This month’s magazine is available for download as PDF. Here’s the introduction from the editor:

The weather was so awful for the Bitton Open Gardens event in June but it didn’t deter the hardy who came dressed for it.
Ironically, after such a dry spring, gardeners had been looking forward to some rain, but the timing wasn’t good!
I visited the Watsons’ inspirational garden, which goes all the way down to the Boyd Brook, the Knights’ garden at Church Farm Paddock, with its charming brook, and the Boultons’ quintessential English garden that backs on to the churchyard, before heading home to dry out! Let’s hope that next year, Open Gardens is luckier with the weather.
As you will know, Maria Shepherdson left us at the end of May, heading off to Wiltshire and a parish of her own. Maria is on our cover this month, pictured at her last service at St Mary’s, and Ann Willis has penned a tribute – see page 4.
Congratulations are in order for Avon Valley Railway Heritage Trust at Bitton Station, which has been honoured by the Queen. Read more on page 13.
This month our resident beekeeper Brenda Claxton offers advice on what to do if you come across a swarm. In recent weeks several people have called me, wanting to get in contact with Brenda because they’ve had thousands of bees swarming in their garden. Read her helpful article on pages 17-18.
Like me, I expect you have been astonished by the speed with which the new Rec clubhouse has gone up. It’s due to open in August and will be a most valuable asset to the whole village.
See you next month. In the meantime, let’s hope for some more seasonal weather!

This month’s magazine is available for download as PDF. Here’s the introduction from the editor:

This is the biggest issue of Focal Point that I’ve produced so far! Put your feet up and settle down for a good read.
It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Royal Wedding street party. Thank you to everyone who came, despite the heavy rain, thunder and lightning that was forecast, but never actually materialised. See the report on page 12.
The treasure hunt set on the day by Richard Bebb was very popular. If you didn’t get the chance to do it, fear not – its here in Focal Point this month, starting on page 14.
I was also delighted to hear from Stuart Turner that the Royal Wedding celebrations in Upton Cheyney were equally successful and enjoyable. Read his report on page 11.
We will be having another street party in Bitton next June to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, when we can look forward to a special four-day bank holiday weekend. If you have any ideas for the party, or want to be involved in any way, get in touch with me. Details will follow in due course.
May was a momentous month for Bitton Rec; the old timber building was demolished and work has already begun on building the replacement. See page 25.
We have a new column this month, written by Jamie Pike, landlord of the Upton Inn (starting on page 21). And at the time of going to press, there were workmen at the White Hart, which has been closed now for two-and-a-half years. Is a reopening date close? Watch this space.
Oh, want to know what life was like in Bitton under William the Conqueror? Turn to page 10!
Perhaps I’ll see you at the Bitton Open Gardens event on Sunday, June 12, one of my favourite days in our community’s calendar.
Best wishes

This month’s magazine is available for download as PDF. Here’s the introduction from the editor:

Will the unseasonal, yet wonderful weather we’ve had during the latter half of April last into May? I do hope so!
Sadly, bad weather put paid to The Meadows Primary School’s plans to holding their carnival on the field in their last week of term, but that did not stop the pupils having a marvellous time as you will see from our colourful cover. See a report on page 22.
The new salon at the old post office is now open – and they are delighted to offer Focal Point readers a discount on all services during May. See page 27.
Although it’s great to see the shop back in use, our pub is still lying empty. And at the derelict Intier factory, for which South Gloucestershire planners are considering the concept of a development drawn up by agents Colliers for the site owners, no news is expected until mid-summer. The council has said it cannot prepare and issue its assessment of the document until after the local elections.
Talking of which, we go to the polls in early May, voting not just for a district councillor and parish councillors, but on the referendum on AV, the alternative vote. See page 15.
Also in Focal Point this month, Barbara Merritt brings us news that the chamber organ in the Lady Chapel of St Mary’s is off to a prestigious new home. And we reflect on The Iniquitous Voyage, which premiered at St Mary’s, with a review and reports by the playwright/director and youngest cast member.
There is also an update on saving Upton Cheyney’s United Reformed Church from closure.
You may receive this edition before our Royal Wedding street party on April 29. Let’s hope it stays dry! A big thank you to everyone who has helped in some way. There are so many of you!

This month’s magazine is available for download as PDF. Here’s the introduction from the editor:

I am writing this on the first official day of spring, March 20. And what a beautiful day. Blossom is on the trees and the temperature is nudging 15°C.
Let’s hope we get weather like this for Easter Sunday and for the Royal Wedding street party taking place in Church Road on Friday, April 29.
Last month Stuart Turner told us about hopes to save the United Reformed Church in Upton Cheyney from closure. Well, we bring you good news on that front. See pages 10 & 11.
Over the page you can read curate Maria Shepherdson’s final article for Focal Point. She is off to Avebury in a couple of months where she will be Priest-in-Charge of the Upper Kennet Benefice. We have been lucky to have Maria for four years and will miss her very much.
On pages 14 & 15 you can find out why 2011 is a significant year for Avon Valley Railway. They have kindly offered Focal Point readers a discount voucher to use during April (see page 26).
Find out about the plans to replace the dilapidated clubhouse at Bitton Rec on pages 22 & 23, and take up the invitation to attend the Great Bitton Tournament!
Just after we went to print, the new salon in the High Street was due to open. We wish them the best of luck with the business and hope it will be well supported in the village.
A review of Bitton Community’s Theatre latest production, The Iniquitous Voyage, will be in next month’s edition; the timing of our print deadline means I can’t include it this month.
Happy Easter to you all!

If, like me, you have been relatively inactive in the garden in the first couple of months of this year, then we have reached the time when the real action must start.

With a lot warmer start to this year than the previous couple of years, things will start to happen sooner. For sure, I would expect our lawns will be crying for their first proper cut. And yes, you can bet that the first of this year’s weeds will need attention.

Never mind, late snowdrops will be giving their final showing of the year, followed by the daffodils already now in mid-February. I have noticed the early dwarf varieties just showing their flower buds so by the time you read this, there should be patches of yellow showing everywhere.

I like daffodils a lot; to me they are nature’s way of saying spring is upon us and goodbye to winter. These wonderful flowers come in so many forms, dwarf to long stem, short, trumpet to long trumpet, and every shade of yellow nature can provide. My favourite, however, is the much-loved dwarf variety tete-a-tete, probably now the most popular daffodils bought in the UK. Although they only grow about six inches high, they can withstand any weather thrown at them. Every garden should have a patch of them.
Have a happy and hopefully busy March in the garden. Here’s to a nice, early spring.

• Remember to dead-head daffodils after flowering – this helps to build up the bulbs for next year
• An excellent time of the year to check all your climbing plants are tied up and supported for this year’s growth
• Cut back lavender hedges (never cut into old wood)
• In the vegetable plot, if the ground will allow, sow radishes, lettuce, parsnip, early carrots and early peas
• Good time to plant and divide perennials
• Great month to plant rhubarb, pot-grown fruit trees and bushes, as well as strawberries
• If you have a greenhouse like me, there is much that can be sown now

The mystery of the beehive is especially intriguing during winter months. Daylight hours are short and this season has been extremely cold with snow covering the hives. What is happening in there? Little activity is to be seen from the outside and we cant open the hives to look.

It might surprise you to know that within the dark confines of the hive, on this dismal February morning, the colony is actively rearing its young; as the old winter bees die, a whole new community of young bees is being raised to take their place.

On a rare sunny morning, I watched with joy to see a bee busily collecting pollen from the bed of crocus, food for the new brood; seeing her return to her hive with deep yellow socks on her back legs, I knew this colony is alive and well.

A colony of bees is not what you might think; perhaps just a collection of separate insects working its way through life. It is more appropriate to think of a colony of bees as a whole, a superorganism able to construct its own home, keeping a balance of necessary tasks going within its depths, a superorganism in constant communication with itself, alive and vibrant.
At its heart lies the queen, it is her presence which keeps the whole community working in harmony. Should she die, their autonomy would be lost. But with her presence secure within their midst, they have been able to collect and store sufficient food during the summer months to feed themselves and their brood, and so survive the winter when they are mostly unable to fly outside the hive.

Come late January and prompted by the lengthening days, deep within the hive the queen starts to lay her eggs, one to every cell. After three days, the newly-laid eggs hatch into larvae, which the bees attentively feed, surrounding each larvae with a pool of brood food. The house bee produces this bee milk through her hypopharyngeal gland after consuming pollen and honey; it is surprising to discover an insect is able to feed milk to her young somewhat as mammals do.

Each frame of beeswax comb is produced by the bees themselves and can be seen as the essential structure or body in which they live and procreate. A piece of beeswax is an intricate, delicately beautiful construction. The eggs are laid at the centre of the comb surrounded by concentric circles of pollen, the whole encased with beads of honey, so that regardless of the weather, the brood can be kept warm within the centre of the bee cluster and food is ready to hand.

All this unseen activity going on in the dark interior of each hive means that, come spring, the colony will have raised a whole new community of young bees ready to emerge in their thousands to collect nectar and pollinate our fruit trees, an essential link in the chain which enables our beautiful planet to thrive and blossom.

Directing a multi-media drama documentary can be much like running a long distance obstacle race, where no sooner do you overcome one major problem, when another takes its place, writes John J Evans.

The whole process seems to be pitted with unforeseen difficulties which prey on the mind during those middle-of-the-night moments of despair, when you wonder at your sanity in taking on such a complex venture. Not this time. In spite of the worst winter for decades, our band of actors and helpers have braved the snow and ice to rehearse for our production of The Iniquitous Voyage, a new drama-documentary about slavery.

Our cast includes a number of experienced actors from the locality, many of whom have entertained us with their famous BURP pantomimes, with the millennium show in Manor Farm’s Tithe Barn, the Son et Lumiere show at St Mary’s Church, and various village sketches.

We have also recruited experienced actors from outside Bitton, including a small nucleus of talented actors from the Afro-Caribbean communities of Bath and Bristol. It has been a pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic and committed group of people.

Support from the local community for all the technical, back-stage and front-of-house requirements has been really impressive, and many people are assisting with filming, costumes, props, ticket-selling, front-of-house, programme compilation advertising, publicity, music and sounds production, set construction and PowerPoint presentation.

The Iniquitous Voyage

Our play includes traditional acting, filmed sequences, a Gospel choir, an African drum-dance group, poetry and music.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 24th, 25th, 26th March
At St Mary’s Church, Bitton
at 7.30pm

Tickets are available from
Elaine Skidmore on 932 6822
Roz Burmester on 932 7953
Adults £6 Children £3
(Not recommended for children under 12)

Proceeds to:
Anti-Slavery International campaign and the chancel renovation at St Mary’s

Bitton Village Residents’ Association
invites you to
Flicks in the Sticks
on
Friday, March 18
when we will be screening
Africa United
starring
Eriya Ndayambaje (Dudu), Roger Nsengiyumva (Fabrice) and
Sanyu Joanita Kintu (Beatrice)

Africa United tells the story of three Rwandan children and their bid to achieve their ultimate dream – to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Football World Cup in Johannesburg. Armed with ingenuity, determination and blind optimism, they defy all dangers so that Fabrice can finally be part of the “team for the dream”. Their travels – through Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa – reveal a side of Africa few people ever see. Africa United is a story of joy, laughter, hope and generosity. We thoroughly recommend it.

• Doors open at 7.30pm and the film starts at 8pm.
• The venue is the Church Hall, Church Lane.
• Drinks will be available at the licensed bar, choc ices will be served in the interval and there will be time to chat with friends.
• Admission is FREE

In 1807 and 1833, the Wilberforce Acts declared slavery in Great Britain to be illegal. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed freedom for all US slaves in his Gettysburg Address. Since then, almost every country throughout the world has outlawed slavery.

But slavery has not been eliminated; it is increasing across the world. Even in parts of Europe and North America, where slavery appeared to have been consigned to history, it has returned in more subtle and insidious forms.

Let us hope that with the support of organisations such as Anti-Slavery International, slavery will finally and genuinely become a thing of the past. Anti-Slavery International is the world’s oldest human rights organisation. Founded in 1839 in London, it is the only charity in the UK to work exclusively, at local, national and international levels, to eliminate all forms of slavery throughout the world.

It has organised many successful campaigns which have led to significant improvements in the working, housing and educational conditions and general welfare of thousands of men, women and children living under slave conditions. It works with national and international governments and agencies to identify the realities of modern-day forms of slavery and to assist in their elimination.

Half of any profits from our play, The Iniquitous Voyage, a drama-documentary on slavery, will be donated to this important charity.

This article is part of the Who Are Our Neighbours? series in which we help others beyond our parish boundaries