The Grapevine Magazine

December 2009 Issue No 247

Farewell and God bless.

I still feel like a newcomer even after thirteen and a half years as parish priest in the villages of the Thame Valley Team, but that’s the way it is with villages!

When we arrived we were amongst a number of newcomers, our children joined our wonderful village school and a number of new families joined St.Margaret’s. We were all new to village life and there was lots to learn, becoming part of a village with a long established community and a church with a history stretching back over 900 years!
There can be no doubt that such incomers as our family have had a profound impact on village life, not all of it good!

The M40 has brought us from the cities and we have brought our busy lives with us. Working away from home and often away at weekends there is a real danger that the village just becomes a place to sleep.
Thanks to our school community there is still a real heart to our community life, but many other village organisations struggle to survive, the church amongst them.

We have lost our village shop and post office and with it a place for many of our older members to gather and exchange news. Thankfully our excellent pub continues to thrive, but like the school relies on its many passing visitors to boost trade.

This loss of community spirit is, I know, is a concern for many and both the Parish council, the Village hall committee, and the church work hard to bring us together, but it’s a struggle! The Festival choir has been one of the great success stories of our villages over the last 13 years. It has attracted loyal members from far and wide to give us beautiful music for our Festival services, and quiet summer evensongs in the beautiful church at Wheatfield. I look forward to hearing them one last time at the Farewell service with the Bishop on December 6th. Thank you for your hard work and commitment.

Maybe the choir like the pub and the school have found the secret to bringing life back to the centre of our village. They have all succeeded in bringing in people from outside the village to keep them going. St.Margaret’s PCC feel that this is the way to ensure the survival of our church, and the plan for our visitors centre are now ready for the approval of the Diocesan advisory group. We very much hope and pray that the new centre when completed will not only provide a place where visitors can come and find a welcome, but also that the new facilities will provide a place for the community to gather. Coffee mornings, mums and toddler groups, societies and family gatherings will all find a welcome and a warm comfortable place to hold events.

So much has changed, but those of us who choose to live in a village come because we value that sense of community that makes villages special. If I have learned anything over these 13 years it is that preserving and nurturing that special village community takes time and commitment. Well done to all those who work so hard to make sure that we have something to offer the many others who will come to lewknor looking for their ideal village!

As I say farewell I would like to say thank you to all those, especially in the church and school community who have worked with me to bring people together to celebrate the wonderful place where we live and work.

Event Aid

Could you do something amazing in 2010?

It was a warm weekend in May and the weather was kind, as 40 people started their ‘challenge event’, and climbed into the minibuses. These were 40 people, some who had never met before, who were about to take on a very challenging task. Yes, they were about to attempt to climb the 3 highest mountains in the UK. That is one in Wales, then one in England and finally one in Scotland. They only had 24 hours to complete this feat, but amazingly through hard work, teamwork and determination they all JUST did it!

This was a team of people raising money for their favourite charity. So far this team alone have raised nearly £30,000.

The 3 Peaks challenge is one of the hardest but most rewarding challenge events you can take part it and during 2009, over 100 people took part in the challenge to support local Oxfordshire charities. Teams came from Helen & Douglas House, Sobell House Hospice, Age Concern, Special Effect and Rosy to name a few.

If you would like to get a team together or maybe do it on your own and join in with another team, then please get in contact. Maybe get a group of friends together, your family or mates from work.

You will be fully supported with training walks, guides, insurance and full support from the Event Aid team.

If the 3 Peaks is not for you, maybe running a marathon in Rome? Or, maybe a Karting endurance event? One of the many challenge walks we organise for local Oxfordshire charities may be your thing! Whatever you do in 2010, do something amazing for your local community and join in a challenge event.

Contact: see our website www.eventaid.org

Thank you so much
Teresa Thompson Event Aid UK
07775 731433

Village Play Space

We have now hired a contractor to build our play space and they plan to begin at the beginning of January 2010! We had hoped to begin in November but the timing didn’t quite work.

So, keep watch for diggers, dump trucks and lots of activity in January. And, if you are using the hall or field during that time please pay extra attention.

We’re still collecting expressions of interest from community members who would like to sponsor a tree. If you are interested and have not gotten in touch, please do so quickly. Trees will range in price from £30 through to £250 and will display the name(s) of the person or family who sponsored them.

The grand opening is still planned for March 2010. We’ll announce dates and plans in the New Year.

Thank you,

Shannon Heiberg Heather Weston Victoria Balls
01844 355 904 01844 350 040 01844 352 277

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SCHOOL NEWS

Goodbye Mr Walker

Outgoing headteacher, Jonny Walker, reflects on what makes Lewknor so special

It genuinely seems like only yesterday that I penned my first School News. That was February 2006 and, in fact, by the time Grapevine goes to press, I will just be completing my fourth year in post and sadly this will be my final month at Lewknor before leaving to take up a new post at a primary school in Oxford. I am really going to miss the place!

Although headteachers, doubtless, bring something of their own values and vision to a school, I have often reflected how it does work both ways. Just as the school quickly becomes the headteacher, so the headteacher somehow becomes the school. I owe the school a lot: I have learnt a great deal about leadership and about learning and have been privileged to work with very many hard-working and able people who have influenced me at least as much as I have influenced them.

Visitors (both old and new) often speak of the ‘Lewknor magic’ - that special something that you can’t quite name or explain: the smiles on the children’s faces; the way everyone is included and involved; the welcome visitors receive; and the buzz of the audience at the various school events throughout the year. This is what has become known in educational parlance as the school’s ethos. Ethos is not something that can just be done over night. It can’t really be found in SATs results or league tables and isn’t made that much of in OFSTED reports. It’s bigger - deeper - than all of those things and for us, I believe, it is built on three key things.

In my first article, in February 2006, I wrote about the school being ‘at the heart of the village’ and I still believe this to be central to the school’s ethos. Although the village no longer bustles as I imagine it once did in its pre-motorway heyday, our physical location means that we have a real presence in the community, seeing the life of the village and being seen.

People know we are here and we are rooted in the village’s history. Although the village has changed over time the school has, more or less, remained the same. The village gives life to the school and we bring vitality to the village.

Our connection with the church is the second key element of our ethos. There is something about being literally in its shadow. The church’s purpose (when it founded the school in 1836) was to serve the local community and that continues to be at the heart of the school’s vision today. So the school is at the heart of the community and community is at the heart of the school. The church also brings life in all its variety to us: through services that take place in it, through Simon Brignall’s work in school (we wish Simon well in his new post too) and through its eco-work which has in recent years helped enrich after-school provision, and has raised our awareness of environmental sustainability in a whole variety of ways - such as bringing vegetable growing to the school grounds and by helping us to re-use and recycle as much as we can.

Lastly, and most importantly of all, it is the people that make up the school that do the most to influence and maintain its ethos. It has been a privilege to have taken my place in the long line of head teachers of Lewknor, many of whom served the school for a very long time. None more so than Evelyn Scott, who was headteacher for an incredible 32 years, from 1928 to 1960, and about whom many a visitor from the past speaks with great fondness. Some visitors are evacuees who came to the school as really very young children far away from home and others had longer associations with the school such as Mrs Scott’s daughter Heather who, when she visited recently, told us that she was born in what is now the school office and that she had fond memories of playing with her sister in her bedroom (now my office). There it goes again - life in all its variety.

The values that are reflected in the words of our visitors from the past still feature strongly today and can be seen in the way the staff conduct themselves, in the work of the governing body, in the work of FOLS (our parents’ association) and of the other parent volunteers and, of course, in the children themselves. They each play their part, just as Mrs Scott did, and I am grateful to them all. A recent pop survey with our Year 6 pupils summarises the school’s values really nicely. The children speak of being inclusive, of having fun, of trust, of kindness and of care. They write,
‘…how much the teachers value and support the pupils…the way all the pupils respect each other.’
‘You know they will never let you down.’

I am delighted to be able to hand over the reins when I leave to Mrs Bernie Morgan, our most senior teacher, who will be Acting Headteacher from January. This will allow the governing body and local authority sufficient time to find a suitable permanent post holder for the headship. The school is in safe hands with Mrs Morgan, who knows the children and our community well and is, at the time of writing, already working closely with me to plan the way ahead for the new year. She will be leading an excellent team of teachers and support staff, all of whom have worked hard to secure the improvements of recent years and who have the highest expectations of our pupils.

The school will always hold a special place in my heart and I hope and pray that it will continue to thrive for a very long time to come. I wish Mrs Morgan and the staff, the pupils, parents and governing body the very best for the future and wish them, together with all the readers of Grapevine, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
I look forward to our Christmas events: the church Christingle and Carol Service on 6 and 13 December and the school productions on 10 and 17 December. Do please contact the school if you would like to attend any of these events, all of which illustrate perfectly the magic of Lewknor.

J Walker, December 2009

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News from Krakatoa

At half term we said goodbye to Adam and George who started primary school and welcomed two new children, Esme and Charlie. We are also very excited to welcome our newest member of staff, Sue Ellis. Sue has many years experience working with pre-school aged children and brings many great ideas for creative arts and crafts.

The children participated in a Sponsored Walk on Friday 13 November, followed by a soup and pudding lunch for the children and their parents/carers. It was a fun event (despite the rain) and the children raised an amazing £600!! Well done and thank you to everyone who came along and sponsored the walk.

During December the pre-school will operate a Christmas Card Postal Service. We will deliver cards locally to Lewknor, Pyrton, Shirburn, Watlington, Aston Rowant, Kingston Blount, Stoke Talmage, Clare and Tetsworth. You can deposit them into our specially made post boxes at the Leathern Bottle Pub, Krakatoa Pre-school and Lewknor Primary School. Donations for this service can be put in the money boxes attached to our post boxes. All proceeds will go to support the pre-school.

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News from your District and County Councillors

County Councillor	Roger Belson	01491 612091
District Councillors	Rodney Mann	01844 281426
	Rev'd Angie Paterson	01491 614033

COUNCIL CONTACT DETAILS

Council	Council Website	Main Switchboard	E-mail
Oxfordshire County Council	www.oxfordshire.gov.uk	01865 792422	online@oxfordshire.gov.uk
South Oxfordshire District Council	www.southoxon.gov.uk	01491 823000	info@southoxon.gov.uk

May we take this opportunity to send our best wishes to you for the Christmas Season.

Free afternoon parking in December for local shoppers:

Starting on Saturday 5 December, all of South Oxfordshire District Council car parks will be free in the afternoons from 12 midday, every Saturday up to Christmas day. There is no need to buy a ticket, although the maximum stay still applies.

Christmas Waste Collection (please see additional chart)
As usual over a Holiday period there will be changes to the waste collection schedule. This year collections will change between Saturday 19 December and Saturday 9 January. For some residents collections will be earlier than usual in the run up to Christmas and a few days later afterwards.

Text reminders for Christmas bin collections

To help people remember the changes South Oxfordshire District Council is offering residents a text and email reminder service about changes to bin collections over the Christmas period. To sign up for a reminder simply text the word “waste” and your normal collection day to 07797 870370 and you will receive a reminder the day before you collection. For example is your normal collection is on a Monday text ‘Waste Monday.’ You can register for an email alert through its website www.southoxon.gov.uk/christmas <http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/christmas>. Text messages sent to the council will be charged by the provider at a standard rate. You will not be charged for the reminder texts.

Extra recycling?

If you have extra recycling that won’t fit in your green bin over Christmas, place it in clear sacks, plastic bags or cardboard boxes and leave it by the side of your recycling bin for us to collect. Please note, however, we will not pick up extra rubbish next to your grey rubbish bin.

Council scoops prestigious award for waste communications campaign

South Oxfordshire District Council has scooped a prestigious ‘2009 Green Award’ for its communications campaign that helped launch its new recycling and refuse service. <http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/redirect/?oid=%5bcom.arsdigita.cms.contenttypes.Article:%7bid=514103%7d%5d>The Green Awards recognise and reward creative work that communicates the importance of sustainable development and ethical best practice. The council won the award for the series of information leaflets provided to residents in the run-up to the new waste service launched in June 2009. Judges commended the campaign for its use of environmentally-friendly material and said: “South Oxfordshire District Council delivered a pack with engaging, clear and concrete information regarding what to recycle, and how, to 60,000 households.

Jonathon Porritt CBE, Programme Director of Forum for the Future and Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, said of all the award winners: “In a world of imploding certainties and deepest doom and gloom, we need more than ever to be celebrating the work of those who are already building that better, more sustainable world that is emerging from the chaos - and that’s exactly what the Green Awards are all about.”

Residents warned over refund scam:

Residents are being urged to be on their guard against bogus officials offering to give council refunds, relating to council tax, business rates or benefits. People are being called or emailed and told they qualify for a refund and then asked for their bank account details so the payment can be made. They also informed an "admin" fee will be charged. South Oxfordshire District Councils is warning residents to be on their guard against these scams. The Council would not phone or email to request details of bank accounts to refund overpayments. Neither would it charge for such a service. Anyone due a refund would receive a bill detailing exactly how much they are owed.

Bank holiday collection

See your Christmas collection date below to check your changes.
In some cases it may be up to three days earlier.

Normal collection day	Revised collection day
Monday 21 December	Saturday 19 December
Tuesday 22 December	Monday 21 December
Wednesday 23 December	Tuesday 22 December
Thursday 24 December	Wednesday 23 December
Friday 25 December	Thursday 24 December
Monday 28 December	Tuesday 29 December
Tuesday 29 December	Wednesday 30 December
Wednesday 30 December	Thursday 31 December
Thursday 31 December	Saturday 2 January
Friday 1 January	Monday 4 January
Monday 4 January	Tuesday 5 January
Tuesday 5 January	Wednesday 6 January
Wednesday 6 January	Thursday 7 January
Thursday 7 January	Friday 8 January
Friday 8 January	Saturday 9 January

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News from Newington Nurseries

Christmas and the Poinsettia

It’s the time of year when Poinsettias grace our homes. They are usually given as presents or used to decorate a table or sideboard somewhere in the house. Its horticultural name is Euphorbia pulcherrima and it’s native to the Pacific coast of Mexico. It’s also found in some parts of central southern Mexico and a few localities in Guatemala. The Poinsettia also has some other, rather interesting names. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the plant was called Cuetlaxochitl meaning ‘skin flower’. In Mexico and Guatemala, the Poinsettia is known as ‘Noche Buena’ (‘Christmas' Eve’). In Spain, it’s known as ‘Flor de Pascua’ (‘Easter Flower’) and in both Chile and Peru, the plant has become known as ‘Crown of the Andes’.

Over 90% of Poinsettias grown are red although different colours are now creeping into shops and garden centres. Most well-known of the red varieties is Euphorbia pulcherrima ‘Burgundy’ You’ll also find E. p. ‘Electric Fire’ as well as ‘Chianti’. Pink varieties include E. p. ‘Candy’ and ‘Marblestar’. The more unusual E. p ‘Sonora White Glitter’ and ‘Primero Glitter’ have red bracts with glittery white specks. White varieties include E. p. ‘Infinity White’ and ‘Spotlight White’. But one of the most beautiful white Poinsettias is E. p. ‘Polar Bear’. For each cutting sold (by the American breeder to the grower), a donation is made to the charity Polar Bears International.

There are some Dos and Don’ts when it comes to looking after a Poinsettia. Following these easy pointers will help ensure the longevity of the plant

The majority of Poinsettias seen in English shops and supermarkets are grown in Holland and under quite different growing conditions to those grown in the UK. On these shores, Poinsettias are grown under cover, as in Holland, but with more space between each plant and with rather less heat, making them stronger plants. The few remaining, specialist UK growers get them going in September, sometimes with additional warmth if the month is cold, but then the heat is reduced during October. This cool spell brings out the red colour in the bracts. Because of the different growing methods, English Poinsettias are more robust in nature and will last longer than the imported varieties. So if you want to hang on to your lovely plant, cut the stems back by half to two-thirds after leaf drop. Keep the compost dry and place the plant in a cool, shady position. Re-pot into a high fertility, loam-based mix in early summer and move the plant to a warm position in bright but indirect sunlight.

DO place your plant in indirect sunlight for at least six hours per day. If direct sun can't be avoided, diffuse the light with a shade or sheer curtain.
DO provide room temperatures between 68 - 70° F. Generally speaking, if you’re comfortable, so is your poinsettia.
DO water your plant when the soil feels dry to the touch.
DO use a large, roomy shopping bag to protect your plant when transporting it.
DO fertilize your plant after the blooming season with a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer.
DON'T place plants near cold drafts or excessive heat. Avoid placing plants near appliances, fireplaces or ventilating ducts.
DON'T expose plants to rooms or conservatories whose temperatures fall below 50° F. Poinsettias are sensitive to cold and wet English winters so avoid placing them outside during this time.
DON'T overwater your plant or allow it to sit in water. Always remove a plant from any decorative container before watering and allow the water to drain completely.
DON'T expose your plant to chilling winds when transporting it.
DON'T fertilize your plant when it is in bloom.

Enjoy your Poinsettia over the Christmas period - and beyond!

Newington Nurseries, Newington, Nr Stadhampton, Oxon, OX10 7AW TeI 01865 400533
www.newington-nurseries.co.uk

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