The Grapevine MagazineDecember 2005 Issue No 207 |
Xmas Cards |
Robbie and David in the Village shop are selling Christmas cards on behalf of St Margaret’s Church. The card of the Madonna and Child is a detail from a window in the Church photographed by Peter MacKinnon.
Every card sold will support the continuing restoration of the church.
LEWKNOR VILLAGE CAROLS
on December 21stOur October book was ‘Tulip Fever’ by Deborah Moggach (who has recently written the screenplay for the new film version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in which Basildon Park is the “stand-in” for Mr Bingley’s country house of ‘Netherfield’). It was felt that whilst there were resemblances between ‘Tulip Fever’ and Tracy Chevalier’s ‘A Girl with a Pearl Earring’, both were set in a 17th century Dutch town with an artist as one of the main characters, the latter was the better book whilst the former had more sex! We generally agreed that the illustrations of famous paintings of the period were probably more enjoyable than the text.
November’s book is ‘Sea Glass’ by Anita Shreve, an American writer who quite serendipitously was being interviewed on Woman’s Hour about her new book as I started to read ‘Sea glass’.
The Book Club has now been registered with Buckinghamshire Libraries enabling us to order our reading choices for the coming months. Enough copies are provided so that every member receives a copy which can be kept until the group meets. Naturally, this scheme has proved to be immensely popular and the only drawback is that our first choice of the book to read has not always been available. We have reserved, however, for December ‘The Red Tent’ by Anita Diamant and for the New Year ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ by Justine Picoult and ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell which was shortlisted for the Mann Booker Prize in 2004.
If you are interested in joining the book Club but would like to find out more first then I can be contacted on 01844 3503882. Elan Preston-Whyte
Letter received on November 1st –The writer wished to remain anonymous.
“It was lovely to see the little ones coming round with their parents on Halloween for their ‘trick or treats’. However, it should be pointed out that teenagers are far too old for this in the first place, and just because they get sweets instead of money, should not be damaging people’s property in revenge. I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I don’t want to spend the whole of the next day trying to rectify the damage that 3 of four ‘children’ cause. Perhaps parents of the older children should be more aware of their antics in the village.”
News from Newington Nurseries
The garden in winter offers visual delights that can lift one’s spirits and add a new dimension to the festive time of the year. The garden can be enjoyed from indoors but even better to wrap up, get outside and enjoy some fresh air!
There’s a range of fascinating trees and shrubs available which will help you create a wonderful garden for winters to come. Trees with unusually shaped stems such as Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’, Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Tortuosa’ or Salix babylonica ‘Tortuosa’ are ideal. Each of these offers intriguingly-shaped stems that stand out particularly well when they are bare of leaves in winter. Sure to appeal to children (and the child is in all of us!) there’s definitely something ‘Middle Earth’ about these trees and shrubs.
Try the Corylus, also known as the Corkscrew Hazel. In addition to the fabulous stems, this shrub also produces attractive yellow catkins 4-6cm long in late winter and early spring. It can achieve a height and spread of 5m, prefers sun or partial shade and a well drained, fertile soil.
Salix babylonica ‘Tortuosa’ is a variety of the well known Weeping Willow. It’s fast growing and has an upright habit. Like the Corylus, it produces catkins as well as bright green, twisted leaves in late spring. All willows are moisture loving so do well in damper locations. At full maturity, this tree can reach a height of 15m and a spread og 8m so it does require plenty of space.
Robina pseudoacacia ‘Tortuosa’ is slow growing tree with twisted stems which can reach a height and spread of 15m and 10m respectively. It offers great winter interest and the added bonus of being deep-rooting. This means that if you want to underplant with bulbs or perennials, there will be less competition for moisture or nutrients.
Interesting and long-lived, this selection of shrubs and trees will bring a new dimension to your garden in winter.
We would like to give a warm welcome to Madeline Bonner who has recently joined pre-school. We were delighted by the response we received from the children with regard to our “Learning through Senses” topic work last term. Each week we focussed on a different sense and highlights included painting to music, going on interesting walks, creating tactile pictures, the smelly socks washing day and trying different stir-fried vegetables and noodles while all using chopsticks! All of the activities directly relate to the six areas of the National Curriculum and all of the staff feel that the children’s development progressed a great deal during the last term.
Our topic this term is “Festivals and Special Events”. It includes Bonfire Night, Divali, Rememberance Day, birthdays, Harvest and of course Christmas. The children are excited to be invited to join the school at the Christingle Service. They are also working very hard towards their nativity play.
URGENT - We are still looking for a supervisor to join us in January. Please do ask around as time is rapidly running out to find a suitable replacement.
For enquiries regarding the “Supervisor’s position” please contact Freya on 01844 354053
For waiting list enquiries please contact Ali on 01844 352320. Stephanie London
The carers Centre is just going into its thirteen year of supporting unpaid family and friend Carers in your area. We have consistently received support from your local Parish/Town Council which enables us to continue to identify Carers and help them with benefit forms, getting suitable services, general advice on any problems they are facing, or just with a cup of tea and someone to talk to who understands what it is like to be a family carers. In addition to this support contact with the Carers Centre will allow you to access the following free and confidential services.
• Time for Carers Service which is small amounts of financial support to purchase services or items to support your caring role including a small amount of help to look after the person you support while you have a break.
• An advocacy worker who will take up difficult or confused cases and pursue them through to conclusion with the various agencies.
• Carer Training to help with your caring role, moving and handling, stress management, etc
• The help of Young Carers workers to support children and young people who help to look after a parent or sibling. We take them on outings and let them have fun.
Although being a Carer is very rewarding it can also be a very demanding, difficult and frustrating role. So, for those times, we are here for you. Call us on 01235 510212 and we will visit you at home.
Government dictate that Oxfordshire will have to build 47,000 new houses in plans already the next twenty years.
However, this is not the end of the story. It appears that Mr Prescott and the Government Office of the Southeast, spurred on by the Barker Report, is unhappy with the ‘low’ (!) number of houses allocated to Oxfordshire. As the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister i.e. Mr Prescott, personally has the last word on planning matters, this could mean a real possibility of double the number already allocated to the county (i.e. nearly 100,000).
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) accepts completely that there is a need for affordable housing, but it is vital that the Government distinguishes housing need from market demand. The Government proposes changes which would lead to a more market-driven approach. This would mean that more housing would be built in areas of high demand – regardless of environmental consequences – but this would still not address the need for affordable housing. This could more effectively be addressed by public investment in subsidized housing and dealing with anomalies such as the fact that there is VAT relief on building new homes but no relief on repair and renovation of older houses – which leads to ¾ million empty homes and thousands of acres of brown field land lying derelict.
CPRE passionately believes in an alternative approach which includes:
Create more affordable homes
Better use of brown field land
Higher density building
Urban regeneration – ie making use of those 750,000 houses mentioned above etc
The countryside is at a turning point. If the Government pursues its present policies, they will be particularly damaging to the land and communities around Oxford and destroy the Green Belt. Not only will there be suburbanization of the area by huge numbers of houses but there will be an increase in traffic, road systems and the entire infrastructure that goes with large scale development.
CPRE has put together a Housing Campaign Pack which can be obtained on line at www.cpre.org.uk. This gives information about the government plans, guidance on how to support the CPRE campaign and how this disastrous future can be avoided. We need the support of everyone who cares about the future of the countryside, so please write to Gordon Brown asking him to look again at the Government’s approach to affordable housing.
Join CPRE in working to influence government policy, to protect the Green Belt and protect the coutryside that we love. Remember – once it is gone – it is gone for ever.
If you would like more information about this campaign call:MaryIsaac 01844 279606, Amanda Garrett 01844 278326 or our Oxfordshire office at campaign@cpreoxon.org.uk
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD BOTANIC GARDEN ANNUAL WINTER LECTURES
5 Lectures January to March
Starting Thursday 26th January 2006SCIENCE OXFORD
Regular lectures including:
Christmas CrackerFor full details see Lewknor village Notice Board
Our thanks to all who have contributed to its success in 2005.
Carry on with the good work, but remember that our deadline is the 20th of each month – if you keep to this, then we can meet our printing deadlines.
A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS
Next issue in FebruaryRefuse Collections – Bank Holiday arrangements
| Normal Collection Day | Holiday | Revised Day |
| Tuesday 27 Dec | Christmas | Tuesday 3 Jan |
| Tuesday 3 Jan | New Year | Tuesday 3 Jan |