October 28 Dittisham Village Voice
I have just returned from the
baptism of my granddaughter, Rowan Olivia, which took place in a pretty wooden
church in a small village in the wooded foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
in North Carolina. The native American tribe that used to live there are the Cheyenne and when walking along the trails drinking in the vistas and the brilliance of
the Fall colours it was so sad to ponder on the loss of their way of life in
this paradise. There are no people at all living up there now. I read a
wonderful proverb on a trail sign. Do not judge your neighbour until you
walk two moons in his moccasins. When I walked the half marathon in Baltimore to raise funds for my Tanzanian orphanage the following weekend and was lagging
a bit I was inspired by the thought of those nimble footed Cheyenne braves and
squaws and how teeny this 13.1 miles would have seemed to them. Back in
Dittisham the Harvest Festival was celebrated on Saturday, September 29th.
There was a terrific turn out almost 90 people attended. . Pam
Bennett and her team provided a wonderful harvest festival feast of lasagna or
fish pie followed by apple pie custard and cream. A very big thank you to all
of them and those that helped clear up the next day. Thanks, too, to Paul
Vincent who arranged for Les Ellis to come and entertain us with amazing magic,
table to table, and what better way to wind up the evening than a good old
sing- a -long with Ray Benson on guitar, wine flowed and it was a really fun
party. £947 was raised for Water Aid. The Church looked festive that Sunday
thanks to Janet Bootherstone and others who arranged the flowers, fruit and
vegetables and all the traditional harvest decorations. A rather unusual event
took place on October 1st a cricket match on a sand bank. (see
photo) It was a glorious sunny day, so drinks and photos at the Dittisham
Sailing Club House were followed by the launch of two safety boats armed with
charts and oars and a course set for Stoke Gabriel sailing area upriver.
Middle Back sand bank emerged from the Dart and proved to be an excellent
wicket. There was hard sand with a smattering of shells and enough oysters to
keep Dartmouth restaurants going for a week. Although relatively little bounce
in the wicket, it took spin, largely in the form of players falling over
themselves. A tennis ball determined unnecessary the plan to use buoyancy aids
as cricket pads. Unfortuately Stoke Gabriel were unable to field a side,
although their Commodore John Bradbury and his wife Chris did arrive with cakes
which were much appreciated,
In the Test Match, two captains were appointed, DSC Commodore and ex Commodore.
Jonathan Weeks believed he could act for Stoke Gabriel ( having dual
nationality) Two varieties of the game were offered to sustain crowd and media
interest. “Tip and run”, the equivalent of today’s 20/20 was followed after the
tea interval by the “Test Match”. The rules were essentially tip and run with
each player required to bowl an over and each batter to face maximum of six
balls. Despite some fierce bowling and powerful batting on both sides the
outcome was an honourable draw, each side having scored 24 runs. Such was the
size of the pitch at 0.5 m above chart datum that no boundaries were recorded.
Particular mention should be made to Erica Pilkington - impressive bowling
despite this being her first game ever and to Josh O'Brien and John Hitchins
for their batting and Neil Drew who showed considerable zeal in the oyster
collection competition. Huge thanks to Chris Taylor and David Thompson for
organizing this quintessentially English madness.
The wedding of Phil Alcock to Sophie Houdret on Saturday, October 22nd
was also an extraordinary affair. A Mexican Mariachi band played in the
church (see Photo) and then serenaded the whole village as they paraded down to
the Anchorstone Café singing.
You, me and us
We are my favourite people
We go together like peaches and cream
Or bells with a church and a steeple.
The four young sons of Phil and Soph were the best men; the pages were dressed in batman and spiderman costumes; there were 33 children in the congregation and 32 adults. It was a fiesta. Ole