Author Archives: marketharboroughwi

Fascinating insight into Foxton Locks

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Foxton locksMichael Beech, curator of Foxton Canal Museum, was visiting speaker at May’s monthly meeting this week.  He gave a fascinating overview of the history of the building of the famous inclined plan at Foxton, with pictures of boat users using it and the top and bottom basins.  One scary picture was of the Methodist Church Sunday School annual outing – health and safety was obviously not paramount then, with a barge overflowing with youngsters actually standing in the barge as it was being hoisted up the plane!

Michael’s presentation also took us swiftly through the funding of this part of the Grand Union Canal, an overview of the national waterways, the Lock Keeper’s Cottage and information on the ongoing restoration and upkeep of this famous, integral part of the inland waterways.

The Foxton Locks Festival runs on 29 and 30 June 2013.  A great day out for the family.

Successful yard walk in Market Harborough this week

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Market Harborough is well known for its various hidden yards, including the Courtyard and Aldwinkles.  On Wednesday, 8 May, a group of members enjoyed a guided tour.

Evanda Greenwood, Programme Organiser, reports, ‘Great Yard Walk tonight with James Carpenter!  Amazing the things you learn about in the place where you live.  Very interesting.’

Fun at skittles evening

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Skittles-w500-h500On 19 April members had a fun evening at the Railway Inn, Kibworth playing games of table and floor skittles.    You can see a couple of members in action above (not it’s not the beer, just great technique captured in the shot!).  The food was good, too!    Hope you can join us for the next one.

 

Foxton and the local waterways – May’s monthly meeting

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Foxton Locks 007-w500-h500The visiting speaker in May will be Michael Beech, Curator of the Foxton Canal Museum.  He is also the author of ‘Foxton Locks and the Inclined Plane: a 200 year History’.  The evening is open to members and non-members and is on Wednesday 22 March at 7.30 pm in the Congregational Church Hall, Bowden Lane, Market Harborough, to find out lots more about our local canals and waterways.  A small charge of £3 will be made for non-members.   See you there!  Bring your partner or a friend.

Ayrshire Cows and Stilton Cheese

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stilton-w500-h500Jane Barnes of Southfields Farm, Somerby entertained us with a fascinating talk on Wednesday about the life of a dairy farmer’s wife in these touch economic times – not for the faint hearted!

Jane is married to Mark Barnes, a ‘rare beed’, she says.  Why?  Because there used to be 65,000 dairy farmers in the UK and now there are only 10,000, of which he is one.  With a herd of Ayrshire cows (they have changed in recent years from Fresian), Jane took us through the trials and tribulations of modern day farming, from buying new cows  to the 365 days a year commitment to managing the herd.  Mulberry, the bull, figured in there, too.  Each cow, at its peak, produces 30 or 40 litres a day of milk.  This is used solely for the production of Stilton cheese, which we were all delighted to sample.

Jane described her enterprising business skills, too.  She supported the farm with her silk flower business but this was hit by the foot and mouth outbreak.  Her cows were not affected but countryside visitors to the farm were restricted.   Jane has subsequently built up a very busy diary of talks, as well as visits to the farm for both adults and children.  For the latter, she works closely with a nearby arable farmers’ wife, so the children get the chance to visit both in a morning and begin to understand how the output of each helps the other.

National Conference – Hazel is to represent us

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Hazel Stacey, our President, is to represent us at this year’s National Conference in Cardiff.  This will be on the weekend of 1 June 2013.

The main resolutions is the Decline of our high streets and town centres. To read more details: 2013-agm-resolution-briefing.  We are very lucky in Market Harborough to have such a thriving town centre and so many amenities.  In many parts of the country this is not the case.

Join us for a skittles evening on Friday 19 April

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Long alley skittles-w500-h500Pub skittles Are you free on Friday 19 April?  Then join us for a relaxed evening at the Railway Arms, 6 Station Street, Kibworth Harcourt, LE8 0LN.

There will be games of table top and long alley skittles.  It doesn’t matter if you have never played before, we’ll show you what to do.  It’s good fun.

If you want to eat, there’s pub food at approximately £5 per head.  Book and order in advance – Contact Us – or just turn up on the night.

Being a dairy farmer’s wife, including how QR codes are used on their cows!

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April’s montly meeting speaker will be Jane Barnes.  Jane works with her husband, Mark, on a 220 acre farm near Somerby.  The Barnes family is the third generation to run their farm.  Milk from their herd of Ayrshire cows is sold to Clawson Dairies to make Stilton cheese.

article-2173488-140ECD42000005DC-960_468x314-w500-h500Jane will be speaking about her life as a dairy farmer’s wife, which includes opening their farm to visitors to show them how milk is produced.  Jane and Mark are bang up to date with using modern technology.  They came up with the whacky idea  (harmless) of spraying their cows with a white QR code so visitors could click on their smartphones and read an up to date blog of the cow’s life and contribution to the farm.  I hope I haven’t given it all away … !

To find out more, come along on Wednesday 24 April at 7.30 pm at the Congregational Church Hall, Bowden Lane, Market Harborough.   It’ll be fun, too, sampling the Stilton cheese!

An evening of reflexology

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A big thank you to Sue Burgess, who stepped in at very short notice, to run this month’s session on reflexology.  Sue began by explaining her approach to KORE, simply meaning a balanced approach to treating mind, body and spirit.  She touched on a short history of the subject and also passed around samples of essential oils, notably rosemary and orange.  Sue then went on to demonstrate a back massage on her colleague, followed by how reflexology is used to stimulate various areas of the foot to encourage the body to heal itself.   Hazel kindly offered her feet for this treatment.

Sue can be contacted on 07951 185518 or srburgess@farming.co.uk.  She is based in Earl Shilton.

A slight aside, if you believe in things happening in 3s, then last month the original speaker could not make it as he passed away at New Year and this month’s planned speaker had to attend a funeral.  What can the third thing be … ?

Wear It – success for our first ever fund raising event!

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Fashion show-w500-h500Valerie Hitchcox, one of our Co-Treasurers, has been in touch this weekend to say, ‘Just to let you know that the final total for the profit from the fashion show was £317.45 once all expenses paid.’

That’s excellent news for our first ever fundraising event.  The money will go a long way to helping with regular expenses, such as venue hire and speaker costs.

Thank you, again, to all those who gave their time to make it all happen, as well as to  everyone who attended Wear It and made it such a fun evening.  Enjoy wearing your new outfit, too – I certainly am!