Harvest Supper Sat 11th 7pm Village Hall Friendship Club Tues 21st 2.30pm Corner Cottage Pilates Tuesdays 8pm Village Hall Toddler Group Thursdays 10-11.30am Village Hall Mobile Library Thursday 16th
At last some warm sunny weather! Let's hope it will extend sufficiently to allow fruit to ripen and crops to dry out. A few butterflies have been making a late appearance: several Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells and even a Speckled wood in my garden today. The Speckled wood may well be a late brood which is uncommon. They love mottled shade and defend sunny patches from other insects, even chasing off Wasps.
I notice that Hornets and a larger German Wasp are getting quite widespread due to milder winters. Some invasive plants like Valerian and Himalayan Balsam are thriving during this wet spell; and even Banana trees are doing well in several village back gardens. Horse Chestnuts at Chadshunt are already changing colour, though other trees seem to still retain summer verdure. I am sure you will have noticed frogs in your gardens, too, so care needs to be taken when cutting long grass. I've been suprised by sudden heavy jumping amphibians quite a few times this week.
Housemartins are still circling the village, Swallows and Swifts having left weeks ago. All these species are down around 50% this year, which may be due to their tortuous journey across Africa to reach our shores. I was speaking to a farm worker who has rescued a nestling that had fallen out of its nest and lost a wing. It's very tame and doing well and I shall be interested to see if it makes it through the winter.It's being lovingly fed fresh flies and this will need to be continued - quite a challenge.
Birds moult around this time so songs are rather muted though you can still hear the odd Robin and Sky lark. The MT (Minimal Tillage) being used this season on many fields should improve our winter bird populations though Slugs are having a field-day on both farms and gardens!
Bernard Price.
The group will meet at the home of Mrs Mary Fox, Corner Cottage, Church Lane, on Tuesday 21st at 2.30pm.
Village Hall on Sunday 7 December at 12.45 for 1pm. Invitations will be sent out in November.
New Refuse and Recycling System
If your collection is being missed on a regular basis or you haven't received your new bins yet please contact the Clerk on 641220.
Flood Defence Plan
We have applied to the District Council for a grant. The land surveys have been completed and we are hoping to meet with Highways in the next couple of weeks to discuss a way forward.
Highways
Reflector posts have been reinstated along Pimple Lane.
Drains
The gullies are cleaned only once a year. If you notice a blocked drain can you inform the Clerk on 641220.
Next Meeting
The Parish Council will meet on Tuesday, 4th November at 8pm in the Village Hall. All residents are welcome.
Mobile Library
Only one visit this month! Thursday 16 October.
St Giles' Church Christmas Market will be held this year on Saturday 29 November at 2pm in Gaydon Village Hall. Please make a note of the date in your diaries!
If anybody would like to run a stall or help with teas, etc. please get in touch with Mary Fox or Margaret Phelps on 641384 or 640559.
The Village Hall Committee is doing its best to improve the heating in the hall and will soon be installing fans in the ceiling to circulate the warm air. When finances allow, new radiators are also to be fitted.
The Hall has been very popular this year with hirers: so far there have been ten parties held in the hall, including two christenings, a 21st birthday and a wedding.
The following groups hire the hall regularly: Gaydon Parish Council; St Giles' Church - Toddler Group, Coffee Mornings, Christmas Market, Children's Sunday Group; Pilates Group; Warwickshire Renaissance Art Group.
The Village Hall offers a very attractive venue at an extremely reasonable price - only £5.50 per hour for villagers.
Ring Sue Middleditch on 640695 and book for your special event!
There was a burglary at home in Church Road and a theft from a lorry on the Banbury Road lay-by on the 8th of September.
Stratford police are keen to hear from anyone who may have information relating to the following incidents.
Police Report reads:
Sometime between 12.15 and 5pm on the 8th September offenders entered a detached house in Church Road via a side door. Once inside they made an untidy search of all rooms before making off with a laptop computer, a camera, a printer, an X-Box, an IPod and a gents Tag Heuer watch.
Between midnight and 6am on the 9th of September, offenders stole 8 pallets of Christmas decorations from a curtain-side lorry parked in a lay-by on B4100 at Gaydon.
If you saw or heard anything suspicious in either of these areas around the times given that you believe may be connected to these incidents, please contact Stratford police quoting Incident No 623 of 8 Sept.
At the time of the Church Road burglary a white man was seen described as having ginger hair and wearing a shirt and tie. At the same time a man (possibly the same man) is believed to have been knocking on doors offering a window-cleaning service.
Please remember that your Street Coordinator can supply you with SmartWater (£11.00) to enable you to mark and register all valuables. While SmartWater is known to be a burglary deterrent, it also has the added advantage of allowing the Police to return stolen goods and, most importantly, aid effective prosecution by offering proof that goods are stolen.
Please report suspicious persons, vehicles or activity around your own or neighbouring homes to the Police. They will respond very quickly.
Weightwatchers is changing - join your local meeting today!
Kineton CE Primary School, King Johns Road on Wednesdays at 7pm.
Wellesbourne: St Peters Church Centre, Church Street on Thursdays 7pm.
For more information ring 0845 607 0685 or click on weightwatchers.co.uk
5 8.00 Eucharist Burton Dassett
10.00 Family Eucharist Fenny Compton
11.15 Morning Service Gaydon
11.30 Eucharist Farnborough
12 9.00 Eucharist Fenny Compton
10.00 Morning Service Farnborough
10.00 Eucharist Northend
11.15 Harvest Festival Gaydon
6pm Evening Prayer Burton Dassett
15 11.00 Eucharist Gaydon
19 8.00 Eucharist Farnborough
9.00 Eucharist Gaydon
10.30 Morning Service Fenny Compton
10.30 Village Service Northend
26 9.30 Eucharist Northend
10.30 Family Service Fenny Compton
11.30 Family Eucharist Gaydon
6pm Harvest Evensong Farnborough
There will be a BCP Eucharist on Wednesday 15 October at 11am.
Thomas Jack Hunt was christened at St Giles' Church on Sunday 14 September.
The service on Sunday 12 October at 11.15am, will be suitable for people of all ages - a Growing Together thanksgiving for God's gifts of the fruits of the earth. Everybody is welcome.
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
The Vicar's Letter
The improved weather towards the middle of September brought with it a welcome boost of sunshine and light in an otherwise dark and gloomy season. So, in the months ahead, in the darkness of the autumn, two feasts of the Church stand out radiantly.
We celebrate All Saints Day on 2nd November and give thanks to God for his saints who in every age have reflected Christ''s light in the world and now shine in glory.
The seventeenth century poet Henry Vaughn wrote:
They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit ling'ring here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.
Another Welsh poet, David James Jones 'Gwenallt', this time living in the twentieth century, wrote about the Saints:
The Church of God is one
In heaven and upon the earth.
and reminded us that we have an unbroken communion and fellowship beyond space and time. As we persevere in the faith, we are strengthened by our communion with the Saints of God and are supported by their prayers and encouraged by their example. The light of their lives beckons us forward and illuminates our pilgrim path.
With the winter of grief, and the pain and loss of loved ones, All Souls Day on Nov 3rd helps us remember the Faithful Departed and I hope, by prayer and through faith, brings a little light into our lives as we celebrate those whom we love but see no longer.
We shall keep this feast of light on Sunday Nov 2nd, All Saints' Day, in our church services; and on 3rd November All Souls at a requiem Eucharist for the faithful departed at Fenny Compton at 7.45 pm. If you have any names of the departed you wish to be included in the commemorative prayer, please forward them to me or sign the list that will appear towards the end of the month in church.
I Witness
Easter 2009
"I Witness" is a contemporary Easter musical. It is hoped that a performance of this musical can be staged by the local community in Burton Dassett Church next Easter.
For those who might be interested in taking part in the production, whether on or off stage, a DVD of the musical is to be shown in Fenny Compton Church on Monday 3rd of November at 7.30 pm.
Rehearsals are scheduled to start early in the new year. If you are interested in taking part, in whatever fashion, please do come along and see what it's all about. For more information please contact Martyn Hamm on 647854.
(Pebbles Group)
Gaydon Village Hall on Sunday 12 October at 10.15am
To supplement our Church Family Worship on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month we are inviting children between 4 and 8 yrs old to attend an activity and teaching session prior to the morning service.
The sessions will take place in the village hall, beginning at 10.15am on 2nd Sundays and 10.30am on 4th Sundays and will include craft and play based teaching. We will finish with refreshments before moving over to church to join in the family worship.
The first session will take place on Sunday October 12th at 10.15 am.
For further details please contact either Jo Hotchkiss (01926 642248) or Chris Corner (01926 640523).
Join us for the following events:
31st October is Halloween With a Fancy Dress party & Live Band at 8pm!
Bonfire Night 5th November: Celebrate in style with a medieval theme;
Bigger & better than last year!
Look out for times or call for more info: Telephone/Fax:01926640388 or E-mail: thegaydoninn@btconnect.com
Many thanks to all those who came along to the BBQ fundraiser on 7th September. Thanks also to those who purchased tickets or made donations. Despite a change of location due to the poor weather, we raised a total of £634.55 from the event. I would like to thank all those who were involved in helping to make our first fundraiser a success. There will be other fundraising events before Christmas, details soon.
Negotiations continue with Enterprise Inns regarding a lease for the barn and registration with the FSA is now complete, so that we can officially trade as Gaydon Village Store Ltd. We have applied for a funding grant from Warwickshire Rural Community Council and hope to hear soon.
If anyone has any suggestions or questions about the project then they can contact me on 647854. Claire Hamm
The next Men's Club evening will be on Thursday 20 November at 7pm for 7.30pm in the village hall.
The speaker will be Rev Philip Francis who will talk about his visit to Kosovo in the spring shortly before the Independence Vote and the local conditions prevailing.
Please contact Rev Francis or John Goldsmith (642571) if you wish to attend. You are asked to donate £6 to cover the cost of the evening.
Following last year's very successful evening of fun and good food, the Harvest Supper for 2008 will be on Saturday 11 October at 7pm in the Village Hall. Tickets are £7 each: contact Mary Fox on 641384 or Julie Rickman at the Old Bakehouse by Tuesday 7th.
Saturday 1st November 7.30pm Village Hall
Don't miss out on this spooktacular evening event! A devilish 4 course dinner will be served in the village hall,
with guests invited to bring their own witches brew. Tickets are £20 per person with all proceeds going towards the
village shop and the over-60s Christmas meal. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis on receipt of payment.
Tickets available from: Bev Pirie 691202; Liz Thomas 641144; Jean Godfrey 640682