| MinchLIFE Newsletter 28th May 2020 Hello everyone, Things are gradually changing and we are continuing to report on new things happening in Minchinhampton. The new Minch Life website is becoming more established and hopefully in time we will be back to posting events. Don’t forget we have a Virtual Open Garden Scheme where you can showcase your own garden, allotment or back yard – maybe even your windowsill. To take a look around, please click on the following link www.minchlife.com Again, rather than listing all the local businesses that are open – we are giving you access to the chart that we have prepared, which we are regularly changing as the situation arises. You can view this chart here. Minchinhampton Corinovirus Response Group The Covid Response Group has helped many people and also referred people on to other support groups such as Rodborough, Amberley and Bownham Park. If you feel you might be able to help with anything from speaking to someone on the phone who’s struggling with isolation to doing a bit of shopping, please register online on our new MinchLIFE website. What else is new? Recycling Tips Horsley (Pyke Quarry) recycling centre finally re-opened this week and centres at Hempsted in Gloucester, Wingmoor Farm at Stoke Orchard and Fosse Cross near Cirencester are already open. To limit the number of people on-site, pre-booking is required, and vehicles should only have drivers wherever possible – a maximum of one passenger is permitted if you need help to unload your waste and recycling. Social distancing will be required on site, and the number of booking slots available are limited. Contact Gloucestershire County Council for more information. Minchinhampton School PTA – Lockdown Fundraising! As you all in Minchinhampton probably know, our Primary School normally benefits from a great stream of fundraising from a variety of PTA Events. Obviously, these have all stopped at the minute, just when the School needs community support more than ever. Therefore, they have set up with ‘Your School Lottery’ – This is a weekly draw with £1 tickets. Guaranteed prizes based on the amount of tickets sold, and the chance to win a £25,000 jackpot from the wider lottery. 40% of the tickets bought by Minchinhampton School supporters comes back to the School. It’s really simple – just go to Yourschoollottery.co.uk sign up and search for ‘Minchinhampton’. Minchinhampton In Bloom Competition 2020 The Minchinhampton in Bloom Competition is run by the Minchinhampton Gardening Club, and is open to residents and businesses within the conservation area. (The conservation area for this competition is as follows: Tetbury Street from the town to the junction of Friday Street, Friday Street, Well Hill down to the junction of Kings Street, Chapel Lane from the town to just before Chapel Farm, West End to the junction of Dr Browns Road, Butt Street to the junction with Stuart House, Bell Lane to the junction with School Road, High Street) The ‘Grover Cup for Residents’ will be awarded to a resident who lives within the town conservation area (in a house where the frontage is visible from the street/road) who displays the best floral display at the front of their property throughout the summer. The winner will be awarded the cup and a £20 gardening voucher. A garden voucher of £15 and £10 will be awarded to the runners up in second and third place. A further three vouchers of £5 will be awarded to those who are classed as highly commended. The ‘Murray of Minchinhampton Cup’ will be awarded to the Business, whose premises are within the town conservation area (where the frontage is visible from the street/road), who displays the best floral display at the front of their premises throughout the summer. The winner will receive the Cup and Certificates will be awarded to second, third and those who are classed as highly commended. Judging will take place at the end of June, July and August, and any bee-friendly plants will help gain the judges’ approval. Winners will be announced at the Annual Show and will be awarded the prizes on show day, Saturday 12th September 2020 at 4.00pm. Any enquiries about this competition should be made to the Competition Committee through the Minchinhampton Gardening Club Show Secretary, Pete Smith on 01453 883611 or e-mail peter@lyonspace.co.uk Minchinhampton Community Library When the community library was closed at the end of March, it was hoped it would be for no longer than 13 weeks. However, for obvious reasons, this is not the case. The library will stay closed until it is safe (and legal) to open it again and this may not be until September. In the meantime the trustees are working on making it a safe environment for volunteers and customers. As well as probably changing the layout, this involves ordering screens and PPE, both of which take some weeks to be delivered. The library volunteers hope to see all their customers again in due course. Talking Newspaper Are you or anyone you know finding difficulty in reading text in the normal way? It can make you feel disconnected and isolated from what’s going on. Five Valleys Sounds is a talking newspaper – in good times it is based at Vestry Cottage in Minchinhampton. A group of volunteers read and record items from the Stroud News and Journal, Cotswold Life and articles by local writers on all sorts of topics. This lockdown has had the unexpected bonus in that many more people have discovered the service and thus they are reaching a wider audience – people suffering from dyslexia, dementia, stroke, physical handicaps, learning difficulties and care home residents. Do give them a try and see what you think or recommend them to someone you know. bit.ly/5VSWeblink or go to the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/5valleysounds. Henrys, Minchinhampton Having had a few technical delays to the new website, we are now informed that it is now up and running. Please see https://orderhenrys.com/ to see how to place orders. M & B Stores, Minchinhampton New opening hours as follows: Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.00pm, Sat 9.00am-5.00pm, Sun 9.00am-2.00pm Brian also tells us that they now have fresh strawberries, nectarines and plenty of flour. Newspaper deliveries are ongoing along with grocery deliveries too. Due to social distancing they are serving from the door for the foreseeable future, due to lack of space in the till area – keeping both customers and staff safe. (Just letting one person in at a time would cause more people to wait longer.) The Weighbridge Pies The Weighbridge Inn are pleased to confirm that they are back with their famous “2in1” pies for you to bake at home from this week! Please note they may have to manage orders a little as they get back into full production but please email your order to weighbridgepieorders@yahoo.com by Weds morning for collection Thurs/Fri/Sat. See here for more details on what is available. Winstone Icecreams, Rodborough The doors are open! After a successful trial opening, Winstones have tried and tested their new queuing system and serving process. They will only be open Mon – Fri 10am – 5pm for now and will only be serving scoops in tubs along with cold drinks and hot drinks and take home litres. They ask that everyone respects ALL measures that they have enforced for your safety as well as theirs. Winstones would also like to stress that their opening is for the people of Gloucestershire. Their home delivery service is still in place and will be a permanent service if you do not or cannot make a journey. Burleigh Court Hotel, Burleigh Have informed us that they have upgraded their Afternoon Tea takeaway with a deliciously fruity berry cupcake and strawberry sponge. You’ll also find a moorish macaroon and honeycomb brownie in your box together with a freshly baked scone, jam and cream. And three tasty finger sandwiches. All freshly made, boxed, bagged and ready to go on Friday and Saturday. £13.50 per person. https://www.burleighcourtcotswolds.co.uk/clickcollect/ Over Farm Market – Fresh Farm Food Collections from Minchinhampton Youth Club carpark As some of you know our local resident, Joe May, has been pitching in at Over Farm and he has informed us that they have decided to offer a collection service from Minchinhampton. Collections will take place on Saturday afternoons between 3.30pm-4.30pm from front car park of Minchinhampton Youth Club, GL6 9JJ. Orders need to be placed through shop.overfarm.co.uk and in the preferred collection date section you need to put ‘Minch collections’. Orders for collection in Minchinhampton need to be placed by 4pm on Fridays and MUST include the delivery fee. Orders that don’t include the delivery fee will automatically become collections from Over Farm Market. Please make sure you read the instructions properly and follow all the steps as no refunds will not be offered. If you have any questions please get in touch with the team at Over Farm by emailing info@overfarm.co.uk. We will be reviewing this service weekly and will keep you updated with any decisions made. William’s Fish Counter, Nailsworth will be opening from Thursday, 4 June. For more details please see here. They are also offering Fish & Chips, Goujons & Chips, Catalan Fish Stew and Hot Giant Prawns with Garlic Butter to Take Away. https://www.williamsfoodhall.co.uk/Fish-Market Our branch of Boots: We reported in our last newsletter that our branch of Boots is under threat of closure if they do not dispense a certain number of prescriptions every month. The Minchinhampton Surgery Patient Participation Group (PPG) has since contacted us and you may be reassured to read their response here. Message from Parish Council Since our last newsletter, the Parish Council has issued another Bulletin Four to keep the public informed of their ongoing work. They have also advised us that there are currently four vacancies for council members. To find out more please e-mail clerk@minchinhampton-pc.gov.uk Event News …… Cotswold Club Virtual Quiz: The Cotswold Club continue to hold their regular Friday night virtual quiz at 7:55 pm. If you require further details on this, please look at their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Minchinhampton-Cotswold-Club-165788823612412/ And another two events to put in your 2021 diary We are changing the date of Minchinhampton Country Fayre from Saturday, 11th September, 2021 to Saturday, 18th September, 2021. It was decided that, as it is the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, it was not appropriate to have a day of celebration. Initially it did not dawn on us that 11th September was 9/11 – a mistake. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Gardening Club to consider a change of date so they will be having their popular Annual Show the week before – 11th September. This is a shame as the two events have worked so well and closely in previous years and we are sure they will again. Do please put those dates in your diaries! Please email our new email address at info@minchlife.com with any news you would like included in the newsletter – this will also appear on the Facebook page. Finally, look after yourselves and your families. Janet Chamberlain/Anne Parry info@minchlife.com |
