Our annual Duck Dash and Raft Races were held at the hall on Sunday 4th September at 3pm. To say we were lucky with the weather is an understatement as, just as we were finishing, the heavens opened. During the event the sun did go in and the wind did get up and didn’t we all notice the drop in temperature! However, much fun was had by one and all.
Neville was in charge of the course as he, and later Kimmo, had been clearing the rather slow flowing stream of stones and other obstructions beforehand. He then proceeded to organise the start and finish of all the races accompanied by a sparkling commentary by Rob.
The 13 duck races (10 colour coded ducks in each race) had been sold so enthusiastically by Antonia and Sue, raising nearly £100. The final race was the marathon duck race with Rodney 1st, Jess 2nd and Lee 3rd.
Throughout the afternoon Eleanor and Bernard were busy organising games and races for the children. Firstly there were the sack races,
then the potato and spoon races ( eggs would have been far too messy!) and finally the apple bobbing.
In the same area of the adjoining field ( our thanks to Phil Bird for allowing us to use this section of his field) Kimmo and Rodney were organising the Wellie Wanging competition. Longest male distance was achieved by the impressive but noisy Carl Coman, female Antonia Cheeseman ( sorry Ann!) and child Henry Sykes. £35 was raised here!
As if that were not enough, Carolyn and Lee were kindly organising pony and trap rides along the lanes all afternoon, raising £45 for the hall.
Inside the hall Liz and her admirable, hard-working team were serving delicious cream teas and raising an impressive £113. Cherryl and Mike were serving the soft drinks and running a small raffle and they raised £25. Making a grand total of over £300 for the hall funds. Well done to all those people who helped out in these different ways. Thanks also go to all those locals who turned up with their children – so many new faces, many of them probably from Shute School – and participated with so much enthusiasm. Well done one and all.
Rick & Eleanor Wood
