We are mid May as I write – the sun is shining and surely the weather couldn’t be better for cricket? You might think so but not if you’re a Miller as, despite our best efforts, the season has started with three consecutive defeats – if I knew how to make a very sad face in print I would !
The run started in late April with a 39 run defeat to Clyst Hydon, who made a
not unbeatable 108-5 on a sticky track, but we just couldn’t get any momentum in our reply and despite Jon Pengelly making 26 not out off 24 balls and
putting the rest of us to …
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Tale Millers – May 2025
28 May 2025 By
The Parish Paper – St Mary the Virgin, Payhembury
28 May 2025 By
The Parish Paper in Payhembury has been going for nearly 58 years. We are committed to continuing to deliver it free to each household in the parish every single month of the year. Grateful thanks again to
our team of volunteers who deliver each month. Extra copies are available in the shop; if you take one, please pay a donation of 50p into the collecting box.
Our only costs are printing which is £3100 per year. We couldn’t continue without the support of businesses who advertise with us and in total this creates an income of about £2700. In …
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Payhembury Provisions
28 May 2025 By
There’s a lot going on. It may not seem like it, but there is. Some of it is pretty obvious and no one can
have missed the big hole behind the shop and the new footings going in.
There’s a new end to the shop too, a change that we all get accustomed to quite fast. Rob built that for us for which we are grateful and it has given us some rather oddly shaped extra storage space inside. In due course we will open up the wall in the back office to gain entry to it and it will house freezers and chillers and give us a bit more room for the ‘back …
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Rectory notes – Joy!
28 May 2025 By
I confess to writing this month as much as a sports fan – a football fan in particular – as a vicar. I support Crystal Palace, and am writing this within 24 hours of their historic win in the FA Cup Final. This is for all supporters and participants of sport, indeed for all with a passion for something!
I’ve supported Palace since a child and am now 62. They’ve never won a trophy. They’ve suffered numerous relegations, celebrated promotions, toppled great teams on memorable occasions. But in 120 years never this. “Better to have loved and lost …
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Paul’s Nature Notes April-May 2025
24 May 2025 By
The spring migration has produced many interesting birds: Black Redstart , Cetti’s Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Garden Warbler, Marsh Tit, Redpoll, Reed Bunting, Tree Pipit and Hawfinch may even be breeding near Escot. Another aspect of having three birdsong monitoring devices around the village has been to discover the number of wader and seabird species migrating through – a staggering 40 species. I doubt anyone would have ever expected that this far inland.
These have been by no means the only rarities. Tree Sparrows have been actually seen in …
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Tale Millers Fixtures 2025
4 May 2025 By
To read or save the 2025 Cricket Fixtures, please click on link below: Tale Millers Fixtures 2025 …
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Rectory notes – Green and pleasant land?
30 April 2025 By
I have been struck by an likely connection between two very different places: our own villages, and Gaza. Both face concerns about housing and infrastructure.
Gaza’s is tragically being flattened: homes and hospitals destroyed, people driven out (and worse). In our villages (thankfully on a scale of seriousness far smaller than Gaza), housing developments are proposed, midst strained or inadequate infrastructure.
Our homes are so important for us. They give security and stability, familiarity and community. They form the fabric of our lives …
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Paul’s Nature Notes March-April 2025
28 April 2025 By
By the time you read this our birdsong monitoring project will have been running for a year. Despite missing the early migration period last year, a staggering 97 species have been recorded and there have been so many wonderful surprises. Although living in an agricultural area it has become clear that we are on an important flight path, especially migrants, as we moved into spring. The presence of mature native trees and hedges and, even more importantly, water are doubtless major factors. What came as a huge surprise was the number of …
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Payhembury Provisions – A Volunteer’s Perspective
28 April 2025 By
I have been volunteering at our local shop since I retired from the Met Office in 2021 and have found it a great way to meet others in the village and to keep my brain active. Our esteemed leader, David, asked me to put in writing what life as a volunteer in Payhembury Provisions is like so here are a few thoughts.
There are many different jobs needed to keep the shop running all done by volunteers and I help with several of them. I start with opening the shop, getting there at 7:30 am every Tuesday morning guided by Roy, who is experienced …
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Rectory notes Rectory notes – Lifted by the light
28 April 2025 By
Breakfast time. A difficult day lay ahead, and I’d not slept well. My head was down as I munched my cornflakes. I looked up, and glanced out of the kitchen window. Lo, an apparition! Or more precisely the shape of our upstairs window cast beautifully by the early morning sun onto the neighbours’ wall. I wasn’t even seeing the sun directly, yet its presence was dramatic. The light lifted me for the day.
We may face a difficult day ahead. Maybe every day is difficult. Maybe we’ve not only slept badly but we find hauling our body through the day …
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