It is fair to say that the second ever Kingsley and Kingsley Holt Scarecrow Festival was a fantastic community event.

All told 50 crows were entered with an eye-watering standard reached as the community showcased their imagination, DIY and crafting skills.

Whilst everyone was a winner here are the actual winners :

Judges First Place  – Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (21)

Judges Second Place – Fantasia (32)

Judges Joint Third Place – Pinocchio (50)  and Pirates of the Caribean (2)

The standard was so high that the judges highly commended six additional entries.

Peoples Vote First Place Pinocchio (9)

Peoples Vote Second Place Maleficent  (18)

Peoples Vote Third Place Rapunzel (3)

A big thank you to Julie Clowes and Alison Reynolds who organised the event and helped to raise over £1000 for the Village Hall, St Werburghs Church and Kingsley Holt Chapel.

Following are all the crows  (credit to the Kingsley Holt Newsletter team for capturing the images)

Since the spring a group of residents in Kingsley spearheaded by the Village Hall have formed the Kingsley Clean Up campaign that has seen around 30 residents joining

forces to take part in efforts to improve the visual appearance of the village.

This has seen litter picks, weeding, hedge cutting, cleaning bus shelters, signs and bins as well as identifying areas that need improvement.

One area identified was the planter barrels around the village several of which were getting dilapidated and others did not have anyone looking after them.

A bid was submitted to County Councillor Mike Worthington and District Councillors Elsie Fallows and Ivor Lucas asking that they pool their resources which was successful.

This has seen 10 new barrels purchased along compost and plants to go into them. Barrels in Ainsworth Avenue, Hazles Cross, Hollins Lane, and Church Street have been replaced. New ones have or will be sited on Barnfields Lane, The Green junction Johnson Crescent, and at the site of the decommissioned phone box on High Street.

In addition, two residents have volunteered to look after barrels on Holt Lane which are in the process of being replanted.

Said Sue Hordern, the inspiration behind the clean up ‘we are really grateful to the councillors for supporting the local community, these barrels will bring a splash of colour to the village’ she added ‘its really nice to see people wanting to look after where they live and getting involved in making the village better’

There are two maybe three barrels yet to be sited and it is requested that any suggestions where they might go are made via the village hall. To be considered then it is asked that a volunteer comes forward to look after the barrels each year.

The Clean Up campaign is looking to have its next event at the end of the month.

The clerk to the Parish Council has advised that a vacancy has arisen for the post of Parish Councillor for the Whisten Ward.

Do you have a few hours a month to give back to the community?

If you are interested then please do contact the Clerk Carmen Worthington as per the adjacent notice.

You do not have to reside in the Whiston Ward to be a candidate.

Closing date 2nd October 2018

The 76th Kingsley Gardeners Association show was held on the Bank Holiday Saturday at the village hall and proved to be a great success giving plenty of optimism for the future.

As always there was a wide variety of fruit and veg, baking, wine and crafts plus for the first time at the show home produced honey (our bees are so important)

What was particularly pleasing to see was a record number of entrants into the show with 39 people entering which is well above the usual levels seen in recent years.

The small committee would welcome any help in the run up to next years show and of course on the show date itself where there is quite a bit of organising and assisting the judges. if you want to help contact the Secretary Carol Johnson via the village hall.

The Post Master advises the following changes to the standard hours:

Thursday 2nd August 2018 – No service

Monday 6th August – 2.45pm to 4.45pm

The Post Master advises changes to the standard hours due to holidays on the following days :

Thursday 5th July – No service

Monday 31^st July – 2.45pm to 4.45pm

The Post Master advises that there will be a truncated service on Monday 18th June due to holidays.

The Post Office at the hall will be open from 2.45pm to 4.45pm.

In excess of 800 newsletters have been delivered across the two villages in the last week in our biggest run so far.

For those who live further afield and the odd one or two we have missed it can be downloaded by clicking the adjacent image.