The Horsington Blog

Polly Bristol, (Nee Erskine) was born and lived in Cheriton House. She’s a regular blog reader, though she no longer lives in the village. Is she the Blog’s answer to Pam Ayres? -Ed

‘ While shepherds watched their flocks by night All seated on the ground ‘We had a secret party
As the police were not around.

‘ God rest ye merry gentlemen
Yet nothing you dismay ‘
We are off to wine and dine and drink
Until Christmas Day.

‘ Angels from the Realms of Glory ‘
Send us music we can dance to
Whilst we flout the great ‘ lockdown ‘
‘ Tis the season to be merry
Kindly pass a glass of sherry,
We can sit and watch  ‘ The Crown ‘

‘ Away in a manger ..’
I’ve simply passed out!
It must be because of the rules that I flout.
Enough of Pandemics and Covid and ills
Of face masks and ‘ distance ‘ and millions of pills.
We live in the hope that we see Twenty One And last year has just been ‘ illegal fun ‘

Come on readers. Let’s have some more Christmas contributions -Ed

Up to£3,500 available per connection in grants

We have been here before, but Wessex Internet have raised the possibility of a fibre broadband connection to Horsington Marsh which promises a sizzling 1 Gb/s connection, several orders of magnitude greater than the pathetic 1.7Mb/s we currently enjoy down on the Marsh

There’s Government money for it too. The Rural Gigabit Connectivity Voucher (RGCV) Scheme was announced in May last year and allows small/medium enterprises to claim a £3,500 (ex VAT) voucher and residents to claim a £1,500 (inc VAT) voucher towards a 1Gb/s capable connection.

Our area is currently with Wessex Internet’s surveying team to review and determine what sign up is required for full fibre to be extended to us. Once rhey have an idea of the likely demand they will then submit the area to the government for approval of RGCV’s.

If you want some of this, you MUST REGISTER with Wessex Internet . There is no obligation. Please register here: https://www.wessexinternet.com/iwantfullfibre/

A socially-distanced service of remembrance will be held at the war memorial at 1045 on Sunday November 8th at 10.45. Obviously, stay away if you have symptoms , or are “clinically vulnerable”.

Mrs Badger writes….

Dear Mr Editor,

With so many things going wrong these days, many of us are getting confused, and would welcome advice. Have you thought about starting an advice column in your loveley blog?

The editor replies:

Dear Mrs Badger,

How nice to hear from you. I’m afraid we men are simply not qualified.

Horsington School is trying to raise funds via a virtual balloon race. No real balloons are involved, so no pollution or animal poisoning.

All you have to do is log in, buy some balloons, decorate them, and release them. The system then works out where they will land, taking account actual weather conditions on the day.

Have a go. You could win £500

The competition starts on October 31st

More details here

Ed writes…

Are you getting irritating automated calls from Amazon threatening to take payments from your bank account for an Amazon Prime subscription?

“Press 1 to speak to an Amazon agent”.

This is a barefaced scam. Normally when you press ”1”, nothing happens, and you get disconnected.

But one day last week I pressed “1” and was connected to a Chinese-sounding lady who told me my account had been hacked and she would help me to stop the calls and track down the culprit.

I was out walking, but she said she would phone me back.  She told me to go to my computer and open a webpage called “Teamviewer”. I was then instructed to download some software.

Luckily I had already Googled “Amazon Prime scam”, which revealed that I was about to have my computer stripped bare of all financial data, passwords etc with a view to raiding my bank account.

I wasted the young lady’s time (and mine) for about ten minutes before accusing her of being, amongst several unprintable things, a common thief, and a filthy scammer.

To my amazement she went on protesting that she was from Amazon and was trying to help me!

If you receive these calls on a mobile phone, they are easy to block.  Just go to call history, click on the number and select “block number”.

Amazon is a huge and profitable company and surely has the resources to track down these criminals, who are causing serious damage to the company’s reputation.

More about Teamviewer software here

R E S U L T S

Overall Winner of the Claret Jug – Scott Houghton 26pts
Division 1 winner (hcap <25) -Andrew Gordon 24pts
Div1 Runner-up Trevor Legg 24pts
Division 2 (hcap>25) Rob Acheson 23 pts
Div 2 runner up Mike Davies 23 pts

Best Team Horsington Hackers 57 pts
Runner up Shankers 53 pts
Nearest pin (hole 3) Mark Thirlwell (Sponsored by Nick Hudd)
Nearest pin in 2 (hole 6) Peter Gripper
Nearest Pin( hole 8) George Wagland

R A N K I N G

Player	Hcap	Points	Pos
Scott Houghton	28	26	1
Andrew Gordon	23	25	2
Lee Williams	21	24	3=
David Blake	17	24	3=
Trevor Legg	24	24	3=
Steve Lovell	20	23	6=
Frank Skinner	14	23	6=
John Treasure	17	23	6=
Rob Acheson	28	23	6=
Mike Davies	28	22	10=
Kevin Roadaway	14	22	10=
Richard Case	17	22	10=
Steve Penny	13	21	13=
George Wagland	18	21	13=
Andre Blond	16	21	13=
Jack Newton	23	21	13=
Thomas Lakeman	23	21	13=
Tom Mallaburn	26	20	17=
Robin Price	28	20	17=
Sylvia Blackwell	27	20	17=
Nick Maynard	20	19	20=
Tim Weatherlilt	13	19	20=
Phil Warren	28	19	20=
Mac Grant	13	19	20=
James Chalke	12	19	20=
Howard Bentley-Marchant	22	19	20=
Colin Constable	25	19	20=
Gill Miles	36	19	20=
Mark Thirlwell	16	18	28=
Roman Franks	18	18	28=
William Wallace		18	28=
Peter Blackwell	28	18	28=
Nick Hudd	13	18	28=
Anthony Ward	18	18	28=
Damian Orton	24	18	28=
Colin Sandall	23	18	28=
Simon Ball	26	18	28=
Tony Brodie	21	17	37=
Denise Case	21	17	37=
Ian Osman	16	17	37=
Geoff Corani	18	17	37=
Kevin Jackson	26	17	37=
Phil Ragsdale	12	17	37=
Jeoff Hunt	18	16	44=
Pete Bastable	23	16	44=
Mark Warren	24	16	44=
Mark Sedwill	18	16	44=
Justin Brown	12	15	48=
Peter Gripper	18	15	48=
James Bastable	17	15	48=
Peter Munro	24	15	48=
June Ragsdale	36	15	48=
Terry White	21	15	48=
Dave Bowden	23	14	54=
Perran Newton	23	14	54=
Moira Roadaway	36	13	56=
Roger Jackson	22	13	56=
Tony Garrett	16	11	58=
Chris Bailward	28	11	58=
Malcolm Stobart	22	10	60=
Rob Wright	26	10	60=
Andy David	28	9	61=
Andrew Tarling	24	9	61=
Chris Hoare	20	9	61=
Simon Edlman	18	8	64=
Richard Gaunt	28	7	65=
Anthony Hodges	23	6	66=
Anthony Yateman	28	4	67=

The Horsington Open was held on Saturday. This annual charity golf competition, now in its 8^th  year, was hotly contested at Henstridge Golf Club with a record entry of 68 socially distanced players. Horsingtonians turned out in force to support the event  – The Horsington Hackers, the Half Mooners, the Home Farm Harriers and Dentists on the Job all flew the flag for the village..

Scott Houghton from Templecombe, playing for the Horsington Hackers, carried off the Claret Jug, which now returns to its rightful place in the Half Moon. Peter Gripper and George Wagland, playing for the Half Moon,  won two of the three “Nearest the pin “ competitions. David Blake and the Warren family team,  the Horsington Hackers,  won the team prize, beating off a stiff challenge from the Foxcombe Flyers (Andre Blond and Damian Orton, with  Jack and Perran Newton); Richard and Denise Case put in a strong showing, along  with  Andrew Tarling and Nick Maynard, also representing the Half Moon. Chris Bailward’s team., The Home Farm Harriers managed to produce the division2 runner up, Rob Acheson.

Anthony Yateman fought off a spirited challenge from Richard Gaunt to secure last place with just 4 points.

Over £1200 was raised for charity, to be divvied up between St Margaret’s Hospice and the Somerset Air Ambulance.

A great day. Well done everyone.

Thanks to Jerry’s Electrical, Vale Motors and Totally Floored for some great prizes. And to Henstridge Golf Club, for presenting a course in terrific condition.

Our Yorkshire correspondent Willie Heckerslike* sent us this extract from the map of Yorkshire. There must be a Somerset equivalent. Suggestions please -Ed

*(c) Victoria Wood. RIP