In 1923 Geddington and Newton had approximately 1000 inhabitants. The villages were relatively isolated with limited transport links to the outside world. There was no running water and no electricity. The vast majority of homes had to use outside privies, bake their Sunday roast in the large oven at one of the bake houses and dry their washing in one of the communal drying areas of the village…..BUT it did have a newly formed Women’s Institute!

Celebrations and commemorations were on the agenda of last week’s meeting – exactly 100 years since the formation of this new organisation for the women of the two communities.

Almost all the current members were present to honour those 4 original officers from 1923; Mrs Berrill, Mrs Holmes, Miss Sykes and Mrs G Holding and to recognise 4 long standing current members: Joan Higgs, 82 years service, Pam Hopkins and Hazel Brunger, 65 years each and Val Bellamy 50 years service .

Each member was presented with a beautiful hand made trinket box in WI colours; there was cake to admire, prizes to win and an exhibition of those early years and the Resolutions on female policing and better maternity care that the WI fought to get implemented.

There was also a lovely supper and a chance to reflect on the fellowship within the group and across the wider WI. WI were really pleased to welcome Anne Rodwell, the County Chairman, to the event and ask her to present the awards and certificates. Thank you Anne for sharing the celebrations.

Here’s to the next 100 years!!

We all like to relax with a cup of tea to gather our thoughts and gear ourselves up for the next job on the list ….. but if our cup of tea could aid our digestion, support heart and circulation health or ensure a good night’s sleep that would be a real bonus.

Nicola Fenton, a trained herbalist, came along to September’s WI meeting to explain about the hidden qualities of garden plants. So many plants readily available in our gardens have healing properties. Prepared in different ways, they can be taken as a tea, crushed to form a poultice, mixed with beeswax to create an ointment or concentrated in a tincture.

Nicola brought with her samples of thyme, rosemary, sage and plantain to illustrate the benefits and to encourage us to try the flavours. Most found the rosemary tea quite pleasant but sage tea was a bit more of a challenge!

Peppermint and lemon balm are good for digestive troubles; thyme for coughs and colds, rosemary for headaches and anxiety. Try Valerian if your sleep is disturbed, rosehips for the winter vitamin C hit, meadowsweet for heart burn and, if you don’t fancy sage in tea, try it as a toothpaste or mouth freshener.

Most surprising was the news that daisies are our natural source of Arnica and that stinging nettles are a great tonic!!

As always, the advice was to check before you drink that the plant is what you think it is and if you are on medication check with your doctor before indulging!

If you fancy joining one of our meetings, please come along on the second Wednesday of each month to the Village Hall for a 7:30pm start. You will be made very welcome.

Once again, thieves have stolen some of BT’s telephone cables and in doing so, left significant parts of Geddington & Newton without a landline – again!

Our reporter spoke to the engineers working on the Newton to Little Oakley Road, where the thefts occurred. They confirmed that all the work they had been doing since the first theft in July, had been undone. It appears that the thieves lift up the manhole covers along that road, cut the cables and pull them out.

They continued: “Each cable contains thousands of wires and every household has 4 wires in its landline.” It’s no wonder that some lines get crossed and that the whole process takes so long.

The Newton to Little Oakley Road is not the most widely used. It is frequently prone to waste dumping, and now to cable theft.

If anybody sees anything or anybody suspicious along this road, please report it to BT and the Police.

It may be worth noting that the wire in the cable is made of copper. It cannot be easily identified and so can be sold very easily by the thieves.

The new fibre optics that BT have started to install, does not have the same appeal to thieves. However, its main drawback is that a power cut means the household does not have the use of its landline.

Chairman of the Parish Council, Nick Batchelor has advised us that:

“Next Tuesday, 19th June at 7pm, there will be a meeting of the North Northants Area Planning Committee at the Council Offices in Kettering, to specifically discuss and make a decision on the ‘Larkfleet Application’. This application is for a development of 20+ houses on a plot of land with access off Stamford Road and which is behind Newton Road.

I will be applying to attend and will be voicing a number of objections on behalf of the Parish Council, in the small window of allotted time that is given.

Residents of Newton and Stamford Roads have been extremely helpful in providing local information and evidence in support of our objections thus far.

But specifically, I would like to further appeal to any householder, GVFB member or resident, helping on the night, who has photographs of the flooding and damage caused to property on and around Newton Road during the floods of 23rd December 2020, and doesn’t mind sharing these with me. “

Contact via:
Email: nickbatchelor76@hotmail.co.uk
Or phone: 07876 083178
Or at: No.1 West Street

When the ladies of Geddington and Newton WI met this month the farm came too.

Jane Barnes is a dairy farmer’s wife with a passion for her lifestyle and the quality of the milk her family provide from their herd of cows. Her day starts early, feeding the young calves, and finishes late when she is travelling the area presenting a lively insight into farming life to groups like our WI. The milking is managed by her son, now the farm manager with very creative ideas for keeping the land, the farm and the milking sustainable. Her mantra is quality; care of the animals, care of the land and pride in the milk which goes off to their contracted dairy to produces Leicestershire blue cheeses – and very tasty they are too.

Jane challenged us to consider the role of supermarkets and governments in controlling the price of milk, raised our awareness of the health benefits of drinking milk and reminded us that full cream milk is 95% fat free. ‘There is no such thing as a semi -skimmed cow!’

It was a delightful and thought provoking session and most of us now have some delicious blue cheese in our fridge to remind us of the hard work and commitment that goes into making it.

Sunday 5th June is the day that Geddington is having a Village Picnic and Fun Day to celebrate HM the Queen’s PlatinumJubilee.

To have even more fun, why not run a stall, raise money and just generally join in the day’s events?

Contact: jubilee@geddington.org.uk for more details and information.

Geddington and Newton WI was back in person last week, enjoying the presentation on photography from local resident Trevor Rudkin. Trevor is not a professional photographer; in fact he made teaching his career but his discovery of photography as a young man developed into a lifelong passion.

The meeting in the village hall brought together about 40 members who were delighted by the range of photographs Trevor had brought with him to illustrate the skills and creativity in his work. The choice of background, the use of black and white, the variation in focus and the position of figures captured in an image gave us all a real insight into improving our own skills. We did note too that, while a good camera is essential, the patience to wait for the right moment to create a picture is absolutely vital!

A really enjoyable evening.

If you would like to know future dates for your WI meetings please check the Diary.