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BOURTON TIMES Issue 25 April 2012 An independent community magazine delivered free of charge to homes and businesses in Bourton on the Water, Clapton on the Hill and Lower Slaughter, with copies also going into Sherborne. It is ‘twinned’ with Stow Times and Moreton Times, and delivered by local volunteers. Being LOCAL is key - the magazine is designed to carry community news, issues and comment, and support local businesses. Articles, letters & information about local events and issues are welcome. THE COFFEE HOUSE NOW OPEN Until 9:00pm TUES ~ SAT From 3rd April 2012 Come & taste one of our freshly cooked meals Including the new Homemade Local Dexter Beef Burgers Our secluded garden is now open so come and enjoy Spring and Easter with us. Please check online for full menu or call in anytime Continental Coffee House & Restaurant Church Street, Stow-on-the Wold 01451-870802 www.thecoffeehousestow.co.uk NUMBER FOUR AT STOW - HONOURED IN THE 2012 TRIPADVISOR TRAVELLERS’ CHOICE HOTEL AWARDS TripAdvisor, Inc. the world’s largest travel website, has revealed that Number Four at Stow is amongst the top 10 hotels in the UK and came out top for service. Caroline and Patricia Lösel were delighted with the award and had no idea they had received one until contacted by the press. “ It was a lovely surprise and shows that our guests, both local and from further afield are looking for value for money along with great service and food. We come from a family of hoteliers and offer ‘old fashioned hospitality’ alongside our great team of staff . “ The award from TripAdvisor is the latest in various industry recognitions – 2 rosettes from the AA guide and the hotel and restaurant are also recommended by the Michelin Guide. Cutler’s Restaurant is becoming well known locally for serving excellent food for lunch and dinner. Lunch for two courses is only £14.50 and is available from Monday to Saturday inclusive. An excellent Sunday lunch menu has various dishes including roast rib of Cotswold beef, roast duck and grilled calves liver. Number Four at Stow, Fosseway, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 1JX Tel: 01451 830297 www.hotelnumberfour.co.uk 2 BOURTON TIMES From the Editor Inside this edition Bringing together such a wide variety of content each month is quite a privilege, and also an eye-opener! In some ways it appears to makes FEATURES the Editor a ‘know all’, like the man in a uniform who stands on a railway platform. A number of people ‘test’ this attribute every month 14, 15 Return of the Vikings – an owl invasion of the Costwolds: words by Will – with mixed results! Masefield of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, photography by Mike Boyes However, of one thing I feel very sure - collecting information about a 16 Local As ward winners – Clarke Antiques and Foxbury Farm shop community is special. Over time a picture evolves, a combination of 27 Diamond Jubilee Celebrations + an opportunity to join in and get involved personal experience and editorial overview – and rather like a random game of I Spy, it produces some interesting questions and answers. 45 ‘Oh to be in England…’ Carole Foster celebrates allotments 46, 47 ‘Lost for Words’ – a short story by Nicholas John Increasingly apparent at the moment is how alarmed and anxious 56 Debt is invisible – researched and written by Carole Foster residents and business people are about… • The sale of local amenities with only a cursory nod towards 62 Back to the 50’s - helping parents with Internet safety consultation by the authorities, leaving people feeling increasingly sure that they are consistently not being given the whole picture; REGULARS • The rush to let developers into our communities, the short-termism 8 Book Reviews from Cotswold Bookstore of grabbing income now at any price. This includes housing as well as care and support in our communities – our towns all have issues 9 Stow Times Writing Competition; Plant a Potato Pot; Faces of Britain here, different in the detail but overall there is the same need for ‘joined-up’ thinking 11,12 Local Government & Community News • Being short-changed by our local authorities and their 24 Youth in Action: Youth Initiatives - changing neighbourhoods representatives - on the whole residents don’t feel represented at district and county level by the people who asked for their votes. 25 Stow Youth Club; Cotswold Life-saving Club There is growing cynicism about local democracy, how it doesn’t 27 Community News seem to be working. 28 Report from Bourton Parish Council In the next few weeks our parish and town councils hold their Annual 29 News from Local Authorities & Associations General Meetings, at which their district and county representatives are due to give their annual reports. These maybe notes taken from 30 Local Church Services the Budgetary Report about how the district/ county is doing; or a 31 Village Halls discussion about how they are representing our interests, which meetings and debates they attended, what reports they have written 32 Local Cinemas and regular events; Bargain prices on Small Ads for our information. 33-36 LOCAL EVENTS and EVENTS DIARY Maybe this is the opportunity to address some uncomfortable issues, 36 Seven Wonders of the Cotswolds ; Walks with the Cotswold Wardens to share with them ‘how it is’, how it feels to live and be in business at the rough end of poor representation, where decisions taken behind 40 Work in Progress – Spring Allotments closed doors. The words we really want to hear are “You are being 41 Correspondence –Care in our Community; Localism. listened to and here is the proof…” 42 Robb Eden – dealing with HMRC Don’t shoot the messenger! 50 - 53 Reports from some of our local Schools Our elected councillors need to know that they have our support to speak strongly and clearly on our behalves; they need to understand 57 - 61 News & Reports from some of the Local Sports Clubs, etc.. local concerns from the community point of view and be confident in 62, 63 Rotary News from N.Cotswold and N.Cotswold Lions gathering public support in order to put forward and debate community issues at a higher level. 65 News & reports from local clubs and societies It doesn’t sound easy or quick. But when you live and work here, is it 66 Clubs, Societies & Associations, etc (this list is updated bi-monthly) important? 67 Local Business Directory Best wishes, Jenni Turner Editor One glance at our Index and you can see this April edition is bustling with an Something to sell? Lost Property? amazing mixture of items sent in and assembled from Stow and over the BARGAIN ADVERTISING RATES in our new SMALL ADS SECTION - open wider North Cotswolds area. It’s been busy in the office too and I have been for any legal advertising (we retain the right not to publish a submission.) Until 15th May (June edition) there is a Special Rate of delighted to have ‘backroom assistance’ from Christabel Hardacre, Jane £0.50p a word (min 13/max 30 words). Gleghorn (who tackled our biggest number of sports articles yet), Jan Marley and a growing number of contributors and correspondents. They have Our next edition is for May - it comes out at the end of April. The enriched this edition, and I hope you will enjoy it. copydate is 15th April 2012.. Our design team this month was Eagle Design Ltd. Telephone Bourton Times on 0845 230 8955 / www.eagledesign.net Extra copies of Bourton Times are generally available at The Motoring 07789 175 002 Museum, Dial House Hotel and the surgery. (The phone will take your messages too – leave your name & Material published in this magazine is copyright; the Editor may give permission for copy to contact number; we will return your call.) be reproduced for some purposes. The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or any member of the team. The magazines are produced email BOURTON TIMES on and delivered almost entirely by volunteers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information printed in the magazine, the Editor/team do not accept any [email protected] responsibility for the consequences of any errors that may occur. www.bourtontimes.co.uk Our Front Cover photograph “Spring – Bourton Cemetery”. P O Box 6, Sheep Street, 03.12©BourtonTimes Stow on the Wold, GL54 1WD 3 Scarfs from £3.50 Costume Jewellery Marshalls of Moreton WE’RE A YEAR OLD! Rob & Julia Marshall would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout our first year of trading Handbags If you have not been in yet Greeting Cards, Helium we are well worth a visit, Balloons, Gift Bags etc our prices are amazing! 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