I trust everyone coped with the cold, and is beginning to see the first shoots of Spring. Now that it is warming up a bit, I thought you might like to know about a couple of things that are coming up over the next few months while we wait for the New Inn to reopen…!

On Sunday 31st March it is Mothering Sunday, and the Village School will once more be coming along with a choir. Anyone who heard them sing at our Carol Service will want to come along and there will be flowers and refreshments after the service.

On Sunday 7th April the Bishop is coming to Shalfleet for our benefice service, after which he will be consecrating the little strip of our churchyard which somehow got missed when the extension to the churchyard was consecrated, behind the Village Hall. A light lunch will be available in the Hall after this short ceremony, and all are welcome.

Next, my guitar teacher guru David Caswell has told me about a concert being organised in St Catherine’s Church, Ventnor on Friday 12th April. It is a Cuban guitar duo, and one of the duo is also an excellent composer. The concert begins at 7:30pm, followed by refreshments and ‘meet the artists’. Tickets are £10 (or £7 for concessions) and it should last about 1 hour.
Here’s the poster:
There’s a sound clip of the duo on his webpage at: www.isleofwightguitar.com (just look on the ‘forthcoming concerts’ tab and the sound player is underneath the posters.)
On Saturday 13th April the Fabric Trust are organising a Spider Ride, with Thelwell style rosettes on offer to those who compete/complete the course. Details to follow.

On Friday 26th April it is the Annual Meeting of the PCC and the Fabric Trust. As usual, this will be in the Hall at 6pm, with a glass of wine to get us through the paperwork.

Work continues on the repair to two of the windows in the church, and once those are done, we will be moving on to the bigger two, once the summer is here. We are looking at options for extending the hardstanding in the parking area for cars around the Village Hall. Finally, David Bevington has heard from Brian and Shirley Morris.  Brian was David’s predecessor, retiring in 1997.  He has had to go into residential care, but is still able to attend services at Boxgrove Priory with Shirley.  They send their best wishes to those who remember them.

With very best wishes to one and all.