Samurai Judo Club have raised £1,200 for the NHS Kidderminster Charity Trust by running a competition at their club in Zortech Avenue with all proceeds going to the charity.

The club’s competitions are now back in full swing, with full covid precautions in place. Over 100 players from 26 different clubs as far away as Devon, Norfolk and Merseyside attended the event, separated out over the day to avoid crowding, with each section finishing and getting their medals whilst the next section arrives.

The club’s own players were very successful. Ben Bugg started them off with a gold in the boys lower grade lightweights, with Nick Deeley adding a second gold in the low grade light-middleweights with a superb performance, and Mateo Allen adding a third gold in the boys higher grades, and then Lola Dyoss Jones making it four golds in the girls lower grades. Meanwhile, there were silvers for Finn Doherty and Roman Lennon, and a whole load of bronzes for Jonah Brown, Oliver Thompson, Roman Lennon, Jenson Moule, Nicholas Beddoe, Millie Lane, Hannah Palmer (2 bronzes), Archie Minkin, Nick Deeley, Verity Brown, Isobel Houghton, Isla Thompson and Hannah Houghton. Several players, such as Nick Deeley, Roman Lennon and Hannah Palmer, not only entered their own weight and age groups but also had a go in higher level categories and gained second medals.

For details about starting judo, telephone 0776 1122977 or visit the Samurai website on www.samurai.org.uk or their Facebook page. The club can take new members of all ages now (minimum age 6) and are looking to expand, with the target of having 200 members by the end of the year. They are already the largest judo club in the Midlands, in fact larger than the next two largest put together.

MEDALS SUMMARY - NHS Charity Event

GOLD: Ben Bugg, Nick Deeley, Mateo Allen, Lola Dyoss Jones

Silver: Finn Doherty, Roman Lennon

Bronze: Jonah Brown, Oliver Thompson, Roman Lennon, Jenson Moule,

Nicholas Beddoe, Millie Lane, Hannah Palmer (2 bronzes),

Archie Minkin, Nick Deeley, Verity Brown, Isobel Houghton,

Isla Thompson, Hannah Houghton.

Stourport Civic Society.

At this months meeting Phil Griffiths gave us an informative talk on the history of English Coins. Coins for the use as payment for goods can be traced back to the early Greeks in 550 bc while the first evidence of the use coins for this purpose in Britain dates back to 150 bc. The early coins were hand made from gold or silver with there value being guaranteed by the weight of the material used to make them. Being hand made the shape of the coins was irregular and subject to “clipping” the practice of snipping small pieces from the edge of the coins which could then be sold off at a profit. With the coming of mechanised power presses it became possible to add a milled edged to the coin and so put an end to this practice. The use of power presses also meant the images and lettering on coins was also greatly improved. Phil’s fine collection of slides depicting coins through the ages clearly illustrated how much our coinage has changed over the years.

At next months meeting on 9th December Paul Harding will give us an insight into how the Victorians celebrated Christmas. Do come and join us it’s bound to be a “cracker”. There will be a glass of mulled wine,punch and a mince pie to enjoy after the talk.

Meetings are held at the Elizabeth Mills Centre, New Road, Stourport on Severn commencing at 7.30pm. All welcome admission £3.

Cleobury Mortimer Royal British Legion

Sunday October 31st saw the Branch hold its Centennial Luncheon at the Sports & Social Club, with Colonel Chris Joynson as guest speaker. He had agreed to speak at our Annual Lunch in 2019, but heavy snow overnight forced cancellation of the whole event. Colonel Joynson spoke enthusiastically about the work of the ‘Battle Back Centre’ at Lilleshall, where he is the Recovery Operations Manager. The centre was founded in 2009, and has already helped over 7,000 wounded ex-service personnel to regain their self-confidence and motivation after their physical injuries had been treated. Costing over £20M to set up, and £2M a year to run, it is the RBL’s biggest investment to date. Many of those who listened to the Colonel’s talk felt that the excellent work of the centre deserves to be more widely known. Too many people only perceive of the RBL as a focal point during Remembrance events.

The Cleobury Branch of the British Legion (not ‘Royal’ until 1971) was formed in 1921, less than two months after the new national body had been created on 15 May 1921 to represent the interests of ex-servicemen by merging together three existing bodies. Our branch is therefore one of the oldest in the country.

This year, the branch has been unable to run any of our normal outings, but it is hoped to resume these in 2022.

The Branch always welcomes new members - please contact Membership Secretary Matt Sheehan on 01299 271347 for details, or join up on-line.

ARELEY KINGS WI

Going-going-gone!

A very warm welcome was extended to all members in readiness for our annual auction with former treasures generously donated by members. The auction went exceedingly well. Congratulations to joint Presidents Pam Eves and Lesley Smith, our very able Auctioneers, well done both. Also many thanks to members for providing the items.

Plans are now in place for our New Year Meal at the ‘The Pines’ in January, a very popular event with the ladies.

Our next meeting will be 13th December 2.00pm at the Areley Kings Village Hall where we will be holding our Christmas celebrations: food, music, and good company, what more could we ask for.