Centenary Party Photos (Word Doc)                 Craft Day              Photos Easter 2008 

Jiggery Pokery Photos (Word Doc)                                 Open Gardens 31st May 2009

Centenary Street Party Photos                                                                  Toad Photos

Garage Sales                                                       Village Fête 20th June 2009
                                                                                                                   

Sakhelwe Trust

Sakhelwe Trust is a charity working in South Africa to combat the spread of Aids and to support those affected by the illness and its consequences. The founder of the charity is Susan Solesbury, Lecturer in Social Studies and a Lay Worker in the Anglican Church of South Africa.
   Sakhelwe town is in Mpumalanga district in the North East of South Africa (adjacent to Swaziland). The town has 5,000 residents of whom 80-90% are unemployed and 37% are HIV+. Poverty and malnutrition accelerate the spread of the disease and associated ills.
   Su is co-ordinator of a team, including doctors, nurses, counsellors, social workers and the principal of the local school, who work among the community. They support and train home-based carers, peer educators and counsellors and recently established a Hospice. There are an increasing number of orphaned children, many of whom are themselves HIV+, mostly in the care of relatives such as grandparents and older siblings.
   Molly Gurney, a ninety-year-old resident of Wickham Skeith, is a champion knitter and creates the most beautiful children's jumpers for which she needed an outlet. So in March 2009 a Coffee Morning was held in Wickham Village Hall to raise funds for Sakhelwe, and to enable parcels of these lovely garments to be sent to Sakhelwe (where the weather is often decidedly chilly!)
    We raised over £250, thanks to the generosity of village people, of which £200 was sent direct to the charity, and the rest put by to pay for postage. 25 jumpers have now been sent and Molly is busy knitting more! She recently received photos of the delighted children, who usually have to be content with hand-me-downs, proudly wearing these bright garments and with huge smiles on their faces!
   The Charity is No. 1102739 and to learn more, go to the website at www.sakhelwe.org.uk. Donations may be sent to the Treasurer, Graham Symes, 12 Chiltern Close, Staines, TW18 2BU.
   In Spring 2010 there will be another fund raiser in Wickham Skeith - meanwhile, gifts of wool may be given to Molly who continues her wonderful knitting!

Sheila Wright

New Crockery in the Village Hall

As many of you noticed at the street party, we have purchased some new crockery for the village hall. Not only was the old set beginning to look a little tired, we were running extremely low on certain items, particularly bowls. We have purchased 40 dinner plates, cups and saucers and dessert bowls. Feedback received so far has been extremely positive. We are also extremely grateful to have received a contribution of £100 from the lunch club towards the cost of the dinner service.
Thanks must go to Margaret Horne for taking the time to source the crockery on our behalf.

Village Hall Photographs & Memorabilia

Do you have any photographs or memorabilia concerning the Village Hall? There area lot in the Village Archives, but I’m particularly interested in items from before 1980 for the Exhibition in September. I’m especially trying to track down the original deeds for the transfer in 1917 by Margaret Jones of the Village Hall [or the "Wickham Skeith Jones Memorial Hall" as it was supposed to be called in perpetuity] to the trustees. 
I have a photocopy, but it would be nice to show the original in September. lf you can help, please contact Pete Davidson.

Wickham Skeith Village Hall
Centenary Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Show
15"‘ August 2009 at 2pm in the Village Hall

Entries are open to Villagers and Non Villagers — so get your friends and family to compete alongside you. This show is for fun and beginners are particularly welcome.
Exhibitors are invited to donate their entries to the Village Hall so that they can be auctioned at the end of the Show for Hall funds.

The Three Peaks Challenge

Congratulations to Simon Pyke for successfully completing the Three Peaks Challenge. This entails climbing the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales all within 24 hours! Simon and 8 others started in mid afternoon with Ben Nevis in Scotland then, with Rachel at the wheel, drove down to the Lake District to climb Scafell Pike (not related!) before rushing to Snowdonia to literally run up and down Snowden to complete the Challenge with 2 minutes to spare!