WINSHAM 2000.
A meeting was held in the Jubilee hall on 12 March 1999 to decide how Winsham would commemorate the year 2000. About fifty people attended and many ideas were proposed. A committee, Winsham 2000, was formed to co-ordinate the year's events. Stella Abbey became the Chairman and with Ann Beviss as Secretary the plans were made.
A torchlight procession was arranged for New Year's Eve to start the new Millennium followed by the first of four seasonal footpath walks led by Peter Pye and Denis Shaw.
The Parish Council was approached and gave £100.00 towards the provision of souvenir mugs to all children living in the Parish of 11 years and under. A further grant of £200.00 was made by South Somerset District Council. The mugs were presented to the children on Sports Day, June 30, following the Street Fair.
Other fund raising was needed. An application to receive money from Awards for All was unsuccessful. Janet Smart arranged for T-shirts with the Winsham 2000 Yew tree logo to be produced for sale. Ann Bevis arranged a skittles competition and a quiz.
Millennium Book.
It was decided to compile a book to describe all aspects of the Parish during the year 2000 A.D. This would be on similar lines to the W.I. Book produced in 1965 but would be much more detailed. Anne Rose, Peter and Mary Pye and Jan Sullivan were responsible for contacting and persuading all the organisations and businesses in the village to provide information about themselves, collating the diary, taking photographs of people places and events, weather readings, and generally collecting and processing all the details and finally c ompiling the book. A separate volume was produced by Robert Shearer, who photographed every property in the parish during the year. Early on it had been decided that a copy of each volume would be deposited in the Public Records Office in Taunton. These two volumes bear witness to the fruits of all that
labour.
A preview of the book's progress was shown in the Jubilee Hall on the 2nd October 2000 and it was planned that the completed volume would be on display during the Millennium Exhibition in 2001. An exhibition to be held in year 2001 was planned and Janet Smart, Caroline
Sweetland, Stephanie Flanagan and Janet Horner formed a sub-committee to organise it.
One of the displays at The Millennium Book Preview in
the Jubilee HallMillennium Exhibition.
The year 2000 for the Exhibition Committee was one of planning and research. We had a vision of what we wanted to do and gradually the means of achieving it fell into place as each person had an interest in a different aspect. So Rob Simmons, an ex-teacher, dealt with the history of the millennium, the display based on a time line and using research from Chard Museum and the County Records Office. Janet Smart worked on the year 1000 with the book by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger as the base, plus the big houses which influenced the village, Cricket St Thomas, Forde Abbey and Leigh House, the church and chapel.
Work towards the envisaged exhibition during that year entailed letters written to various owners of the properties concerned, visits to collect information and photographs and requests in the Parish Magazine for the loan of artefacts and pictures.
Millennium Exhibition (Children's Section).
After the initial meeting of the Exhibition Committee Janet Horner, Stella's daughter, Stephanie Flanagan and Caroline
Sweetland concentrated on the future as part of the exhibition where the children would play a part. We met on several occasions then Janet moved away to get married and , sadly, Stephanie died.
Towards the end of the year Caroline wrote to the children who attended the village organisations, Brownies, Pre-School, School and Youth Club and requested photographs to be sent in of them for the exhibition. She also put a similar request in the Parish Magazine and spent an evening at the Youth Club where they designed some pictures of the future including travel, fashion etc. Pre-School also included the themes of the future and homes in the future in their curriculum. Danielle and some friends planned a collage of a futuristic person. All these items including the photographs, would be displayed in the Committee Room of the Jubilee Hall for the exhibition. The idea was to make the "Future" part of the exhibition very different. Caroline made plans to go to the Scrap Store, part of the Community Resource Centre in Yeovil and use scrap materials to completely line and decorate the room. After the exhibition all photographs would be returned and the materials from the Scrap Store recycled.
Janet Smart,Rob Simmons,Caroline Sweetland
Wall Hanging.
Kate Langridge agreed to organise the production of a wall hanging. Six inch squares were embroidered by individuals, with their own designs depicting various aspects of the village, and stitched together and backed by Kate.
Yew Tree.
In March 2001 a Yew tree will be planted in the churchyard.
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