News in Brief

Oundle and District Choral Society

Almost 90 years old, the society is meeting again each Monday at 7.45 in the Great Hall at Oundle School.

Leisure Field

The 'Football Field' has passed to the Parish Council for use as a village sports area.

Village Hall

The barbecue held at the Red Lion on 22 July 2001 raised £297 for the hall funds.

Children's Page

Q: What's round and bad tempered?

A: A vicious circle!

Warmington Church Youth Choir Outing

Rain; more rain; heavy rain; very heavy rain; torrential rain; thunder and lighting; more rain; patches of blue sky sailing in the opposite direction and never overhead.

Were we down-hearted? Were we dissuaded from our task? Did we scuttle back home? No! We proceeded with courage and fortitude, determined to have a great time at Wicksteed Park.

We went in the water splash - as it seemed rather apt and then all of the choir decided to go rowing - recklessly choosing to ignore the hideously black cloud approaching. Pat and Diane Foley, Mary Cheeseman and myself, being ever-such-sensible adults, decided to take cover. We looked over the lake and could just make out their forms through the cloud burst. We didn't laugh .... much.

Judith Wolverson-Rumball

Old Warmington

Many people have asked the origin of the name America Farm. There seem to be many theories ranging from the American War of Independence, Napoleonic War (when America sided with the French - French POWs at Norma Cross) to the two world wars of the 20th century.

Having recently visited the farm, I believe the present buildings are of Warmington brick, or similar - built between 1840 and 1870. There were several lodges/farms at Papley (the 1847 directory lists five, but none called America Farm).

The first occurrence of the name that I have found is 1940 when the farm was owned by George Woodbridge. As this date is prior to the Americans entering World war 2 it seems the name has nothing to do with the GIs or the American Air force bases in the area.

There are other America Farms in the Peterborough area, so there may ba a connection there, or possibly George Woodbridge has American connections - the answer eludes my research so far.

Bob Daniel