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Brandeston Arts and Crafts Exhibition - 14 March 2009

Jackie Hounsell

The first Brandeston Art and Crafts Exhibition held in the Village Hall on Saturday, 14 March was a resounding success. The doors opened at 10.00 am and whilst there wasn’t exactly a queue, we had our first visitors within minutes and there was a steady stream throughout the day.  In true Brandeston fashion, excellent refreshments were provided and people enjoyed the friendly atmosphere sitting discussing art, the Universe and everything over a nice cup of tea.

The diversity and standard of  the exhibits was breathtaking - stunning flower arrangements, amazing knitted garments, exquisite and exotic needlework, beautiful wood-turning and  wood and brass-work, superb pottery, lovely handmade cards, delicate lacework, wonderful watercolour, acrylic and oil paintings and prints,  excellent photographs and splendid artwork and patterns for heraldic shields and  plaques. There was also a section for young people which included charming paintings, pottery and needlework.

It is impossible to single out any one exhibit or exhibitor for special praise as they were all magnificent and there are not enough superlatives or indeed space so to do. You really had to be there!

The exhibition delighted and impressed everyone who saw it and the overwhelming response was amazement that such a small village could have such a wealth of talent ... well done Brandeston!

A big “thank you” to all the helpers, exhibitors and visitors who made the event such a success.

Sophie Piper-Williams won the lace-making draw.

Top: Nancy Demetriadi’s fine needlework. Right: Jackie Hounsell

More photos from the exhibition can be found here.

French Evening - 28 February 2009

The familiar surroundings of the village hall were transformed for one evening into a candlelit cabaret venue. Subdued lighting from ornate candelabra, French Tricolores as a backdrop and Impressionist paintings on the walls meant that the guests instantly melded into the atmosphere especially as many had dressed the part. Who was that bewigged aristocrat in his sophisticated attire? And was that really the ambassador from French Guinea? Chic figures direct from Parisian boulevards had invaded our sleepy village. One purple bereted mademoiselle even brought her white poodle along for the evening and there were so many in their striped T-shirts, knotted scarves (one even adorned with plaited onions) that for a moment, one could have been in Marseilles.

The champagne and canapés on arrival set the mood for the evening and one delectable course after another followed. Wine flowed freely which helped the frenzied flag waving each time the Marseillaise was played. There were even some Francophiles who were familiar enough with the words to join in.

Then a hush as our ridiculously accented French impresario, Pierre La Rue Bas, introduced the first cabaret act - Alastair and Helen Chapman with Janet Barwell on piano took us on a journey through French music singing some exquisite and moving songs. Alastair ended their spot with the popular song La Mer, inviting people from the Tap Dancing class to join in as it is one of their routines.

Our next act, Neil Innes, has performed in prestigious venues all over the world and can now add Brandeston Village Hall to his list. The audience felt honoured that he was prepared to perform for us and gave him a rousing reception. He quickly engaged with the rabble and involved them in some foot-stamping in the chorus to “Mr Eurovision”. Neil ended his act with the sad “Song in a French Accent” with the chorus “Hee-haw hee-haw, hee-haw hee-haw” sung with a French accent, of course.

The increasingly uninhibited mood reached its finale with the surprise announcement of Les Belles Froufrou, bringing their energetic cancan routine direct from Les Folies Bergeres. Their colourful presence erupted into the room and to screams of delight and encouragement, they flashed through their routine with plenty of high kicks and provocative glimpses of their frilly underwear. The audience, whooping with encouragement, demanded an encore which ended with the dancers throwing knickers into the audience. We still don’t know how that was achieved.

As the cabaret ended, there was a spontaneous rush to the dance floor with everyone wanting their own moment in the stage lights dancing waltzes, fox trots and tangos to French songs.

Special thanks to our professional performers and to our courageous cancan girls, Rebecca, Marian, Kathy, Helen, Nicola and Karren, who gave it their all. Tim Owens’ memorable meal will long be spoken of in the village and there were so many willing helpers who made the evening possible. Our thanks to you all.

Now, what shall we do next?!

From top: Les Belles Froufrou (Nicola, Karren, Rebecca, Kathy, Helen, and Marian); Helen, Janet and Alastair; Neil Innes; Tim Owens and Dan; Pat Morgan (who organised the night) and Pierre (Peter Thurlow). All photos MP&D

More photos from the evening.

Wine Society Christmas Dinner - 5 December 2008

Was this a super supper at the village hall with some wines to try out or was it a wine tasting with a dinner on the side? In reality, it was somewhere between the two with canapes and champagne to start followed by three courses along with Bordeaux wines plus port ... and all for £20!

Martin (above left) and Nick (below) from the Wine Club had chosen Bordeaux as the theme for the wines although the wine tasting before the meal seemed more restrained than usual as people were ready for dinner. The white wine was well received although comments on the reds ranged from gorgeous to miserable. Ah well, that’s wine tasting!

The Wine Club’s resident chef, Tim Owens (above right) pulled together a delicious menu for the night. We started with two tasty canapes to nibble with the Champagne - one was a venison carpaccio with beetroot and the other was smoked salmon with caviar. Dinner itself was game pie with a suet pastry crust (with most of the game coming from around the village) accompanied by pommes dauphinoise. Pudding was a creamy chocolate mousse (served with a really nice dessert wine) followed by a selection of cheeses and port.

Tim keeps saying that he has done his stint with the cooking for the Wine Club and is retiring as of this meal so that one of his capable helpers can take over. Catering for over 50 people takes a lot of planning and preparation and Tim puts considerable thought and effort into these evenings to make them such successful Brandeston Nights. I suspect Wine Club organisers have other ideas about his retirement.

See more photos from the evening here.

Brandeston Community Lunch - 9 December 2008

Nick Hayward

Yet another wonderful Community Lunch was enjoyed by around 50 residents in the village hall on Tuesday, 9 December.  These lunches are monthly affairs and this one was an end-of-year spectacular with a full turkey lunch, superb home-made pudding, wine, coffee etc, all for £5 – talk about Credit Crunch!

 As always with successful functions, a huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes to make the event happen; from planning, cooking two 18lb turkeys (delicious), preparing the many and varied vegetables, laying up, washing up, clearing up etc, etc, and this is done by our wonderful Brandeston people, notably in this case, Mary and Richard (who, having cooked, delivered and celebrated, then shot off on holiday), Eve and Chris H cooking the birds, and the usual super stalwarts providing great support, without which we could not manage. You can see above that the birds were carved in the public arena…………….

 An already delightful occasion was lubricated by wine and illuminated by magnificent sunlight – how does Brandeston do it?

Post-prandial activities included the Village 100+ Christmas Draw, together with the Community Lunch Draw.

Helen S kindly gave an apposite vote of thanks to all who had contributed to yet another splendid lunch.

Photos: Nick Hayward

Ruby and her Horses

Presented by the Bumpstead Boys - 22 November 2008

Mary Moore

A large and appreciative audience at Brandeston Village Hall saw history brought to life as Neil Lanham recounted stories from the life of his mother Ruby. She was a remarkably strong and resourceful lady, who experienced the hardship of a difficult life in the agricultural depression, and yet rose above all these troubles, her spirit undimmed. Her life story was illustrated with excellent photographs on the screen, and interspersed with appropriate songs from Andrew Stannard in his own unique Suffolk style, which added much to our enjoyment.

There was plenty of humour too, which nicely balanced the more poignant incidents, such as the commandeering of horses for service in World War 1.

It all added up to a great evening's entertainment and almost £400 was raised for village hall funds.

Thank you, Neil and Andrew!

Church Bike Ride - 13 September 2008

John and Ruth Garratt

Photos: John Garratt

Saturday, 13 September, a perfect day for the Church Bike Ride.

John and Ruth Garratt, the Oswald family with Lucy and Timothy, Chris McArthur, Karen Piper and Jasmin all did so well and raised £700.50 between them of which half will go to Brandeston Church Fabric Fund.

Thanks to all the sponsors and sitters at the church and chapel and to Peter Arbon for the decorated wheel that was admired by all the cyclists, 58 of which booked in at All Saints and 44 at the chapel in Mill Lane.

Harvest Horkey - 11October 2008

To my mind, Brandeston’s Harvest Horkey is just about our most important village event in any year. I’ve always thought of it as the whole village coming together to celebrate the end of another farming year - Brandeston being essentially an agricultural village. We’re still surrounded by the same fields but with so few people actually working on the land these days, we don’t seem to be so involved. Nevertheless, the Horkey is a way of recognising why the village exists.

According to David Risk, the suppers started about thirty years ago although I would like to think they have been going forever. When they started, the local farmers donated the meats for the benefit of the villagers - another reason for wanting to believe that the tradition goes back 200 years or more.

Anyway, last Saturday, 11 October, saw the traditional Brandeston three-course harvest supper of a gorgeous, thick and luscious tomato soup prepared by Mary Mitson-Woods, ham and beef salad and apple pie with cream, with the tables thoughtfully decorated with autumnal vegetation. The meal was served to over sixty villagers representing a good cross section of Brandeston.

The entertainment for the evening was provided by Helen and Alastair Chapman, accompanied by Janet Barwell on the piano, with a programme of songs worked out on a napkin while dining at the Lighthouse in Aldeburgh. With solos and duets, Helen and Alastair worked their way through songs ranging from Mozart to Flanders and Swan taking in Robert Schumann and Stephen Foster (of Camptown Races fame) along the way. However, the two love songs sung in German were the highlights although I don’t have a clue what they were about.

A lot of people, organised by Sue Thurlow, put a tremendous amount of effort into the evening and over £400 was raised for the village hall.

See more photos from the Horkey here.

Brandeston Fete - 21 June 2008

It was one of the riskiest things the village could have done – move the fete from the village hall and playing field to the grounds of the Queen’s Head. There were the understandable mumblings up and down the Street about the move and the weather forecast threatened all week to be bad. On the day, the forecast seemed to be proving correct as at 1:00, while some of the stalls were being set up, we had really dark skies followed by rain. It was going to be a disaster without doubt.

That, it turned out, was the end of any bad luck because from about 2:00 onwards, we had a cloudy day but not a single drop of rain came down and Brandeston people, plus people from neighbouring villages and people driving by, popped in to have a look around and enjoy themselves for the rest of the afternoon.

Dee Alderson (left), as a newcomer to Brandeston, formally opened the fete and talked to just about all the stall holders.

Unlike the playing field where the stalls tended to be spread out, they were squeezed into a much smaller area but as it turned out, this was a huge benefit because the intimacy and atmosphere of the event increased immeasurably.

The event took place alongside the three-day Brandeston Beer Festival at the Queen. This will be reported separately but it definitely added to the excitement of the day and was followed on Sunday with the Jazz and Hog Roast in the garden.

It’s not clear at this moment how individual stalls actually did but several reported higher takings. Peter Arbon thought his takings for bowling were double last year’s, fashion accessories reported about three times last year’s takings and the bottle stall thought business was brisk right up until the end of the fete.

Children’s games made a welcome return and were organised and sponsored by Anna Carr of Ruby and Ted, Framlingham.

Rev Robin Alderson closed the fete and most reports from people who attended say that the afternoon went really well with a good village spirit clearly evident. There was still a biggish crowd at 5:30 after the grand draw and then people sat outside the pub until late evening.

And the financial result ... well, early indications are that we raised £3002 (to be shared between the village hall and the church fabric fund) – over £800 more than last year.

Photos from the fete.

Boules Evening - 31 May 2008

Peter Thurlow

Following impromptu and enthusiastic discussions on licensed premises on Friday evening, Brandeston's first boules tournament was held on Saturday. The best surface was deemed to be the village hall car park, and about 20 players turned up, both nouveaux venus and anciens combattants. There were even spectators. Though food and drink hadn't been stipulated, there was plenty of both. It's hoped that this was the forerunner of a village tournament to be held throughout the summer. Those villagers keen to take part should e-mail a.chapman@ukonline.co.uk