December 2023

3 Buckden Roundabout December 2023 Buckden Roundabout Team Editors - Articles & Events Ian Carter and Alec MacAndrew Email: editor@buckdenroundabout.info 33 Beaufort Drive, Buckden, PE19 5YU 07515 737636 Webmaster Alec MacAndrew Email: webmaster@buckdenroundabout.info Proofreading and editorial assistance Wendy Trattner, Lesley MacAndrew Advertisements and Payments Fiona Shirley Email: adverts@buckdenroundabout.info Distribution Co - ordinators Wendy Thelwall, Lesley MacAndrew, Patricia Ford Contact this email for info: Email: distribution@buckdenroundabout.info Front Cover This month ’ s cover is the winning entry in our Christmas cover competition by Ella and Jack Bezant. Congratulations to them. We are looking for more photos and paintings of any kind that we could use as a front cover. We especially need photos and paintings of autumn scenes, and of events in the village. We should be grateful for photos (or even paintings!) of the coro- nation celebrations in the village. Please note that photos should ideally be in portrait format and should be a minimum of 2400 x 1700 pixels. More is better! All advertisements and non - advertising material are printed in good faith. Neither the Buckden Roundabout nor the Buckden Parish Council can accept any responsibility for the content of the advertisements, the services provided by the advertisers or any statements made in the advertisements or non - advertising material. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored with- out the express permission of the Editor of the Buckden Roundabout. THE DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ALL MATERIAL FOR THE JANUARY EDITION IS NO LATER THAN 4.30 pm ON SUNDAY 10th DECEMBER HOWEVER, SPACE IS ALLOCATED ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED, BASIS. IT IS REGRETTED THAT ANY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE INCLUDED. December Production Dates Production dates for the January Edition of the Roundabout are as follows: Copy deadline: Sunday 10 December Proof Reading Sunday 10 December Copy to Printers Tuesday 12 December Distribution Thursday 28 December Contents Buckden Parish Council 4 From your District Councillor 5 Church News 6 - 8 For your Diary 9 - 11 Christmas services 12 Christmas cover competition 13 Pre - School and cover competition 14 Village News 15 - 18 Advertisements & Classifieds 2, 19 - 24 December 2023 Christmas is coming. By the time you read this, Christmas will just be three weeks or so away, so you ’ d better get your skates on and get your cards and presents sorted, your turkey ordered and all your plans for visiting and hosting family and friends in place. All of the Buckden churches have special Christmas services, including very popular carol and candlelit services. Go to page 12 where the times for these are all listed in one place to help you plan your festive season. Further de- tails of individual services are available in the entries for each church on pages 6 - 8. Congratulations to the overall winners of our Christmas Cover competition, Ella and Jack Bezant (7 and under category) who win a voucher for £100, and to our overall runner - up, Nicky Gibbs (12 - 18 category), who wins a voucher for £50. Congrat- ulations also to the winners of our other two age categories, Jasper Parkes (8 - 11 category) and Lucy Waller (adult catego- ry) who each win £50. Thank you to all who entered. You can see and enjoy the winning entries and the runners - up on pag- es 13 and 14. We are planning to print the winning entries as Roundabout covers and display them in St Mary ’ s Church from now until Christmas. Why not pop in to see them? Although we think of Christmas as being a time of peace, there are many people around the world who are caught up in terrible conflicts. On page 8, Father David of St Mary ’ s offers two prayers which help us remember those suffering in the Middle Eastern conflicts and elsewhere. Christmas is, of course, a Christian festival, but it has become significant for everyone, believers of all faiths and none, a time for family and friends. The editorial team of the Rounda- bout wishes all our readers, our contributors, our advertisers and our distributors a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Please remember to visit the Roundabout website. As well as every edition from 2013 onwards available to see, there are often articles there that we could not fit into the print edition, as well as information that arrives during the month. The online edition of the magazine is in full colour: www.buckdenroundabout.info This month ’ s editor - Alec MacAndrew Editor ’ s Page