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Beeston Village News & Events - we 25 June 2010
| Published: 22nd June 2010 12:37 |
HERITAGE ADVENTURE
Not only was 924 years of heritage wonderfully celebrated in Beeston, on Thursday evening, June 17, but the historical duality of the village, as a border hamlet, was perfectly represented by the welcome presence of councillors from both Northill and Sandy. The Bedford Morris men charmed the large audience, which gathered to witness the unveiling of the Plaque, on a beautiful summers evening, on an historic English village green, after a very successful open evening and AGM in the New Barn at Manor Farm, immediately prior to the festivities.
It was another occasion of outstanding co-operation in the village, with such a spirit of rejoicing in the legacy of the settlement. There was a great feeling of festive fun and co-operation on the day, with everyone pulling on the rope together, in the same direction. The Domesday Plaque, which had been designed by the Heritage Adventure and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, was masterfully positioned on the village notice boards by Julian Shuba, of the Grange, with the engineering skill and goodwill of Terry Dennis, of Terry's Welding. The Heritage Adventure is very grateful for their timely technical skills. Amongst the special guests included were Len Richardson, the undisputed elder of the village, Agnes Stock, the Duchess of Beeston and Molly Lincoln who will forever be Miss Beeston.
Beeston was recorded as Bistone by the Normans in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the remarkable fact is, that with the river, the road, the Green, the site of the manor and the number of dwellings in the village, in all probability it would still be recognised by the Normans were they to return. It is thought that during the 10th century the midland shires were sub-divided into smaller areas called the Hundreds. Beeston was a border hamlet, and there is considerable historical record confusion as to whether Beeston was actually in the Wixamtree, or the Biggleswade Hundred, as at times it is referred to as Northill and Beeston, and sometimes Sandy and Beeston. What is known is that Beeston was once in the ecclesiastical parish of Northill, and that it was enclosed with Northill in 1783, but in the first edition of the Ordnance Survey, 1880 1890, outlining parish boundaries, Beeston is definitely in Sandy parish. It was therefore appropriate that the Domesday Plaque was unveiled by Councillor Tricia Turner, of Northill, the leader of the Central Bedfordshire Authority in the presence of Sandy Town Mayor, Geoff White and Deputy Mayoress Sue Sutton, with Peter Blaine, Colin Osborne, Nigel Aldis and Michael Scott representatives of both authorities. After Councillor Turner had unveiled the Plaque she was presented with an arrangement of flowers by Katie Richardson, who is a fifth generation Beestonian, and with the historical sites map of Beeston and Dressing Beeston booklet by Charles Patterson, the youngest member of the Heritage Adventure committee. The intricate steps and delightful music of the Bedford Morris men won the hearts and minds of Beestonians, who will be amongst the first to advocate their appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.
The open evening and AGM of the Heritage Adventure was attended by an interested gathering. Gill Holt was presented with a gift to thank her for all her research and beautiful illustrations in the Dressing Beeston booklet, and Irene and Geoff Tilney were grateful thanks given a complimentary copy of the booklet for designing the front and back cover. Poppy Cope reported on a lively year delivering the Heritage Lottery Fund project, The Continuum of life in Beeston. The MP3 players had been bought and were in active use, the Historical Sites Map of Beeston Map and the Dressing Beeston booklet are now available for sale from Poppy Cope. The Heritage Lottery Fund has obviously been crucial in driving the project forward. Last year's committee: Ken Page, Rex Skinner, Alan Richardson, Katrina Bourne, Roger Ward, Cathy Woodhouse, Rita and Charles Patterson, Pat Wright and Poppy Cope were re-elected en bloc and Molly Lincoln proposed a vote of thanks to Poppy Cope for all her hard work with the initiative, which was moved to be minuted by Rex Skinner.
U3A BOTANICAL VISIT
A large party of botanists from the Cambridge U3A visited Manor Farm on Monday June 21. It was a perfect day for surveying the farm and wildlife areas where local botanist Roger Cope has identified nearly 300 wild flowers. The farm looked a superb showcase of floral diversity on a working enterprise. Visitors began arriving at 10.30am and so many attended that the group was split into two parties one surveying towards the Bee Orchids beyond Brookweed Pond and one going down the 
Avenue to the Reservoir. A great variety of floral diversity was found to the delight and interest of the group, from the colourful annual cornfield display, to the wildlife margins, Set-A-Side, ponds and woodlands. Lunch was eaten in the garden at Cos Lodge after which the Meadow, Peters Field and the Bug Pond were surveyed, where amongst many other flowering plants Marsh Foxtail was found. At the Bug Pond Black-tailed Skimmer and Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies were laying eggs in the water, and butterflies and damselflies bounced amongst the vegetation. A long list of plants on flower was compiled to the satisfaction of the visitors.
WILDLIFE GROUP
115 individuals of 33species of moths were identified at the last moth trapping with a wonderful collection of names: Cinnabar 8; White Ermine 8; Buff Ermine 2; Straw Dot 4; Common Wainscot 8; Rustic Shoulder-knot 2; Treble lines 4; Nutmeg 4; Common White Wave 1; Common Swift 8; Treble Brown Spot 1; Heart and Dart 10; Bright Line Brown Eye 3; Mottled Rustic 10; Brown Rustic 2; Large Nutmeg 5; Setaceous Hebrew Character 6; Marbled Minor 3; Tawny Marbled Minor 1; Green Carpet 1; Middle-barred Minor 4; Burnished Brass 2; Flame shoulder 2; Vines rustic 6; Large Yellow Underwing 1; Clouded Silver 1; Turnip moth 1; Heart and Club 1; Small Magpie 1; Silver Ground Carpet 1; Dwarf Cream Wave 1; Shuttle-shaped dart 2. The next moth trapping and bird ringing is on Sunday July 17 from 9.00am at Cos Lodge.
METHODIST CHURCH
The service last Sunday was taken by Mrs Christine Denny, her theme was "Joy" found in the spirit of the Lord. She brought with her bubble blowing containers and invited the young people to blow bubbles which they did with great enthusiasm, then she asked for volunteers to blow up balloons. All the balloons had words written on them, "food", "money", "friends and family", "new things" and "Jesus", Christine explained that all these items can bring us joy, but in many cases only for a short time as they don't always last but Jesus brings us joy everlasting and is our friend for life. We should stop chasing those bubbles and dreams and looking for happiness in the wrong places. Christine went on to say that if we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, this will bring us great joy and we'd bubble over with happiness, Christians should use their cheerfulness to win souls and wear Heaven upon their faces. It is not always easy to be joyful as many awful events happen in our world, however, dark situations can be life-affirming and if we have someone to walk and share them with and let the Holy Spirit guide us, this will give us what we need. The bible readings were from Nehemiah, Chapter 8 read by Mary Millar and Galatians, Chapter 5 given by Maureen Cushman.
Next week's service will be led by Mr Adams. The youth club met on Friday 18 June and a total of 12 young people attended, the evening was spent playing games on the equipment and also games related to the World Cup, the leader was Mandy Hall and she was helped by Vivien Atkins and Jean Gaynor.
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