| What’s On at the Village Hall | A parish newsletter brought to you by Gittisham Parish Council | |
| Flower & Produce Show Saturday 2nd August Opens 2.30pm Potato weigh in 3.15pm Syrian Kitchen Sunday 3rd August Pierre’s Café Sunday 10th August Gittisham Fete Saturday 30th August Parish Council Thurs 4th September Ukraine – a village hall talk Fri 12th Sept Weekly Fitness class Tuesday mornings Folk Dancing Weds evenings Community Kitchen Thurs eve Yoga Friday afternoons A message from Amne: Hi everyone, we have Mary’s Syrian Kitchen Pop Up in Gittisham Hall on the 3rd of August from 12:30 until 2:30 we will serve lunch and drink and dessert £20 for a person Call to book or send a message please 07383 104987 Church 200 Club July Draw Results 1st prize Una Wakley-Beddows 2nd prize Ava Marker-Morgan 3rd prize Mrs M Doidge Church Services Sunday 24th at 11am Holy Communion Rev Sue’s last celebration of Communion at St Michael’s Sunday 31st at 3pm Hymns and Pimms Sunday Sept 28th at 3pm Choral Evensong and Farewell Service for Rev Sue at St Paul’s Pierre’s Cafe Summer’s arrived at Pierre’s monthly pop-up café and he’ll be cooking kebabs with vegetables for lunch on Sunday 10th August. Plus there’ll be the usual selection of freshly made croissants, pains au chocolat and other French pastries in the morning to savour with a coffee or tea. For dessert / afternoon drop in for a range of homemade cakes. Vegan and gluten free customers catered for. We’ve been sold out for lunch in recent months, so please book if you can – it really helps us know how many to cater for and means we avoid having to turn people away. Open 10-4, Gittisham Village Hall. Text or call Pierre on 07545 214940. Hope to see you there. |  With just a month to go, preparations are in full swing for this year’s Gittisham Village Fete – a wonderful celebration of our community. But to make it all happen, we need your help. Last year was a fantastic day, but we were stretched thin on volunteers. A small group ended up covering far more than expected. This year, we’re asking for more helping hands, even just for an hour or two, so everyone can enjoy the day. Whether you’re new to the village or have helped before, please consider joining the team – it’s a great way to meet people and be part of something special. Volunteers Needed. We’re looking for people to help with the following roles: Traffic management and car parking Admissions desk (welcoming visitors) Duck Race team (setting up, launching) Serving cream teas in the Village Hall Cakes! (selling and baking) Ice cream sales Bar team Tombola stall Dog show assistance Setup and end-of-day pack away No experience needed – just enthusiasm and a friendly face! To volunteer, email: Or contact us via the Village WhatsApp group. What’s On During the Fete 2.00pm – Fete opens with music from the Honiton Town Band 3.00pm – Dog Show in Will’s Field Cream teas in the Village Hall Morris dancers, the Gittisham Memories display in the Church, and classic vehicles on the Village Green Pizza Van Stalls lining the main avenue and Will’s Field Around 4.30pm – The ever-popular Duck Race. Tickets are just £1 each and will be on sale throughout August. Prizes: 1st £100 2nd £50 3rd £25 4th £10  A huge thank you to our generous supporters: The Parish Council, The Pig, Vale Vets, and CarterDawes, whose backing helps us maintain the prizes and keep the fete going strong. Let’s work together to make this year’s fete a day to remember – we can’t do it without your support. Website: gittisham.org.uk/fete Email: St Michael’s Church Helen Hayman September 6th @ Truances dairy, Natter & Nibbles! Anyone welcome to park at Gittisham Farm drive & walk up if not enough room or depending on weather a field maybe available beside! 10-12noon. Also at the fete on 30th August will have the fascinating Gittisham Memories display in church! A full display of village life past & present with a couple stalls! Any unwanted good condition books welcome, place in church please. Then on Sunday 1st September, hymns & pimms. Harvest Supper will be held on Saturday 4th October, 7 pm ! With “bring your own drink”. There will be an auction of any produce donated in the church amongst the flower displays! So please add jams, produce, pickles, food/ drink in the church amongst the flower arrangements. Menu will be Beef, Chicken, vegetable option with pudding! (any dietary preference given when booking). Tickets £10.00 all towards the church fabric! Helen 07806480246 or email Then looking ahead to November 8th! Race night with bar! Just turn up for a fun evening with plenty of horse owners needed or cheer on the participants! In Gittisham Hall!  Gittisham Village Hall Dear friends of the hall and supporters, We are delighted to report another well supported cake sale last month. With your help we raised over £200 towards the running costs of the hall and planned upgrades! Thank you to all involved, especially the excellent bakers! We continue to get to grips with the new hall booking system and thank you for your patience with any teething problems. It seems this has generally been well received and remain happy to chat to anyone who would like to give us any feedback. August is a quiet month with the hall committee supporting efforts to organise the highly anticipated Fete on Saturday August 30th. We look forward to hosting the teas in the hall. Dates for your diary: September 12th 7pm. Talk by a young Ukrainian student who has kindly agreed to talk with us about the conflict in Ukraine and their personal hopes for the future. Please note that funds raised from this event will be offered to the speaker. September 27th Cake Sale 2.30-4.30 and Harvest themed Quiz 7pm October 18th Open Mic night, bar and Pizzas November 29th Xmas craft sale 10-2 Xmas cake sale 2.30-4.30 Xmas Bingo. 7pm for 7.30 We look forward to seeing you soon! Gittisham Parish Hall was very lucky to be one of a few charities to be gifted £450 of free paint from Crown this month. We would be glad of any help to paint the loos in September | |
Village Hall Talk on Ukraine Molly Furniss
Gittisham’s popular Village Hall Talk event is set to resume on Friday 12th September, with a talk given by guest speaker Illia Vdovych, a Ukranian student who has been a refugee in the UK since 2022. Illia is an exceptional young man, and I was honoured to have him as my tutee at Exeter College. Despite arriving in the UK with limited English, he achieved excellent GCSE results and progressed on to an A level programme studying History, Economics and Further Maths. He hopes to enrol at Durham University in the Autumn, where he will study History and Politics.
Illia will give a talk at the Village Hall about Ukraine’s history, explaining how the first Ukrainian National Republic was formed in 1917, and discussing the country’s current challenges as a result of the Russian invasion in February 2022. He will also speak about the implications of the war for Britain and the world order.
I’m really delighted that Illia is happy to deliver a talk which promises to be insightful, thought-provoking and informative. Please come along to support Illia and learn more about Ukraine from the perspective of someone who has been so personally impacted by the turbulence of its recent history.
Village Playground
The village has a playground, which is leased to the parish council, and well-used by parishioners. The equipment was upgraded in 2011, following a successful fund-raising campaign by residents to provide a space for young and old alike to enjoy the outdoors. There is a boules pitch, as well as two types of swing, a balance beam, see-saw and a cow springer. Benches and a bbq are provided also.
A patch of land has been joined with the existing park to create a ‘go wild’ area. This space has a tower slide and mown paths as well as wild flowers and fruit trees, and bird, bug and bee houses.
Gittisham Parish Council
The Parish Councillors are having a well-earned break from their monthly meetings and will meet again on 4th September in the Village Hall. Public are most welcome to attend and if you wish to speak, there is an opportunity at the start of the meeting. Or please do keep in contact with your Councillors via the Clerk
We are always happy to hear from you and over the summer we are still busy, in particular looking at the work schedule for our new Parish Lengthsman on parish drains, verges and ditches, renovating the village playground boules court, ongoing work on creating safe walking and amenity routes in the parish to contact the 2 halves of the parish and the ever-present pressure on anyone and everyone to get decent broadband into the village.
Broadband in Gittisham village and surrounds, we are not alone.
Councillor Adam Powell
For many years, possibly the last ten, Gittisham has made a lot of noise about not being connected to full fibre broadband. It is no comfort to know that nearby Weston, Hayne Farm Estate, and of course Honiton have superfast fibre provision, if they want it. We have a little bit of news on this front, but please do not get too excited.
In July 2025 Gittisham Parish Council (GPC), received by email, the results of a survey by East Devon District Council (EDDC) on Rural Broadband in East Devon. These were the findings of an online questionnaire in May 2025 EDDC sent out to town and parish councils, including GPC, many rural businesses, and chambers of commerce. More than one hundred responses were received over the three week period that the survey was live. Broadband provision was rated 1-5, 1 being very poor and 5 excellent. In summary 73.3% rated their broadband provision very poor or poor (1 or 2), 20% reported average service (3), and only 6.6% felt they had a strong service. In other words, almost three quarters of respondents reported their broadband provision was below average, with dropouts, poor speeds, or no connection at all. To amplify this many rural areas of East Devon have very poor or no mobile signal, this means no easy alternative means of connecting to broadband.
The report highlighted the frustrations of businesses, lost internet sales, inability to operate or expand, poor communication between businesses and clients, wasted download time, relocation costs, and expensive satellite alternatives. For residents the consequences of poor provision are equally dire for education, remote working, healthcare, online banking, shopping, and entertainment to name but a few areas of concern. Many witness statements were recorded in the report.
Just to clarify the provision of fast broadband fibre services in Devon and Somerset has been the responsibility of Devon and Somerset County Councils, not EDDC, more specifically an organisation called Connecting Devon and Somerset CDS, since 2015. Many millions have been thrown at this project, many commercial companies have not completed their rollouts, and CDS have not been taken to account for this failure.
Well after 10 years of failing to provide what is now considered an essential utility this report is really, to put it mildly stating what we already know, in Gittisham Parish in particular. I suppose it is reassuring to know we are not alone.
The report continues with three next steps, to summarise, EDDC will:
1.Join together with other Devon Districts to highlight poor broadband provision, and use this stronger voice to lobby central government.
2.Write to the leader of Devon County Council asking them to explain the current position and the failure of rollouts that have occurred in the past.
3.Write to the minister for digital communications (Peter Kyle MP) and our East Devon MPs asking for a clear plan of action, and a renewed commitment to deliver full fibre infrastructure in rural areas.
The key economic strategy of the current government is to increase growth and improve productivity, how are residents of Gittisham expected to do this without strong digital connectivity? The digital age has overtaken our lives in the last ten years, one cannot imagine how poor access to broadband may affect our lives in the next ten years if connectivity does not improve radically.
You may want to read the full report summary, which is available on the EDDC website;
https://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/bzcleegm/rural-broadband-consultation-summary-report.pdf
Your comments and feedback would be most welcome by both the Gazette, and Gittisham Parish Council.