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

The Alstonefield Igloo

This was the ‘alternative housing’ for the youngsters of Alstonefield during the recent snow!

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.

Further information on Rubbish Collection

As at today, Monday 18th January 2010, rubbish collections have re-commenced and should be operating on the normal rota.

Reasonable amounts of additional rubbish, preferably in black sacks, will also be collected.

Christmas in Alstonefield

I am creating a gallery of your recent snow pictures. Send them (any way you like) to Brian R and I will upload them.

While Oliver Cohen was here over Christmas enjoying the delights of our village, he used his considerable talents to make a short video, which is now on YouTube and therefore freely available for public viewing.   CLICK HERE to view.

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.

Website Hacked!

The website has been hacked and had to be taken offline.  The hacker exploited a weakness in the version of WordPress (the website software) we were using and we have been forced to do an emergency upgrade to the latest version.

We rely heavily on independently developed “plugins” to provide many of the useful features on the website.  Unfortunately some of these are not yet compliant with the latest version of WordPress and therefore some features may be missing or not work as expected.

We keep regular backups of the website,  and don’t believe any content (Posts, pages, etc) has been lost.

We can’t be sure of the motivation of the hacker;  it may have been mischief or they may have covertly obtained user information (email addresses, passwords) from the website.  Although this information is intended to be secure,  we can’t make any assumptions.  Although it is recommended never to use the same password on different websites,  anyone that has done so should change their password on any other website they use as well as this one.

Please help us to recover from this incident by reporting any bugs or unexpected behaviour (of the website!) on the Forum post “Website Bugs”

Knockout Entertainment at the Carol Suppers

After enjoying the usual pie suppers and Santa’s visit on the Thursday & Friday nights before Christmas, we were spectacularly entertained by three wonderful acts. First on were the Dancers with their colourful bellydancing routine with lighted candles & veils. Next was Lady Rob Handscombe with his beautiful girls and last but not least, came the Clockwinders routine, who this year were dressed as runners from the ‘Alstonefield Striders. Well done everybody!

See the Clockwinders video on YouTube

Click here to see more of the Alstonefield Dancing Group

Bowls Final Night a Real Seasonal Cracker!

Gripping stuff was the order of the evening on Thursday 10th December, at the Indoor Bowls Club, as the autumn session’s pairs knockout competition was played out. Finalist’s Tina Lucas and David Lovatt took on Stan Goodwin and Ken Hallworth in what proved to be a true test of skill and nerves right from the opening end – even the watching members and welcome visitors were on the edge of their seats.

Doris Goodwin presents husband Stan, Ken (right), Tina and David with their spoils

The lead swapped regularly, before Stan and Ken eventually moved clear. A late rally from Tina and David pulled them back, but the all-male duo hung on in there to take what was a hard earned win. “What a battle” said Stan and, he was spot on with that too!

Running Club Brunch

Alstonefield Striders recently celebrated a successful first season of running by holding a post run brunch.  The brunch was to thank Paul and Maureen Binfield for all their time and effort they have given.  Their dedication to the club has been outstanding.  The year has seen many goal posts achieved, from fell races to 1/2 marathons and most recently a huge contingency running the Dovedale dash.
Thankyou to all who made the morning a success.

Walking Group celebrate at The George

Alstonefield Walking Group held their annual Christmas lunch on Tuesday. The George put on a wonderful spread which was enjoyed by all.

Gargoyles Enjoy Night out at The George

Delightful setting, superb food and animated conversation, made for a splendid Alstonefield St. Peter’s Cricket Club 2009 Presentation Dinner at the George. It was a night to reflect on the club’s progress, to thank all the club’s supporters and to set sights on the 2010 season. To the delight of club members, the trophies for outstanding achievements in the 2009 season were presented by the Reverend Anne Ballard, with the recipients being a healthy mix of the old and the young.  See more photos – click HERE

Alstonefield Wakes 2010

An important date for the diary

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