Monday 30 October 2017

Vacancy for Parish Clerk

Diane Baldwin, who has been our Parish Clerk since the beginning of the year, has now been offered and accepted a full time post, which means she can no longer continue in this role.

The Parish Council is very grateful for the work Diane has done and wishes her well in her new post.

There is now a vacancy for the Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer to Maisemore Parish Council and this has been advertised on the Gloucestershire Asoociation of Parish & Town Councils' website.  The advert is also here.

Tuesday 24 October 2017

Well attended History Society meeting

Ros Lane writes:

On Thursday 19 October a large audience turned out on a very wet evening to be rewarded by being informed about yet another interesting character from Gloucestershire's past. 

Barry Harrison gave an illustrated talk on "Thomas Hughes - a Stroud Apothecary". Hughes came from Wotton-under-Edge and, strange as it may seem, took a correspondence course with St. Andrews University in Scotland in the 1760's! 

He also studied weather patterns keeping very detailed records of the weather in the Stroud area. On numerous times he witnessed the Aurora Borealis at Rodborough. 

A rather dapper man in dress, he crossed paths with Edward Jenner but the two were never friends. 

The society now has 53 paid up members, a very healthy position. Our December meeting will be on 14 December 2017 in Maisemore Village Hall starting at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.). This will feature Duncan Coombs illustrating his talk about one of Gloucestershire's favourite gardens - "Hidcote Manor Garden created by Lawrence Johnson"

Thursday 19 October 2017

Ros Lane writes:

“A Harvest of Gloucestershire Poetry” was held on Thursday 12 October 2017 at St Giles Church, Maisemore – a fundraiser for provision of a defibrillator for Maisemore.

An audience of some 50 people was treated to a wonderful evening of poetry written by poets who were either born in Gloucestershire or were influenced by the wonderful landscape of our county.

The poetry readers for the evening were: David Walton, Harriet Cookson, Beth Lampert, Dr Anthony Lynch, Rosealeen Lane, Natalie Girard, Ann Whittington, Eric Freeman and Adam Horovitz.

The numerous poems were written by: Laurie Lee, Frank Mansell, F W Harvey, John Drinkwater, Edward Thomas, Ivor Gurney, Eva Dobell, Leonard Clark and Dr Frederick Brian Cookson.

Highlights included one thought-provoking poem by the late Dr Frederick Brian Cookson with the title “Gregory” read beautifully by his daughter Harriet. Adam Horovitz from Stroud, whose parents Frances and Michael were also both poets, captivated the audience with some of his poetry. Having grown up with Laurie Lee in his life he of course included some of Laurie’s poetry. Melford Jones, born in Hartpury and now living in Tuffley Road, had his poem “Riverside Autumn” read out by Eric Freeman - we were delighted to see Melford in the audience; at 94 he should have been in bed!

Refreshments were provided by “A Tad Fatter Tea Party” along with tea and coffee.

The appreciative audience generously donated to a retiring collection and a total of £450 was raised including £67 on the raffle. With a very generous donation from a local benefactor of £1,000 we now hope in the very near future to get a defibrillator purchased and installed at the village hall, and training arranged.

A very big thank you to all concerned; the church looked beautiful with the flower arrangements ready for the Harvest Festival the following Sunday.