Brize Norton Parish Council Newsletter

The Communities of Brize Norton and Carterton

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Here is the text from the latest newsletter (June 2004).  
Published here with permission of the Parish Council.

CHAlR’S REPORT

Some early sunny days this Spring have seen many residents out in their gardens getting ready for what will hopefully be a fantastic Summer. Unfortunately, the weather has turned as I write this and much rain has fallen in the last several weeks. Perhaps this is to be expected after such a dry Winter.

May I first start by congratulating our village football clubs on the conclusion of a most successful season. Our Men’s First team have again recorded great victories in the Cup competitions in which they were entered. Most notably, the team won the John Fathers Junior Shield, a competition in which approx 300 teams entered. Just a few nights ago, this team narrowly missed winning the league title, when a loss to Carterton saw them coming second place by one point. I think all will agree that this is an incredible result for a village of our size. I would also like to mention that our village Ladies football team have completed their first season as part of the Wiltshire League. The main success for this developmental team was in remaining committed, organised and positive through a tough season against strong teams &om larger cities and towns.

Our entry into the Best Kept Village competition has been received and I have been notified that preliminary judging will be carried out shortly. I again ask villagers to do their part in keeping things looking neat and tidy. Our Village Caretaker has been hard at work putting things to right. I apologise that the first cut of the grass is so late in coming this year. The Parish Council have decided to seek several quotes for the contract as it is one of the largest annual expenditures. It took more time than we had hoped to get these quotes in but, we wanted to be sure that residents were getting the best value for their money

At the recent Village AGM a resident mentioned that he was interested in again rescheduling a flooding meeting, perhaps for early Autumn. As it is a very difficult event to organise, the Parish Council have decided to only proceed with this meeting if at least 20 households responds to the Clerk, in writing, to say they would be willing to attend this meeting. I will let you know the outcome in a later newsletter.

I have noticed that work has begun on the pathway outside of the school. Hopefully this will be concluded quickly. Could I make a polite plea to villagers using the War Memorial for car parking to please try to be sensitive to the needs of our local church?

Wishing you all the best as the warm weather approaches.

Shane J Rae

ST BRITIUS CHURCH

We have seen strong support from the villagers for our special services. We have also seen a growth through our regular services. We hope that the addition of our family service to our existing children’s church services will help and encourage more people to worship on a regular basis.

Our first ever Family Service was held on Sunday 7 March. Family Services are designed for children of all ages and for adults and are held on the first Sunday of every month with a Communion in the evening. Our next family service on June 6 will be combined with Junior Church.

Our Mothering Sunday Service on 21 March was led by Junior Church who had met beforehand as ”The Challengers” to prepare the service.

Easter Services included our second family service on Palm Sunday with 20 children, 30 adults and Mickey the donkey. An innovative Easter Vigil inspired us all, and Easter Sunday saw even more new faces in Church.

There will be a special service of ”Songs of Praise” on Sunday 20 June at 7.30pm to round off the NGS Gardens Open Day in the village. Villagers will choose the hymns and the readings. This is a great occasion for everyone to come together to sing in the flower-filled church. If you have requests for your favourite hymns or would like to read, please ring Mary Holmes on 843856.

Faringdon Singers will be presenting ”Trial by Jury” by Gilbert and Sullivan, and ”Captain Noah’s Floating Zoo” by Michael Flanders and Joseph Horovitz in the Elderbank Hall on Friday 16 July at 8pm in aid of church funds. Everyone is welcome and tickets, priced at KS will include refreshments. Tickets will be available &om Chris Morgan (842663) and Phil Holmes (843856).

To those that managed to miss us last year, the Church will be providing cream teas in the bar area of the Elderbank Hall (and outside) with home made scones and other refreshments. We will also be manning other stalls and hope to see you on August Bank Holiday Monday (30 August).

Summer is still to come, but the 57 Swing Band and the Elderbank Hall are already booked for Saturday 25 September (7.30 – 11 pm) for our Swing into Autumn Dance and Supper. So please put the date in your diary, as this event is likely to be as popular as last year. Tickets will be on sale at the end of August.

After several months of planning, Brize Norton Primary School now has a new website. We show the children’s work and activities, provide information for parents and prospective parents and look for the children to develop their own web pages. Our aim is to use the web site as a vehicle for the children to develop skills in IT alongside learning modern techniques for communication.

Features of the web site include a diary and a guest book for feedback. Over the weeks and months the children will decide what gets added to the site, and they will be helped to make it their own.

The school web site can be found at www.brizenorton.org.uk/bn_{_}school

Further information can be obtained from Phil Holmes on 843856 or via email at p.holmes@brizenorton.org.uk

Once again Brize Norton Gardens are open on behalf of the National Gardens Scheme. We have got 14 Gardens open this year, along with the Church which is hosting a flower festival and also we have Japanese Temple music being played in the church. There are 3 new gardens as well as 2 gardens which have been opened before and have returned this year. The WI is serving teas and refreshments in the Elderbank Hall. Watch out this year for the Ice Cream seller on his bike. Stop him and buy one. All profits &om the Ice Cream and the plants which are on sale during the day go to local village charities, along with a proportion of the takings on the day from the open gardens.

The National Gardens Scheme is a nationwide charity which raises funds to help various charities like Macmillan Cancer Relief, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Nurses Welfare Service, The Queen’s Nursing Institute, to name a few. In 2003 the NGS raised K1.8 million, of which K162,000 was distributed to local charities nominated by the individual Garden Schemes. Last year our local charities were Brize Norton School and the Brize Norton over 60’s Club and both of these organisations received just over £100 each.

So why not come along on Sunday 20 June and enjoy a wander around the village and around our Open Gardens. We 1ook forward to seeing you then.

CAPOLD – which stands for Citizen Advocacy for People of Oxfordshire with Learning Disabilities – has been running for nearly two years and has had some successful outcomes in the partnerships that have been formed. It is one of three schemes run by the Oxfordshire Advocacy Development Group and is funded by the Department of Health as part of an effort to support more independence in people with learning disabilities. Citizen advocacy is a way of supporting people to have their voice heard – enabling them to understand decisions that they need to make, ensuring they have enough time to do this and then supporting them to say what they want. It encourages choice and social inclusion in a group of people who historically have been segregated from the rest of society.

In the time that CAPOLD has been running we have advocated for a number of people who have, through advocacy, been able to make choices and decisions and have those choices respected and acted upon. One lady needed to move to a residential home and through the work of an advocate it was ensured that she is living somewhere that she likes and where she feels comfortable. Another lady was caught between the wishes of her parents and those of the care staff who supported her. With an advocate she was able to say what she wanted and have that listened to and acted upon, giving her some much-prized independence. 

Success stories are not always the outcome of advocacy partnerships, as advocates cannot promise that the partner will get what they want. Often, however, a sense of empowerment and individuality comes from someone being asked what they want, in a way they understand and being enabled to respond with their own reply rather than others making a response for them.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer advocate or know of someone with a learning disability who you think could benefit from the support of an advocate please contact Helen Bloomfield on 01S65 741293 or capold@btopenworld.com. 

Advocates are given training (which can be accredited by the Open College Network), paid expenses and are supported and supervised throughout their work for CAPOLD.  All advocates are police-checked through the Criminal Records Bureau before they start work.

Brize Norton Ladies F.C. has now completed all fixtures in the Wiltshire County Women’s k Girls League for the 2003/2004 season. Although they have not been very successful in their results, their team spirit, good sportsmanship and approach to the game is commendable.

Brize Ladies have opted to join the Berks k Bucks league next season which may be beneficial as several other developing teams are set to join up for the 2004/2005 season.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has been involved in this team, including The Chequers Pub for kindly sponsoring us, the supporters who turn up regardless of the weather conditions, the volunteers who help coach the team and run the line on match days and of course the players whose commitment to the team has been fantastic. Training has now finished giving the ladies a well earned break but will commence again towards the end of July. If you are interested in joining and are aged 15 or over please contact Sam Goodwin (846827). All abilities are welcome.

A late, late goal by Carterton A with almost the last kick of the season, denied Brize a fifth consecutive W.D.FA championship. 

However considering their meagre start to the season, second place seemed a long way off in November, and good cup runs seemed the only bet. 

This they achieved by winning 3 cups in all. On 2’” March they won the Fred Ford Cup for the 5 time, beating Carterton A 5-0 in the Semi. Next on the list was the Senior Challenge Cup, a cup which Brize seemed doomed not to win. However, it finally came into Brize’s possession after a closely fought final against Hailey with the winning goal coming deep into extra time for a 1-0 victory. West Witney had been the victims by a 3-0 margin in the Semi Final. The third success was in winning the prestigious John Fathers Oxon Junior Shield for the 4 time (only the 4 club to achieve this) when beating Bakels Crusaders an Oxford City team 5-1 in the final after seeing off Banbury league’s Steeple Aston 3-0 in the Semi.’ All these games were played at Witney United’s ground, a lucky ground this season. Congratulations to all the team especially Phil Tyrell and Mark Hedges, the managers. 

The reserves finished mid-table in Division 2 and reached the Semi Final of the Jack Busby Cup loosing to Carterton Rangers Reserves, the eventual winners. Our thanks to Derek Weir for running the reserves this season. 

So all in all a good season and our thanks go also to Steve Carpenter and the committee, Mike Sollis for his general help and running the line, Nick Merriman for running the bar, Keith and Jane at the Chequers and lastly A.K Timms & Sons for their generous sponsorship. Training for next season will start in July and all past and new players are welcome to come along.

Fred Bellenger

We continue with our club on Thursday evenings. Beginners and Intermediate lessons are between 6.30 – 7.45 pm followed by social time and then Advanced lessons begin at 8.45pm. 47 of us have enjoyed a dance break on the Isle of Wight.

We have another Tea Dance on May 9 with an organist playing for us. Since Christmas we have sent nearly £500 to children’s charities as the result of the Tea Dances. This last one will bring the total to over £500

After a short Easter break we meet again on Monday May 10 with a talk on Local Librarians. 

We shall have both a cream tea and BBQ at Joys and go on trips to The White Horse Hills and Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage. There is also a trip to Windsor with a river trip. 

Please contact Joy (842373) if you are interested or would like to attend one of our events. A copy of the programme is on the notice board.

Imagine getting a box of vegetables and meat delivered fresh to your door each week, and at a price of no more than what you would pay in high street shops. With all the food scares we’ve experienced lately it is no wonder Foxbury Farm shop in the Burford Road at Brize Norton has won many awards for the quality of their products. The Farm is the current holder of The National Small Producer Award. The meat comes from animals reared on the farm, ready-made meals are cooked on the premises, and vegetables are local and fresh; this whole new concept is on your doorstep!

But, if you don’t want to do the cooking, relax, The Crown Inn at Finstock, is your answer. It is Oxfordshire’s Farmer run pub. Products from Foxbury Farm are supplied to The Crown Inn to provide you with a quality menu. All day breakfast, Steak/Kidney and Abbots Ale pie, Sirloin Steak, Garlic, Tarragon and Mushroom Tagliatelle, White Onion and Oxford Blue Cheese Tart, Venison Steak, Fisherman’s Pie and much more, I am sure you are already hungry. Real quality food at sensible prices on your plate.

If your children are on holiday and you are looking for something different to do, why not visit Foxbury Farm Wed – Sat 9 am – 6 pm and look around the farm animals, rare breed poultry, Gloucester Old spot piglets, sheep and hundreds of lambs are your Foxbury Farm Friends just waiting for a visit. Entrance is Free to shop customers.

For further details contact: 

Foxbury Farm shop (Colin Dawes) 01993 844141

The Crown Inn, Finstock (Nick & Gail Wilkinson) 01993 868431

All entries for inclusion in the September issue should be received by Friday 9th July.