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Copy for the next edition should be given to Mr. George Adams at "Karibu", Main Street, tel: 680286 by midnight on Saturday, 27th January please.

If you normally prepare your material using a computer, it would make my life easier if you could submit your offering in electronic form, though paper is, of course, fine. My ‘official’ e-mail address is: news-editor @ oxhill.org.uk if you wish to send me stuff that way.

2007

The Production Team would like to wish everyone the very happiest of times throughout the New Year.

February Issue

Please could I have all copy for the next issue by midnight on Saturday, 27th January?

If you normally prepare your material using a computer, it would make my life easier if you could submit your offering in electronic form, though paper is, of course, fine.

If you do use electronic form, the best format is a Word file with the page size set to A5 and Margins of 1.5cm all round. The News is currently set in Garamond 10pt, with headings in Lucida Sans Unicode 14pt bold.

My ‘official’ e-mail address isnews-editor @ oxhill.org.ukif you wish to send me stuff that way.

George Adams - 680286

Cover Pictures

The salt works on the cover is a view of the Saline Royale d’Arc et Senans southeast of Dijon in Burgundy. Although the actual production equipment vanished long ago the site is quite extraordinary, and well worth a visit when you are next in the area.

Editor

Tysoe WI Celebrates Its 90th Year

Some of you will be aware that the Institute was formed in 1917. The First World War was bringing hardship and sorrow to many families in towns, cities and rural areas.

The first members doing their bit for the community purchased a cheese press to deal with the surplus milk, and organised fresh fish from Grimsby to come into Tysoe on a weekly basis. Soup was made for children who had to walk long distances to school.

During the Second World War, when many wives were left behind to bring up children while their husbands were overseas, talks were arranged for women to learn what they could do for the war effort, such as making trimming for camouflage nets, as well as learning to make a tasty meal with little ingredients and growing good vegetables. Dances were organised in the village hall and fund raising events for many charities working here and in foreign lands. Wool was purchased for members and the local school children to knit gloves etc for the troops. A fruit preservation scheme was set up, as was a cooperative for sugar; also rose hips were collected for the WRVS.

As part of the 90th anniversary celebrations, the Institute plans to hold an exhibition on Wednesday 4th April, from 2- 4 p.m. in Tysoe Village Hall.

The Institute has minute books, tablecloths, cups awarded for skills, and other memorabilia. Would former members or relatives have items which could be lent for the exhibition please contact June Wreford, 01295 680294 or Lyn Hicks, 01295 680164.

Belinda Keep

Church Cleaning Rota

Retirement of John & Shirley Baines

The P.C.C. would like to express thanks and gratitude to John and Shirley for their seventeen years of devoted service on the Church cleaning rota. We wish them well.

We are of course going to miss their help with both the general cleaning and the brass cleaning. If anyone feels they would be able to fill this gap (we are now three short) on a monthly basis, please telephone me.

Carol Fox, 01295 680223

Church Service Times

St. Lawrence Oxhill

All are warmly invited to our services

Initials in brackets are firstly the celebrant and secondly the sidesman.

Sunday 7th - Epiphany I
9:30am - Holy Communion. (ML) (DH).

Sunday 14th - Epiphany II
8:30am - Holy Communion. (ML) (AG).
6:30pm - Evensong. (ML) (CF).

Sunday 21st - Epiphany III
9:30am - Holy Communion. (ML) (AB).

Sunday 28th - Epiphany IV
9:30am - Holy Communion. (NM) (LH).

Vicarage Notes

Happy New Year everyone!

Thanks go to all who shared in the special services and activities over Christmas, and to all the flower arrangers and decorators atSt. Lawrence’s, which looked beautiful. My thanks for the warm welcome at the Christmas lunch, which was a wonderful spread – congratulations to the workers!

Thought for the month

I have to say that in Brailes we have nothing to match the superb oxhill.org.uk website, with all its news, views and accessible historical info. However, the “FeldonNews” often contains extracts from the parish magazine from 50 or 100 years ago, as my set goes back to 1886. Back in January 1957 Canon Philip Kemp, the Vicar ofSt.George’s, wrote about “clinging firmly to the message of Christmas as we face the anxieties and uncertainties in the world at large”. I suspect that the Vicar in 1907 may also have echoed that thought as indeed we do today, at the beginning of 2007. That Christian message assures us of God’s love and care, and also reminds us to work constantly for good – “blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness”

God bless,

Nicholas Morgan, 01608 685230

Subscription Time

The arrival of January means that I have to prepare the annual accounts for the News and present them to the Parish Council, together with my now annual plea for them to agree to pay the production costs for the last year.

It is therefore also the right time for me to remind those of you who live outside the parish of Oxhill but receive a copy of the News that you are asked to pay your annual subscription for the coming year. The subscription for 2007 has been fixed at £2.50. If you are not an Oxhill parish resident, please could you arrange for this sum to reach me – the simplest for most people is to drop it through the letterbox at Karibu, preferably with a simple note saying whom it is from.

Many thanks,

Editor

Gardening Club

On 1st December many members of the Club visited Birmingham Botanical Gardens for an illuminated Victorian Christmas. There were mince pies and mulled wine available on arrival and members were then able to wander through the hot house and around the gardens where various illuminations were staged. Members were then able to finish their tour visiting the shop and restaurant. A little later in December the Garden Club members joined by family and friends spent a very pleasant evening at The Peacock for their annual Christmas Meal.

The Club’s first meeting of 2007 is to be a talk given by Gill Hawtin and entitled ‘Winter Colour in your Garden’, it will be held on 18th January at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall. Visitors will be most welcome.

Anne Nethercleft

Christmas in Church

A Christmas Carol

Performed by storyteller Robert MacCall and Ian Baxter, this event proved to be an excellent evening of entertainment. Robert told the Dickens story with great skill and the music played on the mandolin by Ian was beautiful. We hope to have something like this again next year.

Christingle

Thank you to Jude MacDonald, Belinda Roberts and all the other helpers and participants for putting together this service in conjunction with the Rev. Martin Leaton. I gather it was well attended and most enjoyable,

Carol Service

The village carol service, as usual, produced a full church. Thank you to the readers and to all who helped prepare the church and provided mince pies to go with the mulled wine afterwards.

Family Crib Service

Organised by Rev. Nicholas Morgan, this was a new experience for us. The inclusion of the Baptism of Samuel Crowley gave the service more poignancy.

Christmas Day Service

This was well attended and brought the 2006 Oxhill Christmas events to a most satisfying conclusion. Thanks to all who helped with decorations and refreshments.

Happy New Year to all,

Carol Fox

Poise Pilates

with Linda Heritage, Chartered Physiotherapist

Would you like to .....

Improve your posture and release back & neck tension?

Tone and sculpt your body?

Prevent recurrence of an injury?

Boost your sense of wellbeing and vitality?

.... If yes, Pilates is for you

I have a number of people interested in Pilates classes locally.

We hope to set up a class in Oxhill

and need 4 or 5 more people to join us for an initial 6 week programme from mid-February.

Probable class time would be a Tuesday or Thursday morning.

Six 1-hour classes £33.00

These classes are aimed at those new or returning to Pilates,

but small class size ensures I can tailor exercises to all levels of ability.

To register your interest, or for more information

Call Linda Heritage 01295-688058 or 07875 418685

or emailpoise_pilates@yahoo.co.uk

Nature Notes

New Year’s Day is the seventh day of Christmas and everything you do on this day will influence your luck in the coming year.

Take a walk on New Year’s Day (or within the first week) and the first bird you see and can identify, make that your bird of the year. Think of it throughout the year and it will bring you good cheer. Nearly all of us often think about birds without being fully aware of it – one for sorrow two for joy; that a raven is a portent; that a stork brings the new born; the thieving magpie; that doves are for peace and robins are for Christmas; that swallows make summer, and to crown it all, bird poo on your head is good luck (how can that be?). Birds are the only wildlife that remain constantly visible – walking riding or driving, look up and within a few moments you will see a bird. One never tires of them; I still get as much enjoyment watching the sparrows squabbling, the wren turning leaves, or the woodpigeon waddling around the lawn.

As I write this it is the end of December and I am watching a cloud of gnats in the garden. A week or so ago we had a bee on our flowering rosemary, and every morning we have a dawn chorus led by a mistle thrush. The other morning two pigeons were doing their “summer cooing” to each other. There are reports of butterflies and dragonflies still in flight, and ducks with ducklings. The tortoiseshell butterflies hibernating in our house keep waking up and fluttering about, along with the odd bluebottle.

During the Christmas round of drinks in the village, I was pleased by the number of people who said they enjoyed these monthly notes or “jottings from the plashy fen” as Jane calls them! I thank you all. The other pleasing thing is the number of enthusiastic amateur naturalists within the village all keen to impart to exchange information. There was one sighting in particular that I thought very exciting and I am green with envy. In late summer Charles MacCall saw on his garden path a Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) that stayed there long enough for him to make all the right “checks” and indeed all his observations of its attitude and colouring leaves no doubt in my mind that is what he saw. The Wryneck is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. In the mid-nineteenth century it was described as a common species and was sometimes kept by country children as a pet. A fall in numbers was noted, but in 1909 it was still described as plentiful and generally distributed throughout. By 2003 however, for the first time ever, there were no British nesting records at all. This is an ant-eating bird and its gradual demise is almost wholly due to agricultural intensification and the loss of suitable grassland habitat through changes in land use (it should visit our garden – we are overrun with ants nests). The decline is also recorded in most of Europe. The Wryneck’s brown/grey plumage is similar to that of the Woodcock and Nightjar. Its most striking features are the chocolate ellipse shaped stripe running through the grey mottling on its back and a warm ochreous throat patch with cross-hatched fine brown lines, with a snake-like head and orange and black eyes. The “torquilla” part of its scientific name means “little twister”, a reference to its extraordinary ability to writhe its head round in a reptilian fashion. The resemblance to a snake is all the more striking if a Wryneck is disturbed in its tree hole, when both the adult and chicks will sway their heads, occasionally with their long tongues darting out, and emitting a bizarre and disconcerting hiss. This routine has the ability to deter cats and other potential predators. The bird is now a summer visitor from March to September, mainly to eastern and southern counties of England and Scotland, but is now a rarity and very rare in the Midlands. Charles is a lucky man to have seen it.

Which reminds me – I do not have the monopoly on Nature Notes, so please if any of you in the village see rare or interesting things, tell us about it. It’s nice to have a village of nature lovers.

17 January is St Anthony’s Day – the patron saint of domestic animals, especially pigs; he has a pig and bell as his emblem. The smallest pig of a litter, the runt, is also known as a “tantony pig” and the smallest bell in the church tower is the “tantony bell”.

Grenville Moore

WI News

Our December party was just early enough for Santa Claus join us from Lapland.

His day started in a warehouse sorting out presents. Disaster! He found himself short of 23 presents; but with the help of his elves he still brought smiles to expectant faces.

I was a bit suspicious when he told us that he worked with seven other Santas, but at the end of the evening, after sampling refreshments provided by the committee and drawing the raffle for two Christmas hampers, our Santa left because he heard Rudolf outside.

Ramona played so that we could sing carols.

Belinda Keep

Tysoe Marionette Group

Just because we have not appeared in the Tysoe Record for the past few months does not mean we have gone to sleep. Far from it, for The Barn Theatre has had a complete makeover and we are working up a new production - our dramatised burlesque of “The Cat That Walked by Himself”after the “Just So” story by Rudyard Kipling.

This show, primarily for younger audiences, has entailed the carving and modelling of six surprisingly colourful animals. Man and Woman, a couple of Neanderthals, have been made by Ted and Kath Beresford, professional puppet-makers, and are a joy to manipulate. Then there are other creatures! Just you wait and see! And there will be a live Storyteller, a new departure for us.

Our shows are planned for April/May and will include some matinees. As usual we will be playing for charity. Watch this space!

We always need more volunteers to assist us with all aspects of a production. Don’t be shy! We meet on Thursdays from 7p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Please contact:

Jon and Ann Beeny on Tysoe 680431, or

Email: JonandAnn@annbeeny.f9.co.uk

Visit: www.warkcom.net/live/cme312.htm

Kineton Oil Consortium

Please will you place your requirements not later than 6 p.m. on Sunday January 14th.

I hope you all enjoyed a Happy Christmas.

Di Harper, 01295 680529

Coffee Morning

The Village Coffee Morning on 7th December was great fun, with over 20 people attending. As a result, The Peacock Inn have kindly agreed to host these in future at a cost of £2.00 per head and the next one is planned for Wednesday 3rd January from 10.15 a.m. to get 2007 off to a good start!

All are very welcome (gentlemen included!) – if you need a lift, or have any other queries, please let me know!

Posy McDonald, 688202

Stour Singers

The Advent concert given by Stour Singers on 9th December 2006 before a capacity audience in St Edmund’s, Shipston-on-Stour was a joyous preparation for Christmas. The main work, well sung by the choir and backed by Cherwell Sinfonia and Rachel Bird on pipe organ, was the ‘Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve’ by the 17th century French composer, Charpentier. He incorporated dance rhythms and carols popular at that time in which the audience would have joined. Richard Emms, the choir’s founder Director, replicated the spirit of the piece by adding carols familiar to the modern ear which the Shipston audience, including the Mayor, Cllr. Mrs Angela Noyce, sang with enthusiasm.

Rehearsals resume on Thursday 11th January 2007 at 7 p.m. in the Community Lounge of Shipston High School to prepare for a performance of Hummel’s Mass in B flat and Cherubini’s Requiem on Saturday 12th May 2007.

New members in all 4 voice parts are welcome (no auditions).

For further details contact Vic Twyman, Tel: 01608 - 664215

Enjoy yourself - Become a Volunteer

Helpers are needed by these very worthy local groups:

Rural Housebound Service -(A partnership between Warwickshire CC and Age Concern offering a free library service to the housebound across Warwickshire) - needs drivers and passengers to visit the housebound to deliver books, jigsaws, music tapes and talking books.

Concordia UK -(To promote cultural awareness through international youth exchange.) - needs volunteers (aged 18-30) for the cultural exchange awareness programme of community projects round the world.

Warwickshire Environmental Trust -(Helps organisations access funding from the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme) - needs clerical/admin helper, project inspector/monitor and publicist/promoter.

WRVS Emergency Services -(Providing people to assist the 3 services after incidents e.g. gas leaks etc.) - needs Assistants for emergency reception centres (able to respond almost anytime -need own telephone and preferably transport).

Take-A-Break -(Respite care for the young who have disabilities or life threatening illness) - needs people to Befriend and help the needy access community activities.

We urgently need volunteer drivers to help us with ourCommunity Transport Scheme, (40p per mile allowance paid).

Call us if you are interested, or, if you can get on the web check out our web site (www.stratfordvbx.org.uk)for all the latest opportunities for volunteering.

Volunteer Centre
Stratford-on-Avon District

Phone: 01789 262886