BARN NEWS
BARN NEWS
DOWNEND FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION
Volume 56 Number 2
January - April 2026
Lincombe Barn, Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol BS16 2RW
Tel. 0117 956 2367
Visit our website at www.downendfolkhouse.org.uk
Facebook Lincombe Barn DFHA - @BarnDFHA
DOWNEND FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION
LINCOMBE BARN, OVERNDALE ROAD, DOWNEND,
BRISTOL. BS16 2RW
Registered Charity No. 1157237 Telephone 0117 9562367
January - April 2026
Volume 56 - Number 2
Office hours : Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 4.30 pm.
Office Manager : Zoe Tanner Deputy Manager : Martin Bailey enquiries.dfha@outlook.com
Office Support : Jane Faithfull, Derek Whitchurch & Melinda Gunnion
Office Volunteer : Kathleen Dawkins.
Dear Member,
I hope that you have been enjoying your clubs and classes and have made some new friends. By the time you receive this edition of the Barn News, Christmas will be a distant memory but I hope it was an enjoyable one for you.
The Christmas Market seems to have been an enjoyable and successful event. A big thank you to everyone who helped out on the day to make it a success, we very much appreciate your help. We always need new helpers so if you feel you could help the Barn only occasionally please contact the Barn office.
If you attended, I hope you enjoyed the Cleeve Singers’ Christmas Concert, which raises money for charity.
I should like to take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.
Eileen Bendrey
Chairman
January Newsletter
Your fees for Spring term are required. For new members we welcome you to the Barn and hope the Spring term brings great events and new projects that await you.
Please use the coffee lounge, we have a few chocolate treats and snacks, with tea, coffee and hot chocolate to tempt you. Please pay cash or take payment to the office. Please leave the kitchen as you find it by replacing 3 chairs to a table. Wash up after using the crockery. If you require the dishwasher for an event, please contact the office to arrange this.
Let me know if you have any suggestions to how the office can support your club.
Hopefully S&FRC will be planning events over the Spring term. Look at the notice boards for information.
1. Office Foyer
2. Back Door Foyer
3. Concorde Hall
4. Jubilee Hall
5. Outside by entry to kindergarten
6. External notice Board S&FRC
Advertise in the Barn News for your club by sending details to dfha_zoe@outlook.com or to Bruce Gibbs.
Follow us on Facebook: Lincombe Barn DFHA- @BarnDFHA
Phone the office 0117 9562367 Bookings on Email: enquiries.dfha@outlook.com
Website: www.downendfolkhouse.org.uk
More members required – Support Lincombe Barn join for £6.00 from March 2026 to August 2026
See the Prospectus for full details of clubs that are running. You will be told on your enquiry if there is available space for this club to attend.
Lost property will be kept for 3 months and disposed of after this period.
Office Manager – Zoe Tanner
Office Manager’s Report for the Spring Term
Hello and welcome to existing members and new ones.
From March 2026 Barn membership will be £6.00 for half a year, please introduce a friend to the Barn. As it is a great way to get out and enjoy company and learn new skills.
The office raffle was a great success at the Christmas Market on 15/11/25 and thank you for all your donations and support to the DFHA. Thank you to Tesco Staple Hill who provided some food and alcohol items for the hampers.
Volunteers
Request for Office volunteers, Maintenance Volunteers.
We also require a Secretary for the S&FRC and Management Secretary.
Please contact the Office Manager for full details, dfha_zoe@outlook.com
The Barn relies on your attendance and the support.
Letters for the clubs will go out to you in January for our planning of 2026-27 terms.
Thank you
Zoe
Office Manager.
Treasurer’s Report
Since the last Barn News, our reserves have continued to fall. At this time of year, we have paid for the annual insurance for the Barn, which is about £11,000, so a small drop is not unexpected. (Actual Figures are always recorded in the monthly Management Meeting minutes).
The Barn is now fully LED – South Glos Council have paid for the lights which we had not previously replaced to be changed to LED (would have cost us about £5,000). This should mean that our ongoing electricity costs should reduce, and replacement of lights should be a rarity.
Our water costs have doubled in the last period, and an exercise to establish whether we have an internal leak has identified that there are no leaks. This means that we are “using” twice as much water as previously. The effect of this would be an extra £1,000 per year. An investigation is underway for a usage recording system in order that we can see when the use is high. Please do not waste water.
There is a need for some (6) of our current doors to be replaced with latest fire standard doors. A price has been quoted (£5,000), and after discussion with the National Lottery advice team, we have submitted a grant application for the total amount. We should know before 12th February. A 50% deposit has been paid to the builder involved.
SOCIAL & FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
We hope you enjoyed the November Speaker Morning presented by Chantel Watts of South Gloucester Citizen’s Advice Bureau. We had about twelve attendees, which is not enough to cover the cost of the speaker. As attendance has been low recently, we have decided to discontinue with the speaker mornings, so December’s event on the 4th was our last one. (Ben Coles and friends on their Ukuleles).
The Christmas Market on the 15th November went very well. It was well attended and the Barn made appx £1,500 profit. Stall holder appreciated all the hard work put in by the committee. Thanks to Christine Bilella and Julia Kennett for doing all the shopping and cooking, also Merle Hosking and Emma Bayley for setting up on the Friday before.
We had a Christmas meal on the 9th of December and on the 13th we had the Cleeve Singers Concert when refreshments were provided.
Unfortunately, the Speaker Morning have been discontinued. We had to stop them through lack of support. We were making a loss and that was not sustainable. We had our last meeting on the 4th of December, when we had a concert put on by the ‘Page Park Ukulele Club’ We were treated to a variety of seasonal songs and melodies, ably led by Ben, who amused us with his anecdotes.
The Social & Fundraising Committee will see if there is an alternative to the Speaker Mornings which might be more attractive to members.
LINCOMBE BARN CAMERA CLUB
A new year looms with, we hope, promise of change and improvement. LBCC will have its usual mix of competitions, presentations and learning events starting with A Taste of Wales on 13th January and continuing with Lost in the Woods on 13th February and The Art of Blur on 24th March as well as our usual competitions. If you feel tempted by one of those presentations, please feel free to come along. We meet at 19.30 on the second fourth and fifth (when there is one) Tuesdays of the month.
Competitions due this spring are on Humorous, and Monochrome. Don’t think that means just black and white, photographs using just one colour, such as blue, are equally acceptable
Like many camera clubs we have been losing members since Covid. As a result, clubs are stretching out to each other to build closer contacts and we are no exception. This is taking the form of both competitive meetings and coming together for guest speakers, a move which has the benefit of helping to off lay the cost. It’s also good for members to make new friendships.
THE CLEEVE SINGERS
Find our website or Facebook page for more information
email: cleevesingers@gmail.com
This term while the singers were busily preparing for the Christmas concert the sad news was received of the passing of three former long-standing members. Thus, as ever, the festive season has brought fond memories of friends no longer with us.
We have been delighted to welcome some new members to our group, including two gentlemen who have added to our harmony. We have also welcomed Naomi Sharp as our new pianist. Naomi’s experience as an accompanist has proved to be invaluable.
We were able to sing in St. Peter’s church at Dyrham on December 6th, despite the fact that a lively breeze was blowing! We did two half hour performances of a selection of our Christmas programme for two appreciative audiences. This year the church was decorated with traditional greenery and red ribbon which contributed to the seasonal atmosphere.
We enjoyed performing at our concert on Saturday December 13th – our first Christmas performance under the leadership of our new musical director: Marysia Gorska-Saj. Marysia who created a programme of music old and new; a reflective opening section followed by a second half full of energy and joy. We are really enjoying being conducted by Marysia and we are benefiting from her endless patience and technical expertise.
By the time you read this article we trust that you will have enjoyed these melodies as part of your Christmas 2025. If you would like to join us, it would be a pleasure to welcome you, so do come along to a rehearsal when they recommence on Wednesday January 14th at 7.30 p.m.
The Cleeve Singers wish you all a peaceful new year.
Nicola Budd
VACANCY
The Barn has a vacancy for a secretary to take notes and produce the minutes for our committee meetings.
We only meet once a month, usually on the 1st Monday at 9.15 am for about an hour or so.
If you might be interested, please contact Zoe at the office on 9562367 for more details.
Your help would be much appreciated.
CROSS STITCH CLUB
Since my last written piece in the Barn News a few of the Club members have been experiencing health problems resulting in a couple of them being hospitalised. Glad to say that one will back soon but Jenny has longer to fully recover. We send her our best wishes.
As usual the stalwart few pulled together and we had plenty of cards on display to sell at the Barn Fair on 15th November. The Barn had plenty of tables displaying a variety of items at bargain prices Unfortunately due to postal charges people seem not to be buying so many cards.
We received sad news of the former leader of the Club Mary via the Barn Office. She was very well liked by the members and travelled some miles to take the class weekly. Mary will be fondly remembered by those present and past members who enjoyed her leadership.
It has been noticed how many members are stitching items for new arrivals. Speedy Ann is stitching a cot throw for a new family member in the New Year. Gwyneth has completed her second birth announcement picture for a gt. grandchild and another announcement picture is being worked by Pat.
As always, when leading up to celebrate this time of Christmas there appears to be sadness and a week ago we heard that our dear Eileen had died. She did some beautiful pictures and was an excellent stitcher.
We have decided to have a meal out in January and have only three more Wednesdays before finishing for Christmas to decide where. One venue has been suggested but not decided upon.
Why not join our Club we really could do with some more members. If you have recently retired, it is good to keep busy, your brain active – yes, you do need to think doing cross stitch and enjoy some company whilst stitching.
Give it a try, learn a new skill, help is on hand for beginners or be a returner wishing to have friendly company.
For details contact the Barn Office on 0117 9562367.
Irene
BARN BRIDGE CLUB
We are just about holding our own. We've lost a few members but also gained some new ones. Although there are about 20 on our books attendance is sometimes low and we need an absolute minimum of 10 to function properly. If anyone has played before and is interested in joining us please contact Yvonne on 0117 9568944 or email rscoulding@googlemail.com
We meet on Wednesday afternoons from 2-4.30 p.m.
Geoff Perrett.
THURSDAY CRAFT GROUP
10am to 11.30am alternate weeks
An informal friendly group.
Various crafts undertaken, paper craft, card making, knitting, crochet, jewellery, crystal art.
Contact office to join us,
new members always welcome.
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY
We have 3 more meetings this term and we are now meeting on a Tuesday afternoon in Jubilee Hall
Tuesday 13th January MEMBERS AFTERNOON
Tuesday 10th February “BIRDS & BEES”” presented by Ray & Pam Gooding.
Visitors Welcome £2
Tuesday 17th March “ORKNEY” Guest presenter HELEN MUGRIDGE
Visitors Welcome £3
Looking Forward to Seeing You – Pam Gooding
CLUB TERM DATES 2026
Spring Friday 2nd January - Friday 27th March 2026
Summer Monday 13th April - Friday 24th July 2026
HALLS AND ROOMS FOR HIRE
Approximate sizes In feet in metres Rates
Ground Floor with Disabled access
Jubilee Hall 45 x 38 14 x 11 £34.80 Per Hour
Jubilee Small Partition £20.75 Per Hour
Jubilee Large Partition £26.45 Per Hour
Concorde Hall 40 x 23.5 12 x 7 £28.00 Per Hour
Page Room 25 x 15 7 x 4.5 £16.65 Per Hour
Grace Room 19 x 15 6 x 4.5 £11.00 Per Hour
First floor with no disabled access
Britannia Room 19 x 16.5 6 x 5 Not Available
Cleeve Room 14 x 14 4 x 4 Not Available
Cleeve Annex 8 x 11 2.5 x 3.5 Not Available
Heath Room 10.5 x 9 3 x 3 Not Available
Tables and Chairs provided
Charge for exclusive use of the kitchen £34.80
To check availability and to book, contact the office manager
Zoe Tanner e-mail enquiries.dfha@outlook.com Tel. 9562367
NEXT EDITION OF THE ‘BARN NEWS’
ISSUE AVAILABLE CUT-OFF DATE
May - August 2026 4th May 2026 10th April 2026
Contributions to the May edition of the ‘Barn News’ are very welcome.
Take this opportunity to advertise your club
Please hand your entries in by e-mail to brucegibbs@talktalk.net
Or hand in to the office by the 10th April.
Make a note in your diaries.
DOWNEND FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION
Volume 56 Number 2
January - April 2026
Lincombe Barn, Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol BS16 2RW
Tel. 0117 956 2367
Visit our website at www.downendfolkhouse.org.uk
Facebook Lincombe Barn DFHA - @BarnDFHA
DOWNEND FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION
LINCOMBE BARN, OVERNDALE ROAD, DOWNEND,
BRISTOL. BS16 2RW
Registered Charity No. 1157237 Telephone 0117 9562367
January - April 2026
Volume 56 - Number 2
Office hours : Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 4.30 pm.
Office Manager : Zoe Tanner Deputy Manager : Martin Bailey enquiries.dfha@outlook.com
Office Support : Jane Faithfull, Derek Whitchurch & Melinda Gunnion
Office Volunteer : Kathleen Dawkins.
Dear Member,
I hope that you have been enjoying your clubs and classes and have made some new friends. By the time you receive this edition of the Barn News, Christmas will be a distant memory but I hope it was an enjoyable one for you.
The Christmas Market seems to have been an enjoyable and successful event. A big thank you to everyone who helped out on the day to make it a success, we very much appreciate your help. We always need new helpers so if you feel you could help the Barn only occasionally please contact the Barn office.
If you attended, I hope you enjoyed the Cleeve Singers’ Christmas Concert, which raises money for charity.
I should like to take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.
Eileen Bendrey
Chairman
January Newsletter
Your fees for Spring term are required. For new members we welcome you to the Barn and hope the Spring term brings great events and new projects that await you.
Please use the coffee lounge, we have a few chocolate treats and snacks, with tea, coffee and hot chocolate to tempt you. Please pay cash or take payment to the office. Please leave the kitchen as you find it by replacing 3 chairs to a table. Wash up after using the crockery. If you require the dishwasher for an event, please contact the office to arrange this.
Let me know if you have any suggestions to how the office can support your club.
Hopefully S&FRC will be planning events over the Spring term. Look at the notice boards for information.
1. Office Foyer
2. Back Door Foyer
3. Concorde Hall
4. Jubilee Hall
5. Outside by entry to kindergarten
6. External notice Board S&FRC
Advertise in the Barn News for your club by sending details to dfha_zoe@outlook.com or to Bruce Gibbs.
Follow us on Facebook: Lincombe Barn DFHA- @BarnDFHA
Phone the office 0117 9562367 Bookings on Email: enquiries.dfha@outlook.com
Website: www.downendfolkhouse.org.uk
More members required – Support Lincombe Barn join for £6.00 from March 2026 to August 2026
See the Prospectus for full details of clubs that are running. You will be told on your enquiry if there is available space for this club to attend.
Lost property will be kept for 3 months and disposed of after this period.
Office Manager – Zoe Tanner
Office Manager’s Report for the Spring Term
Hello and welcome to existing members and new ones.
From March 2026 Barn membership will be £6.00 for half a year, please introduce a friend to the Barn. As it is a great way to get out and enjoy company and learn new skills.
The office raffle was a great success at the Christmas Market on 15/11/25 and thank you for all your donations and support to the DFHA. Thank you to Tesco Staple Hill who provided some food and alcohol items for the hampers.
Volunteers
Request for Office volunteers, Maintenance Volunteers.
We also require a Secretary for the S&FRC and Management Secretary.
Please contact the Office Manager for full details, dfha_zoe@outlook.com
The Barn relies on your attendance and the support.
Letters for the clubs will go out to you in January for our planning of 2026-27 terms.
Thank you
Zoe
Office Manager.
Treasurer’s Report
Since the last Barn News, our reserves have continued to fall. At this time of year, we have paid for the annual insurance for the Barn, which is about £11,000, so a small drop is not unexpected. (Actual Figures are always recorded in the monthly Management Meeting minutes).
The Barn is now fully LED – South Glos Council have paid for the lights which we had not previously replaced to be changed to LED (would have cost us about £5,000). This should mean that our ongoing electricity costs should reduce, and replacement of lights should be a rarity.
Our water costs have doubled in the last period, and an exercise to establish whether we have an internal leak has identified that there are no leaks. This means that we are “using” twice as much water as previously. The effect of this would be an extra £1,000 per year. An investigation is underway for a usage recording system in order that we can see when the use is high. Please do not waste water.
There is a need for some (6) of our current doors to be replaced with latest fire standard doors. A price has been quoted (£5,000), and after discussion with the National Lottery advice team, we have submitted a grant application for the total amount. We should know before 12th February. A 50% deposit has been paid to the builder involved.
SOCIAL & FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
We hope you enjoyed the November Speaker Morning presented by Chantel Watts of South Gloucester Citizen’s Advice Bureau. We had about twelve attendees, which is not enough to cover the cost of the speaker. As attendance has been low recently, we have decided to discontinue with the speaker mornings, so December’s event on the 4th was our last one. (Ben Coles and friends on their Ukuleles).
The Christmas Market on the 15th November went very well. It was well attended and the Barn made appx £1,500 profit. Stall holder appreciated all the hard work put in by the committee. Thanks to Christine Bilella and Julia Kennett for doing all the shopping and cooking, also Merle Hosking and Emma Bayley for setting up on the Friday before.
We had a Christmas meal on the 9th of December and on the 13th we had the Cleeve Singers Concert when refreshments were provided.
Unfortunately, the Speaker Morning have been discontinued. We had to stop them through lack of support. We were making a loss and that was not sustainable. We had our last meeting on the 4th of December, when we had a concert put on by the ‘Page Park Ukulele Club’ We were treated to a variety of seasonal songs and melodies, ably led by Ben, who amused us with his anecdotes.
The Social & Fundraising Committee will see if there is an alternative to the Speaker Mornings which might be more attractive to members.
LINCOMBE BARN CAMERA CLUB
A new year looms with, we hope, promise of change and improvement. LBCC will have its usual mix of competitions, presentations and learning events starting with A Taste of Wales on 13th January and continuing with Lost in the Woods on 13th February and The Art of Blur on 24th March as well as our usual competitions. If you feel tempted by one of those presentations, please feel free to come along. We meet at 19.30 on the second fourth and fifth (when there is one) Tuesdays of the month.
Competitions due this spring are on Humorous, and Monochrome. Don’t think that means just black and white, photographs using just one colour, such as blue, are equally acceptable
Like many camera clubs we have been losing members since Covid. As a result, clubs are stretching out to each other to build closer contacts and we are no exception. This is taking the form of both competitive meetings and coming together for guest speakers, a move which has the benefit of helping to off lay the cost. It’s also good for members to make new friendships.
THE CLEEVE SINGERS
Find our website or Facebook page for more information
email: cleevesingers@gmail.com
This term while the singers were busily preparing for the Christmas concert the sad news was received of the passing of three former long-standing members. Thus, as ever, the festive season has brought fond memories of friends no longer with us.
We have been delighted to welcome some new members to our group, including two gentlemen who have added to our harmony. We have also welcomed Naomi Sharp as our new pianist. Naomi’s experience as an accompanist has proved to be invaluable.
We were able to sing in St. Peter’s church at Dyrham on December 6th, despite the fact that a lively breeze was blowing! We did two half hour performances of a selection of our Christmas programme for two appreciative audiences. This year the church was decorated with traditional greenery and red ribbon which contributed to the seasonal atmosphere.
We enjoyed performing at our concert on Saturday December 13th – our first Christmas performance under the leadership of our new musical director: Marysia Gorska-Saj. Marysia who created a programme of music old and new; a reflective opening section followed by a second half full of energy and joy. We are really enjoying being conducted by Marysia and we are benefiting from her endless patience and technical expertise.
By the time you read this article we trust that you will have enjoyed these melodies as part of your Christmas 2025. If you would like to join us, it would be a pleasure to welcome you, so do come along to a rehearsal when they recommence on Wednesday January 14th at 7.30 p.m.
The Cleeve Singers wish you all a peaceful new year.
Nicola Budd
VACANCY
The Barn has a vacancy for a secretary to take notes and produce the minutes for our committee meetings.
We only meet once a month, usually on the 1st Monday at 9.15 am for about an hour or so.
If you might be interested, please contact Zoe at the office on 9562367 for more details.
Your help would be much appreciated.
CROSS STITCH CLUB
Since my last written piece in the Barn News a few of the Club members have been experiencing health problems resulting in a couple of them being hospitalised. Glad to say that one will back soon but Jenny has longer to fully recover. We send her our best wishes.
As usual the stalwart few pulled together and we had plenty of cards on display to sell at the Barn Fair on 15th November. The Barn had plenty of tables displaying a variety of items at bargain prices Unfortunately due to postal charges people seem not to be buying so many cards.
We received sad news of the former leader of the Club Mary via the Barn Office. She was very well liked by the members and travelled some miles to take the class weekly. Mary will be fondly remembered by those present and past members who enjoyed her leadership.
It has been noticed how many members are stitching items for new arrivals. Speedy Ann is stitching a cot throw for a new family member in the New Year. Gwyneth has completed her second birth announcement picture for a gt. grandchild and another announcement picture is being worked by Pat.
As always, when leading up to celebrate this time of Christmas there appears to be sadness and a week ago we heard that our dear Eileen had died. She did some beautiful pictures and was an excellent stitcher.
We have decided to have a meal out in January and have only three more Wednesdays before finishing for Christmas to decide where. One venue has been suggested but not decided upon.
Why not join our Club we really could do with some more members. If you have recently retired, it is good to keep busy, your brain active – yes, you do need to think doing cross stitch and enjoy some company whilst stitching.
Give it a try, learn a new skill, help is on hand for beginners or be a returner wishing to have friendly company.
For details contact the Barn Office on 0117 9562367.
Irene
BARN BRIDGE CLUB
We are just about holding our own. We've lost a few members but also gained some new ones. Although there are about 20 on our books attendance is sometimes low and we need an absolute minimum of 10 to function properly. If anyone has played before and is interested in joining us please contact Yvonne on 0117 9568944 or email rscoulding@googlemail.com
We meet on Wednesday afternoons from 2-4.30 p.m.
Geoff Perrett.
THURSDAY CRAFT GROUP
10am to 11.30am alternate weeks
An informal friendly group.
Various crafts undertaken, paper craft, card making, knitting, crochet, jewellery, crystal art.
Contact office to join us,
new members always welcome.
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY
We have 3 more meetings this term and we are now meeting on a Tuesday afternoon in Jubilee Hall
Tuesday 13th January MEMBERS AFTERNOON
Tuesday 10th February “BIRDS & BEES”” presented by Ray & Pam Gooding.
Visitors Welcome £2
Tuesday 17th March “ORKNEY” Guest presenter HELEN MUGRIDGE
Visitors Welcome £3
Looking Forward to Seeing You – Pam Gooding
CLUB TERM DATES 2026
Spring Friday 2nd January - Friday 27th March 2026
Summer Monday 13th April - Friday 24th July 2026
HALLS AND ROOMS FOR HIRE
Approximate sizes In feet in metres Rates
Ground Floor with Disabled access
Jubilee Hall 45 x 38 14 x 11 £34.80 Per Hour
Jubilee Small Partition £20.75 Per Hour
Jubilee Large Partition £26.45 Per Hour
Concorde Hall 40 x 23.5 12 x 7 £28.00 Per Hour
Page Room 25 x 15 7 x 4.5 £16.65 Per Hour
Grace Room 19 x 15 6 x 4.5 £11.00 Per Hour
First floor with no disabled access
Britannia Room 19 x 16.5 6 x 5 Not Available
Cleeve Room 14 x 14 4 x 4 Not Available
Cleeve Annex 8 x 11 2.5 x 3.5 Not Available
Heath Room 10.5 x 9 3 x 3 Not Available
Tables and Chairs provided
Charge for exclusive use of the kitchen £34.80
To check availability and to book, contact the office manager
Zoe Tanner e-mail enquiries.dfha@outlook.com Tel. 9562367
NEXT EDITION OF THE ‘BARN NEWS’
ISSUE AVAILABLE CUT-OFF DATE
May - August 2026 4th May 2026 10th April 2026
Contributions to the May edition of the ‘Barn News’ are very welcome.
Take this opportunity to advertise your club
Please hand your entries in by e-mail to brucegibbs@talktalk.net
Or hand in to the office by the 10th April.
Make a note in your diaries.