News:

There is a natural transition from crunching leaves underfoot in Autumn to the bare trees of Winter. Shorter days, dark and starry nights and cold, crisp mornings are coming. Soon, we may be scraping the ice from our windscreens and checking the weather forecast for snow. The long hot summer will be a distant memory. The weeks do seem to speed up, with a growing sense of anticipation, as we head towards Christmas. It is easy to become focussed on what is to come and forget to look up and enjoy the now. The beauty of living where we do is that we get to experience how Nature creates these changing seasons, each one different, yet no less beautiful. In these unsettling times, this change can give us cheer.  

Church and churchyard - update

Work continues at St Margaret’s Church, both inside and outside. The walls are being repaired and repainted – with the right paint. The churchyard has been our main focus over the past year. Teams of people from the village helped to plant a beech hedge and a copper beech tree. The good news is that all their hard work has survived the long hot summer. A befitting bench has now been ordered so visitors can sit in quiet contemplation and enjoy the peace. The consecration of the churchyard is now planned for Thursday 1st December at 2pm by the Bishop of Crediton.

Templeton Village Hall - update

On Saturday 14th August, Templeton held its Summer Fete and Grand Auction.  Once again, we were blessed with good weather, and everyone enjoyed the ice cream as well as cream teas, hot dogs and the bar. As always there were some great stalls including games, bric a brac, clothes, books, the Big T and lovely local produce while the little ones aptly made tractors. The auction is always entertaining and it really was so lovely to see everyone join in. Of course, events such as these take months of planning and we couldn’t do it without all the volunteers who worked so hard behind the scenes and on the big day. We are grateful to the auctioneer Terry Hamlin, who for many years has supported us with the Grand Auction which this year raised £417. This event raised £1500 in total, which will help support village funds.  Thank you everyone for taking part and making it such a successful and fun day. Take a look at all the photos on Templeton Village Hall’s Facebook Page.

We were, of course, deeply saddened by the passing of the Queen on Thursday 8th September, after 70 years of service to the country. Everyone held such respect and admiration for the Queen and the way that she committed herself to the service of the country. She was also a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Services were held to commemorate Queen Elizabeth in churches throughout the Exe Valley Mission Community. In Templeton, the church bells of St Margaret’s tolled.

Despite this sad news, it was decided that the Harvest Festival weekend, planned for 10th/11th September, would go ahead. A big thank you to everyone who came to Templeton's Harvest Supper on Saturday 10th September. As a mark of our respect, included in the evening event was a candlelit table set out to commemorate the Queen with a framed photograph and a book of condolences, for people to enter their thoughts.

The Harvest Supper was an amazing spread of hot and cold foods and delicious desserts. Many thanks to all those who cooked and contributed the delicious food and to those who worked in the kitchen and the bar on the night. Again, this is a team effort and we are very grateful for the support we receive in Templeton. Photos of the event are available on Templeton Village Hall’s Facebook Page. The evening raised £474 which will help support the much-needed funds for the maintenance of, and repairs to, St Margaret’s Church, Templeton.

Templeton’s Harvest Festival Service

Templeton’s Harvest Festival Service was held at St Margaret’s Church on Sunday 11th August. Included within the service were prayers and thoughts for the Queen and the royal family. The church looked lovely, filled with beautiful flower arrangements and generous food donations. All the donations of fresh, canned and packaged produce have been taken to the charity CHAT (Churches Housing Action Trust) in Tiverton. This is something we do every year and they always ask that we pass on their sincere thanks.  They were particularly grateful at this time of even greater need, with the situation likely to become more difficult for many families through the winter. Thank you everyone for your generosity.

Future services

The centre pages of the Tody magazine cover the many services that will be held over the next two months across the nine parishes in the Exe Valley. Many of the Templeton Church services will be lay-led, but the cluster and group services are usually led by Steph or Claire at different churches in the Exe Valley Mission Community on a rotating basis.

On Sunday 30 October at 6pm there will be an evensong at St Margaret’s Church. Please do come along with your family.

On Sunday, 13 November at 10.50am, there will be a lay-led Remembrance Day Service at St Margaret’s Church, commemorating the lives of so many people lost in our wars. There will be a two-minute silence at 11am to remember all those killed in conflicts across the world.
The Christmas Eve Carol Service will be on Friday, 24 December at 6pm, at St Margaret’s Church. This uplifting and ever-popular Templeton Carol Service will be led by Steph, and is an opportunity to sing our favourite carols – so put the date in your diary now!

Defibrillator and basic life support training

Since the purchase of the automated external defibrillator (AED) which is kept at the village hall, Matthew and his colleague Lee, have arranged for two groups of people to attend training courses during October in basic life support and in the use of the AED. If you are interested in attending a course and have not already signed up for one of these sessions, please get in touch with Bindy (email templetonvh@gmail.com) as Matthew may be able to arrange an additional training session with Lee if these sessions are full.  The training would normally cost £10 per person but, as a community, we are totally committed to the defibrillator and so this training will instead be paid for by Templeton Village Hall. If we can save one life, it will have been worth it.

Firework and bonfire night

By the time this issue of the Today Magazine reaches you, Bonfire Night will be almost upon us! This year the 5th November falls on Saturday so this will be extra special. The gates at Templeton Village Hall will be open from 6.30pm. Hot dogs and hot chocolate will be on sale in the hall. The bar will also be open from 6.30pm and the bonfire will be lit at about 7.30pm. The fireworks will follow once the bonfire has been lit. 

This year, there will be a guy competition so please bring your guy along with you, with your name on it and take it to the hall for judging.  There is no theme as such for the guy but suggestions this year have included a naughty character or tyrant. Entry is £6 for adults and £3 for children aged 5 to 15.  

Children’s Christmas Party

We are very excited to announce that on Saturday 10th December at 3pm, we are expecting   a visit by the big man in the red suit at Templeton Village Hall! This is a wonderful, annual family event organised by Tony Loosemore for the children of the village. If your child would like to join the party, please let Tony know beforehand so that he can cater for enough food for everyone. There is no cost for this party. You just have to bring a wrapped and clearly named gift for your own child, and find a way to get it to Father Christmas’s helpers so he can hand it out when the magical moment comes.

The Annual Christmas Bar Games (table tennis, pool, darts and skittles)

These games will be held at Templeton Village Hall every Saturday evening in December from Saturday 3rd December until the grand finals on Saturday 17th December. Please come and take part in these fun events. There is still plenty of time to practice on club nights - Mondays and Saturdays. However, with the nights closing, perhaps you and your family and friends would like to use the village hall for a game of table tennis, skittles, darts or pool on other days of the week apart from club nights. Templeton Village Hall is a community asset.  Just email templetonvh@gmail.com to see if it is available on the date you have in mind, and we can arrange for someone to open up the hall for you.

Templeton Garden Club

The Templeton Garden Club has been running for a year now and has doubled in size. We are an eclectic bunch with various skills but we all agree that “one never stops learning”! We meet up each month to share ideas, enjoy each other’s gardens and have coffee ‘n’ cake. We close down from October until February/March. If anyone is interested in joining us then please contact Ginah Palmer.

Football World Cup

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will be played from 20th November to the 18th December and some of the games will be shown live at Templeton Village Hall. Please contact Mark Stone at templetonvh@gmail.com for further details.

Thoughts, prayers and best wishes

Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with all those who are unwell, or who have been in hospital, receiving or awaiting treatment, recovering from surgery or who are having a difficult time. We hope that you will soon be feeling better.

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