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Home , Chiselhampton, Christmas Common, Cuxham, Stadhampton

& Wheatley Group

Newsletter Published Spring 2020 Issue No 23

THAME & WHEATLEY MEMBERS MAKE HISTORY! For the first time in T&W’s 23 year history we have members serving on the Area Council. It was quite fitting as T&W hosted the event that elected them! This was the Oxfordshire Area Ramblers AGM held at Beckley Village Hall on 25th January. Our Membership Secretary Wendy Mannix was elect- ed as Area Membership Secretary and Steve Walde took on the committee role of Member Representative. Wendy took over the role from Peter Stone. Peter ‘Assemble’. Watch this space! joined the During the AGM a proposal by Terry Pollard, the Area Coun- Walking Environment Officer, that ‘the Oxfordshire cil in 2007 Area Ramblers opposes the construction of the Ox- serving as ford to Cambridge Expressway and its associated Treasurer develop- until 2015, ments, when he including took over 1 million the Member- houses…’ ship role – Steve Walde Wendy Mannix Jim Parke was so now a passed. well- earned retirement! Steve joins group’s Robin Harri- Following son as Member Representative (without portfolio). the meet- The rest of the committee was unchanged with Jim ing T&W Parke continuing as Chair for a second year. provided tea and cakes - great selection in the photo, thanks to cake monitor Janet Dunkley and all the The AGM, attended by 37 members, was preceded cake makers. Thanks too to all those who helped in by a talk by Rebecca Dawson, a member of the the kitchen and hall - particularly Bob Ward, Ramblers’ Board of Trustees. She told the meeting Maureen Baker, Diane White and Judi Taylor. about a number of new initiatives, including the launch of an online platform to assist in the ‘Don’t In the morning Ruth Cornish had led a 5 mile walk Lose Your Way’ campaign, new Walk Leadership to the Otmoor RSPB reserve where the 44 walkers training courses and a volunteer platform called spent some time in the hides bird-spotting. T&W AGM NEWS There was another large turnout for the 2019 T&W with gifts in appre- AGM held at Village Hall in November, ciation of their ser- with over 40 members attending. Chair Bob Ward vice. The meeting spoke of the successes we’ve had in the past year, finished with a talk including social events, footpath maintenance, the by Ilir Kebej, the annual holiday and a variety of led walks offered. owner of the organ- Later Walks Organiser Audrey Parsons told us that, ic Sunnyhill Vine- with an average of 12 walkers on each of our 84 led yard in Horspath, walks (a range of 3 to 33), T&W had covered 6,755 and some welcome miles! cider samples! Bob stepped down as Chair at the meeting and was The pre-AGM walk replaced by Treasurer Linda King, who in turn was attracted 27 walkers. Led by Mike Smith, it took a replaced by Gill Read. Secretary Christine Barnett delightful route to Park before heavy rain also stepped down and Jenny Berrill was elected for soaked the walkers on the return journey! that role. Both Bob and Christine were presented 1 Walks Diary (full details in programme) April July nd Thursday 2nd 10am. 5½ miles. Common. Thursday 2 10am. 7 miles. Uffington Whitehorse Hill. th Sunday 5th 10am. 8 miles. Bledlow. Thursday 9 10am. 9 miles. . th Friday 10th 10am. 7 miles. Long Crendon. Tuesday 14 10am. 4 miles. Brill. th Tuesday 14th 10am. 4½ miles. Donnington Bridge, Oxford. Sunday 19 10am. 6½ miles. Wheatley. nd Friday 17th 10am. 7½ miles. Watlington. Wednesday 22 6pm. 4 miles. . th Sunday 19th 10am. 7½ miles. . Saturday 25 10am. 8½ miles. Whiteleaf Hill. th Wednesday 22nd 10am. 6 miles. Cookley Green. Tuesday 28 6pm. 4 miles. Worminghall. Sunday 26th 10am. 4 miles. Thame. Get Walking Day Tuesday 28th 10am. 6½ miles. Wolvercote. August Saturday 1st 12noon. 5 miles. Chelsea. May Monday 3rd 10am. 7 miles. . Saturday 2nd 10am. 6 miles. Stokenchurch. Thursday 6th 10am. 7 miles. Charlton-on-Otmoor. Thursday 7th 10am. 7½ miles. Fingest. Saturday 8th 10am. 11 miles. . Tuesday 12th 10am. 5 miles. Beckley. Tuesday 11th 5pm. 4 miles. . Thursday 14th 10am. 7 miles. Watlington. Thursday 13th 6pm. 4 miles. Tiddington. Saturday 16th 10:30am. 7/10 miles. Coaley Peak Away Day. Tuesday 18th 10am. 8½ miles. Watlington Hill NT CP. Wednesday 20th 10am. 6 miles. . Saturday 22nd 10am. 10 miles. Bledlow. Saturday 23rd 10am. 11 miles. Holton. Sunday 23rd 10am. 4½ miles. Wheatley. Friday 29th 10am. 7½ miles. . Wednesday 26th 6pm. 3½ miles. Great Kimble. June Saturday 29th 10am. 5½ miles. Horspath. Tuesday 2nd 10am. 4½ miles. Thame. (Linear) th Thursday 4 10am. 8 miles. West Wycombe. September th Sunday 7 10am. 7 miles. Cowleaze Wood. Tuesday 1st 10am. 14 miles. . th Tuesday 9 2pm. 4½ miles. Dorchester. Sunday 6th 10am. 6 miles. Cadmore End. th Thursday 11 6pm. 5 miles. Wolvercote. Tuesday 8th 10am. 4 miles. Bledlow. th Thursday 18 10am. 6 miles. Upper Winchendon. Thursday 10th 10am. 8½ miles. West Wycombe. th Wednesday 24 5pm. 5 miles. Little Milton. Thursday 24th 10am. 6½ miles. Brill. th Friday 26 10am. 8½ miles. Stokenchurch. Tuesday 29th 10am. 5½ miles. Lacey Green. Sunday 28th 10am. 9 miles. M. Assendon Area picnic.

GET WALKING DAY 2020 The Oxfordshire Area Ramblers annual This year T&W’s annual leisurely stroll to introduce picnic will be on Sunday 28th June. This people to the Ramblers, and hopefully encourage some year it is hosted by Henley & Goring of our non-walking members to try a walk, will be on group (they provide the cakes!) and will Sunday 26th April at 10am, starting in Upper High St., be held in Marsh Meadows, Henley, by the River Thames. Thame. Coffee and cakes will be served in Christchurch See the Walks Programme for choice of walks on the day. hall afterwards.

Your T&W Committee

Chair: Linda King Walks Organiser: Audrey Parsons [email protected] [email protected] 01865 890829 07919 046330

FOR advice on becoming a walk leader or for shar- Secretary: Jenny Berrill ing a favourite walk. [email protected] 01844 338179 Footpath Secretary: Ken King [email protected] 01865 890829 Membership: Wendy Mannix [email protected] FOR reporting obstructions, broken stiles, non- 01844 215364 reinstatement etc. on paths

Publicity Secretary: Ruth Cornish Treasurer: Gill Read [email protected] [email protected] 01844 213608 01844 212769

Group representative on Area Council: Mike Smith Member without portfolio: Bob Ward [email protected] [email protected] 01865 874300 07796 661449

2 EXMOOR ENTERTAINS! The T&W annual holiday gets ever more successful with 44 people staying at HF Holiday’s Holnicote House in Ex- moor last September, so many that we were able to have sole occupancy of the hotel. The location was ideal for both coast and moorland and the House Manager Victor Manda ensured that, not only did we have a comfortable stay, but that we were entertained with his jokes and piano playing!

A highlight of the holiday was the HF inter-house quiz on the Wednesday evening, when the team led by Marjorie Sachs got the highest score of all the HF houses. Congrat- ulations to them.

Bob Ward and Wendy Mannix managed the adminis- trative side of the holiday, while Ruth Cornish coordi- nated the walks for leaders Ken King, Audrey Parsons, Peter Bozier and Mike Smith. Unfortunately, just prior to the holiday both Ruth and Mike suffered injuries which meant they needed help leading their walks. Thanks are due to Peter, Monica Sadowski, Jenny Ber- The group seemed reluctant to leave on departure day so rill, Graham Williams and Bob & Marion Ganthony for enjoyed a walk through the woods to enjoy views of Por- taking over their walks. These included climbing to lock, then went on to Selworthy to visit the Periwinkle tea Dunkery Beacon, the highest point on Exmoor, follow- rooms for refreshments before the journey home. ing the coastal path around Lynton and Lynmouth and T&W have booked another HF house for our holiday next using a variety of routes to visit the historic town of September, this time Peveril of the Peak in Dovedale - Dunster (one of which involved travelling by steam hopefully there’ll be a chance to cross the famous stepping train to Watchet). stones!

This year T&W will be going to the Cotswolds for This will be on Friday 10th our annual Away Day. It July at Horspath Village Hall. will be on Saturday 16th Included in the £10 cost will be May. The walks will start a drink, supper and a game of from Coaley Peak View Diminishing Whist Point, a shorter one of 7 miles and a longer one of Don’t worry, it’s the card game for people who 10 miles. And we may don’t play cards! The rules will be explained and even get to see the world’s no previous experience is necessary! first vegan football ground, at Nailsworth, home ground of Forest Green Rovers!

LOCAL WALKING ROUTES Within the Thame & Wheatley area, there are many walking routes available, some designed by parish councils or Oxfordshire County Council, others by local trusts, charities, the Chiltern Society and various other sources. All are produced in leaflet form and can be downloaded from the internet. The Wheatley Village Archive team has recently published a Heritage Trail. Although only one mile long it provides an informative and enjoyable walk around the village looking at points of historic interest, starting at the Merry Bells. If you want a longer route try the Aston Ro- want Discovery Trail, at about 6 miles, or the Shotover Circular walk at 7½ miles. Going up into the Chilterns there is the 5½ mile Circular Trail, while Watlington Parish Council offers historic, level, hilly or discovery walks all starting at the town’s central car park at the foot of the Chilterns. If you want to see some wildlife the RSPB have a 1½ mile route round Otmoor or, for historic interest, another short walk is the Ascott Park Historical Trail starting in . Thame has many walks leaflets in its Information Centre, including Historical trails, Midsomer Murders trails and one leaflet offering 4 short and 4 long walks all starting in or near the centre of the town. For a bigger challenge, there is the Bernwood Jubilee Way, and of course the , Shakespeare’s Way and the Ridgeway all come through our territory. Where to start…! 3

This started on November 23rd when Bob Ward led a group through Lon- don streets to see the Christmas lights, starting at Oxford Circus and finish- ing with supper at the Sherlock Holmes PH in St. James. This walk was very popular, unlike Bob’s mince pie walk on 10th December when he in- vited walkers to join him for a gentle stroll through the Oxfordshire Golf Course and back to his house for mince pies. The weather was against him as it did not stop raining, so only four turned up! We appreciated the mince pies though, thanks Bob! The highlight of the season was, of course, the T&W Christmas lunch, held as usual at the Village Hall at St. John’s in Stadhampton. Fifty one diners enjoyed home cooked food produced by the cooks from the Mali Development Group charity. These cooks gave the ingredients (including two turkeys from the local farm) and their time for free and because of this, the charity was able to raise £994.20. Its pro- jects in Mali at the moment include supporting some rural women's groups to develop market gardens and providing training for street children in the capital to learn sewing skills. Following the lunch, there was entertainment from the Strum Crazy ukulele group and T&W choir of Lin- da King, Wendy Mannix, Alan Cornish and Alan Bonham (this choir is open to new members, no audition necessary!). There was also a presentation of a Walk 1,000 miles challenge medal to Peter Hetherington - congrat- ulations Peter, hopefully we’ll have a few more achieving this goal in 2020!

FOOTPATH MAINTENANCE WORKING PARTIES! On a damp January morning four of us from T&W’s Tony’s team joined with the path maintenance team Path Maintenance Team met up with OCC Country- from the Vale group to help redirect a path through a side’s Field Officer and a member of their Task Team at stretch of woodland in Forest Hill on February 3rd. a farm in Sydenham. The objective was for us to be Tony is now looking for more clearance work for his taught how to install Waymark Posts, part of an initia- team so if you find paths obstructed let him know. tive by OCC to pass on skills to volunteers. Our task was to SEE IT. SAY IT. HE’LL SORT IT! install two posts, both unfortunately FOOTPATH NEWS a considerable dis- The footbridge at which leads to a set tance from the car of steps coming up to the B480 just south of the bridge park, so first we over the was closed on 2nd August 2019 had to carry the ‘on the grounds of public safety’. It has now been re- very heavy manual Chris Bob Ken Tony built by OCC and it opened again on 13th January. tools and posts to Melbourne Ward King Clark As the photo shows, unfortunately the current flooding the required loca- of the River tions along some Thame around extremely muddy Chiselhampton tracks. Apparently, no power tools are used by OCC for means that it these jobs. Next, we were shown how to position the cannot be used at post correctly, avoiding any underground cables or present! There pipes, and how to use the specialised tools provided to are also concerns dig a hole to the specified depth. The post then had to be that its width is positioned exactly upright and held firmly in place for narrower than the required waymark discs to be attached. before, with two An interesting exercise (though physically exhausting!), handrails, which providing the Path Maintenance Team with another makes it difficult for fishermen, who use the bridge fre- string to its bow. quently, to cross with their tackle trollies. Tony Clark Path Maintenance Co-ordinator Ken King Footpath Secretary 4