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Christmas Has Arrived!

12/16/2019

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Is everyone else feeling festive?

After Christmas In Abbotswood we certainly are! And what an amazing day it was too...

Some of you may have heard this little poem recently, after a special advert popped up on Facebook...
It's November in Abbotswood, and all round the green
Our elves are rushing, trying not be seen
Christmas is coming, there's lots to prepare
For Father Christmas, soon will be there...
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The donkeys are resting, all snug in the hay
Waiting for children, to come up and play
Will Mary and Joseph, find room at the inn
Or settle outside to watch the fun begin...
In front of the church, there will be such a clamour
As the police arrive, to join in the chatter
Driving their cars they'll fly like a flash
Keen to help Santa deliver his stash...
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Picture
We'll welcome you please, come in from the cold
Explore our fayre, there's much to behold
Fun will be had, we'll make such a din
​With games to play and prizes to win...

And it all came true!

Hip Hip... Hooray!! Great effort everyone!!
Mary and Joseph may not have found any room at the Abbotswood Inn but they did join us for plenty of fun, along with some other special guests. What amazing performances we had from our musicians: Mangotsfield Ukulele Jam, Dodington Parish Band and the joint Wellesley and Abbotswood school choir, can we have you back next year for an encore? The donkeys were wonderfully well behaved... much better behaved than the loveable Loki the Lion! And of course what would Christmas be without a visit from Santa? Our local police made fantastic little elves, or perhaps they were just after his stash of sweets...
Our fayre was the busiest we've seen, so thank you to the stallholders who came along and braved the cold, your bits and bobs all looked incredible. Games were played and prizes were won. Congratulations to Julie for winning the luxury hamper from the draw. Perhaps more importantly, congratulations to 6 year old Ace who proudly won the poo emoji cushion off of the tombola. Your celebratory dance more than impressed the team from Agincare and deserves a huge round of applause.
There are a few special words of thanks to be said, so on behalf of all of us in Abbotswood:

Phil, Nessa, Barbara, Kerry (Abbotswood Action Group) and Alex (Southern Brooks Community Partnerships) for your hard work throughout the year organising Christmas In Abbotswood. Thanks also go to all the volunteers who helped us out on the day.

Dodington Parish Council for your help with advertising.

Yate Town Council for funding and installing the Christmas tree.

South Gloucestershire Council, Councillors Tony Davis and Louise Harris for funding the event.

And lastly...

We estimated that 500 people joined us to celebrate this year so we wanted to thank you all for helping us keep our community Christmas spirit alive. 
Picture
https://pixabay.com/
It's the time of year for indulgence, so here's a few extra festive photos just for fun...
Before we head off and take a well earned Christmas break we thought you might like a quick trip down memory lane. A few reminders of the good times we've had over the last 12 months... They've been keeping us motivated and thinking ahead to make 2020 an amazing year for Abbotswood...
From all of us here in Abbotswood we would like to wish a you a very happy Christmas and a fabulous new year.

We'll see you in 2020!
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Pumpkin Heads!

9/28/2019

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Halloween is swiftly approaching... So it's time for pumpkin carving! Hooray!!! But it also means a lot of yummy pumpkin going to waste! Boo!!!

Ask yourself this, how many pumpkins do you think you've eaten compared to how many you've carved? They're a little bit like marmite aren't they, love them or hate them... But we all love a carved pumpkin even if we don't fancy eating it.

So we've come up with a few alternatives this year! We may have gotten a little carried away so it's in two parts. Fun for the kids today and fun for the bigger kids tomorrow! 

Yummy Little Ghosties...

You will need:

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  • Apple
  • White chocolate
  • Black ready roll icing
  • Lolly stick

Method:

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Step one:

Stab your apple with the stick. Easy.
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Step two:

Melt the chocolate and coat the apple.
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Step three:

Take little pieces of the ready roll icing and mould into shapes. Make a ghostly face! Ooooohhhh spoooooky!
Hmmm. He looks like he may have been modelled on Freddie Mercury... Dependant on the variety some apples can ripen off in the trees right up until November. If you've still got some growing near you these little Halloween treats are a great way to use them and they're easy to tweak. If you add a touch of orange food dye you can make pumpkins or swap out the icing for decorations of your own choice. Raisins or melted dark chocolate perhaps?

Wonderful Witches...

You will need:

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  • Orange
  • Sharpie pen
  • Scissors
  • Sellotape
  • Sweets
  • Tissue paper
  • Black card
  • Knife
  • ​Spoon

Method:

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Step one:

Chop the top off of the orange and hollow out with a spoon, as you would a normal pumpkin.
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Step two:

Take a piece of tissue paper in any colour you fancy and stuff the middle into the orange. You should have plenty left hanging out.
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Step three:

Trim part of the tissue paper to make a fringe. The remaining tissue will form the rest of the hair. Draw a face, the spookier the better.
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Step four:

Stuff a few sweets into the orange, the tissue paper will help protect against extra stickiness.
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Step five:

Cut a circle of black card. It will probably need to be bigger than you think so it will fit your orange at the end. You can always trim it back if needed.
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Step six:

Fold the circle in half and then half again.
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Step seven:

Open out the fold. You should have three layers of card on one side and a single layer on the other. This will create a cone.
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Step eight:

Add a little sellotape to keep the cone in it's correct shape.
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Step nine:

Sellotape the inside of the witches hat to the witches hair creating a hinge.
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Step ten:

Flip the hat into position and your witch is ready to go!
Again, there are many ways to personalise this crafty little lady. You can use paints instead of pens and add as many decorations as you like. If you're really feeling fancy and have a steady hand then you with a sharp knife you could carve the face as you would on a pumpkin. 

Remember we don't like to waste anything so save the juices and pulp that you scraped out. You could use it to flavour jellies and truffles as an extra treat. If you've carved your orange that's pretending to be a pumpkin that's pretending to be a witch, then you can also use the peel later on. Use the zest in cheesecakes and brownies or make some preserved and candied peel  ready for Christmas!

It might be early but happy Halloween folks!
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Playful Pets!

9/19/2019

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A note from Alex...

The greatest thing for me about Sustainable September so far has been how involved Abbotswood residents and the wider community has been. When we decided to try the blog this year, I sat down, researched sustainability and did a rough plan of a post for every day. There's quite a few that haven't been used because of hearing great things from you folks! And today is a prime example of just that... Over to Jo and Theo with their suggestion of how to reuse an old plastic bottle...

You will need:

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  • Bottle
  • Marker pen
  • Knife
  • Pet treats

Plus...

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  • One curious cat...
  • Or dog if you prefer

Method:

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Step one:

Mark out some holes. The more holes you have, and the bigger they are the harder your pet will have to work.
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Step two:

​Cut out the holes.
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Step three:

Pour in some of your pets favourite treats.
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Step four:

If you want to challenge your pet some more, pop the lid back on.

Play time!

You've almost got them out Theo! Thank you Jo for sending us your how to photos and video, and thank you to Theo for your starring role. You were purrrfect!

Advisory note - Supervise your pets while playing with their treat bottles, we wouldn't want anyone chewing things they shouldn't. Have fun everyone!
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home cinema club

9/16/2019

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Enjoying your new swap shop with your friends? Great!

Let's take it to the next step shall we? You're getting the hang of things like this by now, so we'll keep this one short. How about taking it in turns to host your swap shop, followed by a film night? In the host's house of course...

Think about how expensive a night at the cinema can be. There's the cost of the tickets, the drinks and the cinema snacks. If it's friends you don't see that often you might decide to have a group meal in the restaurant next door first, or a drink in the pub after. You've all got to get there so that's the travel expenses as well. It soon mounts up...

Not if you bring the cinema home!

Browse your DVD collection and pick an old favourite, or that horror you're never quite brave enough to watch alone or maybe that  one that you keep meaning to watch but is still sealed in the packet... We all have one of those right? If you've been making the best of your swap shop everyone will have different DVD's, so you get plenty of variety.

Grab your snacks, treat yourself to some fancy drinks, turn the lights out and hit play!
Picture
https://www.flickr.com/

Enjoy!

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LitterBugs!

9/9/2019

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It's time for a hot topic, ladies and gentlemen...

Litterbugs!

​It's a hot topic for us anyway. Like many places around the world, Abbotswood is prone to invasion from that mysterious species... the litterbug! Rarely seen, rarely heard but leaves it's tracks all around our public spaces... Boo!!

However Abbotswood is a lucky part of town as we are also home to the even more mysterious... cleaning fairies! Hooray!!
All jokes aside for a minute, littering is a serious problem for our communities and the world as a whole. Here's just some of the problems related to litter...
  • Soil and water pollution
  • Fire hazards
  • Attracts pests and harmful bacteria
  • Costly to the economy
  • Spreads disease
  • Harmful to our wildlife
  • Unsightly
Picture
https://pxhere.com
It's not pleasant and we think it's time to do something about it. Here in Abbotswood we regularly hold clean up days where anyone can join us and make our community that little bit tidier. It's taken a while, but we're getting there. We're starting to receive comments about how much better the area is looking. So if we can do it, so can you! It only takes a few seconds to pick up one piece of rubbish and pop it in the bin. Even the children can get involved with our Litter Pickers Scavenger Hunt! Click HERE for your own copy. We're using a points system and offer out stickers to all our litter picking superstars but you can choose any reward you like.

Today's sustainability tip is easy...

Picture
https://www.flickr.com

Be a cleaning fairy instead!

References:
​World Atlas
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Old School Entertainment

9/3/2019

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Let's all stop and think for a minute. When was the last time you had a technology free day? No phones... No tablets... No TV... No computer games... Nothing...
Picture
https://pixabay.com

Can't remember, can you?

It's OK. Neither can we.

So today's sustainability suggestion is about saving electricity... By ditching the technology for a while! In today's techno crazy world it may seem a little daunting but you might find it refreshing. Put down Facebook, turn off Netflix and join us for some old school entertainment.

A little inspiration...

  • Take a walk
  • Read a book
  • Get crafting
  • Have a family afternoon out
  • Whip out the board games
  • Relax with your pet
  • Start volunteering
  • Go for a bike ride
  • Meditate
  • Get back to basics with a camping weekend
We're sure you can add a few more ideas of your own. But how about starting with a game of electricity free bingo with your friends? 
Picture
https://www.flickr.com/
Picture
https://www.flickr.com
Picture
https://www.flickr.com/
It's simple, pick some of your favourite technology free activities and write them out in a 3 by 3 table (or bigger if you fancy). You can choose how you want to play. 

Here's some suggestions to start you off:
  • Play for a line in any direction.
  • Play for a full house.
  • All donate a prize, whoever wins can keep the lot.
  • Last person to reach their target, treats everyone else to a coffee.
Enjoy your old school fun and games!!
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    We have lots of things to talk about at Abbotswood Action Group. We're sure you do too, get in touch if you would like to be a guest blogger...

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  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Aims And Objectives
    • History
    • Policies >
      • Constitution
      • Equality And Diversity
      • Safeguarding
  • Meet The Team
  • What's On?
    • Events
    • Projects
    • Photography Competition
  • Gallery
  • Our Partners
  • Blog
  • Contact Us