If you put Rode, Somerset into Google maps you can drag the little orange man on the toolbar into the map of Rode, and you will find yourself looking at Rode from summer 2009.

There were quite a few people out and about  in the village then, are you one of them?

“The PCC has plans approved to convert the existing vestry area of the church to a small meeting room equipped with a loo and facilities to allow us to make and serve drinks and wash up afterwards. (At the moment someone takes the dirty cups home in a bucket). The plans are quite straightforward but as you would expect with a listed building it still comes to a considerable amount of money- £60,000. More information can be found here.” says Revd Nigel Done.

There is a very special Family Service on February 14th (Valentine’s Day) to celebrate and give thanks for the love in your life. It might be someone you have recently fallen for, or been married to for twenty years or an elderly parent you appreciate anew. At this service the congregation will be building a big heart to signify the love that is shared in our community and receive donations towards securing the future of the village church.

The service starts at 10:45am, Sunday 14th February.

It’s packed with local news, reports on community activities and information, as well as being a great local directory for local businesses. It’s not just for Rode, it covers Tellisford, Woolverton and Farleigh Hungerford too. There’s even a puzzle page now.

Pop into the post office and pick up a copy, or even better, subscribe to the monthly magazine. email link@rodevillage.com for details of how to subscribe.

Did you spot the ‘deliberate’ mistake in this month’s Link?

Just in case you didn’t, here it is:

It was deliberate, honestly

Reports abound of locals gnashing their teeth in despair after being told there are no tickets left.

As half the fun of the show is audience participation, three sell-out nights will make for a terrific evening of entertainment, no matter which night you attend if you are lucky enough to have a ticket.

If you are going to miss out through not having a ticket, you can at least console yourself by picking up a copy of the February edition of the Link, where pantoman Gary Holloway reveals the music that makes him tick in a desert island discs interview.

With plenty of audience participation required, and the prospect of your friends and neighbours belting out some Abba classics, you will be kicking yourself if you miss it.

Barrow Farm track

The view down Lower Street first thing on the 6th January

It could be up and running, ready for some publicity, by the end of the week.

The festival committee are meeting in the week of 18th January to start planning what promises to be a spectacular event.

More news will follow as it becomes available, and details of how villagers can get involved in the running of the festival.

I’m working on creating a new site for Rodevillage.com that will contain as much information on Rode, services, businesses, news and activities as possible.

It’ll take a little while to get it all up and running – so the site will go through a series of changes and alterations over the next few weeks. Please bear with me and keep checking back to see how things are getting on.

Best wishes

David