Brize Norton Parish Council Newsletter

The Communities of Brize Norton and Carterton

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Here is the text from the June 2008 Newsletter Published here with permission of the Parish Council.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

With this issue of the Newsletter we are nearly half way through another year, the list of summer activities contained in the following pages indicate a thriving community with many varied activities taking place in the village. It appears that all age groups are well catered for. We are grateful to the committees of all the clubs and organisations that work so hard to make a success of these ventures for the benefit of so many.

Climate change and global warming, (believe it or not!)

The effects of localised flooding are still with us. Some people in the village have only just returned to their homes after the flood of July 2007. After numerous meetings the West Oxford District Council (WODC) report on flooding will be ready in early June. It will be available on the WODC website and I would recommend that you read this report and pass any comments to WODC. The report contains many recommendations to reduce the risk of further flooding throughout the village. It is hoped that expectations are not raised unduly as funding for all of the improvements is not yet in place. The Parish Council will continue to lobby, at all levels of local and central government and endeavour to ensure that action is taken to reduce further flood risk.

Ongoing developments at RAF Brize Norton.

Work has started on the building of a new large hangar. Traffic for this is expected to enter RAF Brize Norton at an entrance off of the Carterton Road. The Parish Council has made representations to Oxfordshire County Council to ensure that traffic is routed away from the village.

Vehicle traffic/Roads.

Parish Councillors have held an on site meeting with Oxfordshire County Council to discuss traffic calming measures to reduce the impact of traffic throughout the village. The discussions were wide ranging; topics discussed were all approach roads to the village, speed limits, parking restrictions, weight limits, footpaths, routeing of vehicles to RAF Brize Norton, the future use of Kilkenny Lane, safety of children attending the primary school, speed checks, flashing speed signs and the continuation of the new link road from the Minster Road Roundabout to the bends by Astrop Farm. All of the above were well received by the OCC representative. However once again funding for improvements is always the stumbling block.

Thames Valley Police have carried out speed checks and report that four local drivers have been stopped; further random police speed checks are planned. Please don't get caught!

Keith A Glazier

ST BRITIUS CHURCH

The church will be open and full of flowers arranged by ladies who are opening their gardens for the NGS Gardens Open Day on Sunday 8 June from 1pm to 6pm. Everyone is also most welcome at our "Songs of Praise" service which closes the day's events at 7.30pm. The hymns and readings have been chosen by members of the congregation and those in the village opening their gardens.

We have started preliminary work on the Friends of St Britius Tower Project, rendering the walls of the tower ready for construction of the toilet facilities. We are still awaiting final approval of the Diocesan Advisory Committee and the award of a Faculty for carrying out the work. It has taken far longer than we hoped to get to this point!

At the Horticultural Show and Cricket Festival on August Bank Holiday Monday members of the church will be providing teas and refreshments, and a tombola stall.

BRIZE NORTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

The end of the school year is fast approaching and as ever this term is filled with exciting events.
In June (2nd - 6th) we are holding an Environment week in school. During this week the children will be thinking about how we can help minimise waste by reducing, reusing and recycling. We will be welcoming many visitors into school during the week including the Wild Waste Bus, in which all children will take part in a range of activities using waste materials. Our BIG project for the week will be to further develop the school grounds for outdoor learning. We plan to redevelop the school pond and wildlife area, and develop a sound garden in the school grounds. This project involves the whole school and parents. If anyone has any time free during this week and does not mind getting their hands dirty, please contact the School Office.

At the end of the year we say a sad farewell to several members of staff. Laura Udall, teacher of Class 3, has decided not to return to work after the birth of her daughter. Lindsey Ridgeway, Foundation Stage teacher, is relocating to Hartlepool with her husband and Paula Pugh, teaching assistant, is also relocating. All three will be greatly missed by staff and children. In September we will be welcoming Caroline Wheatley to the teaching team from Cam Hopton in Gloucestershire.

This term we have said a big thank you and farewell to many members of the School Association committee, whose children are now about to leave the school. We were overwhelmed by the response for new committee members. The School Association are now busy planning events for this term. These include the Summer Fete on Sunday 13th July. As in previous years, we are planning to hold a street procession to begin the Summer Fete. We have made an application to West Oxfordshire District Council to close Station Road from 2.30 - 3pm on 13th July.

This term the money raised by the School Association has supported our Book and Drama week; purchased curtains for the school hall; paid for coaches for school trips and bought wooden benches for the playground. They have also been busy raising money for a new computer network. Two parents of children at the school, Mr Webb and Mr Conlan, also raised over £800 towards this project by running the Paris Marathon.

Our current Year 6 children are now preparing for their move to secondary school and will soon be carrying out visits. Their final term at Brize will aim to prepare them for the transition to secondary school. The children also have many concerts, sporting events, visitors and even a trip to London to look forward to!

As ever we have entered every sporting event organised by the Burford partnership and have celebrated many successes. Our netball team have won several tournaments over the last few months and will now represent West Oxfordshire in July. Our school sports day is planned for Monday 14th July.

Our school website continues to develop. The website celebrates the work and achievements of the children and provides information about forthcoming events. You can visit our website at http://www.bnschool.org.

Mark Smith
Headteacher

NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME BRIZE NORTON

This year Brize Norton has fifteen gardens opening on Sunday June 8th between 1pm and 6pm as part of the NGS Gardens open for charity scheme. Last year there were ten gardens open and £776 was raised with some of the monies being donated to Brize Norton over 60's club, Brize Norton Brownies and St.Britius Church as well as national charities like Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

This year we are pleased to welcome two new gardens, 'Clumber' in Witney Road and 2 Elm Grove. There are also a number of gardens open this year that were not open last year. The WI will again be providing cream teas in Elderbank Hall and the Flower Festival will be held in St. Britius Church.

Please support our members by visiting the gardens. £3.50 per adult ticket offers great value for money.

If you would like more information or would like to open your garden next year, please get in touch.

Stuart Finlayson 846386.
Village Coordinator.</P

BRIZE NORTON OVER 60's CLUB

The meetings will now be held at 4 Squires Close as Joy has moved back in after the floods.

Our future programme includes:

• June 3rd River trip with cream tea
• June 17th Coffee morning. 10.30am at 4 Squires Close Everyone Welcome
• July 1st Meal at 'The Trout' Lechlade
• July 15th Cream tea at 4 Squires Close
• July 29th Picnic. To be arranged
• October 17th - 29th Weymouth Holiday

Thank you to Edna, Benita, Carol and June for our teas.

New members, with village connections most welcome.

Contact Joy Douglas 842373

YOUR VILLAGE POST OFFICE (AT YOUR SERVICE)

Did you know that your village Post Office provides all of the services listed below and lots more?

* Traditional letter and parcel posting including next day deliveries and eBay services.

* Banking – (Cash/Cheque deposits and withdrawal) if you bank with the following banks: Alliance & Leicester (Girobank), Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Cahoot, Clydesdale, Co-op, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society and Smile.

* National Savings & Investment including Premium bonds, Pension bonds and Children Bonus Bonds.

* Bill Payment – Most household bills including BT phone bills can be paid free of fees.

* Foreign currency – generally commission free with 4 days notice.

* Travel Insurance – Inland and overseas (provided on the spot).

* Home Phone – Incentive to transfer your current home telephone service.

* Household Home Insurance – Competitive.

* Car Insurance – There is a £50 cash back on take up.

* Mobile phone Top-up.

* Groceries – limited quantity of snacks and groceries too.

We have an ageing cliental at present and would very much welcome young parents to use our facilities. At a time when the post office network is under considerable threat, we need all the support that we can get. We need everybody using the post office in order to survive.

Michael your postmaster attends the Sports Pavilion on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9.30am and 12.30pm.

Thank you for your continued support.

Michael

BRIZE NORTON VILLAGE PRE SCHOOL

With the recent warm and dry Spring weather the children have made several visits to our allotment and have started planting seeds and tubers. They all enjoy their time digging, weeding and sowing and then harvesting the produce later in the year. The pre-school is indebted to those of you who help with keeping our allotment tidy, giving us plants and garden tools and a new compost bin. The allotment as a teaching resource is a real plus point when it comes to our Ofsted inspections. The children have also grown mung bean shoots which were then cooked in a stir fry and they ate for their mid morning snack.

We would like to thank A K Timms Ltd for allowing the children to visit their garden section at the start of term. When they were back in pre-school the home corner and our shed became 'garden centres' for the children to play in.

In the second week of term we had an Ofsted inspection and the report can be viewed on the Ofsted website (www.ofsted.gov.uk). We were pleased that the inspector recognised all the hardwork by the staff and committee over the last 10 months and although the overall assessment was satisfactory for nursery education and care of children there were many aspects that the inspector found to be good.

Thank you to everyone who supported us at our Easter fayre in March. The children enjoyed singing the songs they had learnt and also parading the wonderful Easter bonnets that were created for them. We raised a further £275 towards pre-school funds.

We were sorry that we had to cancel our bingo evening in April but we hope that you will be able to join us on Saturday 19 July for a Summer quiz evening with pig roast buffet. We will be advertising the event with more details later in June. We are also doing further fundraising at the Foxbury Farm open day Sunday 1 June. We will be selling second hand children's clothes and toys and invite children to have their face painted.

We are still busy collecting the Sainsbury's (Active8) and Tesco (computers for schools) vouchers. The schemes allow us to exchange the vouchers we collect for a variety of new equipment for the pre-school and we would be pleased if you could continue to collect the vouchers for us and either 'post' them in our collecting boxes in the hall foyer or to Carolyn at 52a Station Road.

Brize Norton Village pre-school runs Monday to Friday in the Elderbank Hall. We cater for 2 1/2 to 5 year olds. This term we have 22 children filling both full and part time places. If you would like to register your child on our waiting list, or you would like any other information about pre-school, or you think you may be able to help in some way, then please contact our chairman Carolyn Peach 01993 844102 or e-mail: brizenortonpreschool@hotmail.co.uk or our website www.brizenortonpreschool.info.

We also hire out the pre-school chairs and tables - ideal for birthday parties and events with several children in attendance....only £5 for as many as you need.

Contact Carolyn for further details.
 

BRIZE NORTON DANCE CLUB

We still meet every 2 weeks on Thursday evenings. Thanks to Jean & Mabel for the refreshments. Club end of term cream tea June 29th.

Tea Dances:

• Sunday September 28th
• Sunday October 26th
• Sunday November 30th
• Sunday December 14th

With the profit from previous tea dances, we gave £150 to the renal unit.
Contact Joy on 842373

BRIZE NORTON VILLAGE TODDLER GROUP

Have you got a baby/toddler/child between 0-5 years?

We are a small, friendly, parent run toddler group offering a wide range of toys and activities. Held in the Elderbank hall with additional outside space, there is a lot of room for toddlers to let off steam get creative or simply have fun with other children. There is also a suitable area for less mobile babies.

We are trying to provide what you want and need from the group, by encouraging group singing, story time and a regular craft activity table. Children are free to participate in any activity.

We would love to see new faces, or the return of old ones, and hope you and your child will come along and see what toddler group has to offer.

Brize Norton Toddlers - Elderbank Hall
Tuesday (during term time) 1.15pm - 3.00pm
£1.50 for 1 adult and two children, additional adults are 50p each
Call Carolyn Peach - 01993 844102 for more details or please just come along.

BLOOD DONATION SESSIONS FOR 2008

Wednesday 26th August - 1.30pm to 3.25pm and 4.15pm to 7.15pm
Tuesday 23rd December - 1.30pm to 3.25pm and 4.15pm to 7.15pm

All sessions are held in the Elderbank Hall. For further information please contact the National Blood Service on 0845 7 711 711 or visit their website www.blood.co.uk.
 

 All entries for inclusion in the September issue should be received by the 14th August.