Issue 35

The Jubilee weekend is here at last, and with it all manner of celebration in Bruton and the Benefice. The Packhorse Fair on Monday 4 June is, of course, the major attraction, and we don’t need to urge everyone to make the most of all that is on offer – stalls, refreshments, music and entertainment in and around Lower Backway from 11am to 6pm. Lamyatt and Shepton Montague (with Hadspen, Bratton Seymour and Pitcombe) have their own parties (see Diary), and there are services in our glorious Benefice churches on the Sunday (see page 32) in thanksgiving for Her Majesty’s sixty years on the throne. Let’s hope the weather encourages us all to enjoy the festivities and put away gloomy thoughts on the economy.

Issue 34

There are currently important developments going on in Bruton, and you can read about them in Stuart Adlington’s report for Bruton The Way Forward (page 13), John Bishton’s on the Bruton Trust (page 15) and Roger Gallannaugh’s article about the excavations in the Abbey field (page 15). Please, do take the opportunity to look at the proposals and make your comments – the plans will have far-reaching consequences and now is the chance to make your mark on the town’s future. The various bodies are displaying their ideas at the Packhorse Fair, which takes place on the Jubilee Bank Holiday, Monday 4 June.

Issue 33

The inhabitants of this county . . . entertain a kind of indifference for the rest of the world, owing, probably, to the good opinion they entertain of their own portion of it. (John Strachey, 1737)

This is one of the splendid quotations on the walls and ceiling of the turret room in the Museum of Somerset at Taunton, which the Friends of Bruton Museum visited on the last day of February. I think we all feel it has a certain aptness! Certainly, everyone I come across in Bruton and district entertains a good opinion of their own little piece of Somerset.

Issue 32

A bit of good news this month: Bruton Library will reopen on 6 March, with the same hours as it used to have, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (see page 13).
We urge everyone to try to use it as much as possible, so that the threat of permanent closure is seen off.

The town council has more good news. A cut in council tax, however small, is very welcome. And it is cheering to read that parking should remain free. The town council staff are NOT moving out of the Dovecote building, incidentally, though the district council people are. See page 30.

Issue 31

This new year will bring challenges and difficulties for everyone, and Bruton and the Benefice are not excepted. One major change will be the shrinking of the Benefice from nine to six churches in the summer: it is proposed that Batcombe, Upton Noble and Lamyatt move from the Bruton to the Evercreech Benefice. More about this will be announced over the coming months.

Issue 30

This issue is a double one: the end of the old year and the beginning of the new inside one cover. Some of you will recognise that this means renewal of your subscription. If you are a subscriber and do not have a standing order, you will find a form accompanying this copy of The Dove. Please complete and return it, with your cheque or cash, to Mike Kelham or Flora Rawlingson Plant at the address shown on the form or to Church Office, Rectory Annexe, Plox, Bruton ba10 0ef, by 20 January. If you would like to become a new subscriber, do contact Flora (see back page). We hope you feel it’s worth taking out a subscription: comments about the magazine are generally extremely positive, and we try hard to produce a comprehensive overview of everything that goes on in the Benefice, with Diary information playing a vital part. It’s only as good as the information we receive, so please keep us posted. We welcome constructive criticism, so if there’s anything you think could be improved, please let us know. See the email address below, or the postal address given above.

Issue 29

As the year declines into autumn, there is an abundance of first-class produce everywhere. The apple and pear harvest has rarely been so prolific – it’s hard to know what to do with it all. One excellent suggestion is to juice the fruit, but you must drink the result pretty quickly or it will start to ferment. There are, of course, plenty of cider and perry makers around here! Lamyatt’s highly regarded Bullbeggar brew springs to mind.