Never in most memories has spring crept up with so unwilling a step, but now it seems a change is coming 
and the plants, birds, insects and animals will catch up. Even Charles Dowding has had a bit of a struggle – but he has useful tips for coping with the everlasting winter (page 53).
Change is very much in the air, and both John Bishton, writing about Bruton Trust, and Annette Pitman, on Bruton The Way Forward (pages 15 and 19), enlarge on what is planned. As John says, change is necessary: a balance has to be struck between what is worth preserving and what could be improved for all residents’ benefit. One much-needed change: at long last the Hewden site car park near the church has become operative. See Mayor Alex Rubbo’s Town Council news (page 49).

History seems to be to the fore this month. Roger Gallannaugh gives us a succinct overview of what happened to the Abbey during the Reformation (page 23), while Will Vaughan’s talk on the history of Castle Cary from the Middle Ages drew a large audience to the Caryford Hall (see page 32).
The late Lord Rees-Mogg was, if not actually from the Benefice, a fairly local figure, and his daughter Emma is a tireless and very effective contributor to local life. Roger Ketley has discovered some fascinating memorial tablets to the family in the church of St Peter in Shepton Montague (page 45). I hope readers take the time to enjoy the Parish News articles, which are so often full of wonderfully interesting facts.

As we leave winter behind (not too much of a pious hope, surely), wildlife tends to come into greater focus.  The Wild Plant Charity is aiming to call attention to local plants and to stimulate interest among school pupils and adults alike. Read about it on page 27. And there is a treat for bird-lovers: if you are lucky you may spot the hawfinches which have taken up temporary residence in St Mary’s churchyard (also on page 27). At least seven have now been counted!

In this New Year, which we must hope will be a lot less wet than the old one, we are still trying to get used to the loss of Batcombe, Lamyatt and Upton Noble from the Benefice. As I’ve said before, we welcome news of special events and are very happy to include Diary items from those parishes – after all, nobody has picked them up bodily and moved them to another part of Somerset, even if the rains and rivers have had a good try, to judge by the mud and the lakes blocking local roads. But the little article from Upton Noble Primary School (page 57) will probably have to be the last item of ‘regular’ news of the school. We have, however, persuaded Rev. Rosey Lunn, the priest in charge of the newly enlarged Evercreech Benefice, to give us her thoughts in the Rectory Ruminations column.

Our Christmas double issue marks the completion of four years of The Dove. It seems only yesterday that Father Justin brushed aside feeble protests of ‘I can only do a little work for it . . .’. I said I could do some copy-editing and proofreading – so of course I ended up as Editor. But the reward, just announced, is that The Dove is the overall winner, out of no fewer than 890 entries, of the National Parish Magazine Awards 2012! Thank you for all the wonderful congratulatory messages.

This is the last issue of The Dove to embrace Batcombe, Lamyatt and Upton Noble. It’s sad to see them go, but as Father Justin pointed out last month it’s not a total divorce, and there will be opportunities for collaboration in future. We will continue to highlight any interesting events in the three parishes, and indeed in any other of our neighbouring parishes, that come to our attention.

November, and the very moving Remembrance Day parade and church service organised by the Royal British Legion will once again draw most of the population of Bruton and the surrounding villages. This year the day falls on the 11th, so The Silence really will be at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month. Many of the other parishes also have a Remembrance Day service, Batcombe’s at 11am, Brewham’s at 10am, Pitcombe’s at 10.50am, Shepton Montague’s at 9.30am and Upton Noble’s at 9.20am.

The biggest change for many years to our Benefice is now taking place. From late November, Bruton will loose Batcombe, Lamyatt and Upton Noble, and will be reduced to six parishes: Brewham, Bruton, Pitcombe, Redlynch, Shepton Montague, Wyke Champflower (Redlynch and Wyke are not actually separate parishes but dependencies of Bruton). See Rectory Ruminations on page 3. We hope that the people of the three parishes that we are losing will continue to read The Dove, and news items and Diary dates relevant to them will still be most welcome.