Boughton Newsletter

Pammie provides us with an overview of our thriving neighbour.

Boughton Fen through the Seasons

A talk and slide presentation by Allan Hale featuring the birds, butterflies, plants, amphibians and dragonflies of the Fen through the year. On Saturday 18th October 2008, 7:30pm at All Saints' Church, Boughton. Tickets available from Angela Faherty on 01366 501335. Adults £5.00 and children £3.00, includes light refreshments. All proceeds towards the restoration of Boughton Fen.

Boughton Fen Committee

The Children's Medieval Herb Garden, All Saints Church

Thank you to everyone who helped with planting the flower bed in the Churchyard. We were delighted with the individual donations of plants. Thanks also go to Boughton Village Caravan for donating plants from the Herb Nursery at Didlington. Our choice of plants was inspired by the Herb Garden at Norwich Cathedral which has recently been renovated. An herb garden would have existed there in the 1300s and it is likely that the Norwich clergy would have had contact with the newly-built church in Boughton.

"Medieval herb gardens associated with churches were traditionally places for both the local community and passers -through........they were spaces for contemplation, relaxation, recuperation and inspiration." (from The Herb Garden at Norwich Cathedral by Polly Lavender and Jo Statham, 2007)

If you have time please visit our herb bed. We hope it gives as much pleasure in 2008 as it would have done in the 1300s.

One of the plants to look out for is woad, known for the beautiful blue dye produced from its leaves. Boudicca (60 A.D), who had her settlement at Cockley Cley, led an army wearing woad war paint and cloth dyed in woad. By the Middle Ages, East Anglia was a major centre for woad production. The only woad farm in the country today is near Dereham. I am hoping to arrange for the farmer to run a woad dyeing workshop in Boughton for children and adults sometime in the autumn. Details will be announced in Group 4 News.

Susan George

THE SHOEBOX APPEAL 2008 BEGINS.....

A big welcome to this year's appeal. The Link Romania Family Shoebox Appeal has been in existence since 1992 and has brought happiness and hope to many thousands of people over the years. It's a really simple idea and anyone in the UK can pack up a shoebox to send as a Christmas gift to a desperately poor family in Eastern Europe. Over the years, we have sent in excess of 400,000 shoeboxes to over 80 different locations.

These boxes are given to poor families many of whom do not have running water, heating or electricity. They live in terrible conditions and struggle to survive. No one is interested in them except for us and we want to show we love and care for them One way is to wade through the mud to their 'houses' and give them a shoebox at Christmas. We cannot explain to you how much they are appreciated. See the 2007 Delivery Diary for last years report.

All Saints' Church, Boughton has registered again as a collecting point for this year's appeal. We invite everyone to fill a shoebox with Christmas gifts for a needy family. The boxes must be ready for collection from the church by November 7th from where the charity will transport the boxes to various depots, where they are distributed to all sorts of locations, from remote villages, to hospital wards, to charity kindergartens and shanty towns. Shoeboxes are taken by horse and cart, often in snow and on the mud roads that are still very much a feature of the countryside!

The charity emphasises that the Shoeboxes are for a family. The need is just as great whether aged 8 or 80. The families that we give shoeboxes too generally live in one or two rooms together in the same house - parents, children, grandparents and sometimes aunt, uncles and cousins too so we want each member of the family to have a gift not only the children. See 'What To pack' on the leaflets, which can be obtained from Pam Wakeling 01 366 500429. It's not too early to start collecting small items to fill your shoeboxes.

It's Not Us!

You may have seen some negative press about certain other shoebox appeals and we would like to assure you that we are an entirely separate organisation, with our own printed material, nationwide network of collectors, etc.

We DO NOT:

* Employ professional fund-raisers with a hard-sell approach to the appeal

* Although we are a Christian organisation we do not add any Christian (or other) literature to the Shoeboxes

* We do not take liquids or anything else out of your boxes. If a box is particularly light we do carefully open it and add a few more items but this is rare as we generally get such good boxes given to us.

* We do not distribute Shoeboxes according to the recipient's ethnic origin or faith, only their need

Further information about the charity can be obtained by visiting www.linkromania.co.uk. I hope you will be able to support the shoebox appeal as generously as you did last year.

Pam Wakeling 01 366 500429