This year the sun shone and a lot of people turned out to watch the races, and spend a few happy hours enjoying all the sideshows and stalls on Harrold Green.

Highlights for us started with Bethan Lee running for Corner Club and

winning the Girls' Middle School event, again (see page 26). Then Leslie Knowles was pushing the winner of the wheelchair event, closely followed by Eric Berridge who pushed into third place.

Hopefully everyone has kept the date free for our special Golden Jubilee Village Fete and Dog Show. Don’t forget to invite all your family and friends for the day.

The site is once again the field at the end of Horsefair Lane. Residents have been warned!

The theme, of course, will be all things ROYAL

Family Dog Show Pony Rides Cash Raffle

Children’s Collage Competition Tombola

Fire Brigade Children’s Sports Local Band

Lucky Programme Draw Children’s Stalls Ice Creams

Make Your Own Crown and Join the Parade Refreshments

Many Sideshows

Gifts White Elephant Bottle Stall

Books Cakes Plants Produce

This year’s special new event, organised by Roma Garon.

Classes will be:

Puppy under 12 months

Country Sporting dog or bitch

Best rescue dog or bitch

Dog or bitch with the most appealing eyes

Dog or bitch most like its owner

Dog or bitch in best condition

Veteran dog or bitch over 7 years

Children’s handling, 14 years and under

And finally - Best In Show

So, start brushing and beautifying your dogs and yourselves for your debut in the ring! Special arrangements have been made to park cars containing dogs for the show in the field at the Country Park, but only if they arrive before the Fete opens at 2pm.

Once again, there will be all the usual Fun and Games so please start collecting, cooking, and offer your services to Jill Cheadle (720261) and Jane Eshelby (01933 410959) if you aren’t already on their lists. Some vital helpers can’t be here this year so we desperately need new volunteers.

With our minds thinking of the Queen and Royal Family, there will be a children’s collage competition, and the chance to make and decorate your own crown and then join the Grand Parade to find out who is the winner.

Perchance to Dream

What a strange thing it is that in our all too short a life we voluntarily spend one-third of that time fast asleep in our beds ... "tucked up tight", "snug as a bug in a rug", safe in "the Land of Nod". Even the words we choose to describe this state of unconsciousness (when, in a more primitive age we would have been at our most vulnerable) call to mind a sense of warmth, comfort and security. Many of the world ‘s most celebrated poets have sought to put into words this pleasurable suspension of our senses. Two thousand years ago Ovid said "Sleep - thou rest of all things, balm of the soul".

So what is this thing called sleep? In earlier times, when our forebears lived in a more labour-intensive world, people slept for a much longer period and even our grandparents required at least two more hours in which to refresh themselves to face another day. Sleep, whatever it may or may not be, is clearly a necessity, a time to re-charge the batteries. Whether our tiredness be mental or physical, sleep is what our body craves. The eyelids become heavy, the brain slows and try though you may sleep will overtake you. You may be at home watching your favourite television programme, out at the theatre or even driving your car. No matter how active you wish your brain to be - when you are tired there is nothing you can do to prevent it. In emergency circumstances people take drugs to stay awake and alert but time will always creep up on you and sleep will always take charge. Yes, I know ... I can hear you. There are some people out there saying, "I wish - I wish". There will always be exceptions to break every rule.

And yet ... our modern lifestyle calls for a round-the-clock effort on our part. We seem to get by on less and less sleep. We work longer hours, we spend our evenings on the internet, at the disco or the nightclub. Shops stay open for 24 hours a day and someone must use them in the middle of the night or they would not be open in the first place.

Sleep deprivation brings in its wake great personal distress and exhaustion, not only of the mind but of the spirit, leading to an impaired ability and to carelessness. We lose our concentration and become irritable. According to various poets "sleep is a gentle thing beloved from pole to pole", "To sleep - perchance to dream", and as "golden slumbers touch your eyes" sleep remains a fundamental mystery yet to be solved.

Update to the Work in the Country Park

Work on the bridleway and footpath was resumed on Tuesday 9th April (the day of the Queen Mother's funeral). First the JCB had to knock the top off the little hillocks of solidified stone chippings abandoned to the weather eight weeks earlier. A continuous layer of pink stone chippings was then laid from the Horsefair Lane entrance to the junction, turned right behind the lake and right again on to the footway to the Odell Road, Harrold. All this was then rolled and the bridleway section covered in a layer of the coarse sand-like material already used elsewhere on the bridleway.

I do not know whether all the work has been finished, as I am being pressed to deliver my article but I like what they have done to the bridleway and when the surrounding grass area heals it will look nice. The bridge over the drainage culvert is quite impressive and walkers would have no idea of the bricks and rubble hidden under the surface to ease the incline. I only wish I could say I like the path. It has cost the taxpayer a pretty penny and technically it looks quite good but it looks as though it has been made with vehicles in mind more than people. It is wide and impersonal like a stone road and all I can do is remember how it was many years ago. A narrow winding path meandering its way behind the lake, overhung by trees and surrounded by birdsong. You had to hop over little streams as they gurgled down to the lake and as you turned yet another bend in the path you would come across a deer or fox staring at you in startled surprise .....now it is a stone road from any place. Barbara Corley

Dr Mabel Blades joined us this month to talk about her hobby. This began many years ago when her husband presented her with two lambs as a birthday present. She successfully reared them and over the years other sheep breeds joined them till she had a flock of thirty animals. She tends, and clips them herself with occasional help from her husband and a local farmer. During this time she has also reared pot bellied pigs, hens and other animals. Recently her interests have changed and she and her husband have brought a 120 acre wood. They are in the process of returning it from a coniferous to a deciduous wood. She delighted us with her tales of the wild life that inhabits it.

Next month’s meeting

Tuesday May 14th will see us gathered in the Village Hall at 7.30 for our A.G.M to be followed by a quiz.

Hostesses and Competition

Jill Cheadle and Carol Ormond are our hostesses. Rachel Halton 

Tony and Jo Morris are urgently seeking a house/bungalow in the Odell, Felmersham, Sharnbrook, Carlton and Radwell area.

Roomy sitting room, dining room and good sized kitchen are essential. Other accomodation immaterial.

Price around £300,000. Cash immediately available.

Please telephone 782507.

The Café in the Park

A warm welcome is extended to all visitors to ‘The Café in the Park’ by Trudy Norman and her staff. The café – situated on the former premises of ‘Truly Scrumptious’, offers home-made food of the best quality, often made using the finest local ingredients which are frequently organic. The menu boasts a selection of meals and snacks which cover all tastes; special diets, such as gluten-free, can also be catered for on request. As for the selection of cakes – simply mouth-watering! An early visit to the café is highly recommended!

The Café in the Park is open seven days a week, from 9.00am to 4.30pm.

At the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council to which all parishioners are of course invited, the Chairman Mrs Rachel Halton gave her report of the activities of the Parish Council during the preceding year. It was a pity that not one parishioner actually attended.

1 Roads. The Beds. C.C. was constantly badgered to get potholes mended, and footways cleared, with some success. But the resurfacing of Horsefair Lane remains yet again as a promise to be done in the financial year 2002/3.

2 The allotments were re-let at £600 pa, this sum to be shared with the Church.

3 Dog owners have been requested to keep their dogs on a lead in Horsefair Lane, and everywhere to clean up after any fouling. Parishioners can report any offences confidentially on 01234 262277.

4 The police continue to make periodic checks on speeding in the Village.

5 The Clerk's salary has been increased to reflect the rising workload caused by new Legislation.

6 The Parish Council made donations as follows:

Earl Haig Poppy fund £100, Villager Bus £60.

Events

3rd June 2002 – Queen’s Jubilee

An event is being planned and details will be given out shortly. Do keep the date free in your diary, to join a village celebration of this Royal event. Rob Lee (720730) on behalf of the Village Hall Committee.

"Lock Up Your Daughters" Friday10^th May to Saturday 18^th May

By Laurie Johnson, Lionel Bart and Bernard Miles.

Tickets: Sat. 11^th- £8, Mon. 13^th - £7, Tues. 14^th -Thurs.16^th - £8, Fri.17^th and Sat. 18^th -£8.50 Gala Performance for Bedfordshire W.I. Fri. 10^th May. Tickets: tel 01234 359538

Tickets available now from:

Sharnbrook Village Trader, High Street, Sharnbrook (in person)

Bedford Central Box Office, Harpur Street, 01234 269519 (credit/debit card facilities)

Group/Party bookings: Please phone Alison Bean 01234 781372

(10% Discount for 10 or more at the same performance. Offer excludes Charity Gala nights).

Dates of forthcoming Shows, Workshops and Auditions

"Loot" Drama by Joe Orton. 24-27 Sept 2002 -7.45pm.

Rehearsals start 11^th June.

Details: Susan Moore: 01933 318318

"Me and My Girl" The "Lambeth Walk" Musical, Fri 8^th-Sat 16^th Nov. 7.45pm.

Workshops: Mon 20^th & Wed 22^nd May 7.45pm.

Auditions: Sun. 26^th May, time TBC.

Join us for "The Lambeth Walk"!

Sharnbrook Mill Theatre have been invited to perform, ‘in costume’, The Lambeth Walk from Me & My Girl in the Golden Jubilee Sharnbrook Playing Field Fete Arena on Monday 3^rdJune, pm, perhaps with one or two Pearly Kings and Queens! We would be delighted if you would join us then and, prior to that, at the Mill Theatre to rehearse on Mon. 20 & Wed. 22 May at 7.45pm. Please contact Theo Gibbs 01234 782377.

Summer Drama School 2002 Mon. 29^thJuly to Sat 3^rd August, at Sharnbrook Mill Theatre, for those aged 9-18 years, under the direction of a professional Drama Tutor, culminating with a performance on Saturday 3rd August. Course fee £100. Please apply to Mrs Erica Lester, on 01234 781210 The Mill Theatre, Mill Road, Sharnbrook, Bedford. Just a few places left.

Hire the Mill Theatre.

A unique Riverside Venue of Character for your Special Event this summer. Recently refurbished clubroom with mood lighting, heating and double glazing. Adjacent licensed bar and sitting area overlooking the River Great Ouse. Kitchen and ample parking facilities. Subject to date availability. Please contact Mim Bradshaw 01234 781650 for details.

My name is Lesley Allen (nee Cooper),and I am descended from

the Coopers of Odell ,there seems to have been quite a lot of them. My

particular ancestor moved to Harrold about 1835, his name was Thomas Cooper. Last autumn we paid a visit to Odell, had lunch in The Bell

and spent a pleasant hour looking through the three pictorial histories of the village. We then purchased the excellent Millennium Book and all this has given me the hope that there is a lot more information out there as the Coopers were such a local family. If anybody has any more details about this family I would love to hear from you. We intend to visit again later in the spring and see the village and river at its best.