Here is the December Newsletter for Sessay

Pig Race !! December 9th 6:00 pm Sessay Village Hall

This event sold out last year so please book a ticket to ensure you can join in the fun! “One of the best nights of my life“

You can book your Pig Race ticket via Carole Trow 01845 501141 or email or Dennis Ayling 01845 501202 or email. £5 per adult / £1 for children. £6 on the door, no guarantee of supper! Adults get Pie and Pea supper; please state if vegetarian pie required on booking. Children get a hot dog. All proceeds to the Village Hall Refurbishment.

Doors and Bar from 6:00 pm First Race 6:30 pm

There are many ways to get involved:

You can become a Owner for £5 – buy a pig in advance from any of the affiliated hall user groups held through the month. SOLD OUT!

You can Own a pig for Race 7 if don’t belong to an affiliated club or if their club has sold those allocated to them contact Carole Trow 01845 501141 or email

Finally you can BID in an auction to Own a pig in Race 8 on the night!

You can also BET on a pig in each race – £1 a bet. Bring lots of change!!

Christmas Tree Festival

We would love as many people as possible to enter a tree in the Festival – it is great fun and a wonderful opportunity to get together as a community over Christmas. Trees can be real or artificial, any size, decorated in any style or theme you like, and lit (with any
British standard bulbs and 3 amp plug). Extension cables and help with assembly will be provided!

There are 3 categories :
Individual Adults, Clubs / Societies, Children under 14

The children’s category is not competitive and every entry will be awarded a prize.
Trees need to be in place by teatime on Friday 15th December and church will be open on
Thursday 14th from 6 – 7 pm and Friday 15th from 3-4 pm for setting up.
The official Opening of the Festival and Grand Switch-On – which is always spectacular –
will be on Friday 15th December at 7.00 pm with the Rev. David Biggs.
There will be wine and nibbles, and a chance to natter and vote for your favourite trees.
The winners will be announced at our Carol Service on Sunday 17th at 4pm
and the trees can be taken home afterwards.
Donations will be welcome and will go towards the redecorating of our beautiful and much-valued church.
Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you.

Entry Form – please post completed forms by December 1st to;
P Jeffray at 2 Sessay Garth, Sessay or email. She needs to know Your name, which category, a title for the tree, approx height, your address and a phone number.
Any queries please ring Phyllis on 01845 501323 or Sue Thorne on 01845 501554.

Sessay Stitchers – A new group for the New Year

Do you enjoy knitting, crocheting, dressmaking, patchwork, weaving, embroidery, cross stitch, felting or any other craft involving fibres/textiles ? Would you like to gather with other people who are interested and supportive of what you are doing ? In the Sessay Stitchers group you could get an opinion on what you are making, receive encouragement if you are a beginner, or you could just chat and have company as you stitch, knit, hook etc. Although there wouldn’t be a leader or ‘teacher’ of the group, we are sure to learn from each other at times.

If you are interested in gathering with other stitchers in Sessay Village Hall, e-mail Kay,

We think that Tuesday afternoons would be a good time to meet, but the first gathering only will be Thursday 11th January 2024, 6pm – 8pm. Of course it’s fine just to turn up even if you haven’t e-mailed first.

The fee for the hire of the hall will be £10.00 for a couple of hours, shared amongst the group that would be a very small cost. Not everyone will see this notice, so please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to start or who already loves any fibre related craft.

Whether you are an expert, a complete beginner or anything in between, if you’d like friendly, informal company when making anything fibre based – we look forward to hearing from you.

Sessay Cricket Club News

Annual Cricket Dinner

Last month we hosted our annual cricket dinner- it was a lovely event with lots of players and members securing trophies for their cricketing ability and performances as well as our volunteers for their endless work. The winners of the various awards were:
1st XI batting: Diego Rosier, 1st XI bowling: Ben Kettlewell, 1st XI emeralds batting: Adriana Darlow, 1st XI emeralds bowling: Jas Passman, 2nd XI batting: Stu Clark, 2nd XI bowling: Lee Margerison, 2nd/3rd XI emeralds batting: Kiera Clements-Bryne, 3nd/3rd XI emeralds bowling: Nancy Bramall-Smith, 3rd XI batting: Darren Atkinson, 3rd XI bowling: Luke Burnett, Under 19’s Emeralds batting: Trudy Johnson, Under 19’s Emeralds bowling: Georgi Houseman, Men’s catching: Mark Jackson, Emeralds catching: Olivia Kibler, Men’s fielding: Stephen Langstaff/Dom Atkinson, Emeralds fielding: Clare Fairclough. Most Improved male: Dom Atkinson, Most Improved Emeralds: Jess England, Brian Cooper outstanding performance: Isaac Wager, Derek Watson Unsung Hero: Rachael Langstaff, Sidney Till clubperson of the year: John Flintoff.

Other News

We have now launched our brand-new website for the cricket club. Find it HERE. There is an option at the bottom of the homepage to sign up for our cricket club newsletter which has lots of news, information, photos, and exclusive offers. Please do sign up if you would like to keep up to date and support us. The November issue saw lots of photos of our cricket dinner as well as the first Emeralds winter training session.

Our new till system for the bar is going live on Friday 8th December. Rachael Langstaff will be on the bar throughout the night, so any villagers who usually run the Friday bar- please come down and she can show you how the new system works. Rachel promises it is even easier than its predecessor.

The club is also starting its exploration of new sponsors for the club. Part of this process will be tidying up the boards which are currently on the fence to ensure all sponsorship boards are the same size and standard. This will make it a much more aesthetically pleasing view for all. If you would be interested in sponsoring our club, we have lots of information on our new website or alternatively email here and we can send you our new 2024 sponsorship brochure.

Finally, we would like to wish everyone in Sessay Village a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you in 2024!

Ladies Darts

The Darts season is imminent. There are confirmed matches on November 8th, Feb 14th & 28th and March 13th with more possible. These are all Wednesday and the Bar will be open too between 8 and 10pm.

Darts Christmas Charity Night Friday 22nd December.

More to follow on this one, but the Charity is Sessay Village Hall.

New Years Eve

The Sessay Village Bar will be open on New Years Eve if enough people are interested. The evening is planned to be a gentle social evening leading up to Midnight! One thought to help the evening flow, you might like to bring an ‘act’ to join in with the traditional feel of a ceilidh. This might be a song, a joke, a poem, a tune on a guitar, a story or something else to entertain (no pressure). Everyone to bring a plate of food to share. Please let Dennis know if you think you will come. 01845 501202 or email.

Planned Events at the Village Hall

Comedy Night is being planned for Wednesday February 7th.

Also a Family Quiz Night and the next Scarecrow Festival in May are being talked about.

Any other business

Sub Committee Future Fund Raising

A new sub committee is being formed to co-ordinate future fund raising events to allow more people to join in without having to endure the full committee meeting of the Trust. It promises to be fun and lively. New ideas very welcome! First meeting is planned for December 5th in the Village Hall Bar at 7:00 pm (Bar will be open – you get the tone!).

Christmas Fair

Well it was a busy but great day as the Village Hall opened its doors for its Christmas Fair . For all that came despite the weather I’ve yet to meet anyone who did not enjoy it. A total of £840 was raised ( up on last year’s efforts ) to go towards the refurbishment of our Village Hall. So huge thanks to all that gave their time and efforts to making it such a success. A special thanks to Doreen and Carole who gave so much of their time along with the ladies who manned the refreshment bar – Phyllis, Heather, Judith, the two Sue’s, and Bethan who did a sterling job keeping everyone watered and fed. Thanks too to Lisa for all the work she did on her stall. I went round at the end of the day and thanked all the stall holders who said they enjoyed their time with us would be happy to come back. So another good day for the village.
~ Dennis Ayling

Village Hall Refurbishment

Refurbishment has started and stopped! The builders are waiting for engineers report on suitable reinforcement over the soak-away revealed by the initial digging. It is expected that the main hall and bar area will continue to be in use throughout, apart from a couple of days when doors will be removed/moved/created! Access to the kitchen and toilets will be maintained too. For now the entrance to the Hall will be through the double doors to the back of the hall where there is a ramp for easy access.

Sessay Community Trust has a meeting on January 4th. Minutes can be found here.

Sessay Community Trust AGM is February 5th at 7:30 in the Village Hall

Sessay Village Bar

Every Friday 7:30pm

This will include the Darts Charity night on Dec 22nd, but not Dec 29th – see New Years Eve above. December 8th training on new Till system.

Keep up to date for last minute changes via Sessay Village Bar Facebook page.

Regular Events at the Village Hall

Sessay Indoor Bowls Club

Tuesdays 7:15. All are welcome. Sessay have two mats and there will always be one mat open for visitors and practice on Tuesday nights in the Village Hall, except for maybe a couple of nights later in the season. 7:15pm for a 7:30 start. The club has two teams playing in local leagues again this year.

December 6th

Sessay WI 2:00 pm Christmas at Sandringham – Mr Colin Alderson. Competition – Old Postcard.

Find the full WI Programme here

December 10th

St Cuthbert’s Church 10.30 – Morning Prayer and coffee afterwards.

December 11th

Hearts And Crafts Class 10:00. Classes vary each week. £2 entry. The class is currently heavily subscribed. Resources and Artists time is limited. If you’ve been before please keep coming. If you would like to start coming, then please contact Carole Trow by Email, and ask to go on a waiting list.

More about Rural Arts classes here.

December 12th

Tuesday Club -Christmas Dinner – The Angel at Topcliffe, 12:00 for 12:30

Find the full Tuesday Club programme here.

December 15th

St Cuthbert’s Church 7pm. The Grand Opening of the Christmas Tree Festival and
switch-on of the lights by Rev David Biggs. A chance to enjoy wine and savouries and
vote for your favourite tree. Donations towards the redecoration of the Church would
be most welcome
Saturday 16th December 10am – 4pm The Church will be open to admire the trees and
vote for your favourite.
Sunday 17th December at 4pm. Carol service with Rev Pauline Percy in the
Church, during which the results of the Christmas Tree Competition will be announced.
Trees may be removed after the service for you to enjoy at home.

December 18th

Rural Arts Class 10:00. Classes vary each week. £2 entry. The class is currently over subscribed. Resources and Artists time is limited. If you’ve been before please keep coming. If you would like to start coming, then please contact Carole Trow by Email, , and ask to go on a waiting list.

December 24th Christmas Eve

St Cuthbert’s Church 4 pm Crib service with Rev Pauline. Always a popular service
for families, with lots of child participation.

25th December Christmas Day

St Cuthbert’s Church 9am Christmas Day Celebration service with Holy Communion
and Rev Pauline.

December 30th

Community Café – Come and Join us for Tea, Coffee, Cake and a natter. Bring a neighbour.