Haughton Village News

Haughton Village News

Church and Bell Ringing Times

Wednesday 1st January - 12.00am Ringing in the New Year
The clock will strike 12 O'clock followed by 20-30 minutes of general ringing. All is welcome to join us to celebrate the New Year.

Sunday 5th January
Sunday Service at 11.15am
Service Ringing: 10.45am until 11.15am

Monday 6th January 
7.45pm until 9pm General bell ringing practice, open to all please feel free to join us.



2019 bell ringing challenge completed

Tonight we completed our 2019 bell ringing challenge by complete a quarter of Kent and Plain Bob Minimus

The ringers were:

Treble: Lydia Turner
2nd: Helen Turner-Murphy 
3rd: Trevor Lock 
4th: David Hunt
5th: Trevor Stacey

To see this performance on Bell Board Click here:

To see the complete years challenge, follow this link:



Church Flowers

I will be in church on Saturday 4th January to dismantle the flowers about 9.30am Hope everyone can make it.

Jocelyne 

Coombes' Tractor Run 2019

The annual Coombes’ Tractor Run was a great success, with the best part of 100 tractors joining the run. The weather was pleasantly mild for the time of the year, with the lanes and tracks very muddy thanks to all the recent downpours and flooding..... I think all the tractor drivers secretly enjoyed the challenge!!!

Raising over £2500 for Prostate Cancer screening. Thanks to everyone who helped to organised and host it.










Church Sevice and Ringing Times

There is no service at Haughton on Sunday 29th December, as there is a 10am Benefice Service at Derrington.

There will be no ringing at Haughton on the 29th.

There is no bell ringing practice at Haughton on Monday 30th December, however, the bells will be ringing as we are going to attempt a quarter peal.  We frequent the Shropshire inn, as usual, should you wish to join us.

The next bell session will be Tuesday 31st at 11.45pm to 12.30am to ring in the New Year. All ringers and non-ringers are welcome to join us.


Happy New Year to you all.

New Years Eve Social at the Village Hall

With Country Artiste Geoff Hilton
and DJ Mark Burgess 

Doors open 7pm for 8pm start

Bring your own food and drinks.

Contact Pete Skelton on 
Mobile: (zero) (seven) (eight) (zero) (four) (eight) (eight) (four) (eight) (nine) (nine)


Coombes' Festive Charity Tractor Road Run - Saturday 28th December 2019

The annual Coombes' Charity Tractor Run will take place on Saturday 28th December 2019, supporting Gnosall and Newport Lions club, generating funds for Prostate Cancer testing and Awareness.

Assembling at 9.30am fo a 10.30am start by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Maddocks, Chadwell Grange, Newport, Shropshire.  TF10 9BG

Midway stop at Silkmore Cottage, Allimore Green, Haughton.  ST18 9JQ, thanks to Richard and Rona Bowler, returning at approximately 2pm

£10 per vehicle or £16 with lunch please download the PDF application form, from the link below:







St. Giles Church Flowers Christmas 2019

Thank you to everyone who has helped to decorate the church for Christmas, please do come and have a look if you get chance!

Photo's taken by Sue Edwards

Flowers and Christmas Tree, Christmas Eve 2019








Coombes' Festive Charity Tractor Road Run - Saturday 28th December 2019

The annual Coombes' Charity Tractor Run will take place on Saturday 28th December 2019, supporting Gnosall and Newport Lions club, generating funds for Prostate Cancer testing and Awareness.

Assembling at 9.30am fo a 10.30am start by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Maddocks, Chadwell Grange, Newport, Shropshire.  TF10 9BG

Midway stop at Silkmore Cottage, Allimore Green, Haughton.  ST18 9JQ, thanks to Richard and Rona Bowler, returning at approximately 2pm

£10 per vehicle or £16 with lunch please download the PDF application form, from the link below:

St. Giles Church Service and Bell Ringing Times

Saturday 21st December: 5pm to 7pm
Open bell ringing practice, members of the public are invited to come and see us ringing and learn how the bells ring.  Also, come and enjoy a seasonal glass of wine (or squash) and mince pie.  Experience visiting bell ringers or most welcome.

Sun 22nd December 2019:
8am - Holy Communion - No Ringing
6.30pm - Carol Service - Ringing 5.45pm to 6.30pm (Possible Quarter)

Mon 23rd December 2019:
No Practice it's our Christmas Meal

Tue 24th December 2019:
10pm Christmas Night Eucharist - Ringing 9.30pm to 10pm

The Many Delights of Delivering the Parish Magazine!

The Many Delights of Delivering the Parish Magazine!
Many years ago in answer to an article looking for local people to deliver our
Parish Magazine, Bob and I contacted Margaret Merrick to offer our services.
Margaret was as charming as she was honest and said the area that was
needed to be covered was quite extensive, from Aston Farm via Butter Bank,
Crossing Lane and out almost to White Cross. Could we manage this, she asked
– no problem we accepted the challenge and took it on. Since then we have
looked forward to Margaret visiting once a month to give us our consignment
of magazines and having a friendly get together. Needless to say, we miss
Margaret's friendship very much. It is sad that the magazines are possibly
coming to an end with the December issue, we shall miss the interesting and
friendly people we have met over the years, the elderly, the young, and those
who are now grown up with families of their own.

The changing seasons have made the task so pleasant and we have seen
Derrington in some of its most beautiful aspects. In the deepest winter we have
delivered on foot (sometimes because the snow was too deep for other forms
of transport). Spring and summer have seen us on our bikes splashing through
puddles and avoiding the many potholes down Butter Bank and Crossing Lane.
Very often we went by car because of time constraints still trying to avoid the
hazards of tiny country lanes.

Being in the country we've encountered many animals, mostly pet dogs of a
remarkable variety. On one occasion, in the early days when cycling to deliver
magazines, a rather large and excited Doberman gave chase to me as I passed
his orchard home. Having just acquired a new bike and in very low gear I
peddled furiously but traveled very slowly hearing his claws pounding the
road. I was captured beside the Blasted Oak on Crossing Lane, out of breath
and apprehensive, much to Bob's amusement. Fortunately, Jake then
proceeded to give me a slobbery kiss before we took him home. 

On one of our winter excursions with our neighbour's Westie, we wondered why he kept falling over and finding it difficult to walk, being a Scottish breed we wondered
if he had been on the hooch. We then discovered the snow and ice had
increased the length of his legs so much they resembled ice lollies and he could
not keep his balance. The solution was to put him in the rucksack containing
the magazines in order to carry him home! 

There have been two beautiful golden retrievers on the route, one would collect the magazine from me and deliver it to the owner's kitchen, the other, on one occasion trying to show his prowess, collected it from me and proceeded to rip it into shreds. (luckily we always had a spare). On several other occasions, a pack of Jack Russells would often race over, and if we left the car door open all five would jump onto the
back seat ready to go for a ride. They resembled the long draught excluders
we see in gift shops today! It is just as well that we both like dogs.

I have had one or two requests for simple assistance whilst doing the deliveries
but none quite like the old gentleman who gingerly mumbled to me sounding
distressed, "it's lovely to see you, I haven't seen anyone for a week, could you
please come inside for a few moments and help me find my teeth, I have lost
them!!" Naturally, I did my best, but we could not find them anywhere.
The next time I called he gave me a lovely smile and I knew he had found them. On
a less dramatic but equally memorable occasion, we recently had a lovely chat
with a little girl in a beautiful pale blue net and silk party dress who told us all
about the friend's birthday celebration she was going to whist demonstrating
her ballet technique.

At times we have been offered useful advice, on how to grow prize onions and
leeks, how to recognise a prize bull (Not that I get that close to one!), which
house is haunted and to be avoided, the history of an Elizabethan house,
Stafford's planning regulations and architecture in general. On the
the gastronomic side I was also introduced to Jaspers pale pink juicy rhubarb slices
(Soft advertisement)

One slight difficulty sometimes involved the dreaded "Health and Safety". I am
referring to letterboxes, these are easily the most dangerous things we have
encountered, they vary in degree of punishment, some have extraordinarily
powerful springs that can instantly chop off or trim your recently carefully
manicured fingernails in a fraction of an unguarded second. Some boxes have
two strong rows of bristles that remove your gloves on a winter's day and can
easily gobble up anything that enters its oblong mouth (Pity your poor local
postman!).

Bob and I are going to miss the magazine and its contents, it is a mine of
valuable information. The adverts for local events, village activities, and
tradesmen have been most useful in saving time and money plus the church
rotas for cleaning, flowers, and services.

So, in conclusion, thanks to all the people who have been involved in the
production of the Parish Magazine, their diligence and expertise cannot be
overemphasized. Thank you also to all our clients for being so friendly, being
at home when it is time to collect subscriptions and allowing us to enjoy and
stroke their dogs, cat, donkeys, and horses.

Elizabeth and Bob Kenyon 

St. Giles Church Flowers

Many Thanks to all the team that decorated the church today ready for Christmas.  We thought it would be a lovely idea for the Mums and Dads to see when their children were performing at the School's Christmas Concert.

I will be in the Church Saturday morning 9.30am to do the alter flowers, if any of you would like to add or adjust your displays please come along.

Jocelyne Lock

Bell Ringing - Monday 16th December 2019

Tonight, we had just 6 ringers turn up, which means it's a good opportunity to ring a Quarter Peal.  Dick had never rung a quarter before, the most he had rung without stopping was about 15 minutes, a quarter peal takes approximately 45 minutes.

Quarter Peals are really good for ringers to get to grips with the technique of ringing, as the ringers ring longer than normal, the idea is to learn and pull with just the right effort so as not to wear yourself out!

The ringers were:

1. Trevor Lock (Conductor)
2. Lydia Turner
3. Helen Turner-Murphy
4. Trevor Stacey
5. Dick Bowler
6. Jocelyne Lock

The method was St Remigius Singles and we rang 105 extents making a total of 1260 changes.

To see the performance on Bell Board click here

To see the method click here

Last Ever Sunday School

The children really enjoyed making Christmas decorations at this mornings Sunday School and have learnt about the true meaning of Christmas.

Thanks to Viv, Sue and their team who have worked tirelessly over the years educating the children on the Christian stories.

Thank you
Rebecca Lock 




Sunday School Ringing - 15th December 2019

It was the last ever Sunday School this morning run by Viv Hillier and her helpers.  Thank you for all their hard work over the years it has certainly brightened up the services.

We had a longer ring than usual, ringing 330 of Plain Hunt singles.  This was Dick's longest ring.


To view in PDF Format Click Here


Christmas Cafe - Friday 20th December

There will be a Christmas Cafe at Haughton Village Hall On Friday 20th December.

Admission is free and food will start being served at 5pm.

Clappertrappings Winter 2019

The North Staffordshire Quarterly newsletter is now available to view online.  Click the link below:

St. Giles Church and Bell Ringing Times

The service on Sunday 15th December  is at 11.15am and so the ringing will commence at 10.45am.

The next bell ringing practice will be on Monday 16th December starting at 7.45pm.

Tonight we decided to have an extra 'Open to the public' event on Saturday 21st December at 5pm where people are welcome to come and see us ring, and share a glass of wine and mince pie with us.

St. Giles School Christmas Fayre Friday 13th

Friday 13th December will be the School's Christmas Fayre, 5.30 until 7.30pm

Santa will be there to meet the children and each will receive a gift.

Children Free
Adults £2.50 includes Mulled Wine and Mince Pie

All Proceeds to PTFA fund.

Christmas Light Switch On Ringing

Tonight with the christmas lights switch on our tower captain Trevor decided it would be a good Idea to open the church for people to see how the bells ring for service and a chance to see inside our beautiful church.

It was very successful with a good number of visitors. We had wine and mince pies. Everyone seemed  delighted to have the opportunity  to view inside the church and an chance to have ago to ring the bells.

 Jocelyne Lock

We even had Santa come and vist us!




Welcome to the first News Bulletin

Firstly, Thank You to you all for your kind words of encouragement over setting up the site.  This week we've gained 33 subscribers so it's a good start in reaching the same readership as the Parish Mag.

I have started putting some details regarding Church Times Rotas and Officers to try and match the same content that the magazine did.  We've also had a new article about Stafford's Raspberry Jam Club.

This is the sort of content I want to try and include over the next few months, so if you or know of anyone who organises clubs or meetings please put them in touch with me.

Please try and spread the word about to increase the number of subscribers

Tell people to log on to www.thebellringers.org.uk 







Meassge from Haughton WI

It's the WI's annual Christmas Dinner to be held at the Village Hall on Saturday 7th December.  If you are attending Haughton's Christmas Light Switch-On could you please refrain from parking in the Village Hall Car Park as it will be required for the meal.

Thank You

Haughton Christmas Light Switch On - Saturday 7th December 2019

Image result for haughton christmas lights

The Bell Ringers are planning to add to the already great atmosphere and will ring for the big Christmas lights switch-on.  Ringing will be from 5pm until 6pm - Please feel free to come and see us.

Stafford Raspberry Jam

Hello there! My name is Cerys Lock and I run a computing event in Stafford, called a Raspberry Jam. A Raspberry Jam is based around a computer which is the size of a credit card, called the Raspberry Pi.

On the second Tuesday of each month (except August) the Raspberry Jam is held for people who have an interest in digital making or people who want to know more about the Raspberry Pi and various other boards such as Arduino. 

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please come along to the event. We have an eventbrite page which you can use to book free tickets.
Our next meetup is on the 10th December (next Tuesday). Here is the link to book tickets:

We hope to see you there.

St. Mary’s Church Christmas Tree Festival

Open Daily 10am to 4pm
Sunday 11am until 2.30pm
December 4th until December 8th
Entrance is Free
Suggested donation £2 for Mayor Charities and Church Funds.

Well worth a visit if you're around town during those times.



St. Giles Church and Bell Ringing

There is a Holy Communion service at 8am on Sunday 8th December.

There is no 11.15am service, and also no bell ringing.

The next bell-ringing session is on Saturday 7th December at 5pm for the Christmas Lights Switch On.  Do pop in to see us.

Monday will be our usual weekly practice at 8pm.

Stafford's new bells have cooled....

The new trebles for Stafford bells have now cooled and have been broken out of their casting molds.  See pictures below: