Brize Norton Parish Council Newsletter

The Communities of Brize Norton and Carterton

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Here is the text from the latest newsletter (December 2003).  
Published here with permission of the Parish Council.

CHAlR’S REPORT

The leaves on the ground tell us that Autumn has arrived in the Parish and that Winter is on its way. Once again, it has been a busy time around the village. Probably the most significant event is the opening of the A40 link road. Those travelling to Carterton from the A40 will now be directed onto the new road, bypassing the village. Coming out of Carterton, drivers will also have the choice of taking the new road, rather than the road along the RAF base. This Council has tried very hard to reduce speeding through the community and have been told that we would have to wait and see how the link road will affect this problem. The read now being open, we will renew our efforts to prevent speeding and have the traffic calming we have requested put in place.

The recreation grounds have received some long-awaited rain and are looking green and tidy. The stone wall has been repaired and the trees along the football pitch have been trimmed back and thinned out. The Council has purchased new portable floodlights so that sports teams can continue to train at night but can now train in different locations rather than just one spot. This should allow the turf to recover much quicker in the spring.

There is still great concern about flooding in the community and I apologise for having to keep making excuses as to why a public meeting has not yet been held. The main reason is that the Parish Council does not have the answers that villagers are entitled to.

These answers will come from various government bodies, utilities and landowners. I am desperate to get these parties to attend our village meeting so that concerned villagers can direct their questions to the appropriate people. Please know that we are on the case of organising this meeting.

The Brett Report has been published that outlines some limited work that is to be carried out with regards to the drainage problems at one end of the village. For a copy of the report, please contact John Clark on (01993) 861353. Please continue to look out for details of this meeting.

The village is once again looking for a new caretaker. It is our hope to get someone from the village to take on the job. Our attempts to hire someone from outside the community have proved less than satisfactory. If you or someone you know is interested in the position please contact the Parish Clerk. May I offer my sincere thanks to those villagers that are volunteering their time, keeping things tidy while we try to fill this vital position.

The Parish Council would like to wish all members of this community all the very best of the season.

Shane J Rae Chairman

ST BRITIUS CHURCH

Swing into Autumn - The Swing into Autumn dance on September 20’” was a great success and enjoyed by many people from the village. Thanks to everyone who helped, in particular the 57 Swing Band who gave their services free and to Colin and Di Dawes at Foxbury Farm for providing the ham & salad vegetables at cost. The dance contributed £840 for St Britius church funds. Pictures of everyone enjoying themselves can be found on the Brize Norton and Carterton Community website. (See below).

Installation of Rev’d Roy Turner - St Britius church was full to capacity on Tuesday October 28th for the installation of Rev’d Roy Turner as team vicar and Rev’d Roger Billings as our Ares Dean. Bishop Colin of Dorchester carried out the installation and addressed a congregation made up from Brize Norton, Carterton, and from Woodstock and 8ladon where Roy had been curate. Our Parish Chairman (Shane Rae) and the Chairman of the Governors of the Primary School (Jackie Bellenger) were amongst those who welcomed Roy to the village. The service wes followed by refreshments in the Elderbank Hall and pictures are on the website. (See below). Rev’d Roy Turner can be contacted at 5 Trefoil Way, Carterton, OX1 8 1JQ on the new housing estate. He can be reached by phone on 844175 and by email on roy@bladon5Tfsnet.co.uk.

Our web-site progresses - The Brize Norton and Carterton Community Web Site continues to attract interest and now figures on many of the popular Internet search engines. Two recent requests concerning the church bells and the genealogy of the Greenwood Family illustrate this. Our gallery has photographs taken at church and other events in the village, and a number of new items have been added. These include an online version of the Parish Newsletter, newspaper coverage, and items related to the village history and the war memorial. A new school web site is in deve1opment and it is hoped that the children will share in maintaining an interactive school diary linked with their own web pages. New features will include an interactive street finder and listings of places of interest for visitors in the area.

We renew our no obligation offer to put items in our online diary and to carry write-ups and photographs of village activities. With your help we can develop the site as a key reference for activities and events in the village, and in Carterton. Please visit the site regularly and tell us about things you would like to see on the site or links to sites of likely interest. Tell your friends and relatives. The address for the site is www.brizenorton.org.uk/community and that for the primary school is www.brizenorton.org.uk/school. Please contact Dr Phil Holmes on 843856 or by email at p.holmes@brizenorton.org.uk. He would welcome any feedback.

Christmas Services at St Britius - On Sunday December 21” at 6 pm – A Candlelit Service of Nine Lessons and Carols followed by coffee and hot mince pies. All children are invited to come in nativity dress (i.e., as shepherds, angels, Mary, Joseph, wise men etc)

On Wednesday December 24’” (Christmas Eve) at 11.30pm – Midnight Mass.  Please note the new time.

On Thursday December 25’” (Christmss Day) at 9.15arn – Family Service with Communion.

Other services will be advertised on the web site (see above).

BRIZE NORTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Returning from the summer break, the students and staff were overjoyed with the results of the newly completed ’Foundstion Garden’.   With the decked areas, sandpits, theatre area, quiet reading corners and the very popular sunken pirate ship, the garden is rarely out of use.  Flowerbeds are soon to be planted out by the students in the area, which was jointly funded by the ’Seecl Challenge’ and the School Association.

The building conversion of the old school garage into an arts and crafts/music room has finally been completed. A tremendous amount of work has been put into this conversion by a small number of people, well done. Fantastic results now give the students somewhere to cook and bake or just take part in arty- crafty type activities, but not at the same time as the musicians are utilizing their new music room of course.

With a very full compliment of students on the register at present, we are looking into the possibility of converting some of the playing field into an all weather area. The orchard land at the side of the school is also being looked at with the aim of acquiring it for school use. This still requires consultation between the landowner and the Parish Council.

Finally, a big thank you to the School Association, without which a great many of the above mentioned projects would not have been completed.

BRIZE NORTON VILLAGE PRE-SCHOOL

Brize Norton Village pre-school will be ho1ding their Christmas fayre on Monday December 15th. Doors wiil open at 10.30 am. The children will perform a short play and there will be several stalls for your enjoyment along with tea and mince pies. All are welcome.

Sarah Mclntyre 846773

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE

In the past three months the WI has travelled unexpected paths in a mobile library unit with Rosemary Baker, visited treasures of St Petersburg with Daphne Sinclair, and been encouraged to make or update a will with Jon Riley. As well as these local meetings, 15 of us went to a Group Meeting on Victorian dress and were appalled by the weight of the clothes our great-great grandmothers had to wear. Four of us represented the village in the bi-annual quiz and members also went to a meeting addressed by the BBC’s Jennie Bond. 

We are now looking forward to a talk on making Christmas cards and our Christmas dinner. On December 22nd we are organising a visit to ’Cats’ at the New Theatre. We have a few tickets to spare and should be delighted to welcome anyone from the village who would like to join us on this outing. Tickets in the Dress Circle and coach travel from door to door cost £21. Please contact Cathie Malcolm on 843414 or any other member of the WI to see if there are any spaces still available.

We have – of course! – been to see ’Calendar Girls’ which gave a glorious picture of the friendship and fun to be found in a WI. We can’t promise a trip To Hollywood but, to paraphrase a recent poster, ’If you’ve got nothing on, why not try the WI?’ Our January meeting is entitled ’Coming to the UK as a Bride from Italy’.

Hazel Goldman.

WIDOWS MONEY & FUEL ALLOTMENT CHARITY 

We have a small charity in the village, which allows us to give a small gift to pensioners, widows and anyone in great need at Christmas time. I shall soon being giving out those gifts, so if you qualify and are not yet on my list please contact me.