National Trust

Charlecote Park

Spring has definitely arrived at Charlecote. The house opened from early March; scaffolding around the gatehouse was due to come down soon after, leaving the legacy of a viewing platform for visitors to have a clearer view of house, park and further afield. A virtual tour of Charlecote is now available (in the carriage house), giving easy access to many details.

Until the end of April there will be twenty minute long Conservation tours, between 11am and 12 noon, giving a chance to find out how staff care for the interior of the house. Talks about Elizabethan costume, as worn by the lady who lived in the present house when it was new, are given in the Hall on most days. The Victorian Kitchen often has cookery and hand on kitchen activities, always popular with the children.

Easter brings special Easter trails for the children, from 22nd to 25th April. These are always popular, but come on Easter Saturday if you want to find fewer people.

There will be a Wildlife Photography Walk on 5th April giving a chance to get closer to the animals. Booking needed, and a charge of £5 per person.

The “Walk with the Gardener” at 2pm on 30th April is free and needs no advance booking.

For further details, please contact Charlecote Park on 01789 470277 or visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-charlecotepark .

Kineton Art Group
7^th and 8^th May 2011

“The Globe”, Planetarium, Bristol by Ann Bean

The group will be holding an Open Art Exhibition and Sale of Paintings at Kineton Village Hall on Saturday & Sunday, 7th and 8th May 2011.

Doors will be open from 10.00am until 5.00pm each day. Please come and enjoy the abundance of paintings by our members and many other local artists.

Refreshments including tea and home-made cakes will be available throughout each day.

“Bamburgh Castle” by Rosalie Jordan


“Illuminated” by Richard Makin.

MENDELSSOHN’S ELIJAH

14^TH MAY 2011

Stour Singers will be presenting Mendelssohn’s sublime two-part oratorio “ELIJAH” in St Edmund’s Church, Shipston-on-Stour at 7.30pm on 14^th May – not too far from the location of its premiere, in Birmingham’s Town Hall in August 1846.

On that occasion, Mendelssohn himself was conducting what was seen to be perhaps his finest work, meeting with unprecedented success right from that first performance. On 14^th May, Stour Singers’ director Richard Emms will be conducting the Cherwell Orchestra and four outstanding soloists: Sarah Power (Soprano), Mae Heydorn (Alto), Richard Dowling (Tenor), and Jeremy Huw Williams (Baritone) in the role of Elijah. The Old Testament story of Elijah is presented in an intensely dramatic and moving work, which is rewarding for performers and audience alike.

Tickets can be obtained from choir members, Clarke Electrical in Shipston-on-Stour, and on the door, at a cost of £12.50.

Tailpiece

A man decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started in Cornwall and began to work his way east. At one church he found a golden telephone on a wall and was intrigued by the sign on it, which read "£10,000 a minute."

Seeking out the vicar he asked about the phone and the sign. The vicar answered that this golden phone was, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he paid the price he could talk directly to God.

The man thanked the vicar and continued on his way. As he travelled round the country he found the more golden telephones with the same sign, and got the same answer from each vicar.

Finally, he arrived in Yorkshire. In the first church he entered he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read "Calls 25 pence."

Fascinated, he sought out the vicar. "Reverend, I have been all over the country and in many other churches I found this golden telephone, and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was £10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 pence a call. Why?"

The vicar smiled benignly and replied, "Oh, my son, that's very easy to explain. You see, you're now in Yorkshire. It's only a local call from here."