Appleford Community Project would like to thank all supporters of the fete and gratefully acknowledge; District Council Rail Centre Pendon Museum FCC Environment Neater Dry Cleaners, Didcot GWR

Page 16 Page 1 APPLEFORD FETE 15 TH JUNE 2019

This is a special country fair to celebrate the 175 TH anniversary of the opening of Brunel’s railway line from Didcot to . Appleford fete is the village’s contribution to the anniversary celebrations.

The Appleford Community Project are pleased to welcome you to this special fete. We've been grateful to have the support of the Appleford Railway Group to help organise this fete and we very much hope you will enjoy all aspects of the fete, but especially those relating to the railway celebrations. It has been interesting to read about the history of Appleford and the train service, put together by Chris Owen, and to realise how influential the train has been in the development of Appleford as a community.

We have lots of stalls with good opportunities for shopping and eating! There are displays from the surrounding area, be sure to look at Sylva and the display about their Saxon house project and the Wessex way that passes through Appleford. Don't miss the model trains brought by Pendon Museum. No Appleford fete would be complete without a traction engine or two; we are very pleased to have two on the field.

We have been grateful for the financial support from both the Vale of White Horse District Council and Great Western Railways for this celebration. We are raising funds to support community activities in Appleford. The free Firework display (this year 8 November) is one of our big commitments. Over the past BUS TIMETABLE & ROUTE four years the Parish Council have permitted us to use the old allotment land down by the level crossing to develop a community orchard. We have just had a wild flower meadow planted, substantially funded by TOE, and we are now turning our minds to a project to install a pond to further promote wild life and biodiversity.

Community is very important to the lives of all of us, so please support the fete, and have a lovely day out . A number of trains will stop at Appleford station during the fete day and in addition GWR have arrange a special shuttle bus between Didcot, Appleford, Abingdon, Culham, and Long Wittenham. Please see the timetable in this booklet. Car parking is available on the field for first arrivals, fee £2.

Page 2 Page 15 Contacts for the Fete: TH APPLEFORD TRAIN AND BUS SERVICE FOR 15 JUNE e-mail: [email protected]>, Visitors are advised that the line through Appleford Station is very busy village website: http://applefordpc.org.uk/fete/ with fast trains passing throughout the day. Please also take care when Railway website http://didcotoxfordgwr175.org/appleford.html crossing the road bridge between the platforms.

TRAIN & BUS TIMETABLE TO OXFORD & DIDCOT PROGRAMME CONTENTS:

• List of all events and stalls • Plan of the Fete showing all stall locations • Brief history of the railway and station in Appleford by Chris Owen. • Timetable for trains and shuttle buses serving the fete and other railway celebrations.

TIMED EVENTS AT THE FETE

Abbey brass 12- 12.20 In the marquee by the Village hall. Clun Castle 12.25-12.30 pm GWR no 7029 steam train passing the fete and station . Fun Dog Show starts 12:30 Training dogs 12.35 - 1.00 in the central arena. Abbey Brass 1.00-1.30 Wolvercote Morris 1.30- 1.50 in front of the Village Hall. Training dogs 2.00-2.30 Abbey brass 2.30 -2.50 Wolvercote Morris 3.00- 3.20 Flying Scotsman 6:20 pm GWR no 60103 steam train passing the fete & station.

Page 14 Page 3 LIST OF ALL EVENTS AND STALLS

. STEAM ON THE FIELD 1 1922 Aveling Barford Steam roller, Dan Wood 2 Steam Roller, Gary 3 Model steam traction engine (2 inch Fowler), Bill Collins 4 Model steam traction engine (4 inch Foster), Ken Walsh

ENTERTAINMENTS 5 Abbey Brass, on the field 6 Wolvercote Morris, dancing in front of the village hall http://wolvercote.org/Morris/Morris.html 7 Emily Snuggs, roving chanteuse from Wantage. 8 Archery Gallery ,Moving Mountains Outdoor Skills Education LTD, www.moving-mountains.co.uk

SPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN 9 Inflatables: Helter Skelter, Cliff Jump & Ferris wheel https://www.ynottreatyourself.co.uk 10 Merry-go-round, bouncy castle, B. Hatwell

SPECIAL INTEREST 11 Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, countryside exhibition and children’s activities https://earthtrust.org.uk/ 12 Sylva foundation, Anglo Saxon carpentry, Wessex trail and children’s loom workshop https://sylva.org.uk/ 13 Pendon Museum model railway building workshop Appleford Station, serving passengers travelling to Oxford and Didcot. https://pendonmuseum.com/

VINTAGE, CLASSIC, & SERVICE VEHICLES 14 field marshall tractor, Gary 15 Vintage Tractor, Craig Jones 16 Tractor, Patrick Gale, Manor Farm, Appleford 17 Police vehicle display, Abingdon NH Team, Thames Valley Police

Page 4 Page 13 18 Fire engine tender and 4 x 4 vehicle and exhibition, Didcot Fire & Rescue. 19 Classic car MGB GT, A & B Jeffries. 20 Classic car 1975 MG Midget, R & J Nunn. 21 Classic car MGF, G Bevan. 22 Classic car 1966 MG, M Grime & L Hann. 23 Classic WW2 jeep and artifacts, S Allum.

CRAFT FAIR 24 Caz Gale, Cards & stationery, www.flamingopaperie.co.uk. 25 English Cottage Candles, scented & handmade, Keith Edwards www.english-cottage.co.uk, 26 Little FoxGlove Crafts, Naomi Constable https://www.facebook.com/littlefoxglovecrafts 27 Nandi Bird Paintings on Wood, Nandi Ablett 28 Emmas Creative Love: craft, cards gifts, Emma Shipway , www. EmmasCreativeLove.co.uk 29 Usborne Books, Richard Williams, broadenyourhorizons- Usborne.co.uk 30 Tiff Cameron, Yoga and Massage therapy, information on classes. Appleford Station showing brick arch bridge built to carry the road over the railway, opened in 1844. 31 Pottery and Ceramics, Clare Owen, Long Wittenham. 32 Rycotewood workshop, handmade furniture, Richard Illingworth, Sylva Centre. 33 Ice Creams, Hall catering. 34 Wood fired Pizza oven, P aolo Rizzotto, Sicily Street Food. 35 Yo2Go Frozen Yogurts & Milkshakes, Karen, https://www.facebook.com/KarensYo2GoFroYo/ 36 Oxford Animal Sanctuary, the Village green, Watlington, display & dog accessories. 37 African Children’s Fund, vinyl records stall. www.africanchildrensfund.org Page 12 Page 5 The level crossing at the southern end of the village where the line VILLAGE STALLS- FOOD AND DRINK crossed an old track to Sutton Courtenay was complemented in 1864 by 38 Beer tent (wines and spirits) the provision of a crossing-keeper’s cottage and later by a signal box. It 39 Burger and Sausage Barbecue was nevertheless the scene of three accidents over the years, the last of them in 1952 when a goods train demolished the brick and timber 40 Indian snacks Samosas & Pekora box. The replacement box survived unscathed until the crossing was 41 Teas and refreshments in the village hall fully automated around 2002. “Level Crossing Cottage” is now privately 42 Tea Tent and refreshments owned. 43 Chocolate treats The parish registers show very clearly how the coming of the railway 44 Cake stall steadily changed the social composition of the village. Sarah Carter, daughter of Susan and engine-driver Edward and Appleford’s first VILLAGE STALLS- CHILDREN known railway child, was baptised in October 1845. Between that date 45 Children’s Glitter painting and the beginning of the Great War no less than 125 of the babies who 46 Hook a duck were christened in the church, almost one in every four, were born into 47 Appleford Arts Exhibition and children’s art workshop, railway families. Their fathers’ occupations, as entered in the register, https://www.facebook.com/applefordarts/ ranged through clerks, drivers, firemen, guards, lamplighters, platelayers, railway policemen, shunters, signalmen and station masters VILLAGE FAVORITES to simply “servants of the .” 48 Books and more Between the wars the proportion dropped to a still notable one in every 49 Plants for house and garden five and continued to fall in the second half of the Twentieth Century, 50 Wine and Water particularly after the building of Chambrai Close and other new houses 51 Raffle: PRIZE DRAW 3.45pm, in the 1960’s. This expansion of the village, however, demonstrated the 52 Tombola, St Peter & St Paul Church, Appleford, significance of the railway in another way for the houses were attractive to people who wanted to live in a rural environment and use the trains to travel to their work in Oxford, Reading or even London. In the year 2000 several contributors to “Appleford Village”, the millennium survey of its houses and their occupants, confirmed that this was still the case. Appleford was a well-established agricultural community in 1844. The railway did not make the village but from the very beginning and right through to the present day it has made a huge contribution to its evolution and identity.

Page 6 Page 11 APPLEFORD and the RAILWAY A BRIEF HISTORY by Chris Owen Appleford’s first railway station and the Great Western Railway’s new DOG SHOWS branch line from Didcot to Oxford opened together on 12 th June 1844. The village also acquired a brick bridge to carry the road to Sutton 53 1 Abingdon Dog Training Club , Pet dog display, Courtenay over the railway and a timber bridge to take the railway over https://www.abingdondogtraining.co.uk/ the river. The road bridge, now listed as being of architectural and historical importance, is the only one of the three that has 54 2 Fun dog show classes : Starts at 12:30pm. Please bring your survived. The timber bridge was replaced in the 1880’s by the iron dog and make the dog show a fun afternoon. girder bridge that spans the river today and the station was especially short lived. Sited just north of the road bridge and described in the local press as merely a “temporary shed”, it closed as early as SHOW CLASSES FOR FUN DOG SHOW: 1849. Anyone wanting to travel to or from Oxford on the local train service had to walk a mile alongside the line and use Culham station. 1. Best puppy; 2. Best rescue; It was more than eighty years before the village got its station back 3. Best veteran; 4. Prettiest bitch; when, in September 1933, a determined campaign led by the village 5. Most handsome dog; 6. Waggiest taiL; postmistress Grace Fidler finally brought an end to the hazardous 7. Best Junior handler <12; 8. Dog with most appealing eyes; trackside walks and was rewarded by the opening of the new Appleford 9. Dog most like it’s owner; 10 .Dog the judge would like to take Halt. Sited this time immediately south of the bridge, with platforms home; built of railway sleepers on timber trestles, it boasted gas lamps and 11. BEST IN SHOW two corrugated iron pagoda-style shelters. It was unstaffed but tickets could be bought at the nearby post office (now Post Office Cottage) Entry fee per class: £2, Prize giving at 3.45pm. opposite the Knap.

Electric lighting was installed in the 1960’s and the halt was upgraded to station status in 1969, although it retained its rudimentary and distinctive character until the seventy - year old pagodas were taken down in 2004. They had become well known amongst railway enthusiasts as one of only two pairs on the entire network and are commemorated on a kneeler in the village church. None of the contemporary features will match their fame but there is no doubt that the replacement standard-issue shelters, the new tall and shining lamp standards, the electronic travel indicators and the abundance of well- maintained notice boards have made the station smarter than ever before . Page 10 Page 7 DIDCOT RAILWAY LINE OXFORD

APPLEFORD FETE 15 TH June

Existing equipment 2019. Existing zip wire 13 9 Archery Plan of 6 9 41 paved 39 9 8 APPLEFORD 35 37 Village 40 Hall Food RECREATION Children’s area court 38 FIELD 12 11 10 5 34 47 42 OX14 4PE. 10 Existing Showing children’s playground 53 10 Location of fete Dog 54 GRASS 45 Training 28 events on the Fun Dog CAR PARK field. 46 show 26 43 27 Stalls & GRASS FIELD 50 25 events. 51 Craft fair 48 31 52 29 30 Vehicles & 32 36 33 24 44 arenas. 22 21 20 19 23 16 17 49 15 14 18

Pedestrian 1 2 Entrance 4 Vehicle Entrance (gated )

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