On Friday night another successful quiz night was held at the Old School.

The theme of the quiz was ‘Winter’ (and all things cold!) It was very well attended by around 50 people divided into teams of 5 or 6.

Some quite challenging questions were included but the scores were pretty high with not that many points between the top and bottom teams.

Bespoke trophies were awarded to all members of the top 3 teams in the form of highly prized ‘Cropwell Bishops’ kindly designed and made by Alan and Sharon from the Entertainments committee.

The highly coveted ‘wooden spoon’ was given to the team with the lowest score.

The results were as follows:

1st place and Quiz Champions – ‘The January Clues’

2nd place – ‘Abel Seafish’

3rd place – ‘The 6 Pies’

Wooden Spoon to the aptly named ‘No Hopers’

And finally a quote from a team member who doesn’t live in the village but came along with a friend.

“I love coming to the village for events like these. It’s so nice to see the community coming together enjoying a great evening. Positive, friendly, wholesome and lovely!”

Thanks to everyone who attended and also supported the raffle.

Sue Mellor

Well what a wonderful party event we had yesterday at The Old School a great atmosphere for the afternoon.

There was a lovely buffet, singing by the school choir, Raffle thank you to all the village businesses who donated prizes (The Butchers, Creamery, Co-op, The Chequers Inn, The Wheatsheaf, S.J. Phillips Electrical, CKOB Club), fun Bingo and it was enjoyed by all.

I would personally like to thank the councillors who came to help on the day Cllrs. Willow Allison, Mick Beazley, Pam Wregg, Jo Wroughton and Ted Birch – all their help made this a successful event.

It was lovely this morning to read an email of thanks from a happy resident as follows:-

"We’ve just returned (hobbled in my case) from the Seniors Christmas Buffet at the Old School.

We had an excellent time, our first. The buffet was splendid, the sandwiches, especially, were really very good. Just overall – excellent.

The choir from the school were very impressive, great sound and very enthusiastic, congratulations !

The raffle was good even if we didn’t win anything ! The bingo was really good fun, this time we both won !!

Finally our heartfelt thanks to all of the volunteers who provided superb service and made it a day to remember – we’ll definitely be back next year.

We walked part of the way home with Joyce, our near neighbour, who said that last year’s event was attended by a busload of outliers and was not much fun. This year’s was predominantly villagers and locals, all very friendly and all round excellent."

On that note, all there is left for me to say is Happy Christmas One and All and a Happy New Year.

Janice Towndrow
Parish Clerk

Yesterday, Cropwell Bishop Company, Lyfcycle, generously provided a free three-course Christmas lunch for villagers who responded to their open invite.

It was the Company's wish to do doing something seasonal for our community and there were a good number of local residents present.

They all very much appreciated the lunch and drinks - with all the trimmings - at this festive occasion.

Many thanks to Lyfcycle staff.

Mel Stanley

I can see the Christmas Tree and its colourful lights from my window - and it's wonderful.

A brilliant idea and I really appreciate the sight – and I am sure other villagers will feel the same.

Thank you to all those involved with making it happen and the volunteers who erected the tree in the Pinfold.

Christmas is coming!

David Glyn-Jones

Congratulations to Eve Young of Cropwell Bishop who won the 'Sportsperson of the Year' award at the 'Celebrating Rushcliffe' event at Rushcliffe Arena last week.

She and the other winners and shortlisted nominees were praised for their contribution to life in the Borough.

Eve has competed in artistic swimming for over 10 years on the international stage for GB and this year scooped the British Championships free and technical solo.

She juggles her academic work with relentless training and has competed in Peru, Malta and Serbia. Remarked as a role-model by her nominator, inspiring many other young athletes.

Cropwell Bishop Parish Council have given support to Eve on several occasions over the years and in 2022 she gave a presentation at The Old School as part of the Meeting of the Electorate.

Eve, who was then just 15 years old, gave a composed and illuminating talk on her sporting journey up to that point.

Tony Jarrow

This village event never disappoints. In fact, it gets better every year thanks to the imgination and efforts of the Parish Councillors and the Memorial Hall Committee.

To top it all, it was a dry night.

Thanks to all involved with putting it on.

Tony Jarrow

The Old School on the last Saturday of the month is proving to be a busy and fun place to be these days. That is when the Saturday Cafe takes place.

As well as the regular Book/Jigsaw Exchange and the stall with Cards etc, there was, last week, a stall with locally made craft items – along with the machine for making some of them.

Should be just as exciting next month when it will be last Saturday Cafe of 2024.

Tony Jarrow

On cold days like today, few people are thinking about Spring, but these people from Cropwell Bishop's Gardening Club are.

Those flowers we enjoy when the warm Spring weather arrives have to be planted now.

Most of us do the same thing every day of our lives; work to make a better tomorrow.

It's good that do but we should not forget to also take time to enjoy the efforts of others who make our today more pleasant. Slices of cake and mugs of tea for example!

Thanks to Mel Stanley for the photos.

Did you by chance look at sky around 10.30pm last night?

If so, you might (or might not: see below) have seen a colourful display of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis).

Helen Burke was ready to catch the display with her mobile phone and her beautiful photos are shown below.

However, if you did look up at that time and didn't see this display, don't be too hard on yourself.

If you had been standing in a dark place with no light pollution from houses and street lights (a couple of miles away in the Vale of Belvoir maybe) and if you had spent 10 minutes in the darkness to allow your eyes to open wide, then you would have enjoyed these sights.

But if you had stepped outside your back door, with your indoor lights glowing through the curtains, and with your eyes still accommodated to electric lights and TV, then you would have only seen darkness.

However, your phone camera can take long exposures - staying open for around a second, and capture far more light than your eye.

So next time, be prepared.

Load the free 'AuroraWatch UK' app onto your phone and set it to give you alerts. Cross your fingers and take a photo of the sky.

If you are able, move to a darker spot and see if you can see it with your own eyes.

It could be over 20 years before the Sun again generates this level of activity; make the most of this time.

Good luck.

Tony Jarrow

Thanks to Helen Burke for the photos.
One was from an upstairs window overlooking Hoe View Road, another from a gate heading out of the village towards Cropwell Butler, and of course two outside St Giles Church.

Some of our village litter picking group (CBLP) were out today.

As you can see, all forms of litter continues to be cast aside on our paths and roads.

Why?

Thanks to Mel Stanley for the photos.