index of magazines
Gaydon with Chadshunt Parish Magazine April 2008
This Month's Diary
Men's Supper Club Thurs 10th 7pm Village Hall
Village Coffee Morning Sat 12th 11am Village Hall
Friendship Club Tues 22nd 2.30pm Trevose
Yorkshire Evening Weds 23rd 7pm Village Hall
Pilates Tuesdays 8pm Village Hall
Toddler Group Thursdays 10-11.30am Village Hall
Mobile Library Thursday 10th
March Flood Report
There was a special meeting on 6 March to consider how to proceed with improving Gaydon's flood defences. At the meeting were the Parish Council and various experts and officials from the District and County.
The chairman outlined the Gaydon Flood Defence plan and aspects of it were discussed in detail to clarify who was responsible for what.
As a result, Nigel Chetwynd of Highways agreed to take core samples of the Banbury Road to see if it was possible to alter the camber in order to divert the water from the East side into the ditch on the West.
He also agreed to investigate the possibility of diverting water across the road into the field above the roundabout so that it doesn't run down the hill, turn right at the roundabout and flow down the Kineton Road.
Gaydon PC agreed to approach the landowner about providing ditches to take water from the back of houses to the front in Banbury Road. If this were done, Highways agreed to install a new pipe to take the water across the road.
Gaydon PC also agreed to approach the landowner of the field behind the Kineton Road to discuss the building of an earthwork bank to slow down the water getting into the village. David Tiley, the Stratford Flood Defence officer, agreed to do the necessary surveys if permission is granted. The possibility of offering to purchase a strip of land was also discussed.
John Brown said that the blocked grips which had caused the flooding of Tollgate Cottage were on his list of jobs but could not say when they would be cleared. Gaydon PC were advised to arrange to clear the grips themselves. JR
Thanks
I would like to thank all the villagers who helped me to complete my GCSE course work on the Gaydon Flood. Your information, photo-graphs and completed questionnaires were invaluable. Tom Hughes
It's that Dog again!
That naughty dog has been spotted on the corner of Church Road and Kineton Road doing his dirty work. Owner beware! Dog fouling is illegal and the dog warden is about in Gaydon.
If anyone sees fouling taking place he or she should report the incident to Stratford District Council as soon as possible with a description of the dog and the owner if present.
Telephone the Dog Warden on 01789 260839 in office hours and at other times the Police.
Rogation Walk amongst the Churches of the Dassett Magna Benefice
Please bring a picnic and join us on Saturday 27th April to walk between five of the churches of the Dassett Magna benefice. We will meet at the Warden's hut on the Dassett Hills at 9.30am and walk between the North End, Fenny Compton, Farnborough, Avon Dassett and Burton Dassett churches. We plan to stop for a picnic lunch beside the lake at Farnborough and be back at the Burton Dassett Hills by 3.00pm. For those who are not able to complete the whole walk there is the option to join us for part of the route, particularly the more pushchair-friendly legs!
Please contact Julian Meyrick on 01295 770865 for more details and look out for fliers in churches and around the villages nearer the time.
Kineton Playgroup
NEW TO YOU SALE on Saturday 12 April from 1-3pm at Kineton High School. Sell your good quality children's clothes (aged 0-13 years) maternity wear, toys and baby equipment.
Services for April 2008 AD at St Giles' Church, Gaydon
6 8.00 Eucharist Burton Dassett
10.00 Eucharist Fenny Compton
11.15 Morning Service Gaydon
11.30 Eucharist Farnborough
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9.00 Eucharist Fenny Compton
10.00 Morning Service Farnborough
10.00 Eucharist Northend
11.15 Growing Together Gaydon
6pm Evening Prayer Burton Dassett
16 11.00 Wednesday Eucharist Gaydon
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8.00 Eucharist Farnborough
9.00 Eucharist Gaydon
10.30 Guest Service Fenny Compton
10.30 Village Communion Northend
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9.30 Eucharist Northend
10.30 Family Service Fenny Compton
11.30 Eucharist Gaydon
6pm Evensong Farnborough
Pastoral Ministry
To arrange baptisms, marriages, confession, visits at home or in hospital, or for any other pastoral matter, please contact the Vicar on 01295 770400 or email philip.francis@regents.ox.ac.uk
Parish Confirmation Groups
Some people have enquired about confirmation, so I am prepared to run two groups for teenagers and adults to learn more about the Christian faith, proceeding to Confirmation. If you would like to know more, please contact me and we can arrange some classes and information sessions, with a confirmation occurring some time in the autumn. Please contact the Vicar on 01295 770400.
The Vicar's Letter
The life and ministry of a parish priest can be varied, one minute the focus is ministering in a number of small villages in south Warwickshire, the next, ministering to British Forces personnel in the Balkans! Recently mobilised and tasked with ministering to British forces deployed with KFOR, a UN/European initiative, I found myself in the Balkans during a tense but interesting time. A presidential election was running in Serbia and it was perceived that following the Serbian election result, Kosovo would declare its intent to become independent.
What struck me about the region is that one lives with the shadow of the past. Visiting Sarajevo I stood on the spot where the Serbian, Princip, assassinated the Grand Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on 28 June 1918, an action that led to the commencement of the first World War., Hearing each morning the muezzins' call to prayer and seeing Serbian monasteries guarded by KFOR and churches in now predominantly Albanian areas closed and barred, was a stark reminder that one was living in a very different country; that the troubles go back centuries and that hatred and suspicion on both sides will take a long time to overcome.
The population of land-locked Kosovo is about 2.4 million with unemployment running at 60%; the gross national product is about £2 million a year and salaries very, very poor: a doctor or teacher could earn 220 euros a month, manual workers, if employment can be found, much less than this. Polluted, with packs of wild dogs, rubbish strewn, bearing the scars of war, Pristina is the main city, surrounded by snow-covered hills and mountains. A significant part of the population is formed by gypsies who are the poorest of the poor. Quite literally in Sarajevo, in neighbouring Bosnia Herzegovina, I saw people living on a rubbish dump in shacks and sheds that would be considered unfit for poultry in our villages.
Given the political, religious, historical and cultural issues impeding people's movement forward into a better life, I was also struck that central to the Christian faith is the message that we need to reconcile differences rather than perpetuate them; that we must seek peace and forgiveness and build upon God's Kingdom values of justice and righteousness. Our troops are in Kosovo and Bosnia to make a difference, to show people a better way and to help emerging nations build non-partisan police forces and armies that unite and heal their country's troubled past.
Ministering to our people in this region, saying mass, making connections, listening and pastoring I found to be an uplifting experience. Please pray for the Balkans and please pray for our often forgotten service personnel in this volatile area that is a forgotten part of Europe.
Nature Notes
Roadkill is often a glimpse from a car window of a barely discernable mass of fur and feather; but often this may be the only sighting that many people get of nocturnal creatures that have been unlucky enough to be hit by late-night cars - in what is otherwise a safe and undisturbed world.
Last week I encountered a group of over twenty Roe deer near Kineton, their white flanks illuminated by my headlights. Badgers seem to be the most frequent victims and it is suspected that many of these are placed on roads after being illegally killed, due to the much-disputed accusation that they carry bovine TB. Hedgehogs are not often seen now, indicating that they are scarcer and may in fact have fallen victim to the increasing numbers of Badgers!
There is a certain irony in that man, as the top predator, seeks often very inexpertly to maintain some kind of "balance". The results are not always predictable. We are now overrun by Grey squirrels imported in the 19th century. Thousands of rats, Magpies and Crows are killed with no decline of numbers. Muntjac deer eat up our native bluebells. Rabbits and pigeons are feared in case they cause commercial damage but their natural predators, Foxes, Goshawks and Buzzards, are accused of being a threat to game species. Canada Geese are liked by the average person in spite of being, yet again, an alien species who drive off all competitors.
In the Gaydon area most of these creatures are encountered from time to time: the dead rat on your path, the sick rabbit with myxomatosis or the wounded fox in your garden; one-sided mobbing by Crows of Buzzards, the Magpie killing a nest of baby blackbirds in your hedge - and even more unsavoury of course - roadkill.
I would conclude by stating that in the next few months some very inexpert animals will be around: baby rabbits, reckless deer, pheasants that like to peck grit from roadside verges, inept fledgling birds and Fox cubs - none has learned the Green Cross Code. I actually saw two hares a few days ago "boxing" in the middle of the road!
The Ravens which I mentioned last month are much more intelligent and have been taking advantage of lambing time. All the sheep at my work are in Polytunnels but I noticed that when the inevitable dead lamb was put outside, the ravens managed to carry off one corpse over several fields. They are carrion-eaters and in the past may have been wrongly accused of pecking at eyes, as I have never yet seen this happen.
Snowdrops in our churchyard put on a good show for year one, so look out for other species villagers have planted there. Bernard Price.
Yorkshire Evening
'Pur on thi clogs and come baht 'at an have a Grand Neet'
Food, wine, verse and song at the Gaydon Yorkshire Evening
Wednesday 23 April in the Village Hall 7 for 7.30pm
Tickets £6 from Jane Goldsmith 642571
Bring plate, bowl and cutlery
Requests/suggestions for music to
Alastair Hodgkiss 642248
Friendship Club
The meeting for April will be held on Tuesday 22nd at 2.30pm at Trevose, Kineton Road, by kind invitation of Mrs Pauline Layton.
Village Coffee Morning
On Saturday 12 April the Village Hall will be open at 11am for the sale of cakes and other produce, tea and coffee, with a small raffle. Everyone is welcome to this get-together. Gifts of produce etc. are always acceptable. All proceeds go to the St Giles' Church Fabric Fund - i.e. to help pay for necessary repairs to the building.
Mobile Library
The visit for this month will be Thursday 10 April. The next visit will be on May 1st.
Gaydon Mens' Supper Club
Thursday 10 April at 7 for 7.30pm. Speaker Rev Philip Francis on Kosovo pre-Independence following his recent tour of duty in Kosovo. Please bring plate, bowl and cutlery. A donation of £5 is requested to help with expenses. Please contact John Goldsmith on 642571 if you wish to attend.
Village Hall News
At the March meeting the Committee decided that to help meet rising costs, hiring rates would have to rise after remaining unchanged for five years. Therefore, starting 1st June, villagers will be charged £5.50 per hour to hire the Hall and outsiders will pay £11.
How do I book the Hall?
Telephone Sue Middleditch on 640695 and find out if the Hall is available on the date you want it.
If she is not there, leave your name, number and date required on her message line and she will return your call as soon as possible.
Deposit
For most bookings, a deposit of £25 is required at the time of booking. This should take the form of a cheque which will be returned to you when the Hall has been checked for damage after your event.
Damage to the Hall
If any damage has occurred, e.g. a broken electric socket or toilets blocked with paper towels (both of these have happened in the past few years) the cost of repair will be taken from your deposit. This is the normal procedure in most village halls.
Payment
Deposits and hire payments can be left at the Old Bakehouse, next to the Village Hall, if Sue is not able to take payments. She will explain everything when you book and will give you written instructions on the use of the Hall.
The next meeting of the Village Hall Committee will be the AGM which will be held on Monday 19 May at 8pm.
St Giles' Toddler Group
We had another successful Easter Bonnet Parade during our normal session in the Village Hall on Thursday 20th March. Many congratulations to Dempsey Hilditch who wore the winning bonnet! Each child was given a chocolate egg to enjoy over Easter.
The Toddler Group meets on Thursday mornings between 10 and 11.30 when we play with lots of toys and enjoy activities. Along with the play dough each week, we have recently made footprints using boots and paint, decorated star magnets, made cards and iced biscuits for Valentine's Day, made musical instruments and decorated hearts for Mother's Day.
Most important of all, we hope everyone has fun. Please remember to tell your friends about the group!
Parish Council News
Highways
We have been informed by Highways that there are no funds available for a second VAS along the Kineton Road. Highways have, however, offered to meet us to discuss speeding in Gaydon and what measures can be taken to help to reduce this. The meeting should be taking place shortly.
Highways are aware of the pot holes on the pavement along the Kineton Road between Church Road and St. Marks Close. We are waiting to hear if this area is to be resurfaced.
The reflector posts along Pimple Lane have again been broken and Highways have promised to repair them.
Dog Fouling
Unfortunately this is continuing and the Dog Warden is fully aware of our problems. She is increasing her visits to Gaydon.
Review of Cemetery Fees
It was agreed that there would be no increase in the cemetery fees this year. These will be reviewed again next March.
Next Meeting
The Annual General Meeting is on Tuesday, 6th May, at 8pm in the Village Hall. All villagers are welcome to attend.
Village Shop
I am pleased to confirm that the steering group for the village shop had their first meeting on 19 March. It was agreed that the shop would be called Gaydon Village Store.
A business plan is being developed and a questionnaire is being drafted for circulation to the village to see what items you would like us to sell, what hours we should open for and to request volunteers to help behind the counter.
Importantly, a potential location has already been identified which is central to the village and details will be released once negotiations have been finalised. I am also pleased to say that we have secured free legal advice to help with the project, which will clearly save us some expense.
Thanks to all members of the steering group for their support. If you have any queries or comments relating to the project you can contact me at claire.hamm@btconnect.com or 647854. Claire H. Hamm