Jubilee at the Orchard

The weekend began with the "Husthwaite Hobble", a morning of sporting activities making full use of the outdoor equipment at the MUGA, multi use games area, that was opened last year and is fully operational with all the children of the village taking an active part in the morning's event, a bit like our very own "mini olympics"! This was followed by a game of rounders, again with all the children taking part. The organisers Catherine Skinner and Peter Davison survived the morning and were still smiling by the time they arrived at The Orchard Inn, to organise a "fun run" around the village! All the children taking part in the activities were awarded with a commemorative medal, funded by the Parish Council, along with other goodies to remind them of the day.
The afternoon, then went ahead with a welly throwing competition in the car park and beer garden at The Orchard Inn, and despite the welly getting stuck up a tree, we did have much fun and laughter with not only the locals taking part but also holiday makers in the village. The children's welly throwing competition was won by local boy Jack Kennedy and the adult competition by Rick Fenwick but as he was the husband of the Chair of the Parish Council, fair play was to be seen and it was awarded to a holiday maker to the area (who also got the welly stuck up the tree!)
We then really got to grips with the competitive element of the village with "High St vs Low St" in the Tug Of War competition....as the teams lined up, there were some discrepancies with numbers, High Street clearly being ready for the battle, and aiming to keep the crown from the New Year's Day football game, so reinforcements were called for in the form of diners from the pub, ("technically" The Orchard Inn is in Low Street) who were duly instructed by the landlady to join the Low Street team...or no pudding!
The Chair of the Parish Council, Carol Fenwick took up the position of master of ceremonies, as she could clearly control the teams, and the instruction to "pull" was met with groans as both teams pulled with gusto...as each side "changed sides" to allow fair play. With the car park being a distinct disadvantage because of the "grip", it was suggested that the "decider" should be at the school playing field, so off trundled the teams, with spectators...and the rope, which was provided by the Young Farmers Association and Green Farm Health.
So the scene of the New Year's day Football battle was set and the Tug Of War commenced, both teams taking this to heart as the pride of the village was now up for grabs. After much toing and froing the "High Street" team stole the crown and 17 handshakes, along with mutterings of this becoming a yearly event, ended the competition. A children's Tug Of War followed as they wanted to join in, and as girls vs boys and High St vs Low St began , it was a fun way to end the day of sport in Husthwaite. As leader of the High Street team, Will Mowatt was awarded with a commemorative plaque back at The Orchard Inn by landlady Alison Turner.
During Saturday night the live music at the pub was provided by a return from " Elvis", Barnsley's very own Brian Lauden, who performed to the customers, to raptures of "more" when he had finished late into the night They in turn sang "Happy Birthday" to him as it was his birthday and he had a cake made for him by local villager Doreen French.
During Sunday the village was still busy with the bustle of new holiday makers from the newly opened "Glamping" site of The Hideaway at Baxby Manor, opened on Friday by Barney Smith, following 6 months of hard work by him and his merry men to transform a field into a visionary new eco camp site that is a huge achievement, and quite clearly will go from strength to strength. Well done to Barney and his family.
Sunday night saw The Orchard Inn full as peo-ple came to take part in The Jubilee quiz, the theme being the past 60 years and the events that have happened during the reign of the Queen. Resident quizmaster Ray Longhurst duly set about his challenge with the usual gusto of trying to outdo the competitors, but in the crowd we had a man who quite clearly had "expert" knowledge on this matter, local historian and village "character" Stephen Barker, who came up trumps and led his team, along with Carol Fenwick, to victory!
The weekend culminated in a street party held in the car park at the pub, where 2 gazebos were provided by the Orchards of Husthwaite project, and the ladies of the village came together to fill the tables with food to feed the 80 people who attended between 2pm and 4pm, when the sun shone and much fun was had by all. There was also a cup cake competition, (see picture) judged by local chef Malcolm Wride and won by one of the village boys, Rory Watt, for his colourful display of cakes, which tasted as good as they looked!
Many thanks to everyone involved, but the street party couldn't have come together on the day without Michelle Fenwick, Janet Taylor, Margaret Duffield, Catherine Skinner, Kathy Barker, and last but certainly not least Carol Fenwick.
The weekend ended with a disco, provided at The Orchard Inn by John Murray MBE, and a firework display to round off a great weekend where everyone who came along thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of fun.