Memorial for Steve 16 July 2022
Some members of Tyninghame Sings + friends sang at Steve Tossel’s memorial on Saturday in the village hall. Steve used to come along to Tyninghame Sings on a Sunday evening and also joined us on Zoom during COVID. We sang his favourite song – ‘All Around My Hat’. He died about a year ago during the COVID pandemic.
Bridge and Lunch 14 July 2022
The Community Engagement Group (CEG) held a successful fund raising event in the Hall. A game of bridge and a buffet lunch were enjoyed by 40 people, 10 tables of 4 players. Many said how nice it was to be able to get together having been unable to have such a gathering for several years. There was a lot of positive praise for the delicious food, the lovely Hall and the cheerful atmosphere.
The wonderful buffet was provided by some of the ladies from CEG and all the volunteers enjoyed the team effort of putting on this new event.
It is hoped that the event will have raised about £1,000 which will be put towards the kitchen refurbishment fund. This amount raised, together with the money from the Tyninghame Garden Open Day, has taken us much closer to our target. We hope very soon to be able to start the kitchen refurbishment which will make running such events so much easier.
Basic Life Support 8 July 2022
We were very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to brush up on our basic life support training.
Stephen Hartley and Brenda Binnie from the NHS Lothian Resuscitation team visited the Village Hall and ran 3 sessions for local people.
The sessions were informative and all who attended said how much they enjoyed the training. For the majority it has helped them to realise that they can always do something to buy time before the para medics arrive. The sessions also removed the scare factor of ever having to use an automated defibrillator.
Platinum Jubilee Children’s Party 3 May 2022
A children’s party was held for some local families living in and around Tyninghame to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. The Village football pitch saw some fiercely competitive races, namely a running race, a very colourful sack race and an (unboiled) egg and spoon race! The adults delved into croquet, table tennis, Pimms, and delicious food made by all who attended.
A wonderful day was had by all to mark this special occasion!
Book Event – Afternoon Tea and Talk 22 May 2022
A most pleasant Sunday afternoon was spent in the village hall hearing from Judy Riley about her newly published book “Tyninghame, Landscapes and Lives” about the history of the gardens and wider landscape around Tyninghame House.
Judy lives at Tyninghame House and has previously spoken at one of our Pub nights about the wonderful gardens at the House and their creation. At this event, many an appetite was whetted to learn more about the people who inhabited the land surrounding the House.
Over 30 people attended this event and enjoyed the abundance of home baking, lots of cups of tea and coffee and of course an opportunity to chat to Judy about her research for the book.
Judy’s book was on sale at the event and she very generously donated a percentage of the book sales to the hall refurbishment fund as did others who kindly gave donations for the wonderful spread provided by the volunteers of the Community Engagement Group.
Pub Night 13th May 2022
17 of us enjoyed a Potluck Curry Pub night with an amazing choice of delicious meat, vegetarian and vegan curries, breads and chutneys. We had a green Thai chicken curry, prawn curry, lamb curry, pheasant curry, dhal, cauliflower korma, spinach & chickpea curry, Bombay aloo and an aubergine curry. These were served with naan breads, rice and chapatis.
The Hall was so warm and welcoming with a big communal table for us all to sit and enjoy each other’s company and food.
Sunflower growing competition 2022
With all the seedlings being sold at Easter we are looking forward to see them growing tall and strong. With the final total of £76 raised, Carol was able to buy loads of cans of beans, cooking sauces and tins of tomatoes to use with all the dry stores already donated to the Ukrainian refugees. Some biscuit treats were also added to the trolley! The Lochend project now has enough donations to be able to support the families while they are staying there but say that ongoing food donations are still very welcome. Thank you to all of you who helped so generously.
Tyninghame bird box making workshop 23rd April 2022
Well done to the 12 bird box makers who have successfully put together some new bird box homes for blue tits or tree sparrows.
The kit comprised of untreated larch sourced from Tyninghame sawmill, recycled bicycle tyres donated by Law cycles, all cut, sanded and pre drilled and made ready to assemble.
An enjoyable time was had at the workshop assembling the box, producing a wide variety of painting designs to camouflage them, looking through the scope for the goldfinches on the feeder and testing our bird colour knowledge in a quiz. Some kits were also collected to be made at home.
We are looking forward to seeing what takes up residence this season or next. Let us have an update.
Easter Trail around Tyninghame April 2022
With such lovely weather this Easter, the children from the village and their friends enjoyed participating in the Easter themed trail. The starting point was the brightly decorated bus shelter where they collected an activity pack and made their way round the village, sampling Easter cakes, collecting shapes to decorate and some chocolate eggs to enjoy. Even the resident frog from a garden beside Frog Lane put in an appearance!
Giant Sunflower seedlings were out for collection with donations being made to support the Ukrainian refugees settled in Edinburgh. A total of 24 seedlings were raised with a grand sum of £76 going to the charity.
The table tennis taster session on Easter Sunday in the village hall was also a great hit for a few eager wee lads.
“Thank you everyone for the Easter trail. You’ve outdone yourselves this year, the bus stop looks so gorgeous! Hester and Erin are busy with the activity packs right now. ❤️”
“What a fantastic weekend we’ve had with the Easter trail, decorations and sunflowers 🌻 Thank you so much for all the effort you’ve gone to to make it so special, it is very much appreciated 💚🐰🐣!”
Advent Windows December 2022
To celebrate the festive season, some windows in the village were decorated for Advent with the Hall revealing the nativity scene on 24th December. The bus shelter also put on a festive display with messages being written for Santa and friends.
Christmas Wreath Making workshops December 2021
We held workshops on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 December in the village hall. There was also an opportunity to collect a bag of wreath making items, greenery and instructions for those who preferred to make one at home.
Once again this was a very successful event enjoyed by all the participants. Many beautiful wreaths were created in the cosy atmosphere of the hall with cups of tea or coffee and seasonal baking goodies.
“Thank you so much for a fabulous Saturday morning making our wreath. So well organised and the ladies helping made us so welcome.”
Halloween pumpkin trail and children’s activities October 2021
This year with fewer restrictions on Covid Guidance the children of the village and their friends were able to enjoy an amazing Pumpkin trail and Halloween themed activities in the village hall. Over 25 imaginatively carved pumpkins were on display throughout the village. Frog Lane was spookily decorated and, together with a few households joining in, the children were able to let their imaginations run wild. It was also brilliant to see the children dressed up. We had an adorable pumpkin, Hermione from Harry Potter, a zombie bride, spiders, Dracula, a cat and several more. Games in the hall saw the children trying to catch ghosts on strings, looping the witches hat and, of course, dooking for apples.The ghoulish food was a hit with both children and adults who enjoyed old favourites like parkin and cinder toffee as well as eye balls and green monsters.
Art in the Bus Stop September 2021
The theme of this year’s Bus Stop Art was~”Sea & Space, Stars & Skies”~open to all ages!
We wanted everyone to let their imagination run free and to create something over the summer. This could be a collage, a painting, a drawing or something in papier-mâché.
Apple pressing events 12 September 2021 and 3 October 2021
We held the first community apple pressing event at Tyninghame Village Hall on Sunday 12th September using the new apple pressing equipment. We pressed about 10 trugs of apples in about 4 hours doing almost 4 full presses. It was great fun and we produced a lot of very tasty apple juice.
We ran another similar apple pressing day on Sunday 3 October. It was another beautiful sunny day in Tyninghame. Here is one of our young residents picking her apples for making delicious apple juice.
Bric-a-Brac sale August 2021
Members of the community organised a very successful bric-a-brac sale in the Hall on Saturday 25 August. The event was run in order to raise some much needed funds for continuing with the Village Hall refurbishment.
Eleven tables were booked for a £10 donation, with stall holders coming from Dunbar, East Linton and Tyninghame. One table was reserved for the Hall with goods donated specifically for Village Hall funds. Visitors paid a £1 donation to come in with children being allowed in for free. We had over 170 adults and about 30 children at the Hall over the course of the day, despite the rather wet weather in the afternoon.
You can see from the photos below that we had a wonderful range of items for sale from vintage clothes and jewellery to previously loved teddy bears looking for a good home. We had never seen so much bric-a-brac all in one place!
The day was a success because it was very much a community event open to everyone. It gave people a chance to clear out and offer once loved items to others. It allowed people to chat and share stories about some of their bric-a-brac. It enabled children to enjoy spending their wee bit of pocket money on a toy or book at a bargain price of 20p!
Stall holders all enjoyed their day and said “ We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the sale- my first one. Glad it was a success”, “It was great to be doing something more normal”, “Lovely lady just gave our son a guitar- he was delighted” and finally “ are you having another?”
We are very grateful to those who donated items and to those who gave us their time to help set up the Hall or helped out on the day. We also say a huge thank you to the stall holders and to all the lovely people who came to the event and supported us.
Items left at the end of the day are being donated to Zero Waste.
Funds raised for the Hall are expected to be in the region of £450. Stall holders achieved takings in the region of £70 upwards.
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Tyninghame House and Walled Garden Open Day 4 July 2021
The Open Day in aid of the Village Hall was held on 4 July and was a great success. Between the gate money, teas and plant sale, Scotland’s Gardens Scheme made just over £4000. 60% of that total goes to the Village Hall, which received just under £2500. The remainder (40% of the total) is divided between Scotland’s Gardens Scheme charities – The Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland, Maggies and Perennial. A HUGE thank you to all our volunteer bakers and helpers – we really couldn’t have done it without you. The weather was kind to us and it was good fun being able to meet and chat and create our new outdoor, socially distanced teas!
Easter in Tyninghame 2-4 April 2021
At Easter the bus Shelter was brightly decorated by a group of grown up Easter bunnies, featuring hanging eggs, paper flowers, birds and art from many budding artists! The red Phone Box had a beautiful woodland display which the children loved especially all the ‘bunnies’ in there.
A nature trail and a few other activities including an Easter quiz, word search and bird identification sheet were put in the Shelter. There was a wee basket for each of the children to collect their finds. Some of the activities to do were hop like a rabbit, spot the silver trees, name some birds on the feeders, collect a feather, spot the ‘animals’ in Frog Lane and paint a picture. A small reward was left for each child in a lidded box much to the delight of each and every one of them!
Alastair and Liz Stobbart kindly donated some carefully packed Hot Cross Buns which were a welcome treat for all and a basket of ‘hidden’ mini eggs for grandparents on the trail.
It was a real a joy to hear excited children’s voices around the village on such a beautiful sunny weekend.
“Great fun! She enjoyed the hot cross bun thank you Liz and we’ll be painting eggs tomorrow so will place them in the bus shelter”
“So brilliant in fact the boys are desperate (& about to) embark on it for a second time – so many thanks! “
12 Days of Christmas
To celebrate the festive season in 2020, the Tyninghame community displayed the Twelve Days of Christmas in windows throughout the village. In addition the bus shelter was given a festive overhaul and there was an opportunity to leave good wishes for fellow villagers or even messages for Father Christmas himself.
On Christmas Eve the villagers were treated to some lovely Christmas music played by Elinor Evans on the clarsach. We gathered at social distances on Main Street with our candle lamps while the sun set spectacularly.
Christmas Wreath-Making Workshop – 6th December
Many thanks to those who took part in the Christmas wreath-making workshops in December, both in the Hall and at home. There were some very beautiful wreaths adorning the doors of Tyninghame village (and beyond!). The winner of the wreath-making workshop was Sabina Struthers and her wreath can be seen in the bottom left of the collage.
We are very grateful to all the organisers for their time and effort.
