Our village doesn’t have a pub, which is quite unusual for a village our size. The residents of the town near by call our village ‘The Holy City’ because it used to have several churches and no pub. These days the life of the village centres around the school, the fire brigade, and the memorial hall.
In the front entrance of the memorial hall are honour boards, listing all the local boys (and a few girls) who served in World War I and II. Surrounding the honour board are photos of many of them. Both of Country Boy’s grandfathers are listed. I love to stand there and read the names, and look at the photos of the once young men. All of the names are familiar. The sense of history and connection to our past is tangible.
Over the weekend was the annual hall fundraiser. The community contributes goods and they are then auctioned off. Fruit and vegetables, eggs, jams and pickles, cakes and biscuits, and craft are all sold to raise money to keep the hall going. Country Boy and I contributed a whole lot of pumpkins and cucumbers, some bunches of parsley and spinach, and we made some Pumpkin Spice cakes and Lamingtons.
There are some local specialities that are hotly contested. The honey sponge rolls went for $60 and $70! My Pumpkin Spice cakes went for $16 (very proud of myself ).
We arrived with a car boot full of vegetables, and left with a whole lot of cakes and biscuits. The freezer has been loaded up, and the biscuit barrel is full.
The annual sale of gifts has been going for years. Country Boy remembers going along to the hall as a little boy with his parents, and now we take our kids along too. I hope desperately that my kids will never be up on that wall, but I do love that we are continuing the connection.
Thanks Jo, I have fond memories of enjoying a similar country life back in the 1950's. Your photos are great and I'm pleased you are embracing your new life style. Excellent Blog!
Thanks Marg!