As part of a self-intiated project (and to bump us up Google rankings!) we are making videos of various aspects of the Giddings. To start with here are videos of St Michael’s Church in Great Gidding, St John’s Church in Little Gidding and St Andrew’s Church in Steeple Gidding. If any one has any ideas or suggestions of other subjects suitable for videoing and related to the Giddings (keep it clean!) please email Paul.
Paul Crank
You may have seen the signs but did you know that the National Byway is a 3,300 mile rural cycle network and is a completely entity from the National Cycle Network.
Luckily we have both networks passing through our Parish and even sharing the same road for a couple of miles. The National Byway is all about cycling on modestly quiet rural roads and byways and bypassing the busier urban areas. Some market towns are on the route, Oundle is our nearest.
Maps for all the National Byway regions are available from the website.
The 2013 Great Gidding Aunt Sally Tournament on August Bank Holiday was blessed with fine weather and a good crowd. Michael organised a well run event with six throws per person per round and six rounds in all. A good turnout meant there was plenty of time between throws for a chat and catching up with village gossip. And Chris at the Fox and Hounds ensured we were topped up with drinks and a selection of sandwiches. There was a real competitive spirit throughout the afternoon as most people didn’t want to take the ‘Marmite Challenge’ – an extra element added by Michael at several points during the tournament for the worst throw/silliest moment/hopeless cause!
…We’d all like to say a BIG thank you to Michael for organising such a fun afternoon.
A message from the organiser…
Thank you everyone for your support. A worthy winner and runner up, Mathew and Adam. Thank you Calum and Patrick for keeping the scoreboard updated, Paul and Krystyna for the sponsorship fizz and Chris at the Fox and Hounds for some excellent sandwiches and finally thanks for the Met Office for a correct weather forecast.
Regards Michael.
If you haven’t already noticed the Fox and Hounds pub on Main Street in Great Gidding has had a bit of a wash and brush up and is looking ‘spick and span’. Why not pop along for a pint?
These are the pictures I took in July 2011. I was a passenger in a hot air balloon which just happened to go over the area where I come from. My apologies for the quality – the weather was overcast.
I was born in Winwick and attended Great Gidding school until 1972.
Derek Hyde
Team Gidding competed in a three team, three “sports” challenge at the recent Winwick Garden Fete. A competition based on Aunt Sally, Northamptonshire Table Skittles and 9 pin Outdoor Bowling on tricky terrain. The rules were sort of agreed and each team, Winwick, Hamerton and Great Gidding commenced battle. At the the final count Gidding had more points mostly by being able to hit the doll in Aunt Sally although the smugness was nearly wiped off when a later arrival (who will be known as Mrs S) for the Hamerton team hit the doll on the first three throws having never seen or played the game.
We have named the trophy Call me “Dave” in solidarity with all the Dave’s and David’s that live in Winwick. We hope you had a good fete and there will be an opportunity to win back “Dave” in the near future.
Team L to R Michael Trolove, Brian Ramsden, Louis from Belgium and Sue Shepherd
Saturday 13th July saw the opening of a two day art exhibition in St Michael’s Church as part of the Great Gidding Gala Week festivities. There was a wide range of high quality work from numerous villagers and also displays by Great Gidding School and the After School Club.
Thank you to all who took part and to the organisers for putting on such a good show.
A good number of Gidding residents spent a delightful morning attending the joyous ceremony of Aarti at the Bharat Hindu Samaj in Peterborough. Following the ceremony – in which we were all invited to take part – our very knowledgeable guide for the morning, Gita, explained the Hindu philosophy and gave us a brief introduction to the role of Brahma and the nine, so far, reincarnations of Vishnu.
Following drinks the party then departed to Spicelands for lunch (unfortunately I can’t report on that because we had to go back to work! But I bet it was lovely).
Krystyna
Poetry Please and lunch at the Fox and Hounds.
On Tuesday morning, 9th July, twelve people gathered in the garden of 85 Main Street to bringing their favourite poems to read and share. Settling down with a cup of coffee or glass of elderflower cordial in the hot sunshine we heard a very wide range of poems, some long-established favourites but some lesser known ones too. We heard reasons why a poem was a favourite or how it first came to notice. Some were long-time favourites and some were found in recent reading. The choices were wide, from the childhood favourite, A A Milne, through Pam Ayres to Laurie Lee, Walt Whitman and Robert Frost and there were several discussion about the themes and relevance of the poems.
Lois Jordan impressed everybody by faultlessly reciting, from memory, two long poems, The Duck, by Frank W Harvey and The Song of Right and Wrong, by G K Chesterton, learned as a schoolgirl, if I may say, more than a few years ago. John De Val delighted everybody with his two choices from Rupert Brooke, Dining-Room Tea, which spoke of the pleasure and importance of being with friends and The Old Vicarage – Granchester, which was a very fitting poem to conclude the readings and drift over to the Fox and Hounds to enjoy an excellent lunch. It was a lovely occasion and, as it was so enjoyable, there was a conversation about arranging a similar event later.
Thanks to all those who came to take part.
Paul Burgess