Portesham village hall will be hosting yet another fascinating event on Wednesday, 25 April, when Roland Tarr will be giving a travel talk on Southern India in aid of local Portesham charity, Dors to India.

In it he will speak and show photographs of the World Heritage temples, sculptures and scenery around Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu, and it is here that the charity supports a number of villages.

Roland will then transfer his attention to the wonderful hill scenery of the Western Ghats where winding railways make their way up to the tea estates that cloak the cooler hilltops. Here there are World Heritage animal sanctuaries set amongst the lush forested slopes.

Finally he descends to the tropical west coast of Kerala, travelling the back waters where local fishermen collect oysters and whole settlements depend on these coastal lagoons for their livelihood. Arriving at Kochi (Cochin) Roland will speak about its Portuguese colonial past.

There will be an Indian meal (both mild and spicy) and a bar to start with from 7.15pm to 8.00pm with more information available about the work of the charity. Doors open at 7.00pm and tickets at £7.50 are available from John Surowiec on 01305 871649, Malcolm Passells on 01305 871557 and Roland Tarr on 01305 262359.

APRIL looks to be a very busy month at the King’s Arms beginning with an April Fools Quiz with Dave at the bar on Sunday, 1 April at 8pm. Teams of 4 please.

Friday, 6 April sees the drawing of tickets for the Grand Easter Draw at 8pm in the bar followed by Matz disco. Good Friday also sees the start of weekend breakfasts between 8 and 1030am at the pub. Pick your own breakfast items at 50p each.

Easter activities continue with live music from “Left, Right and Centre” on Saturday, 7 April and Easter Sunday sees a traditional set menu for lunch and dinner with an egg hunt for the children in the afternoon and a quiz with Dave at the bar.

THANK you to everyone who came and supported the St Patrick’s Day themed village cafe hosted by St Peter’s Portesham recently. A magnificent £454 was raised and a very enjoyable couple of hours had by all.

WELL done to Portesham Primary school who raised over £100 at their recent jumble sale in aid of the Nguluwe school building project in Malawi. Thank you to everyone who came along or donated.

A plea from the school for more responsible dog management – “Could people please refrain from exercising their dogs on the school playing field. Despite our continued pleas we are appalled with the amount of dog faeces that is being left on the field. With the summer months approaching and the children making more use of the outside environment, the increased risk to children’s health is unacceptable. The school will be working with the PCSO to take a tougher approach to ensure that irresponsible dog owners are penalised for their careless behaviour.”