Longparish, Hampshire

What's New

This is where we try to keep you up to date with news of what's happening and new stuff on the web site.

Village Hall Refurbishment - latest news

We have made exciting progress behind the scenes over the Christmas period.  We have chosen a contractor and hope that they will be able to start work at the beginning of March.

Once the building work starts there will be no access to the whole site and therefore no parking by or behind the hall.  We will put a water container in the cemetery as it will not be possible to use the tap at the side of the hall.  Our thanks go to the school who have agreed to the Air Ambulance recycling bin being moved to the school entrance.

We were delighted to hear from the Vitacress Charitable Fund on 16 January that they have awarded us £1,937 towards the cost of curtains and blinds, a hot cupboard and a commercial dishwasher.  No more carting home dirty dishes for washing up after events! Thank you very much.

On Monday 28 November we heard that NatWest Community Force have awarded us £6,275. Thank you very much to everyone who voted for us.

Individual gifts have now passed £50,000 bringing the total raised so far to over £247,000. Over 90 people have given to this appeal. Thank you all very much. But we still need more. We anticipate that the total cost, including fitting out and VAT, will be approaching £300,000 so if you have not already given please dig deep. More information on the Village Hall pages.

We have jam and marmalade for sale in aid of the hall. Please phone Maggie on 720459 if you'd like some.

LCA Subscriptions

LCA subscriptions are due now. The cost is still only £1 per individual though many members kindly add a donation as well. If you haven't joined before now is the time to do it and get a full year's value! The Community Association supports and organises a range of popular activities in the village, such as KidzZone, the Recycled Teenagers, Wednesday Talks and the Diamond Jubilee celebration. There is a renewal form here or you can use the one on the back of the January events diary in Hill & Valley.

Quiz in aid of the Village Hall Refurbishment

Thank you for your entries. We hope to notify the winners by Monday 13 February. For more information please see the quiz page

LCA - Wednesday Talks - Penguins in the Surgery - Weds 8 February

Some Wednesday Talks are traveller’s tales and others nearer to home.  All will be a chance for an entertaining and convivial evening with bar and opportunities for questions and discussion.  A bit like a book group without having to read the book! 

Matthew Dryden will speak on 8 February at the Village Hall on "Penguins in the Surgery", some tales of his experiences as a doctor in the Falklands. Doors and the bar will be open from 7pm and the talk starts at 7.30.

Wednesday 7 March at 7.30pm in the Community Hall: Christine Beresford on "Footsteps in the shadow of Everest".
Wednesday 28 March at 7.30pm in the Community Hall: Richard Wills on "The History of Middleton House and Estate and other diversions"

If you have any suggestions for future speakers please talk with Christine Beresford or Jeremy Barber.

Bridge Tea - Tuesday 14 February

There will be a Bridge Tea in aid of Village Hall Refurbishment on Tues 14 Feb from 2-5pm at the School Community Hall

The cost £40 is per table or £10 per person. There will be prizes and a raffle. To book please contact Marion Bell 720205.

LCA Coffee and Chat - Friday 17 February

Each month we join with friends and neighbours to enjoy a convivial chat and a welcoming cup of tea or coffee. Next time is coffee from 10.30 to 12 on on Friday 17th February at Longmead House, the home of Wendy Ellicock. Everyone is welcome. If you need a lift give Gloria a ring on 720 425.

Gardening Club - Tuesday 28 February at 7 pm

Rob Hardy will be speaking on “Peparing for the Chelsea Flower Show ” Venue to be confirmed. For more information please get in touch with Rosie Lowry 720325 or Marion Bell 720205

FoLS Quiz Night - Saturday 10th March

As always this will be a great evening so save the date.

Details are here

Open Gardens - Sunday 18 March, Weds 23 May and Sun 27 May

The lovely gardens at Lower Mill and Longmead House will be open under the NGS in support of the Village Hall Refurbishment. These are wonderful gardens and well worth a visit. Refreshments will be available and there will be plants for sale. Full details are here.

LCA and Hog - Cod Fathers of Croon - Saturday 24 March

Longparish Community Association is delighted to present The Opera Dudes on March 24th in Longparish Community Hall another fabulous opportunity to see world class entertainment on your doorstep – made possible by Hog the Limelight.

'They're funny, they swing and boy can they sing'

Put the date in your diary now. Tickets will go on general sale on 6th February. If you want to be certain of getting in you can reserve them now by contacting David Marklew - e mail david@davidmarklew.com or call him on 01264 720796 or 07747 014519

Concert - 25 and 26 May

Our wonderful village choir will be performing in a major concert in May.

More information soon. In the meantime please save the date.

 

Much Ado About Nothing - Friday 6 July

Advance tickets are now on sale for this exciting outdoor performance by Heartbreak Productions (a professional touring company). The production is set in the 1940s and includes some music.  Make up a party, bring a picnic, chairs & rugs and enjoy being entertained in the beautiful gardens of Lower Mill, Longparish (by kind permission of Karen-Marie Dinesen). A bar and tea & coffee will be available on the night. Tickets will be advertised outside the village nearer the time of the performance and on the website of Heartbreak Productions, so this is the chance for all villagers to get the date in their diaries & secure their tickets early. This is, of course, a fund raiser for the village hall refurbishment, so please support us and join us on the night when we are sure we will have a very entertaining evening.

Contact Ann Jennings on 01264 720367 or Gloria Goodliffe on 01264 720425 to buy your tickets.

Diamond Jubilee - 2-5 June 2012

Lonparish is well known for taking advantage of any excuse for a celebration and there's a good one coming up next year with The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The LCA will be arranging a village celebration on Saturday 2 June. You may remember the excellent party on the Cricket Field for the Golden Jubilee in 2002. There were races for the children, tea with jelly and a BBQ and dancing in the evening. You can read about it here. Going back a bit further there was a huge celebration on 11 June 1887 for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Details are recorded in a notebook belonging to John Woodcock. You can read a transcribed copy here.

Smooth Movers Ladies' Exercise Class - Thursdays 9.15 to 10.15am

Classes are led by Lauren Mildenberger, a fully qualified instructor. She teaches low impact short routines to music. This is kinder to your joints. It is not a fast pace class so is ideal for complete beginners and senior ladies. Each session includes gentle warm up, cardiovascular exercise to increase heart-rate (nothing major!!) and toning – concentrating on those problem areas (Arms, Bums, Tums).

Wear comfortable clothing and non-slip footwear. Everyone works at their own level, no pressure. Come along and give it a try. £5 per session. Free parking - so why travel to Andover for a class?

Need more information? Phone Gina on 01264 720128.

LCA - L2SOTM - The Longparish Second Sunday of the Month handicap running race

The L2SOTM is a race of about 3 miles (5km) held on the second Sunday of every month. The next race is on Sunday 12th February starting at 10am at the Cricket Ground. Runners of all standards are welcome as are brisk walkers. The handicap system means that the slowest have as much chance of winning the cups as the fastest. Hope you can come. There will be refreshments afterwards and supporters of all ages are very welcome. More details are available on the L2SOTM pages.

LCA - Recycled Teenagers

The Recycled Teenagers’ Club is open to all older members of our community and was started by Longparish Community Association in 2007.  We organise regular outings and other events using Test Valley Community Service’s minibus for transport.   We are very grateful to the Longparish Community Association for their continued support as that helps us to keep the cost to participants down.

Our next trip is to the Sing Song and Tea Party in Wherwell on Tuesday 21 February. The bus will leave North Acre at 2.15pm. If you’d liketo find out more please contact Corinne on 720643. 

Recent visits have included Exbury Gardens, Birdworld in Farnham, a Morecombe and Wise tribute show in New Milton and an excellent garden centre near Eastleigh. We have also got together with KidzZone to raise over £400 by holding a cream tea in Forton.

Another trip was to the Hawk Conservancy.  Despite a very poor weather forecast the only rain was when we were indoors having lunch.  We saw three flying displays of birds of prey and Jim got a new parting in his hair from the talons of a low flying vulture. A mini bus load of us went to Winchester for "Get Hampshire Singing". We sang everything fromThe Happy Wanderer to Delilah and they gave us an excellent free lunch as well. Thanks very much to all concerned.

LCA Kidz Zone: Longparish Youth Club

Kidz Zone meets fortnightly on a Wednesday. It is open to people aged 11 to 18. More information here

Parent and Toddler Group

Our thriving Parent and Toddler group meets weekly in the village hall. Click here for more information.

Walks leaflet

Our Longparish walks leaflet was distributed to every household in Longparish and Hurstbourne Priors. They are in great demand from visitors and locals alike and are available from the pubs, the church and the shop. There's more information in our local walks area

Where is Longparish?

You can see some maps of the area at different scales by following the link 'How to find Longparish' in the menu. If you are still puzzled, "Southern England" (the first map) is the bottom quarter of that little island to the top left of Europe.

The Quick Tour

You can find out about Longparish in the Village Handbook's History and Environment sections.

Photo Gallery

We will gradually be adding photos to this part of the site. If anybody has any (new or old) that they could let us have, we'd be pleased to see them. Obviously digital is the easiest, but we can scan in prints as well.

Parish Council & Community Issues

This section explains the responsibilities of the Parish Council and gives you contact details for members, as well as dates, agendas and minutes of council meetings. You can also access items of general village interest such as the Design Statement and the Community Project, in this section.

Local Services and Organisations

In this part of the site you should be able to find a substantial amount of information on such things as local government, and how it impacts on Longparish, as well as details about the church, schooling, shops and pubs, and many organisations that operate in or around the village.

Village Handbook

The Village Handbook gives some of the history of the village, its landmarks, families & traditions. It also suggests sites of interest and wildlife you should look out for as you wander around the village.

Hill and Valley

Hill and Valley is our local community magazine. We have copies of the Longparish pages.

Contact us

We're delighted to receive any comments about either this site, or issues of interest in the village especially notice or reports of events that you would like us to publicise on the site. The webmaster will pass on comments to the appropriate people. Just use the Contact form, which is available on every page in the menu bar at the top.