Ashton Keynes & Leigh Newsletter February 2021 ******STOP PRESS******* Subscriptions for the Newsletter will be collected in April from this year rather than February Well done to all the fundraisers for the school learning hub appeal. Goal achieved in record time Simply Amazing!!!! 2 Dear Friends, This time of year can seem dark and gloomy – The light we talk about at the days are short and the nights long; we have Christmas, shining in the to endure another lockdown, and carefree darkness, bringing comfort and summer days seem a lifetime away. Yet as I joy, is Jesus. He called himself write, the Christmas promise of light shining the light of the world, and through the darkness rings in my ears (’the light promised that whoever follows him will never shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. overcome it.’ John 1:5 ) What is this light, and how can we find it? This light will be a comfort to us; it will guide us; it will help us see things clearly; and it will bring Light gives us comfort when the world seems dark us joy. and scary – I remember my children being reassured by a nightlight by their bedside when Best of all, it is to be had simply by asking God they were little. for it, and looking for it, in ourselves, in our lives and in other people. This light, or grace as it is Light guides us on our path – many are the times sometimes called, will shine out from us, will I have given thanks for the torch on my phone show us and others the way, will restore and when walking about at night. empower us, and will take away our stress and give us peace. Light helps us to see things more clearly – my embroidery stitches, for instance; but we also talk May the light of Christ shine brightly in our about ‘shedding light on a problem’, where we hearts, today and every day, and may it bring us need clarification for our thoughts. joy and peace. Amen Lastly, lights can make us happy, joyful even – Pauline Loveday, Licensed Lay Minister with the we only have to think of the cheery Christmas Upper Thames Group decorations people splashed out on to banish the Covid blues. _--------------------------------------------------------------- Deadlines and Advertising Subscription is £10 per year due in April 2021. Please phone Richard Vernon if you wish to contact your distributor. Advertising prices per issue Editorial Team: Yvonne Edmonds 01285 861049 Sharon Gater 01285 860926 Half page £24.00 Tessa Mills 01285 861284 Quarter page £12.00 Eighth page £7.00 Claire Sims 01285 869479 All paid advertisements should Advertising: Brenda Sheppard 01666 860631 be sent to: Distribution Richard Vernon 01285 861692 [email protected] Deadline is 16th of the month. Please submit your copy (but not Paid Advertisements appear in the paid adverts) for publication in the March newsletter to Ashton Keynes & Leigh Newsletter [email protected] by 8pm on 16 February or to Claire and the Minety Newsletter Sims, 18 Happy Land, Ashton Keynes. If you wish your item to appear also in the Minety Newsletter please contact Mrs Brenda Sheppard by phone or email Please check with Brenda [email protected] Sheppard for this deadline, which is normally 12�� of the When submitting articles to the newsletters please send in the original MS Word or PowerPoint format (not a pdf), as we do month for paid advertisements. have to reformat a lot to squeeze everything in. It would also help if you used Verdana font, size 10 with no underlining. Thank you 3 4 Editorial Well here we are at the start of 2021 and the vaccination programme against the dreaded virus is well underway. Let’s hope and pray that the pressure eases and we can be allowed some more freedom. There are not a lot of activities and events happening at present, as most organisations are not meeting. So sorry to see that the AK Festival is again on hold. Finally, I have included a lovely photo taken by grandson, Oliver, on a trip to the coast between I cannot believe how quickly the school has lockdowns. Pictures of the sea never fail to reached its fundraising target in these difficult cheer me up reminding us that the tide ebbs times. Well done to the team and everyone who and flows whatever else is going on in the has played a part /donated. world. It also serves as a reminder that we Don’t forget the textile Bags to School Collection might get that holiday soon! on the 8 February - excellent opportunity to rid See you next time. Yvonne yourself of all those old clothes. You never know we may soon be able to get to the shops and PS buy some replacements. Any chaps reading this, it is Valentine’s Day on Also note we will be collecting the Newsletter th subscriptions in April rather than February in the 14 ! How about surprising your ladies with a future, as the weather is much better and the delicious meal from the shop or splash out on nights lighter in the spring. the lovely hamper detailed below. I am sure it will be appreciated. ****************************************** 5 6 Village Hall Village Hall Booking Line 0844 776 0001 The trials and tribulations of running a village hall during this pandemic continue unabated. Just as we started to get interest from a few groups again (including a new one), along comes another lockdown. The Hall is closed for all but essential services and Preschool, and because there was no ‘lock-down end date’ announced, we have no news we can give you on reopening for normal use. As we have to be open for the essential services and preschool, we must ensure we retain the status of a ‘COVID-19 Secure’ venue. To help maintain this and for your safety, the entire Hall complex is disinfectant fogged on Post Office days. The toilets, corridor, lobby and Ashton Keynes Room are fogged every weekday as Preschool use these and in addition the Surgery rooms are fogged on Wednesday’s (plus any other time we are asked). The Village Hall Risk Assessment (now version 2) can be found within the download area of our website (www.akvh.org.uk). It is a fairly lengthy document and so if you want to read it in e-book format, send us an email ([email protected]) and we will send you the link. We have placed NHS COVID-19 App QR-CODE posters around the Hall. If you have the NHS App please ‘check-in’ when you use the Hall. The app has a number of tools to protect you, including contact tracing, local area alerts and venue check-in. It uses proven technology from Apple and Google, designed to protect every user’s privacy. If you want to know any more about how we are handling things during this pandemic, please email [email protected]. Legally we have to provide an Isolation Room for Preschool. The only room available is the Gents toilets, hence it cannot be used for any other purpose. There is an A4 sign on the door stating this – please stick within the rules. When anyone uses the Isolation Room they have to advise us so that we can carry out a deep clean. If we spot that someone has used it without telling us (i.e. as a toilet or handwash), we still have to carry out a deep clean and that costs the Hall in both materials and time. Please used the disabled toilet as the signage states. Unfortunately, we cannot start the Rural Cinema because of lockdown. We thank you for your patience during these unusual times. 7 Graham Loveday I have been overwhelmed by the huge number of messages of tribute, love and support following Graham’s death in October. Thank you for all your encouragement, cards, gifts, flowers and practical help. I have a link to the videos of the funeral, which I can send to those who would like them. It’s a source of sadness that covid restrictions limited the numbers of attendees, but I feel we did Graham proud nonetheless. Donations in lieu of flowers were suggested for the Holy Cross Lighting Project, which was a subject close to Graham’s heart. So far the total is nearly £3,000, a fantastic effort! If anyone else would like to donate (it will enable the church to be used more effectively for concerts and other events in future), please complete the form below and return it to Peter Tuck. Many, many thanks. Pauline Loveday ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friends of Holy Cross Church Lighting Project I wish to make a donation of £…………………………to the above project in memory of Graham Loveday. My Payment Details: (tick one) I will pay by BACS to the account detailed below, stating ‘Graham Lighting’ as a reference. Bank: HSBC, Cirencester Account: Friends of Holy Cross Sort Code: 401725 Account Number: 11245481 I wish to pay by cheque, payable to Friends of Holy Cross. (Please enclose with completed form). My Gift Aid Declaration: (tick one) I confirm I am a UK Income or Capital Gains Tax payer. I want Friends of Holy Cross to reclaim tax on all my donations until further notice. I understand I must pay an amount of Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in the tax year at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities to which I donate will reclaim on my gifts for that tax year.