Symondsbury Mummers
The Committee have been working on next year’s programme of events and activities. Next July marks the 25th Anniversary of the Chideock Society and we intend to hold an exhibition of film, photos , tape recordings and memorabilia that we have collected over that time which record some of the activities which past and present members have participated in . The VillageHall is booked for the weekend of July 5th and 6th. If you have any film or photos of some of the events please let us know.
Like the summer, we are about a month behind with our programme so the guided walk will now take place in late September. We are planning to revive the ancient custom of ‘Beating the Bounds’, a tradition carried out in villages since Anglo Saxon times. Based on the need for inhabitants to know the extent of the Parish land before the days of maps, a walk was carried out around the Parish Boundary . Usually led by the vicar and choirboys, one of the traditions was to beat the boundary stones with willow ‘wands’ or even beat the choirboys heads against the stones so they would remember where the boundary was!! In Chideock, the last time the walk was carried out was in the Millennium Year. Two groups set out from Seatown, one going east, the other west and met up in North Chideock. It is about an 11-12 mile round trip. If you would like to join us please let us know. Watch out for posters with more details.
Apart from our 25th Anniversary, our events for the coming year will focus on Lyme Bay, the Marine life within it and the attempts to protect it. So we are delighted to welcome Dr Tom Brereton , Director of the Dolphin Research Programme on Tuesday 8th October to give a presentation on sealife in Lyme Bay.In November, David Sales, Chairman of Bridport and West Bay Commercial Boatowners and Fishermen’s Association will be coming to give a presentation which will include information about the Blue Marine Foundation, an alliance of fishermen and conservationists whose aim is to protect Lyme Bay from overfishing.
We hope some of you will join us for more treeplanting in November and hope it won’t be so wet this year. We regularly check the ones we planted last year and so far they seem to be surviving.
We also hope you will be preparing something for our Christmas Entertainment in December – we don’t know if we will manage a Maritime theme, but we will try.
News of our other events will be confirmed at the AGM on October 8th.