Chairmans Chat 2023

Hello all Country Linkers,

I hope everyone is looking forward to a good Christmas. I really enjoy the social events leading up to Christmas, it's always a good opportunity to catch up with people. It's so interesting to see the variety of Christmas meals, parties, and panto visits on the clubs' programmes.

Lorna and I finally managed to join one of Lorraine Clarke's national days out, visiting Upton house - a National Trust property in Warwickshire, on Sunday 3RD December. The House itself was owned in by Lord Bearsted whose father had founded the Shell oil company.

It was extensively remodelled in the 1920's, with Lady Bearsted being involved with the revised garden, there is also has a large art collection. Unfortunately, the day was very wet, but we had a great time exploring the house and gardens.

At Nottinghamshire Country Link we have had a couple of interesting events. We had a tour around Farmstar at Newark, a local Tractor and agricultural machinery dealership. As a non-farmer it was interesting to see the variety and complexity of machinery that we often see on the local roads and fields, especially when you see a large tractor disassembled. The amount of electronics and computers involved is also surprising.

More recently we went to the Robin Hood Theatre at Averham, near Newark, to see the production of The Flint Street Nativity. This was produced by The Robin Hood Theatre Company, a local amateur dramatics group. The play itself is a comedy about the production of a nativity play at a primary school with the children played by adults. As the characters have various mishaps, fear failure, and fallings out, they evolve to mirror their parents. The actors and actresses then play their character's parents at the end of the nativity, gathering together in the final scene to review the efforts of their children.

The Robin Hood Theatre itself was built in the grounds of the local rectory in 1913, having been designed by the vicar and built by a local craftsman. It became a public theatre in 1961 and seats 150 in the auditorium. The theatre maintains a reputation of producing professional, high standard entertainment even though it is completely run by volunteers and amateurs.

Well done to the clubs who continue to send their programmes in to Vicky for uploading on to the website. It is important that this is kept up to date and any that are out of date will be removed. There are still groups who don't send their programmes in, please remind your group organiser, or secretary, to send them to Vicky for uploading.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Peter Hunt - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

I hope everyone is enjoying the current spell of sunshine and the better weather.

At Nottinghamshire Country Link we recently held our planning meeting for our Autumn and Winter programme. Hopefully the programme should soon be available and will include a selection of visits and meals, and after Christmas we will have guest speakers.

I'm sure other clubs will also be holding planning meetings for their new programmes, don't forget to send them to Vicky for uploading to the website. Vicky is currently chasing up clubs for new programmes.

On 19th August I had the opportunity to join Worcestershire CL for a meal at the Hadley Bowling Green inn. It was very spur of the moment. Lorna and I had been to visit my mum and on the way home called in to visit my old friend Rodney (Oxfordshire CL). Rodney was attending the meal so we decided to go along too. Many thanks to Susan Dufton at Worcester CL for being able to fit us in at such short notice. It was a lovely meal, in a nice country pub, and it was good to catch up with Worcester CL members again. Worcestershire is a friendly club with around 8 members and they do enjoy eating out. Friendship and Fellowship is what Country Link is about.

At the end of August I took part in the annual (local) Epperstone to Skegness cycle ride. This isn't a Country Link event but most of the participants are members of Nottinghamshire Country Link, whether they are cycling or part of the support crew. The route from Epperstone is 75 miles travelling mainly along country roads. It was an early start time, leaving at 8.30 am, and arriving in Skegness just before 5.00 pm. It's easier for me to meet the group in Newark so my journey was actually 5 miles shorter. The weather was mostly dry (only one shower!), and it wasn't too warm. It was very tiring but satisfying to complete. It's a great way to see the countryside and we all felt we had earned our pint of beer, and our fish and chips, on arrival in Skegness.

The national committee will be meeting towards the end of September. We hold two meetings each year approximately 4-6 weeks before a national weekend. This helps us to plan for the AGM in the Spring, and for the members meeting in the Autumn, both of which are held at the national weekends. All of the area reps are members of the national committee. Find out who the rep is for your club and contact them if you want to offer any feedback to the national committee.

We are now looking for a club to host a national weekend in the Autumn of 2024. This is the ideal opportunity for you to showcase your part of the country. You may have some different ideas about what you would like to see included in a weekend. And don't forget that neighbouring clubs can work together to host a weekend. There is a lot of support and advice available, including the handbook which can be found on the documents page of the country link website.

I'm very much looking forward to the November weekend in Irvine and hope to see many of you there.

Peter Hunt - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

I hope everyone is surviving the very unseasonal wet weather. Hopefully the summer should be returning soon.

Nottinghamshire CL, where I am a member, have enjoyed a couple of interesting meetings recently. In July there was a visit to the mining museum at Mansfield. Nottinghamshire was a large coal mining area, as well as mining for gypsum and ironstone. The museum focussed on coal mining and, although small, was packed with mining memorabilia and technical information. The volunteers were all very enthusiastic and provided tea, coffee, and biscuits for our members. Exhibits included plates with pictures of local coalfields, pit banners, mining equipment, and there was also a virtual reality experience with headsets to view the pithead baths, pit ponies, and headstocks. One of our lady members was particularly taken with a photograph of the miners washing their neighbour's backs in the pithead baths!

At the beginning of August we had planned to visit the Bishop's Palace Gardens at Southwell Minster. Unfortunately, the gardens closed at 5.00 pm on the day we were due to visit. There was to be a concert in the garden the following day so the gardens were closed to allow the area to be prepared for the concert. However, Luke Jerram's Gaia was on display in the minster itself so we were able to go and see that. It is a replication of planet earth, as seen from space, and is 7 metres in diameter. It was suspended from the ceiling in the nave of the minster, rotates slowly, and there is specially composed music to accompany it.

It is an amazing sight but unfortunately anything further north than Africa is on the upper curve of the globe and cannot be seen. Most of Europe, the UK, Scandinavia, the USA and Canada, as well as the North Pole, are all out of sight. The entire African continent, Australia, and South America can all be seen clearly, as well as a small glimpse of New Zealand under the cloud cover. The artwork is on a global tour, and will be displayed in many UK cathedrals. Of course, we had to have the obligatory group photograph whilst standing underneath it.

There is the National Weekend in Scotland to look forward to from 3rd - 6th November, and Shropshire is confirmed for the spring weekend from Friday 10th - Monday 13th May 2024. Details for this will be on the website as soon as they are available. We now need a group to volunteer for Autumn 2024. Weekends can be arranged by clubs working together jointly. There is plenty of help available from the national committee, and also in the club handbook.

It's always good to look at other groups programmes and see what a wide variety of activities are enjoyed by the different clubs. It's important to keep these up to date on the website so please keep sending them in to Vicky who will arrange to have them uploaded. Reports from your meetings and activities can also be sent in for uploading, along with a couple of photographs to make them more interesting. These don't need to be too long and Vicky can fill them out a bit if you give her some information about the event.

We continue to advertise in the NFU Countryside magazine and that is booked through to the end of the calendar year. More recently a Letter to the Editor has been published in the Farmers Guardian in response to an article they published about loneliness amongst the farming community.

The National Committee will be meeting at the end of September, ahead of the Members Meeting at the National Weekend in Scotland. If you want to offer any feedback, or to raise any issues this should be done through your area rep who will feedback to the national committee. All area reps are on the committee and if unable to attend the meeting should send in a report. If you're not sure who your area rep is there is a list in the handbook on the documents page of the website.

Peter Hunt - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

I hope everyone is enjoying the short spells of sunshine, and managing to avoid the showers between them.

I enjoyed the recent Country Link National Weekend so much that I decided to take a holiday on the Norfolk Broads in June, along with my partner Lorna. Whilst away we took the opportunity to meet up with Jenny and Chris from Norfolk who had been part of the organising team for the weekend. Tony Paul wrote an excellent article about the weekend which has been published in the Eastern Daily Press. The bulk of this article is also on the website (Weekend Reports) for anyone who would like to read it.

Tony included a bit about the history of Country Link, and how it started, in his article. If you were on the trip to Oxburgh Hall on the Sunday morning there's a good chance your photograph will be in the paper. I would really encourage clubs to get articles published in their local newspapers as it is such good publicity. Always remember to put some contact details on there, even if it is the national website. Photographs are a good reader attraction too.

In the May Chairman's Chat I told you that in Nottinghamshire we had been on a walk in Fox Wood. Since then we have done three more walks on some lovely Summer evenings.

At the beginning of June we visited Netherfield Lagoons, on the flood plains of the River Trent. This area contains both gravel pits and slurry pits, where the slurry for nearby Gedling pit was dumped. The area is now managed by the Gedling Conservation Trust, is a local nature reserve, and is home to a wide variety of birds. It always amazes me how quickly nature recovers in these areas.

For our next meeting in June we visited Boundary Lane Farm where we were hosted by Anne and Nick Gray. Nick's family have farmed this land for over 100 years and it has a fascinating history. Anne provided coffee, tea, and cake for us which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Those of you who came to the South Normanton weekend last October may remember doing this farm walk.

Finally, last week (5th July) we had our annual photo quiz and walk. This time we started at The Bromley Pub in Fiskerton right at the side of the River Trent. Again, it was a lovely evening and you can see from the photograph that we all enjoyed a drink outside the pub afterwards.

It's always good to see the different events that other clubs have on their programmes. Please send in a report of your club's activities, along with a photo or two, to Vicky so that they can be loaded onto the website. The reports don't need to be long and should be sent to nottscountrylink@yahoo.co.uk.

A quick reminder that Lorraine Clark from Warwickshire Country Link is organising a National day out at the Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire. This is to take place on Sunday 16th July. Details about the trip are on the Country Link website under upcoming events. The Victorian structure transports boats between the River Weaver, and the Trent and Mersey canal, over a height of 50 feet. It has featured in a number of TV programmes and was a visit during the Cheshire National Weekend at Frodsham in 2019.

Finally - congratulations to Dawn Le Gros for taking part in the Pink Ladies Tractor Run on 2nd July. This annual event raises money for Cancer Research UK (Breast Cancer Appeal). There will be a full report from Dawn but the latest news is that 197 tractors undertook the journey, Dawn has raised over £800.00 this time, and the Pink Ladies have now raised over £1 million since they started in 2004. Well done to all who took part.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the Summer.

Peter Hunt - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

I hope everyone is having the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather.

Well done to the members from the Essex & Suffolk, and Norfolk groups for organising the very enjoyable National weekend in King's Lynn. If you haven't attended a National Weekend I would encourage all members to come along.

Friday night is always fancy dress and the theme for this weekend was Kings, Queens, Emperors, and Dictators. I dug out an Arab outfit, which I'd picked up on my travels, ready for the fancy dress competition during the Friday night function. This is just a fun competition, it's not compulsory and not everyone takes part, as a lot of people have travelled a long way.

During the weekend a number of trips were arranged for Saturday and Sunday. I decided to do the walks on offer on both days. The Saturday walk was a 7-mile circular walk, taking in Roydon common nature reserves, woodland, country lanes and stopping at the castle at Castle Rising. We had the opportunity to explore the castle ruins. Saturday night is a Black-Tie Dinner Dance.

Sunday's walk was 4 miles along the beach, during which we came across the remains of the steam trawler "Sheraton" on Hunstanton Beach.

On Sunday afternoon the national AGM was held during which the committee was elected for the coming year. The positions of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer remain unchanged with me, Liz Goodwin, and Lesley Sheaf all being re-elected to our respective posts. Dick Stephens joined the committee having been elected as Vice-Chairman for the coming year. The President's Cup was presented by Peter Hurt, National President, to Ayrshire Country Link for the largest increase in membership.

The National Weekend Organiser's Key was handed over by Tony Paul (Essex and Suffolk) to Kirsteen Henry (Ayrshire) as Ayrshire are hosting the Autumn Weekend in Irvine from 3rd - 6th November 2023.

A buffet supper was served on Sunday evening, followed by a quiz, games, and a raffle. The charity supported by this weekend was Parkinson's UK and, as Chairman, I am proud to advise that over £500 was raised for this charity.

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the Summer.

Peter Hunt - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

Hope you're all enjoying / have enjoyed the Easter holidays. As the weather starts to get better it's nice to be able to enjoy some evening and weekend visits.

Nottinghamshire Country Link recently had the opportunity to visit Steve Tooley's home and have a look around his collection of vintage and classic vehicles. Steve is a member of Notts Country Link, and some of you who came to Scalford Hall weekend in May 2016 may have visited Grain Tech Services which is run by Steve's son at the same location. Steve's collection includes a variety of vehicles from a Routemaster double-decker London bus through to Massey Ferguson tractors. Steve very kindly provided sausage rolls sourced from a local butcher, and our member Michele had baked rock buns. It all went down very well.

Lorraine and John Clarke joined us for the evening and it was good to welcome someone from another club. Lorraine used to work in the area but is now based in Warwickshire and is the West Midlands area rep.

Lorraine is busy organising a national day trip to Oakham Treasures on 18th April. This museum is based near to Bristol and is not the Oakham in Rutland. There is a wide variety of items on view, including those relating to retail and farming history. If April were not such a busy month for me at work I would most definitely have been looking at taking the day off to attend. If you would like to visit you need to contact Lorraine by Thursday 13th April to let her know. Details are on the front page of the website if you want more information.

The Derbyshire programme includes a couple of visits that are close to Nottinghamshire and we are including them on our next programme so that our members can also attend and make these joint meetings. The first of these is to The Great British Car Journey - a museum outlining the history of the car. At the end of August there is always an outdoor concert at Darley Abbey Park in Derby. This is a lovely setting and the fireworks are spectacular. Many people take picnics and have their lanterns ready for when it gets dark later in the evening.

It's always good to see the selection and variety of events that other clubs have on their programmes. If you would like to showcase your club's activities then send your programme in for inclusion on the website, or send a report in to Vicky Hutton (with one or more photos if you can) telling us all about it. The reports can be quite short, but it helps to show potential new members what we do. We just need to make it sound interesting. To contact Vicky please use the email address nottscountrylink@yahoo.co.uk

The National Committee had a productive meeting on 26th March. Thanks to those committee members who travelled longer distances after having lost an hour's sleep due to the start of British Summer Time that weekend. We now have nominations in for all of the committee positions and we are prepared for the forthcoming national AGM at the King's Lynn weekend.

Looking forward to seeing you all at King's Lynn in May.

Peter Hunt - Chairman

Hello all Country Linkers,

I hope everyone is looking forward to the Spring! In the East Midlands it seems to be the Dance Season. During February approximately 16 people from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Country Link clubs attended a dinner dance which had been organised by Peter Hurt, and was held at a local golf centre. The Derbyshire crowd stayed over in a local Premier Inn and on Saturday morning some members met up at the same golf centre for breakfast before the Derbyshire people went off on their way home.

Derbyshire members, along with some members from other clubs, also attended a Barn Dance held in Tutbury.

In Nottinghamshire our first meeting in March was a slightly belated Pancake evening. This was held at Peter's house and is an annual event. It's a really good opportunity to sit and chat with other members during the evening. There's always an excellent turnout at this event. Of course, the pancakes help with that! Peter provides the eggs for the pancake batter, Michelle makes the batter, and Tim cooks the pancakes. Two other members provide hot roast pork and cobs so there is always plenty of food to go around. It's a real team effort.

There are a couple of pictures here of people sat tucking into their pancakes, and Tim preparing to toss a pancake. It is much harder than it looks to get a good actions shot!

It's good to see that more and more clubs are sending in their programmes for inclusion on the website. I know that Vicky keeps emailing the clubs to ask for them. If you don't have a programme then a short piece about which night (or day) of the week your club meets, with a contact name and phone number can be uploaded instead. Have a look at what's on the website already and see if you can send in something similar. I'm always impressed with the variety of meetings and the things you find to do in your areas. Now that we are advertising regularly it is important that the website is kept as up to date as possible. This creates a better impression of Country Link as a whole.

The Booking Forms for the Spring weekend are expected to be available very soon. The weekend is to be held at Knight's Hill Hotel on the outskirts of King's Lynn, Norfolk, from Friday 12th to Monday 15th May. They will be put on the website, Liz Goodwin will email put to group organisers and area reps, and I believe Phil Charles will email them out to everyone who attended the last weekend in South Normanton - as long as they have an email address for you. One way or another you should receive, or be able to access, a form for your use.

As is usual the National AGM will be held over the course of the weekend. This is the time of year that our National Subs are reviewed, and our National Committee members of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, and Secretary come up for re-election.

If you are interested in any position then you need to submit a nomination form to the national secretary by Friday 17th March, stating which position you are interested in, nominated by (name), and seconded by (name). Anyone wishing to stand for any position should be a fully paid-up member of Country Link and can only be nominated by, or seconded by, other fully paid-up members. Nomination forms have been emailed out to the group organisers so please ask them if you want one.

We do not currently have a Vice-Chairman so nominations are particularly welcome for that. Another vacant post is for an area rep for the East Midlands.

I look forward to seeing many of you in King's Lynn during the May weekend, and am hoping to visit more clubs around the country in the coming months.

Peter Hunt - Chairman