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The Grapevine Magazine December 2003 Issue No 186
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Watlington
& District Care Home
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M40
Junction 6 Some people may have seen
a report in The Henley Standard on 28th September which indicated that the
development scheme to provide a taxi-bus service to Oxford Tube bus stops has
been put on hold and could be delayed for several years. This is strictly not true. The project is still under consideration
and may well be included in the budget for Jubilee
Hall The response to the
appeal for helpers in last month’s Grapevine has been very
disappointing. If you have some time
to spare, or are willing to make some time available to help, please get in
touch with Gill Bindoff (01491 612663). The trustees really do need volunteers to
help. Could you be our treasurer or
our secretary or take on the booking of the hall? Please do get in touch if you think you may
be interested and we will give you more information about what is
involved. We are also looking for
people to clean the hall (£6 per hour plus extra at weekends) and for someone
to be the Caretaker (same rates of pay).
We know that this is a busy time of the year to be asking for helpers
but the trustees cannot take on these jobs themselves. Everyone has a busy life these days but if
there were more people willing to help the work could be shared out in
manageable bits. Please help if you
possibly can. Even if you
couldn’t start until after Christmas we would like to hear from
you. The Hall and Recreation Ground
are for the benefit of everyone in our parish - helping to run the charity is
a real contribution to your community. N.B.
Please let the trustees know if there are any sports or other activities you
would like to come along to at the Jubilee Hall next year and we will do our
best to arrange them for you. Refuse/
Recycling Collection All households have been
provided with a transparent sack to cater for the additional recyclable waste
that will be accumulated over Christmas.
It may be used for all the usual items - cardboard, paper, plastic and
tin cans - and is intended to absorb the overflow from your standard
‘green boxes’ which will also be emptied in the usual way. Please note that our collections will be as
normal - Tuesday 23rd December and Tuesday 29th December. My dear friend Marilyn Collettt died on the 1st November 2003. Her passing will leave a great void in many
lives. I will miss her dreadfully as
will her family and friends. In her
life she befriended and helped countless people in an assortment of ways. Marilyn Dawn Collett was born Marilyn Dawn Attridge
on the 23rd November 1943 in Loosley Row. Her Mum and Dad, Bill and Win Attridge, had five children - two boys and three girls. Marilyn married Rex Collett on the 11th November 1973 and lived for a while
in Speen. In
1974 Rex and Marilyn moved to When I looked around the
service that we all attended in Shirley Moore WATLINGTON & DISTRICT CARE HOME On Saturday 29th November
a plaque was unveiled at the new Care Home to mark the completion by the
contractors, Leadbitter Ltd., of the main structure
of the new Watlington and District Care Home and to
commemorate the work of local supporters in bringing this about. Watlington and District
Care Home is the new 60 bed Care Home and is due to open in May 2004, and
will be run by Santuary Care and will provide
specialist nursing care. On the ground floor there
will be a 30 bed unit for elderly people with mental health needs. This will include beds for respite care and
will be mainly funded by the Social Services. The first floor of the
Care Home will have a 10 bed unit for intermediate care to enable patients discharged
from major local NHS hospitals, to recover with good nursing. The remaining 20 beds on
the first floor will be for general nursing care some long stay, and some
respite care. (the majority funded by the Social Services and NHS) The Watlington
Hospital Charitable Trust set out to raise £2 million through benefactors,
local fund raising etc. They have
already paid for the acquisition of the site and the immediately adjoining
fields at a cost of £1.4 million and are now well on the way to raising the
£600,000 needed for
the Patient’s Fund. This
permanent capital is necessary to support the longer term objectives of the
Trust, inter alia the securing
of use for the local population. EDITOR’S COMMENT -
I went along to the unveiling on Saturday - the building looks very similar
to the old hospital...but much bigger of course. It is very impressive and I am sure it will
be a wonderful asset for us all in the future. However, we still need to support their
fund-raising events in order to make the whole project a reality.
Monday 3rd November 2003
will be a day I will never forget
in my life. We left Lewknor school at
12.20pm and arrived at the Royal Albert Hall at 1.35pm. When we got
off the bus I thought to myself ‘wow’. It was huge. We were taken to our seats in the west choir and I gasped as I
saw the inside of the hall for the first time. It was all red with a fancy type of border
carved into the balcony. At first
there weren’t many people but it gradually filled up as the performers
arrived. All of us were wearing purple
and gold T-shirts that said ‘Oxfordshire Young Singers’. Before I knew it the real
thing had started. There were three
cameramen by us. There were probably a
lot more but I couldn’t see them.
Hours seemed to pass and then suddenly the man who was presenting the
whole thing said, “Let me introduce you to Oxfordshire Young Singers,
conducted by Liz Stock.” I
couldn’t stop smiling. It was
like I had swallowed millions of gallons of joy. When Mrs Stock raised her hands to us we
all leapt to our feet. The spotlights
were now on us and the band was playing.
It was amazing we had all started to sing. After the whole thing had finished we got
back onto the bus and my partner and I talked about the concert the whole way
home. Katie Tremlin
(Year 6) On Monday 3rd November
2003 we went to the Royal Albert Hall.
We travelled there in a coach with two other schools. When we got there it looked a lot smaller
than I thought it would be, but when we got inside I realised that it
wasn’t very small at all! The
seats were staggered so the audience could see every bit of us. We were on the west side of the organ and
the organ was huge. There was a stage
in front of us and a smaller stage in the promenade. We sang standing in our seats and we were
in the second row from the back. There
were lots of lights on us and I noticed a massive net
holding lots of balloons back.
At the end of the concert the balloons came down and there was
fluttering confetti and fireworks.
Overall it was an opportunity of a lifetime and I will always remember
it. Max Lamb (Year 6) On Monday 3rd November
Lewknor school went to the Royal Albert Hall.
We left school at 12.20pm and we arrived at 1.35pm. I could see the building and I was amazed
by the patterns on the wall outside. I
went inside and realised that the Albert Hall was circular. I walked up the stairs into the main hall
and I was stunned by the size of the organ.
It took up a large part of the room.
We started the rehearsals and we got a chance to see who was
performing as well. There was a pop
band called 3 Style, a percussion school, a steel band as well as us - the
Oxfordshire Young Singers. The doors
opened at 7pm and people came flooding in.
Finally we sang and at the end of the concert there were fireworks
which shot across the room and into the balcony. We left the Albert hall at 10.40pm and got
back to school about midnight. It was
a day I will remember for the rest of my life. Henry Mangion
(Year 6) Something Unusual from For our mid-winter
column, we return to the subject of why indoor plants are good for us, and -
more importantly for this time of the year - how they help us combat winter
ills. All plant lovers know
that indoor plants help us psychologically by brightening up our homes and
offices. Many, however, don’t
realise that they can also help beat the harmful effects of dry, centrally
heated air, and they can fight infections. How do they do this? Plants are natural humidifiers. German environmental biologist, Manfred R Radtke, is an expert on the subject. He points out that 97 per cent of the water
given to a plant is returned to the air.
Not only does this improve humidity, it also makes us feel warmer by
making our environment more comfortable - saving us the trouble of turning up
the central heating! To benefit most from this
surprising statistic, we should choose those plants for our homes and offices
that drink most water. Radtke lists Sparmannia
(African Hemp), Cyperus (Umbrella Plant) and other
grass plants. These thirsty plants all
have tiny openings on the undersides of their leaves which allow water back
into the air around them. They also have a ‘high
metabolism’ in the winter months, so that even when the light is
relatively low they achieve a proportionally high respiration level. And the humidity these
plants give us is far better than that which can be created by
artificial humidifiers or natural ventilation. According to Radtke,
this is because artificial humidifiers, and even
natural ventilation simply recirculate the air
which still contains bacteria. This
means that airborne ailments like colds, flu, eye and skin infections, as
well as other minor illnesses can still be passed on. Houseplants, on the other hand, actually
absorb toxins from the air, so they can be effective in significantly
reducing minor ailments such as headaches, coughs, blocked noses and skin
complaints. In fact, dedicated research undertaken in So, the proof is
there. Keep your houseplants happy and
healthy and they will do the same for you! Here’s a quick
reminder of more plants to choose for a healthy home and office: To humidify: Spider Plants (Chlorphytum) Miniature Orchids
(Cymbidium) Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum) Anthuriums Castor Oil Plants (Fatsias) To purify: Begonias Spider Plants (Chlorphytum) Dragon Trees (Dracaenas) Moth Orchids (Phalaenopsis) Devils Ivy (Scindapsus/Epipremnum) Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum) The children have been
out and about, gathering some beautiful leaves and enjoying the colours,
sights and scents of Autumn, making some lovely collages and finding out how
animals and birds spend the winter months. This half-term we have
had music sessions - initiated by the Oxfordshire County Council music
department. We have all enjoyed both
old and new songs and learning different actions and rhythms too. Now our preparations for
Christmas are well underway - and we are all looking forward to the 2nd
Nativity concert and a slice of Krakatoa’s
delicious Christmas Cake! There is something of a
‘baby-boon’ happening in Lewknor and we would like to
congratulate all the new mums and dads, and we look forward to welcoming the
babies to Krakatoa in a couple of years time! A big thank you to all
those who give up their time each month to deliver the Grapevines. May we wish all our
readers a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year The next issue is
February - so lots of items please by January 20th.
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