Galhampton Race Night 2022

A quick change out of hi-viz for three Rotarians following the Castle Cary Children’s Carnival (see earlier post) and it was time for an enlarged team to be ready for the Galhampton Race Night.

This is the third race night we have run with Galhampton Village Hall and the attendance was larger than ever as the word spreads as to what fun can be had whilst raising funds for the Village Hall, and this year, PROMISEworks and MNDA.

Proving that your correspondent does know his a**e from his elbow, the picture below shows him proudly holding his prize for winning the heads and tails. Note in the background of that picture, our projectionist safely cocooned in her cupboard where she was required to stay all evening!

Many thanks to the Village Hall Committee and the Rotary team for another successful race night.

Castle Cary Children’s Carnival 2022

The Children’s Carnival was back after its enforced break, so, so were we!

The theme for the children was “bugs” so one of our number (no name given to ensure there can be no issue with GDPR in this blog) was dressed as Spiderman – as if you needed me to tell you who it was in any case!

Just time for a cuppa and then we will be reconvening for the Galhampton Race Night – more of which later….

“The Cows” Headline Worthy Farm Visit

On 29th September 22 members and guests visited Worthy Farm, Pilton, by kind invitation of Michael Eavis. No we didn’t go to experience loud music and mud but an opportunity to learn how technology is driving the future of dairy farming in the UK.

First stop was the state of the art robotic rotary milking parlour. Everyone was impressed with how placid the cows were as they spent 12 minutes on the carousel, whilst the robots took care of everything from beginning to end. The visitors asked lots of questions and came away knowing a lot more about where the milk on our kitchen table really comes from.

Next stop was the old milking parlour, now a home cinema and a chance to watch a video of Michael touring the farm and revealing his philosophy about the farm and how he is rooted in the land. As he said farming is not a job, its a way of life.

Then it was off to see the latest piece of technology on the farm – the concrete cow – more correctly known as an anaerobic digester. This piece of kit turns waste from the herd into methane gas, which is then used to generate electricity. Its a key part of Michael’s vision for a sustainable farm and he is well on his way to a net zero future for the farm.

Many thanks go to our enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide Steve Kearl, farm manager, ably assisted by the dedicated and long time herd manager John Taylor.

Finally as the sunset behind Glastonbury Tor it was time to head off for a fish and chip supper and our chance to “chew the cud”.

Turned out nice again.

A walk from Zeals with Zeal and Zest

On Thursday, 22 September 2022 by the kind invitation of Graham and Karen we assembled at the Harris’s new abode in Zeals and set off on, what had been billed as, a “walk on the wild side”.

In the outcome, we had a very pleasant late summer’s evening in which to enjoy the quiet roads, lanes and paths in the surrounding countryside, even taking in a couple of WW2 air raid shelters and a “river” crossing.

Having worked up a good appetite we returned to Chez Harris for supper and excellent conversation covering a myriad of topics as ever. Particularly baffling, yet enlightening, if not in a good way, to the “outside” team was the meaning of certain emojis. Thankfully, public decency prevents any further disclosures!

Plafest plays again.

Saturday morning witnessed the happy return of Playfest for the first time since 2019.; and what a lovely and happy event it turned out to be! The Brue Valley Rotary team were in action throughout. As always our famous griddle proved popular serving bacon baps to early visitors before moving seamlessly towards mid morning burgers, cheeseburgers and the iconic “Works”. Rotary’s involvement was not confined to the griddle – far from it. Face painting, cup cake decorating, candle making, tea light decorating plus animal colouring and drawing activities were provided by club members. Many happy children (and parents) made it all worthwhile. Our thanks to Burns the Bread for their support in providing baps and Denela’s Bakery for the bacon.

What a lot of dummies

North Cadbury Village Hall was the venue for the latest Red Cross “save a life” first aid course on Saturday, 3 September.

Whilst taken most seriously, the course was conducted with great humour and fun (not a mention a few Jaffa Cakes and Chocolate Hobnobs!). The interest and participation was manifest in the course finishing nearly an hour after the scheduled time!

Perhaps the following pictures tell the story better and explain the heading: