Residents of Umborne celebrate opening of new community hall
Residents of the Umborne Valley, near Axminster, will this weekend be gathering to mark the culmination of remarkable community commitment and dedication, as they officially open their new village hall. Mrs Dorothy Blackmore and Mrs Lillian Bird, two long-term residents of the valley will cut the ribbon to open the new hall. Mrs Blackmore has connections to members of the Women’s Institute who originally put the hall here in 1948. A celebratory afternoon starting with cream teas and an official Opening …

Stride Timber, the contractors who built the hall have made a fantastic time-lapse video of the hall construction. You can see it from their web site here.

We hope to produce an Umborne & Shute Calendar for 2012. So please make a note of any local  photos you already have or any you take over the next 10 months in the valley.

We will consider photos that show views or buildings from the area but also

photos of wildlife etc. taken in and around the area (please tell us
details of where, when photo taken etc).
The 2010 calendar was a bit limited on space for writing in the boxes – we
will use a different format …

The Christmas Party for all the children of the local area, is held in the hall in early December. This year, 2010,  the date is December 4th from 3 to 5 pm.

This party event was started about 10 years ago by Sheila, Gill and Angela and in the early days there were about 20 children having fun and games in the hall. As numbers of young families with children has increased in the valley, so have numbers of children at the party, reaching well into the forties now. Mrs Sprague …

An important announcement about the hall:
The New Umborne Hall will be opening on:
Saturday  16th  October 2010

Complimentary cream teas will be served from 4.00 to 6.00pm

The hall will be officially opened at 4.30pm

The Opening Night Celebration will be from 6.00pm to whenever!

There will be a barrel of beer, wine and soft drinks.
This is a bring and share party so please bring a plate of finger food (savoury or sweet) for all to share.

All are welcome! Come and admire your new hall!!

So …

This page is devoted to the photographs which local people have taken of local sights and views. We would welcome contributions from all and sundry. Email your best ones to rickandeleanor@tiscali.co.uk
These were taken by Claire Cheeseman:

These by Sue & Rodney Gush:

and these by David Vickers:

Rick does his best with limited talent!!

 Hall news update from Rob:
Since the last report on Aug 16th, two things have outwardly changed the appearance of the new hall & its surroundings ; firstly the grass seed sown on the banks of the stream & the bank around the car park have germinated with the rain,  to colour up these areas nicely. We may in the future add something more decorative to the stream banks but we expect some unwanted species to germinate both now & next spring which we can exterminate without losing the grass cover. …

On  Saturday August 7th we had the third annual Cider Festival held at the Gerrard Arms in Colyton. Several members of the Umborne Valley manned the door & enjoyed an afternoon of competition as 29 different ciders were judged to produce a trophy winner, the judge was noted to be grinning & staggering at the end ! All 23 Cider makers were from an area bounded by Chideock in the east, Stockland to the north & Sidbury to the west. The resulting range of ciders gave an indication of the effects …

This event takes place in early September either on the Umborne Brook near Easy Bridge or as in the last two years at the home of Ann Shepherd (Pottlelake Cottage) about 200 metres from the hall in Umborne. There is a BBQ, Bar, raffle and of course the little yellow ducks which enter the many duck races. We also have a home made mini raft race which can feature ingenious creations or just a plastic bottle if you are very lazy.
The weather can be very unpleasant at times! – but …

The latest Hall news update from Rob:
 
Last Saturday (August 7th) saw the third annual Cider Festival held at the Gerrard Arms in Colyton. Several members of the Umborne Valley manned the door & enjoyed an afternoon of competition as 29 different ciders were judged to produce a trophy winner, the judge was noted to be grinning & staggering at the end ! All 23 Cider makers were from an area bounded by Chideock in the east, Stockland to the north & Sidbury to the west. The resulting range of …