like to purchase the book at a discounted price, please let me know! Every blessing, Rich Tweedy vicar@poldenwheel.co.uk The Greatest Story Ever Told RICH TWEEDY 3 Village Hall BRIDGET DAWES, NERINA SCOTT Thank you to all those who supported the recent Breakfast Morning at the Village Hall. These mornings are popular and a great way for villagers and visitors to come together and enjoy one another’s company over a delicious breakfast. The Village Hall Roof: Work was carried out recently on the second roof (over the kitchen and toilets area) to replace rotting batons, but when the tiles were removed, it exposed some badly rotting wall plates and even worse the A frame on the west end of the roof was in a very bad condition. All affected timbers have either been replaced or repaired and treated, and the roof is now safe and ready to withstand for many more years . And see p. 8 for our upcoming Village Hall events: The Harvest Supper and Hoe Down on 18 October, the Quiz/Fish and Chips night on 29 November, Christmas Wreath Making on 13 December, and the New Year’s Eve party on, well, New Year’s Eve! To book for all these events, call Bridget 210185 or Nerina 210329
Shapwick Starlets WI SUE SELLICK 4 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 As you read this, we will be on a countdown to our 100 birthday on Wednesday 29 October. From our research at our County Office in Bridgwater, we have discovered that our WI originally started as Ashcott and Shapwick WI, but as you can see from the following letter written in 1925, our two villages were very different! th Shapwick and Ashcott WI was formed on Thursday afternoon. I feel quite certain that later on it will divide into two. The distance between the two villages is over 2 miles and there are enough people in each place. The people of the two villages are very dissimilar – Shapwick is feudal – Ashcott democratic. We have some very ‘crafty’ members in our group of lovely ladies and they have been busy stitching a most beautiful banner which will be on display in the village hall. We also have hand stitched bunting representing all our members and activities throughout the past 100 years. And look out for the postbox toppers that will be appearing in October! Throughout the summer we have had various outings, starting with a Treasure Trail around Somerton. Fascinating history discovering the old market street where there used to be a hospital for the railway workers and an Artisan Chocolate Shop (whose Artisan we have now booked as a speaker). The following week we started with breakfast at the Albion Inn and then caught the bus to Taunton. Then another Treasure Trail in Burnham, rather grey and blustery but this didn’t dampen our spirits. We discovered the quieter side of Burnham including the medieval church with a leaning tower, ending up with a lovely lunch on the sea front. Great fun playing Art and Putt crazy golf at Clarks village, laughed a lot but all safely around! And finally a very interesting tour around the Coates English Willows visitor centre, with an afternoon spotting dinosaurs in the woods including the very rare Doyouthinkhesawus! We have lots of interesting speakers booked for 2026 and in September our speakers were Barry and Clive from Spirit of Glastonbury, Somerset Craft Distillery based in Barton St David. What a fun evening that was, including playing the Heads and Tails game.They use apples grown in Somerset and water from Glastonbury Tor, and are a small family run business. They will be at Clarks Village at Christmas so look out for them; they may even have their Golden Retriever Ginny with them! Pictures from all our outings are on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shapwick.wi.94 We will be again having our Christmas Fayre on a Sunday, Sunday 7 December, 2pm, so please see the poster on p.8 and save the date On 14 and 15 July, seven Dovecote students took part in their Bronze expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh award. The expedition includes six hours of journeying with independent navigation, teamwork, and working together to keep morale high. The students then camped overnight at school. Prior to the expedition, the students had learnt skills to help them succeed such as navigation, first aid, camp set up, use of a gas burner, and kit packing. On day one the students travelled in school vehicles along the back roads to Cheddar and up to the Mendip hills. They walked a loop near Velvet Bottom. After the walk, the students returned to school where they set up their tents, cooked their evening meals, and socialised for the evening. In the morning, the students were tired, but stayed motivated. This time the route started from school. The students walked from Shapwick along footpaths past Kent farm and along the South Drain to RSPB Ham Wall. Finally, they picked up the footpaths from Station Road to finish back at school. Dovecote School GEORGIE WAITE, OUTDOOR EDUCATION TEACHER The students were incredibly proud of their achievements; they reflected that they had learnt a lot about themselves and how they work with other people. There were challenges along the way, but we are pleased to say that they all passed their Bronze DofE award. We hope they will continue the award scheme and look into participating in the Silver award next year.
Shapwick Allotment Association Two Years and Counting I don't think we could have had two more different growing years. This year’s dry summer has been a real challenge for all of us. Our new 5,000 litre storage tank proved a great investment and more recently we have added a 2,000 litre water harvesting system, to help us keep topped up throughout the year. Hopefully the latter will prepare for a more diverse climate for the future! Dry summer aside, the harvest this year has been exceptional: so many strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes and heaps of courgettes and squash, huge blackcurrants and enough kale, cabbage and spinach to feed the village (and our army of cabbage white butterflies!). As we perfect our seed selection, the sharing of planting and crop rotation ideas across the Allotmenteers has been fantastic, although most of us still have much still to learn. Such a great team of growers and a lovely community, well supported and regularly visited by many of you across the village. We have a 'surplus' box at the allotment entrance which we will re-house when we add our entrance fence in the Autumn, so keep a look out for fresh veg and fruit and help yourselves. More bird boxes, feeders and flowers are planned for the winter and spring, to encourage the many insects, bees and ground wildlife visiting this summer in the allotment, testament to the diverse wildflower and hedgerows environments created by many of the team. 5 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 SIMON DAWES, CHAIRMAN, SAA ARTS AND CRAFTS GROUP MARGARET DOBBS The group continues to thrive with lots of different types of art being enjoyed. We have been able to include a clay table thanks to Paul Wren, so we now have the opportunity to use different types of clay which can be glazed and fired. Complete beginners, returners or more experienced people, you would all be most welcome to come along and spend a couple of hours of relaxing 'arty' activities. We meet on Thursdays, 2-4pm, in the Village Hall To enjoy this artwork, and all issues of Shapwick News, in glorious colour: https://www.shapwickvillage.co.uk/newsletters/
Autumn is well and truly upon us; a summer of high temperatures and little rainfall fades into memory. It was a mixed season on the field for the cricket club with the 1 XI finding life hard going in the West of England Premier League but more success for the 2 XI who won 9 of the 16 games they played and finished 5 in their Division. Tom Barr scored the most league runs with 417 for the season while Joe Mason took 19 wickets. The Women’s team also had st nd th AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 6 Shapwick and Polden Cricket Club Music on the Pitch on 13 September saw performances from several local bands in a smart new marquee as well as a wide range of opportunities for food and drink. Forthcoming events include the Club Dinner and Presentation evening on 18 October when we recognize individual and collective achievements over the course of the season. This month also sees work start to replace our practice nets in the north-east corner of the ground with a brand new facility that will provide a first class facility for all players to develop their skills next season. ALISTAIR BARR Players for the annual Martin Baker memorial game on 6 September th another great year, winning their league for the second year running and reaching the semi-final of their T20 knock-out cup. The final game of the season was the annual Martin Baker memorial, which saw many past players return to celebrate stalwarts of the club who have passed on, and resulted in the usual close fought match with team Gold captained by James Hayman winning from the last ball. Smart new marquee courtesy of Wild Hare Events The scorebox becomes the cocktail bar For anyone interested in joining the club for next year the contacts are: Junior Cricket: Judith Wanliss ( judithwanliss@hotmail.co.uk and 07904 435437). Ladies cricket: Emily Bartram on 07894 854547, emilyspencer987@hotmail.co.uk). Mens Cricket: Club Captain Josh Luckins on 07496 678909. Shapwick meets Sultanahmet! This summer, Shapwick resident and Millfield student Valerio Thompson competed in the 2025 Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race in Istanbul, Turkey. This unique 6.5 km race takes swimmers down the famous Bosphorus Strait, crossing from Asia to Europe. Valerio delivered a strong performance, finishing 11th overall among thousands of swimmers from around the world. In his age group (Men 14–18) he placed an impressive sixth, completing the crossing in 59 minutes and 52 seconds! Shapwick Weather STUART DENNES Rainfall for the 12 months to August was 737mm, compared to the long term average of 800mm. This, of course, doesn’t tell the whole story; the autumn and winter were very wet but February onward was unprecedentedly dry, with only 208mm (ca. 8 inches) in six months. And, more problematically for farmers and gardeners, there were only six days in the growing period when there was significant rainfall. I recorded the last frost on 6 April, and 30 over the whole winter, much more than usual. The 23/24 winter had 13 frosts and the latest was 6 March. Our highest temperature was 35.9 degrees C on 12th August, so not hitting the record levels of 2022. Anyone of a decent age in the UK will be fully experienced in variable weather, and not be unduly surprised at 2025. However, the swings in both rainfall quantity and timing are undoubtedly more pronounced. Just an update from a great summer of music and your generous support, on probably one of the only rainy weekends all summer! So far we can confirm contributions to the Village Hall for its new roof, the Shapwick Allotment Association water harvest project, games sets for the new Village Green and a donation to the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance towards its 2nd helicopter. The Jam Team are very thankful for all who helped this year and we look forward to our 5th Anniversary and a bigger village event next year. Save the date, Saturday 6th June 2026. Simon Dawes Shapwick Jam update
B L A C K S M I T H K E N T S H A P W I L A Y A R E A W A T R V I L L G E R S H E E P C O M M U N T B U S S T P We are planning a litter pick on Sunday 12th October, 10.00am start at the Pavilion. This time I’d like to try a slightly different approach. Most of the litter we find is on the roads leading into Shapwick as opposed to the lanes within. So for this litter pick I am proposing that we transport some of the pickers to the Parish boundary and they walk back, probably in teams of three, two pickers and someone to keep an eye out for traffic. By driving them out, we can cover all of the entry points. Any full bags can be left on the verge and we’ll collect them at the end to save carrying everything back to the Pavilion. CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS For the Kids of Shapwick 1) Icatsmhkbls Anle ______________ 2) Elibweldr Nale ________________ 3) Etscubrh Nela _________________ 4) Uhcrhc Slceo __________________ 5) Tnek Lnea ____________________ 6) Uhhrcc Orda __________________ 7) Lnwa Aenl ____________________ 8) Lxlyoe Bchat __________________ 9) Ainm Rdoa ____________________ 10) Het Trrayudoc ________________ 11) Rceaavig Nlae ________________ 12) Okorb Nela ______________________ 13) Lmli Lena _______________________ 14) Skmon Rived ____________________ 15) Konbhotorr Rvide ________________ 16) Clsoho Elan _____________________ 17) Dhrrcoa Ayw ____________________ 18) Orkotrnbho Orda _________________ 19) Pcaikwhs Illh ____________________ 20) Saintot Drao ____________________ 21) Ighh Aeln _______________________ 22) Aitdyermrb _____________________ ehehe.. A mischievous witch has cast a spell on Shapwick, scrambling all the names of the roads. This has really confused Kwip the starling, who relies on the street names to remember his route home. He can’t work it out. Can you help him by filling out the the names of each scrambled road? Just another little thing: the witch was super sneaky and added a non-existent road to the mix. Circle the road that isn’t in Shapwick! Good luck! Since this is the Autumn issue, I’ve given my activity a Halloween theme. I know it’s a little bit early, but I hope you like it anyway! We’d like to rename our mascot starling (currently Kwip) Please let us have some ideas, it has to be linked to our village in some way. Name our mascot: 7 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 Finally, we will have to see what happened to the wild flower area we planted in the spring given the very dry weather we experienced. Plants and nature are resilient, so fingers crossed some have survived. You may remember this time last year we applied for the thermal image camera to help assess home energy efficiency by looking at a thermal image of your property. I have applied again, hopefully this year we will be successful. Anyone who expressed an interest last time I still have your details, if you would be like to be included this time around; please email me at: sustainable@shapwick.org. We’ll still need teams to cover inside the village, so please do come along to support, bring the children and/or the dog. Once again, Wendy Anderson has kindly offered to open the Cricket Pavilion for a hot drink and a breakfast roll afterwards. S TEVE POLDEN Sustainability Group These are the answers to July issue’s crossword: If you get stuck: answers on p. 8 (use mirror!)
What's On in Shapwick, October to December 2025 Pavilion events (e.g. Bingo): bar and kitchen open from 5.30. Pavilion Bingo nights: Alternate Fridays: Eyes down usually 7.30pm. Arts and Crafts Group: Thursdays from 2-4pm, Village Hall: contact margaretdobbs@gmail.com Community Cafe, monthly, Thursdays 2-4pm; venue as below. Donations of cakes always very welcome! See Facebook, and the roadside signboards, for other upcoming dates! Like to help edit future issues? Please email: shapwick.news@shapwickparishcouncil.org.uk. Shapwick News is a quarterly publication. For the winter issue in January 2026, please submit contributions no later than 15 December 2025, preferably via e-mail. Thank you! There is no guarantee that all material submitted will be used - publication is at the Editor's discretion and articles may be amended or condensed. We do not print anonymous contributions but are prepared to include items under a pen name, if so desired, on condition that we are given the name and address of the author(s). Opinions expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Editor nor Parish Council. Autumn Issue, October 2025: published by Shapwick Parish Council, edited by Moray McGowan, assisted by Charlotte Douglas. Call for Volunteers & Contributions Pilates: Tuesdays 9.20-10.20am or 10.30-11.30am; Wednesdays 7-8pm. Contact: juliehotchkiss98@yahoo.co.uk. AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 8 Every Sunday: Shapwick Runners' Sunday Run! Meet at the cricket field, set off at 9am. All abilities welcome! Monday 6 October, Village Hall, 7.30pm: History Group: Share your Memories of Village Life, see. p. 2. Sunday 12 October: Litterpick! Meet Pavilion, 10am. Tuesday 14 October, Village Hall, Starlets WI 7.30pm. Wednesday 15 October, Church, 7.30pm: Big Church Read, see p. 3. Saturday 18 October, Village Hall: Harvest Supper 7.30pm, see p. 1. Tuesday 21 October, 7.30pm: Village Hall public meeting, see p. 3. Wednesday 29 October: Starlets/WI 100 years old! Tuesday 11 November, Village Hall, Starlets WI 7.30pm Friday 28 November, Village Hall, 7.30pm: Quiz Night, Fish’n’Chips, 7.30pm. Sunday 7 December, Village Hall: WI Christmas Craft Fayre 2.00 – 4.00pm Tuesday 9 December, Village Hall: Starlets WI 7.30pm Saturday 13 December, Village Hall: Wreath Making, 2-5pm. Tuesday 31 December: Village Hall New Year’s Eve Party! Saturday 13 December Friday 28 November SAVE THE DATE : SHAPWI CK JAM 2 0 2 6 : SATURDAY 6 JUNE 2 0 2 6
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NzI=