Gaydon Parish Magazine June 2023
index of magazines
Gaydon Gazette for June
Village Shop AGM Mon 5th at 7pm Village Hall
Parish Council Tues 6th at 7.30pm Village Hall
Coffee Morning Sat 10th at 11am Village Hall
Friendship Club Tues 13th at 2.30pm 2 The Cottages
Mobile Library Fri 16th at 2.40pm Phone Box
Tai Chi Wednesdays at 7pm Village Hall
Coffee Morning
Saturday 10 June at 11am in the Village Hall: Bring & Buy, Books, Puzzles, Raffle, Tea & Coffee and Biscuits.
Friendship Club
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 13th at 2.30pm at the home of Jan Ewers, 2 The Cottages.
Annual General Meeting on Monday 5th June at 7pm
Everyone is welcome, so please come and support your local shop.
Mobile Library
The Mobile Library will call at the Telephone Box at 2.40pm for half an hour on Friday 16th.
Warwick University Brass Society
in Concert at All Saints' Church, Burton Dassett, Friday 23 June at 7.30pm, Wine and soft Drinks for sale.
Tickets £12 from normakinghollies@btinternet.com or 01295 770292
June Church Services
4th 9.30am Prayer & Praise Gaydon
10am Holy Communion Burton Dassett
11th 9.30am Holy Communion Gaydon
10am Morning Prayer Northend
18th 9.30am Agape Service Gaydon
10am Morning Prayer Northend
25th 10am Agape Meal Northend
6.30pm Songs of Praise Gaydon
Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Kineton: Sunday Mass 11am
June Memorial Book
2012 2nd Jane Goldsmith
2012 11th Peggy Shiner
1979 17th Richard Welsh
2012 21st Jean Phillips
1995 27th Scott Lightowler
2012 30th Jean Checkley
If there is a special entry that you would like to see, let me know and I will try to make sure that the Book is open on that day. Julie Rickman
Burial
The Vicar, the Reverend Nicki Chatterton, held a short service of committal in St Giles' churchyard on 9 May, at which Betty Bennett's ashes were interred beside those of her husband David.
Parish Council News
The Annual General Meeting of Gaydon Parish Council was held on Thursday 11 May in the Village Hall.
This was the first meeting held after the elections had taken place. The parish council had 5 seats available of which 4 are now filled, with 1 vacancy remaining. There was an uncontested election for Gaydon Parish Council.
Ian Helps opened the meeting as Chair and the first item of business was the election of a new Chair. Adrian Claxton was duly elected Chair of Gaydon Parish Council and John Davies vice chair.
New Councillors Mark Ashton, Maria Carr, Karen Ward and Stuart Richardson were welcomed to the parish council. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 6 June at 7.30pm
Angela Clarke, Clerk to the Parish Council, Gaydon: 07841 010719
Coronation Celebrations in Gaydon
Official Press Release
The village of Gaydon enjoyed glorious sunshine whilst celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III with a Big Lunch on Sunday 7th May 2023 at the historic Village Hall.
Villagers came together with a wonderful display of savoury and sweet food to share. They enjoyed some friendly rivalry with competitions such as the 'Best made Crown fit for a King or Queen', 'Best Dressed or Fancy Dress' patriotic outfit, 'Best Table Centre' and of course the much-coveted 'Best Victoria Sponge' .
A Charity Raffle was held with generous donations from local businesses and villagers alike which raised over £350, the proceeds being split between St Giles' Church and Leamington's Myton Hospice.
The big lunch was officially opened by the Reverend Nicki Chatterton with prayers and blessings.
Siobhan Hannan quotes: 'It really was a fabulous day. It felt very special to come together as a community, young and old, new and long-standing members of the village, to share this momentous occasion with fun, laughter and food. New friendships and memories were made and will be enjoyed for many years to come. Thank you to everyone who made such a wonderful effort, organising, hanging bunting and flags, making and baking and bringing joy to the heart of our beautiful village!'
Help for People with Eyesight Problems
Warwickshire Association for the Blind - Vision Support
Since 1911 we have provided support services for Warwickshire residents experiencing sight loss. We already work with over 3,000 visually impaired people but we know that there are many more who need our help and support.
We would like to encourage new members to our 'Vision Support Centres' which are meetings of mostly older, blind and partially-sighted people, where we organise activities and demonstrations, and provide information, advice and guidance. Four of these meet weekly and seven meet monthly. We also run several social clubs.
In terms of access, we have funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to provide door-to-door transport for visually impaired people so that they can attend their nearest 'Vision Support Centre'.
We would love to hear from visually impaired individuals, their family, friends or carers who are interested in our services. Phone Warwick 01926 411331; website is www.warwickshire.vision/
Community First Responders: Warwickshire Hearts Charity
Community First Responder’s (CFR’s) are volunteers who are dispatched by West Midlands Ambulance Control to the most serious medical emergencies in their local communities (Category 1 and 2) and are often the first to arrive at the scene following a 999 call.
Lifesaving treatment can be started quickly until backup from the paramedic crew arrives. Every second counts in life-threatening emergencies.
CFR’s are trained by West Midlands Ambulance service and undergo both written and practical assessments. We are expected to complete mandatory training and attend monthly meetings and training, in addition to completing workbooks to ensure that our skills are maintained.
Our team of CFR’s belong to Warwickshire Hearts Charity with one response car covering Stratford, Warwick and Leamington Spa.
We, as a charity, fund raise in order to provide our own emergency car, insurance, maintenance, fuel and uniforms.
We offer Basic Life Support and Defibrillator Training for schools and community groups. We are always looking for new recruits, aged 18 years and above from any background, who can commit to 20 hours a month following an interview by the WMAS team.
We are on Facebook and can be contacted on messenger to discuss training needs; or contact me directly: Judith Davidson, mobile number 07854 118114 or email warwickshirehearts@gmail.com
Nature Notes for May
May, like April, can be described as the 'Cruellest month'. This is not just because a late frost may kill your sprouting plants and vegetables - ne'er cast a clowt till May be out!. The 'May' blossom we see in our numerous Hawthorn Hedges around Gaydon may be the reason it's not only unlucky to bring this flower into the house; but the distinctive smell is said by tradition to be 'The smell of plague, death and decay' and probably dates back to memories of the Black Death or Great Plague.
The actual plant is reputed to have been brought into Britain by the Romans and the berries were then considered edible. They still feed the large flocks of Scandanavian migrant birds like Redwings and Fieldfares.
At long last, the local Swifts have returned to Gaydon from Africa, having, remarkably, flown over the Sahara desert and Europe to get here, to their exact nesting places. The Speedwatch team spotted them over the Village Hall but they may still be high in the skies at present because they sleep on the wing before descending to
nest sites.
You may only see the odd one; I saw a few above my house on the day when we had rumbling thunder storms over the village. The Sand Martins are now nesting in Balscote. I saw a few Swallows around Stratford race course, sadly depleted now but still nesting there; and I'm wondering if the House Martins may return to Spitfire, behind the Gaydon Inn, and nest in the low eaves of the new houses there.
The lack of insect life may be a reason for the decline in birds here, in spite of a huge amount of pollen-rich Dandelions! A friend in Kastoria, Northern Greece, tells me the town is now packed with swallows nesting on every ledge.
I have seen early butterflies like Orange Tips and Brimstones on the Allotments. This year seems to be a great one for the tiny Holly Blue: look out for these vivid blue jewels on Ivy and Holly bushes around the village. I watched a few speedily flitting around the phone box today. There are also large caterpillars of the Scarlet Tiger on Comfrey plants. These hairy larvae are a favourite food of Cuckoos, but although seen, I've not heard one calling yet.
A spectacular year for Cowslips - the banks of the M40 in both directions are almost solid yellow. This plant is now making a comeback after years of chemical-free verges. Buzzards, Red Kites and Ravens are still seen in courtship displays, even the occasional Kestrel which is much rarer now.
If you should by chance have to stop at Warwick services (the one near Chesterton Woods) there is an incredible Rookery in the low trees around the car parking area. The birds seem to like it there and feel safe even though their nests are very close to the ground. You can sit at a picnic table and see them feeding their young, a Great Credit to the management there who have left them undisturbed. The nests are very well constructed and so they are well established. Rooks usually nest high in tall trees and are generally beneficial to agriculture.
I have a well-concealed Wren's nest by my front door which I glimpse in a blur as a parent shoots past with food for the young. A blackbird is also nesting in my garden and always accompanies me when I feed my hens, to snatch a tit-bit. I have made him a small entrance in the run so he can come and go. I'm sure many villagers have nests in out-of-the-way places - every garden should have an untidy, unkempt area for this purpose. BP
Stop Press. The Swallows have just returned to their favourite garage in Church Lane. Let's hope they bring up a brood and we can see them darting across Church Meadow collecting food!
Silent Noon
Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass, -
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
'Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.
'Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.
Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: -
So this wing'd hour is dropt to us from above.
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.
The House of Life by Dante Gabriel Rossetti oxfordlieder.co.uk/so
Allotment News
Well here we are again … another start to a season of growing. We delight in the sunshine and showers as we plan, plant and weed our little plots of soil. We often wonder what will we manage to produce this year?
Having that optimistic feeling of feeding our bodies and our souls, time spent in the allotment is never time wasted whatever you happen to be doing. Sometimes for me it’s just listening to the birds as I empty the home compost bin.
If like me you have enjoyed a ‘No Mow May’ and are possibly considering a ‘Let it bloom June’ then that gives us even more time to enjoy, relax and watch what happens to the garden and allotment.
I love seeing the dandelions buttercups and clover in my tiny lawn; I watch the bees as they gather nectar from the dandelions and fondly remember back to when I was a child blowing the fluffy seed heads and imagining I was telling the time. I’m now looking forward to seeing the pollinators on the clover as it flowers this coming month.
But back to the allotments.
We would firstly like to welcome to our micro community of growers the newest allotmenteers, Anna and Anthony. We wish you a very successful year ahead and look forward to seeing your progress and produce.
Some of us have been busy organising and planting and some of us are more laissez-faire, seeing what the plots are already producing.
We have picked and enjoyed quite a few of our perennial crops already: the delicious asparagus, rhubarb for crumbles and we have kept the cavolo nero (a kale) going for as long as possible and are discovering to our delight the flowers are as tasty as the leaves.
We are now really keen to see what other perennial fruit and vegetables have survived over the winter, notably the globe artichoke and sage which have taken a bit of a battering; but other more robust plants such as the rosemary, chives and mints are doing well.
Our main objective is to keep improving the soil and even though we have done some weeding it is always with a lighter touch. Some of the allotments are taking the no dig method of growing too and benefiting from the joy of companion-planting and sometimes even leaving the soil undisturbed, so as to encourage the friendly microbes and insects, which does stimulate greater nutrients in our soil which in turn offers us greater nutrients in our food.
Jobs for June … The long days of summer:
Keep watering those thirsty plants
Plant Out
Runner and French beans
Courgettes and Squashes
Sweetcorn
Outdoor Tomatoes
Brussels sprouts, Cabbages and Cauliflowers
Successionally Sow
Beetroot, Radish and Lettuce
Harvest
Peas
Gooseberries and Strawberries (let's see if we can beat the birds)
Salad
But mostly enjoy what the summer has to offer you!
Flag
The Flag was raised for the 8th Birthday of Princess Charlotte on the 2nd of May; and then it was flown continuously for a week to mark the celebrations for the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla on the 6th. The Eurovision Song Contest was honoured with the raising of the flag on 13 May.
If you have something to celebrate or commemorate, contact Siobhan Hannan on 07780 689582, and she will raise the Flag for you in return for a £5 contribution to Church funds.
British Motor Museum Events
National Metro and Mini Show - Sunday 4 June
Classic and Vintage Commercial Show - Weekend 10/11 June
Vintage Motor Cycle Club Banbury Run - Sunday 18 June
Ford Nationals - Sunday 25 June
Book tickets online at britishmotormuseum.co.uk