Articles

All the members of Illston on the Hill WI enjoyed a thoroughly delightful last meeting of 2025. We were treated to a fantastic papercraft workshop led by our very talented member, Hazel Cave. Hazel had clearly put in a great deal of time and effort preparing an impressive range of projects for us to make.  They included Christmas crackers, designer parcel wrapping, charming tree decorations and several other creative items, ensuring there was something for everyone to enjoy.

The choir have been in full festive force bringing joy to the school and local community during several Christmas performances. They kicked off with a special singing assembly for the whole school where all the adults and children sang along. They especially loved an energetic rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas!

On Friday 5 December the large wooden door of St Andrews Church, Burton Overy, swung open to welcome people from far and wide to another spectacular Christmas Tree Festival. There were 57 Trees, beautifully decorated and lit. With titles like ‘Hats off to Christmas’, ‘A Jacobean Christmas’, ‘Upcycled’ and ‘Fairy Nuff’, there was something for everyone.

On Sunday 14 December Kilby neighbours and friends got together to celebrate Christmas. This year, this annual event was held at the home of Tony and Kathy Kilsby.

Our youngest player is 8 years old, and the oldest is 76, so age is only a small barrier to having a go at table tennis. Your first session is free, including the coaching on Wednesday nights from 7pm (beginners) and 7.45pm (improvers) with free play from 8.30 - 9.30pm.

After a very successful year 2024-2025 we were able to present three local charities with a substantial amount of money to help with their much needed work.

As we step into the New Year, everyone at our charity would like to wish our community a very happy and healthy 2026. We hope you all enjoyed a peaceful and restful Christmas break with family, friends and loved ones.

Many residents have contacted me over the years about the safety of the Church Road and New Road junctions with the A6 in Kibworth. Like many of you, I’m frustrated that despite repeated promises, these junctions remain dangerous and nothing has been done to fix them.

For the history and film buffs we have a talk entitled ‘Zulu and the Battle of Rorke’s Drift’ on Tuesday 3February at 7.30pm. How true to life, or not, was the depiction of this famous battle in the film Zulu?

I am Steve Taylor and an 8th degree black belt in Taekwon-do. I started training in 1977 and got my black belt in 1983, one year later I started teaching in Oadby where my classes soon reached 100 students per night. In 1988 I moved to Kibworth and shortly after opened a club in Kibworth Village Hall. Taekwon-do is a Korean military martial art comprising of self defence including against knives etc. Sparring, patterns and destruction.