Parish Council Tues 1st 8pm Village Hall Men's Group Thurs 3rd 7.30pm Village Hall Working Party Sat 5th 9.30am St Giles' Church Mothering Sunday Sun 6th 11.15am St Giles' Church Village Hall Committee Tues 8th 8pm Village Hall Coffee Morning Sat 12th 11am Village Hall APCM & Lunch Sun 13th 11.15am St Giles' Church Friendship Club Tues 15th 2.30pm Offchurch Cottage Mobile Library Thurs 10th & 24th
6 11.15 Mothering Sunday
Family Service Gaydon
13 11.15 Matins & Annual Parish Meeting followed by lunch Gaydon
20 9.00 Palm Sunday Communion Gaydon
Holy Week
21 Monday 7pm Eucharist Northend
22 Tuesday 8am Communion Gaydon
23 Wednesday 11am Communion Gaydon
24 Maundy Thursday 7pm Eucharist of the Lord's Last Supper & Vigil Gaydon
25 Good Friday 6pm Service of the Cross Northend
26 Holy Saturday Walk from Northend at 6.30pm to Vigil at Burton Dassett at 7.30pm
27 Easter Sunday
8.00 Eucharist Burton Dassett
11.15 Holy Communion Gaydon
Holy Communion is celebrated every Tuesday at 8am. Holy Communion will be celebrated on Wednesday 16th at 11am.
We plan to meet on Thursday 3 March at 7.30pm in the Village Hall for supper - bangers and mash - and a talk given by Brian Aldrich on Forty Years in Design and Construction. All men are welcome and for purposes of catering I would be grateful if you could ring me to let me know you are attending. Please remember to bring your own plate, bowl and and cutlery! Philip Francis 01295 770400
On March 5th there will be a working party at St Giles' Church, meeting at 9.30 am. Our aim is twofold: first, to mark out the churchyard for paths and areas to be mown in the late spring and over the summer months and identify other areas as a conservation area in order to plant native flowers and grasses; second, to clear out gutters and down pipes and do some high level cleaning in the church.
I write to inform you of this working party and ask please that you come along to help with the work. The churchyard and church building, sitting in the middle of the village, reflects to a wider group of people and passing visitors how Gaydon is cared for. Even if you do not come regularly to church, would you please consider helping in some way with the work of caring for our village church and turning up on Saturday March 5th to offer a couple of hours of work? To tempt you there will be lashings of coffee and tea and bacon rolls - or Quorn sausages for vegetarians - on stand-by!
March 6th is Mothering Sunday and there will be a special Mothers' Day service at St Giles at 11.15. All are welcome.
Please remember the Annual Parish Church Meeting on March 13th. Our meeting will take place within the morning service at 11.15 and will be followed by lunch. We will be joined on the day by a former Gaydonite, Jean Davidson, and her family who are visiting Gaydon for the morning.
Vicar Revd Philip Francis BA MTh 01295 770400
email: Philip.francis@regents.ox.ac.uk
Editor Mrs J Rickman 640349
email: rickman@argonet.co.uk
Parish Clerk Mrs C Hill 641220
email: corinnehill@parishgaydon.freeserve.co.uk
Churchwardens Mrs M Fox 641834
Mr A Corner 640523
email: andrew_corner@hotmail.com
Village Hall Chair Mrs D Price 640757
Bookings Miss S Middleditch 640695
22 St Marks Close
Neighbourhood Watch Mr I Miller 641796
Mrs Judith Neddermann, formerly Boultbee, writes that she enjoys reading the Gaydon Parish Magazine in spite of now knowing few of the names mentioned in it.
'However, I was very interested in the piece about Malcolm Pickering....his mother taught me at the Vicarage and then at her home when Anne, her daughter, was a baby. I think Malcolm arrived at about the time I went as a boarder to the Croft School in Stratford upon Avon. I have always wondered about the family as we lost touch many years ago'.
Annette Conway is sending Malcolm Judith's address so that they can fill in the gaps.
Following last month's successful event when £50.70 was raised for St Giles' Fabric Fund, the next Market will be on 12 March at 11am in the Village Hall.
This month the van is due to be at Telephone Box Green at 1.10pm and at St Marks Close at 1.25pm on Thursdays 10th and 24th.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 15 March at 2.30pm at Offchurch, Banbury Road, by kind invitation of Mrs Betty Davies. Anyone interested in a quiet afternoon of friendly conversation over a cup of tea will be made very welcome.
The next meeting of the Village Hall Committee will take place on Tuesday 8 March at 8pm.
PhotoCopier
The Parish Council has bought a new photocopier and would like to sell the old one - which has faithfully printed this magazine for the past 5 years. One offer of £10 has been received so far: best offer secures! Please contact the Clerk, Corinne Hill, for details.
Villagers are reminded that they can use the new copier gratis on most Saturday mornings in the Parish Office between 10 and 11am.
Next Meeting
The next Parish Council meeting is on Tuesday 1 March at 8pm in the Village Hall and is open to the public.
We had an excellent and very well-attended meeting at the Coffee Morning last month in the Village Hall.
It was decided that the Christmas Lunch should continue in its present format as everything had run smoothly, as usual, last time.
We would, however, like to revive the custom of delivering lunches to any housebound villagers.
We are very grateful to the Millennium Group who helped us out with our expenses and we would like to thank everyone else who has supported our efforts.
This year, at least two fund-raising events will be held: a Table-top Sale in the Village Hall and a Garden Cheese & Wine Party.
Dates and details will appear in the Parish Magazine in due course.
Julie Rickman, Mary Fox, Jean Godfrey, Liz Thomas, Beryl Barnett
Canon Norman Howes and the Vicar, Philip Francis, are leading meetings on the themes of Prayer and Personality, exploring different ways of praying appropriate to different temperaments.
Sunday 6 March 6pm Northend Church
Sunday 13 March 6pm Gaydon Church
Sunday 20 March 6pm Northend Church
All are welcome to attend.
March 6th
It is customary for children to present flowers to their mothers on this, the fourth, Sunday of Lent. At St Giles' Church we try to maintain this tradition. Therefore, we hope that children (of all ages) will bring their mothers along to the Family Service on Sunday 6 March at 11.15am. Grown-up children could bring their mothers to church before taking them out to lunch - there's plenty of time!
The church will be decorated for Easter on the morning of Saturday 26 March from 10 o'clock onwards.
Donations of flowers and greenery, and help with the arranging, will be gratefully received.
Saturday 5 March 9.30am
Those who have seen the plans for the conservation of the churchyard and who are interested, are invited to come along to help with the initial stage.
The plan is to involve everyone in the community and offers of bulbs and plants have already been received. We would like to see anyone who is willing to give an hour or two to sharing in the preparation of the layout.
Refreshments will be served!
A pale Persian-type cat wearing a collar has been visiting my garden and dustbins every evening since before Christmas. I am rather concerned about it; if anyone's cat is missing perhaps you would contact me, Sue Middleditch, on 640695.
I've combined some news from last month as I was abroad for part of January in the much more balmy climes of New Orleans and the snow storms of New York!
We seem to have experienced a very mild winter so far, there are snowdrops in flower and early daffodils and primroses. I even saw some bumble bees collecting pollen from my winter flowering Lonicera flowers.
The past weeks have been filled with bird sightings around the village. The recorder for Warwick Museum, who lives in Fenny Compton, was delighted to hear of the large flocks of Waxwings. Buzzards are much in evidence and a Kestrel seems to have adopted Church Road as a hunting ground. Yellow hammers seem to cling loyally to our draughty open hedgerows giving a radiant flash of vivid colour to a grey horizon.
A flock of Golden Plovers made an impressive sight on Ireland Farm's fields, about forty strong and in perfect unison. Although a quite dis-tinctive gold and black colour they were invisible when they landed to rest on a ploughed field before taking off again!
Sad to relate, several Badgers have been hit by cars on the Bishops/Kineton Roads. Foxes have taken another chicken in broad daylight, this time from my run. A large dog fox seems to favour the centre of the village, so it is best to lock up pets and poultry at present. Fox control will be a problem now hunting is restricted and they will almost certainly be shot and poisoned now in a haphazard way. It's a sad time for many country people and for foxes too. There's also a superb herd of Fallow deer that are occasionally seen on the edge of the village. Sleek grey and spotted hinds led by a magnificent eight-pointed stag. I have watched them grazing near Watery Lane for several days now.
Early mornings are becoming melodious with song now the days are slightly longer and nesting territories are being established. I notice that Little Owls are using a hollow tree to nest in, already leaving pellets of vole and mice fur on the public footpath as clues to their activity. Plants to look out for are all yellow - the Celandine and Coltsfoot; and Hazel catkins dusted with nectar for hardy moths like the Early Thorn and Winter Moth which are on the wing on milder nights. It's predicted that we are in for a "Cold Snap" which may slow down the the retreat from winter, even mention of snow. Deep drifts seem a distant memory now, when the village was cut off for days pre the advent of the M40 and the village shop ran out of food, plus days of power cuts! Global warming is an obvious factor to all now, as this was only 15 years ago. Bernard Price.
The flag was raised in February for the Birthdays of Josiah and Henny Rickman, Nicholas Hayward and Fred Liddington who was 80.
The Village Flag Officer is George Hayward at The Old School, Kineton Road, 642963. Please contact him if you would like the flag flown for a special occasion.
Sunday 13 March at 11.15am
This will take the form of an Act of Worship followed by the Meeting. All people who are at present on the Church Electoral Roll should try to attend. Churchwardens and members of the Parochial Church Council will be chosen - changes to these procedures were set out in last month's magazine. A simple lunch in the Village Hall will follow the Meeting.
The Children's Society
Many thanks to all of you who fill collection boxes for the Society each year. The 2004 total is the best ever for Gaydon at £184.71. Keep up the good work! Jean Godfrey
Easter Crumble Cake Ingredients 3 oz butter 6 oz SR flour ½ tsp baking powder 2 oz caster sugar For the topping: 1 medium egg, beaten 1 oz soft brown sugar 1 heaped tbsp marmalade 1 tsp cinnamon
Method 1 Process the butter, flour, baking powder and caster sugar until you have fine crumbs. Remove a quarter of the mixture and reserve. 2 Mix the remaining mixture to a soft dropping consistency with the egg and marmalade - adding a little milk if necessary - and put it into a shallow 7" cake tin. 3 Mix the reserved crumbs with the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over. Bake at 190°C/380°F/Gas Mark 5 for 25-30 mins.