Sibford Scene Archive

Last night was SUPERB. You were brilliant, the set was brilliant, everyone was brilliant. The movie was fantastic. I haven’t had such a good evening in ages. I was so impressed. Thank you everyone; I came down from London rather tired and down from treating unhappy adolescents and dealing with social services, I didn’t really want to go out again. But I’m so glad I did. SUCH a tonic. I feel happy again!
Julie

I should like to supplement any dramatic critique of the marvellous Sibford Players production of Murdered to Death with a comment on the often-unsung element of the production; the behind-the-scenes efforts. From the fairy lights that welcomed us, the hospitality of the ‘Green Room’, the raked seating, set painting, lighting and filmed interlude. All must have taken a great deal of thought and time to produce. 

As soon as the curtains opened, I was struck by the white set and the incredibly simple detail; clearly designed to enhance the ‘Cluedo’ coloured costumes of the cast and the importance of the paintings hung on the walls. The stage lighting was used to full effect including the spot light that drew our attention to the murder weapon. Finally, the film sequence which is becoming a staple of these productions. This in itself must have taken a great deal of time and thought and added greatly to the entertainment of the audience. Well done to everyone involved, this will be a hard act to follow.
Keith

I just wanted to say how brilliant the play was tonight. Every single one of you was brilliant and funny and looked like you were having such fun up there which is what it’s all about. I am sooooo impressed that you have put it all together and done so well. I love the set (amazing Sandra!) and your different characters and the movie. Well done Jo and Vanessa! Well done everyone!
Juliette

In the great storm the old ash tree
That you had so admired when you bought this house
Fifty years ago, blew down.
It must have been forty feet and two hundred years old.
We remembered your love of it
As it lay prostrate across the garden
And suddenly a great view appeared
In the hills beyond, towards the sunset.

Bill, the farmer at Temple Mill, cut it up
Whose grandma had been born in our house.
And played beneath its shade.
Now all that is left
Is a massive stump
And a log table in the orchard

And we remember you as we sit by the fire
Warm in its embrace.

Oswyn Murray, February 2024

Lady Day is celebrated on the 25 March each year – exactly nine months before Christmas Day, to commemorate the Feast of the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her she had been blessed and chosen by God to conceive and give birth to His Son. 

Lady Day was also the traditional day on which year-long caontracts between landownersd and tenant farmers would begin and end in England (although there were regional variations). Farmers’ time of “entry” into new farms and onto new fields was often on this day and farming families who were changing farms would travel from the old farm to the new one on Lady Day. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar by Britain in 1752 it was also known as the beginning of each New Year. Lady Day was the first of the Quarter Days when rent became due to their landlords by tenant farmers, servants were hired and school terms started. The Quarter Days were approximately 3 months apart and were close to the two solstices and equinoxes. Accounts had to be settled and unresolved law suits and debts were not allowed to linger on. 

In medieval times the Cistercian Monks at Holwell Grange in Swalcliffe (now known as The Old Grange) held land adjacent to that owned by the Knights Templar in Sibford. Frequent disputes arose between the two Orders as to the cultivation of their lands. On Lady Day in 1242 an agreement was signed between the Abbot and convent of Bruern and the brothers of the Knights of the Temple at Jerusalem. The monks stated that they would either cultivate their land between Holwell Grange and the eastern field at Sibford or let it lie fallow simultaneously with the Templars. This agreement ended the often-aggressive disputes between the two Orders.