CANCER CARE - Stretton and Shropshire Cancer Care group will be hosting a sing along with the Strummers at the Parish Centre from 7.30pm this Saturday in aid of the Severn Hospice and the Shropshire Branch of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Tickets cost £7.50 including a light supper, but please take your own drinks.

QUIZ NIGHT TOMORROW - The local Cancer Research UK Committee is hosting a quiz night at the Silvester Horne Institute tomorrow at 7.30pm with Ken Willis as question master. To enter ring 01694 722713, cost is £5. Tea and coffee will be available.

LUCKY NUMBERS - Lucky numbers in the 200 Club January draw organised by Church Stretton School PTA were 82, 85 and 135 winning £20, £10 and £5 respectively.

FEAST OF MUSIC - A Feast of Music by Shrewsbury Concert Band will take place a Rushbury Village Hall on Friday, March 9, at 7.30pm in aid of Hope Bowdler Church. Adult tickets cost £8 including a finger buffet, and may be reserved by ringing 01694- 722793.

TALK - Peter Carty will be talking about Wenlock Edge at Rushbury Village Hall tomorrow evening at 8pm.Call 01694 771405 to reserve a ticket which costs £5 including wine and light refreshment. The event will raise finds for the village hall chair fund.

FASHION SHOW - A Charity Fashion Show by Appleby and Shaw will take place at Housman’s on Thursday, March 22, at 7pm together with live music. Tickets cost £15 from Appleby andI Shaw and include mini-grazing and a glass of fizz. There will also be a charity raffle with proceeds going to and to hear Mark Hall, head groundsman at Harper Adams College, speak about growing vegetables followed by usual pre-booked two course meal costing £6 per adult, £3 for youngsters under 10 years.

Admission is £1 for guests and £3 for visitors and all are welcome to the talk.

At the February meeting Jo Schup, a master beekeeper, a former bee inspector and recent winner of a prestigious beekeeping award, gave an interesting talk about the different ways of keeping bees, their welfare and the safety guidelines when working with bees especially as modern strains are likely to be more aggressive due to interbreeding, as sadly there are now very few of our native honey bees remaining.

APPLE TREE WORKSHOP - A workshop at Karuna, Picklescott, on apple tree grafting is due to take place this Sunday from 10.30am-4pm. Cost of the day is £35 which includes drinks, soup and bread together with two newly grafted apple trees to take away with you. Booking is essential by ringing 01694 751374.

FAIR TRADE FORTNIGHT - Flags are flying in Church Stretton Town for Fair Trade Fortnight when a range of events has been planned including lunches, talks, a banana day and a quiz which start off the events. Hot Punch served in the Square and Scout Hut this Saturday and Fair Trade Days at Entertaining Elephants and Kaboodle, and next Monday at the Hollybush Café . Next Tuesday offers a chance to meet a Fair Trade Grower from 2pm- 4pm at the URC Church and next Wednesday two events are a chocolate biscuit tasting at the Co-Op, and at 7.30pm a wine tasting in the Council Chamber at the Silvester Horne Institute, tickets for the latter cost £4 from John Thomas Florists. On the morning of Thursday, March 8, there will be a Fair Trade stall in the square.

Friday, March 9, offers a special chocolate event at the Chocolate Haven in Sandford Avenue with 20 per cent off from 10.30am - 2pm and a Fair Trade sponsored Bingo at the Club at 8pm. The fortnight is rounded off with a coffee morning at the URC and a Gilbert and Sullivan Evening at Church Stretton School at 7.30pm on Saturday, March 10, followed by a Churches Together celebration of Fair Trade on Sunday, March 11, at the URC.

COMMUNITY CINEMA - A screening of The Debt (15) starring Helen Mirren will be at Church Stretton School next Monday as part of Borderlines Film Festival. On Tuesday, March 20 at Acton Scott Village Hall the film will be My Week with Marylyn can be seen. All films start at 7.30pm and interval refreshments are available, SCHOOL NEWS - Church Stretton School has received a successful Ofsted Report which has already been circulated to parents, pupils and staff.

Final rehearsals for The Crucible are taking place in readiness for staging on Wednesday - Friday, March 7-9.

Teachers from Germany have enjoyed a visit to the School At St. Lawrence’s Primary School the under nine boys’ football team has qualified for the next round in the County Cup , and teams will be taking part in the Cross country event at Lucton Primary School during the week. There is an instrumental workshop planned and a visit to Ludlow by class three. The school is fund-raising for Shelter Box with bring and buy sale and a bake sale. The catering team has served up a special winter picnic menu.

If you are shopping at Sainsbury’s please remember that both of our schools are collecting Active Kids vouchers which are being offered up until 10th April.

JURASSIC JOURNEY - Photographer, Ben Osborne, was at the Silvester Horne Institute last week-end to present Jurassic Journey which took his audience to the Dorset coast showing how the coastal landscape had developed from early beginnings to the present time. Special music themes had been created and poetry written to suit aspects of the presentation which also featured amusing sculptures created from rubbish collected from the beach.

Everything was put together in a very entertaining way and was well received by the large audience.

WILDLIFE GROUP - A Stretton Hills Community Wildlife Group Public Launch took place at the Methodist Church last week which aimed to bring together people of all ages who are interested in nature and doing something positive for local biodiversity. Expert training will be given to help everyone record, monitor and conserve wildlife in the Stretton Hills, particularly rare and threatened species. People were encouraged to sign up to help record particular species of interest such as red grouse, bugs and beetles, and frogs and toads .

After the presentation there was a chance to discuss these interests in more detail and enjoy the buffet provided. To find out more ring Gareth at Shropshire Council on 01743 252543 CIRCLE DANCING - If you would like to join with others to do some circle dancing on Wednesday evenings at 7pm-8.45 pm term time only at St Lawrence’s Primary School then ring 01743 241127to find out more. Cost is £4 per session.

PANTOMIME - Hansel and Gretel by Carole Richards was presented by All Stretton Amateur Dramatic and Social Society last week in the Village Hall, directed by Heather Hathaway and Helen Townend and produced by Ann Ashworth and Iris Lloyd with Hansel and Gretel played by Katie Cooke and Beth Evans. Amusing characters and young dancers entertained the audience throughout. Well done to all.

COUNTRY MARKET - The Church Stretton Country market which is held at Mayfair will re-open on Friday, March 16, from 9.15am-11.30am. There is a need for new suppliers and if anyone would like to get on board they can find out more by ringing Penny Hargreaves on 01694 722570 or Pauline Jones on 01694 781392 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY - A walk from Acton Scott Working Farm will take place on Thursday, March 8 starting at 9.30am and will last just over one hour. Dogs on leads are welcome. Entry is £5 per head and funds raised will go directly to Oxfam for the International Women’s Day.

Acton Scott Visitor Centre has kindly offered to open and provide refreshments and use of facilities. Ring 91588 672837 to find out more.