Design by ADDITIONAL SOLUTIONS LTD

Brandeston Craft Fair - 22 September 2007

Who knew there were so many crafty people around the village? Local artists and craft people displayed their amazing talents at the first Brandeston Craft Fair organised by Sam Tassera (pictured below). A variety of unique and colourful creations including decoupage, stained glass, pottery, hand made cards and jewellery were just some of the goods on sale. Their talents extended to the kitchen where even the jam on the home baked scones was home made and the cream teas were served in a civilised fashion on the terrace.

It was great to see so many people from the village come and support the event and as a result of its success we hope to have another fair around Easter time. Anyone who would like a stall is very welcome!

Morris Dancers at The Queen - 17 September 2007

On a quite cold September evening, villagers watched the East Suffolk Morris Men work their way through some traditional English dances with a little help from Adnams ale. Marian Hutson was there with her camera to record the event. Click here for The Queen’s Head.

Coffee Shop Gang - Fish and Chips Outing

3 September 2007

People think that the Thursday Coffee Morning is just a matter of sitting around chatting, drinking tea or coffee and buying Basil’s eggs. Well, that’s not entirely the case as on 3 September, seventeen of the regulars went off to the Flora Tea Rooms in Dunwich for a fish and chips lunch. Fortunately for us, there was a photographer amongst them so that we can see how much they enjoyed the occasion.

A second outing is planned for November and anyone who would like to join the gang should start attending the Coffee Morning as there always seems to be something going on there. On Monday of this week (17 September), Phil, pictured second from the right above and a Coffee Morning regular from Easton, celebrated her 85th birthday. At the next Coffee Morning, she brought along  a cake she had made for everyone - and very nice it was too!

See more photos of the Coffee Shop Gang here.

Anglia Art at Brandeston Hall - 25, 26, 27 August 2007

The Anglia Art Exhibition over the Bank Holiday weekend was undoubtedly given a fillip by the involvement of Brandeston Hall School and the opening by the High Sheriff of Suffolk Air Marshal Sir John Kemball as pictured above. Paintings worth £12,000 were sold over the period and, according to the organisers, when the final accounting has been concluded, taking into account all sources of income including sponsorship, it may have proved the most successful exhibition in its 30-year-old history.

New Name And new Impetus for Anglia Art Show

Bank Holiday Attraction Boosted As Legion and Brandeston Hall School Join Forces

25, 26 and 27 August at Brandeston Hall School

One of Suffolk's established August Bank Holiday attractions has been given a new name and a new format marking the direct involvement of Brandeston Hall School in what, for 30 years, has been a popular art exhibition in aid of the Earl Soham, and District Royal British Legion.

Relaunched as Anglia Art it will continue to show some 400 paintings by a hundred invited Eastern Counties artists.

The school, which has always provided the art show's venue, is now to become a partner in the enterprise and will provide an additional exhibition of work by some highly gifted pupils at Brandeston Hall.

From its very modest beginnings - in the first year 31 paintings were sold at an average price of £26 - over 3000 pictures from the exhibition have now been purchased at well below gallery prices.

Marking this year's special occasion the exhibition will be opened by the High Sheriff of Suffolk, Air Marshal Sir John Kemball KCB CBE DL BA FRAeS, at the August 24th invitation-only private view.

Thereafter the exhibition will extend over the succeeding three day bank holiday period, opening from 10:00 am to 6.00 pm. with a £1 entry fee, no charge for children under 12 years and free parking

The Legion's branch President, Major General Jack Dye CBE MC DL, welcoming the involvement of the school said: "This has to be good news for the ex-service personnel and their dependents in the area who have been substantially helped over the years by the proceeds of the show and which we now confidently expect to be an even bigger success " .

The organisers of the Anglia Art exhibition ( from left to right) Mr Kenneth Fraser, Deputy Chairman Earl Soham Branch, Royal British Legion, the Rev Michael Vipond (Hon Secretary), Major General Jack Dye (President), Mr Andrew Payn, (Operations Director for Brandeston Hall and Framlingham College) and Keith Wilson (Chairman) .

Brandeston Wine Society - 8 March 2007

In March, Brandeston wine society’s inaugural tasting event attracted 30 people to experience six wines from Portugal, selected by Nick Holland-Brown, a member of the Wine Society. Since it was the first event of its kind, between sips those oenophiles present were asked for their views on how the society should proceed in the future.

There was enthusiasm for comparing wines from a similar grape but different areas, as well as matching wine with food and trying best buys from supermarkets. Opinion differed however on the preferred regularity of the events, and this is one of the several issues which will be addressed by those who offered to help arrange future tastings. However, it’s likely that the next tasting evening will be during late spring or early summer. Watch this website or the Brandeston for details.

Family Bingo Evening - 24 February 2007

On Saturday, 24 February, the first bingo evening in the new hall took place. It was attended by young and old alike who then played eight games through the evening where cash prizes were offered each time for a line and a full house.

Excitement was high as Fred Muggleston called  “Eyes down” to just over 30 adults and children. Being an amateur evening, the bingo machine was actually a toy. The balls were very small and the numbers on them even smaller with the whole system designed to be used by nimble child fingers and someone with good 20/20 vision. Fred, on the other hand, may well retain his youthful good looks but his fingers and eyes let him down and this, it turned out, led to unexpected entertainment throughout the evening. As Fred tried to pick the balls out of their rack and turn them so that he could read the numbers, they frequently leapt out of his fingers and rolled across the floor. There were worried looks on the players’ faces as each of us thought that it was our winning ball that was rolling about the hall. “It’s the machine!!”, Fred kept saying but we made up our own minds. No one was certain whether Fred could hear the unflattering comments from around the hall about his little balls – but we all thought it was funny every time someone said it. It was only at the end of the night that someone mentioned that we could have used the 100 Club balls – we should have thought of that! It would have been a great help to Fred but nowhere near as amusing.

When it came to the bingo-lingo, we were clearly beginners although as the games progressed, we managed a few clicks when 66 came up and some wolf-whistles for Legs-11. We all muttered and nodded in agreement on the politically correct call of two fat persons-88. The first half of the evening closed with a free raffle for an Easter egg followed by hot dogs made with Revetts sausages.

In the second half of the evening, the prize money was steadily increased so that on the last game, a line would win £23 and a full house £46 - big prizes indeed!! Games that were already tense as people waited for their one remaining number to be called, became even more tense as gasps of “YES!!” could be heard around the room every time a number was called. “This tension is not a good thing for someone with a recent heart scare!”, one player with a recent heart scare was heard to say. In the end, the top prize was shared between Richard Mitson-Woods and Peter Thurlow.

All the £189 that was taken at the door for tickets was paid out in prizes while expenses were covered by food and drinks sales. This still left £71 for village hall funds.

Will there be another bingo night ...... well, we’ll see. As with most village events, we would have liked a few more people in the hall as in this case, a bigger audience would have meant bigger prizes.

Southwold Day Out - 9 December 2006

The weather looked as if it would be good as soon as we got up and, sure enough, it was a crisp, bright, sunny day for the annual coach trip to Southwold. The coach turned up on time - too early, really, as we wanted a group photograph before we got on. In the end, we had to make do with a picture on the bus - lots of eyes and people hiding behind their seats, unfortunately.

Southwold was as lovely as ever and people enjoyed the shops, pubs, the places of interest and the sea. One good thing about Southwold is that there are loads of places to have a drink. The Nelson was full by midday with people sitting outside not bothering about the chill wind coming off the sea. Others went to The Red Lion overlooking the Green and some of us ended up in the back bar of the Crown

The journey home was filled as usual with the massive Southwold Trip Raffle. It starts as soon as the coach clears the town but it seemed this year that there weren’t quite as many prizes as the last time as it finished somewhere between Wickham Market and Easton instead of along the road to Kettleburgh! Some old favourites made a happy return such as the pink exfoliating gloves and we had some new ones that we’re sure to see again next year. The main prize was the much sought after, unsigned, framed photo of Four Short Legs from the Full Monty at last year’s Talent Show. It was won by June Underdown and I’m sure we won’t see that prize again.

The trip is well supported by people from outside the village with regulars such as Pat and Ted Peck and Margaret Meadows from Kettleburgh who never miss the day. Chris and Dianna are also big supporters of the village and attend loads of our functions.

Thanks to the raffle, about £90 went to village funds. Thanks to everyone who supported us.   

Christmas Dance - 2 December 2006

The first of the Christmas parties of 2006 took place at the village hall on Saturday, 2 December with the Christmas Dance organised as always by Fred Muggleston. A smaller number of people than was hoped turned out to dance to the Tyler-Kemp band but, nevertheless, a good time was had by everyone and a decent contribution of £250 was made to the hall funds.

The hall had been decorated for the Christmas period the previous evening by a willing bunch of helpers and looked very festive especially the rather tastefully decorated Christmas tree. Nicely presented tables gave the hall a lovely Christmasy feel and the lights brought by the band added to the occasion. The Tyler-Kemp band ran through their usual mix of soft-rock tunes so there was something for everyone to dance to at some point in the evening.

The food, as ever, was superb and thanks go to everyone who brought something. The excellent mix of party food was eaten with enthusiasm.

The evening ended with the cleaning up party. “It was another really good night in Brandeston” said Fred Muggleston, “but we could have done with another ten or so couples”.