January 3rd and 4th Seniors Christmas Lunch  at the Cock Lavenham.
We had hoped to be enjoying Christmas lunch all together in the new Village Hall, but it was not to be. Nevertheless, with two outings to the Cock in Lavenham, around 65 seniors enjoyed a fantastic Christmas Lunch. Click here for the photos. 

May 4th Sale Trail 
All Saints and all around the village Click here to read the report of this year’s Sale Trail.

July 7th Grand Opening of the Village Hall 
At last! In glorious sunny weather, nearly 300 villagers and invited guests turned up to all join in cutting the ribbon to mark the opening of this wonderful new facility. It was a wonderful afternoon with displays by many of the clubs who use the hall, the unveiling of the Drinkstone Quilt project and a fantastic Celebration Cake. Look at the photos here. For a link to the Press report on the day, click Press Report.

July 9th Tuesday Club in the new hall 
Strictly speaking the SECOND event as the Village Hall AGM was the night before. Nevertheless, 17 people turned up to have coffee in our splendid new space.

September 15th Drinkstone Fete and Dog Show 
What a joy to have the new hall available to us this year! And given the weather, it was just as well we had an indoor space. Reports suggest a profit of over £2,000 – an amazing sum given the conditions.Read the report here and see loads of photos:

• Children’s Competition photos
• All the displays – Classic cars, the Silvermist Majorettes and the Greendragons Morris dancers. The second display by the Majorettes and the Morris dancers took place in the hall, when everyone was driven in by the rain!
• MOST of the stalls – somehow, the BBQ was never photographed in operation and because of the weather, the poor dogs missed their photographic moment of fame all together. But a report on the dog show will be here shortly.

October Drinkstone Fun Quiz
The ten teams, each made up of 6 people, pitted their wits and racked their brains, to answer the questions on a range of different topics, posed by ‘question master’ Liz Schmitt, who was ably aided and abetted by Tony. During the half time interval the participants were treated to a very tasty ploughman’s platter followed by delicious home-made sweets, prepared by Edna Gunnett and her daughter Jenny.

Our special thanks go to Liz, Tony for their organisation of the Quiz and preparation of the questions, and to Edna and Jenny for all their hard work in preparing such a delicious supper for so many people. It was a very successful evening which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and we all look forward to next year, when all-comers will have the opportunity to attempt to ‘wrest’ the winners trophy away from ‘Madness’, this year’s winning team!

After expenses a total of £276.13 was raised for Village Hall funds.

November 30 Pryke Embroidery unveiling
It was in 2009 that Robin Sharp stumbled across a commemorative embroidery on Ebay, in very bad condition, but bearing the name of one of the First World casualties on the Drinkstone War Memorial. More about that here. Suffice to say, it was restored after considerable fundraising and unveiled to the people of Drinkstone on this day, with the Bury Free Press in attendance. Lots of photos of the lovely afternoon are here. Read the Bury Free Press report here.

In connection with this, we were contacted by Rob Howard early in 2013. He and his brother Will used to live in Drinkstone and wanted to get a painting of their old home as a gift for their Mum, Ann Howard. After several photos pinged their way across the Atlantic, their Mum received her painting, Rob generously made a donation to the Pryke Embroidery Restoration fund – and they came to visit. Photographed with the embroidery – left to right – Robin Sharp, Rob and Will – click here.

November 10th Rededication of the Village Hall as a War Memorial
The plaque designating the hall as Drinkstone’s official War Memorial was saved from the old building and it seemed fitting to rededicate the new hall as our War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday, straight after the Remembrance Day Service in All Saints Church. Refreshments were served while we enjoyed the music of the Norton Salvation Army Band, who had amazingly, played at EVERY Remembrance Day service at the church since the end of the war. There followed a welcome from our Chairman, a potted history of the hall from our Vice-chairman and the unveiling of the plaque before Reverend Ruth presided over a short service of rededication, before blessing the plaque with oil. Read more… Lots of photos here.

November The BT Saga
Drinkstone was featured on the BBC News and in the local press on Monday 11th November, following Duncan Hannant’s determination to get BT to do something about the 18 homes in Cross Street that had been cut off for over two weeks following the October 28th storm. People power (and Duncan’s verbal excellence) prevailed and normal service was resumed very speedily. See the photos here.