What a difference a bit of sunshine makes! Smiles on everybody’s faces, vibrant activity around village greens, parks and gathering points and, most of all, the feeling that, for once, we have had a proper summer! So many of your hard-working fundraisers have been in touch to tell me how successful your events have been and how much money was raised for your worthy causes and, while the publicity from Village Connect is deemed invaluable, numbers of visitors are definitely higher when the weather is kind.

As the seasons seem to have started late this year, summer is still lingering on and bees and butterflies are gracing our gardens in greater numbers than I have seen for a long time. There is a genuine chance that we could have a warm autumn to ease us into darker times when the clocks turn back at the end of October. In the meantime, grab the chance to take part in some of the outdoor events still going on such as the Sywell Classic, see pages 36-37; Groove on the Green, see pages 58-59; The Great Gorilla Ride, see page 62; and the World Conker Championships, see page 82.

The biggest benefit of doing Village Connect is that I meet so many wonderful people, some of whom become close friends. One such person was Robert Cheney, who sadly passed away this summer. It was a privilege to work with Robert on his ‘Antiques Appreciation’ articles and he shall be greatly missed. Edward Kubacki pays tribute to our late friend on page 30.

Life seems to move at an ever-faster pace and this time of year to have the strongest sense of change when the children go back to school or start a new phase in their lives. As our eldest son leaves to commence working life in London and our daughter sets off for university life in Bristol, I shall be hanging on to the precious memories the five of us have made as a family over the past couple of months, especially during the week in which we celebrated our silver wedding with our loved ones from Denmark and the US. You know when you have been part of something truly special and all I can say is: ‘What a summer, what a summer!’

 

 

 

 

 

Vivi Sant Cole

Village Connect

Hillcrest House

Church Hill

Geddington

Northants

NN14 1AH

Tel: 01536 744700