Edition 581 July 2025
Printed courtesy of Mrs Annette Haynes as a service to the community
Please email your entries for the August 2025 issue to: ThePennant@mail.com by 21st July 2025
Bradford Abbas Sports and Recreational Club
- We will be holding our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 1st July from 8pm. Everyone welcome to attend. We are looking for volunteers to join our committee; please come along to the AGM or speak to a committee member in advance.
- Memberships are now overdue
- We are also still looking for a permanent cleaner - Please speak to Clare Bagwell on 07484 136717 for further details
Our current opening hours: Sundays 2:30pm - 6pm, Mondays 7pm – Closing, Wednesdays 7pm – Closing, Fridays 7pm – Closing
Mill Farm Party, Saturday 26th July
A perfect family day out!
WIth music all day from Soulhole, The Ducks, Sereniform, Dream Robbery, Pylon poets, Leonian Dream, Conor Smith. Arts and craft stalls as well as hot food and drinks from local vendors, The Mill Farm Cottage bar, serving Twisted cider, Cerne Abbas beer and Parachute Brewery beers as well as many other locally sourced drinks. Free bouncy castles, face painting and much more.
For tickets please visit www.millfarmmusic.com
Please use local discount code : LOCALMUSIC for a discount at the checkout.
ST MARY’S COMMUNITY TRUST
Saturday 13th September – THE LAST RAYS OF SUMMER
Outdoor musical event. Join us in the village playing field (entry on Westbury) from 3pm to 9pm for a fun afternoon and evening of entertainment. We will have a bar and there will be food for sale. Why not bring a picnic (but please don’t bring drinks – buy your drinks from us!). The Parish Council kindly waives the no dogs rule for these events so Fido can come too, just so long as he stays on a lead and his people clear up after him. Put the date in your diaries now.
See you soon.
Jo, Alan, Rob, Ruth, Trevor and Gary
The ST MARY’S COMMUNITY TRUST team
Mixed Ability Yoga
Mixed Ability Yoga - Saturdays 8.30am-9.30am Bradford Abbas Village Hall
Come along and join us! These are friendly and fun classes, suitable for most. Start your weekend with movement and relaxation. £9 per session.
- July dates: 5th/19th/26th (No yoga on the 12th)
- August dates: 2nd/9th/16th/23rd (No yoga on the 30th)
Emma Riley: https://www.facebook.com/Emma-Riley-Yoga-112642420645325
https://www.instagram.com/emma_riley_yoga/
Rose and Crown, Bradford Abbas
Opening hours: Tuesday 5- close; Wednesday - Thursday 12-3 & 5-close; Friday 12-close; Saturday 10am – close; Sundays 12 noon – 6pm.
Restaurant:
Wednesday- Friday 12 - 2pm & 5.30pm-8.30pm; Saturday 10am - 2pm; Sunday 12 – 2pm
All food is available as a takeaway.
Updated lunch time and evening menus:
- Lunchtime Specials: Pop in to see our specials board! Served Wednesday - Saturday 12pm - 2pm
- Tuesday Evenings: Pizza & a Pint £15 Served from 5.30pm - 8pm
- Wednesday & Thursday from 5.30pm
- Join us for Grill Night!
- Fish & Chip Friday: Served every Friday lunchtime 12pm - 2pm
- Join us for breakfast, every Saturday served 10am - 12pm
- Sunday Carvery - Limited availability, please contact us to book
- Meat Draw every Sunday at 4.30pm
July events:
- Quiz Night: Thursday 17th July
- Come and test your knowledge! Teams of 4-6, £2pp. From 8pm.
- Live music: Jorden Lindsay. Saturday 19th July 8.30pm
Future Dates:
- Saturday 2nd August: Rose and Crown Summer Party: Live music, street food, children’s entertainment. More information coming soon.
- Christmas party Menu coming soon
Don’t forget, you can hire our skittle alley - please pop in or contact us to discuss further
Contact us on: 01935 423199, email info@therosecrownbradfordabbas.co.uk
Visit our website https://www.therosecrownbradfordabbas.co.uk
Chatty Crafters
The next Chatty Crafters Meeting is to be held on Friday, 18th July. Come and join us for an afternoon of crafting and chatting to be held at The Rose & Crown, Bradford Abbas between 2-4.
At our August meeting, Friday 15th, we are holding a Breast Cancer afternoon tea, all proceeds to go to the Breast Cancer Charity, do come and join us for a cup of tea, cake and a chat to raise funds for this vital cause.
The Friendship Club
Our next meeting is at 2.00pm, Tuesday 1st July at Bradford Abbas Sports and Social Club. There is Bingo, a small draw, Tea & Biscuits and a chance to have a chat and laugh with fellow villagers. New members will be warmly welcome. Our meetings are always on the first Tuesday afternoon of the month.
ST MARY’S CHURCH, BRADFORD ABBAS
LAST MONTH…
Sunday 15th June SHERBORNE MARKET - Thanks to everyone who came along to our stall at the Sherborne Sunday market, raising funds for our heating project.
Saturday 28th June ABER VALLEY MALE VOICE CHOIR - We were delighted once more to have the Aber Valley Male Voice Choir back at St Mary’s. To everyone who came along to support, we send our love and thanks.
COMING SOON…
Wednesday 20th August - ORGAN RECITAL
We are fortunate to have some excellent organists in our area and, according to those who play it, Bradford Abbas has one of the best church organs around. Huw Ridgeway and John Henville have agreed to play a varied programme of organ music for us, starting at 7pm. Doors open at 6pm and there will be a bar serving alcoholic, soft and hot drinks. Tickets cost £5 and are available from Gary Siggins (07799 430400) or pop into the church during our Saturday morning café session (every Saturday!) to get yours.
Saturday 6th September from 14:45pm - PARNHAM VOICES
The Parnham Voices are an a capella choir, based in Beaminster. They will be presenting a short concert of their music (about 45 minutes) in our church. No need to buy tickets. Entry to this event is free, although the choir will make a collection for Julia’s House Children’s Hospice. This promises to be an enjoyable afternoon so why not come along. Refreshments will be available too.
Later in the Autumn
We are planning an antiques evening with professional auctioneers from Dukes Auctioneers sharing their knowledge about treasures you bring from home. We are also trying to fit in a shared musical evening in the Village Hall. Check future editions of the Pennant and on the Pennant’s Facebook page for details.
Three Valleys Benefice Choir
If you have sung with our benefice choir in the past or if you would like to join, you will be glad to hear that the choir will be singing at an Evensong service in Bradford Abbas on Sunday 5th October. The choir is made up of singers from parishes across our benefice and is led by Simon Eadon. This is a great opportunity for B.A. -based singers to join in. The next rehearsal is in the Jubilee Hall, Yetminster on Friday 25th July at 6pm. For more details, call Gary Siggins or Anne Hurrell (07799 430400). Please remember to spread the word if you know of others who might like to join us.
UPCOMING SERVICES - EVERYBODY IS WELCOME
SUNDAY 6TH JULY 10am Morning Worship (lay-led)
SUNDAY 20TH JULY 10am Holy Communion (led by David Dunning)
SUNDAY 3RD AUGUST 10am Morning Worship (lay-led)
SUNDAY 17TH AUGUST 10am Holy Communion (led by TBC)
On Sundays when we are without a service here in Bradford Abbas, we encourage villagers to take in a service at one of our neighbouring churches. There is always a list of these on display in the church porch.
A message from the Team Rector
After weeks of glorious and almost unbroken sunshine, Summer has come and the weather has turned grey and overcast. Why am I not surprised? It seems that Spring has become Summer and Summer has morphed into, well, into one of those north sea beaches where fresh is a description of the wind rather than the fish.
Now I am not complaining — well maybe a little bit — but you do wonder at times what is happening to our countryside. Who can forget those long summer car journeys where the windscreen wipers turn the deluge of splattered insects into a creamy-brown sludge. Now there’s barely a single splat. Either the insects have learnt not to cross roads or something very dramatic has happened to their numbers.
We recently had an inspection of our house. This is part of the CofEs management of property to ensure that it is kept in good order. As we wandered around spotting things that needed doing with various degrees of urgency, our visitors started saying things like, ‘Could that be put in the Net Zero budget?’ or ‘I am sure that comes under Net Zero’. Now it all comes out of the same (limited) pot of course, but the way we organise what we have does tell quite a lot about what matters, and it is a good sign at the very least that there is a pot dedicated to undoing the causes of climate change even on such a minuscule scale.
As a follower of Jesus, both personal and professional, you will not be surprised if I ask where Jesus is in all this. What does Jesus think of our various attempts to protect the planet from the adverse effects of our residence on it. I suspect in one sense Jesus is probably cheering us on. ‘Go for it, my friend, do what you can!’ I suspect though in another sense Jesus is holding his head in his hands and saying, ‘My friend, what have you done?’.
What I am sure of is that whatever happens over the next few decades, whether we find a wonderful source of carbon-free, waste-free energy or dry out our fertile land into a dustbowl, this is not the end. We are offered the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, not because we’ve wasted the old one and left for Alpha Centauri, but because God is a God of beauty and perfection, because the natural world and the love of human beings is precious beyond the limited reality of this briefly inhabited planet.
So if you see the writing on the wall of climate change, look up. If you despair of our efforts to hold back the tide of a warming planet, hold on. God has a greater vision for us than we can ever have on our own.
George Moody, Team Rector, Three Valleys Benefice
Monday Night Bingo
Every Monday at 6.45pm with eyes down at 7.15pm. at Bradford Abbas Sports and Social Club. Everyone 18 and over are welcome to our weekly light-hearted evening which also includes a small draw and a chance to win the SNOW BALL and of course a laugh and chat, we finish just before 9.00pm.
Sherborne Bradford Abbas Camera Club
- Regular meetings will resume in September. At the first meeting on 9th September is the AGM and members evening, when members can submit up to three images on the theme “Summer”.
- See our website sbacameraclub.co.uk for further details, or follow our Facebook page.
Bradford Abbas and Clifton Maybank Village Hall Bookings
To book the village hall please visit the parish council website to check availability, https://bradford-abbas.uk/hall, and complete the booking form. If you are unable to complete the form online please email bacmvh@gmail.com or ring 01935 602279 and a form can be printed off for you. A form must be completed to finalise booking the hall for insurance purposes. Thank you for supporting your village hall.