News:

Welcome one and all to Templeton. As we approach this festive and possibly the busiest time of year in our village calendar, we hope that you will be able to join us for some of the events or clubs mentioned below. Merry Christmas!

St Margaret’s Church

Work continues at the church, led by Adrian and his expert team. The beautiful stonework around the windows is gradually being exposed. However, the recent quinquennial review exposed a few more items to add to the repair list, such as treating woodworm in the belfry, replacing missing slates, and treatment of the crenulations on the tower. As custodians of this beautiful building, the spiritual centre of the village, we remain optimistic that our church is in good hands.

Summer Fete

On Saturday 10th August, we held our Annual Summer Fete and Grand Auction!  The changeable weather added to the fun of the day, and everyone enjoyed cream teas, hot dogs, various games, model making, bric-a-brac, clothes, produce and book sales. The auction is always entertaining. Thank you to everyone for taking part and making it such a successful day. A grand total of £1,554 was raised, which will help support village funds. 

At the fete, Marianne and her daughter Emma were presented with the bench from the village, in memory of Jem Dinneen from Chapel House, Templeton Bridge, who sadly died last December, and who did so much to support the village.
Marianne would like to include a few words for people in Templeton: “A big thank you from me and my family for the lovely bench for Jem at the Village Hall. It was a very touching and wonderful surprise. For Jem, it was always a pleasure to do whatever he could to help Templeton, his favourite place to be.”

Duck Race
On Sunday September 8th the Duck Race took place at Templeton Bridge. Last year’s Duck Race was a glorious, hot day – this year it really was weather for ducks. However, the rain did not dampen anyone’s spirit or deter them from coming and enjoying the event! The race started at Great Esworthy Farm and ended at Dartcoombe Mill. The 334 ducks have been training hard and needed little encourage to scramble downstream. While waiting for the results, everyone was able to sit inside and enjoy cream teas and pasties. Books, plants and bric-a-brac were also on sale, and there was a raffle. Most importantly, there was time to catch up and chat with friends and neighbours. A big thank you to everyone who contributed so generously to the Duck Race and made it a really enjoyable day. Over £450 was raised to support village funds. First prize, £30, went to Ted Layton, second prize £20 to Ian Henwood, third prize of £10 to Sue and Reg, and last duck home, £5, went to Naomi Wilson. Well done everyone.

Harvest Supper
There was a wonderful spread of hot and cold food and scrumptious desserts at the Harvest Supper on 5th October at Templeton Village Hall – many thanks to all those who contributed all the delicious food! The display of the Templeton Art Group’s paintings really shows such amazing talent within the village, and thanks to Lynda for making this such a successful group. The Art Group’s own 2025 calendar is still for sale at £10. If you’ve missed a chance of buying a calendar showing the Art Group’s artwork, they will be on sale at the Firework Night on Saturday 2nd November – there are still some calendars left. And thank you, Cindy and Stuart for providing the village with delicious wines.  The evening ended with some great creative fun with clay! The event raised a grand total of £710, which will help support the much-needed funds for the maintenance of, and repairs to, St Margaret’s Church, Templeton.

Harvest Festival Service
A wonderful Harvest Festival Service was held at St Margaret’s Church on Sunday 6st October. The church was filled with beautiful flower arrangements and generous food donations. All the donations of fresh, canned and packaged produce are taken to the charity CHAT (Churches Housing Action Team) in Tiverton, for which they are always extremely grateful at this time of great need, with the situation likely to become more difficult for many families through the winter. Thank you everyone for your generosity.

Future Church Services:
The centre pages in the magazine (and the services section of the website) covers the many services that will be held over the next two months across the nine parishes in the Exe Valley. Many of the Templeton Church services will be lay-led, but the cluster and group services are usually led by Steph at different churches in the Exe Valley Mission Community on a rotating basis. The services in Templeton are as follows: Nov 3rd Morning Service 10.45am; Nov 10th Remembrance Sunday at 10.50am; Dec 15th Holy Communion with Steph at 10.45am; Dec 24th Christmas Carol Service at 6pm.

Future events

Saturday 12th October: Templeton Scrap Metal Day at Templeton Village Hall 8.30am to 1pm. By the time you receive this, the Scrap Metal Day will be over. People in Templeton have been encouraged to clear their hedgerows, lofts, barns, sheds, garages and cupboards and give up all those metal things that they thought might be useful one day, and raise money for our community: car batteries, aluminium, copper, cast iron and steel; old caravans, radiators, broken gates, old copper water tanks, odd bits of copper pipe or metal troughs.  Hopefully this popular community event will be both fun and successful in raising money for the village - with tea, coffee and bacon butties to keep everyone going.

Firework and bonfire night – Saturday 2nd November from 6.30pm.
By the time this issue of the today Magazine reaches you Templeton’s Bonfire Night will be almost upon us! The firework display is always spectacular and the event is great fun, whatever the weather. There will be a Guy Competition so bring your guy along with you! The bar will be open from 6.30pm and the bonfire will be alight from 7.30pm with the fireworks soon to follow! Hot Dogs and hot drinks will be on sale. Entry is £6 for adults and £3 for children aged 5 to 15 (Tickets on the gate – please bring cash for this, there are no card readers outside). Please no sparklers or personal fireworks!!

Christmas Children’s Party - Sunday 15th December at 3pm at Templeton Village Hall
This is a wonderful annual family event organised by Tony Loosemore, with a disco, party food and fun. If your children would like to join the party, please let Tony know beforehand so that he can cater for enough food for everyone (07510128683). Just to let you know, we are expecting a visit by the big man in the red suit! You will need to bring a wrapped and named gift for each child for Father Christmas to distribute.

The Annual Christmas Bar Games (table tennis, pool, darts, and skittles)
These games will be held at Templeton Village Hall on the Saturdays 7th December, 14th and 21st (the grand finals).  Do come and take part in this fun event – and there’s still plenty of time to practice on club nights or other nights in the week.

Make use of Templeton Village Hall
With the nights closing in fast, you and your family and friends might like to use the village hall for a game of table tennis, skittles, darts or pool on other days in the week apart from club nights – perhaps to get into form for the Christmas Bar games?

Just phone 01884 860655 to make sure there is not already a booking on the date you need, and someone can open up the hall for you. As soon as we find someone who is willing to set up a Pickleball team, the Village Hall will buy the Pickleball Set - any volunteer please contact templetonvh@gmail.com

Regular groups in Templeton

Art Group – Every other Tuesday 10am-12midday Templeton Village Hall. No charge. Just come along. Coffee and cake provided.
Book Group - Templeton Village Hall. Second Wednesday of every month at 3pm. Although the group is at full capacity at the moment, please contact Julie 01884 233507 if you would like to be contacted when there’s a vacancy.
Knit and Natter - St Margaret’s Church. Last Friday of every month 10.30am to 12 midday. Bring any repair work, embroidery, crochet, knitting, or just come along for the coffee and biscuits and a chat!
Gardening Club – Held at different people’s homes, this is a great opportunity to talk
gardening and gardens – the group will start again in the spring - it meets every month from early spring until the autumn. If you’d like to know more, do get in touch with Ginah (ginahpalmer@gmail.com).  

Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes

Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who are unwell, awaiting treatment, in hospital, recovering from surgery as well as their families who will be supporting them.

We would also like to welcome Scott, Alex and family who have moved into Fenston Cottage, Templeton.

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