THE Blanchard Trust, which has long been the established local village charity, would like to thank all those who have made such generous contributions over the past year.

These amounted to £450, plus the sum of £120 derived from the Gift Aid, on the Friends pledged gifts.

The funeral of the late Harry Bowering had donations to the Trust, in lieu of flowers, amounted to over £300, which was a tribute to the high regard in which this truly local born man was held in his community. This in itself was a great comfort to his son Howard and other relations.

Over the past year there had been only four requests to the Trust for financial assistance, which amounted to grants totalling £825.

Two of the trustees have resigned and appreciation was expressed for the stalwart services given by Gillian McCourtie and Geraldine Canniford, whose chairmanship will prove to be a hard act to follow.

Anyone who feels that they would like to make a contribution to the Trust as a trustee or Friend should contact Fran Taylor on 889963 or Nigel Power on 889910.

All offers of help will be much appreciated.

IT takes an evening of entertainment to make us all aware of the wealth of talent that would otherwise lie dormant in our village, but of course it takes a good cause to make it all come to light.

What better cause than the upkeep of the hub of village activities, for the hall needs some essential work done on the electrical systems as well as the ongoing maintenance.

Musical expertise, song and dance routines, recitations and hilarious monologues, but especially those made to measure plays acted to their utmost enthusiastic limits by the Martinstown Players.

It was no surprise that the hall was filled to capacity on both the Friday and Saturday evenings and no doubt could have managed an extended period judging by the obvious enjoyment and enthusiastic applause from the audience who made good use of the refreshments on offer during the interval.

It was an evening with the opportunity to chat with friends seen less often in the cold weather. It was a relief to get away from endless TV repeats and our grateful thanks to all those involved.

SOME people may not be aware of the source of the delicious cups of tea enjoyed in the village hall.

It lies in the box of Yorkshire tea donated by the Martinstown WI to hall users.

Taylors of Harrogate have been stalwart supporters of the WI movement for many years and back this up with a donation of teabags to every WI in the country.

Please enjoy your tea and raise a cup to our own WI, and of course to Taylors, for they also support tree planting, not only in the UK but also in the depleted rainforests of the world.

FURTURE events include the meeting of the Parish Council on Monday, March 22 at 7.30pm in the Parish Room at the eastern end of the village.

Please do not leave it all to Ian to keep them on their toes!

THE Valley School has a busy agenda with a wildlife garden working party Easter Egg Hunt and barbecue on Saturday, March 27 from 11am-2pm.

PLEASE collect your computer tokens from Tesco for if you do not want them Tessa Clarke is collecting them for our Valley School.

Incidentally, if you are thinning out your perennial plants the school will be glad of any spares to fill the school garden.

ARTSREACH music show, the Fiasco Brothers, will take place at 7.30pm on Saturday, March 27 in the hall.

A FREE film, Roman Holiday, will be shown at the Brewers Arms at 7.30pm on Sunday, March 28.