Lime Tree Village Residents Diary

We have always said our residents are our best ambassadors. That’s why we’ve dedicated these pages to the residents of Lime Tree Village to fill with news, views and events, in the hope it will give you a genuine insight in village living Retirement Villages’ style.

Presentation Night

(organised by Pat Beasley and photographs taken by John Hughes) 

“What a fabulous social evening,” was the comment from one Lime Tree Village resident after our recent prize giving evening. The event began with a delicious three course meal in the restaurant. Then came the presentations of the shields and trophies to the winners of the competitions which took place throughout the summer - photography, flower arranging and outdoor sports.

The previous week had seen the final of the boules, bowling, croquet and putting competitions. On a cool but sunny day the finals had been closely fought as the contestants were cheered on by an appreciative audience.

The final event of the evening was a Donkey Derby organised by David and Cynthia Sanderson. Committee members were paraded in their donkey ears and with their racing names prominently displayed.

Bets were taken and the donkeys were off. Chatty Kathy was the winner by a short head and received a bag of oats while the punters received their winnings. Stable girl Sandy swept the course and the donkeys received a carrot each!

Tea for…. Several dozen!

Andy Sage has been in charge of the restaurant here at Lime Tree Village for two years.

To celebrate his anniversary he invited all the residents to a cream tea. As you can see from the pictures (taken by resident Keith Woolley) it was an absolutely glorious day enabling us to spill out onto the terrace and into the gardens. Andy served up a delicious, traditional tea – much appreciated by all who attended.

Blooming marvellous

(photos taken by John Hughes and Keith Woolley from Lime Tree Village Photographic Club)

We’re not short of green fingered residents as the results of this year’s gardening competition at Lime Tree Village demonstrate. The grounds and gardens have been beautiful over the summer, thanks in part to help from our rather wet English weather!

This year the residents were the judges and voted in three categories – best kept garden area, best kept patio and best kept hanging baskets.

The winners and runners up, who received vouchers for the local garden centre, were:

Best Kept Garden Area

1st Mr Batchelor

2nd Mr Ray

3rd Mrs C Richards

Best Kept Patio

1st Mrs Fauvel

2nd Mrs C Williams

3rd Mr & Mrs Marshall

Best Kept Hanging Baskets

1st Mr & Mrs Elmes

2nd Miss Hughes

3rd Mr & Mrs Smith

Picture perfect

There were some stunning entries to this year’s Lime Tree Village Photographic Competition.

The contest had three categories: landscapes, close-ups and holidays ensuring there was scope for every camera-wielding resident to snap an entry.

As usual the competition was organised by the village’s photographic club – one of the longest running and most prolific interest groups at the village.

And the winners were:

Landscapes:

First: W Swift ‘White out’

Joint second: D Sanderson ‘Reflections’

Joint second: Mrs B Taylor ‘Winter shadows’

Close ups:

First: P Beazley ‘Alpaca’

Second: P Beazley ‘Flower’

Third: Mrs J Marshall ‘Agapanthus’

Holidays:

First: Mrs B Taylor ‘Remember the Titanic’

Second: Mrs R Sherring-Lucas ‘Norfolk Broads’

Joint third: P Beazley ‘Islands’

Joint third: M Sherring-Lucas ‘A Scilly Robin’

And the overall winner of best photograph in competition was judged to be Barbara Taylor with her beautiful picture of an enormous iceberg which she titled ‘Remember the Titanic’.

A presentation is set to take place on Saturday 24th September.

Flower Arrangement Contest

This is a selection of the stunning entries to this year’s Lime Tree Village flower arranging competition. The theme was Happy Holidays and the entrants drew inspiration from breaks across the world.

The first prize was scooped by Ruth Burdett’s purple and yellow based interpretation of Fell walking holidays in Lakeland.

The photos of the entries were taken by the village’s photographic club.

Happy birthday Diane

(pictures taken by Keith Woolley)

One of our younger residents Diane Swift celebrated her 60th birthday with a party at Lime Tree Village. It was standing room only in the meeting room as the speeches were made - there were even a couple of noses pressed up against the windows from outside!

Diana is secretary of the Residents Association and is regularly spotted literally running around the village on various duties.

A cake had been organised and David Couzens had prepared a unique speech. Diane used to be a transport manager for Marks & Spencer and David appeared dressed up as a door man in a peaked cap and proceeded to remove some layers of clothes as The Stripper played on the sound system!

Within hours, a poster appeared on the residents noticeboard asking residents to look out for this strange chap in the peak cap - and to keep away if they see him!

The laughter and clapping could be heard all over Cawston House! A thoroughly unique and enjoyable morning was had by all.

Lime Tree Village Fete

Last Saturday was an important one in Lime Tree Village’s annual events calendar - we held our village fete!

The marquees were put up the Friday before and then had to withstand the wrath of the weather with rain lashing down on them. On Saturday morning the skies were grey and more rain came. But, by the afternoon, though the clouds stayed, the rain held off.

The residents had worked hard and arranged many stalls for both adults and children to enjoy. A bar selling that summer favourite Pimms was set up in the meeting room. and there was also an afternoon cream tea provided. The homemade cake stall proved very popular – as ever - with cakes and homemade marmalade being snapped up very early on. The jewellery stall run by Mrs Upton always proves a draw for the ladies as she manages to obtain many interesting little trinkets. The second hand book stall provided a solution for those seeking a holiday read.

One of the games stalls was to guess the weight of the committee both individually and collectively, only the bravest of souls dared to guess!! Apparently the collective weight of the committee was 61st 10lb. The resident who cheekily guessed at 101st won the booby prize - a photo of the committee!

The guess the weight of the cake’ featured the iced bottom tier saved from the Royal Wedding tea party. The weight was correctly guessed by Mr Swift at 10lb 14.5ozs.

They were queuing at the ‘throw the hoop’ stall, run again by Mr & Mrs Robson. Wooden hoops had to be thrown over an item in order to win it. Mr and Mrs Marlow were spotted walking away with an armful of prizes including two bottles of wine.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was had by all and it was good to see the residents, their families and friends and also staff members there too.

The overall total raised on the day was £779 with a donation to be made to a charity of the Residents Association choice.

Happy birthday to one of Lime Tree Village’s founding residents

Pat Beasley, one of our village’s first residents, celebrated her 70th birthday on Friday, 10th June.

We hold a regular coffee morning which Pat thought she was attending. As a surprise, the committee had organised wine, sherry and a special cake which went down a treat with Pat – and everyone else!

Pat is the vice chair of the residents’ association and social secretary. As such, she works tirelessly to organise interesting events for the residents. Seeing her buzzing around the village it is difficult to believe she’s retired – she never stops!

Pat didn’t want a fuss and we had to corner her in her seat – in the nicest possible way - to stop her escaping while speeches were made in her honour.