Stow timeS Issue 99 • April 2012 An independent paper delivered to homes & businesses in Stow-on-the-Wold, Broadwell, Adlestrop, Oddington, Bledington, Icomb, Church Westcote, Nether Westcote, Wyck & Little Rissington, Maugersbury, Nether Swell, Lower & Upper Swell, Naunton, Donnington, Condicote, Longborough and Temple Guiting Copies go into the GO-STOW Information Centre, Burford Information Centre, and onto the Villager Bus. Copies are also available at centres around Kingham and Guiting Powers. Extra copies are generally available in the Stow Library. THE COFFEE HOUSE NOW OPEN Until 9:00pm TUES ~ SAT From 3rd April 2012 Come & taste one of our freshly cooked meals Including the new Homemade Local Dexter Beef Burgers Our secluded garden is now open so come and enjoy Spring and Easter with us. Please check online for full menu or call in anytime Continental Coffee House & Restaurant Church Street, Stow-on-the Wold 01451-870802 www.thecoffeehousestow.co.uk NUMBER FOUR AT STOW - HONOURED IN THE 2012 TRIPADVISOR TRAVELLERS’ CHOICE HOTEL AWARDS TripAdvisor, Inc. the world’s largest travel website, has revealed that Number Four at Stow is amongst the top 10 hotels in the UK and came out top for service. Caroline and Patricia Lösel were delighted with the award and had no idea they had received one until contacted by the press. “ It was a lovely surprise and shows that our guests, both local and from further afield are looking for value for money along with great service and food. We come from a family of hoteliers and offer ‘old fashioned hospitality’ alongside our great team of staff . “ The award from TripAdvisor is the latest in various industry recognitions – 2 rosettes from the AA guide and the hotel and restaurant are also recommended by the Michelin Guide. Cutler’s Restaurant is becoming well known locally for serving excellent food for lunch and dinner. Lunch for two courses is only £14.50 and is available from Monday to Saturday inclusive. An excellent Sunday lunch menu has various dishes including roast rib of Cotswold beef, roast duck and grilled calves liver. Number Four at Stow, Fosseway, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 1JX Tel: 01451 830297 www.hotelnumberfour.co.uk 2 Stow timeS From the Editor Inside this edition Bringing together such a wide variety of content each month is quite a privilege, and also an eye-opener! In some ways it appears to makes FEATURES the Editor a ‘know all’, like the man in a uniform who stands on a railway platform. A number of people ‘test’ this attribute every month 14, 15 Return of the Vikings – an owl invasion of the Costwolds: words by Will – with mixed results! Masefield of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, photography by Mike Boyes However, of one thing I feel very sure - collecting information about a 16 Local Award winners – Clarke Antiques and Foxbury Farm shop community is special. Over time a picture evolves, a combination of 26, 27 Diamond Jubilee Celebrations; Jubilee Poetry competition; personal experience and editorial overview – and rather like a random game of I Spy, it produces some interesting questions and answers. Commemorative Tablet 45 ‘Oh to be in England…’ Carole Foster celebrates allotments Increasingly apparent at the moment is how alarmed and anxious 46, 47 ‘Lost for Words’ – a short story by Nicholas John residents and business people are about… • The sale of local amenities with only a cursory nod towards 56 Debt is invisible – researched and written by Carole Foster consultation by the authorities, leaving people feeling increasingly 62 Back to the 50’s - helping parents with Internet safety sure that they are consistently not being given the whole picture; • The rush to let developers into our communities, the short-termism REGULARS of grabbing income now at any price. This includes housing as well as care and support in our communities – our towns all have issues 8 Book Reviews from Cotswold Bookstore here, different in the detail but overall there is the same need for 9 Stow Times Writing Competition; Plant a Potato Pot; Faces of Britain ‘joined-up’ thinking • Being short-changed by our local authorities and their 11,12 Local Government & Community News representatives - on the whole residents don’t feel represented at district and county level by the people who asked for their votes. 24 Youth in Action: Youth Initiatives - changing neighbourhoods There is growing cynicism about local democracy, how it doesn’t 25 Stow Youth Club; Cotswold Life-saving Club seem to be working. 28 Report from Stow Town Council In the next few weeks our parish and town councils hold their Annual Report from District Councillor David Penman General Meetings, at which their representatives are due to give their annual reports. These maybe notes taken from the Budgetary Report 29 News from Local Authorities & Associations about how the district/ county is doing; or a discussion about how 30 Village Halls they are representing our interests, which meetings and debates they attended, what reports they have written for our information. 31 Local Church Services 32 Local Cinemas and regular events; Bargain prices on Small Ads Maybe this is the opportunity to address some uncomfortable issues, to share with them ‘how it is’, how it feels to live and be in business at 33-36 LOCAL EVENTS and EVENTS DIARY the rough end of poor representation, where decisions taken behind closed doors. The words we really want to hear are “You are being 36 Seven Wonders of the Cotswolds ; Walks with the Cotswold Wardens listened to and here is the proof…” 40, 41 Correspondence – Ashton House; Care in our Community; Don’t shoot the messenger! Localism. ‘From the Rector’, the Rev’d Martin Short Our elected councillors need to know that they have our support to 42 Robb Eden – dealing with HMRC speak strongly and clearly on our behalves; they need to understand local concerns from the community point of view and be confident in 50 - 53 Reports from some of our local Schools gathering public support in order to put forward and debate 57 - 61 News & Reports from some of the Local Sports Clubs, etc.. community issues at a higher level. It doesn’t sound easy or quick. But when you live and work here, is it 62, 63 Rotary News from N.Cotswold and N.Cotswold Lions important? 65 News & reports from local clubs and societies Best wishes, Jenni Turner 66 Clubs, Societies & Associations, etc (this list is updated bi-monthly) Editor 67 Local Business Directory Something to sell? Lost Property? BARGAIN ADVERTISING RATES in our new SMALL ADS SECTION - open One glance at our Index and you can see this April edition is bustling with an for any legal advertising (we retain the right not to publish a submission.) Until 15th May (June edition) there is a Special Rate of amazing mixture of items sent in and assembled from Stow and over the £0.50p a word (min 13/max 30 words). wider North Cotswolds area. It’s been busy in the office too and I have been delighted to have ‘backroom assistance’ from Christabel Hardacre, Jane Our next edition is for May - it comes out at the end of April. The Gleghorn (who tackled our biggest number of sports articles yet), Jan Marley copydate is 15th April 2012.. and a growing number of contributors and correspondents. They have enriched this edition, and I hope you will enjoy it. Our design team this month was Eagle Design Ltd. Telephone Stow Times on 0845 230 8955 / www.eagledesign.net 07789 175 002 Extra copies of Stow Times are generally available at Go-Stow, Stow’s Visitor (The phone will take your messages too – leave your name & Information Centre in Talbot Court, Stow, and at Stow Library. Copies are contact number; we will return your call.) also carried on The Villager Bus. email STOW TIMES on Material published in this magazine is copyright; the Editor may give permission for copy to be reproduced for some purposes. The opinions expressed in this magazine are not [email protected] necessarily those of the Editor or any member of the team. The magazines are produced www.stowtimes.co.uk and delivered almost entirely by volunteers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information printed in the magazine, the Editor/team do not accept any P O Box 6, Sheep Street, responsibility for the consequences of any errors that may occur. 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