Sutton Bonington
SHOW REFLECTION. The first Sunday in September in Sutton Bonington is usually a very hectic day, with many hundreds of people visiting the village to attend an event that has become a massive crowd puller.
But a couple of months ago the organisers had to put out a statement announcing with great sadness that the Sutton Bonington Show had to be cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Chairman Mrs Chris Littledyke said the decision had not taken lightly, but had been made for the safety of all their exhibitors, entertainers and visitors, as well as all the committee and volunteers who help to make the Show a success.
The end of the stressed that organisers “will now focus all our efforts towards the 2021 Show” and that is what helped to cheer everyone up.
But some residents recall some years ago when the neighbouring Kegworth Carnival had to take a 12-month rest. The aim was to give the carnival site a chance to recover from the impact of heavy traction engines, lorries and the like, but the event never came back.
Happily, the Sutton Bonington event doesn’t have that sort of problem and there are no suggestions the 2019 event will be the last.
The show, held on the first Sunday in September each year, attracts several thousand people, many of them visitors to the village, including former residents who have moved away after a marriage and return on show weekend to be with their parents.
The show has always offered different main ring attractions as well as the scores of other things happening, including the many trade stalls and food outlets.
For the 2019 show one of the big attractions was an appearance of Great British Bake Off star Frances Quinn, who won the national competition in 2013.
For some years, the Sutton Bonington Show has made a feature of a cookery and a bake-off activity and judging by the number of people who visit the special marquee, it is a popular choice.
Other highlights of the last show included a Spitfire flypast along and the Extreme Motorcycle display team.
The 2019 event was the 33rd in its present expanded form.
The annual event really puts Sutton Bonington on the map and each year profits are donated to local groups and charities together with a main charity which in recent years has been the Nottingham Breast Institute.
Local organisations also benefit, as do other charities.
POLICE NEWS. Police have been informed of instances of youngsters at Sutton Bonington playing on the roof of the village Scout hut on the village playing fields in Main Street.
Officers are keeping a special watch to deter such activity.
GRANT. Sutton Bonington parish council clerk Helen Chadwick says the council has given the village hall committee a grant of £1500, as a donation for refurbishment work being carried out there.
The council holds its monthly meetings in the hall.
ENFORCEMENT ACTION. Notts County Council served enforcement notices on property owners in Landcroft Lane in respect of the condition of the ditches adjacent to their properties.
The move was confirmed by local representative Councillor Andy Brown, who said the necessary legal action was being taken.
Council chairman Councillor Julie McMullen-Kerr has reported to members that she had spoken to former parish and Rushcliffe Borough councillor Terry Holt, who had been able to provide a lot of helpful background information on the ditches.
He had been invited to join the working party group.
ANGLING CLUB AGM. Sutton Bonington Angling Club fishing club have announced the date of their annual meeting, to take place at the club headquarters in a marque at the Kings Head, in Main Street, in the village.
It will take place on Thursday September 24, with a 7.45pm start.
The meeting will be open to all visitors including any youngsters interested in taking up the sport.
Club secretary Wendy Halverson says the organisers look forward to a good turnout for the meeting, which has been delayed this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The win obviously created excitement throughout Nottinghamshire but not as much as was caused in December of the same year when the coveted FA Cup was brought to Bunny by the Forest skipper Jack Burkitt, travelling as he did on the Trent 66 Nottingham to Loughborough service bus with the cup. In those day Jack, like many footballers, Jack did not own a car.
Jack, his wife, Hazel, and young son Roger were keen whist players and as friends of Echo reporter Mike Elliott had readily agreed to come to Bunny to support a whist drive he was running to raise money for Ken Price, who lived in Victoria Road with his family, and who was seriously ill after collapsing with peritonitis while working at Bunny Hall Farm.
On the day of his collapse, his wife, Betty, had rung the farm to ask why her husband had not gone home for lunch, and her call sparked a search for him by his colleagues.
He was found almost unconscious on the floor of a barn at the farm and was taken straight to hospital in Nottingham where he remained for some considerable time on the danger list.
“Friends in the village felt the need to help and as I already organised a monthly whist drive for I would organise a special one for a fund I set up for Ken, aimed at helping to buy Christmas presents for the children.
“Normally we would have nine or 10 tables for the monthly event held in what was then the village school, and now the village hall, but on that night we had 24 tables.
“That in itself was a problem because we didn’t have that many packs of cards or tables to play on.
“Hurried phone calls to whist organisers in Bradmore and Ruddington saved part of the day and we quickly had sufficient to allow a start.
“But then the next problem arose, we couldn’t get everyone in the school! In those days there were a row of dwellings opposite the school and a quick request to the residents (the families were Hibbitt, Crooks, Starbuck and Spurr) for help eventually saw each house becoming ‘home’ to two tables and a total of 32 players.
“We were also able to open the Men’s Institute and put another six tables in there, with two sharing the snooker table. All that of course meant a lot of property exchanging for the players after each round, and that took time.
“With visitors from Costock, Bradmore and Ruddington having travelled to Bunny by bus, it was realised the whist would not be completed by the time of the last buses through the village, a few minutes after 10pm.
“I was at the time secretary of the village football club – having had the job since the age of 14 – and we used transport from the Keyworth bus firm of Wrights for our away games. So a late night call to Plumtree 34, which was their number, resulted in a bus being provided to take everyone home shortly after 11pm, including Jack and Hazel and Roger along with the FA Cup. And I recall the company kindly made no charge for the vehicle.”
Mike recalls the event made just over £30 for the fund and while that doesn’t sound a lot, in today’s money it was worth about £800.
The Burkitts did not win a whist prize , but son Roger did, the booby! The other players winning were Mrs M Warrick, Bunny, Mrs L Outon, Wymeswold, Mrs Fisk, Ruddington, Mrs Dodson, Ruddington, Mr B Croft, Ruddington, Mr F Randall, Bradmore, Mr Cooper, Bradmore, Mr F Smith, East Leake.