Alstonefield in Days Gone By

“Dot and Dot” (alias Dorothy Goodwin and Dorothy Critchlow) will be repeating their slide show of “Alstonefield in Days Gone By” in the Village Hall on Wednesday 17th March at 7.30 pm. Admission will be £3.00 for adults and £1 for childen up to age 14, including tea and biscuits. All proceeds will be for Village Hall funds. Please come and support this event and your Village Hall.

Cat joins Walking Group

Dogs regularly accompany us on our walks – but a cat?   Walking from Stanshope to Wetton, we were followed by our feline friend for quite some way.  After some initial ‘tension’, Nel (the dog on the right) behaved admirably as we settled down for a coffee, the cat wandering amongst our rucksacks!

An Evening of Smooth Jazz & Swing – Saturday 24th April 7.30 pm.

Tickets are now available for the Bob Hudson Jazz Trio featuring vocalist Jo Hudson singing songs from the 30’s to the 60’s.  Please contact John or Cathy on 310125. For more information, go to the concert page and see the smooth jazz and swing poster

Best Kept Village Competition – click here to vote

Award for Alstonefield’s GeoHut

Alstonefield’s ‘GeoHut’ recently won joint first prize in the 2009 ENI Geological Challenge – see post on the Forum. The photo shows Albert & Jill Benghiat (left), together with the other winners  (for Westray Geological Exhibition in Orkney)  at the formal presentation at the Geologists Association Meeting at Burlington House in London. Many congratulations on this achievement and for your hard work in maintaining such an excellent project in the village.

Kilimanjaro Success

Message received friom the summit of Kilimanjaro 5:10 am UK time Sunday 21 February:

“Hi everyone. All our love from the summit of Kilimanjaro!

Ian Becky Brian Xx   Carrie is well but at basecamp.”

If you would like to sponsor them, click here

Quand Chloe et Kim est venu a jouer au bowls dans Alstonefield

A continental flavour was brought to the village hall on Monday 15 February when Audrey and Gilbert Chambers brought along their French-based grandchildren, Chloe and Kim Ballester for a game of English bowls. After a few hints from Gilbert, Chloe (11) and Kim (9) quickly had the hang of things. Almost better than the regulars in fact! On top of that, their amazing bi-lingual abilities left us all stunned – so here’s hoping they can’t pull too many holes in the scribe’s best effort at French. We enjoyed your company Chloe and Kim.

Alstonefield Striders

We are just 11 months into the formation of Alstonefield Striders.  In that time we have completed various runs including the Ashbourne Half Marathon and the Dovedale Dash.  Saturday 6th February 2010 saw even more success when Thomas Linley from Alstonefield, Izzie from Parwich, Oliver from Thorpe and Benjo from Stanshope ran in the County Cross Championships and what runs they had, all of them giving 110% – their determination was certainly something to witness!  What great prospects this group have (watch this space in the near future).

Indoor Bowlers Beat the Cold

Into February and the frost, ice and snow still bite at our fingers and toes. Indoor bowlers, however, shrug winter off – take a look at these smiling faces, they tell it all. Its the perfect winter sport and its right here, inside the village hall!  See more about it on our Club page

Police Surgery Feedback

A message from PC Andy Beresford:

‘It was a pleasure speaking to local residents at our advertised Police Surgery held in the Village Hall on Monday afternoon, 25th January. Feedback continues to show that the area is an excellent place to live and work with few quality of life issues. However, a concern to residents is that of speeding through and around the village. I would urge vehicle users to adhere to the speed restrictions and pay particular care whilst driving through residential areas. In response to this concern, speed checks are being planned for the near future. The next Police Surgery at Alstonefield will be in a few months time, but if you have any matters you wish to discuss in the meantime please refer to the contact details of your local officers on the Emergency Services page on this website.’

Winter Snow Scenes

Now that the white stuff has gone, at least for the moment, you might like to see some of the super images supplied by four of our residents.  Click HERE to see the images.   Further contributions are welcome.

Clockwinders looking for volunteers

St. Peter’s Church clock needs winding every week,  and this task is undertaken by volunteers from the Parish.  All that is required is to agree a 4-week slot once a year to wind the clock and (if so inclined) to join the Clockwinders attempt at entertainment at the Carol Supper.  The process of winding the clock only takes a few minutes,  usually on a Saturday,  and training is provided.  This is a great opportunity to join a fun team of locals;  anyone interested please call Richard on 036 or use the “Contact Us” form.

Alstonefield Wakes 2010

An important date for the diary

In 2010 Alstonefield Wakes will be held on Sunday 27 June.