In this issue:

•   Chairman’s musings

•   Members’ meetings

•   Music & Dance Evening

•  Advance notices

• Caravan/Motorhome rally

•  Boules

•  Forthcoming Events

•  Visit from Liederbach

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Hello again. Well, the weather this year just doesn’t know what to do, does it? Easter seemed to mark the end of the warm dry spring weather and since then we seem to have had probably the wettest drought ever! Luckily the weather did cheer up for the weekend of the inaugural Twinning camping weekend and, whilst the chilly wind persisted, we were able to entertain some visitors on the Sunday afternoon.

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Members’ meetings. The March meeting - the last of the 2011/12 season - was very well attended. The attraction was the Woofability dogs - especially the puppy who made a “star guest” appearance! The 2012/13 season of meetings will be starting one month earlier than usual, on THURSDAY 13^th September, and we are currently working on getting a varied selection of speakers to entertain and inform us. These meetings will continue to be held in St Michael’s Parish Rooms, starting at 8pm.

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he music evening held on 17^th March was another successful venture. Well over 60 people gathered in the Memorial Hall for an evening of assorted styles of music from Dorset band Fippeny Piece. Everyone I have spoken to has said how much they enjoyed themselves so this is another one to bear in mind for repeating in the future.

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The proposed caravan and motor home long-weekend went ahead on 12^th - 16^th April at East Creech Farm campsite. This was a beautiful venue offering splendid walking country and a superb view from the site across Poole Harbour to Poole and Bournemouth. As I said in my introduction, the weather managed to cheer itself up for the long weekend. A pity that Joyce, who organised the event for us, was unable to attend as she injured her foot (again) the weekend before, but at least she managed to visit us with some others on the Sunday afternoon. 

With nothing firm planned this turned out to be a very informal and sociable event enjoyed by everyone. We will be doing another - probably midweek in late September - at a different venue but still probably in the Purbecks. So those of you with tents, campervans or caravans who missed out this time - do try to join us for all or part of the break.

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The boules practice season started on 3^rd May - or would have done if the pitch had not been flooded!. Every fine Thursday evening you will find us at the boules piste in  Verwood Memorial Recreation Ground from 6pm onwards. Beginners are especially welcome and we do have some boules you can borrow if you don’t have your own. The future of the Dorset league is in the balance at present, so we may be issuing friendly challenges to other local organisations during the course of the summer.

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Forthcoming events. Please note the following upcoming events in your diary and come along to support us:

 

• Monday 4^th June: Verwood Town Council’s fête to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on Ferrett Green and the Memorial Recreation Ground. We will be running a wine bar from a pitch on Ferrett Green serving French and German wines.

• Saturday 9^th June: Our annual Companion Dog Show will be held from 10 am in the Memorial Hall and on the Recreation Ground. Come along and support us - light refreshments will be available and you don’t need a dog in order to watch whilst enjoying one of our renowned BLT sandwiches!

• 30^th November - 2^nd December: Our annual autumn long weekend foray across the channel. This year we are visiting Arras, staying at the 3* Holiday Inn Express in the centre of the town. Also included are guided tours of Wellington Quarry - the network of tunnels beneath the town - and the WWI trenches and Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge. Finally, our visit co-incides with the start of the Arras Christmas Markets - the biggest in Northern France. Cost of the weekend is £175 including all coach and ferry travel, bed and buffet breakfast and gratuities. At the time of writing there are just 2 places left, so call Terry on 822959 very soon if you would like to book.

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Preparations are virtually complete for the the visit from our Liederbach friends over the August Bank Holiday weekend, 24^th - 28^th August. It looks as though 36 Liederbachers will be coming over and we do now have sufficient new hosts for those who have not been before. The programme will include visits to the Hall and Woodhouse brewery at Blandford St Mary and RNLI at Poole. These are planned for visitors only but if hosts would like to join in this may be possible. Please let us know soon if you do wish to come as places have to be booked in advance.

We have put in a bid to have a previously unnamed road leading to Liederbach Drive in Verwood named Taunus Way in honour of our 20^th anniversary. East Dorset District Council is considering this proposal and we hope to have their decision in a few weeks. If we are successful we hope to have a naming ceremony on the Sunday of the Liederbachers’ visit.

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Don’t forget that Julie can always make use of any new, high-quality goods you have no need of (such as unwanted presents) that would make suitable raffle prizes. We also have an urgent need for new goods as tombola prizes or used goods for the table top sale at the Dog Show.

Also, Catharina can always recycle your old greetings cards into new ones to sell for our funds.

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Your Officers are:

 

 

 The next newsletter will be the October 2012 edition.

 In this issue

• Chairman’s musings

• Subscriptions

• Members’ meetings

• Skittle Evening

• Music & Dance Evening

•  Advance notices

• Caravan/Motorhome rally

• Club31  

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The big shock of the winter so far  was the sudden closure over the Christmas period of Club31. Not only has this taken away the best meeting venue in Verwood but it lost us  our “home” for Members’ meetings. Some rapid phoning around by Lin found us St Michael’s Parish Rooms for the January, February and March meetings. This buys us some time to find a permanent (if anything can be said to be permanent) home for next season’s meetings. This may require a change of day so we must be prepared for this. Watch this space for futher developments.

 Things have gone a little quieter since our Christmas “do” but behind the scenes much has been happening to prepare for the year ahead. Details inside this issue.

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Subscriptions for 2011/12 are now overdue. If you haven’t had your new green membership card it’s probable that you haven’t paid yet. It only costs £5 per household so please get in touch with your newsletter deliverer or, if you get this by email, John Pettitt (number overleaf) to renew. If you don’t then this will be the last newsletter you get.

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Members’ meetings. Our December celebration was again well attended and enjoyed by all. Thanks to Ieuan Davies for stepping in at short notice and proving that the Welsh really can sing! An excellent buffet supper provided by the Club was followed by Terry’s traditional Christmas Quizgo. With the bar open for drinks everyone left fortified and in the festive mood. Such a same we won’t be able to do this in quite the same way again.

January’s meeting was very well attended - unusually so for a January meeting: perhaps because the second Wednesday fell little later in the month than usual. We had a very interesting talk by Janet Townsend on the Jubilee Sailing Trust followed by a lively question and answer session over tea and biscuits.

February’s meeting was equally well attended. We had a thought-provoking presentation about Julia’s house, which included a short video by Martin Clunes. I think changing the format of our meetings to include tea and coffee after the talk affords more time for informal chats with the speaker and among ourselves; so we’ll stick with that for the March meeting too.

The March meeting will be on the 14^th in St Michael’s Parish Rooms, starting at 8pm. Please note the later starting time as the hall is booked by someone else until 7.30. Our subject for this, the last meeting of the season, is Woofability and is an opportunity to meet the wonderful dogs and get acquainted with the work they do.

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Our second annual skittles evening was held on 19^th January at Horton Village Hall. This was another very successful evening, with tickets sold out and and excellent jacket potato supper provided by the ladies, not forgetting John’s bread pudding for dessert. The skittles competition, organised by Dave, was great fun, the eventual winners being Verna Jones for the ladies and John Stone for the men.

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As announced in the last newsletter, we will be holding a music and dance evening on 17^th March in the Memorial Hall. Live music for listening to and dancing to will be provided by Dorset based band Fippenny Piece. This is a bring your own drinks and nibbles event although teas and coffees will be provided. You should already have seen posters advertising the evening around the town. Tickets, priced £7, are available from Ian on 821280.

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Advance notices. Please note the following upcoming events in your diary and come along to support us:

 Monday 4^th June: Verwood Town Council’s fête to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubillee on Ferrett Green and the Memorial Recreation Ground. We hope to be running a wine bar marquee there to help get everyone into the mood for a celebration.

 Saturday 9^th June: Our annual Companion Dog Show held from 10 am in the Memorial Hall and on the Recreation Ground. Come along and support us - light refreshments will be available and you don’t need a dog in order to enjoy one of our renowned BLT sandwiches!

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Don’t forget that Julie can always make use of any new, high-quality goods you have no need of (such as unwanted presents) that would make suitable raffle prizes.

Also, Catharina can always recycle your old greetings cards into new ones to sell for our funds.

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Plans are now well advanced for the visit from our Liederbach friends over the August Bank Holiday weekend, 24^th - 28^th August. We need to know who is willing to host for this visit, so please give John a call on 868763 to let him know how many you can accommodate.. If you prefer email his address is john@blackwellsurveys.co.uk

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A reminder that we hope to hold a caravan and motor home long-weekend rally in the spring. The proposed dates are 13^th - 15^th April and a venue in the Purbecks has been suggested. We need to know numbers, so if you would be interested in joining in, please let Joyce know on 824469.

   

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Your Officers are:

 

 

 The next newsletter will be the June 2012 edition.