The Grapevine MagazineNovember 2004 Issue No 195 |
Jumble Sale |
Following the appeal for fund-raising ideas for Lewknor Church in last month's Grapevine, some members have agreed to organise a Jumble sale, on 13th November, in the Village hall. In order for it to be successful they need your help! If you have any jumble to spare please take it to the hall on Friday 12th November between 3.30 - 5.00 pm or on Saturday morning before 10.00am. Otherwise phone Christine on 353283 for collection.
Please support the Sale - there will be lots of bargains - books, toys, bric-a-brac as well as clothes. If you don't like jumble, perhaps you could buy a home-made cake or a cup of tea. If you're not free on that day, could you make a cake to sell?
Most of us use our ancient and lovely church sometimes - to celebrate a wedding, or mourn at a funeral, to worship on Sundays or sing carols at Christmas. The church is a beautiful building but it needs repairs to the roof and new heating. Your contribution can help - and after all a jumble sale is a friendly event - meet other villagers, share a cup of tea. So please remember 10 -12 am on Saturday 13th November. For further information please ring Christine on 353283.
St. Margaret's Parish Church, Lewknor
Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust
Annual "RIDE & STRIDE"
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking everyone who took part in the "Ride & Stride" on 11th September and also those who helped in the church by signing the sponsorship Forms and making coffee and tea for the visitors.
The total amount raised was £125.50, which was a very pleasing result, of which our church will receive 50%.
This was not quite as good as last year, but the weather this year probably put many people off!
Elizabeth Orr-Ewing
LETTER TO Grapevine
From: David Denham
I would just like to say thank-you to all the people of Lewknor and Postcombe and friends from Thame who have congratulated me on doing 43 years on Church Farm.
I would especially like to thank Leslie, Jackie, Murray and Sue Graham and I can't forget Mr R Graham who gave me the start I needed.
It has had its ups and downs - but more ups. To all, once again - thank you. I don't drink now, but here's to the next few years! Please, please, don't knock Church Farm about too much!
P S I must also say thank-you to the girls and their husbands and not forgetting Bobby, also grandchildren and Ernestine for their support.
WHAT A DAY!
Saturday 25th September dawned, it was quite unbelievable that our day had arrived.
I was getting ready from home and Paul from the Lambert Arms. Unsurprisingly it began to rain and as I looked out of the window I saw my 'surprise' transport had arrived, a horse-drawn carriage pulled by two beautiful chestnut horses. Friends of ours from Devon who sadly could not come to the wedding had arranged this as our special gift.
My Mum and I travelled to the church, sent off by the 'Barley Close gang'. The bridesmaids and our handsome Page boy (Owen Hargrove) followed courtesy of John Hollywood. The church looked amazing, decorated by Charlotte Rose and others who had created beautiful arrangements. Charlotte had also done our personal flowers and decorated the Lambert Arms.
Keith (organist) had especially prepared our processional and recessional music, Michael Nymans 'The Piano' and the theme from 'All creatures great and small''. My Mum gave me away which was lovely. Our dog Mowgli sat in pride of place at the front of the church proudly wearing his bow tie. The service was conducted by Simon Brignall, to whom we are very grateful. The choir sang beautifully but unfortunately Mowgli joined in 'Jesu joy of man's desiring'!
As we left the church the rain stopped and the sun tried to break through but it was still very cold and our guests were glad to arrive at The Lambert Arms for champagne and to warm up!
Paul and I detoured in our horse and carriage to Moorcourt Farm to have our picture taken with Mowgli and Samuel, our horse.
It was wonderful to arrive at The Lambert Arms to see so many of our friends who had joined us in celebrating our marriage. They had travelled from various places - America, Australia, Durham, Yorkshire, Wales and Sussex to name a few! Roger and his staff put on a fantastic reception for us and our thanks go out to them.
The whole day flew by and the evening left more than a few with a sore head! (Good job there was no post to be delivered the next day!) Joy from Barley Close did a superb rendition of 'Love me tender'!
THANK YOU ALL so much for the good wishes we have received and for those who made our day truly memorable.
P.S. Camping in Scotland was not such a good idea! But fun!
Heather and Paul Weston
"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown is currently at number 2 in most best seller lists so the Book club members were expecting something special and indeed the book captures the reader's attention with its opening chapter set in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Not wanting to spoil the story for those who still intend to read it, I will avoid revealing more but our discussion centred on the controversy the book has aroused in literary circles.
The author is being challenged over plagiarism by two authors, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who wrote a book entitled "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" in the 1980's. This latter book claims to be a well-researched account of the strange life of a 19th century French priest (named Saunière) living in a small hill village in the south of France who suddenly acquired enormous wealth. The source of his wealth was a cause célèbre at the time and the various suggestions put forward by Baigent and Leigh focus on the Catholic Church and the Priory of Sion with links extending back to the Knights Templar and the Crusades. Baigent and Leigh's book sold 2 million copies but Brown's book failing to acknowledge his probable sources has already reaped 5 million. Readers who have read the book and like crosswords, however, might find the hidden link between Baigent and Leigh and one of Dan Brown's characters.
November's book is "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver set in the Belgian Congo.
There is no news from The Book Club on Radio 4 (see Grapevine for October) but if you are interested in joining the book club and/or taking part in a broadcast please contact me as follows:
Elan Preston-Whyte
'Knysna', Hill Road, Lewknor Tel no. 350382
We have a small grant for a part time, temporary Fundraiser, paid on an hourly rate of £9.33. We need someone to research and identify sources and make the applications as appropriate. Experience is desirable but not necessary if there is plenty of enthusiasm. Hours will be in the day time and office based, but irregular due to the nature of the work.
For more information or an application form (Cvs not accepted) please contact the bureau Manager on 01235 512839. Closing date 12th November 2004.
7 November 10.15am Family Communion
14 November NO SERVICE
(Remembrance Service at the Memorial Cross at Tetsworth 10.45am)
21 November 9.00am Holy Communion
28 November NO SERVICE
Thursday 11 November 10.30am Remembrance Service
Events for the diary in December
Sunday 12 December 6.30pm Carol Service
Monday 20 December 6.00pm Carols round the Christmas Tree at the Leather Bottle with mulled wine afterwards
Vicar: Rev Simon Brignall. To contact, ring either 01844 281267 or 07718627674
17th November, Lewknor School, at 7.30pm
I am sorry to report that the plans for the shop to open in October with a new manager have fallen through and at present there is no interested party looking to take on the opportunity. The plan is therefore to explore the possibility of running the business as a Community shop and a meeting is being called on the 17th November to discuss this proposal.
Everyone is welcome to attend and a representative from Oxfordshire Rural Community Council will be present to provide advice on the setting up and running of a Community Shop. Information will be available on other Community Shops in Oxfordshire as well as:- a sample business plan setting out possible income and costs, opportunities for obtaining and funding and support for setting up and stocking the shop.
The Silver Jubilee Tree by the village notice board has had to be chopped down and removed. The Pink Chestnut tree had developed a large split in the main trunk and several branches were in danger of being broken off by strong winds. Advice had been obtained to see if the tree could be saved but the view was that it should be removed as it was a danger to the public. A new tree will be planted this winter to replace the old one.
The next meeting is on the 15th November at 7.30pm in Lewknor Village School. Everyone is welcome to attend and details of the agenda will be posted on all village notice boards on Thursday 11th November. The final meeting of the year is on December 13th.
Duties have been allocated to each member of the council as follows:
Gill Bindoff - Planning and Housing
Robin Notley - Highways
Caroline Hjorth - Finance including grants
Jacqui Graham - Local amenities including footpaths and the Aston Rowant Nature Reserve
Ian Orr-Ewing - Transport and Waste Disposal
Tim Bowie - Parish Council affairs and Local Government issues
Please contact the relevant councillor if you have an issue to be raised.
To help raise funds for St Margaret's Church, Christmas cards will be on sale from the Jumble Sale on Saturday 11th November onwards. We are having the cards professionally printed using a photograph of one of the stained glass windows taken by Peter MacKinnon.
Priced £5 for 10 cards with envelopes they are available from Caroline Notley, Lewknor Tel. 354237
SODC's Waste Management Team will be conducting a recycling participation survey over a four-week period commencing Monday 1st November, so don't be alarmed if you see someone looking at or rummaging in your green bin in the early hours of the morning.
Thankfully we are now back in the Village Hall and both the Staff and the children now await the impending arrival of OFSTED!
We are continuing our project through the seasons which will naturally bring us into Christmas and its festivities.
We had a very good Fund Raising Coffee Morning on the 7th October which raised £130 for the Pre-School. Thank you to everyone that attended and donated.
This half term we welcome four new children, Libby Howe, Gemma Burnard, Poppy and Anna Wagg. We now have a waiting list for some days, so if anyone is interested, please contact Ali Griffiths on 352330.