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

If you normally prepare your material using a computer, it would make my life easier ifyou 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.

This edition was edited by George Adams.

Village Hall

The Hallowe’en Supper (see advert elsewhere) on October 26th will be a celebration of British food, including tarts from Yorkshire, the Malverns, Ireland, Norfolk, Lancaster and the Highlands as well as a British cheese-tasting competition (with a fabulous prize). Tickets are on sale now.

Please help us decorate our village hall by entering our ‘Best Pumpkin Lantern’ competition – with yet another fabulous prize.

The Coffee Morning that was set for November 17th has had to be postponed to Saturday 24th – more on this in the November edition.

Arrangements have been made to join the Moving Pictures group, showing feature films in the hall. The first showing will be on Wednesday 28th November. Details of the film to be shown will, we hope, be available for inclusion in the next News.

It is intended that there will be a New Year’s Eve Party in the hall, with a dress code of glitzy, ritzy and glamorous. Again, there will be more details later.

George Adams

November Issue

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

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

Philip Crowther’s victorious 5-a-side football team pose for photographer Toni Rowse. Yes, I know there are seven of them. You must have heard of substitutes.

Editor

Table Stolen on the Tysoe Road

Having been fortunate to experience a bumper harvest of cooking apples this year and being somewhat reluctant to eat apple pie every day for the next 3 months (despite them being delicious!), I decided to follow the example shown by others and offer passing locals free apples on a ‘Please help Yourself’ basis.

I placed abundant stock on a wooden table at the end of our communal drive close to the kerbside of Tysoe Road (left hand side just as you pass the cemetery of St Lawrence Church heading towards Tysoe from Oxhill) on Saturday afternoon 8th September.

I was very pleased to see that by the end of the day the entire stock had been gratefully collected, with someone even taking the trouble to leave a short thank you note. As it was getting dark at the time I decided to postpone picking more apples to give away until the following morning, so left the table plus the stack of carrier bags in place with a large rock on top to stop them blowing away.

Sadly, when I returned in the morning with another supply of apples I was somewhat dismayed and saddened to find that my table had been stolen either during the night or that morning of the 9th. Whoever decided to stretch my gesture of ‘help yourself’ to its ultimate limit of meaning even thought it okay to simply discard the plastic carrier bags into the ditch at the side.

It’s not so much the intrinsic value of the table which bothers me, more the principal at stake. Therefore, if anyone witnessed someone loading a round, three-legged light wood 3 foot tall table into their vehicle on either the evening of the 8th or morning of the 9th Sept, then I would appreciate any information or assistance in getting it returned (Sunday morning traffic is usually busy with people doing the Tysoe run to buy their Sunday papers). If those responsible are reading this and find themselves wanting to do the right thing then kindly feel free to leave it anonymously where you originally found it at the end of our drive. However, I prefer to think it was down to a random passing stranger with no appreciation of certain country dwellers’ customs like this who must have thought it rather charming to see free tables on offer at the roadside together with packaging supplied to wrap it up with too!

Whichever way you look at it, isn’t it sad to think that there are people out there who think it fine to take things from those showing a well-meaning kind gesture (and trust) to total strangers?

Craig Flint

Kineton Art Group

There will be an exhibition and sale of paintings by the Group in Kineton Village Hall on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day. Refreshments will be available.

Grace Foot

Church Service Times

St. Lawrence Oxhill

All are warmly invited to our services

Sunday 7th - Trinity XVIII
9:30am - Holy Communion. (ML).

Sunday 14th - Trinity XIX
8:30am - Holy Communion. (ML).
6:30pm - Evensong (ML).

Sunday 21th - Trinity XX
9:30am - Holy Communion. (ML).

Sunday 28th - Trinity XXI
9:30am - Family Service (NM).

Flower Festival

Once again I have so many people to thank for a lovely weekend. The weather was perfect and the Church looked stunning with flowers, crafts and bygones.

Firstly thanks to Gaynor, who took over the organizing of teas on such a bad weekend for her, many thanks, I could not do it without you. It’s a job for life, Gaynor! To all the helpers on the teas rota, thank you. To Jill for the use of the Old Chapel, many thanks. It was a lovely setting to work in. Thanks to all the cake makers. As usual the cakes were delicious, and we do have such a reputation to keep up. Well done once more.

Thanks to Janet and Brian for the use of the field for the car park. Thanks to the dry weather too – at least the field did not churn up too much this time.

Many many thanks to Heather for her trip to the flower market in Birmingham and to the many florists and greengrocers to get all the items we needed, as well as for the endless printing. Thanks also to all those on the rota who looked after the church for an hour or two. Thank you Rhian for your help with the advertising, and thanks to everyone who loaned craft goods, implements and bygones, which added so much interest to the display.

Lastly what would we do without the team (Carol Fox, Janet Gardner, Helen Thompson, Rosemary Brown, Diane Harper, Doreen Neal, Heather Brennan, Rosemary Horbury, Linda Synge, Ann Nethercleft, Joyce and John McKail) who put in days of hard work. We did however have fun doing it and all worked together to get the Church looking as wonderful as it did. Over £300 was raised.

Apart from the Harvest Supper this was the last fund-raising event of the year, so may I remind everybody that the scarecrows will be back in the third weekend of June next year. You have been warned – and you have the whole of the winter to come up with a new load of bright ideas.

Lilian

Oxhill Festival Choir

As the evenings begin to draw in and there is a certain nip in the air and Tesco starts stacking its shelves with festive fare it appears that even if Christmas is not just around the corner it is certainly galloping towards us with undue haste. The Christmas Carol Service is on 19th December this year and hopefully the Oxhill Festival Choir will make its annual appearance. I should therefore be grateful to all our regulars, both past and present, to please come to a meeting on Tuesday 23rd October 7.30 p.m. at The Fellows House to discuss rehearsal dates. If you cannot make it please contact me anyway (680349) and let me know when you will be around so we can get as many people as possible to each rehearsal. Hopefully we will start rehearsals on a weekly basis from the beginning of November

We are always in need of new recruits so if you feel you would like to add your voice to ours please contact me. No auditions, just a love of singing will do.

Gaynor Van Dijk

The Bill Gardner Memorial Cup

The competition this year was a triangular affair as unfortunately only three teams entered. The weather (cold, windy) was not favourable, but the players enjoyed their afternoon and treated the small but plucky group of spectators to an exciting contest. Eventually Philip Crowther’s team came out on top and were presented with the trophy by Janet Gardner, to whom we are grateful for the use of the field. Very many thanks to Marcus Robertson for organising the teams and to dad Malcolm for running about all afternoon refereeing (and without a whistle, too). Thanks are also due to the Village Hall committee members for their work in making the arrangements and especially to Keith Seabridge for manning the barbeque so well.

George Adams

Garden Club

The Autumn season of speakers got off to a wonderful start with Alan Craske talking about the Holly Maze at Castle Bromwich Hall. He was an experienced and amusing speaker who led us through the restoration of the maze from 1985 when 800 holly trees, originally planted about 1880 and grown lank and spindly, were cut down to 10cm stumps, to the beautiful precision hand cut masterpiece of the present day. He cuts it twice yearly taking about 21 days each time!

The next meeting on Thursday October 18th also promises to be very interesting as it is about Inn Signs and their history. Visitors are always welcome and there is also a Sales Table that evening.

Heather Brennan, Secretary

Nature Notes

October marks the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Very soon the leaves of deciduous trees will begin to change colour. For the farming community harvesting is complete and is the culmination of the farming year. In the past, the very survival of rural communities like Oxhill hung upon its success. Naturally, therefore, harvest celebrations have characterised the season of autumn throughout history. The Harvest Supper (or Harvest Home or Mell Supper) was a celebration feast given by the farmer to his workers in gratitude for their efforts and achievement in bringing in the harvest. The suppers were inevitably joyous celebrations, accompanied by feats of excessive drinking, dancing, games and songs.

At the end of the harvest the cutting of the last sheaf was heralded by a triumphant shout, know as “Crying the Neck”. This was taken a stage further by forming the last sheaf into a figure and taunting neighbouring farmers who had not yet finished harvest. This was then paraded down the lanes with a doll made from corn, variously called a Kern doll, Kern baby, or Harvest Queen, which is the origin of the Corn Dolly.

I have noticed an abundance of horse chestnuts or conkers this year. Did you know the game of conkers evolved from a game called “conquerors” that was originally played with snail shells? Later hazelnuts were used on strings, and by the late 19th century these earlier games had been replaced by what we know as “conkers”. In some areas it was known as “oblionker” and accompanied by a rhyme “Obli, obli, onker, my nut will conquer”. Folklore also has it that if you carry a conker in your pocket it will help prevent piles and rheumatism!

Mike Collins emailed me some fabulous photographs of Elephant hawk moth caterpillars the other day. The caterpillar is seen more often that the moth and it gets its name from its reaction if threatened of retracting its head into its body, causing the front of the body to swell up like an elephant’s head. The coloured false eyes on the head expand to produce what looks like a very menacing creature to any predator. The moth is night flying and feeds on willowherb or bedstraw. It is certainly one of Britain’s prettiest moths – medium sized with beautiful pink wings, body and antennae. The wings are also flashed with lime green and it has snowy white legs. It is fairly common, but rarely seen.

We have recently returned from Islay in the Hebrides where we spent a lot of our time looking for Golden eagles and otters. We saw Red deer (ten a penny!) and hen harriers, buzzards by the score, but not one eagle or otter. I was chatting to a local lady who looked after some holiday cottages on the island. She said that the previous week a chap had stayed in one of the cottages specifically to see otters. He spent virtually the whole week down on the shoreline watching the kelp sway to and fro with the swell of the tide (the otter’s favourite hunting ground) and had not a single sighting and went home disappointed. On the Saturday he left she wandered down to clean the cottage and what should be ambling up the lane towards her – yes, an otter. As all the locals say, “right place, right time, and luck”. I think that pretty well sums up most of nature – and life!

Take a glass of wine on October 11th; in ancient Rome this was the day of the Meditrinalia when the new season’s wines were tasted and libations were offered to the Gods. It was the custom to drink both old and new wines together, purely for healing purposes, while reciting the following:Novum vetus vinum bibo, novo vetem morbo medeor– “I drink old and new wine to cure old and new disease” – I’ll drink to that.

And take great care on October 31 ……

Hey bow for Hallows E’en
A’ the witches tae be seen
Some in black and some in green
Hey bow for Hallow E’en

Grenville Moore

Footnote: I have just come back from my early morning walk having seen a pair of Ravens fly low over Mrs Rodwell’s fields.

Another One Off

Unfortunately we left David Millar out of the list of young Oxhillians off into the world last month. He has now returned from his year out and is now reading Arabic at the School of Oriental & African Studies in the University of London.

Apologies to David.

Editor

Armscote Manor Lecture Series

A reminder of the gardening lectures available at Armscote Manor this month, in aid of Shipston Home Nursing.

Monday 1st Rupert Golby

Tuesday 2nd Christine Marchant

Wednesday 3rd Dr. Paula Henderson

Thursday 4th Gwyn Perry

Friday 5th Dr. Lucy Worsley

All lectures start at 7 p.m. with a glass of wine, and further details are available on the Village Hall noticeboard.

For tickets please contact Deborah Williams on 01608 682375.

Vicarage Notes

Thought for the month

Some years ago, a London newspaper offered a prize for the best definition of money. The winner wrote as follows: money is an instrument that can buy you everything but happiness and pay your fare to every place but heaven. Musing upon this neat adage I did hope that the winner remembered his words when the prize was collected!

Occasionally a Biblical proverb is misquoted as ‘ money is the root of all evil’. It is, of course, ‘love of money’or cupidity, which is that root. The Bible instructs us about the priorities we should have in life and the 10 commandments are the advised place to start.

The Flower Festival

On behalf of all who enjoyed a lovely weekend, may I thank Lilian Welsby and the team who worked so hard to create the marvellous festival of crafts and flowers with a harvest theme. Thanks also to those who provided the teas! Although we didn’t have as many visitors as hoped, it was a very happy event which will raise a worthwhile sum for St.Lawence’s.

October Services

The regular Family Services are very well attended and a warm welcome is extended to all. The service lasts about 35 minutes and combines both traditional and more informal features. Coffee is served afterwards. If anyone has any unwanted percussion instruments such as shakers or small tambourines for the children’s song we would be pleased to give them a good home! Please also note that the 8.30am HC has been re-instated by popular request!

God bless, Nicholas Morgan 01608 685230

Flower Festival Cakes & Teas

A big thank you to all of you who found time to make delicious cakes for us and to all of you who gave up precious time to come and help over the weekend of the festival.

Thanks to Jill for lending us The Old Chapel. The weather was kind and we were able to put tables and chairs outside so that the visitors could enjoy the sunshine.

Thanks as well to everyone who supported the event, gave donations and ate the cakes. As always “we couldn’t do it without ya.”

Gaynor Fila

The Village Bier

The village bier was bought in 1935, as a joint purchase by the villages of Oxhill and Whatcote. Oxhill donated £15 from village funds, Whatcote £10, and there were individual donations totalling £8. It was to be used by both Church and Chapel alike. Funerals at that date were dealt with within the village, with the coffins being made by the village carpenter, and being transported from the home of the deceased to the Church or Chapel on the wheeled bier.

The bier was kept for many years at the Methodist Chapel, but after its use lapsed, the question of future storage became something of a problem. In 1965 the Parish Meeting received a letter from the Minister regarding a home for it. The meeting agreed that Major Rodwell at the Manor should be contacted, but in the event it was stored at what is now the house known as the Malthouse, then an outbuilding belonging to the Old House.

When this building was made into a house c1980 it was moved along Back Lane to Payn’s House barn, but its large size made it difficult to accommodate it there for long.

In 1982 its future was again discussed at the Annual Parish Meeting. Some research was done by Ann Hale to discover the exact ownership of the bier, and the details and date of its purchase were found in an old Parish Meeting Minute Book in the Warwick Record Office.

The Meeting decided that it should be offered on loan to a local museum, and that failing that Tom Heritage agreed to keep it in his barn. Warwick Museum was contacted, but was unable to help. The bier was then offered a home in the outbuildings at Bilton Cottage, Church Lane and it has remained there to this day.

Ann Hale

Horton General Maternity Unit

I have just received a notice that the Children's and Maternity services at the Horton General, Banbury, are being reviewed by the Independent Review Panel which means they are under threat of closure. Anyone interested in maintaining these services (and in due course others especially A and E) should write to The Independent Reconfiguration Panel, Kierran Cross, 1st Floor, 11, the Strand, London WC2N 5HR. It is also possible to provide feedback on their website, the address of which is:

http://www.irpanel.org.uk/view.asp?id=19.

There is also a Downing Street e-petition, whose address is:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SAVE-THE-HORTON/

I know we are in Warwickshire and not Oxfordshire, but the Horton is our nearest hospital!

Ros Henry

Cat Weatherill

Presents

'Bawdy Stories'

in St Peter’s Community Centre, Whatcote on Saturday October 20^th2007 at 7.30om

Catreturns to Whatcote with a collection of saucy tales set in the market town of Much Meddling in the Marsh where everyone is up to something!!

Mix in music..sprinkle with spice..add a dash of daring and a seductive storyteller and you will have an entertaining evening.

This is stand-up storytelling for grown ups. (strictly for 16+years)

Tickets £6.00 (conc. £4.00) available from Penny Pritchard tel 01295 680689

Whatcote Village Association in conjunction with Live & Local

An invitation to all artists

Both beginners and experienced artists welcome!

Come and join Sue Edwards*for two days of

PAINTING AND DRAWING

ON FRIDAY 5 OCT AND SATURDAY 6 OCT

FROM 10 AM – 4.30PM

In the stunning new interior – light , modern and WARM -
of The Old Chapel, Oxhill

Informal, relaxed atmosphere, work at your own pace Individual, professional one to one and group tuition

Simple tutor led projects with demonstrations

Paint a picture a day or develop you own work

£45per person per day –two days for£80

Fee includesall refreshments and light lunch

To book your place send the tear off slip below to Susan Edwards, The Vicarage, Middle Tysoe CV35 OSG. Tel 01295 680201

Please include me in your Painting and Drawing group on5^thand/or 6^thOctober (circle dates).

I enclose cheque deposit of £5 made payable to Susan Edwards,

NAME

ADDRESS /TEL

* Susan Edwards is the professional painting name of Mrs Sue Leaton, Rev. Martin Leaton’s wife!

St Peter's Church Whatcote Fundraising

Christmas 2007

Here again is the Ultimate Plum Pudding that you’ve all enjoyed in previous years and at the same price as last year!

For our new customers here is your chance to taste these virtually hand made puddings, made by a very small craft manufacturer in Cumbria. The Ultimate Plum Pudding is endorsed by the BBC Food and Chef magazines as well as receiving the Great Taste Award.

All the vine fruits are soaked in plenty of brandy and dry sherry. Fresh breadcrumbs and freshly grated carrot help give the pudding a distinctly northern style being lighter, less bitter, and having a wider variety of luxury ingredients than many other puddings. Most people have no idea that Christmas pudding can be this good.

A 454g pudding (serves 4) costs £5.00 and a 908g pudding (serves 8) costs £8.50

It’s a great pudding. Make excellent Christmas gifts for family and friends. Order from us simply by filling in the order form below and sending it back now. Last date for orders isDecember 12^th and the puddings can be collected from:-

June Wreford, Church Cottage, Whatcote.
Telephone 01295 680294.

You will need to tell June your name, address, how many and what size pudding(s) you want, and give her a cheque payable to Whatcote P.C.C. Special Projects Fund.

Weekday Walkers

Several people have shown interest in the Weekday Walks. Based on this, it is planned to run the walks on the 2nd and 4th Fridays in the month. The October walks are as follows:

Friday 12th October – Long Compton to “The Norman Knight” at Whichford and return, a walk of 7½ miles with 700 feet of ascent. Leaving Oxhill at 9:30 a.m.

Friday 26th October – Northend via Fenny Compton to “The Avon” at Avon Dassett returning over Burton Dassett, a walk of 6 miles with 550 feet of ascent. Leaving Oxhill at 10.00 a.m.

If you wish to come please contact Jim Saxton 01295 680613 so shared transport can be arranged.

WI Report

Several visitors joined us to hear Adrian Bull from Westinghouse speak about the benefits, uses and misconceptions of nuclear energy. He used a prepared computer presentation to stimulate questions and answered them articulately and in layman's terms. He explained how we needed clean, affordable energy that can be reliably supplied. He showed us data comparing energy sources. It seems that renewable energy sources will fill the gap caused by decommissioning of nuclear power stations until the next generation are producing electricity. Modern nuclear power plants can use the forces of nature and simplicity of design to enhance plant safety and operations and reduce construction costs.

Ruth Fothergill and Kath Silman served refreshments.

The flower of the month: 1st carnation (Philippa Robinson), 2nd rose (Sue Price)

Pam Mcleod is the winner of the Oxhill Cup. Tony Lomas, our judge, commented on the difficulty of finding 3 matching lettuces, and said that the winning trio looked ‘fresh and tender.’

B. Keep

Book Club

I would like to start a book club in Oxhill and I am looking for readers in the area to join me. Everyone is welcome. Please contact me if you would be interested. The first meeting would be November 12 at 7 p.m., with later meetings arranged to suit readers. The first book for discussion is “Rise and Shine” by Anna Quindlen, Arrow 2006. (This is the Tesco Book Club selection for September and is easily available and reasonably priced at £4.) The author won a Pulitzer prize for her New York Times journalism and this book is currently topping American best seller lists.

Barbara Langley, 01926 641047

Shipston Home Nursing

BRIDGE DRIVE

Wednesday October 17th - 2.00 p.m.

Bourton on the Hill Bridge Club
(The North Cotswold Bridge Club)

£5.00 per person including a delicious afternoon tea.

To book tickets please contact

Allan Lamb 01386 701603

or Maki Sutton 01608 661539

Mobile Library

We who are at home during the week need to support our Mobile Library Van. At present it comes to the village once a fortnight on a Monday afternoon, stopping in Green Lane at 2.00 p.m., the Peacock at 2.20 p.m. and the Village Hall at 2.40 p.m.

It is an excellent service carrying a good range of books at all times. The van also carries jigsaws, large print books and much more. Obviously the number carried at any one time is limited, but books can be ordered for you from other libraries.

At present you can take a book out for a month, but next year it will be for three weeks. Up to now there has been no system of fines for overdue books, as is the case in the town and village libraries.

Keith, the driver, tells me that it will be off the road from November 28th to January in preparation for a new vehicle. He informs me that the van will come on 1st, 15th and 29th October and on 12th November.

Happy reading!

Joyce McKail

[A quick search of the WCC website produced the information that the library service is replacing all its vans by new greener ones which will be lighter and able to cross bridges that the present ones cannot do and go down roads where the present ones fear to roll. The changeover is due to start in October but presumably the Wellesbourne mobile which serves us is slated to be one of the later ones to be replaced. The change in loan period quoted by Joyce is presumably to bring the mobile libraries into line with the static ones, which have had three-week loan periods for some time now. Quite how the authorities intent to match up the two and three-week cycles is anybody’s guess. Ed.]

Compton Verney in October

Tuesday 2 - Friday 5 October - Portraiture Week

Friday 5 October, 2.30 - Grounds tour

Saturday 6 October, 10–4 - Beginners’ Portraiture, a bookable workshop for adults.

Saturday 6 October, 2.00 - Lecture: Striptease Culture

Sunday 7 October, 10–4 - Advanced Portraiture

Saturday 13 October, 10–4 - Beginners’ Life Drawing

Sunday 14 October, 10–4 - Advanced Life Drawing

Friday 19 October, 3 - Exhibition tour

Saturday 20 October, 2 – Lecture, Samuel Cooper and Oliver Cromwell

Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 October, 11-4 - The Big Draw

Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 October, 11-4 - The Big Draw

Tuesday 23–Friday 26 October, 11–4 - October half term family fun

For further information and bookings contact 01926 645500

Notes of the Oxhill Parish Council Meeting

Tuesday 11th September 2007 at8.00pm in theVillage Hall

Apologies were received from David Hill and Tom Heritage.

The meeting was chaired by Gwyneth Adams, and attended by Parish Councillors Hugh Rowse and Carol Taylor.

Matters Discussed

Footway across from the Peacock

The County Council have agreed to put the old stone slabs taken up from this section of footway into pallets for future use of the village should a suitable project be identified. Phillip and Heather Brennan have kindly agreed for these to be stored in their old turkey sheds.

Summer Flooding

Many of you will know Mike Shepard, Community First Responder for the West Midland Ambulance Service who lives in Oxhill. Mike was involved in a number of rescue situations during the summer floods and as a result has volunteered to co-ordinate an emergency plan for Oxhill. If you are prepared to help in any way should an emergency situation arise in the future, please give your name to Mike on 07976 298228/ evening 01295 680644 or email viper@viperrecovery.co.uk, or to one of the Parish Councillors. Everyone has some skills to offer, from making cups of tea to transporting people. 4 x 4 vehicles and tractors could also be useful in adverse conditions. This matter will be discussed at our next meeting on 20th November.

The County Council and John Maples M.P. have requested information about those areas affected by the flooding.

Home Wood Chipping Service

Warwickshire County Council provide the above service. For more information and charges please rind 01926 738827 between 9 am and 12-15 pm.

Polling District and Polling Places

A review of Polling districts and Polling places is taking place by Stratford District Council. The general principle of this review is that of minimal change. Oxhill Village Hall remains our Polling Station.

External Audit for the year ended 31st March 2007

An unqualified audit opinion was given for the above audit. Invoice for £58.75 was paid.

Bus Service Timetable from 1st October 2007

The revised timetable for the Stratford/Oxhill/Banbury service #270 has been posted on the village notice board at the Peacock.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 8.40 p.m.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday 20th November 2007 at 8.00 p.m. in the Village Hall.

Angela Kean, Clerk