Copy for the next edition should be given to Roger or Vanessa by midnight on 15thJulyplease.
Paper submissions can be left in the box in the Church
If you normally prepare your material using a computer, it would make my life easier ifyou could submit your offering in electronic form. The ‘official’ e-mail address is: news-editor @ oxhill.org.uk if you wish to send me stuff that way.
This edition (488)
edited by Vanessa Druce & Roger Goodman
Cover Picture
The Sugababes of Oxhill - Ali, Gaynor and Karen
Contributions to the Oxhill News
The News is what we make it!
The editors would welcome any pictures, photographs, drawings, poems, puzzles, recipes, announcements or items of local news for possible inclusion in The Oxhill News.
Please emailnews-editor @ oxhill.org.ukor place paper contributions in the box labelled ‘The Oxhill News’ in the Church.
August Issue
The copy deadline will be the 15thof each month, this is necessary due to the external printing of the News.
Please can you ensure all copy is sent to us by midnight on 15thJuly 2014 for the next edition –news-editor @ oxhill.org.uk A box labelled ‘The Oxhill News’ has been placed in the Church for any paper based contributions.
Roger & Vanessa
Mobile Library
The library van has books withlarge print, ordinary print, picture books, children's books, paperbacks, non-fiction, novels, sagas, crime, mysteries, adventures, westerns and romance. The van also has talking books, cassettes and CDs.
The library van will continue to visit Oxhill every 3rd Friday, stopping at the Village Hall at 2:30pm and staying there for 30 minutes.
This monththe van will visit us on Friday 17th at 2:30pm.
You can renew books between van visits by calling 01926 851031, or online at www.Warwickshire.gov.uk/wild.
Refuse Collections
Recycling and green waste bins (blue and green bins) will be collected on Tuesdays 14th and 28th.
The grey rubbish bins will be collected on Tuesday 7th and 21st.
Weekday Walkers
Weekday Walkers usually walks on the 2nd and 4th Friday's of the month.
If you are interested in joining or to find information, pleasecontact Jim Saxton on 01295 680645 or
at saxton @ talktalk.net.
At the Peacock
Village Events
The village coffee morning is on Wednesday 1st July at 10:30am and the village lunch is on Wednesday 15th July at 12:30pm.
Welcoming the newest resident in Oxhill
“Jo and Mike with baby Milo, the latest new arrival in Oxhill, born in April”
Carers4Carers
Friday July 24th at Kineton Village Hall, 10.30 - 12 noon.
We have no speaker this month so more time for talking, mutual support etc. Please let us know if you would like to bring the person you care for, as we can look after them in our Companionship Group.
For more details, including help with transport,
please phone 07947 893504 or visitwww.carers4carersonthefosse.org.uk
or our Facebook page.
Thank you,
Gala Weekend
We hope everyone who supported the Oxhill Gala Weekend were able to enjoy this first attempt to try a joint event which was a bit different from last year's event and in spite of the weather. (A game of cricket did happen after the rain stopped.)
We would like to thank all who helped over the weekend, to Jill and Colin for letting us use the chapel for teas and the Sunday lunch, also Janet Gardner for the use of the field, to the Peacock for the live music on Friday night and for sourcing and cooking the salmon for the Sunday lunch, to Gaynor Fila and all who helped with preparing and serving the teas on Saturday. Derek did a great job with the gammon and with auctioning cakes and salmon on Sunday and also a thanks to the ladies who cooked and served the Sunday lunch and to all the helpers who laid up and set tables. To Stuart for his enthusiasm to carry it all out and was there with other helpers to fetch and carry when needed. It truly was a joint event. Thank you every one.
We were sorry to have to cancel the planned disco/band evening due to lack of numbers. Maybe we will try again next year.
Oxhill PCC and Village Hall Committee
Harvest Festival
The church harvest celebration will be on Sunday, September 27th. in the form of an evening service and we hope to have the Festival Choir to help sing the lovely Harvest hymns. There will be more details in September issue.
On Saturday 26th September we are planning a Harvest Barn Dance in Bill Fox's barn. A Proper Barn dance in a Proper Barn! Last year's event was enjoyed by many who have indicated they would support us again so please make a note in your diary.
Notice of the forthcoming concert in Church on July 10th is already circulating. Look forward to a good turnout for the popular Carice Singers.
Carol Fox
Village Hall Events
Forthcoming Events
Coming next
Boules Day – Sunday 19 July
The annual Boules Tournament is perfect for everyone to take part. Played for the Gardner’s Cup, the event will be rounded off with authentic French pates, cheeses, breads, salads, dessert and beverages. We take precautions to ensure it can take place whatever the weather and you don't have to come in teams; we can do that for you!
The event kicks off at 12.30pm and tickets, which can be obtained from Tricia Harbour on 680676, are £8 per person and children (up to age of 12) free. The cost covers the food and entry to the competition.
Oxhill v Tysoe cricket match – Sunday 29 August
Kevin Pietersen is otherwise engaged and Andy Flower gives his apologies, but the cream of Oxhill’s cricketing talent are certainly looking forward to taking on Tysoe again, and this time it’s revenge!
Coming soon…
Progressive Supper - Saturday 12 September
Put the date in your diary for this year’s Progressive Supper when households welcome one another into their homes for a night of home cooking and entertaining. A great way to get know your fellow villagers. More details in the next Oxhill News.
Village Market - Saturday 19 September
After last year’s successful village market, showcasing local and other produce and crafts, it’s a welcome return. Details next edition.
The Mark Harrison Band-
supported by Robyn Johnson - Friday 30 October
More live music in the village hall courtesy of our own impresario, Pat Crowther. A night of blues and folk with surprisingly good acoustics in our intimate village hall.
Alas the Shakespeare Bike Ride Returns!
Oxhill again welcomes The Great Shakespeare Ride 2015, on Sunday 16 August.
Cyclists will make their way through Oxhill as part of the The Great Shakespeare Ride.
The ride is in aid of The Shakespeare Hospice and attracts hundreds of cyclists every year from all over the country. The event raises around £35,000 to help provide care and support to families in need of hospice care in South Warwickshire and the North Cotswolds.
Starting from Stratford Manor Hotel at 9am, the ride also offers longer sportive distances of 100 miles and 100 kms for more proficient cyclists who are looking to test their legs on our challenging hills. The much flatter 40 mile route was introduced for the first time in 2014, to give beginner or less experienced cyclists the chance to take part in a mass cycling event while supporting and raising sponsorship for their local hospice.
To join in the cycling experience visit www.thegreatshakespeareride.org.uk to sign up!
As part of the 40 mile route there will be a feed stop at Oxhill Village Hall to give the cyclists energy for their next stint!
As well as looking for cyclists, we are looking for volunteers to help on the day.
Firstly, we need people to make and serve sandwiches (ingredients will be provided), cakes and drinks. If you can help with the catering or by providing a cake, please contact Tricia Harbour on 680676.
Secondly, we need people to marshal on the route to help keep the cyclists safe. If you can help in this way, please contact Lily on 01789 266852 to find out more.
Church Service Times
St. Lawrence Oxhill
All are warmly invited to our services
Sunday 5th - Trinity V
9:30 a.m. Parish Communion (ML)
Sunday 12th - Trinity VI
9:30 a.m. Morning Worship (JT)
Sunday 19th - Trinity VII
9:30 a.m. Parish Communion (George Warner)
Sunday 26th - Trinity VIII
9:30 a.m. Family Communion (NM)
For details of other services in the Benefice please see the list in Church or telephone the clergy.
From the Parish Registers
Furnerals:
Remembered with thanksgiving
May 17th - Joseph Wright
May 21st - Eileen Gedge
Vicarage Notes
Dear friends,
Despite the weather, everyone enjoyed the summer the and salmon lunch held over the village weekend by the Village Hall and Church fundraising teams. Well done to all who worked hard to make the event a great success!
St.Lawrence’s has received the faculty for the redecorating of the interior and huge thanks must go to Nadia Macall who’s taking on responsibility for the project.
Ancient and Modern
We are fortunate enough to enjoy a mixture of old favourites and more modern poetry in our hymnbook. Some of the new material is easy to use with familiar tunes, but some have complex metres. There are many hymnbooks published today and browsing through Hymns of Glory – I read these words
Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently
Nourish the life of the world in our care:
Gifts of great wonder, ours to surrender,
Trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
The hymn goes on to remind us that we are stewards of creation – do we leave a blessing for the future, or …?
It’s good that today’s churches are often in the forefront of working for the future, with the possible exception of when we heat old buildings that were never designed to be heated!
Best Wishes & God bless,
Nicholas Morgan
01608 685230
braileschurch @ gmail.com
Salmon Lunch
Salmon lunch in the Old Chapel for the Gala Weekend
Deanery News
As we come to the end of another busy year, time to rest and enjoy the summer so you are warmly invited to a Shipston Deanery:
Garden Party
On Saturday, August 15thbetween 3.00 and 5.00pm at The Old House, Oxhill.
Gifts of cakes would be much appreciated
Jill and Colin Tucker, 01295 688193
Any donations will be used to support parish ministry
in some of the most financially deprived parts of our Diocese.
I hope you enjoy supporting all the many summer events at our beautiful churches, in our wonderful villages in the next couple of months. With my thanks, prayers and love for all that you are and have given to the Deanery this year.
If you are concerned about our world and our environment, can I urge you to consider:
‘Reconciling a Wounded Plant’
Friday 18th – Saturday 19th September 2015 at Coventry Cathedral.
A two day conference where Christians will come together to consider ‘stories of hope’ in the midst of the growing environmental crisis that the world is experiencing.
Details on 'www.reconcilingawoundedplanet.com ‘
Blessings, Jill
Vintage Motorcycles complete the Banbury Run
Photos by Mick Shephard
Come & Sing this Autumn -
The Benefice Choir
Those of you who enjoy singing, and have taken part in the joint Benefice Choir over the last year, might like to know some of the special services we are planning this Autumn and Christmas, which we very much hope you can be part of. This year practices will be held on a WEDNESDAY, at 7.30pm, in Oxhill Chapel, as before: hopefully you can get to at least some of them.
Harvest Festivals:it would be wonderful if some were available to sing at the Harvest Festivals in Whatcote and Oxhill:
Whatcote: Sunday September 20th, 6.30pm
Oxhill: Sunday September 27th, 6.30pm.
If you are to sing at one or both of those (music will be much the same), rehearsals will be on:
Wednesday, September 9th
Wednesday, September 16th
both 7.30pm in The Old Chapel, Oxhill
(plus an informal refresher rehearsal if needed)
Advent Sunday:November 29th, is also the 5thSunday of the month and therefore a United Benefice Service. As well as music for Advent, therefore, we hope to be able to learn the hauntingly beautiful and very simple ‘Shipston Mass’ written for us by Julian Harris. (And hopefully continue to use it at U.B. Services in the future.)
United Benefice Service for Advent Sunday, 11.00am, Tysoe.
Rehearsals will be:
Wednesday, November 4th
Wednesday, November 11th,
Wednesday, November 18th
Wednesday, November 25th,
all at 7.30 pm in The Old Chapel.
Christmas:once again we are invited to sing at both Oxhill and Tysoe Carol Services:
Oxhill Carol Service, Thursday, December 17th7.30 pm
Tysoe Carol Service, Sunday, December 19th, 6.00 pm.
Rehearsals will be as follows, continuing on from the Advent ones:
Wednesday, December 2nd
Wednesday, December 9th
Wednesday, December 16th,
all at 7.30 pm in The Old Chapel.
Hope you can join us, and we look forward to a great Autumn of music!
Jill Tucker
Farewell
It has come to mind since reading of the death of Grenville’s father that in a little over a year we have also ‘lost’ a larger number than usual of the ‘older rocks’ on which the modern village was founded. (Notwithstanding that there were Normans, Tudors and Victorians before this time!) So I thought that this was an appropriate way to pay tribute to them by writing a little about them for readers of the Oxhill News.
Some older residents have died, as we know, but a number have gone from us having found it increasingly difficult to manage to cope in their own well-loved homes. All contributed greatly to the enhancement of village life and should be remembered with gratitude by us all.
Those who have died are maybe better known as there have been recent Funerals in the Church and Crematorium:
Bert Norton,Grenville has written about his father so all I have to add is that he was very well respected when he was landlord of the Peacock for 20 years.
Jessie Sinclair,Burland Farm, before Springfield, Main Street, where she not only raised eight children by managed to help on the farm, be Chair of the WI and be a very faithful member of the Catholic Church.
Bill Day,The Old Post Office (an original Crook House), was Postmaster for many years before the office moved over the road to Binswood Cottage and later closed for good.
Maurice Illston,Late of the Sett. Sadly I knew little of him except when seeing him struggle about in the village on two sticks.
Nancy Parker Smith,Whitehill House, was, with her husband Parker (retired Chairman of HP Sauce) simply the best and most generous, Oxhill has ever produced. Can anyone forget Parker as Father Christmas, and how anonymously he provided the wine for many village events?
And those who have left us to be cared for elsewhere. Many nearer family members.
David Whaley,The Old Rectory. A retired aeronautical engineer – involved in the early days of the jet engine, was a churchwarden and for many years chairman of the Village Hall committee.
Marianne Swann, Cornerways. Widow of an eminent obstetrician, who on the death of her first husband, and also a fiancé in the RAF, joined the VAD to drive an ambulance in the London Blitz. She always opened her lovely garden for village charities and made her drive and kitchen available for all events requiring ‘teas’.
Gwen Hyatt,1 The Leys, was clever enough (along with two of her sisters) to attain the splendid landmark of 100 years (and now more) before she left us. Her trips up and down the lane with a succession of tiny dogs will be well remembered by many.
Doris Roll,The Bungalow. She and her husband, Reg, had their house built and she was active in a number of ways until extreme deafness made life difficult for her. I often wondered if driving a crane to demolish bombed buildings in Birmingham during the war, contributed to her deafness!
Tom Fox,Kirby Farm. A really well-known character to us all is now in The Manor, Kineton. Who could ever forget his performance as a fairy in the Oxhill Pantomime, of many years ago? (Why is this no more?) Not able any longer to help with the pig roasts, I am sure he would appreciate visits to add to those of his very caring family.
Doreen Neal,Forge Bungalow. Las, but far from very least. I write with a heavy heart to say that all too recently, as Doreen was having increasing difficulty coping, she has gone to live near Andrew, her son, in Dorset. After farms in Chesterton and Whatcote, she and Tom moved to the Hollies and then to the Forge Bungalow. Doreen loved everybody and everybody loved her. What better tribute can I give? She is already sorely missed.
It is no good leaving this page without mentioning two much younger residents who left us far too prematurely this last year although this is primarily to record the ‘Golden Oldies’.
Ruth Gibson,who died just a year ago tomorrow, as I write on June 17th, and Joyce McKail. Much was written about them at the time, but I hope I can add on a personal note to say Ruth was simply the best friend and neighbour for 30 years anyone could have, and Joyce a true five-star friend. Rest in peace both of you.
Myrtle Knight
PS: Please forgive any errors, I am very far from infallible
History comes to life
We all know some of Oxhill's history, for example the Battle of Edgehill in 1642, the Church of St Lawrence which has been here since the 1200s, and the turbulent times that have occurred over the centuries.
For me, it is rare to be confronted by the past, but it happened recently when an email arrived at the Oxhill News from Jim Walton. Jim lives in Philadelphia and has been busy tracing his ancestry, and had reached the stage where he wanted to visit Oxhill, the village of his forebears.
We met with Ann Hale who told us that three Waltons were christened at St Lawrence's in 1662. They were Nathaniel, Daniel and a sister, Hester as shown in the baptism register.
It turns out that Jim's great great great great great great great grandfather left Oxhill in the 1680s , heading for the New World. The four Waltons who left for America were Nathaniel, Daniel and two other brothers, Thomas and William.
Jim thinks his present house in Philadelphia is situated on the site of the first Walton house built in the 1680s.
Ann gave us information about the Waltons, their graves and likely site of their home in Oxhill. She also told us that the font was ousted from the church in 1817 and used for a time as a flower pot (at Ettington Park: the Shirley family being then the patrons of the church), until Mr Evelyn Shirley kindly restored it to the church in 1879.
Jim, pictured here was delighted to reconnect with his past and to find they came from such a lovely village.
Roger Goodman
Cantamus Concert in Blockley
A concert to raise funds for the church of St. Peter and St. Paul Blockley (the venue for the popular "Father Brown" TV series) will be held on Saturday 4th July at 7.30.p.m. The concert features CANTAMUS, a chamber choir based in Shipston and the North Cotswolds, with several members from Blockley itself who are delighted to be performing in their own village. The Cantamus repertoire is almost entirely unaccompanied and ranges from English and European madrigals to music from the 21st century; from the challenging to the disarmingly simple, and from the deepest tingle-factor to the utterly frivolous. The Blockley programme features the wonderful new programme - THE PARISH NEWS - which describes the year and life of a church (including the Bishop's Visit, and the Gossips' Corner) in music both sacred and secular, and through witty and apposite readings interspersed among the music by professional actors THREE'S COMPANY.
Tickets cost £10 per head (including drinks and nibbles), and can be obtained from David Artingstalldavidartingstall@hotmail.com
tel 01386 701556,
or from Blockley Shop and Cafe.
Come to the Kineton Farmers Market
TheKineton Farmers Market is one of the very few local markets that support local producers, especially organic foods with minimal food. And the market is run by volunteers.
Kineton Farmers Market will be held on Saturday 11th July and Saturday 12th September from 10:00-12:30 in the Market Square, Kineton.
WOT2Grow - Community Orchard
Flaming June did not live up to its reputation! But the orchard is coping with the range of weather and was grateful when the rain arrived as everything was beginning to look a bit dry.
The Bee Team have been busy making more frames for the hives and have installed a third hive of bees. They bees settling in and the sensory garden, which is looking truly splendid, is a first stopping point for food before they move further afield.
The Sensory Garden
The first summer foliar spray of garlic and seaweed has been done across the orchard and a big batch of comfrey has been set to steep in water for a nutritious liquid feed for the coming months. The gooseberries yet again are showing signs of mildew so the milk sprays have been started which smother the fungus causing the mildew and are pretty effective.
As always aphids are present in the trees and bushes but we do have quite a lot of ladybirds who will help our fight as well as the squashing method which is messy but effective! This year we have some red currant blister aphid which turn parts of the leaves red and are little yellow aphids rather than black or green. The red currants are cropping so heavily we have had to introduce a support system!
There are plenty of apples set on a wide range of trees but the “June Drop” will sort out the weak ones and we will thin some of the larger clusters so the branches are not too heavily laden. Lots of other trees have fruit set including some greengages, it will be interesting to see if we manage to harvest them all this year.
The orchard is looking good but that is because a few people work hard to maintain it. Why not give a little of your time to ensure it stays in good order and to benefit from the produce. In any event do come along and enjoy the tranquillity and the wildlife.
Liz Atkinson (680045), Paul Sayer (680451), Sue and Mike Sanderson (688080)
The Carice Singers
Director - George Paris
In concert in the Old Chapel, Oxhill
Friday, July 10th, at 7:30pm.
Magical Summer for a Summer's Evening
Drinks and Nibbles
Tickers £10 each from
Carol Fox (01295 680223)
Jill Tucker (01295 688193)
or on the door.
In aid of St Lawrence Church, Oxhill.
Lost
A very precious, though very old, cotton jacket. Pale blue with an applique pattern of pansies. Have I left it at your house? I do hope so, as I miss it so much.
Mrytle Knight