Community Association

Village Hall full for its 70th Birthday Party

~ BAACA

What a fantastic afternoon! Around 100 people of all ages packed the Village Hall on Saturday afternoon to pay tribute to the place that this wonderful building holds within our community.

We had tea, sandwiches and cakes, an exhibition of recent and past history, an audiovisual slideshow of what has been going on at the hall in the last ten years, entertainment from The Nightingales and the opening of the refurbished kitchen by Alan Page.

Huge thanks to the hall management committee for funding the event, to the Bellingdon Belles for catering and to everyone who helped by lending us equipment for the slideshow as well as photos, articles and other artefacts for the exhibition. Particular thanks to Jane Edmunds for her sterling efforts in hammering pins into a particularly unwilling backdrop! And of course to Helen Harding for marshalling the whole thing even when it looked like climbing Everest might have been easier.

We’d love to hear what you thought of the event so please do let us know – either by talking to a committee member or by emailing us. We’re having a think about what else we can do to keep people coming to the hall so if you have any ideas – bingo, coffee morning, film night, karaoke etc – do let us know as well!

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Village Hall 70th: THIS SATURDAY 10th November 4-7pm

~ BAACA

Don’t forget to let us know ASAP by email (contact@bellingdon.com) or phone (758901) if you’re planning to come on Saturday tea time to celebrate our wonderful community hall. We’ve had a fantastic response so far, and it would really help with catering to know how many people we’re expecting.

Please do feel free to dress in vintage clothing, bring along photographs etc of your memories of the hall – we’ll be having a “memory wall” where you can share your reminiscences so that we can record them for future generations.

“Silent Silhouette” tribute to the fallen

~ BAACA

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed a new “resident” in Bellingdon.

Located opposite St John’s Church, the “Silent Silhouette” of a WWI Tommy serves as a timely reminder of the sacrifice of those who have served their country, and many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice to give us the life we have today.

 

 

The memorial in St John’s Church (pictured below) shows four names of servicemen who sadly did not return from the Great War: Frank Brown; Cecil Stanley Eldridge, Ralph James and George Ewen Sills.

The silhouette has been funded and organised by the Bellingdon & Asheridge Community Association and St John’s Church, Bellingdon. Any community groups who would like to make a contribution towards the cost are invited to contact us.

Some background on the “Silent Silhouette”, from The Royal British Legion:

To mark the final year of the World War One centenary, The Royal British Legion is inviting the public to take part in a movement to say ‘Thank You’ to the First World War generation who served, sacrificed, rebuilt and changed the nation. In support of the Thank You movement we are offering for donation a variety of silhouettes to symbolise the communities that took part in WW1, they shaped the nation as we know it today.

The silhouettes are near life-size and can be fixed to a wall or attached to an upright post in public or private spaces. In addition to the iconic image of a ‘Tommy’ (our original Silent Soldier) there are equally significant representatives of the members of the communities the nation says thank you to, including those who gave medical support, soldiers from across the commonwealth, RAF/RFC, Navy, munition factory workers and suffragettes who lead the fight for votes for women. They all helped makes us the nation we are today.