Elmbridge Village Residents Diary

Our most recent Chinese themed evening prompted a brilliant response from residents. Not only was the restaurant packed but some of the residents had made a real effort with their Chinese-style dress!

The village’s very own chef produced a wonderful buffet with chicken and pineapple with cashew nuts, beef in black bean sauce, sweet and sour pork and kung po prawns.

Even the desserts were traditional Chinese with banana fritters and mango and coconut cheesecake rounding off the meal.

Elmbridge Village’s Vandra Catchlove spotted the first daffodils reflecting the rays of spring sunshine on her way into work this week.

In a couple of weeks the avenue will be awash with colour from the hundreds of bulbs and cherry blossoms which line the entrance.

The gardeners are now preparing for six months of hard graft to ensure the gardens remain pristine for residents and their guests to enjoy.

There’s no need to be a talented artist to join Elmbridge Village’s painting class. Being able to tell one end of a paintbrush from the other is qualification enough to join the ranks.

That’s one of the joys of the class – enthusiasm is far more important than talent. And if you manage to create a work of art while you’re at the group, it’s a bonus!

The artists meet every Thursday in the village hall which becomes a flurry of palettes, brushes and tubes of exotically coloured paint.

The beautiful creations are then put on display for all to see and admire.

There was a wonderful turn out for our latest performance here at Elmbridge Village.

The Big Band Sound from the local school in Cranleigh set up on the stage in our main hall and played some wonderful tunes that got everyone’s toes tapping.

The youngsters proved themselves to be incredibly talented, a credit to themselves and their school. 

Every Friday afternoon the ‘ping’ and ‘pong’ sounds coming from our main hall are a clue to what’s happening inside!

The Elmbridge Village table tennis club is well supported and offers the chance for participants to indulge their competitive side while keeping fit and having fun.

Our main hall used to be the school hall during Elmbridge’s previous life so it’s the ideal size for such sporting endeavours. 

These are some of the members of Elmbridge Village’s knitting circle. The ladies gather every Monday in the restaurant for a good old natter as their needles click backwards and forwards.

And the beautifully crafted items they create go far and wide to help others.

There are premature babies in the local hospital snuggled up in Elmbridge bonnets and bootees, RNLI volunteers keeping warm in Elmbridge scarves and there are crates of cardigans and jumpers jetting out to poverty stricken countries on charity shipments.

We were delighted to welcome a group of Japanese students from the Rikkyo School in West Sussex recently.

They wanted an opportunity to practice their English.

Who were we to refuse – an afternoon of coffee, cakes and chat is right up our street!

A mini bus full of students arrived and, after a traditional Japanese greeting, they had to speak English while they were here.

It was a wonderful afternoon, with much laughter on both sides. They were delightful company so when they asked if they could come back again we were only too pleased to put a date in the diary. 

We may not pull on our Stetsons and cowboy boots but that doesn’t stop us throwing ourselves into our weekly line-dancing sessions here at Elmbridge.

Our village hall is the perfect venue. We have an expert come in with her music to teach us the dances and shout out the instructions.

And then we just line dance!

It’s great fun and a lovely way to keep fit.