Stoke Orchard and Tredington Newsletter
February 2021 Olde English Snowdrops — January 2021 The Monthly Message From The Rev Kay Mundy
Although now a little late, Happy New Year to everyone I have not already seen! As Ilse explained before, our church buildings are currently closed for communal worship but will remain open for individual prayer; This week Bishop Rachel and Bishop Robert wrote to the clergy of the diocese and within their letter they wrote: “While most of our buildings are closed it is good to remind our- selves again that the church most certainly is not and that our con- tinued pastoral and sacramental ministry is of crucial significance in witnessing to God’s constancy and love in Jesus Christ in these days and so being confident in the hope of the Gospel for us all. This is why we pray and invite you to join with us in this most im- portant calling: Kay.
Sadly as before—with the restrictions of the Lock Down, all services are online by Zoom If you wish to attend any of the Church Service by Zoom or in person please contact Vicky Fowkes
TREDINGTON & STOKE ORCHARD WI We held a very successful & happy Zoom meeting on January 12th when about 12 members met together to have a good chat, led by our new President, Joy. Our next meeting on Zoom will be on Tues- day, February 9th at 7.30pm when we hope to hold a members Bingo evening. Everyone with internet access will be contacted to see if they would like to play, & if they would, then details of joining & bin- go cards will be sent out.
Tredington & Stoke Orchard Gardening Club The Club met on Zoom on Tuesday, January 18th for a lovely You Tube visit to The Chelsea Flower Show. 15 people joined in, including 3 new members & one visitor. We hope to meet again on Zoom on Monday, February 15th at 7.30pm for a talk By Mrs Ching on “Making Your Garden More Manageable”. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Paddy on 01684 294053 & I will forward you the join- ing details. We are not collecting subs until we are back in the Vil- lage Hall.
The Tredington Village Hall Improvement Committee. We are sorry to report that in the very heavy rainfall on the night of the 23rd of December, the Village Hall storm water entered the build- ing. Thanks to several members of our community no damage was sustained & the hall is gradually drying out. We are encouraging vil- lagers to put pressure on Severn Trent who are responsible for the storm drain that drains that part of the village which is once more partially blocked and caused the problem.
The Tredington News Pages
Recipe: Granny’s Hot Stew: A perfect meal for a cold day! ILB stewing steak cut into bite size pieces. Flour & P & S I tablespoon oil 2 tablespoons malt vinegar 1 tablespoon Worcester Sauce About 3 old potatoes Method: Toss cut up meat in seasoned flour & fry in oil till browned. Add vinegar & Worcester sauce & enough water to cover. I cook mine in a pressure cooker for about 15minutes, but if using the oven, about 40 minutes or until meat is tender. In the meantime, peel & cut up the pota- toes in bite size pieces. Release pressure & add potatoes (if using pressure cooker). Taste & add more salt /sauce & re- turn to heat. Cook for a further 15 minutes or until pota- toes are soft. Add more Worcester sauce at the table if liked! Enjoyed by young & old alike! Remember—to protect yourself against 1. Opportunists Please ensure that doors and windows are locked Cars are locked at all times—and keys out of sight . Bikes should be locked away out of sight or securely locked to something seriously immovable. Tag—Photograph-Mark Postcode and/or smart water 2. Dog Snatchers in Gloucestershire Police are warning pet owners to be alert , Ensure your dog is micro- chipped and the details are up-to-date.
Scam warning: Fake DPD emails and texts.
Action Fraud has seen a surge in reports relating to fake emails and texts purporting to be from DPD. The messages claim that DPD was “unable to deliver your parcel today” and provide instructions on how the recipient can arrange another delivery. The links in the emails and texts lead to fake web- sites that are designed to steal money, as well as personal and financial in- formation.
Victims of this scam have reported losing over £242,000 since June. For more information, please visit https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/alert/fake -dpd-messages-lead-to-over-200000-in-losses-since-june
We all get phone call scams—please be aware. “Broadband is about to be disconnected—” “Amazon Prime account needs attention—” “You have a delivery - we need details—” “£600 has just been removed from your Visa Account—” All these are regular scams and often on a daily basis. DO NOT PRESS 1—PUT the phone down immediately. EMAIL SCAMS—some are threatening—report to [email protected].
SUSPICIOUS TEXTS— forward to 7726
DO NOT GET SCAMMED—If in doubt just Delete. STOKE ORCHARD & TREDINGTON PARISH COUNCIL Parish Councillors from 20th February 2020 are:- Cllr Richard Chatham, Cllr Andrew Troughton, Cllr James Gilder, Cllr Alan McDonald Cllr Phil Ternouth Contact Details – through the Clerk - Mrs Jules Owen S.O and T P.C. phone:-07763 250303 email- [email protected] Minutes of Past Meetings are to be found on the Parish Council Website. Notice of Stoke Orchard and Tredington Parish Council Meeting Due to Covid-19, following Government Guidance, all face-to-face Parish Council Meetings have been cancelled until further notice. The next Parish Council Meeting will be held electronically at 7.00pm on Tuesday February 2nd 2021. Members of the public are invited to request access details to the meet- ing from the Parish Clerk – please email: [email protected] by 12 noon on 29th January 2021. The Full Minutes of the October Parish Council Meeting are available on the website www.stokeorchardandtredington.org.uk .
I often wonder what to include in Parish Council Pages, after all the Agenda and Minutes of the Council Meetings are published for all to see on the Parish Council Website. So where possible I try to include some- thing in the Parish of up to date interest.
Over the last two months of December, the Councillors spent several hours on online meetings and countless hours offline (thanks BT) wres- tling with the Council Budget for 2021/2022. This year, Covid has taken its toll in many ways, not the least by the effective restrictions on the use of the Community Centre so removing much of the income which covers the running costs. However, it has had a bigger effect by the limiting of people’s income. The Rates or Council Tax levels are governed by the D Band Level. I know what the hell is the D Band Level? It is the equivalent number of households paying rates in the Parish at the D Band level. All domestic Properties being rated A to H, so D band is half way. So to try and explain - 2 households at A band would equal 1 at D Band or 1 at H band would equal 2 at D band - that is a very simplified way of looking at it!! Unfortunately, due to the sad economic problems, many households this year have been granted Council Tax rebates and exemptions which will put more expense on those who pay in full. All these matters add up and each year, we, as Councillors, do our best to maintain a level but each year it becomes more and more difficult. However, we do not just give up and wring our hands. We try to do it eve- ry year but this year especially several Councillors and the Clerk have been working extremely hard on raising money by applying for grants to sup- port the Parish. This money has been to cover the costs of maintenance and staff costs at the Community Centre and also, as we have mentioned before, to provide improved facilities within the Community. In the early years, we have had what is described as S106 monies from development within the Parish. Now, every penny of those funds has to be fought for in competition with other local Councils who have projects that fit the de- scription allocated to each S106 fund. One Application I made ran to 20 pages with further details of support, three quotations etc. However, that application was successful and raised over £70,000. A second application for funds in the same vein was considered this week and we await the outcome. These funds will be used for an extension of the shop which has proved such a lifeline to the Community in these difficult times and a com- plete renovation of the Playground at the Community Centre, a facility that is in serious need of repair and overhaul and which, when complete will provide an exciting, challenging and inclusive play facility for the Com- munity.
Grants received which actively reduce the Council Cost deficit due to Covid have so far totaled £14,553.00 as we go to print - more applied for 28 May 2020 - TBC Covid Grant: £10,000.00 18 August 2020 - TBC Emergency Grant No. 1: £ 1,000.00 8 October 2020 - TBC Emergency Grant No 2: £ 986.00 16 November 2020 - TBC Covid Grant - £ 1334.00 14 December 2020 - HMRC Job Retention Scheme. £ 1233.00 30 December 2020 - HMRC Job Retention Scheme. £ 1203.08 Each of these has to be applied for with forms, evidence and a considera- ble amount of time. As I write, there are two more Applications being as- sessed. As I have said before, Councillors give their time for the Community and a considerable debt of gratitude is due to each and every one for their time and commitment. We must also add the savings that have been made this year by one councillor with the attitude of a terrier, who has carefully cut some of our overheads by careful assessment of alternative suppliers of similar quality. There is a great amount of time going in to the unpaid work of your Council and we are making real savings where possible Tredington Primary School Aspire – Create – Excel Staying Connected
We are living in strange times and children, staff and parents in all schools are finding themselves working in very different ways. A chal- lenge for everyone is how to maintain the school community when children and staff are working in separate bubbles, or at home, and parents cannot stay for their normal chats at the start and end of the day. Staying connected is one of the 5 recognised Ways to Wellbeing (Connect – Stay Active – Notice – Give – Learn) which is incredibly important at all times, but especially at the moment. On my weekly Facebook live assemblies we reflect on these and challenge the chil- dren to share the ways they have worked on their wellbeing each week – we have had great examples of children connecting to com- plete their online learning together.
We are incredibly lucky at Tredington to have an active Friends of Tredington School group who have continued to work hard for the whole school community since September. We have had competi- tions for the children with money raised used for visualisers for all the classes so that work can be shared on screen, as well as whole class sets of high quality reading books. There are also zoom quizzes and newsletters which keep everyone up to date and involved as a Tredington Primary School Aspire – Create – Excel Staying Connected
As a school we began the year focusing on the Aspire aspect of our vision. To aspire is to direct ones hopes and ambitions towards achieving something. For us, it is about the children developing their long term goals and linking their learning to them. This gives a real purpose to learning and to their school experience. Every child has considered their aspiration and what they need to develop to get there. They created a leaf with their aspiration for the future, which we will revisit every year (as those aspirations can always change!). We have been able to share these and bring the whole school togeth- er on our new Aspirations tree so that everyone is connected and as- piring together. There is a whole range from gymnasts, marine biolo- gists, policemen/women to Paw Patrol members!
If you’d like to find out more and connect with us, follow Tredington Primary School on Facebook or visit our website. http://www.tredington.gloucs.sch.uk
Mrs E. White (Head teacher) Richard’s Ramblings—63. Tredington Hospital. As you drive into Tredington from the Odessa junction you see a house fac- ing you on the right hand side with a collection of buildings behind it now known as
Tredington Park. When it was built in 1897 it was an isolation hospital and opened for the care, in isolation, of patients with such ailments as Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, T.B., Whooping Cough and of course in later years Polio. As an aside, do you remember having the Polio Vaccination? They dripped this liquid on your arm and then scratched you with a sharpened three pronged fork with bent ends. Gosh it hurt. I was at boarding school and I am sure Matron en- joyed administering it in a sadistic sort of way!! Not like Tewkesbury Hospital this morning when I took Jane, that’s my sister, and Lesley in for their Oxford Zeneca Vaccine. Nice tiny sharp needles these days - I hope to get mine soon when I grow old enough for it!!! ha ha.. Gosh in those early days they weren’t “one use” dispos- able syringes and we always joked that the school doctor would sharpen the needle by rubbing it up and down the brick work. I jest, not really, but it’s a good story!! Back to Elmstone Hardwicke Hospital - yes, its true, when opened with just 12 beds by the Tewkesbury Rural District Council it was the Elmstone Hardwicke Hospital built in the North East Corner of that Parish. It was to be renamed in 1910 as the Tredington Isolation Hospital coming under the Joint Hospital Board and Tewkesbury Borough and enlarged in 1919 to 40 beds. It was finally to be adminis- tered under the Cheltenham Group of Hospitals. Strangely enough in 1937, Long Hill Smallpox Hospital for 12 patients was opened in Elmstone Hardwick between The Gloucester Old Spot and Stoke Orchard. This tiny unit closed in 1964 and then became Cheltenham Ambulance Station and the local District nurse lived in the Matron’s house which is still there. This magazine will be printed within a few feet of the old Isolation ward! When the hospital closed as an isolation unit, it became part of Tewkesbury Hospital along with Holm Hospital and was used for people recuperating from sur- gery and serious illness but mainly as an Old People’s Hospital . In those day there weren’t the number of private Care Homes that we have now and old people need- ing support were often cared for in such units. Tredington Hospital was somehow every special and the love and attention given to patients was legendary. Many local people helped at Tredington Hospital. As a very small boy I remember Nurse Yates cycling by every morning from her home in Elmstone Hardwicke. She would wave frantically and shout at the top her voice “Good morning Dar- ling” ,dear Maud did nothing quietly!! Lesley’s twin sister, Pauline, lived and worked at the hospital for a time while she recovered from an opera- tion to remove a brain tumour. Her job was preparing tea and helping the catering staff. I do not like to mention names, those involved that provided care know who they are but on a recent Facebook posting many people in and out of the village spoke with affection of the happy atmosphere. I spoke with Dr Graham Shephard yesterday, a very dear friend, 95 years old now, once my grandparent’s doctor and he also spoke with happy memo- ries of sitting in the garden with patients, enjoying tea and locally baked cakes. It was a hospital for all with a wide selection of patients from all walks of life being looked after with care and love, many in their latter years. Grannie Chatham spent her last months there. Back in the 70’s I remember with friends in Round Table putting up the Christmas decorations and singing carols on Christmas Morning while our wives in Ladies Circle prepared gifts for all the patients. During the sum- mer on several occasions the Ladies would visit and have tea in the garden. When it closed, Roy Porter, a local developer, someone who became a very good friend with is wife Jean and Roy’s sister and brother in law Tony redeveloped the hospital in a sympathetic way retaining the original layout and living there until Jean died, Roy then moving to his beloved Dorset. So in answer to the lady who wanted to know where everything was - 1. Main House with Offices, Nurses Changing rooms upstairs and main kitchens downstairs. 2. Site of original wooden Bungalow with Brick Built Morgue behind - both now long replaced by a New Bungalow. 3. Men’s Ward.( joined by covered walkway to the Day room and the Womans ward ) 4. Day Room one end - Handicraft for cooking and painting at the other 5. Original Women’s Ward with tea garden!! 6 . Boiler Room and Store room with pipes dis- tributed heat and hot water around the site. Another piece of our Parish’s rich history. Editors Notes— Having praised the Parish Council in the PC News just how we had been claiming grants and saving money, I have added four extra pages this month. It has to be multiples of 4 or Matt gets very upset with me!! However, as I am doing the editing during lockdown we save £100 per month so I have made an executive decision. We get a bigger Newsletter this month!! I was about to send the it when the snow came! Seeing fami- lies all out together with snowmen, snowballs and sledges together on the POS had to be included. Great Pictures. I had to include it so I started all over again and reset the whole copy!! I have to admit it was just so good to see many families out there together—and Mums and sons rolling snowballs to attack Dads and daughters!! When we were young we would tie an old wooden Bomb Sleigh on behind the Land Rover—the number MAD 764—yes slightly mad and Dad would tow us up Bozards Lane!! Well done all those who made snow men. Next time we should have competition!! I know some people are sending in photos—send them in please and I will do my best publish them next time!! Bozards
Stoke Road.
Parish Council Tree surgeons Clearance Day!! During the high winds and heavy rainfall of December 23rd, Two trees fell into the Dean Brook in the area of the Public Open Space. Both were traditional withy trees but of very differ- ent shape as one had been pollarded in the traditional way and was low but very heavy the other one was a two branched tree which had been allowed to just grow very tall. After inspection it was decided to ask Bloors to remove the trees and if they were unable to do it within the week, then some of the Councillors themselves would tackle the problem as there was a danger of the trees causing a flood by blocking the brook. So on Saturday 16th January 4 councillors with help of a resident and friend from the Vintage Tractor club set about the job. All were made aware at the start of the work of the dangers at an HSE briefing and safety precautions were agreed. The tall tree, seen here lying across the brook, was cut up piece by piece and then with the aid of a tractor winch was pulled up the embank- ment and sawn up into manageable pieces. At the end of the day, the wood was loaded up and taken away by tractor and trailer and all brash removed from the Brook and the ditch from the attenuation pond. The second tree by the Muga was a very old traditional Withy tree and had only been holding on by a small piece of trunk. It had broken away from it’s roots and had actually fallen into the brook so it was decided to attempt to winch the tree in one piece. Getting the cable on it was not so easy and we did think we might lose a man in the fast flowing water but with the aid and old boat hook the rope floated under the tree and the steel cable pulled through. Several pieces broke as it left the water and they were cleared later. Having carefully winched it well clear it was agreed to leave the rotting trunk as a bug hotel but Bloors staff have since been in and cleared the site. The team wrapped up the job in just un- der 5 hours and the not even a fin- gernail was broken. It also provided some entertainment for young and old alike—all socially dis- tanced watching from the safety of the MUGA. Just as were finishing a gentleman in a car pulled up—no names no pack drill—and asked if we were the Council Workers as he would like the brash cleared from the other side of the POS. We all laughed and said we were actually Parish Councillors and friends clear- ing the trees on a voluntary basis. The brash was cleared the next morning by one of the Parish Councillors with his car. Council Workers indeed!! Ha ha It’s ok we are smiling!
Please see the list of Church Services on Tredington News Pages. Curate Rev. Kay Mundy 01452 780634 [email protected] Priest in Charge Revd Ilse Ferwerda 01452 780880 [email protected] Church Warden Tessa Mills 01684 216563 Hon Associ- Rev. Tom Curtis, 01684 295298 ate Minister Stonehills Tewkesbury, GL20 5FB Readers Mrs Vivienne Trough- 01684 293540 ton Tredington, Tewkesbury GL20 7BW 01684 293540 Children & Young Vivienne Troughton 01684 293540 People’s Church Tredington Cath Pollard 01684 293617 [email protected] Primary Head Teacher www.tredington.gloucs.sch.uk School Treding- Tina Taylor – Play 01684 293617 [email protected] ton Ted- leader/Manager dies Play- Children aged 2 years www.tredingtonteddies.org.uk group & to school age Treding- ton Ted- Monday to Friday Stoke Orchard Community dies 9am – 3pm Morn- Centre Wednesdays, 9.30am – Baby & Toddler ing sessions 11.00am Group 9am – 12.30pm £1.50 entry, no need to book Village Hall Frank Juckes 01684 294053 tredingtonvil- [email protected] Stoke Orchard Helen 07437 533 132 [email protected] Community Cen- tre Bookings Recycling and Waste Collection Dates for January Stoke Orchard and Tred- ington. Blue - Thursday 11th , Thursday 25th , Green. Thursday 4th, and Thursday 18th
FLOWER Volunteers are needed to help with flowers and decorating Stoke Orchard Church, especially at Christmas, Easter and Harvest. No skill is required - just a love of flowers! Please contact Tessa Mills (Churchwarden) if you can help. Thanks! Tessa’s contact number: 01452 780434 Tredington Flower Rota.