The annual Cricket Club v Village Shop match took place on Saturday 22 August with each team playing for what is now the Mary Caroe Cup. Mary was passionate about Hambledon. She was also a well-loved figure in the village, a shop volunteer, and a tough but fair competitor. It is entirely fitting that this fixture should be named in her memory. Andrew Dunn reports on the match. Many thanks to Ged Hockridge and  Tom Powell for permission to use their photos.

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From the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hambledon Village Website has played a key role in keeping residents informed. The final Sunday Reflection comes from the web team.

With the arrival of Coronavirus all our lives changed dramatically. New rules, regulations and instructions were being issued on an almost daily basis and only the website could react, almost instantly, keeping villagers abreast as we went into lock-down.

At the beginning the website posted an update every day, alerting people to what was happening around the village and providing emergency contact details.

On March 29^th, just after the introduction of lock-down, it ran a short article entitled A Sunday Reflection. It began with these words:  “It is an extraordinary time when families and friends cannot gather together over Sunday lunch, when our little church up on the hill cannot be open for Sunday worship, when our village pub cannot open for convivial drinks and conversation, and even our remarkable community shop has to take a short break…

Yet, just as extraordinary, has been the response of the people in our village and its immediate neighbourhood, and today we say “thank you” to all those who have made sure vital things happen when so little can happen.”

The reflection captured the mood of the moment and it was well-received. The web team decided to offer a weekly opportunity for others to ponder on their changed circumstances. Since then, individuals and organisations have stepped forward to provide a fascinating insight into how one small rural village adapted and coped in extraordinary times.

The village shop, its volunteers, the church, the pub, the parish council, nursery school, football and cricket clubs, the village hall, ramblers, cyclists, parish magazine, and many others, have contributed Sunday Reflections and they will stand as a testament to the resolve and fortitude of our resilient community.

The Reflections gave a contrast to the necessary factual information that the website has provided since lock-down – a chance to draw breath and take stock, gather our thoughts and, very often, count our blessings.

We lost a remarkable village lady, Mary Caroe, to the virus. Other were afflicted by it. Some of us had to isolate. It was a challenging time for us all.

Now lock-down has been lifted, restrictions have been eased, and a semblance of normality has returned. Deaths and infection rates have dropped. But we all know that the virus is still at large and we must hope and pray it will not return on the scale we witnessed this Spring and early summer.

The Sunday Reflection has given a weekly window on life in Hambledon at the most unusual of times. It has done its job and run its course. We hope you have enjoyed reading them.

The Village Web team – Paul Osborne, Jon Petersen, Mary Burrows and Stewart Payne

The Management Committee have decided that it is not going to be possible to hold the usual annual general meeting this year, but because there are formalities required to approve the accounts for the year to 31 January 2020 and to confirm certain other decisions, all shareholders should have recieved a SurveyMonkey invitation to vote.

If you are a Hambledon Village Shop shareholder and have not received either a SurveyMonkey email invitation or (if you have a btinternet email address) an direct invitation to vote, please contact [email protected] before 20 August and a new invitation will be issued.

OPEN TO ALL, YOUNG AND YOUNG AT HEART!

Here is something you can do to help the village and keep those young (and older) minds creative and busy for a while! 

As many of you may know, a group of volunteers have set up a speed watch in Hambledon. The intention is to make drivers more aware of their speed and generally slow the traffic through the narrow lanes of the village. But it only works when we are out there in our high vis jackets… 

..And that’s where you, your children and grandchildren come  in.  We are launching a Speedwatch Scarecrow Competition. The idea is to make a scarecrow, dressed and decorated in whatever way you like, with a sign attached to it imploring drivers, in a friendly way, to slow down. Then attach this to a pole, fence panel, hedge, wooden stake, gate post, deck chair etc on your land but visible from the road. If you don’t live near the main roads through Hambledon then get in touch and we can arrange somewhere visible. 

This initiative will be a more constant reminder to drivers to check their speed, as well as alerting them to the presence of children on the lanes in the village. We intend to get The Surrey Advertiser down to cover the story so that the speeding problem gets more coverage and have asked a local police officer to judge the competition!

The deadline for displaying your Scarecrow is October 1st. The scarecrows will be judged and the winning design will be awarded with a special prize …to be announced! 

Below are a couple of links to help you make a basic scarecrow and then – get creative. Maybe you want to make the classic Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz or Worzel Gummidge, a well known cartoon character, a (flattering) likeness of someone in the village, or perhaps someone with a high vis jacket, speed gun, or zimmer frame is more your style, or a character with a well known slogan, or perhaps local racing driver Damon Hill ..the choice is yours – the more eye-catching the better!

Please get in touch on [email protected]  if you have any questions and to let me know where your Scarecrow will be so we don’t miss any. If I can’t answer then I’ll enlist the help of Mary Grove head of all things speed watch and a Parish Councillor. 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/gardening-children-schools/family-activities/Activities/activities/make-a-scarecrow

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Scarecrow   

http://www.thekidsgarden.co.uk/makeasillyscarecrow.html

We look forward to seeing your creations!

The Hambledon Speed Watch Team 

Our club secretary was interviewed by Lesley McCabe on the the BBC Surrey Breakfast show last week.

If you missed the interview you can listen below. As Matt discusses the impact of Covid 19 and the support the club has received from the Football Foundation

The Merry Harriers, Hambledon’s 16^th Century village pub, reopened just over a month ago as lock-down restrictions eased. This involved a great deal of hard work and planning to ensure it could keep locals, visiting guests and staff safe. In this week’s Reflection, general manager Jake Andreou looks back on how things have gone.

One month on from re- opening, and I thought it might be time to write a little reflection on how the pub has handled the changing circumstances post-lock-down.

Our customers will have noticed the many differences in how we serve at the Harriers, but the changes go far deeper than what you see.

The most notable thing for me is how much our busy hours have changed. It used to be a certain bet that Sunday would be the busiest day of the week, but now it is almost impossible to predict just how busy we’ll be on a day-to-day basis.

For example, some Tuesdays have been busier than a peak summertime Sunday would have been last year! As a result, it is difficult to manage the rota to ensure we have enough staff on duty from our small (but dedicated) team.

I would like to say “thank you” to everyone who has visited us in the last month for how understanding you have been with my staff. It really does make a difference and it keeps their heads held high on otherwise challenging shifts.

It has also been great to see how many of you have come down and supported us in an ever-changing world. When I arrived last autumn, I seldom saw the front ‘beach’ as busy as it is now, with tables full of people laughing and enjoying each other’s company…at a safe distance of course.

In terms of an advert for the business I’m proud to be running, I could not ask for more.

We are very fortunate to have the outdoor space and seating that we do, and I’m hopeful that the weather remains favourable for as much of summer as possible!

How things will change when winter arrives – bringing colder and wetter weather – will be next in a long line of challenges since the Covid pandemic arrived. But that is something we must plan for when the time draws nearer. At the moment I have enough to concern me, trying to keep enough barrels of Shere Drop in our cellar and bottles of rose wine in our fridges!

For me, lock-down was difficult at times with only the ever-patient Nick Ash, the sous chef, to keep me company for long stretches.  Together with Jake the dog, of course.

So, I just wanted to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have checked in on me and the pub, not just as customers but as friends, and I look forward to seeing you in the days and weeks to come.

The benefits of cycling have been highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Government urging more people to use bikes to replace car, bus and train journeys. There are health and environmental advantages as well.

But for some in our village, getting together for a enjoyable evening ride is a long-established practice. This week’s Sunday Reflection is provided by George and Caroline Pitt, of the Hambledon Peddlers.

Our twenty eighth season started on 16 April 2020, just as Lockdown was being tightened. As pubs were closed three couples brought their own refreshment in saddle bags and we enjoyed a circular ride past the station, Coombe Lane, to Chiddingfold and the shut Crown and up Vann Lane .

We enjoyed seeing the Snakeshead fritillaries outside Vann and went on to see lambs and yellow primroses along the edges of Upper Vann Lane where we rested on the side of the lane with the evening sun shining from the west.

After a glass or two and plenty of chat there was a choice of return route. The more intrepid braved steep Upper Vann Lane and across the bridleway to Hambledon Church and back down to Hambledon Village Hall. The less athletic descended Upper Vann Lane gladly and cycled back to the Cricket Green and the Village Hall.

With Lockdown tightening further, no more group evenings were held until July 23′^d when three of us cycled to Chiddingfold and finding the Crown closed we had a drink in the back garden of The Swan.

In the three months from mid April to mid July in order to keep active Caroline and I went out on our own on a number of Thursday evenings and used previous Hambledon Pedller routes to enjoy the marvellous spring weather. These included Godalming, Hurtmore and Eashing, Hambledon Common and Witley, and Dunsfold and Chiddingfold. Bluebells were enjoyed at Winkworth Arboretum and in Hambledon Hurst, and wild garlic on bridleways to Dunsfold and Mill Lane, Chiddlingfold.

On most of these rides we asked friends near to the route if we could see them outside on a socially distanced basis for a drink.

We are hoping that we can renew Peddler rides and keep riding out on Thursday evenings over the summer. We meet at the Village Hall at 6pm. Do come and join us and give us a try.

Any questions please call us on 01428 682940. Or you may want to be included on the HP group email at [email protected]

For those who haven’t yet visited Hambledon’s online Art Fair, or who want to return to make a last-minute purchase, you still have a few days left!

It closes this Friday, July 31st at 10pm.

We would like to thank everyone who has visited the site, John C for putting the website together but mainly, of course, the wonderful artists who have made the fair such a success with their beautiful work. We are so lucky to have such a wealth of talent in our local area.

To visit the fair, please go to www.hambledonartfair.co.uk

Small businesses operating out of Hambledon’s former coal yard have grouped together to showcase what they have to offer on a new website which also promotes wider village attractions.

Under the banner of Coal Yard Creatives, the website was set up by Ian and Alpa Cox, after relocating their micro gin distillery to one of the new units.

Currently the yard hosts a range of small enterprises including tile maker, a joinery, party shop, bespoke bakery, catering service, florist and upholsterer, and a martial arts studio, with potentially more to come.

The Shop operating hours are about to become a bit simpler.

From Monday 20 July the Shop will be open 08:30 to 14:00 7 days a week, deli service will be available 08:30-13:30.

The Post Office will continue to be open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 09:30 to 12:30.

Deliveries will be now be available Monday through Friday with orders placed by 10am delivered the same day. We love having your business and we encourage you to place orders – don’t think you’re creating unwanted work for us!

These changes provide a bit more consistency and also should allow us to create a safer environment in the shop which allows us to get additional volunteers and professional staff back working in the shop. 

In August the Shop will be participating in the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme. Under this scheme we will offer a 50% discount, up to a maximum of £10 per person, to all customers who eat and/or drink at our picnic tables throughout August on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. And that’s why we have bunting….

Contrary to popular rumour, the bunting has not been put up to celebrate a birthday this Thursday, it’s really there to allow us to clearly explain to customers how to eat on our premises, given that in August we do not plan to have seating in the shop or on the terrace. Anyone ordering food or drink for consumption on the shop benches inside the bunting will qualify for the Eat Out to Help Out discount.

At the outset of lock-down, many village organisations were required to close. Others, and especially the community-run village shop and post office, had to find a new and safe way of working in order to provide customers, many of them elderly, at risk and self-isolating, with vital deliveries. One consequence of this was “The Paper Girls”. In this week’s Sunday Reflection, Jo Kirkland, one of that cheerful team, looks back over an eventful time.

On an early lock-down day back in March a text went out to our COVID-19 village group asking for volunteers to deliver the newspapers a couple of times a week. Four of us responded: Alpa, Portia, Lena and I. From that moment on we became “The Paper Girls”, a soon-to-be hit “girl” band with Jon Petersen as our hard-talking, star-making manager, delivering papers until fame beckoned!

It seemed like a way to do our bit for the village and a bit of fun, to have some banter in the group, and get out and about. Little did I know that it would come to define my week; to remind me what day it was as they all began to merge into one; to give me a chance to chat with at least four other people and also the households on my paper round; to track my progress on my bike up the hills of Hambledon and to feel I had a purpose other than home schooling and watching Netflix. 

I already knew Lena and Jon but I had never met Portia or Alpa. In our treasured chats (some a bit longer than others – sorry if your paper was late some days!) while we waited for our papers, we discussed kids, families, nutrition, injuries, death, business, politics, hangovers, emotions. Jon fixed our bikes, we occasionally practised yoga, we found common ground and we made friends.

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Since the introduction of restrictive measures to combat the Coronavirus pandemic, Hambledon website has invited village organisations to reflect on life under extraordinary circumstances. This week we hear from Camilla Edmiston on behalf of the Book Club.

There is something truly magical about losing yourself in a really good book. Never more so than in the current strange times in which we find ourselves.

As part of the Merry Book Club I have loved the opportunity to sometimes be challenged to read different things – books I would never have chosen but have then really enjoyed. Or sometimes not.

However, it is still a revelation and creates interesting conversations when we meet and discuss who likes what and why.