1 BLEDINGTON FOXHOLES AND FOSCOT NEWS June 2021 No 447

Bledington Primary School pupils with their display ‘Rainbow Blossom’ made from recycled plastic bottles in the Sculpture at Kingham Exhibition at Kingham Lodge. Sculpture at Kingham Lodge was part of the Oxfordshire Artweeks held from 1 to 9 May.

2 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY JUNE 2021 Mondays and Fridays; Post Office, Oddington Vill. Hall (p 2) 10.30 to 12.00 Tuesday 1 Foxholes/Foscot WODC Green Collection Day (p 25) 6.00am Thursday 3 Volunteers Week Reception. Community Shop (p 6) 5.00pm Monday 7 Bledington Parish Council Meeting Village Hall (p 15) 7.30pm Monday 7 Foxholes/Foscot WODC Grey Collection Day (p 25) 6.00am Tuesday 8 Bledington CDC Recycling Day (p 25) 7.00am Wednesday 9 Arts Society Cotswolds, Robert Adam (p 21) 11.00am Monday 14 Foxholes/Foscot WODC Green Collection Day (p 25) 6.00am Sunday 20 Open Garden in aid of RNLI , Old Vicarage (p 11) 2.00pm Monday 21 Foxholes/Foscot WODC Grey Collection Day (p 25) 6.00am Tuesday 22 Bledington CDC Recycling Day (p 25) 7.00am Wednesday 23 BLEDINGTON NEWS COPY DEADLINE (p 3) 12.00noon Saturday 26 Shop/Café Annual Members Meeting, Shop (p 6) 11.00am Monday 28 Foxholes/Foscot WODC Green Collection Day (p 25) 6.00am JULY 2021 AND BEYOND Sunday 4 July Open Garden, Old Vicarage (p 11) 2.00pm Wednesday 7 July Village Hall AGM, Village Hall (p 9) 7.30pm Friday 16 July Bledington Housing Association AGMs, Vill. Hall (p 8) 3.00pm Saturday 14 August Summer Flower Show, Village Hall (p 10) 2.00pm

Bledington News is uploaded monthly to www.bledington.com See Bledington News in full Colour Bledington.com is Bledington’s website carrying full details of every aspect of Bledington.

POST OFFICE AT ODDINGTON Angie Price Angie Price has made arrangements to open her Post Office in Oddington Village Hall at 10.30am to 12.00noon every Monday and Friday for the foreseeable future. Entrance is through the back door of Oddington Village Hall, adjacent to the hall car park by the children’s playground.

3 FROM THE EDITORS Wendy and Sinclair Scott From 21 June the Villager Bus route V19 will operate Monday to Friday to Chipping Norton. In the past this service only ran on Monday and Tuesday. The service leaves Bledington at 9:16am and stops and picks up in Chipping Norton Town, the Health Centre and Aldi Superstore. See page 22 for detailed times. We have news this month of our new Priest in Charge of the seven Villages. Rev Oliver Strange will be moving in later this summer. He has recently been ordained (2018) and is currently a Curate in Burford. See pages 26 and 27. Also new to the Village is our Community Shop Manager, Steve Packman. We carry an interview with Steve on page 5. It seems that the Village Hall can begin to open its doors to events and meetings for the first time in 15 months. We look back on the April 2020 issue of Bledington News when we listed the closure of over 10 regular events and facilities in the Village. Some are already back, up and running and we look forward to seeing the remainder being reinstated gradually.

WE WELCOME NEWS CONTRIBUTIONS TO BLEDINGTON, FOXHOLES AND FOSCOT NEWS

Please send your news contributions for the next Issue at any time. Copy deadline is strictly 12.00 Noon 23rd of each month (January to November). Please send news contributions for Bledington News to the editors, Wendy and Sinclair Scott, by paper copy to 4 Old Forge Close, Bledington, Chipping Norton, OX7 6XW or email us at [email protected] Tel: 01608 658624. Bledington News is published in full colour at www.bledington.com Please ensure you have a prompt acknowledgement of your contribution sent by email; this makes it certain we have received it. News contributions may be subject to editorial adjustment and regrettably, if received after the deadline time, cannot be included.

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BLEDINGTON COMMUNITY SHOP AND CAFÉ - JUNE UPDATE Steve Packman Firstly can I thank everyone for the warm welcome I have received from the community on my appointment to manage the community shop. I have a very difficult act to follow in Jo and will do my utmost to carry on her fantastic work and of course wish Jo a long and happy retirement but am delighted that she will continue to Volunteer which will stop some of my texts to her asking about something. Taking over, when we are so close to re-opening the Café for people to Drink in, is very exciting and we look forward to welcoming customers back and to serving coffee/Tea in a Cup. With the weather as changeable as it is, it will be a challenge in terms of getting the right products in at the right time as, for example, BBQ range where we should now be all sitting in our gardens of a evening with the fantastic aroma of burgers and chicken cooking whilst enjoying a glass of wine or lager but it is so unpredictable. Please feel free to ask me about products you want to see in the shop and I will do my best to source if space allows. As ever the Shop is so reliant on Volunteers to support me and they have all been fantastic but as ever we could always have more. So if you have some spare time please come and talk about the opportunities we have. I look forward to seeing you all in the Shop very soon.

Community Shop Open Monday to Saturday: 9.00am to 4.00pm Sunday: 9.00am to 1.00pm

Tel: 01608 65 99 77 Email: [email protected] Send your shopping list in advance for collection

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INTERVIEW WITH STEVE PACKMAN, BLEDINGTON COMMUNITY SHOP MANAGER Steve is the new manager of our Shop and Café. Many of you have already met him. For those who haven’t, we asked him a few questions. Stephen or Steve? Steve, please. Why have you taken the job of Shop Manager? I’ve been in retail all my life, 37 years at Sainsburys, including managing large stores. I was attracted by the idea of working at the heart of a community, continuing to build on its success and making it the ideal 1-stop shop for everyone’s needs. Where have you come from? Before Bledington, I worked for the Sobell Foundation, an Oxfordshire Hospice charity. I thoroughly enjoyed working with volunteers and saw Bledington Shop as a natural extension to that. I was born in Shepherds Bush, and now Steve Packman live in Clanfield near Bampton with my wife and two boys. What are you looking forward to in the shop? First, I am looking forward to meeting everyone in the village. I want to recognise, and be recognised, by everyone and most importantly I want to listen to everyone about what they want from our shop. What’s your favourite meal? My wife cooks a very good prawn and chilli sauce pasta dish. Favourite book? I will read anything by P D James. Favourite place? Mexico. I proposed to my wife in Cancun and honeymooned in Riviera Maya. It’s a beautiful place. Of what achievement are you most proud? Fatherhood. I’ve three daughters, Kelly. Nicola and Chelsea as well as twin boys, Max and Oli, keen footballers. Continued on page 6

6 Continued from page 5 Tell us something most people would not know about you? I collect Thunderbird memorabilia. Which football team do you support? For 50 years I’ve been a QPR supporter. I was born round the corner from the ground. Best lesson learned in the retail world? Without happy customers you are nothing. What are you planning for the shop? First, build on its huge success. At the moment I am watching and listening, getting to know the team and our customers. We are getting ready to relaunch the café. We want to keep up seasonal trends, for example, it may well soon be BBQ season. I’m very excited about the opportunity here. Where do you see the shop one year from now? The ultimate shopping experience in this wonderful village. Somewhere where we all want to shop and volunteer.

BLEDINGTON COMMUNITY SHOP AND CAFÉ Graeme Ferrero SHOP VOLUNTEERS. Volunteers Week reception at the Community Shop Thursday 3 June at 5.00pm to 6.00pm - all shop volunteers (and potential volunteers) welcome. (Volunteers week runs from 1-7 June and is important for all village organisations - see https://volunteersweek.org SHOP AND CAFÉ ANNUAL MEMBERS’ MEETING. The AGM will be held on Saturday 26 June at 11.00am at the Community Shop (depending on the weather and assuming lockdown has been lifted on 21 June). PART-TIME JOB. There is a part time job going in the shop - 25 hours per week, flexible hours. If you think you may be interested - speak to shop manager Steve.

Friendly raindrops - Two’s company, three’s a cloud.

It’s raining cats and dogs. That’s better than squawking chickens and ducks we had in last week’s foul weather.

7 BLEDINGTON SCHOOL Jill Kewley, Headteacher Bledington Primary School were involved in a whole school Art and Design project which led to exhibiting our work in Kingham Lodge gardens during Artweeks in May. Our theme was Bledington recycled Blossoms as our School Eco Council wanted to promote the idea of reusing materials and creating something new. Artist Emma Cox came to work with us and facilitated this very exciting project, teaching us about different materials, textures, patterns and manipulation. First we collected hundreds of different sized bottles and carefully cut off the bottoms to create flower shapes. Next, we used acrylic paints to develop various shades, patterns and designs all over the plastic.

Continued on page 8

8 Continued from page 7 These “flowers” were then covered with a heavy, clear resin to protect the paint. After this, the flowers were threaded onto different lengths of strong fishing wire.

Emma installed our Recycled Blossoms on a long, low branch of a cherry blossom tree and the effect is quite dramatic. We hope you were able to visit the Artweeks sculpture trail, but if not, see the front cover and these images of our exhibit.

BLEDINGTON VILLAGE HOUSING ASSOCIATION Tony Windsor Following the relaxation of regulations on meetings, the Annual General Meetings for 2019 and 2020 of the Bledington Village Housing Association will be held in the Village Hall at 3.00pm Friday 16 July immediately following one another. Agendas will be sent to Members.

9 BLEDINGTON VILLAGE HALL

YOU HAVE THE QUALIFICATIONS! YOU LIVE IN BLEDINGTON, FOSCOT OR FOXHOLES! You are qualified to be on the Village Hall Committee- two new members are needed in order to fulfil the requirements of the constitution.

Please contact any current member if you are interested: Rodney or Jenny Beacham (658669), Nicky Hunt (658865) or Ossie Rawstorne (659728). Email bledingtonvillagehall@gmailcom

The Committee would like to fill these vacancies during June ahead of the Village Hall AGM on Wednesday 7th July.

The Village Hall Committee exists to make sure that there is a suitable building in the village where larger gatherings and events can take place.

10 OPEN GARDENS Tony Windsor Huge thanks to all those who came to view our garden on 26 April. We were amazed by the numbers and thrilled by the result. You gave approximately £1,150 to the National Garden Scheme (the approximation is because many of our visitors booked on line and I am not sure of the exact number). Please come again to one of our later openings and see the roses in their full glory as well as all the other flowers. PEBBLY HILL NURSERY Janet Simms Tel: 01608 659851 We are open 9.00am to 5.00pm daily throughout June. Perennials, to give that cottage garden look. Bedding and Container Plants, to brighten up any patio and fill your gaps in the borders. Ready made Hanging Baskets available. THE BLEDINGTON GARDENING SOCIETY 68TH ANNUAL SUMMER FLOWER SHOW SATURDAY, 14 AUGUST 2021 Your schedule for the 2021 Summer Flower show was included in April’s Newsletter. I hope you will find something in it which will enable you to take part in the first show for 18 months. There are classes for vegetables, flowers, cooking and handicrafts so please try and showcase one or more of your talents in friendly competition. There are children’s classes too, and children may also enter any of the adult classes FREE.

How much does a chimney cost? Nothing, it’s on the house.

What’s E.T. short for?

So he can fit into his little space ship.

11 CELEBRATE COMING OUT OF LOCKDOWN Come and visit The Old Vicarage Garden and support a Charity

THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION on SUNDAY 20 JUNE 2.00pm to 6.00pm

and / or

THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME on SUNDAY 4 JULY 2.00pm to 6.00pm

12 KINGHAM GUIDES Claire Gooding The Guides this term are celebrating 100 years of Guiding in St Helena. We may not have had the sunshine but the Guides have had great fun learning about Jonathan, the oldest tortoise in the world. With their amazing sewing and creative skills they have made their own Jonathan. We have also braved the weather and had fun up in Foxholes exploring the wildlife and creating some natural art maps of St Helena - keep your eyes peeled for them if you are walking in the woods. In the hope that we may get some drier weather we are looking forward to a spot of geocaching and campfire cooking next month. If your daughter may be interested in joining in the fun of girlguiding, please get in touch [email protected]

WEDDING IN BLEDINGTON Christopher Higham Lucy Towner and I are getting married on Saturday 26 June at 1.00pm in St Leonard Church with a reception afterwards in Quarry Field, Old Burford Road. In the evening there will be music playing until midnight. We ask in advance for your understanding and apologise for any disruption.

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BLEDINGTON PARISH COUNCIL Notes by the Editors from the Minutes of the Bledington Parish Council meeting held on Thursday 6 May 2021 via video conference. Present: Mr R Pearson (Chair), Mr N Jackson (Vice-chair), Mr B Ball, Mrs R Gaskell, Mrs R Pawley, Dr S Rawstorne with acting clerk Mrs H Pearson. Apologies from Mr A Tait and Councillors N Moor (GCC) and J Beale (CDC) who no longer represent Bledington parish. Matters Arising. Feastival. The contact at Feastival has advised that there are no further discounted tickets for local residents available for this year. Mr N Jackson agreed to attend the ‘Feastival’ meeting on 1 July if he was able. Footpath to rear of College Place. The signage has not been replaced to date. Mr R Pearson will follow this up with the Rights of Way Officer. Bridge in Station Road. The clerk will contact Oxfordshire County Council regarding the condition of the bridge where a one way system is in place. Litter pick. A successful event. Mr Ball was thanked for organising on the day. Benches on the village green. Mr R Pearson will organise the re siting of the benches and the associated works required. Play area gates. A new gate is to be arranged by Mr R Pearson. Footbridge on village green. Three quotes are to be obtained to repair/replace the bridge next spring. Flood Group. Mrs R Gaskell gave an update on the progress of the Flood Group. Gawcome Estate have progressed well with the creation of attenuation ponds. A 10m length of the Westcote Brook has been cleared. Environment Agency (EA) restrictions do not allow for more than 10 metre lengths to be cleared at one time. The bund by Village Farm will be very expensive to repair or increase in height. Would require modelling and EA permits. Hydrological modelling is to be carried out to see if any further bunds would be required. This will be funded by Gloucestershire County Council. The EA have agreed to clear the Bledington Brook and village brook in August. They will also give some training/advice to interested villagers on how the village can help maintain these waterways. There is a weed problem at the Bledington Brook/River Evenlode confluence. The advice received is that the riparian owner is responsible for clearing this area. The ditch on the left hand side of the Heath Lane bund requires maintenance and culverts clearing. FWAG have offered to help with a working party in September. The responsibility for this is unclear. The Parish Council believe that the EA took on responsibility when the bund was built in 2008. Clarity on this matter is to be sought. Thames Water. The pipe work by ‘Chestnuts’ has been surveyed and is clear of tree root damage. There will be a partial survey of some properties to see where runoff rainwater goes. Pumping capacity at the Pump Station has not yet been assessed. Continued on page 15

15 Continued from page 14 The EA and FWAG are to have a further meeting and walk about to assess the situation in the week commencing 10 May. Dr S Rawstorne queried the approach to brook management and the width this should be maintained at. The EA have advised that it should be the same width as the culvert with small meanders created. This will be explored further at the June meeting. Dr S Rawstorne will share the draft flood response document for discussion at the June meeting. Lorries through the village. The data provided by Gloucestershire County Council is considered to be misleading. The dates used for comparison are July 2019 during harvest time when the road is busy with farm vehicles and October 2020 during Covid restrictions when traffic was reduced. A more accurate picture of HGVs through the village is required. This will be raised with the new County Councillor at the June meeting. The speed of traffic through the village was raised by Mr R Pearson. Dr S Rawstorne will discuss possible monitoring with the ‘Traffic Speed Group’. Risk Register. The gravestones have been looked at by Mr S Rawstorne and Mr R Pearson. They are not considered to be dangerous at the moment but will be monitored. The ‘Flying Fox’ will be taken apart to check for defects. When the next play area inspection takes place by RoSPA a member of the parish council is to attend to get a better understanding of any problems. Items for further meetings. Dog mess in the village. This appears to be an increasing problem. New signage required as the old signs are faded. The Village Green area by Church Lane seems to be quite a problem. Asset Register. Mr N Jackson has updated the Register with the recently purchased litter pickers. Gravel Pit Field. The water pipe and water trough need to be installed to enable Thames Water to make the connection. Three quotes are to be obtained. Road markings outside the school. County Highways are to be contacted. Oak Trees. Mrs R Gaskell has advised the parish council that the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire will be providing all parishes with two oak trees to commemorate the Queens Platinum Jubilee in the autumn. It was suggested that one of these trees could be planted as a memorial to the Duke of Edinburgh following a request from a resident of Bledington. Parish Clerk. No response has been received to date to the advert for a new parish clerk. This will be reviewed at the June meeting. Date of next meeting. Monday 7 June at 7.30pm in the main hall of the village hall.

16 BLEDINGTON FLOOD GROUP Ian Simpson After a benign April which saw record low rainfall, the UK’s fourth driest April in a series from 1862 (metoffice.gov.uk), so far May has made up for the missing showers and the erratic weather patterns have again shown us how vulnerable we are. The waterways have coped with the excessive rain, and surface water has been readily absorbed by the dry ground. Fast forward this turbulent weather picture to winter and we would again be facing a flooded Bledington. The flood group’s mantra is we will not flood this winter, and considerable strides have been made over the last two months to ensure we don’t. Before detailing the work done so far, this has to be prefaced by a huge thanks to the key landowners who have worked with the various agencies to allow this progress. The main focus has been on the Westcote Brook catchment running from Gawcombe Farm down to the Evenlode at the Mill. Tim and Annie Morris who manage the farm for Annie’s mother Ruth Fitzgerald who made it all happen, at Gawcombe. Tim Pare at Loudham Estate which runs down through Bledington. Gwyn and Lynne Meyrick at Bould Farm and Julian Mash at Manor Farm which runs down to Foscot are all crucial players in protecting the village. A number of agencies have visited and looked at the specific areas where urgent measures are needed. On 21st April Shaun Shackleford, Environment Agency Maintenance looked at the wider catchment. Shaun was involved in building the bund along Heath Lane so is very familiar with our flood issues. The EA have a maintenance schedule for clearing Bledington Brook and tributaries. He has pulled forward the planned works from Autumn to August to ensure work is carried out. He also gave an onsite tutorial on brook clearing to members of the Parish Council who accompanied us. The following day we met with Laurence King Shared Principal Engineer for Cotswold District Council. Laurence designed the bund behind the King’s Head. Focusing on the work we have suggested for the Westcote Brook, he was concerned that hard data was needed to apply for permissions for work along a main river, given that it is also designated a flood storage area. He recommended a topographical study initially, whose quantitative findings could be applied to flood modelling software by the EA. The survey will be done by Storm Geomatics (www.storm-geomatics.com), based in Shipston- on-Stour who carry out detailed GPS based surveys. On 30th April we met with James Blockley Principal Flood Risk Management Officer, Gloucestershire County Council. He followed through on his commitment from our 23rd February meeting to prioritise Bledington by agreeing to fund the ‘topo’ survey. The survey area is shown below. Continued on page 17

17 Continued from page 16 The data has now been collated and submitted to GCC and the EA for their qualitative analysis. The EA are aware of the crucial role Westcote Brook plays in major flood events and have already allowed an FRA14 exemption to build back eroded sections of the bank. We hope to build on that to allow for further fortification along the bank in First Field. Once the data has been analysed, James will be calling a meeting in the next week or so with all relevant agencies to agree an action plan. Our close links with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) continues. They have secured a further £20k grant for this financial year, supplementing the £30k grant for last year, from the EA to continue work on the wider catchment running along Westcote Brook. On 12th May a party including Jo Leigh FWAG, Jo Old EA Evenlode Catchment Coordinator, Sam Meredith Catchment Coordinator and Daryl Buck EA Biodiversity Officer looked at the implementation of the grant from Foscot to Gawcombe. Archie from the King’s Head and I had been lucky enough to run in to Tim Morris a couple of weeks earlier whilst walking the Westcote Brook and Gawcombe Brook looking at the progress made. Tim was kind enough to give us a guided tour of the measures already taken. The map below shows the two brooks which combine to form the Westcote Brook proper that feeds down to Foscot.

Continued on page 18

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Continued from page 17 Tim felt that the two brooks were equal in their flow, and although below their confluence there a number of tributaries feeding Westcote Brook significant amount of work has been done on the Gawcombe Brook. Major swathes of scrub have been cleared to allow the ground to dry out. Willow will be planted to increase water retention and proposed leaky dams and undercuts will allow large areas of hitherto dry wetland to flood naturally.

The force of the water in spate is shown by this culvert which was simply blown out by the flood. The culvert is to be reinstated.

Continued on page 19

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Continued from page 18 A number of holding ponds run down the length of Gawcombe Brook which will help to attenuate flood water.

and the significant area that will now flood as shown below will help to take the pressure off Westcote Brook downstream.

Once again, thanks to Tim and especially Ruth, along with the other landowners for embracing the vision that FWAG suggested for natural flood management.

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BLEDINGTON SCHOOL ASSOCIATION ‘100 CLUB’ WINNERS FOR MAY 2021

The following numbers win £5 each in May’s draw:

53 Claire Gooding 71 Leila Gibson 02 Dr Angwin 58 Not Allocated Congratulations to all the winners! Prize money will be distributed once school re-opens for all the children. Thank you to everyone that supports the 100 Club

Registered with: Cotswold District Council under Gambling Act 2005. Registration Number: 07/01271/GASSP Promoter: Annie Hammerstein, Harwood House, The Green, Bledington, OX7 6XQ Tel: 01608 659819

BURFORD AND KINGHAM ROTARY Ros Richardson We were delighted to welcome Chippy Larder Founder Rizvana Poole to our Zoom meeting in May. We loved her enthusiasm and passion for this Community food waste project based in Chipping Norton. Rotary will be looking to collaborate with fundraising organisations offering our help. So, we are hoping we can find ways to help with this type of project in the next few months. Burford and Kingham Rotary are promoting the National Rotary Poster Competition for Primary Schools to Celebrate the COP26 Conference in Glasgow. Mitigating Climate Change through the eyes of children. Local primary schools should all have received Poster Packs more details about this great project, from [email protected] As we come out of lockdown and the new Rotary year begins with lots of exciting things in the pipe line, why not think about joining one of our Zoom meetings? If you would like to become involved email our secretary, John Smith [email protected] or contact our web site. We will be very pleased to see you.

21 THE ARTS SOCIETY COTSWOLDS Frances Sparkes Wednesday 9 June The Century of Robert Adam With Janusz Karczewski-Slowikowski (Yanush) Virtual Lecture via Zoom This lecture will examine neo-classic furniture in the context of the Grand Houses and rooms for which it was intended. Adam’s name has become an epithet for his architectural and interior design work, which is characterised by a remarkable and often overwhelming expression of stylistic and chromatic unity. Neither a furniture designer nor maker, he did however, design a number of pieces for specific locations within his room designs. His style was interpreted and adapted by celebrated cabinetmakers, who produced furniture that made “charming harmony” with his interiors. About our speaker: Freelance lecturer and researcher in English furniture history and also an antique dealer. Janusz (Yanush) has lectured on antique furniture since 1975 and in The Arts Society (NADFAS) Directory since 1982. He has lectured to over 300 NADFAS societies including those in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, The Hague and Spain. Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, TASC lectures are now given “virtually” via Zoom. Members receive an ‘invitation’ via the newsletter and non- members are welcome to join in for a suggested donation of £5 either by cheque or by booking via the website. For more information, please contact Frances Sparkes on 01993 823943 [email protected] or www.theartssocietycotswolds.org.uk

BLEDINGTON CARE COMMITTEE Bledington Care Committee is made up of volunteers living in the village. Our aim is to assist the elderly, the disabled and those in distress in the village. This includes: Transport to Hospitals, Doctors, Dentists etc – for the elderly, disabled, those unable to use or without transport. Please ring Hazel Furneaux on 658547 or Pat Jenkin on 659215. Care Line/Emergency Telephone - Sue Windsor 658525. Medical Equipment – e.g. Zimmer frames, wheel chairs, crutches etc, available on short term loan. Sue Windsor 658525. Medical Prescriptions – most pharmacies now provide a delivery service for prescriptions for the elderly, but should this not be possible a member of the Care Committee will collect. Sue Windsor 658525. Occasional catering for funeral refreshments in the village hall - Sue Windsor 658525. Further information about the Bledington Care Committee can be found in the Bledington Directory (pages 15-16).

22 VILLAGER BUS SERVICES Timetables and information - www.villagerbus.co.uk Villager bus services are back with a full service. Masks must be worn and passenger numbers will be limited to maintain social distancing. Vaccination passports are not required. Services local to Bledington are below. Full timetables are available to see at the website above. For queries call 01608 811617 or 01658 659749.

V2 Bledington Green 09.24: Bledington School 09.25 Wednesday arrive Chipp. Norton Co-Op 9.50; Medical Centre 9.53 only Leave Co-op 11.30, Hlth. Centre 11.32 arr. Bledington 12.00

V6 Bledington School 09.39: Bledington Green 09.40 Thursday arrive Stow Square 9.49: Stow Tesco 9.53 Leave only Stow Tesco 11.04: Stow Square 11.08, arr. Bledington 11.19

V9 Bledington School 13.55: arrive Chipping Norton 14.09 Friday Leave Co-op Car Park 15.45 arr. Bledington 16.00. Goes on only to Westcote/Oddington - no return from Oddington.

Bledington Green 09.16: arr. Chipping Norton West Street V19 10.03, Health Centre/Aldi 10.06 (by request). Leave Aldi/ Monday and Health Centre 11.38, Co-op 11.40 arr. Bledington 12.27. Tuesday (This service travels to Milton-u-Wychwood, Shipton-u- See below Wychwood and Ascott-u-Wychwood).

V20 Bledington School 09.05 Arr. Witney 10.06. Leave Thursday Sainsbury’s 11.55; Market Sq. 12.00, arr. Bledington 13.02 only (This service travels to Kingham, Shipton-under-Wychwood).

V25 Bledington Green and School 08.56 arr. Witney 10.13am Wednesday dropping off at Hospital, Sainsbury’s and Buttercross. only Witney Buttercross 12.08pm, arrive Bledington 1.29pm (This service travels to Churchill, Shipton, Milton, Fulbrook, Burford, Bradwell, Filkins, Carterton, Minster Lovell).

NOTE: THE V19 SERVICE WILL BE AVAILABLE ON MONDAY TO FRIDAY FROM 21 JUNE

23 WEATHER RECORDS Robert Pearson 20 APRIL TO 19 MAY 2021 2021 2020 Total rainfall 108mm 30mm Wettest Day 20.5 on 17/5/21 14mm Highest day temperature 18°C on 20/4/21 24°C Average maximum day temperature 14°C 17.5°C Lowest night temperature 1°C on 22 and 23/4/21 -1°C Average lowest night temperature 4°C 6°C What a difference a year makes: last year hot and sunny with lockdown. Total rainfall during May was 5mm. This year wet and cold, most people back to work. Total rainfall during the month of May so far - 113mm. Will we have a ‘Summer’ this year? The wet May of 2007 was followed by the wash out flooded Summer of 2007!

USED STAMPS FOR ‘THRIVE’ Wendy Scott I am delighted to tell you that I have found another charity which could benefit from us collecting our used stamps so please start collecting them again and let me have them and I will pass them on to THRIVE, a charity in Chipping Norton, who support the less well off people in the community. Thank you everybody. COMMUNITY WELLBEING SERVICE Louise Fletcher, Project Manager All requests for help should be addressed to 07738 016 384 or by email [email protected] The service offers practical and financial help and advice to those who may need any help to stay safe and independent at home for as long as they wish or as long as they can.

GUIDED WALKS WITH THE COTSWOLD VOLUNTARY WARDENS Sheila Wasley We are aiming to restart the guided walks programme. Details of the walks available are on the website (below). Walkers must reserve their place through the booking system as numbers will be capped. https://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/visiting-and-exploring/guided-walks/

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COMMUNITY DEFIBRILLATORS In a life threatening emergency, where a defibrillator MAY be required you MUST CALL 999. Bledington Community Defibrillators are located at: 1. Bledington Village Hall on an outside wall. 2. In the telephone box outside Bledington School. The Village Hall defibrillator is locked; 999 will give you IN AN EMERGENCY the key code. The defibrillator in the telephone box is not CALL 999 locked so does not require a key or key code. DO NOT CALL 111 If Ambulance Control think the use of a defibrillator is required they will ask you to take the nearest defibrillator to the patient. You will be given instructions on how to use the defibrillator. DO NOT DIAL 111 in a life threatening emergency. A defibrillator is used to shock the heart into re-starting if the heart has arrested or is not beating properly. Please report to Sinclair Scott 01608 658624 if you have deployed the defibrillator. Defibrillators are dangerous to use unless under instruction from a 999 call operative or qualified medical practitioner.

BLEDINGTON NEWS The Editors Bledington News is usually distributed free of charge to every household in Bledington, Foscot and Foxholes. We would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions or contributions for news etc. for inclusion. [email protected] or call 01608 658624. Our printing costs are our only expense; they are around £2,000 annually. A huge thank you to those who have made donations towards the printing costs; if you wish to donate please contact our Treasurer, Michael Lear, Trinders, Main Street, Bledington Tel: 659371. Cheques should be made out to ‘Bledington News’.

25 WASTE AND RECYCLING COLLECTION DATES BLEDINGTON - COTSWOLD DC. WEEKLY: EVERY TUESDAY: Small grey food waste caddy. Uneaten or out-of-date food, eggs, egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds, kitchen roll, paper tissues, small amounts of oil/fat, animal hair. NOT food packaging, animal faeces, pet litter/bedding/carcasses, cardboard, nappies.

FORTNIGHTLY: TUESDAYS 8 AND 22 JUNE: Large green wheeled garden waste bins (licence required). Grass cuttings, leaves, bark, tree prunings and branches up 2” across, tree stumps up to 4” across, rabbit and guinea pig bedding, flowers, plants, weeds, fruit windfalls, cold wood ash. Grey wheeled bins for land fill waste. Cat/pet litter/bedding, nappies, light bulbs, crisp packets, plastic bags/wrapping. NOT fluorescent tubes. Blue bag for cardboard. Cardboard must fit into bag. Remove packaging tape. NOT card with glitter. White bags for tins, cans and rigid plastic. Plastic tubs and bottles, clean foil, aerosols, tetra paks. NOT crisp packets, plastic bags, clingfilm. Black boxes: 1. Glass bottles, jars. NOT broken glass, light bulbs. 2. Paper, catalogues, newspaper, magazines, plain wrapping paper. Also in Black boxes, wrap in separate carrier bags:- 1. Small electricals, batteries, e-readers, fairy lights, toys. 2. Shoes, clothing, hats, gloves, belts, scarves, textiles, handbags.

FOSCOT AND FOXHOLES - WEST OXON DC. FORTNIGHTLY GREEN WEEK: TUESDAY 1 AND MONDAYS 14 AND 28 JUNE: Grey food waste bins. Blue lid bins for recycling. Green lid bins for garden waste. FORTNIGHTLY GREY WEEK: MONDAYS 7 AND 21 JUNE Grey food waste bins. Grey lid bins for landfill waste.

RECYCLING CENTRES Fosse Cross, Cirencester waste centre (CDC) is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm (not Tuesdays) 18 miles from Bledington, signposted off A429 at Hare and Hounds, 6 miles north of Cirencester. All visits must be pre- booked on-line at https://forms.gloucestershire.gov.uk/HRC_CarBooking Dix Pit, Standlake waste centre (WODC) is open from 8.00am to 5.00pm every day. 21 miles from Foscot off the A415 south of Witney.

26 EVENLODE VALE CHURCHES ST LEONARD BLEDINGTON Rev Dr Stephen Blake, Associate Minister The Most Discerning of Villages. I've always looked forward to June, partly because it's my birthday month, but also because the weather's often kind and it's when our garden usually looks its best. This year there's more to be excited about than usual, as we regain our social freedoms - although at the time of writing we still don't know how smooth will be the 'roadmap' to recovery. Nonetheless we enter a time of anticipation. We hope to resume old pleasures without all the restrictions, and perhaps develop further those new interests and diversions which sprung from our enforced solitude. In our Benefice – our group of seven parishes – there's more to be excited about, as we recently appointed a successor to our Rector, Rev Richard Rendall, who retired in January. The post attracted significant interest, with a large field of applicants being condensed down to a short-list of four, who were carefully interviewed by representatives from our seven parishes, together with Diocesan staff and the historic Patrons of our churches. In a full day of interviews, candidates enjoyed a visit to Bledington school, a tour of the villages and the Rectory and a 'working lunch' with the staff team as well as a formal interview. At the end of the day the unanimous decision was made to appoint Rev Oliver Strange to be Priest-in- Charge of our seven parishes. Oliver will start with us later in the summer - you can read more about him elsewhere in these pages. Throughout this appointments process, we were reminded several times that we were not just recruiting a vicar - but rather, discerning who God wanted in this post. Does that not boil down to the same thing, you ask? Perhaps. But if we believe in a God who is active and working in our midst, it's right to assume he'll have an opinion on who should be appointed. And the experience of all involved in the selection was that his hand was firmly on the process. And if that was the case, then we have high hopes indeed that he will continue to be active and working in our villages as Oliver takes up the post.

27 CHURCH NEWS JUNE 2021 Kirsten Turner Appointment of New Minister. We are pleased to announce that Bishop Robert has agreed to the appointment of Rev Oliver Strange as our new Priest in Charge to succeed Richard Rendall, subject to the usual processes. He was ordained in 2018 and is currently Curate in Burford. He went to Sheffield University studying Russian and German, then took a Masters at Oxford and a PGCE at Oxford Brookes before taking up a teaching career in primary schools. He left teaching after 10 years to be ordained and he and his wife Lucie are very much looking forward to moving to our benefice later this summer. Church Services. We are continuing to meet in person for church services following Church of England guidelines. We look forward to welcoming those who are emerging from lockdown. Please do join us for our United Service at 10.30am on Sunday 6 June at Holy Ascension, Oddington when all seven parishes combine to worship together. The reordered Church of Holy Ascension provides a spacious and welcoming venue for our benefice to join together with social distancing and following Church of England guidelines. Advance Notice: Bishop Robert will be making a pastoral visit to our benefice on Sunday 4 July when he will be presiding over and speaking at our 10.30am United Service at Holy Ascension, Oddington. Do put the date in your diary and join us if you can. Central Prayer. Our next Central Prayer meeting will be on Saturday 12 June at 9.30am at Holy Ascension, Oddington. Prayer underpins everything that we do in the Evenlode Vale Churches. Please join with us as we pray for our parishes, and the wider community. Social distancing and mask wearing is required. All are welcome. Pastoral Care. As we approach the return of normality we are conscious that many people will still have high levels of anxiety. If you or anyone you know has any pastoral concerns please contact our Curate, Helkias Mapimhidze on 01608 659240.

Evenlode Vale Churches Website: www.evenlodevalechurches.org

28 CHURCH SERVICES (subject to Government permission for public worship) Sunday 6 June The First Sunday after Trinity Sunday 10.30am United Communion Service Holy Ascension, Oddington 11.00am. Morning Service with Baptism St Mary, Westcote Sunday 13 June The Second Sunday after Trinity 9.30am Holy Communion (CW) St Mary, Adlestrop 9.30am Morning Prayer (BCP) St Mary, Icomb 11.00am Holy Communion (CW) St Paul, Broadwell 11.00am Morning Prayer with Baptism St Edward, Evenlode 11.00am Morning Service (CW) St Mary, Westcote 6.00pm Evening Prayer (BCP) St Leonard, Bledington Sunday 20 June The Third Sunday after Trinity 9.00am Holy Communion (BCP) St Leonard, Bledington 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) St Mary, Icomb 9.30am Morning Service (CW) St Mary, Westcote 6.00pm Evening Prayer (BCP) St Nicholas, Oddington Sunday 27 June The Fourth Sunday after Trinity 9.30am Morning Prayer (BCP) St Mary, Icomb 10.30am Morning Prayer (CW) St Leonard, Bledington 11.00am Morning Prayer with Baptism St Mary, Adlestrop 11.00am Morning Service (BCP) St Paul, Broadwell 11.00am Holy Communion (BCP) St Edward, Evenlode 6.00pm Holy Communion (CW) St Mary, Westcote

ST LEONARD, BLEDINGTON CHURCH ROTAS FLOWERS AND BRASS TO MAIN CLEANING ALTAR AND SIDE ALTAR JUNE 2021 Week Commencing: Monday Week Ending: Saturday 7th Mr and Mrs Beacham 5th Mrs Heather Pearson 14th Mr and Mrs Beacham 12th Mrs Annie Hammerstein 21st Mr and Mrs Windsor 19th Mrs Louise McLean 28th Mr and Mrs Windsor 26th Mrs Sue Windsor

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