You probably think that February is a bit early for dusting off your tennis racquet but it’s not too early to join Marshfield Tennis Club. This club will welcome new members from all villages in the Benefice. For those who haven’t heard on the grape-vine, the club now has planning approval for four floodlit courts at the Withymead Recreation Ground. The LTA have been exceptionally generous and have offered a £96K grant so combined with existing funds the club has signed a contract with Courtstall Services to build the floodlit courts. Weather permitting they should be complete & ready for play by April.

The club is open to everyone, whether you are five or eighty-five, if you’re a frequent player of whether you’ve never picked up a racquet, opportunities will be available to improve your playing skills what ever your experience.

Membership fees will be very low, probably the cheapest in the area. Adults £75 a year & juniors £15 and even better deals for families. Remember once you are a member you don’t pay anything else to play. This will be a really exciting place to play tennis, a fantastic location over looking the countryside & like minded people who are looking for fun playing a very sociable game or even play in some competitions & in a local league.

If you have any interest in playing or just thinking about joining give Jo Hiam a call on 891739 or Janet Spence on 891115 or the editor on 891948 to find out the benefits of being a member & how you can join.

Follow ing on from Roger Stratton’s account of his work at Ashfield Young Offenders Institution he has sent me a prayer diary extracted from the ‘Prodigal Son’ website. It’s rather long to include here but a copy will be placed in St. Mary’s church. This is a charity whose aim is to break the cycle of crime and re-offending and offer practical, emotional and spiritual support to young people, both in prison and after their release, helping them through the often difficult period of reintegration into society.

Their work with offenders has been recognised with an award by the Avon and Somerset Criminal Justice Board. In particular they help young men once they have been released from jail to turn away from crime and move towards leading positive, purposeful and productive lives in their local community. The horrifying statistic is that 80% of 18 year old offenders find them selves being convicted for another crime within 3 years; this charity tries to break this cycle by preparing such men for work and actually help them find a job.

This is not the normal place for mentioning such things but since there is an inch to spare it would be interesting to know if there are any people in the benefice who like to work with wood as a hobby in particular anyone who is interested in wood-turning. If so you might like to contact the editor (details on page 10) and maybe we could have a network of people who share a common interest in wood, whether it’s making things or just have an affinity for it.