Mid September 2026 — Produced for the Parish Council and St Michael’s Church
Gittisham Fete 2026
Now that the dust has settled and the final figures have been tallied, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that this year’s Gittisham Fete was a resounding success. Thanks to the perfect weather and an incredible turnout of over 800 visitors, we raised an amazing £3,500+! As always, these vital funds will be split to support both our Church and the Village Hall.
The village truly came alive at 2pm when Ottery Town Crier Laurie Palmer officially declared the fete open. Visitors were immediately treated to a brilliant atmosphere, soundtracked by fantastic live performances from the Exeter Street Band, Plum Jam, and Hooligans Rule. Everywhere you looked, there was something to enjoy—from George the Magician entertaining the crowds to the stunning classic cars displayed on the Church Green.
Our magnificent tea ladies kept everyone fueled with gorgeous cream teas in the hall, while visitors browsed the craft stalls, tombola, and our highly successful grand raffle.
The afternoon was packed with highlights. Down in Will’s Field, our dog show saw record-breaking entries, giving judge Maryanne a wonderfully difficult task. Later, crowds flocked to the bridge for the grand finale: the famous Gittisham Duck Race. After a morning of hard work from Len’s expert damming team, the ducks were finally released, racing down to the finish line at Charlie’s Cottage.
An event of this magnitude relies entirely on our amazing community spirit. A massive thank you to our hardworking volunteers, stallholders, vintage vehicle owners, Honiton Police, and the generous local businesses and sponsors who backed us. Gittisham always gives 200%, and it shows.
You can view photos from the fantastic day at: https://gittisham.org.uk/past-events/
Please save the date for next year’s fete: Saturday, September 4th, 2027!
Thank you everyone
Jimmy’s Pit – Paul Wakley
Walking on the footpath from the village to Westgate, over the wooden bridge, look to the right, and you will see a wide gap in the opposite hedge. That Is the site of Jimmy’s pit. Marl, which was spread on the fields as a soil improver, was dug from there.
The pit was filled in, I think in the late sixties, using many lorryloads of building site waste from Exeter.
Gittisham militia used to meet at the Rookery (now, called the Green) at what was called the castle, a low stone structure. They would then march up to Jimmy’s pit, lay or stand on the lip of it, to fire their rifles across to the steep hill opposite, where the targets were situated. That is why the field is called ‘Targets’. The remains of the targets were for many years in the ditch, where they were dumped.
Targets is the best sledging slope ever, but it is best to bale off the sledge before hitting the barbed wire and bramble hedge at the bottom, just ask Pete Dominy!
What’s On?
-Village Hall
Open Bookings
- Tuesdays – Tai Chi & Quigong 09:50 am- 11:10am
- 3rd Tuesday of the month- Yoga 18:15
- Wednesday – Folk Dance Club 7pm
- Thursday- Community Kitchen 18:30
- 2nd Sunday of the Month Pierre’s Cafe 10am
- 3rd Oct Wim Hof Method
Hire the hall: www.gittisham.org.uk/village-hall/hire-the-hall/
Committee Events
- 26th September Charity Coffee and Cake 2.30 – 4.30
- 10th October Cabaret Film Premier
- 17th October Jumble Sale
- 31st October Halloween Party/ Coffee and Cake
- 28th November Christmas Craft Fair
- 28th November Christmas Bingo 7pm for 7.30pm
- 23rd January Burns Night Celebration
–Church
- Church Services 2nd and 4th Sunday of the Month
- Harvest service & supper on Sunday 4 th October! Auction of produce, Tickets from Helen out soon!
- Natter and Nibbles Oct 10th- Gittisham Farm
- 12th December! – A celebration for Christmas (details soon! ) 4 pm in church!
200 Club Winners July
- 1st Prize £75 Peter King
- 2nd Prize £50 Molly Furniss
- 3rd Prize £25 Will Wolsey
Events are also listed here: https://gittisham.org.uk/whatson/
Holy Dusters Needed
Can you spare a little time at your convenience?
Cleaning products are in the church by the vestry door.
Thank you.
200 Club
Join the Gittisham 200 Club!
The 200 club is a licensed small lottery raising funds to pay for the upkeep of our beautiful church and paying prizes in a monthly draw.
There are a number of tickets still available for purchase.
Tickets cost £3 per month and you can buy up to 3 for any named person. Some members buy tickets for children and grandchildren as well as for themselves.
The draw takes place once a month, usually at Natter & Nibbles, and there are cash prizes of £75, £50 and £25 each time.
Contact Sara at for an application form and further details.
Gittisham Village Hall Monthly Update
Dear Friends of the Hall,
What a wonderful summer we’ve had! A huge thank you to everyone who supported the Fete, and to the Fete Committee for generously donating half of the day’s profits to the Hall. This helps enormously with running costs and has funded small upgrades—including new mugs, trays, and potted trees—to keep the Hall warm and welcoming.
Coffee, Cake & a Good Cause
Saturday 26th September, 2:30–4:30pm
Join us for a cuppa, homemade cake, and a natter as we raise funds for cancer charities. Baked donations are warmly welcomed, and we are very happy to reimburse ingredient costs.
A Night at the Movies… Gittisham Style!
Saturday 10th October, 7:00pm
For one night only, we are screening the acclaimed 2025 Gittisham Cabaret. This is no ordinary film night: think red carpet, tiaras, tuxedos, and a professional bar! Relive the standout performances, laugh at the bloopers, and celebrate our fantastic local talent. Entry is free, with donations gratefully accepted on the night.
Village Jumble Sale
Saturday 17th October, 10:00am–1:00pm
Bag a bargain and discover hidden treasures! Refuel with bacon baps, croissants, and hot tea, then try your luck at the tombola or our “Guess My Name” game to win a giant cuddly dog.
Bring your friends, bring your shopping bags, and join the fun. We look forward to seeing you there!
Finally, the whole committee would like to express our deepest gratitude to Stella, who has decided to stand down after more than a decade of exceptional service. Over the past two years, she has served as our brilliant Vice-Chair, steering the Hall with dedication, sound judgment, and warmth.
Stella has been a driving force behind the scenes for over ten years, handling the vital admin, governance, and policy work that keeps the charity running smoothly. Most notably, she was instrumental in delivering our most ambitious project to date: our superb new commercial kitchen. Her tireless effort, vision, and practical guidance turned that huge project into a reality for the whole community.
We cannot thank Stella enough for everything she has given to the Hall and our village. She leaves big shoes to fill, and we wish her the very best in her well-earned step back.
Dear Geraldine
September’s letter
(Answered by Geraldine’s Husband Gerald as Geraldine is on a cruise along the river Otter this month)
Dear Geraldine,
While I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s literary-themed Scarecrow Competition, I feel compelled to raise a rather delicate matter. It is one thing to build a Harry Potter or a Mary Poppins, but did anyone else notice that several of these fictional characters bore a striking, and surely not coincidental, resemblance to specific members of our community?
I am pointing no fingers, but the Ms Trunchbull sitting on the bench on the village green looked suspiciously like a certain familiar face around the village. Then there was the Gruffalo lurking down in the allotments, whose posture felt awfully familiar. Most glaringly, we had not one, but two Mr McGregors—one down at the farm and another outside Kings Cottage (clearly two people had the exact same idea!)—both bearing an uncanny likeness to a rather well-known local resident!
I saw Tracey Voysey doing her rounds with her clipboard, but I was far too fearful to ask if she had noticed the resemblances. Is there an unwritten rule about using children’s book characters as a Trojan horse to stuff our neighbours with straw?
Yours,
Resident
Dear Resident,
Geraldine is currently off enjoying a cruise down the River Otter for the month, so I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. But between you and me, you’re absolutely right on the money with this one.
Let’s be honest, using a kids’ book character as a convenient excuse to build a straw dummy of your neighbour is an absolute masterstroke. I had a good chuckle myself walking round the village.
I stopped by the bench on the green, and the scowl on that Ms Trunchbull was spot on. I’m almost certain I saw that exact expression during a recent heated village debate. As for the Gruffalo lurking in the allotments, the stance alone was a dead ringer for a certain bloke with very strong opinions on potatoes.
And you’ve got to laugh at the double Mr McGregor tribute. For the folks at both the farm and Kings Cottage to independently decide to stuff the exact same local character with hay… well, you couldn’t write it.
You were smart to give Tracey Voysey a wide berth. When she’s on duty with that clipboard, she means business. Asking her if a sack of straw legally constitutes a caricature of a fellow villager is a surefire way to find yourself at the bottom of the scoreboard. She did a grand job keeping a straight face and judging them purely on artistic merit, completely ignoring the fact that half the entries looked like they could walk into the pub and confidently order a pint.
So, to answer your question: no, there’s no written rule against immortalising your neighbours in hay. The only unwritten rule is that if anyone kicks up a fuss, the builder has to play dumb, look completely innocent, and swear blind that any resemblance is pure coincidence.
My advice to anyone who suspects they’ve been ‘straw-ified’ via Roald Dahl or Beatrix Potter is to take it on the chin. You haven’t truly made your mark in Gittisham until someone has spent their weekend recreating your likeness out of old tights, a broomstick, and half a bale of hay.
Yours, keeping my head down for next year’s theme,
Gerald Gitt
Forever supplying boomer wisdom
Scarecrow Competition Results: A Storybook Success!
Our village lanes were completely transformed this year as a whole host of literary characters took up residence for the Fete’s Scarecrow Competition. The standard of entries was absolutely magnificent, making the role of our esteemed judge, Tracey Voysey, harder than ever!
To tackle the incredibly high calibre of straw creations, Tracey deployed a brand-new, highly stringent set of judging criteria alongside a rigorous point system to help make the tough decisions a little easier. Even with the maths to back her up, separating the winners from the rest of the pack was a mammoth task.
Here are the official results from this year’s competition:
3rd Place: Harry Potter and Dobby A truly magical entry that scored highly on the judge’s clipboard. Tracey particularly loved the fantastic attention to detail on this one—especially the inclusion of Dobby’s iconic sock!
2nd Place: Mary Poppins and Bert Bringing a touch of Cherry Tree Lane to Gittisham, this practically perfect pair swept the judge off her feet to secure a very well-deserved second place.
1st Place: The Gruffalo Taking the top spot and the coveted first-place rosette is this absolute showstopper! An incredible, towering piece of work. A huge congratulations to the masterful building team of Claire, Bella, Jack, and Gary from Batts Cottage for bringing the Gruffalo to life so brilliantly.
Judge’s Special Bonus Prize: Ms Trunchbull While the strict points system governed the top three, Tracey insisted on awarding a special bonus prize without even glancing at her clipboard! As a huge fan of Matilda, the terrifyingly brilliant Ms Trunchbull held a special place in her heart (even while glaring at passersby from the village green). A huge well done to Toni for capturing this fearsome headmistress so perfectly!
A massive thank you to everyone who spent hours stuffing old clothes, painting faces, and tying up straw to make the village look so spectacular. We can’t wait to see what you all come up with next year!
Garden Tips and Tricks
As the evenings draw in and the temperature begins to drop, the garden naturally starts to slow its pace. However, the transition into autumn is one of the most important periods in the horticultural calendar, setting the groundwork for a successful spring.
Harvesting and Clearing Now is the time to gather the very last of the summer bounty. Make sure to pick any remaining tomatoes, beans, and courgettes before the threat of the first frost arrives. Once your summer crops have completely finished, clear the spent foliage and stems to the compost heap. Leaving rotting vegetation on your beds over the winter provides a perfect hiding place for pests and diseases to overwinter.
Sowing for Next Year Autumn is often considered nature’s true planting season because the soil is still warm from the summer but now holds plenty of moisture. It is the perfect window to get spring-flowering bulbs like daffodils, crocuses, and alliums into the borders. In the kitchen garden, you can start planting overwintering onion sets, garlic cloves, and hardy broad beans to guarantee an early, robust crop next year.
Making Leaf Mould As the leaves begin to drop over the coming weeks, try not to view them as a nuisance. Instead of sweeping them into the green bin, collect them in a simple wire mesh cage or pack them into black bin bags with a few holes punched in the sides. If you keep them damp and leave them to rot down, in a year or two you will be rewarded with leaf mould—a fantastic, entirely free soil conditioner that works wonders for soil structure and moisture retention.
Autumn Lawn Care After the stress of the summer heat and any dry spells, your lawn will appreciate some autumn TLC. Rake out the dead thatch and moss, and aerate the soil with a garden fork to improve drainage before the heavier winter rains arrive.
✨🛍️ GITTISHAM’S BOUTIQUE JUMBLE SALE! 🛍️✨
Our next Gittisham Village Hall Jumble Sale is fast approaching, and this time we’re giving it a boutique twist!
📅 Saturday 17th October
⏰ 10am – 1pm
📍 Gittisham Village Hall
We’re looking for quality donations to create a lovely selection of clothing, accessories and other fantastic items — with bargains starting from just 50p! 👗👜✨
We’d love:
👗 Good-quality clothing
👜 Lovely accessories
🎁 Quality gifts and items in excellent condition
✨ Anything clean, usable and ready for a new home
To keep our boutique theme, we kindly ask that donations are good quality and in a condition you’d be happy to buy yourself. We’re unable to accept broken, damaged or unwanted items that are destined for the bin, and we’re keeping the event bric-a-brac free! ❤️
🥓 COME HUNGRY!
We’ll also have delicious bacon baps, croissants, tea & coffee available, so you can grab some breakfast and enjoy a browse! ☕🥐🥓
🎟️ TOMBOLA!
We’ll be running a Tombola with some fantastic prizes — and we’d really appreciate your help!
If you have a new, unused item, bottle, chocolates, toiletries, voucher, gift or anything else that could make a great Tombola prize, we would be incredibly grateful for your donation. Every contribution, big or small, will help raise much-needed funds for Gittisham Village Hall. ❤️
🐶 GUESS MY NAME!
And for a bit of extra fun, we’ll also have Guess My Name for the chance to win a GIANT DOG! 🐶😂
So come along, grab a bargain, enjoy a bacon bap and a cuppa, have a go at the Tombola and see if you can guess the name of our giant furry friend!
Donations for the jumble sale are welcome up until 30th September.
📧 To arrange a donation or find out more, please contact:
We’d love to see you there — please share with friends, family and anyone who loves a good bargain! 🛍️❤️
✨ Quality donations • Great bargains • Good food • Lots of fun — all while supporting our village hall! ✨
PARISH COUNCIL – SEPTEMBER 2026 REPORT
Four councillors met for the September meeting along with one member of the public.
Broadband.
Adam Powell said the rollout of fibre broadband in the village was experiencing further delays. Councillors discussed the whys and wherefores of the parish council receiving a grant from Connecting Devon & Somerset [CDS], which will be used to part-fund whichever supplier can deliver; at this point Bush Broadband / Radio Fibre is the most advanced. They agreed to sign the grant funding agreement with CDS.
Finance. Councillors agreed the finances.
Crimes. May 2026
Beech Walk: 1 x violence & sexual offences
Parsonage Lane: 1 x vehicle crime
Hodges Close: 1 x violence & sexual offences
June 2026
Parsonage Lane: 1 x burglary
Road closures.
1900–0700 nightly Tuesday 15 – Friday 18 September Devonshire Road closed for patching and joints. Unusually there is no diversion route.
2000–0600 Monday 14 -Friday 19 September A30 Honiton Bypass full closure eastbound for bridge joint replacement.
Planning applications.
a) 25/0369/FUL – Roebuck Farm Weston Devon EX14 3PB Proposed MOT station, hard-standing and widened access track (retrospective) and surface water drainage works (amended plans showing change to location of proposed surface water attenuation basin)
Councillors had previously discussed this application in June 2025, when they objected because they felt this application risks increasing vehicle movements in the surrounding area. Also in 2025, they expressed concern and disappointment that the tree cutting had taken place outside the context of a planning application. Councillors had no additional objections to the amended plans.
The clerk said East Devon DC had emailed to note the parish council’s comments regarding 26/1050/FUL – 97 Meadow Acre Road (Hayne Farm). EDDC said any enforcement investigation would be separate from the current planning application, which relates only to the proposed fence and will be assessed on its own planning merits.
Play area.
Alex Rowe said he had met a representative from RhinoPlay, the original supplier of the swings in 2018, to discuss whether or not future maintenance of the swings was appropriate. RhinoPlay has advised the swings are approaching the end of their natural life. Councillors agreed the timber and joints at the top are worn, although it was noted that the annual play inspection safety report did not advise urgent attention was required. RhinoPlay has quoted around £11,000 to replace them with two different types of swing in one long frame. Councillors agreed that steel swings would likely be more long-lasting, although Adam Powell advised some consultation / notice in advance of installation. The clerk agreed to source quotes from three suppliers.
Casual vacancy, Gittisham Village ward.
There is a vacancy for the role of parish councillor to represent Gittisham village ward. Anyone interested in finding out more about how they can make a difference in their local community should contact
Next meeting. Thursday 1st October at 7.30pm in the parish room.
Gittisham Sky Watch: What to look for this Month
As the evenings start drawing in, the shift into autumn brings some of the best stargazing of the year to Gittisham. Here is what to look out for in the village skies over the coming month.
Autumn Equinox & The Harvest Moon We officially welcome autumn on Wednesday, 23rd September at 1:04 am with the equinox, giving us almost exactly equal hours of daylight and darkness. Just a few days later, on Saturday, 26th September, the Full Harvest Moon will rise. The Harvest Moon is unique because it rises at roughly the same time for several evenings in a row, traditionally providing farmers with extra bright moonlight to finish gathering their crops.
Planets on Parade Saturn is the absolute highlight of the month, reaching ‘opposition’ on Sunday, 4th October. This means Earth is directly between Saturn and the Sun, placing the ringed planet at its closest, biggest, and brightest for the year. You can spot it shining steadily as a bright, yellowish ‘star’ in the southern sky around midnight. For early risers, brilliant Jupiter is currently unmissable, dominating the eastern sky just before dawn.
The Great Square of Pegasus Looking east on a clear evening, try to spot four medium-bright stars forming a large, unmistakable box. This is the ‘Great Square of Pegasus’, an asterism representing the body of the mythical winged horse. It is a fantastic seasonal landmark to help you navigate the autumn constellations.
The Draconid Meteor Shower On the evenings of October 8th and 9th, the Draconid meteor shower reaches its peak. While it is a relatively modest shower (expecting 6 to 10 shooting stars per hour), the viewing conditions this year are exceptional. The moon will be a very thin waning crescent, meaning the skies will be dark enough to spot fainter meteors. Unusually for meteor showers, the Draconids are best viewed in the evening rather than the early hours of the morning—so grab a deckchair, wrap up warm, and simply look up.
Thank you to everyone who contributed pieces to this Gazette. If you would like to submit something for next month’s issue, please email .