Articles

Once again we are looking forward to welcoming you into the calving and lambing sheds at our annual Open Day, on Saturday 22 March at Binleys Bridge Farm, Debdale Lane, Smeeton Westerby, LE8 0QD. Come down to the farm between 11am – 5pm to see the cows calving and sheep lambing. We will hopefully have a few pigs for you to see too.

The day normality disappeared.

February’s Kibworth and District Chronicle requested memories of the events of March 2020. Having drafted notes on the spectacular starling roost witnessed by readers who live in Kibworth Beauchamp; I have deferred those notes to April so that I can respond to the request for pandemic memories.

Please see above a picture of the structure myself (Claire Coppin at the time), James Stanbridge and Charlotte Stanbridge constructed to display in our field at Beauchamp Grange Farm to thank the NHS and put a smile on people’s faces which at the time we were told did just that :-)

February Lorna and I enjoying last few days of stay in Málaga. Contacted my niece in Milan because of reports of coronavirus hitting hard in Italy. She sent me her report that included disturbing pictures of life there - empty supermarket shelves and metros at rush hour. That spooked me.

When the first Covid-19 lockdown was announced I, in complete shock, unsure how I was going to fill my days. Previously I had enjoyed lots of various volunteering roles and meeting friends for coffee, lunch, etc allowing me to structure my week in a very fulfilling way. I felt that walking, gardening, reading, the search of tackling all of those tasks around the house and garden that previously there didn’t seem to be time for (in my case painting garden fences and the inside of cupboards) wasn’t going to be enough to sustain my wellbeing.

During lockdown Kibworth Community Library home-delivered over 2000 books to people of all ages across Beauchamp, Harcourt, Smeeton and Foxton. All books were donated by our lovely customers and all were returned (plus several hundred more). We had to buy a shed to store them all in.

Rainbows in the window

I saw your plea for memories of Covid in the last Kibworth & District Chronicle. My experience had a deep low and a great high. The low was that a close friend of mine was diagnosed with throat cancer shortly before Covid struck. He was undergoing radiotherapy, so his immune system was destroyed. He caught Covid - pre-vaccine - in hospital and it killed him in three days, he was only in his sixties.

Neil O’Brien (MP) has written to say