Gaydon Parish Magazine July 2024
index of magazines
Gaydon Gazette for July
Parish Council Tues 2nd at 7.30pm Village Hall
Election Thurs 4th 7am-10pm Village Hall
Mobile Library Fri 5th at 2.40pm Phone Box
Coffee Morning Sat 20th at 11am Village Hall
Book Club Mon 9th at 7pm Village Hall
Tai Chi Wednesdays at 7pm Village Hall
Clubbercise Thursdays at 7pm Village Hall
Clubbercise
Village Hall on Thursdays 7pm-7.45pm, £6 per session, PAYG - pay-as-you-go.
Coffee Morning
The Coffee Morning is on *Saturday 20 July at 11am in the Village Hall. Books, Bric-a-brac, Raffle, Coffee and Biscuits. All money raised is for Church funds. *NB Change of date! Again!
Gaydon Book Club
Next meeting is on Tuesday 9 July at 7pm. Please bring a pound towards the Hire of the Hall - and whatever drink and nibbles you fancy. Anyone wishing to join us, please message me on 07917 873856 and I will add you to our WhatsApp group; or you can find us on Facebook by searching Gaydon Village Book Club. Holly
BMM Events in July
Withall Busfest@Gaydon Saturday 6th
Gaydon Gathering Tuesday 9th
BMC and Leyland Show Sunday 14th
Jaguar Summer Festival Sunday 28th
Information and tickets at www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk
Fireworks Alert: BMM will hold a 10-minute fireworks display at 10pm on Sunday 7 July for a Wedding.
Mobile Library
The Mobile Library will call at the Telephone Box at 2.25pm for half an hour on Friday 5 July.
Tai Chi
The Tai Chi group meets every Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock in the Village Hall. Please text 07514 011406 so that we can look out for you. After a month, please donate a coin for the hire of the Hall.
Gaydon Village Hall News
The next meeting of the Village Hall Committee will be held at 8pm on Monday 8 July.
Parish Council News
Councillor Claxton made a strong representation at the June PC meeting to County Councillor Mills about the need to clear the village gulleys and drains in order to prevent serious flooding. Cllr Mills agreed to do this if the money was available.
The Clerk is to apply to WCC for a weather-proof notice board for the playground.
Responsibility for the storm-drain cover in Church Street lies with Severn Trent. The clerk will get quotes for cleaning the drains in Kineton and Banbury Roads.
Cllr Richardson has requested assistance with the PC website from James Lungley.
The over-grown hedge on Banbury Road was reported by a resident and the Clerk will ask WCC to cut it back.
A resident reported the Greggs flags on the verge at the garage causing a visual distraction for motorists. The Clerk will ask that they be removed.
Next meeting: Tuesday 2nd July at 7.30pm in the village hall. The Agenda is on the Village Hall notice board and can also be seen on the website together with the Minutes of the previous meeting.
Gaydon Development - July Update
On Tuesday 18 June, around 6 o’clock-ish, anyone venturing outside in the Church Road/Kineton Road area could not possibly have avoided a strong smell - and taste! - in the air that could only be caused by diesel or a similar ‘heavy oil’ product.
(No, it was not kerosene/domestic oil: that oil is familiar to many of us villagers…)
I don’t know when it finally dispersed, but I was grateful that its overwhelming obnoxiousness is a rare event. Whether this particular pollutant originated ‘up the hill’ in the JLR/AM direction it would be unfair to say, but this rare experience brought a shocking foretaste of one of the regular - hourly - occurrences that the developers (CEG (Malta) Ltd.) referred to in their development plans.
In their own plans, they refer to upwards of 55 lorry movements per hour during peak times. These vehicles will be chugging out diesel fumes 24/7. Gravity (I think I may have mentioned this before…) will ensure that a fair proportion of these fumes will descend, from the development’s elevated position, down into the village; with their harmful pollutants contaminating the air and the soil of Gaydon. Remember, this is on top of the pollutants from the M40 which we accept as already ‘baked in’ as part of being a Gaydon resident.
(Just in case there is anyone outside the village who still thinks of us as NIMBY’s !)
So, it is fair to ask: “Why should we be the victims of further, intense, exposure to such pollution, when it could be avoided by repositioning the development to a more amenable (and level!) site?”
With the General Election in 4 days’ time, I have been asked whether the Gaydon development could be affected either way - go-ahead or stopped - by the election outcome.
Since this is a non-partisan village magazine, it is necessary to be as objective as possible. On an environmental level, all the leading political parties have made promises which may be turned into cast-iron commitments, if elected.
Consequently, local councils (such as SDC) may have to tune into the ‘mood music’, originating from a newly-elected government, and permit or forbid the desecration of the environment and rural landscape. Additionally, we may want to consider what the existing government of recent years has actually achieved or not (on environmental and pollution issues), as opposed to the intentions of the opposition parties.
One thing which I think is another factor to be considered at this election time - in relation to the proposed Gaydon development - is the status of corporate companies and UK building projects and developments. Quite simply, we have to ask what the various political parties’ attitudes are to the proposition that: “All corporate businesses who make profits from projects and developments in the UK should be registered in Britain for tax purposes and not registered in such places as Bermuda, Malta, Panama or other such ‘tax havens’.” (Which of course, are not accessible to the majority of UK citizens who have to make up the shortfall in taxes - created by the tax-haven based UK corporate companies - to cover our essential public services.) Tony Hughes
July Church Services
7th 9.30am Holy Communion Gaydon
10.00am Holy Communion Burton Dassett
14th 9.30am Prayer and Praise Gaydon
10.00am Morning Prayer Northend
21st 9.30am Agapë Service Gaydon
10.00am Holy Communion Northend
28th 9.30am Songs of Praise Gaydon
10.00am Morning Prayer Northend
Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Kineton: Sunday Mass 11am
D-Day Bells
The bells at All Saints Burton Dassett were rung on Thursday 6th June to precede the lighting of the bonfire on the hills to mark the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Regrettably, with the wind in the North West they were not heard at the bonfire.
July Memorial Book
1985 12th Osmond Hill
2020 12th Lesley James Welch
2008 18th Betty Davies
2016 21st Ronald Richards
1958 29th Mark Lush
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
Obituary
W. F. Liddington
It is with great sorrow that we record the death of Francis Liddington in Warwick Hospital on 24 June. Francis was born in Gaydon and lived and worked here. He was Chairman of the Village Hall Committee and served on the Parish Council. He is greatly missed by his friends in Gaydon. We send our love and sympathy to Josie and her family.
Ian Miller
We are saddened to report the death of Ian Miller on 12 June. Ian was well-known in Gaydon for his public-spirited volunteering at the shop and representing Neighbourhood Watch on behalf of the village. We offer our condolences to Patricia and family.
Mark Bennett-Peers
We also record the death of Mark Bennett-Peers, formerly of Gaydon, and send our sympathy to his family and friends.
Warwickshire Open Studios
at Brookside Farm 6th-7th July
Brookside Art Shed is a new venue that opened in June to coincide with Warwickshire Open Studios! We will be holding a group exhibition of twelve artists' work including painting, ceramics, print, photography and film-making.
We will be hosting a range of exciting workshops, demonstrations and collaborations, including Raku and pit-firings, workshops for children and Pop-up surprise events. There is a strong existing ethos at the farm for it to be a centre for well-being.
Our aim is to establish a thriving and well-loved art school catering to the needs of the local community, a welcoming space for mixed generations to create and learn together.
Access to high-quality experiences such as art classes, pottery workshops, after school clubs, and open-access drop-in sessions.
Our cafe will be open on the weekends during Open Studios, providing a warm welcome, refreshments and delicious homemade cake!
We hope you can come and join us. www.brooksideartshed.com Pippa Prosser
Swan Singers Concert
Swan Singers present Sounds of Summer
a seasonal, summery selection of songs, both old and new,
on Saturday 13 July at 7.30pm
at Kineton Sports & Social Club.
All welcome, drinks from the bar; free entry with a retiring collection.
Further details from: admin@swansingers.uk
Gaydon songsters are cordially invited to join the Swan Singers at their weekly sessions in the Methodist Church Hall in Kineton on Tuesdays at 7.30pm. If you are interested, website www.swansingers.uk is self-explanatory and describes what they do. Any queries can be sent to admin@swansingers.uk Denise Hart-Dobbie
Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society
1st to 7th July is this year's Seafarers Support Week and the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society (SMS) is committed to this annual campaign to promote and highlight the plight of serving and retired seafarers, as well as raising awareness of the dangers and sacrifices faced by those who work at sea. This includes recognising the vital contribution the maritime and fishing industries make in allowing us to preserve our standard of living.
Recently, we have commemorated the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. During the six years of conflict during WW2 the SMS made a unique and significant contribution to the lives of thousands of survivors of shipwreck; not just sailors but soldiers, airmen, nurses and civilians who were landed at British ports after being rescued, particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic. In fact, the numbers of people the Charity assisted in the Second World War are quite remarkable and this included fishermen and dependants: over 60,000 seamen, 6,600 widows, 8,000 orphans and 4,100 aged parents.
Today, the work goes on, assisting sea-faring folk. Please visit the website to see more about the Society and how to support its work. www.shipwreckedmariners.org.uk JR
Flag
The flag was raised in honour of the Anniversary of D-Day on 6th June. It flew for the Official Birthday of HM The King on 17 June and on the 21st for the Birthday of The Prince of Wales.
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.
Nature Notes for June
An unseasonably cold June so far, though far more rain than usual. There is tremendous growth of greenery everywhere. Huge swathes of Ox-Eye daisies in every verge, massive skyscraper Stinging nettles and a bonanza of Slugs. I notice that even the harmless leopard slugs have been cropping my young seedlings.
Very few insects about but still the House Martins have returned to Spitfire, forsaking their previous nesting spots in the village. However, it is a delight to see them in the Skies joining our native Swifts. Swallows seem to have abandoned us, though, where once there were scores of nests; but I'm pleased to say that whilst visiting friends at Chadshunt there were some nesting above us in the rafters. A lot of Swallows are still around the buildings on Stratford Race Course.
I have not yet recorded a Cuckoo around here in spite of using my mostly infallible Merlin App! There seems to be warmer weather on the way at last, though. I rescued yet another Buzzard last week but sadly it had an injured tongue and could not be saved, in spite of the efforts if the Wildlife rescue centre.
We certainly are witnessing first hand quite drastic climate change and the decline of many familiar wildlife species. Climate still remains a secondary priority in spite of politicians including some mention at least. We have a long way to go to restore the UK's nature which is the most depleted in Europe. Rewilding, tree-planting and combatting pollution should be a priority; and Green agriculture, rather than overgrazing by far too many sheep, would be a start.
The Avon in the centre of Stratford is heavily polluted in spite of hardy Swans and indestructible Canada geese somehow swimming there.
I was pleased to read that some Lighthorne residents seem to be making a huge effort to involve the community in a number of projects and that some occupants of the new houses state: 'We are lucky to live here'. A walk around the field paths round here will confirm this but it could all so easily be lost to speculative building threats.
I'm experiencing scores of magnificent Scarlet Tiger moths flying at dusk and also settled in many places in my garden - there were even six in my greenhouse that had entered through the open door. They are so exotic they resemble a Tropical exotic species. Their foodplant is Comfrey and other herbaceous plants. Bernard Price
Gaydon Village Store Annual General Meeting Report
I would like to thank everyone who attended the GVS AGM held on Monday 3rd June. Huge thanks to the small army of volunteers who work so hard to keep the shop open - not only serving but helping behind the scenes with keeping it stocked and making it a welcoming environment.
Special thanks go to Sue Roberts, Gerry Jones and Bev Pirie for all their years of service; and to Michele Gill and Adrian Claxton who continue on the committee. Sue Middleditch, Yvonne Hannon, Maria Carr and Martin Sotheran have put their names forward, so that we can now fill the roles of Secretary, Treasurer and Chair.
We face more competition from the Garage since it became an Asda convenience store and will be selling alcohol. We are committed to offering a varied and exciting range of goods and ask you to continue to support us.
We are grateful to Jo, Paul and George at the Malt Shovel for all their help; and to Ellis Machinery for their Christmas gifts to our volunteers.
Next year is our 15th Birthday and we plan some celebrations in May 2025.
So thanks everybody and cheers to the future!
Soibhan