Litton Cheney Parish Council The Parish/Village Annual Assembly was held on Tuesday 12 th May, several days after the BVN deadline. More details on this event will be included in July’s BVN, and in early June the draft minutes will be available on the village website. Can you offer up a maximum of three hours a week for the benefit of your community? That’s pretty much what it takes when you are a parish councilor. If you would like to contribute to the well-being of your community and fellow residents, we would love to hear from you. Please contact our Clerk, Debbie, at clerk@littoncheney.org.uk Parish Plan – This was never going to be dealt with in quick time, and neither should it. Our last plan was formulated in 2005, over 20 years ago, and what was relevant then, may have shifted somewhat to this point. We have therefore decided to revisit, revise and re-issue. If you consider yourself a forward thinker, and believe that you, in concert with others of a like-mind, could come up with ideas as to how our village and the community might develop over the next ten/fifteen years, then, at your earliest convenience, please contact John Firrell – john.firrell@littoncheney.org.uk Litton Cheney Trust There have been recent changes to the trustees of The Litton Cheney Trust.If you wish to apply for a grant from The Trust, please could you make your application to Madeleine Hickling (secretary). Email mandghickling@btinternet.com What’s on at Litton and Thorner’s Community Hall (LATCH) in June REGULAR EVENTS Tuesdays 4.45 – 5.45 Short Mat Bowls (Ron Davidson 482661) Wednesdays 4.45 – 5.45. Table Tennis (Paul Kingston 482162) 19.00 Yoga with Jane (Jane Hutchins 07882 527697) Thursdays 9.15 – 11.15 First Steps Toddlers (fortnightly, term time only) OTHER EVENTS Sunday 7 th 10.00 – 13.00 Restorative Yoga with Nadiya Wynn Thursday 11 th 18.45 - W.I. Craft in meeting room Monday 15 th 19.00 -Gardening Club meeting Sunday 28 th 16.00 - Community Fellowship Village Cafés: The hall is available for hire free of charge on Saturday mornings for a Café to raise funds for any group. It’s a good social event for the community and always popular. Hall Bookings/viewings: Wendy Firrell 01308 482532 wtlitton@gmail.com At the recent LATCH AGM, Chairman Ron Davidson stood down after twenty years in the role of Chairman. Ron has been involved from the very beginning when LATCH was just a drawing on the back of a beer mat. Thank you Ron for your perseverance, patience and diligence – a true LATCH Original!. At the AGM Andrew King was voted in as the new Chairman, and Sarah Matthews as Vice Chair. The White Horse We’ve run out of time this month to write more than this! All been a bit hectic with all the bank holidays. Had a great time though. Still here, still going. Look forward to welcoming you when you can. Thank you. Liz and Andy xxx Thorner’s School Report Since returning after the Easter break the children have been getting stuck in to a huge range of activities. The older pupils have been putting the finishing touches to their SAMBA and vocal performance - ready to share with parents and to also perform at the start of the Abbotsbury Tree of Strings Festival next month in the Tithe Barn. Younger ones are also strutting their stuff and will soon perform their dance routines to the school and their parents after their great sessions with Amy our Dance Instructor. Our Book Fair was a triumph - many thanks to Mrs Biggins for organising and for Governors and Staff for manning the stall to enable children to select from a wide range of titles and authors. This also raised some most welcome funds for the school which we then used to refresh our school library. In the same week the TSA held a brilliant disco for the children and it was a fantastic evening for all to dress up and have great fun together in the LATCH hall. Thank you to the TSA for all their hard work again in organising events like this for the school. In the office we were pleased with the good results from our Health and Safety Inspection and can report that no major issues were identified and we have a short to do list to remedy some small snagging items and we are also pleased to report that the swimming pool was given a clean bill of health as we look to reopen that in the summer. The eldest children are due to sit their SATs tests shortly and we wish them well with their assessments and then look forward to their last long (and hopefully sunny) half term of being at primary school! Mike Sitch Headmaster Bride Valley Book Club Review The Escape Artist by Jonathan FreedlandThere was much to discuss about this extraordinary book. The Escape Artist is the true story of how two young men escape Auschwitz to inform the wider world of the Nazi’s industrial process of mass extermination. An introductory chapter takes the reader immediately into the danger and tension of the escape bid and the confined hiding space under a woodpile of planks next to the rail tracks inside the camp. A key part of Walter and his friend Alfred’s strategy was to hide inside the camp for three days and nights allowing the Nazi security guards to believe an escape had already taken place. Once the high alert and subsequent search had taken place it became easier to then breach the security fence under cover of darkness. Much of the first half of the book records in horrific detail what was happening in Auschwitz, the cattle truck transport, the separation on arrival into those who will imminently perish in the gas chambers and those who will labour as slaves, the systematic theft of Jewish property, the appalling conditions of the camp and the brutality of the Nazi officials. All this was a very tough read and we found it distressing. Against all odds and with tremendous endurance and plenty of luck, Walter and Alfred manage to make it over the border to occupied Slovakia. Here they are helped by the underground resistance and given forged (Walter becomes Rudi) identities. The second half of the book documents the long and complex journey Walter/Rudi and Alfred’s report - documented and verified legally - makes to reach the international audience who can take action. Walter/Rudi knew that thousands of Hungarian Jews were about to sent to Auschwitz and he believed they had a right to know what fate awaited them. His report does circulate but initially it is met with disbelief, procrastination and excuses. Action is slow to materialise but eventually the Jews from Budapest were mostly saved from the camp. Walter/Rudi’s story is continued post war, he becomes an organic chemist and works in various universities before emigrating to Canada. However he is a traumatised man and cannot sustain his marriage or responsibility for his two daughters. He is especially bitter about the allied failure to sabotage the camps earlier and the extent of compliance and collaboration which saw some Jews survive and others murdered. Those of us who did read this book through to the end could appreciate its worth as a testament to this unspeakably evil episode in 20th Century history. The timing of our reading seems very prescient in the light of current world events. Some of us just did not want to read about the abject misery of this period and we respected that choice. Our conversation was wide ranging with travel reminiscences and personal stories - a really good discussion about a difficult book. Liz Pinfield BRIDE VALLEY GARDENING CLUB At long last it looks as if summer is on its way! I can’t believe we’re saying that, when I’m writing this at the beginning of May, we need rain, but the ground is already so difficult to dig into! We are very much looking forward this month (Monday 15 th June) to welcoming David Hurrion as our Celebrity Speaker for 2026. David is Associate Editor of BBC Gardeners World. Gardening Journalist, Tutor, Lecturer and RHS Judge. He is knowledgeable, experienced and entertaining. He will be talking about “Creating a Jungle Garden”. This should be an excellent evening. Tickets in advance are £5 each from Liz at bridevalleygc@gmail.com. All welcome. The meeting will be at LATCH (Litton and Thorners Community Hall) DT2 9AU. Doors open at 7pm for drinks, nibbles and chat and the talk will start at 7.30 p.m. In April we held our AGM with an excellent attendance followed by a very interesting talk by Bryan Madders on Dahlias. David brought along tubers for sale which were quickly sold. Unfortunately no volunteers came forward to help on the Committee. We are still looking for a Chairman and Programme Secretary (this latter position could be done by two people working together to organise next year’s programme if that would be easier). Please come forward if you feel you could help out as without a committee this long standing local club will have to fold in October. In the meantime we have some excellent speakers lined up. Meetings are held on the third Monday evening of every month at Litton and Thorners Community Hall, DT2 9AU. Doors open at 7pm for drinks and chat, and the talk / demonstrations begin at 7.30 pm. Guests always also welcome for £2. We are looking forward to (and will have had by the time this drops through your letterbox) our May meeting, when we have James Cross, Head Gardener at the Bishop’s Palace in Wells. For more information please contact Liz, Secretary bridevalleygc@gmail.com