During the interregnum, the Rector's Letter has featured letters and articles from a number of contributors.
This month, the letter comes from Ian, Bishop of Peterborough Cathedral

Local Businesses advertise your service or product on this website. Contact the Editor for details. Click on the image left to see the adverts page.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES Click on the "Find a Local Business" to the left to see businesses in the Parish.

Music at the Millstone Inn
The next session is on Tuesday February 7th at the Millstone Inn. Doors open 7.30pm for a 8pm start. Admission is free! Come along to sing or play or just to spectate! www.acousticsessions. co.uk.

Church Supper
Advance warning: The St. John the Baptist Church theme supper will be on May 6th.

Thanks from the Tucks
Margaret and Sidney would like to thank the congregation and social committee of St John the Baptist Church and all their friends and family for helping to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. Many thanks also for all the cards and good wishes received - it was a wonderful occasion.

Parish News Collators & Distibutors
Many thanks to all those dedicated individuals behind the scenes, who have, once again, helped to keep the Parish News running throughout the year. Thank you to the village collectors who take in the contributions from villagers and send them to the Editor ; to the teams of collators who staple and fold all 720 copies every month; to the team leader who bundles them into batches for delivery and to the numerous distributors who make sure the magazines are distributed to all the households in the Parish by the first week of every month.
Without the hard work of this large, willing band of volunteers, the Parish News could not exist. Editor

Richard’s Fundraising
The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan performed by the Wandering Minstrels at the Stamford Arts Centre on Saturday 13 January, was a great success. All 180 seats were sold and the evening raised a total of £1365.
Richard has now raised over £6000 for Cancer Research UK and is now starting his training in preparation for walking on the Great Wall of China in May this year.
Richard would like to thank everyone who has and continues to support his fundraising.
If you would like to make a donation to Cancer Research Uk or find out more about the Great Wall Challenge, please contact Richard on 740505

Darby & Joan Club
Meetings will resume on Wednesday 1st February, 2.00 pm at The Acres. New members welcome.

Methodist Chapel
Thank you to those who helped to make our carol service so meaningful and enjoyable. It was a blend of the old story told in new ways. We finished with the congregation joining in a circle dance and amidst much laughter we trooped out to enjoy mince pies! A fitting celebration of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. We hope to see some of you at our coffee mornings, cake stalls with a Fair Trade table on the first Saturday of each month beginning in February.
Did you know that our Methodist church in Barn Hill, Stamford, has now opened the Well and a Fair Trade shop in their newly refurbished building? The Well is open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 10am - 4pm, serving light lunches and refreshments. Well is short for Welcome, so drop and try it out.

Thanks from the Hudsons
Peter and Sally Hudson thank the Parishioners of St.Andrew’s Church for their support during the interregnum and also for their generous gift. We pray for their continued support.

Discantus Recital
On a very cold afternoon in December, Barnack Parish Church was filled with the sound of beautiful singing.
A delightful recital of Christmas music kept the audience warm with appreciation. Andrew Reid was at the organ, Rowena Bass was the harpist and Discantus sang. This event raised £225 for St. John the Baptist Church. Our grateful thanks go to the Thain family who sponsored the recital.

Tea Dance
A Tea Dance will be held in Barnack Village hall 2pm – 4pm Thursday 9th February. Cost: £3 person (including refreshments)
Enjoy the fun and atmosphere of a traditional tea dance in the heart of your
own community. For tickets: Call (01733) 761361 or visit the Peterborough College of Adult Education in Brook Street, Peterborough.

Good News Lending Library
Have you tried using this free Christian lending library yet? It comes to Barnack every month on the third Tuesday of the month. It will next be here on Tuesday February 21st. The little blue van will be at Margaret Durdey’s house at 12, Canon Drive from 10.30 until 12noon, and will be parked in her drive. The books, tapes and videos are then taken into Margaret’s house for us to browse through, and borrow if we so wish. There are always new books being added to the boxes, so many are newly published paperbacks. Everyone is welcome to come, even if it is only to meet up with friends and have a chat, and there is always a good selection of hot and cold drinks on offer, as well as cakes and biscuits! We hope to see you there this month.

Bainton and Ashton Buttercross Club
A Happy New Year to all our members and friends. Our first meeting in 2006 will be the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, February 1st at 7.45pm in Bainton Reading Room. Our programme for the year is now prepared and we shall look forward to seeing you and new members. Please join us and enjoy our evenings together. J.M.

Barn Dance
Barnack Baptist Church are holding a Barn Dance in the School hall on Saturday 25th February from 7.30-11.00 p.m. This is an event for the whole village to enjoy – supper and soft drinks are provided.
Tickets are priced at £3.00 each or £10.00 per family, these are available from Carol Pickering (01780) 740438 and the Post Office.
Proceeds from the event are to go to Operation Agri.

Ufford Ladies
Everyone enjoyed singing carols round the Christmas tree at our December meeting and the raffle raised £40 for this year‘s charity. Including the money raised at the Garden Party, a cheque for £125 has been sent to SHYP (Stamford Housing for Young People). A booking has been made at Lady Anne‘s Hotel on Tuesday February 28th for the annual Meal Out. The cost will be £10 for 2 courses.
Please let Frieda have names and offers of transport as soon as possible. This notice applies to all the villages.

Donation for Ufford Church
The PCC of St. Andrew’s Church thank the anonymous donor for their generous gift of £100. Peter Hudson

Ever Thought About Volunteering?
It is not too late to make a New Year Resolution so why not make one that will take you out to meet people and help your community?
Your local Patient and Public Involvement in Health Forum is looking for new members in your area. If you have some time on your hands and are a user of the NHS, which most of us are, you are eligible. You don‘t need to have a background in healthcare, merely an interest in it.
The Forums are made up of local people who are interested and enthusiastic about the health of their local community making sure that the local NHS is able, effectively and efficiently, to meet the health needs in the area.
This is a government initiative which gives the Forum the right to examine services provided by NHS providers and to make suggestions for improvements. They deal with a wide range of issues, yet many people have never heard of PPI Forums, which is a terrible shame.
If you would like further information on PPI Forums you can contact the Forum Support Organisation on 0845 0093477

Royal British Legion
Our dedicated team of door to door canvassers collected over £3,200 from the villagers for the RBL 2005 Poppy Appeal Fund. This was a significant increase over the previous year’s total of £1,758 and broken down by area as follows: RAF Wittering (£318) - Wittering village (£889) - Ashton (£45) - Bainton (£156) Barnack (£527) - Helpston (£147) - Peakirk (£105) - Pilsgate (£93) - Southorpe (£107) - Ufford (£226) - additional donations ( £200).
We entertained a group of Senior Citizens from The Acres, Little Northfields and Wittering in The Acres Community Hall on January 18th. The proceedings included an excellent supper produced by Elizabeth Young, some libations and an amusing performance by magician - Ed Strong ! The occasion was used to draw numbers in our annual ‘Grand Raffle’ involving some impressive generously- donated prizes and a subsequent substantial contribution to Legion funds.
Our next attraction Is the Branch traditional ‘Winter Supper’ taking place at the Millstone Inn at 7.15 for 7.45 pm Monday, 13th February. Our speaker will be Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dodworth CB,OBE,AFC,D.L and members, their friends and all villagers are cordially invited. Tickets (including wine) are £12.50 each and can be obtained from Malcolm Morrice (740865), Pat Knights (740774) and Charles Clark (740441).

Ceroc night
Saturday 18 March, 8 pm in the School Hall. Tickets cost £10 and include a Mexican-style meal.
Come along to the Ceroc night for a great evening out. Ceroc is a dance style that is a fusion of Jive and Salsa. It’s easy to learn, sociable, fun and a great way to keep fit. It can be danced to any type of music and we’ll be bopping away to hits from 70’s classics through to your current chart favourites. Don’t worry if you’ve never dance Ceroc style before – there will be a fully-qualified teacher to take us through the steps and moves. And there’s no need to bring a partner because during Ceroc everyone changes partners: you usually get to dance with everyone else in the hall at least once. You can wear what ever you like, as long as you’re comfortable. As for shoes, put on a pair that will allow you to move freely on the dance floor.
Tickets will be available after half-term form the School Office.

50/50 sale – 29th April
See the back page for details of our 50/50 sale. It’s an opportunity for you to sell nearly new items of children’s clothing, toys, games and videos and raise money for the school. For more information click on ‘latest news’ on the School’s website www.barnackprimaryschool.co.uk

Fun Run
The date of the Fun Run is yet to be confirmed, but now’s the time to start practising. So dig out your trainers and get fit. Look out for more information coming soon.

Barnack Wildlife Watch Club
It feels like a long time ago now, but our December meeting at Swaddywell Pit was a great success. The children embarked on a treasure hunt around the whole reserve, finding clues to help them discover more about the site’s chequered history; it was once a quarry, bomb dump, a landfill site and also a race track. We all helped to fill up the bird feeders, found a badgers’ sett and latrine (lots of cries of yuck!) and saw some tree sparrows, which nowadays are quite rare. But most of all the children enjoyed herding the sheep – most of the parents were out of breath at the end of it! Swaddywell Pit has a small flock of Hebridean sheep that graze the site. They eat the course grasses and scrubby bushes allowing wildflowers to thrive. We hope to return to Swaddywell in the summer. Our thanks to Richard Astle of the Langdyke Trust for organising and hosting the afternoon.
In January we learnt about birds in winter and made some great bird feeders out of apples. We scooped out bits of apple flesh and filled the holes with a lovely mixture of lard, bird seed, raisins and pastry.
We only have one meeting in February (24th) –a special willow and rush weaving workshop with Sue Kirk, a well-known local artist. All children form both Foxes and Badgers are invited, but we have to limit the numbers to 20. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first served basis.
For more information about Barnack Wildlife Watch Club contact Jayne Lillywhite on 755527.

Friends of Barnack Church
The Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Barnack Church will be held on Monday, March 6th, at 7.30pm in the Wilfrid Wood Hall. All welcome to attend. There will be some archive material on display, and coffee will be served.

Barnack W.I.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 14th, at 7.30pm in the Wilfrid Wood Hall. The speaker will be PC Norm McCallum on the subject of “Rural Policing.” New members and visitors are always welcome.

Quiz Night
Money for nothing and the chips for free! Sounds like a Dire Straights track - perhaps not, but you will do well by swotting up on your general knowledge to win great cash money prizes at Barnack’s much-loved pub quiz. New rules ensure that the snowball prize rapidly rises to a staggering £100 over the weeks and at that point must be won on the night. So don’t miss out on extraordinary jollity and frivolity at Barnack’s favourite quiz every Sunday evening at the Millstone Public House from 8pm. Great ambiance with the Millstone’s resident bar-steward’s selection of real ales, cool lager beers, fine wines, and spirits to slake any thirst. New teams most especially welcomed. What a way to start your week!

Call For New Members
The Friends Of Barnack Church 200 Club have been helping to conserve the fabric of the church for a great many years now. Why not consider joining? The 200-club subscription is just £15 per year with cash prize draws every month. Should you be interested in joining this marvellous cause and becoming a Friend of Barnack Church please contact Mr Martin Goodwin, 24 Bainton Road, Barnack. Tel: 01780 740145.
The lucky winners for the November draw are as follows:
130 S E Baker £50
102 M Perkins £50
90 Mr Mrs D Simmons £50
43 M Brown £20
28 W Harris £10
20 D G Leeton £5
Congratulations and Happy New Year to you all.

Open Fellowship
The meeting will be held on Thursday February 2nd at 12 Canon Drive, Barnack and on the 16th at 9 Warrenne Keep, Stamford. Both meetings at 7.30pm.

The Barnack & District Horticultural Show
This has been a major family event in our villages for the last 140 or so years, and in keeping with this continued success your 2006 show is now in the planning stage. Each summer it showcases the most incredible exhibits of locally produced vegetables, jams, chutneys, bakery, flowers etc in addition to many more fascinating categories for both adults and children to enter. Local Barnack resident Bryan Lee has picked up the mantle as chairman this year and is looking to quickly recruit a small enthusiastic team to start the ball rolling. Bryan has a long-standing history with our villages and brings with him a fresh enthusiasm and eagerness that should make the 2006 show a real winner. So do please contact Bryan on 740239 or by email: bryan-leeuk2.net as soon as possible. All help will contribute hugely to the success of the show this year and will be very much appreciated.

Barnack Baptist Church
It was a couple of months ago now, where does the time go, but a big thank you to all of you who supported the Christmas Concert on 23rd December. We have been able to send over £450 to Operation Agri in Brazil, thanks to the money raised from the Concert and the Christmas Day collection. Look forward to seeing you at this years concert in December, which will feel like just a few weeks away!!

Ufford Park Cricket Club
Ufford Park Cricket Club Draw took place at the White Hart and the winners were:
£50 Nº 65 R DePear, Bainton
£30 Nº 69 P Turner, Peterborough
£20 Nº 29 A Mason, Stamford
£15 Nº 25 P Corder, Southorpe
£10 Nº 20 Mrs J Millers, Ufford
£10 Nº 70 Mrs Corder, Southorpe
£10 Nº 64 Mrs D Hills, Stamford
At the Annual Presentation Evening, Chris Lightfoot won the award for the ‘Most Improved Young Player’.
Indoor Nets for Seniors and Juniors will be held at Stamford School, commencing on Sunday 5th February 2.00 – 3.30 pm. Anyone interested in joining Ufford Park Cricket Club, please contact Danny Harrington (01780 763174) for more information.
The Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 6th March, 7.30 pm at The White Hart. New members are always welcome..