Norman Parker is exhibiting at the Rural Life Museum   more »

John Smart rehearsing for this Friday's recital in Holy Trinity   more »

Fascinating. The changes there haeve been in medical provision in Street are huge, and they haven't finished yet. Dr Merrick told the Street Society   more »

Two of the Walton audience who seemed to be enjoying reliving the war years.   more »

Some of the capacity audience in Walton Village Hall sitting at the tables where they enjoyed fish and chips during the interval of the Forties Evening.   more »

Posing for the photographer is a quartet straight out of the Forties.   more »

The photographer photographed - the man who gives us odd angles and people as seen in a distorting mirror in the Gazette is at the Walton Forties Evening snapping away.   more »

Ian Richards at the piano for the Forties Evening in Walton Village Hall.   more »

Fifty seven shoe-boxes were filled with Christmas goodies by the people of Street Mission Church and Parish Church and are being sent to children in Romania as we speak.   more »

Lawrence Housman's home, Longmeadow, from the Clothier field.   more »

How's that for a porch!   more »

Another successful new Overleigh building is this, by Overleigh House.   more »

How the new house looks now. What was once The Pepperpot in Overleigh   more »

A new owner is having work done on the house and outbuildings of Overleigh Farm.   more »

Birds on the cherry-plum tree.   more »

November sky above Overleigh.   more »

Firemen waiting with their wreath.   more »

Coming over the horizon   more »

Some of the band   more »

Standards on the march   more »

Poppy wreaths   more »

Sea cadets   more »

Air cadets   more »

St John's Ambulance Brigade.   more »

Beavers   more »

Rainbow Guides   more »

Brownie Guides.   more »

Standards by the memorial.   more »

The dulcimer. It played 'Wooden heart'   more »

Cornets in the park.   more »

Drums in the park.   more »

Bandsmen in the park.   more »

Medals worn with pride.    more »

The ceremony at the War Memorial   more »

Some of those waiting   more »

Drummers in the Park. 

The procession to the War Memorial waits in Merriman Road. The band took up a position just beyond the park gates, while the others filed through to take their places in the park. 

Part of the procession to the War Memorial in Marriman Park. Scouts. 

Part of the procession to the War Memorial in Merriman Park. The youngest Guides. 

Part of the procession to the War Memorial in Merriman Park. Guides. 

Part of the procession to the War Memorial in Merriman Park. Sea cadets of the Glastonbury and Street branch. 

Part of the procession to the War Memorial in Merriman Park. The youngest Scouts. 

Part of the procession to the War Memorial in Merriman Park. 

Drums and standards approach Merriman Park. The procession formed up at the British Legion headquarters in Farm Road and marched along the High Street, turning up Vestry Road towards the War Memorial.  

The drum major and drummers passing the Old Rectory. 

Here comes the band! The various organisations met at the British Legion headquarters in Farm Road and marched behind the band along the High Street. They turned south into Vestry Road and spectators waiting near Merriman Park heard the bugles and then saw banners and heads appearing over the brow of the hill. 

The trouble with living almost on the spot, in Street, is that you get blase about the carnival just on the doorstep in Glastonbury.   more »

It was a refreshing change. This lady told me on Sunday, "Street is a good village to live in. There's so much going on."   more »

I am writing on behalf of the South West Regional Development Agency to invite you   more »

We will be in touch with the stakeholder group initially to organise a meeting and you will all be notified in advance of the exhibition dates.    more »

Just come back from an extremely interesting evening at the Strode Theatre.   more »

I went to Saturday afternoon's showing of the 1922 Glastonbury Pageant Film at the Strode Theatre, and was very glad I had been.   more »

Mystery at the Church. A better way of spending the evening of 31st October.    more »

Are you fed up with that American import, 'trick or treat'? I certainly am.   more »

With the kind co-operation of the library staff, I spent five hours today, while the library was closed, researching Laurence Housman.   more »

Another part of the story of Creation, as told in Genesis and retold in Sunrise!

And what is Sunrise!? It a half hour of story, singing and activity for Noughts to Sevens and their Parents and Carers, and it happens on the first Sunday each month at 9.30 a.m. in Holy Trinity, Street. 60 people of all ages came to this particular Sunrise!.

If you know someone who is the right age, do them a favour - tell them about Sunrise! They'll probably love it. 

Sunrise in action: Adrian and Sarah McConnaughie with the help of a large number of children retell the Genesis story of Creation in the Parish Church, Holy Trinity, Street.

The story began with all the children crowding under a blanket, trying to imagine what it was light without any light at all. Then, when they heard how God said: 'Let there be light!' the blanket was pulled off and the children came blinking into the daylight.

Sunrise! is good fun.  

Now we see the end result of that work on the front garden of a house in Merriman Road. First the blue lias wall came down; then a pattern of bricks was laid. Now tarmac has covered the garden area and the kerb has been lowered.

If it is true that one can't park legally by a lowered kerb, then we are beginning to see the end of the both-side parking that has made Merriman Road effectively a one-way street - one way at a time, anyhow. That will probably be a good thing.

My solution would have been different. I would have allotted parking spaces to residents on the Park side, and banned parking on the side with the houses. Then the residents could have kept their front gardens and still parked their cars very near - and the rest of us could have admired the historic street of early municipal houses as they were intended. But it will not happen now.

The whole parking crisis began when the public car parks ceased to be free. Do you remember that proud statement below the ichthyosaurus on our town signs, about free parking? Was it the County Council who compelled us to charge? Anyhow, the result was a plague of long-stay on-road parked cars gumming up streets near the centre. My excellent barber further along the road was hard hit by this plague; it meant his customers could seldom park outside his shop. He has survived, I'm glad to say. But I can't help thinking the whole parking matter could have been better managed.

Whatever has happened here? Mr and Mrs Hecks' garden wall in Ivythorn Road evidently had an argument with a red car on Wednesday afternoon around 5.40 p.m., and the policeman was taking notes. 

I've just been to the opening night of the Strode Productions Guys and Dolls at the Strode Theatre opposite the Parish Church.

It was a very good evening out. I didn't get hold of a programme, so don't know the cast, though I recognised one or two familiar faces in smaller parts, but I can report that the energy level was high throughout, and the humour (after a few rather tentative opening minutes) worked well.

There were some really good voices, and my favourite songs - like Luck be a Lady Tonight - did not disappoint.

The sets worked well, without being stunning. The lighting was mainly good, with a few fumbles with the follow spot which will, I'm sure, not recur. The dancing was very pleasant to watch, though the Strode stage is always cramped for a large chorus. The band did well after the odd duff woodwind note early on, and the rhythms were pounded out most satisfactorily. If you can get hold of any tickets for the rest of the run, you won't be disappointed.

Any guesses about where this colourful spread of foliage can be seen? I'd be surprised if you got it right. It's in the car park to the south of the High Street, taken from just near the public loos! Lovely, though. 

Quite a different effect when you look at the same trees in Merriman Park from a different angle. The colours may be brighter as the sun shines directly on the boughs, but this view lacks the magic of the view looking at sunlight coming through the leaves. What do you think? 

Wonderful to look at the effects of sunlight through trees. Leaves are beginning to turn yellow. This is Merriman Park again. Time to think of a trip to Westonbirt Arboretum for the magnificent acers and other trees at their blazing best. 

So this is Merriman Park on 4th October 2004. The sound of youthful shouts and laughter was coming from somewhere to my right, and the slanting sun at four o'clock in the afternoon gave a glow to this scene that the picture doesn't capture. I'm posting it nevertheless. 

I've just discovered the website of the Street Tourist Informaion Centre. It's http://www.glastonburytic.co.uk/street/

Well, that portal that I mentioned a few days ago is coming nearer.

If you click on the title of this blog (The Really Useful ...) you should reach Gateway to Street. Just play around with the page, and see how much you can find out that is Really Useful and how quickly to get to the information.

Try these questions from the Quick Find, One Click menu:

What road works am I likely to meet today? (Somerset Travel News)
What's the weather in Street going to be like tomorrow (Weather for Street)
What films are on locally? (Local Cinema)

Magic, isn't it?

As the Parish Council's new site fills up with information, I hope we can pool resources and provide Really Useful Links between one and the other.

John Gray, choirmaster of Holy Trinity, Street since 1977, holds the policeman figurine he was given as a memento. John and Mary will remain members of the Parish Church choir. 

The retirement of John Gray from his post as choirmaster of Street Parish Church last Sunday was an emotional occasion.

John said he didn't want a retirement present, but he got one (naturally). It's a figurine of a policeman; John was a policeman, and still sings with the excellent Bristol Police Choir. The choir gave him a framed certificate commemorating his long years of service, and John found that more moving than anything.

I wrote about some of the highlights of John's musical career in a blog on 20th September. On Sunday he told us how back in the 1970s he took on the post for six months! It was a lesson and a warning for his successor, who is taking the job until Easter.

So what is the state of music in Street?

First, the downside. Strode Operatic Society, in which John took many leading roles, used to put on regular operas at Strode Theatre, from Gilbert and Sullivan to grand opera like La Traviata, but is now just a choir/choral society. A good one, certainly, but it's not the same.

Church choirs have shrunk or disappeared. Fortunately the Parish Church choir is 9 strong, with extra members for special events. Is the Methodist choir still active?

I remember visits to the Strode Theatre by world figures like Paul Tortellier and Nigel Kennedy. There is still a lot of music at Strode, but not such big names recently. I also remember excellent Subscription Concerts arranged by and in Millfield School, as I wrote in an earlier blog.

It is certainly not all gloom.

The Strode Theatre is the musical centre. It puts on very popular amateur musicals. Strode Productions is doing Guys and Dolls next week; Glastonbury & Street Musical Comedy Society put on a musical in the Spring. There are packed houses for the Mid-Somerset Orchestra 'Last Night' concert, this year with Peter Donahue. The Strode autumn programme offers two Ballet evenings, European Ballet on 27th October and Independent Ballet Wales on 3rd December performing Sleeping Beauty. Naked Voices are doing a workshop and concert on 16th October. On 30th October at 7 pm there's a talk on 'Rutland Boughton: The Glastonbury Wagner', by his grandson, with a performance of his quartet 'From the Welsh Hills'. On 8th December the Sacconi Quartet with David Campbell on clarinet are playing Mozart and Co., and on 11th December the Central Band of the Royal British Legion is giving two concerts which will probably be sell-outs.

And all that is leaving out the Strode College concerts, the Saturday Morning Music Club concert (it now has a new name, Centre of Somerset Music Club), and amateur dance.

Then the Churches. The Salvation Army has singers, band and string band; good for them! The Mission Church has a flexi music group, with guitars and keyboard and regulars, and violin, trumpet, flute and maybe more joining from time to time. The Baptists enjoy singing to a duo of piano and organ. The Parish Church is putting on monthly events, most of them musical. John Smart, local boy (his parents still live in Street) and now professional violinist, is giving a concert there on 26th November, and I am told that an orchestra is coming in February. There was the highly successful TrinityFest in May and June of this year, and something of the kind may well take place again.

Millfield's musical life is, I'm told, on the up, after changes in Musical Director. Street should be looking forward to the new concert hall with its 300 seats, and the possibility of a new series of Subscription Concerts.

To be honest, I began this blog entry expecting to be a misery-guts about how there's no music around, but after going into the matter I have emerged cheered and optimistic.

One thing I regret. That is that Brendan Sadler has chosen to 'stage' his performance of Rutland Boughton's 'Bethlehem' in St John's, Glastonbury, rather than in the place of its first performance in 1915, Crispin Hall in Street.

Some of the food that was given at Street Mission Church Harvest Festival. This was supplemented by more brought up during the service. It will all be distributed tomorrow to people who, we hope, will appreciate being remembered at Harvest time. 

Harvest Festival may date only from the 19th century, but it has taken hold of our imaginations. This is one of the decorations at the front of Street Mission Church at Harvest Festival on 26th September 2004.

The special offering was for Water Aid. Sarah McConnaghie presented the need for clean water in the world dramatically, asking us to imagine that the total congregation represented the world's population. She asked a third of us to stand, representing the proportion of the world that does not have clean water and sanitation.  

The trees belonging to Holmcroft have had a tree preservation order put on them by Mendip District Council.

A friend who lives in Somerton Road showed me this morning the letter she received from the council telling her that the preservation order was imposed on 1st September, and that any protests have to be made by 1st October. The letter said that the trees were under threat from the proposed development. Each tree is listed by species.

So that is a step in the right direction. Now we need to ensure that any application to demolish a fine building like Holmcroft in a conservation area is firmly refused.

This is what the new Parish Council web site looks like, complete with designer graffito. As you may be able to make out on this photo, and as you certainly will when you visit the site, there are plans for this site to hold a wealth of information.  

One important historical association of Street Hill that the National Trust hasn't grasped yet is that the Civil War, you might say, started here.

The folk at Marshalls Elm Farm have got it right, though, with the 17th century soldier and canon shown under Mr Marshall's elm tree. 

If you haven't been for a walk up on Collard Hill recently, do make the effort. It isn't everywhere that has a National Trust property on the doorstep, and although it isn't a stately home, it's important enough for the NT to look after it and for the people who care about endangered butterflies to share in looking after it.  

The Large Blue butterfly has pride of place on the NT board. Street is a unique habitat for this once extinct butterfly, in that it is the only breeding place in the country with easy public access. 

Just by Marshall's Elm Farm is the gate to the National Trust area called Collard Hill. The NT have erected this attractive interpretation board to your right as you go through the gate. They concentrate on the wild life, flowers, birds and butterflies, including the Large Blue. 

A couple of days ago the Mid Somerset Gazette announced that the Parish Council - well, David Pipes really - had made a website for Street and that it was live. I went to have a look.

Yes, it's there. You can go and have a look by clicking on the title to this blog. The address is www.street.uk.net. A lot of thought has obviously gone into designing a site that looks neat and tidy, and is like a building with a lot of rooms, and a few labels on the doors: 'George's Room' and so on. On the whole, though, you push on the doors and find nothing inside.

Well, David Pipes said as much in the local paper. It's there for us to fill with useful and interesting stuff. And I'll send him something about the Street Society and about the Churches of Street. Now that raises an interesting question. Where will the Churches go? Will the Parish Council regard them as Leisure, or Community, or Education?

I wish the new site well, and hope that it will be kept more up to date than the Millennium site Street2000 was.

When www.street.2day.ws comes properly on line this autumn (I hope), that will be another string to Street's bow. It will have a number of bonus features, one of them being that the front page will be a one-stop information shop for every bit of useful local information that you're likely to want. Another is that many Street people will be able to add their information to the site directly, so the job of keeping the site up to date will be spread among a lot of us.

One feature of the internet is that everything links up to everything else, by one way or another; so the Street sites won't be in competition with each other, but will, I'm sure, send visitors to whatever part of each site is going to be helpful.

One more view of Holmcroft, taken from the very back of the former garden, showing the tatty present appearance. I think you can also see the basic nobility of the house, and what could be made of it as the centrepiece of a group of elderly people's residences. 

Looking north from the yard at the back of Holmcroft, one can see not only the utilitarian extension in the foreground, but also the rear of Street Inn. 

Yes, this too is a picture of the gardens of Holmcroft as adapted to the needs of young people at Millfield. 

When Millfield took over Holmcroft as a boarding house, the back garden was abolished   more »

As you approach Holmcroft from the gate, you are conscious of a fine building and a fine garden left to go to ruin.   more »

Joseph Motley's design for Holmcroft included a Doric porch, well carved, and nicely detailed windows.   more »

Holmcroft in Somerton Road, showing signs of neglect - after all, the developer wants to pull it down - but still looking attractive.   more »

Can you avoid Harvest Festivals at this time of year? Well of course you can. You can stay in bed    more »

Holmcroft, a fine Victorian 'gentleman's house' in Somerton Road (I'll come to its history later), is under serious threat.   more »

When John Winstone was preparing his report on Overleigh for the Street Society he happened to note that the National Trust, who own Collard Hill, hadn't put up a board telling about the opening battle   more »

There's a charming couple who live just outside the village, Richard and Julia Searight, who invited about 20 of us to the launch of their updated 'microportal', or gateway as they now call it.    more »

Two events have happened since the unhappy public meeting of the Parish Council a week ago.   more »

Laurence Housman wrote 80 books, but he is chiefly remembered for a few lines.   more »

Having quoted one newly-found tribute to Street and the countryside around it, I take the opportunity of adding Thomas Hardy's ballad set in what was then an inn at Marshall's Elm.   more »

I've just finished reading Laurence Housman's autobiography 'The Unexpected Years'.    more »

I was talking to the Deputy Head of Millfield this morning, and he told me more about the plans for the new Music School and Concert Hall.   more »

Among the latest batch of planning applications received by Mendip Council is one from Millfield School to build a new music school and concert hall.    more »

Street Parish Council held an open meeting this evening, as mentioned in a previous blog. I didn't count the number of Street residents who turned up, but it was more than the Parish Council expected - more than the number of chairs put out, and more than the copies of the relevant papers available.   more »

The Street Society had a bracing hour yesterday listening to Arabella Churchill.   more »

This time I sat up and took more notice than usual, because one of the members raised the matter of that fine Victorian house in Somerton Road    more »

The Tourist Information Centre in Clarks Village has just reopened in its new home, on Farm Road, by the zebra crossing between the two parts of Clarks Village.   more »