Christmas come early..... and a surprise in the post!

Hiya, how lovely for you to pop over to see me, I have been a bit busy lately and haven't had time for chatting but I am taking an afternoon off to catch up and see what you are all up to, Its been a bit of a hectic couple of weeks and it would appear that Christmas has come early to our household.....My tree is nearly finished, but I seem to have lost a box of baubles but its a good excuse to go out and buy a few more.....

Jamie's last day of school should have been Friday and it would appear to have begun a week early.....



Aerial view from Church Tower
(Photos by Dr Micheal Perry, Vicar at St Barnabas Church)


School Playground with Hall in background

The school flooded on Saturday morning, just behind the school is the River Cam which burst it banks and flooded the school, bridge and surrounding houses, apparently the area was under 2 - 3 ft of water, luckily some local villagers managed to get into the school and start raising everything and anything off the floor but I think it will definitely be closed till the New Year at least.

Santa's Grotto will not be happening now on the last day of term and I imagine all the gifts in the PTA store cupboard are lost.... Oh well never mind.

The year 1 and 2 children haven't done their nativity yet, and it just seems like an abrupt end to school prior to Christmas, hopefully plenty of locals will attend the Christmas concert on Thursday, which will be at the church across the road.

I don't think the water got that far......

As I am currently without a car I was unable to get over there to help clear but as I understand it a lot of people turned out to help.

This is the 2nd time in recent years that the school has flooded it last happened in 2000.

Daniel was unwell on Saturday morning, and Jamie went to Football with her Nanny and then had a Football club supporters Christmas Party on Sunday so all in all its been a manic weekend.


I have finished all my Christmas shopping for family and friends and all I have to do now is make sure I have some bits and pieces for the children's stockings,
and a big bone for the Smudge the dog!


April (cake makes the world a better place)
has sent me a lovely Christmas card with a hidden surprise, I now have my very own cross stitch bell which looks lovely hanging in amongst my garland which is hanging on my door into the kitchen. It is absolutely beautiful and I am so pleased that April thought of me. I very rarely receive nice surprises in the post (mostly bills) and it does your soul good to receive something so lovingly made.


Thank you April..... and merry Christmas to you and all your family!

A few years ago I made a papier mache snowman and I thought I would share him with you.... I really enjoyed making him with the usual balloon system, he did take a while but packed away each year in amongst the tinsel he seems to be lasting well....



Thank you for visiting and I will put some more posts on as we get closer to Christmas, I have so many plans of things I would like to do but we will have to wait and see...
take care and warm wishes

*A*

Alex added......
The Head Mistress suggested that the nativity was done at the beginning of our Town Band Christmas Concert on Thursday, but I have been informed that the nativity would be to difficult to organise at this late stage so it won't be happening....I had better get on and print the programmes but it has been really difficult to sell tickets. Not knowing how many are coming makes it very tricky to cater for Mulled wine and mince pies but I am looking forward to the event as I think it could kick start my lack of Christmas cheer!

School Gardens reborn!

The garden areas at school have been completed as much as can be at the moment.... and as we had no budget to pay for it we have done really well. The head had given me a letter for £50 worth of supplies from Wickes and we used it to purchase gravel, weed suppressant and wood for border edging. Personally Mr P and I have spent approximately £80-£100, which with any luck we might get back from the school or the PTA but if we don't I am sure it won't kill us to donate it to the school, we are by no means rolling in cash but at the end of the day its only money!

Daniel managed to survive the last 2 days with out his customary afternoon naps needless to say he is shattered, but after a quick snack of pringles he had enough energy to go puddle hunting and soak himself up to his knees!

Jamie was a real saviour and spent most of her time being Daniels shadow and steering him clear of most situations.... which is a lot to ask of a 10 year old when all her friends are racing around being children,
thank you Jamie... x!

Lily's Garden
Lily was a little girl that attended the school about 8 years ago, as I understand it she was waiting for a heart transplant and use to wear a back pack with oxygen to help her to breath. She passed away in 2000. The garden was planted in her memory but unfortunately it had become a little forgotten and needed a bit of tender loving care to remove bind weed and buttercups that were taking over the borders.

I have been collecting plants for weeks, but it isn't really the right time of year for lots of colour so I have planted mostly ever green shrubs. The soil is very cleggy as it is mostly clay.
The wall was given a coat of paint to brighten it up a little and I bought an evergreen honeysuckle and a pretty pink clematis to go on the trellis that we painted green. We rearranged the slabs and took out the planting that was in the middle of the patio as it is used by the children and the gaps tended to get trodden all over. The flower beds will be added to as the seasons change and they are filled with bulbs waiting to emerge in early spring.

Mr P went to Wickes Friday and again today (Sunday) and picked up 49 bags of pea shingle to be used on lily's garden and around the pond area.
He is a little worn out now, apparently he loaded up the trolley so high that he resembled Scrat from Ice Age trying to drag it down to the till, eventually a couple of hernias later he returned and the new gravel has really brightened everything up.

The little class room is used for music tuition, but we are hoping to be allowed to decorate it as Santa's grotto this Christmas and let the children visit Santa on their last day of term.


It has definitely been a long weekend but the parents who did turn out yesterday and today (especially today in the rain) were fantastic and I am so grateful for their generosity and for giving up a weekend for a school project.

The Pond
The pond area was a little over grown and I had an idea that it would be nice to have a slabbed border around the pond so that the children could investigate it safely when researching pond life and surrounding habitat. The liner leaked so needed replacing and the pond was wonky so it never filled properly before it leaked out over one side....I must admit I have never owned or taken care of a pond so therefore had no idea where to start so I was relieved when 2 dads took this area as their project, with the assistance of 3 mums they worked tirelessly from 10am till 4pm.


The end result was so fabulous that I almost cried. It was completely renewed using donated pond liner, donated slabs and gravel donated by Wickes Building Supplies. It is so satisfying to know that you have accomplished something so wonderful by reusing stuff that was no longer required, those people could so easily have thrown those items into land fill and instead we have renewed a valuable learning environment for our children.

It is wonderful, we still have to sort out the wooden safety frame to go over the pond, so that children can't fall in it but the slabbed and gravel area are more than I ever expected and I am so grateful to every ones hard work.

The surrounding is ready for marginal planting and I will be mooching around the local garden center this week to see what evergreen shrubs I can find to plant there. It would be nice to plant something with a berry that the birds like as it won't be accessible to the children on that side of the pond and they won't run the risk of eating the berries which always seems to be a concern for school health and safety policies.

There is a very healthy population of newts and frogs and hopefully they will appreciate their new habitat.

The fence panels could have done with a lick of paint but I will see if I can reach them without falling in the pond!

The area in the foreground to the right is very clay soil so I think half a dozen bags of mushroom compost will be thrown into it and some wood chippings and hopefully by the spring the worms will have done some soil maintenance and we can plant some raspberries or something similar.

This wasn't organised as a PTA event as Secretary I didn't even put it past the PTA as there are so few of us and it gets demoralising to keep asking the same few to do all the work...... as it turned out it was the chair (Mr P), secretary (me), 5 PTA committee members and 1 parent that turned out so it would appear that it will always be the same old faces that knuckle down and get dirty.

I am tired, dirty and can't wait to have a soak in the bath, Mr P and Jamie have taken Smudge the dog out for a walk as he has been a really good boy all weekend being left pretty much on his own.

I think we will all sleep well tonight.....

x Alex

Give a bunch of Children gloss paint.........

What would happen if you gave some under 11 year old's a selection of gloss paint and told them to decorate a playground wall?.......well unsupervised it would probably look like an explosion in a paint factory but with the guidance of 2 fab teachers (Jenny, and Terri) the end result was amazing.


The children really loved it and got very creative indeed, the end wall was drawn by me and painted by the children, I will pop back sometime this week and black out line the insects to show their features.


Whenever requested I would conjure up whatever insect they required, bee or a worm or a dragonfly to join the garden of beautiful flowers that were completely their own creations.

The children see the wall every playtime and get great satisfaction in talking about their artistry with their friends, perhaps next year we can add too it and end up with a wall chocka block with flowers and mini beasts.....

This is Jamie's school


and straight opposite the school is St Barnabas Church.......

I am not really a church goer but I can appreciate the workmanship involved with these structures especially as my grandpa Tucker use to build leaded lights (windows). My brother use to go to my grandpa's workshop when he was about 15 and help him, when he left school he went and worked with grandpa full time and has become a very gifted craftsman himself.

The PTA are organising a Christmas concert with Sherborne Town Band and we are holding it in the church this year, I think it will be a wonderful evening in a beautiful setting. Mum (the retired florist) has agreed to come and do a beautiful pedestal arrangement with a Christmas feel, so I will start coveting anyone owning a holly tree with some berry on it!

These are the thatched cottages next to the church, we live 2 villages away from Queen Camel as house prices in this particular village are a little out of our league and personally if I were to spend that amount of money on a house I would want land and a private driveway.

I hope you enjoyed a look around my local area...

**Alex**