April 2017  - Edition No.167

The clocks have gone forward and the light evenings are getting longer. Spring has arrived and the daffodils everywhere have been looking magnificent, the hedgerows are beginning to show green and lambs are appearing in the fields.

April and another Fools' Day! Not a national holiday, it is, however, recognised and celebrated as a day when people play hoaxes and other practical jokes. The earliest recorded connection between the 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales [1392].

It is always good to have news from mail readers when renewing their subscriptions and I thank them for their continued support and generous donations. The mailing readership remains at over 100.

My thanks must seem rather monotonous but I do appreciate all the help I get to make this, I hope, a rather special Newsletter, enjoyed, it would seem, not only by villagers but many other readers besides. and its website all over the world. Your contributions, both regular and one-offs, literary, historical and artistic, etc., are always welcome and they will be welcome again come early May! Items for the June issue will be welcome at the Shop or Chicane, by post or e-mail, as soon as possible and by Wednesday, 10th May, at the latest please. Thank you.

Some articles are numbered indicating their longevity and Tom's Old Berrynarbor articles at No. 166 have been going the longest, only missing the first issue in August 1989. It is due to the continued support of so many that we still have a newsletter nearly 28 years later.

As always, we wish all newcomers to the village a warm welcome and we hope you will be happy in your new homes; and send our very best wishes to all those who are a bit under the weather at present.

Finally, it will soon be Easter and a welcome holiday for the schools, it has been a long spring term. I wish you all a very Happy Easter.

Judie - Ed