However you pronounce 'scones' The Stalbridge Friday Morning Coffee Group will be serving them at their Afternoon 'Cream Tea' Tea Party on Saturday 5th May, along with Jam and cream, delicious sandwiches and cakes. The party runs from 2pm till 4.30pm at Stalbridge Youth Club and costs £4.50. There will be a raffle at this event and Everyone is most welcome.

​Thyme for some Magic as Thyme after Time Cafe in Stalbridge host their Opulent, Magical, Mystery Tea Party on Saturday, 12th May at 4pm         

Hi Everybody,

We are uber excited by our next monthly event as we have Magician and Mind Reader Paul Newton  coming  to visit us to perform his magic tricks see (www.paul-newton.co.uk) or his facebook page - 'Paul Newton - Magician, Mind Reader and Hypnotist'

"Paul has been described as Dorset's answer to Derren Brown with Chris Moyles attitude!!

When he was 10 years old Paul was given a magic set by his parents. Like many little boys he spent many hours poring over Paul Daniel's tricks, figuring out how to perform them and staging shows for his family and friends.

But as the tricks became easier to him, instead of losing interest, young Paul wanted more...

Now 31, hes been called Dorset's answer to Derren Brown with Chris Moyle's attitude and is stunning audiences with his card tricks and mentalism act.

Paul has also appeared on the weakest link where even notoriusly grumpy Anne Robinson was impressed by his skills!"

He has an excellent reputation and so will be brilliant to see what he gets up to! He will be roaming around our Café on that afternoon performing as you enjoy your afternoon tea that we will have prepared for you.

We will be serving you up a delicious three tier afternoon tea with our unlimited, delicious tea selection and our mighty fine coffee, of your choice, you are very welcome to bring champagne or sparkling wine to have with your tea, (we will simply charge you our normal £1 per person to cover glass washing and bottle disposal). 

So to the menu.......

Here are the delectable delights we have lined up for you-

Dainty Sandwich Selection (We are proud to use local Taylor's Bakery of Bruton)

Smoked chicken breast with fresh mango, Coronation mayonnaise and rocket on sunflower bread

Thornhill Farm (the farm next door to our Cafe) free range eggs with Dorset watercress and mayonnaise on multi grain bread

Cucumber, dill and smoked rock salt with Blackmore Vale sour cream sandwiches on white bread

Scottish smoked salmon with Blackmore Vale cream cheese, cracked black pepper and a squeeze of lemon on wholemeal bread

Savouries

Homemade curried pork and apple sausage rolls

Our delicious Somerset Cheddar cheese straws

Scones

Our delicious Dorset buttermilk scones with our own delicious, ever popular strawberry jam and Blackmore Vale clotted cream

Cakes

Lemon and white chocolate fresh cream eclairs

Glazed banana and creme pattiserie tartlets

Mini black forest gateaux, layers of rich chocolate sponge soaked in kirsch with layer of fresh cream and black cherries

Fresh Dorset cream filled meringues with strawberries

Drinks

We will provide you with unlimited teas and coffees of your choice during your afternoon tea and glassware for your bubbly should you require it. Please let us know upon booking if you intend to bring bubbly so we can lay your table accordingly.

Tickets are available now and we have a limited number of seats available for this event. You can either purchase your tickets via our web site, over the phone by debit/credit card or simply call in and see us and pay by cash or card (sorry no cheques).

We hope you will join us for this entirely new type of event, the first of this kind that we have ever put on.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Margot, Steve and the Thymers...

​Click on the button below to visit the Thyme After Time website and make your booking

​The Village of Stalbridge has 2 all-weather surface tennis courts, situated in the scenic surroundings of the Stalbridge Playing fields, just off Park Grove. The Tennis Club is run by a committee which meets annually for the A.G.M., usually in April, and is open to all members of the public.

The Club is actively recruiting new members and would especially welcome any members who wish to serve on the committee.
The tennis season runs for 12 months from May 1st. Notices are placed around the village and on the Tennis Club notice board (adjacent to the courts), advising when subscriptions are due and the cost of annual membership. Upon joining a security key is issued, which unlocks the gate and the toilet in the pavilion.
Members can play at any time, although certain 'On Court' rules apply.
The tennis club does not run a booking system.

Membership fees for 2018/9 are: Family £40 Single £20 Junior (Under 18) £10

STALBRIDGE GARDEN SOCIETY 
2018
April Meeting

Tony Moore our new chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, he gave out the notices and introduced this month’s speaker who was David moon.
Geoff Jeans our vice chairman gave out an update on how Brian Spiller was progressing, and that how the family hope to have him home soon, which is good news.
Geoff was also helping Chris Wiles judge our second attempt at the spring show as the daffodils were very behind last month and we only had few entries.
David Moon ‘s talk was on “The National Garden Scheme” he began by telling us all about the NGS how it was formed back in 1927, Edward Lutchens and Gertrude Jekel’s  gardens were some of the first to open their garden under the scheme.
There are now over 4.000 gardens opening up to raise money for “Cancer charities” in the country. To date over £50 million pounds have been raised for charities. Since 2016 they have banked 3 million pounds.
Lots of gardens are open throughout the year, from little tiny courtyard, to three acre gardens, some gardens, are well known, such as Hester combe, Great Dixter, the Garden on Holly Island, Heale house gardens and Knoll gardens, there are many , many more. Including allotments.
A Popular one is Mary Berry’s garden, she is always there to show the public around as well as being a famous cook, and she is also a fantastic gardener.
Her next door neighbour is Pauline Quirke who also opens her garden under the scheme.
Finally David showed us lots of slides, of lovely gardens  around the country, one of which being, Horatio’s, this was a garden set up in memory of a young lad who worked at the Salisbury Spinal care unit, and had lots of fantastic ideas he was beginning to implement. Then taking b break, he went on an expedition to Greenland, tragically the group camp was attacked by a “polar bear”, his friends were badly hurt and Horatio sadly lost his life.
His family, then set about fund raising to complete the garden he had started at the spinal unit, and it is now admired and well used, by the patients and public.
The fund raising continues by the family and there are now more plans for additional Horatio’s gardens at other hospital recovery units. One in Glasgow, where James Alexander Sinclair is going to be the designer, One at Stoke Mandeville, the designer being Joe Swift, and one in Oswestry the designer being Bunny Guinness. This was a very sad but inspiring story. 
This talk was fantastic, inspiring, rewarding and were had a beautiful visual display, thank you to Anne Brown for booking this brilliant speaker, we all enjoyed it very much.
David finished with a little talk about in home town being Frome, were he is involved with the Frome in Bloom competition, Jenson Button the formula one racing driver also has a helping hand.

The Spring Show part two results are as follows;-
Wendy Bailey came first in five of the daffodil categories, with a second in one more.
Mary Moore had two first and a second
Michelle had a first
Tony Moore had a second and Marigold Edwards had a third.
Thank you to all of you who took part it was a lovely display, kindly judged once again by Chris Wiles.
The next meeting is on Thursday 10th May 7.30pm in the hall
The talk is ‘Bee Friendly’ gardening with Neil Lovesy.
Enjoy your spring garden, the weather seems to be improving, and we hope getting a little warmer, look out for bees and butterflies, it is always good to add more wildlife friendly plants to your garden to encourage them in!

Michelle Howell

Stalbridge Stars bring enthusiasm and fun to football for boys and girls at their successful Summer Holiday courses. After two successful years Ben Barbour and his team are pleased to announce this year's course dates.
They are running two three day courses on the following dates: 

Course 1: 7th to 9th August

Course 2; 28th to 30th August

These summer football coaching courses are suitable for 5-12 year olds.

Prices are £15 per day when booking all 3 days or £20 per day. The course runs from 
9am-3pm (for 8.00 am early drop off add £5).

"The format of the courses is to mix up a wide variety of fun coaching exercises together with regular short games to ensure all children are fully engaged and all levels of player are catered for.  Boys and girls are welcome.  We have medals for every child as well as trophies to be won and we are really looking forward to our third summer after last summer’s successes when we sold out our first course and over 50 children attended our second year of courses.  Each course concludes with a fun prize giving and video show of the previous three days - the video is then available to all attendees at home."

The coaching team is led by a level two FA qualified coach and the course leader is fully CRB checked and First Aid trained.
For more information please contact Benedict Barbour

Email: benedict.barbour@yahoo.co.uk - Telephone: 07794 476221

Stalbridge History Society and Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group need volunteers to help with geophys on their archaeology site at Stalbridge Park. The work will be focussing on the site of the old Stalbridge House, which was demolished in the early nineteenth century. The work is being carried out with the kind permission of Mr de Pelet. Volunteers are needed for 14th and 15th April and the 21st and 22nd April. For more information please email Jacqui on jacwragg@aol.com

The Gartell Light Railway in Templecombe are holding one of their popular Open Days on Easter Monday 2nd April 2018. They open at 10:00am and operate a frequent train service between 10:30am and 16:30pm.

The Gartell Light Railway is a privately owned and operated 2 foot gauge railway which is open to the public on selected dates through the year. On its open days, the railway operates an intensive train service using 3 trains and is proud to offer a more intensive steam and diesel hauled train service timetable than virtually any other narrow gauge railway. Trains leave our main station at Common Lane every 20 minutes through the day. We have a further 3 stations, Pinesway Junction, Park Lane and Tower View, where each train stops at the platform and performs and interesting manoeuvre where the engine 'runs-round' its train before departing in the opposite direction. Another unique feature of our busy timetable is that 2 trains regularly depart, side by side, for different destinations before one descends the gradient and passes under a bridge as the other one passes overhead!

So come along to the GLR and see for yourself - it really is a great place to visit for all the family. There are lots of interesting things to see together with the 'Pines' buffet serving hot and cold drinks and tasty snacks, our Visitor Centre containing lots of local railway memorabilia,  the GLR Shop selling mementos of your visit and our lakeside picnic area - ideally placed for watching the trains pass by!

The GLR is also pleased to say that, despite the size of our trains, we can accommodate our disabled and less-abled visitors. We have level access straight from the car park at Common Lane Station providing easy access to the shop, buffet, station and some other features of the railway. Two sets of our coaches also have been adapted to convey wheelchairs by providing a much larger space - our helpful staff will remove the seats, open the double doors and assist with the loading of wheelchairs etc. Simply ask the guard or a member of staff on the day and we will make the necessary arrangements to assist you.

For more information visit the Gartell Website by clicking on the button below.