Category: News

The boating season is well under way now. Numbers are still down on past years, when 40 through the locks on a high-season day was not unusual. New boats are still flooding into the system, many of them wide-beam (over 7ft). Although spacious for living on, they can cause problems on our rapidly narrowing canal, vegetation is encroaching on all sides. Meeting one with passenger boat Vagabond (10ft 6”) can be quite interesting.

One hundred years ago on 23 April 1923 royalty gathered in Westminster Abbey. They came to witness and celebrate the union between HRH Albert 2^nd son of King George V and Queen Mary with Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, daughter of the Earl of Strathmore. The happy couple were later to become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth following the abdication of Prince Albert’s elder brother King Edward VIII in 1936.

The re-opening of Kibworth Harcourt Post Mill has brought a spark of excitement and creativity.

Snow White - & her Seven Dwarfs - are now enjoying life in her Prince’s Castle. I know they will live happily for ever after. 

The end of February will soon be with us. Each day (in theory) we enjoy more daylight and the sun is potentially as warm as it was at the end of October.

What a start for Stu Williamson Photography. Kibworth based and nominated for the 2023 International Elite 100 Award for Global Photography Studio of the Year.

Mowsley resident Andrew Ashwin's debut children's novel, Drumendus: Mission to the Drum Planet, has just been released in paperback. The story follows best friends, Ella and Freddie, on a space expedition with a musical twist, to the mysterious planet Drumendus. Accompanied by the brilliant and eccentric Aunt Belinda, the most famous astronaut in history, will they uncover the purple planet's secrets and reveal the truth about Ella's family?

Now that the nights are closing in and autumn has truly arrived, it was time to celebrate Harvest here in Smeeton Westerby. Firstly, on 30 September we held our Harvest Supper in the Village Hall. The whole place looked really welcoming, with soft lighting and beautiful flower displays on each table. We welcomed nearly 50 guests to a delicious meal of carbonara, salad and French bread. Followed by a wonderful selection of desserts donated by some of our guests.

On Friday 16 September my friend Barbara Beattie and I set off for London to see The Queen Lying in State. We took the 9.35am train from Rugby to Euston. On arrival at Euston we hailed a Black Cab to take us to the end of the Queue. The driver told us that the Queue was closed, but that she would take us to see the flowers. We insisted that she took us to Southwark Park. At 11.00am, after walking across the Park, we found the end of the queue for the Queue. 

What a glorious summer we have all had. The weather was certainly kind for our last two village events, Brass on the Grass and the Barn Dance. Once again the former was one of the highlights in our Smeeton social calendar. So many people, both locally and from further afield, joined us to listen as The Oddfellows Brass Band entertained us once again. With refreshments being served, the evening proved to be a resounding success. All of the donations going to GEMS in memory of Kelvin Capell, a much loved member of our community.