Bainton Reading Room Homepage

Do come along, have a tea or coffee, catch up with village life and suggest things the the reading room might do in 2012.
We already have a few great ideas lined up:

Tickets £10 (Includes a Licenced Bar) NB: Tickets need to be purchased in advance since seating is limited
please contact David Hare 01780 740626 Oak House, 2 Beever Way, Bainton,PE93AP
Cheques made out to 'Bainton Reading Room'

James Goodwin will give a performance which follows the history and styles of blues piano and boogie woogie music.

Norman DePear, 78, from Bainton, Cambridgeshire got the surprise of his life earlier this year when he discovered this strange shaped potato growing on his allotment. The whopping three and a half pound Romano potato grew after being left in the ground over the winter. “I’m surprised it lasted the harsh frost! There were three of them in the ground last year so I just left them, only one was left when I came to dig them. It’s an ugly thing!” Mr DePear said. The potato measures 12 inches from head to toe but also sports many uncanny human characteristic features such as a mouth and an arm. As if that didn’t make it lifelike enough, there are also indentations for eyes and a raised area similar to a nose!

For fellow farmers wishing to grow an unusual spud like this, it had no artificial help, “It’s a self set potato and completely organic!” Only horse manure was used from horses in the nearby village of Ashton. Mr DePear has said “I’ve always used horse manure on my crops, but in the seventy years I’ve been growing potatoes I’ve never come across one like it.” It’s certainly a potato to remember and comes soon after similar news that a potato in the shape of a turtle has been found in China! So what is Mr DePear planning to do with the potato exactly? “I don’t know what to do with it, hopefully my daughter can cook it and we can all have dinner off it one day!”

2011November Parish Council minutes now available Click here or use Parish Council menu on left

2011 Werrington Joggers : come to Bainton for the annual 'Rice Pudding Run', all welcome, Sunday 27th November 9:30

2011 Quiz Night in aid of Bainton Reading Room on Friday 16th September
(including fish and chip supper)

7.30 start, Tickets £10
Quiz Master Nigel Clough
Come as a table of 8, or join a table when you arrive
Drinks available on the evening, Good fun evening! & Raffle
Tickets from Helen Fancourt 01780 740091

2011 Come and help celebrate the Club’s 25th Birthday
at The Buttercross Birthday Breakfast!
Sunday 5th June, 10.30 – 12.30, in the Reading Room.
Take your pick from
Croissants & Coffee, Cakes & Tea, Bacon Rolls & Juice.
Entry only £2 for Adults; £1 for Children (school age)
Read the Sunday Newspapers. Browse through the Buttercross Archives.
Chat to friends and neighbours.
Competition PRIZES Competition PRIZES

Under 16? A painting or picture of the Buttercross. (Any medium on A4).
Over 16? A photograph of the Buttercross. (B&W or colour, min size 5 x 7).
Further entries on the day by 12 noon. Prize giving at the end.
The winner in each age range will receive a £10 voucher.
Comptition kindly sponsored by the Parish Council.

Catalogue returns/Sample Items FRIDAY 17th JUNE 12 noon until 7pm

DONT MISS OUT ON AN AMAZING BARGAIN TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS PLEASE
call Jane Franks 740004 or Helen Fancourt 740091 if you need to know MORE !!

Stamford Shoestring Roadshow Saturday 21st May 2011 at 7:30

Proceedings start with a glass of wine at 7:30, the road show commences at 8:00 and lasts about 45 minutes.
It is entitled 'Battle of the Sexes' - and is a light hearted look at men's view of women and women's view of men
Hopefully everyone will stay and enjoy chatting after the performance

After much discussion about the possible options for celebrating the wedding this was thought would work and would be simple to organise

To enable everyone to enjoy the event please bring:
............ what you want to drink/eat and some to share
............ your own garden chairs or rugs
............ your own mugs/cups/glasses (tea/coffee/squash will be available).
If it is raining we will change venue to the Reading Room.

May 21st An evening with Stamford Shoestring at the Reading Room
June 5th Buttercross Birthday Breakfast
July 3rd Family Day at Bainton House
July 9th Wiki at the Allotment
Sept 16th Village Quiz at the Reading Room

2011 Allotments are starting to look good, if you want to try it then we have a half a plot available.

Some great old photographs of Bainton residents
enjoying themselves from 1980 & 1981, Many thanks to Mary Birkbeck

As you may know Bainton Reading Room receives funding from Peterborough City Council each year to help cover its’ running costs. This year due to a lack of funds itself, PCC is proposing that instead of £1,250 which we have received for many years now, only £400 can be guaranteed with may be some extra cash for special projects.

Each year it costs nearly all the money we receive from grants, donations and room hire to run the Reading Room. The loss of several hundred pounds will make a big difference and whilst there are a couple of thousand pounds in reserve for emergencies we really need to cover the running costs with income each year.

The Reading Room is so important to our villages and a facility we could not let disappear. With this in mind we invite you to become a Friend of Bainton Reading Room. We ask for an annual donation of £20 to help towards the running costs. In return we can offer the satisfaction of knowing that the Reading Room will continue for our benefit. As a token of thanks to our Friends, a 25% discount will be available when booking the Room.

If you are interested please sign up by providing the details below and return to Helen Fancourt (3 Bainton Gardens) Treasurer with your £20 donation.

Friendly and relaxed Pilates group lessons given by level III qualified Pilates instructor.
Pilates is an exercise method which was developed by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s.
Pilates focuses on breathing, posture and body awareness.
People of any age and ability can enjoy Pilates which is a gentle yet powerful form of exercise which is often recommended by physiotherapists and osteopaths

Call Chris 07966371402, sharpchr@gmail.com website www.pilates4everyone.co.uk

2011 The TED evening was enjoyed by about 20 people and we launched the 'Friends of Bainton Reading Room'

Rory Sutherland: Sweat the small stuff

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: ...

Stacey Kramer: The best gift I ever survived

Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life ...

Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music

Autumn tidy up around the Reading Room Saturday 16th October 2010 10:00 to 12:00
(This went well many thanks to all who participated)

As Autumn draws in the outside of the reading room needs a bit of a tidy up, weeds, plants and a bit of sweeping. A good excuse for a cup of tea.
Do join in between 10 and 12 on Saturday morning (16th)

I am please to announce that the new booking secretary is Andy Totten, he can be reached via email (Booking Enquiry) or on 740381

1. Look on the Booking calendar to see if it is available
2. Fill in the booking form which has lots of useful information
3. Either: Email a copy of the form the booking secretary on Booking Enquiry
4. Or: phone Andy Totten 740381
5. Check your entry gets into the booking calendar

On the 23rd of May 2010 Charles Milner passed away peacefully.
For many years he played an active part in the work of the Reading Room - he will be missed.

It all worked well, many thanks to all who helped and participated... the photos can be viewed here

As of Jan 2010 we have an acre of land containing 10 allotments next to the pump house on Helpston Road.
See Allotments in Google Earth

These are starting to take shape as the tenants get established. There is still space to develop further and anyone interested in taking on an allotment or part of an allotment can ring:

Graham Fletcher - 01780-740034 ( Association Chairman ) or
Richard Harris - 01780-740886 ( Association Secretary )"

2010 Laura Goodliffe is hoping to restart Yoga/Pilates/Meditation
on Tuesday evenings

Many thanks to all the Spring Cleaners who washed, mended, planted, painted, wired, swept, weeded, de-cobwebed, polished, pruned and made tea. The looks much better for it.

Bainton Parish Council has its very own page, giving you information on how it works and the latest minutes.

We had a great talk by one of the authors of the handbook Geoff Hodge (See it on Amazon)

Please note the actual plots are not quite as show - I will update the diagram once it has settled down

2010 Wiki Cafe season now over
We raised £490 enough to buy a Shelterbox
Many thanks

What’s new in 2010 at the Reading Room
The most significant thing is that the Reading Room celebrates 100 years of serving the community

Walks and runs around Bainton: to see them in Google Earth download them here: Download KMZ file

See Bainton Reading Room on Google Earth Download KMZ file here and then open in Google Earth

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?utm_campaign=en_GB&utm_medium=lp&utm_source=en_GB-lp-emea-gb-gns-svn

To enable people to see what goes on to keep the Reading Room in good shape here are my notes of what we are working on (of course we also have our official minutes which we will start to put on the website)

The big news is that in 2010 the Reading Room will be 100 years old and we will be organising a weekend of Reading Room things 21st/22nd/23rd May 2010. Perhaps the smallest literary festival in the world! If you have any ideas or wish to help then do get in touch. – We are imagining things like poets reading, Stamford Shoestring doing ‘With Great Pleasure’, storytelling for children, local Mercury newspapers from 1910, book swap, TED, Joyce Grenfell performance… etc

Car parking was discussed: We feel that as a shared resource it should be available to everyone in the village – if you need to park your car and you are not part of a booked event then just check first with the booking secretary (Elaine 740323) to ensure it is available, there could easily be a wedding, a funeral or an activity that is just about to fill the car park.

We have a couple of mid week evenings where we could start some new activities, if you any ideas of what you want and better still someone who would like to organise it then do get in touch (Ian 740009)

Thank you for responding with your preference on the choice of land to use for allotments in the village. Just in case you were unable to attend the meeting on Monday night, the results of the survey were:

Monday's meeting was attended by over 30 people where a lively debate took place over the issues raised. The Parish Council then held a meeting chaired by me because the Council Chairman registered an interest and did not participate in the meeting. At the end of the meeting the Council voted in favour of Michael Bratley's land ( voting 2:2 with my casting vote as chairman).

The Parish Council is now putting into place the agreement to rent the land from Michael Bratley, and to prepare the necessary action plans to bring it to a suitable condition for those people in Bainton & Ashton who wish to have allotments. This could well require a combined effort from the whole village so it was very encouraging to know that over 30 of you were willing to give up your time on Monday to be involved in the debate. Even though the decision might not have been in line with your own preference we hope that the true spirit of Bainton & Ashton residents will move this project forward with the required pace.

You can follow ( and contribute to) the progress of these plans by speaking to any of your councillors, or by coming to the next Parish Council meeting on Monday 9th November at 7:30.

Celebrating the Colleweston roofing project at the Old Schoolroom, Ian and Janette had a Wiki in the porch. Thanks for those people who came and the welcome advice during the project. We raised £50 for Breast Cancer Care in support of Ocean Angels Mary's niece and friends who rowed across the Indian Ocean

Proposed changes to the position of the fence to create a new 'patio' space outside the reading room.

Following on from our first TED evening, here is another chance to experience some of the best ideas in the world:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader and you will be surprise at the diversity of interesting things that are covered. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in about 18 minutes each. To attend in person costs about £3000 a seat and the conferences for the next few years are already sold out! However by the magic of the Internet we can hold our own TED here in Bainton.

TED Conference @ Bainton Reading Room. Saturday 21st February 2009 7:30pm
(note changed from Friday)

The format will be to select about four of the best speakers and show them on a big screen. The evening will be informal with time to chat as well as listen. A nominal charge of £2 per person will cover the cost of the room, electricity tea and coffee. BYO wine etc. is optional.

I hope to see you there … if you plan to come give me a call (740009) so I can gauge the numbers.
Everyone welcome.

2009 Wiki Cafe season is now over.

When Helen has counted up the proceeds I will let people know, however my guess us that it will be about £150... not bad for sitting around chatting. This will go to charrities people suggested - probably one local and one international. Thanks for attending many people said how much they enjoyed the conversation.

If you would like to participate in a Wiki in the Garden during the summer do let me know.

Sewing circle meet on Mondays

from 2:00 to 4:00
Cosy craftwork, conversation and concentration.
If you would like to know more contact Nina Dobney on 01733 253162

Table Tennis meet twice a week during the season

Tuesdays & Thursdays

contact Chris Gardiner (via Elaine Ward for details 740323)

2009 Bainton Parish Council Information

New, the Bainton Parish Council has its very own page, giving you information on how it works and the latest minutes.

Parish Council Page with minutes November minutes now available

See the photostory of installing the Bainton Stone: (click picture)

The Reading Room is a village facility that is used for a wide range of social, sporting and educational events and is a focal point for the village

New Google map feature for Bainton Reading Room

If you have Google earth click here to see where we are on the planet

2009 Broadband has arrived & we have a wireless hotspot...
click here for instructions
Main Hall: Xmeters by Y meters, can seat YY

One of the village walks