Posts Tagged "Spring Clean"

A Clean Church for Good Friday

Posted by Liberty Hen in Castle Coop News, Celebrations in Castle Coop! | 0 comments

A Clean Church for Good Friday:

The Call to Arms:

Last week, I received this trumpeting ‘Call to Arms’ in my inbox:     Dear Castle Coopians, Castle Coop Needs a  Clean Church! Easter is fast approaching. Now the village has been properly spruced up, we need to muster the troops and declare war on all the cobwebs and mud which have  invaded the church interior during the winter. The Easter Church Clean will be on Wednesday 16^th April 10am to Noon. Let me know that you are able to come and help and I shall enrol you in the Cleaning Corps. Don’t forget.

Brown Owl  

Reporting for duty at St. Mary’s yesterday morning, ready for a head to head fight in the name of Spring Cleanliness, I found High Command directing operations from half-way up a ladder.  

This strategic position offered a brilliant vantage point from which to oversee the battle while simultaneously attacking spiders from the left flank and brushing them off the windows. The clouds of disturbed dust surrounding her were testament  to Brown Owl‘s fantastic Field Marshal capabilities. Here are the weapons with which I was issued to effect a vanguard Coup de Main against the enemy:

•  Mop (Standard Issue)
• Bucket (dating from previous campaign)
• Soapy Water (courtesy of South East Water Co.)

The Campaign:

I set to wielding the mop on the Church Porch floor front line:

Inside other members of the Cleaning Corps performed a  scouring pincer manoeuvre involving water, soap and dustpans and brushes. In the rear guard, Brownies armed with Brasso and dusters were earning marks towards their ‘good citizenship’ badges while the two Misses Pepperpot  – Eglantine and Clementine – wafted about rubbing lavender polish into the pews. Colonel Pyncheon counted up all the prayer books and hymnals and replaced them in orderly rows.

We  didn’t need the full 2 hours to get St. Mary’s ready for the Good Friday Service. By 11.30 we had a sparklingly clean Church

and so had time in hand to properly appreciate the Chelsea Buns and coffee 

which Lady Sebright kindly brought from her house to refresh us all. Yum!

A Vote of Thanks:

Brown Owl, waving a mug of coffee rather wildly about, gave a vote of thanks to the workers, very loosely based on the ‘Never in the field of human conflict..’ speech. Apparently, the Cleaning Corps showed ‘verve‘!

Yours dustily,

The Village Spring Clean: Part 2

Posted by Liberty Hen in Castle Coop News | 4 comments

 The Village Spring Clean takes place!

Castle Coop was given its massive Spring Clean yesterday;  the weather was beautiful  and today, everyone agrees that the whole project was a great success!

Forty villagers and some of their children worked their heads off tidying up all the hedges, verges and ditches. Lady Egality and Arabella Ancona, her friend from London, were in charge of weeding and trimming the lavender bed outside our Village Hall. It looks so pretty now:

The Official Opening:

Last week, Lord and Lady Eftie Nudge kindly offered to officially open the Village Spring Clean for us.

They drove up to the Village Hall from Castle Coop Castle in the dearest little golf cart! It was just like the one the Queen Mother used to ride about in. Sadly, everyone had  already scattered around Castle Coop to start work and so Lord Eftie couldn’t exactly  ‘Open ‘ the Clean-Up. However,  Trev the Rev lent him a large hedge-trimmer and Lord Eftie posed holding it aloft. He stood next to Lady Egality’s lavender trimmings while Brown Owl took a beautiful photograph of him which will be published in the next edition of  ‘Castle Coop News’.

The Après Clean- Up Barbecue:

Meanwhile the Chairman of the Village Hall and the Agent were busy at home getting the Barbecue ready.

It’s an enormous one which was especially made for Castle Coop get-togethers.

Having worked so hard tidying up the village, everyone was pretty hungry and fell on the burgers and hot-dogs which were all deemed to taste delicious. It was such fun to be gathered together on a beautiful Spring day knowing that all our efforts had helped make the village look pretty again. I loved every minute of the whole day!

A Big Thank You!

Sir Plym who was CEO of the whole project and who had worked so hard organising it all, sent out this email last night to everyone who had helped:

Dear All, A massive thank you to all of you for today’s Spring Clean and a special thank you to the team leaders for their organisation and team management. About 80 hours of labour were expended which goes to show just how important a regular tidy-up is. It has helped to keep the village looking the way we like it to look, it has cleared litter and debris and it has improved areas which have long been neglected. A big thank you also to The Chairman of the Village Hall and to the Agent for providing such an excellent BBQ; a fitting finale to a productive morning.

The autumn clean will be on Saturday 27th September so, if you want to participate again and can spare the time, please put the date in your diaries. 

Many thanks again, Sir Plymouth Rock

Yours, thanking Sir Plym for all his very hard work organising such a great day!