another fantastic christmas cracker! · cian mark taylor, fiona dew who set up the hall and bar,...

South Stoke Parish Newsletter January 2020 1

Issue 171 www.southstoke.org.uk January 2020

Another Fantastic Christmas Cracker!

On 20th December many villagers gathered in the hall for our ever popular Christmas Cracker event.

We are so lucky to have an array of talented residents in South Stoke. We were treated to musical items of vary-ing styles by performers of many ages, poetry readings, prose, some hilarious comedy acts, and even a fantastic interactive quiz using our phones! There were festive items, poignant moments, we learned some Makaton, and I don’t think anyone will forget the audience singa-long in Swahili for a long time!

Everyone who came along was hugely enthusiastic about the success of the evening.

Huge thanks and congratulations to all the participants, as well as special thanks to our fabulous pianist Janet Pound, lighting manager Phil Wortley, graphics techni-cian Mark Taylor, Fiona Dew who set up the hall and

bar, Andrew Harden-Sweetnam who ran the bar all evening, the top class barbershop group members who travelled some distance, and to Simon Booker for being our compère extraordinaire and quiz master!

We raised a significant sum during the evening from bar sales and donations, and were able to give generous contributions to Launchpad and the community building project.

Planning is already underway for next Christmas’ event on Friday 18th Dec 2020. This promises to be even big-ger and better, so do keep the date free!

Catherine Jarvis [email protected]

Some Articles In This Month’s Issue…

South Stoke 200 Club Page 2 Village Hall & Community Shop Questionnaires Being Collected Page 3

South Stoke Historical Society Page 5 Lady Audley’s Secret Page 6 Next WEA Course At Goring Page 7 Support Our Advertisers Pages 8 - 11 Dates For Your Diary 2


South Stoke 200 Club

The December draw took place on Friday 20th at the village Christmas Cracker. The lucky winners this month were:

1st prize (£97) Rita Mann 2nd prize (£73) Giles Andreae 3rd prize (£48) John Short 4th prize (£24) Ricki Hathaway

The January draw will take place on Monday 13th at 8.00pm in the Perch & Pike.

Join our 200 Club for your chance to win cash prizes. Make a difference to the community amenities we support and your good deed can reward you too. Anyone over the age of 16 can join and you are able to buy multiple numbers if you wish. To find out more about the South Stoke 200 Club, please contact Mark Taylor (phone 872670 / 07985922031, email: [email protected]).

And don’t forget to raise FREE funds for us, every time you shop on line. We continue to steadily raise money each month, and it doesn’t cost you anything at all. Register at Give As You Live, and the donations are given by the participating retailers. ww.giveasyoulive.com/join/southstokehallandrec

Mark Taylor

Hall Cleaner

The Amenities Charity is looking for a paid cleaner to look after the village hall.

The role entails cleaning the hall once a week. During periods of high use it may require cleaning more of-ten.

Time scale approx 1 to 1.5 hours per week. For further details please contact Mark Taylor (phone 872670 / 07985922031, email: [email protected]).

Advance Notice: Ridgeway Rouleur Sunday 29th March 2020

The Ridgeway Roleur cycling event will go through South Stoke, along the Wallingford Road, on Sunday 29th March. Cyclers are expected to pass through between 9am and 11am.

All are encouraged to avoid parking on the Wallingford Road that morning.

UK Cycling Events 01425 653372 [email protected]

South Stoker Captures Images of Rare Albino Robin

Simon Brooker, South Stoke’s own, spotted and photo-graphed this rare bird. On 30th December the national Daily Mail published the photographs and included in-formation about the bird.

As reported, this albino robin is one in 30,000 robins, and is believed to be the first one of its kind spotted in the UK since 2010.

The homeowner of a private garden spotted the bird earlier in December and encouraged Simon to photo-graph the bird. Simon needed to ‘stand like a statue’ for about three hours to get these photos.

More of Simon’s incredible photography can be found on www.stokerpix.com. Of course, those who frequent the facebook page South Stoke Village online (www.facebook.com/groups/southstoke/) will also get glimpse of some of Simon’s amazing images of local birds, landscapes and wildlife. For the full article in the Mail Online, see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7835781/.

Forgotten Thank You

I the last issue of the newsletter, in the article on page one titled 5 Years, I had inadvertently forgot to thank Sandy Massey-Thompson who has been helping with the delivery of the newsletters since she moved into the village about a year ago. Very big thanks, Sandy. The newsletter is an incredible, all-volunteer effort and we are appreciative of your continuing com-mitment to deliver the newsletters to all homes in South Stoke.

Bryan Urbick, Editor


Village Hall & Community Shop Questionnaires Being Collected

All homes in the village should have been provided with questionnaires regarding current use of the Village Hall and the Shop. The aim is for all South Stoke residents to provide their views, adults and children. There are two options of questionnaire, one more ‘adult’ and a child-friendlier version. Young people may choose to do either. Some completed questionnaires have already been collected, but many are being collected in the coming days and weekend.

Though the respondents will be kept confidential in the analyses, we are capturing the addresses of all who return questionnaire so as to monitor and to seek as near to 100% participation as possible. Also, as is standard in research, young people under 16 years will need to have parent or guardian consent to submit a completed questionnaire.

If you have not received a questionnaire yet, please e-mail or contact [email protected] (871055) or [email protected]. No matter your views - positive, negative or in-between - if you haven’t completed your questionnaires, please do. We aim to use the results to guide and support the Community Building project.

Bryan Urbick Chairman, South Stoke Parish Council

Planning Applications In South Stoke

The responses that the Parish Council can give on each planning application are ‘FULLY SUPPORTS this

application for the following reasons’, ‘NO OBJEC-TIONS to this application’, ‘NO OBJECTIONS to this application but wish the fol-lowing comments to be tak-en into account’ or ‘OBJECTS to this applica-tion for the following rea-

sons’. If you have views about any planning applica-tion, you are encouraged to submit them to the South Oxfordshire District Council. You may also make repre-sentation to the Parish Council.

New applications (to be discussed at next Parish Council Meeting).

None at the time of publication.

Pending Decision by SODC

None at the time of publication.

Decisions by SODC

�� P19/S2865/RM - Land at Woodcote Road South Stoke RG8 0JJ. Application for approval of reserved matters relating to appearance, landscaping, layout and scale following application P17/S3206/O for residential development (up to 5 dwellings), and associated works, including access. (As amended by Site Plan PP1012-A, Soft Landscape Plan 0747.1.1 Rev D, Landscape Visual Impact Assessment V4 01.10.19 and Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Update 2019 and amended Construction Method Statement and visibility splays accompanying email from agent received 15 October 2019 and Arboricultural Method Statement updated October 2019 and Drainage Plan 003 Revision P9) Discharge of conditions 1-16 on application ref. P17/S3206/O. 1 - Submission of RM and commencement, 2 - Approved plans 3 - Dwellings not to exceed 5 , 4 -Mix of dwellings. 5 - Landscaping scheme, 6 - Tree protection 7 - Biodiversity enhancement and mitigation 8 - Surface water drainage, 9 - Access 10 - Vision splay, 11 - Construction Traffic Management Plan 12 - No surface water drainage to highway 13 - Details of refuse and recycling storage, 14 - Fire Hydrants 15 - Hours of operation, 16 - Construction Method State-ment THE PARISH COUNCIL OBJECTED TO THE APPLICATION (see SODC website for details). SODC APPROVED THE APPLICATION AT COM-MITTEE

- - - For further detail about these or any planning application, please refer to the South Oxford District Council website: www.southoxon.gov.uk.

It's time to get writing! Oxfordshire Libraries is delighted to announce the launch of their annual short story competition for 2020 which launches on 3 January 2020. This is your chance to get creative and to win the chance to get your own short story published. The lucky winner of both the adult and young adult category will see their entries published as an eBook for 2020; available via the library website for the whole of 2020 to be borrowed and read across Oxfordshire. Full terms and conditions as well as instructions on how to submit your entries can be found at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/leisure-and-culture/libraries/ebook-short-story-competition .


asdf

sdf


South Stoke Historical Society

On Friday 29th November the South Stoke Historical Society welcomed, as our speaker, John Leighfield. He gave an illustrated talk on the history of maps and mapmaking with special emphasis on our area of Oxfordshire and in particular, South Stoke. What a treat! Not only did we have the slides with close ups of the village but he brought along maps for us to examine and an illustrated hand-out for all of us to keep.

A coloured map of 1574, probably for the first time, shows the village of South Stoke nestled by the Thames. This was produced by the father of British map making - the Yorkshireman, Christopher Saxton. He was tasked by his patron the Master of the Court of Appeals and Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liveries to go around and map England and Wales, finally producing and publishing an atlas in 1579.

Not only had Saxton the money of his patron but also the authority of his queen, Elizabeth I. She allowed him to go wherever he wished in his task, climbing the highest buildings to help him see the lie of the land in order to draw up the maps. Do you think he climbed South Stoke’s church tower in order to get a grasp of the land’s layout?

Oxfordshire was one of the first maps he drew up in 1574 and he was only 32 years old at the time. Saxton’s maps were so accurate that his atlas continued to be produced until 1749 and was the source for later mapmakers. John Leighfield’s talk continued through the ordnance survey maps and then right up to Google mapping. A fascinating talk.

Then six days later on Thursday 5th December the Society got together for drinks and nibbles. We decided to ask Michael Hurst to come along and give an illustrated talk on “Memories of Christmas “ - the customs, foodstuffs and presents given in the past. It was certainly a walk down memory lane. One of our members seemed to have an enormous number of presents at Christmas compared to the rest of us! However, it was a very enjoyable evening-lots of laughs and memories of our youth.

Upcoming talk...

A new year brings a new speaker. On Friday 24th January at 8pm Judy Dewey is coming along to give a talk on Bringing Wallingford Castle Back to Life. Judy is a leading light at Wallingford Museum. New documentary research and archaeology is throwing new light on to the castle and its workings. Come along and find out their new discoveries. This is a castle that would literally have loomed large in the lives of South Stokers of the past, going to and from their local market town.

There is still time to join the Society, just come along and sign up for £12.50 for the year or come as a guest at £5. Everyone is most welcome .

Happy New Year to all

Linda Gatto [email protected]

South Stoke WI

Our Christmas meeting on the 10th of December had a very festive feel. We were entertained by The Didcot Divas, a choir of lovely ladies who sang Christmas songs and Carols. This was followed by a sumptuous afternoon tea provided by the Committee, and a very Christmassy raffle.

Our chosen charity this Christmas was ‘Orla’s New Spine’ and we were delighted to give a cheque to the family.

Our first meeting of the New Year is on Tuesday 14th January when our speaker Barbara Hately will be talking about ‘Idle Women’, the ladies who worked the waterways during World War II. Visitors very welcome.

With best wishes for a Happy New Year.

Rita Mann, President [email protected]

Needed: New Village Hall Steward

The Amenities Charity is urgently seeking a new village hall steward to sit on the Amenities Charity and keep an eye on the village hall.

Robert Small, the previous Hall Steward, explains about the role…

“This is an interesting role to a person who has the village at heart.

It is not arduous, the main aptitude is ob-servation. There are no fixed times, just pop in when walking by, maybe three or four times per week, checking all is in order ie water taps/lighting/heating etc have not been left on.

Make sure that the hall is tidy for the next hirer and consumables are not in short sup-ply; that there are no obvious Health & Safety issues staring you in the face ie missing fire extinguishers, chairs stacked badly etc. Five minutes is all it takes.

Once a month, with a check list in-hand, tick the relevant boxes ie smoke alarm tests etc.

As a key holder, liaise with gas/fire/electric personnel to let them in the hall on their appropriate service dates.

If there is a problem you are not sure about or if it's urgent, contact the Chairman or discuss it at the next meeting.

That’s all there is to it.”

Anyone who is interested please contact me as soon as possible on 872670 / 07985922031 or email: [email protected]).

Mark Taylor


Lady Audley’s Secret

A date for your diary, Saturday 25th January, South Stoke Village Hall. Join South Stoke Shop and ACTORS BOLD for an entertaining evening.

In the past few years, Chris Bertrand has gathered to-gether a band of actors for a Murder Mystery. This year’s production is rather different and promises to be great fun. To prove it’s not a murder mystery, we al-ready know who done it!

A young servant girl has caught the eye of Sir Michael Audley and becomes his wife. She takes to the aristo-cratic life like a duck to water.

Unfortunately, she has a secret. She is already married. When her first husband, George Tallboys, comes to visit Audley Court with his friend Robert Audley, Sir Michaels nephew, he recognises her at once. He threatens to ex-pose her. She tries to bribe him, to threaten him but he is stubborn. Finally feigning illness, she persuades him to lean over the well to fetch her some water. She hits him over the head and knocks him into the well. She is jubilant but fails to notice that she has been seen. The drunken no-good Luke Marks has seen it all…

Lady Audley’s Secret is in the form of a studio recording of a radio play in the style of the 1940’s. Actors are in evening dress and carrying scripts. It is an ACTORS BOLD production adapted and directed by Chris Ber-trand

The audience will be seated at tables and food will be provided in the interval. There will be a licensed bar serving wine, beer and soft drinks. The play itself ex-cluding the interval lasts about 1 hour and 35 minutes

Performances are as follows:

�� Saturday 25th January 2020 at South Stoke Village Hall 7.30 start

�� Saturday 1st February 2020 at Goring Village Hall 7.30 start

�� Saturday 8th February 2020 at Dunsden Green Vil-lage Hall 7.30 start

Ticket for the South Stoke production are £15 and avail-able from the Shop.

Once More Into The Trench, Dear Friends...

On 12 December Sonning Common Green Gym were back at South Stoke in the Recreation Ground continuing with their task of putting in chicken wire against the railway fence ( hopefully) to prevent rabbits coming over. We had already started this task beside the footpath running from the top of the steps in Cross Keys Lane. Now we were to press ahead with the more difficult bit along the tree line roots and narrow spaces notwithstanding.

A good deal of rain that morning made matters very muddy but good progress was made and the job should be finished after our next visit on 8 February. Despite the conditions we had an excellent turnout of 14 people with the ever supportive Chris Bertrand on hand with wire and fence ties.

PS. Was I the only one to spot a Wonderlandesque white rabbit looking down from the tree with a monocle languidly smoking a che-root and murmuring ‘if you think that will stop me, you’ve got to be kidding!’?

Michael Saunders

Get Help With Home Repairs

There are services and funds available to help people (owners and private tenants) stay independent, safe and well in their homes, and Oxfordshire County Council has developed a referral service to help residents (or carers) access the right organisations in their area, to get the help they need.

The type of help that can be provided are services such as new boilers, repairs to boilers, loft or cavity wall insu-lation, access to a local and trustworthy repairs service and general advice on how to stay safe, well and afford-ably warm in your home.

Mrs K who lived in Cherwell District Council, who had a cardiovascular disease had her ageing heating system assessed as causing a danger to her health. The draughty doors and windows with rotten wooden frames were doing little to keep out the cold weather, making house freezing cold. She accepted a referral to an or-ganisation who helped with getting her heating system replaced along with new windows and doors. She says of the work done “I feel much warmer and happy to have a heating system that works and is safe”.

For more information or to make a referral visit www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/homerepairs.

Kate Eveleigh Health Improvement Practitioner Public Health Directorate, Oxfordshire County Council [email protected]


Citizens Advice Celebrates 80 Years As Vital Service Continues

Volunteers and staff from Citizens Advice Oxfordshire South and Vale were joined by representatives from the town and district councils at the Guildhall in Abingdon on 15 October to celebrate 80 years of service to the local community.

Citizens Advice was founded on 4 September 1939, the day after World War II was declared, to help people deal with the impact of war. Volunteers gave advice on evacuation, ration books, new housing for those whose homes had been bombed, and even provided recipes using the limited ingredients available on rationing.

Eighty years on, the issues may have changed, but the core values of Citizens Advice remain the same: to provide free, confidential and impartial advice to everyone everywhere.

Last year, Citizens Advice Oxfordshire South and Vale, an independent charity, helped 11,999 people resolve 20,200 problems including debt, housing, Universal Credit, benefits, family problems and consumer issues. For many people this service is a lifeline.

Jon Bright, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Oxfordshire South and Vale, said: “This service is only possible thanks to the dedication and commitment of our 160 highly trained volunteers who give up their time to help people in our community find a solution to their problems.”

The number of people seeking advice has increased by 30 per cent over the last three years and the local offices need more volunteers to keep the service running. Volunteer posts include: advisers, receptionists, administrators, IT support and fundraisers. If you are interested, contact Citizens Advice Oxfordshire South and Vale for more information on 01235 550553 or email [email protected]

For more information, please contact: Catherine Whitmarsh, Fundraising and Events Coordinator, [email protected]

Next WEA Course At Goring Revolution & Counter-Revolution:

England 1640 - 1660

The mid seventeenth century is one of the most tumul-tuous and exciting periods of English history and rarely has so much changed so quickly. The growth of printing combined with economic turmoil and religious conflict fuelled an explosion of new ideas as the country de-scended into a bloody civil war. Within a few years, ide-as that had once been radical had become mainstream, the monarchy was overthrown and the King beheaded. With the world turned upside down, everything that had once been unquestioned was up for debate. Social, po-litical and religious groups wrestled over competing ide-as about power, religion, money, morality, gender and communication. Many political philosophies and reli-gious movements that are still with us can trace their origins back to this time.

In addition to learn-ing about the events of this period, the controversies over their interpretation will be considered and questions asked as to how we are influenced by them today.

This fascinating course costs £90, and will be taken by Symon Hill, starting on 28 January. The two-hour clas-ses will begin at 10.30am each Tuesday for 10 weeks at Storton Lodge, Icknield Road, Goring RG8 0DG. Bookings can be made via www.wea.org.uk, or 0300 303 3464. In either case, it would help if you can quote the course number C3744953, but for more information, please contact Alan Winchcomb 01491 872773 / [email protected].

Alan Winchcomb Goring WEA Class Secretary

Healthwatch Oxfordshire is an independent charity which acts as a watchdog for health and care services in Oxfordshire. Our role is promoting and supporting local people to get involved in, and have their say on, the planning, commissioning and scrutiny of local health and care services. We are currently looking for new Trustees to join our Board.

Health and care services are facing enormous pressures as patient demands increase and become more complex, while at the same time there seems to be constant reorganisation and change. This means it is more important than ever before that the voices of local people are heard and acted upon by hospitals, GP practices and care services.

You can find more information about Heathwatch and the Trustee board at https://healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk/our-board-members/

Richard Maynard Marketing & Communications Manager


The Re-Use Of Castles The Wallingford Historical Society

Dr Elaine Jamieson (Reading Univer-sity) will present 'The re-use of cas-tles' at this TWHAS meeting.

Elaine's talk is about the research pro-ject funded by the Leverhulme Trust which aims to ex-plore the date, form and

palaeo-environmental context of large mounds in Eng-land in order to test the hypothesis that some medieval castle mottes are re-used monuments from earlier peri-ods.

This talk to The Wallingford Historical and Archaeologi-cal Society (TWHAS) will be held on Wednesday 12th Feb, 7.45 for 8pm, at St Mary’s Church, Wallingford. Visitors (£4) are most welcome.

Katharine Keats-Rohan www.twhas.org.uk

News from Wallingford Museum

Volunteers at Wallingford Museum are very busy prepar-ing two new exhibitions of local interest, for a re-opening on Tues 3rd March:

�� ‘Plague, Pus and Pills - the history of Wallingford’s hospitals’, which will trace the story of caring for the sick from medieval times to the present day’

�� The 'Willis Family paintings'

In addition, there will be special events during the year:

�� 'Can you FACE It ?' workshops (which will appeal to ages 7 to 99!) in April. With an introduction to foren-sic science and plenty of imagination you too can make your own facial reconstruction, complete with eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, hair and ears.

Stop press: booking now open online !

�� 'Family Archaeology Day' in July �� 'Squish, Squash, Bish, Bosh! ' -

a special family event in Au-gust. Discover how Victorians worked hard in Wallingford !

�� Drop in quizzes, puzzles and other family things to do, during the summer holidays.

Our Museum Bookshop has an excellent selection of good second-hand books (both fiction and non-fiction) at sensible prices. We’ll be open in February - every Friday from 10.30 to 3.00, and every Saturday from 10.30 to 1.00.

We look forward to seeing you - it's free to browse!

We would love to hear from anyone interested in volun-teering, whether to be a custodian, assist with the ar-chive, delve into research, assist at events, or be a walk guide etc. If you would like to join our team please con-tact Jenny Carpenter 01491 826734, [email protected]

Stu Darby www.wallingfordmuseum.org.uk


Ladies & Gents, do you want the best haircut?

This is where you can find us: 2 The Arcade High Street Goring on Thames RG8 9AY Walk in (we do get busy so get there early) or call us today and make an ap-pointment

01491 873160

We do marvellous hair!

If interested in advertising in the

South Stoke Parish Newsletter,

please contact:

Jane Newton [email protected]


A small, family operated business in South Oxfordshire, we’re dedicated to designing and maintaining gardens for private and commer-cial clients alike.

But what makes us different is our deep knowledge of garden plants - where to plant them, how to grow them successfully and what maintenance they need.

[email protected]

07785 397237 or 01491 872975

The Garden Tamers are members of the South Stoke Business Network


St. Andrew's Church, South Stoke Services in January 2020

January 5th 11.15am Ben’’s Special Family Service

January 7th 2.30pm Prayer Meeting at Crossways

January 12th 11.15am Holy Communion (Prayer Book)

January 19th 11.15am Matins (Book of Common Prayer)

January 26th 11.15am Holy Communion (Common Worship) There is coffee or tea, biscuits and fellowship after all services. Evening prayers are held every Wednesday at 4.30 pm at a home in the village. Details to be given on the preceding Sunday.

The Benefice Office can be contacted Monday to Thursday mornings until noon. The telephone number is 01491 875651. Friday mornings is 07502 194674. See www.thomandmary.org.uk, with emails to [email protected].

Steve Poulson, the Benefices’ supported mission partner, works with Street Children in the capital city of Honduras, one of the most violent cities in the world. These children live on the streets and face violence, disease and hunger on a daily basis, and run the risk of prostitution … To survive, they are forced to steal, scavenge from garbage bins and waste sites or polish shoes. An unimaginable situation in 2020.

Steve and the other mentors are daily risking their lives helping the kids to keep away from the very real violent gang influence and providing life skills training and education.

Steve has sent some photos of orphaned kids, having some fun and getting a meal in the Project club-room. There are more photos on display in St Andrew’s Church. Steve is an amazing role model and our aim this year is raise £1,000 to support his work. If you are interested in hearing more, have an idea to help raise funds or are able to give even a very small donation to this amazing work please do support and let us know.

Harry Hogg & Lou Verrill, Church Wardens [email protected] & [email protected]

Next Issue All contributions are welcome. Please e-mail to [email protected], deliver to South Stoke Community Shop or telephone 01491 871 055. Please include a telephone number and an e-mail address if possible. Photos are welcome and encouraged. Please get your submissions in as early as possible. Deadline for the February issue: Sunday 26 January 2020.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that any information given is correct, the South Stoke Newsletter and South Stoke Parish Council do not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of such information or the consequences of relying on it. Any views expressed are those of the contributor at the time of submission.

January 13th Parish Council Meeting (Village Hall, 7.30pm)

January 14th Women’s Institute (Village Hall, from 2.15pm)

January 24th South Stoke Historical Society Talk: Bringing Wallingford Castle Back to Life (Village Hall, 8.00pm)

January 25th Lady Audley’ Secret: A Victorian Melodrama See pages 4 & 5 for details. (Village Hall, 7.30pm)

January 27th Community Building Committee Meeting (Village Hall, 7.30pm)

May 8th VE Day Street Party

December 18th HOLD THE DATE Christmas Cracker 2020

One of the photos of Steve Poulson's project...

another fantastic christmas cracker! · cian mark taylor, fiona dew who set up the hall and bar,...

Documents