Articles

Anyone listening to BBC Radio 4 on New Year’s Day would have been treated to a day of pure poetry. The ‘national treasure’ that is The Shipping Forecast or programme about The Shipping Forecast. The days’ programmes celebrated that it had been broadcast by the BBC for exactly 100 years.

The Leicester & District Ramblers, who currently have over 400 members, have just published their programme of walks for the first six months of 2025. This is their most comprehensive programme ever and comprises about 175 walks. They have a guided walk on every day of the week apart from Monday. The walks vary from a leisurely 4 mile stroll, up to a strenuous 15 mile hike.

If you live in a town or large village you are unlikely to find barn owls near your home. In urban areas, most owl contacts are with the tawny owl and its familiar hooting and “kee-wick” calls. Conversely if you live in a rural area with barns, outbuildings or man-made owl boxes, the ‘white owl’ may be a familiar sight.

Happy New Year! We hope you had a nice Christmas.

This month, we’re meeting Richie, an experienced member of the Kibworth crew. After four years as an on-call firefighter and another two in a fulltime role, Rich is now a competent firefighter, qualified driver, and also capable of ‘acting up’ at incidents. This means that he can take charge at an incident if no other officers are available. With a diverse skill set and a positive attitude, Rich is a key member of the Kibworth crew. Read on to discover what inspired Rich to become an on-call firefighter and hear his advice for anyone interested in joining the on-call team.

Wishing you all every joy and blessing for this New Year, 2025. But as well as personal health and happiness, may it also be a year when everybody strives to make things better for Kibworth and the surrounding villages.

We are delighted to announce a very special fundraising concert that will take place at St Wilfrid’s Church in Kibworth on Friday 28 February. Frontiers Trio features three superb professional musicians who live locally. They are David Le Page – violin, Mark Ashford – guitar, and Nick Stringfellow – cello.

It’s no secret that plastic is having a devastating impact on the environment and on our lives.

Dear Editor

To complement the upcoming season of Local History Talks (see the Kibworth Community Library article here), the Kibworth Community Library team, with the help of some members the Family History Workshop and aided by Kibworth & District Chronicle, are to mount an exhibition of Kibworth Past.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow”– Albert Einstein

The Cook Islands welcome and lead us for the World Day of Prayer 2025. This year it is on Friday 7 March. The Cook Islands is a group of 15 Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It has a rich and colourful Maori heritage and a deep connection to nature. Join with us as we pray, learn and reflect together on the theme ‘I made you wonderful’.

Local artist Maxine Dodd has submitted one of her pastel paintings, entitled Stormy Descent, in a competition overseen by British Contemporary Art Awards. The picture above was submitted in the autumn, and along with 10 others has now been entered for the final.

William (Will) Weston, youngest son of Pam and George Weston formerly of Merton Way, Kibworth sadly passed away in Newham Hospital in London on 14 December after becoming seriously ill. Will was born in Market Harborough Cottage Hospital in January 1980. He spent his childhood living in Kibworth along with his older brothers Robin and Edward. He was educated at the local village schools finishing at Beauchamp College, Oadby. 

As we know from Michael Wood’s Story of England, Kibworth itself dates back to the time of the Romans. The villages and the area around us are steeped in history, so we are delighted to introduce a new series of talks in the library covering a variety of historical topics.