Abbotsbury and Langton Herring

Abbotsbury

EXCITEMENT mounted on Saturday as the children joined Buzz and Woody for the grand opening of their fantastic restored play area.

Throughout the day entertainment was provided for the visitors with a drumming workshop, a magician , the Juno Belly dancers and refreshments on hand. You could even guess the weight of two tubby little ponies Rosie and Furie. Our guess was way out! From the delighted sounds that now drift over the fields to my study the recreation ground is already being well used. It has taken resident Lucy Bailey and her team with the support of Kris Hallet from Dorset Community Action four years to see this project to fruition. With £100,000 of funding from the National Lottery the group were able to install state of the art wooden play equipment that fitted sensitively into our conservation area. A survey of residents suggestions gave the group some idea what equipment would be required. As a result of this survey a swing for disabled children has also been provided. There is a full sized wooden tractor with a slide, see saws, swings, climbing frames, assault courses and a zip wire amongst other things to keep children and their carers amused. The area is fenced and secure. The recreation ground was gifted to the village in about 1939 and had seen good service as the cricket ground. After the pitch was moved to flatter ground in West Street the recreation ground gradually fell into decline and for many years has been used by dog walkers. With young families moving into the village it became apparent that a playground of some sort was needed for the growing number of children. A group decided to take on the mammoth task of obtaining all the permissions for the site to be reinstated and didn’t they do well!

The next project for the two and half acre field is a ball play area for the older children Information that I have just received is that the site will soon be levelled and re- seeded, the first step in making the site fit for purpose.

THE next Chesil Bank Parish Council meeting will take place on Monday, September 6. This month the meeting will be in Portesham village hall at 7.30pm. This will be the chance for residents of our villages to see how our parish council works and to have their say in the democratic half hour.

THE next service at St Catherine’s Chapel will be on Saturday, September 11 at 6.30pm

The new Bishop of Sherborne, Rev Dr Graham Kings, will attend this simple service and the Lauda Choir will accompany the worshippers. Everyone is a welcome and good dogs too on leads.

THE Dorset Historic Churches Ride and Stride takes place on Saturday, September 11

Refreshments are always on hand for Ride and Stride visitors to St Nicholas Church and will be found in the reading area at the back of the church. Two weddings will take place during that afternoon, so please will visitors creep in if one is taking place.

EVERY third Monday of the month there will be a Eucharist service in St Nicholas Church at 6.30pm.

There will be the opportunity for the laying on of hands for healing and wholeness.

A MUSIC Concert will take place in St Nicholas Church on Sunday, September 19 at 2.30pm

Duncan Honeybourne on piano and The Newenham string quartet will entertain the audience. The concert is free but there will be a retiring collection. There is also plenty of parking in the village so do come along and enjoy what will be a pleasurable autumn afternoon.