Gaydon Parish Magazine June 2025
index of magazines
Gaydon Gazette for June
Parish Council Tues 3rd at 7.30pm Village Hall
Coffee Morning Sat 14th at 11am Village Hall
Mobile Library Friday 13th at 2.40pm Phone Box
Tai Chi Wednesdays at 7pm Village Hall
Something to Look Forward to: VE DAY 80th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS IN GAYDON and Celebration Summer Fête in the Parish Council Field
Summer Fête
A quick reminder that the Gaydon Sundowner Fête will be held on Saturday 30 August.
There will be plenty for the kids to do in the field in the afternoon, and there will be a dance with a BBQ and live music in the Village Hall in the evening.
Any proceeds will be shared between a fund for updating the Village Hall kitchen and a Charity chosen by the village. Please vote for your preferred charity either in the village shop or by mailing gaydoneventscommittee@gmail.com or texting/contacting Martin on 07796 307957.
Parish Council News
Report of Annual Parish Assembly Meeting in the Village Hall on 25 March at 7.30pm
Present were Parish Councillors Adrian Claxton, Chairman; John Davies, Vice-chair; Mark Ashton, Stuart Richardson and Sean Combrink; Parish Clerk, Angela Clarke and 8 members of the public.
Welcome refreshments were offered to everyone gathered in the hall.
The Chair thanked councillors and clerk for another year's service and welcomed Sean Combrink to the Council. There was still a vacancy for a councillor: anyone interested should apply to the clerk.
Reports were received from Parish Councillors and County Councillor Chris Mills. Adrian Managhan, CEO of the British Motor Museum gave an interesting update on projects completed over the last year and a preview of coming events. Village organisations were represented: the Village Store, the Parish Magazine, the Village Hall and the Parochial Church Council of St Giles.
The meeting closed with the Chairman thanking all those who had attended. (Full minutes are available to view on the PC website.)
Annual Parish Council Meeting 6 May
Councillor Adrian Claxton was re-elected as Chair and John Davies as Vice-chair. The Housing Needs survey had been delivered. Future meeting dates were confirmed.
Next Meeting: Tuesday 3 June at 7.30pm.
Memorial Seat
Our cover picture features the green iron seat installed in memory of long-serving Village Hall Chairman, WF Liddington, always known as Francis. Josie Liddington, his widow, and their elder son, John, are snapped testing the strength and comfort of the new facility. Try it yourself when you next visit the Hall or need a rest with an icecream.
Coffee Morning
Our June get-together will be on Saturday 14th at 11am with the usual attractions of Raffle, Books, Bric-à-brac and Refreshments. Coffee and tea and biscuits still only 50p! Proceeds are for Church funds.
Churchyard Announcement
The churchyard at St Giles' Church is no longer under the care of the Parochial Church Council. The Parish Council has agreed to take over its management from now on. It will continue to be run as a wildlife sanctuary and graves can be tended as before.
June at the Motor Museum
Sunday 1st National Metro and Mini Show & Ford Transit's 60th
Sunday 8th Banbury Run 75th Anniversary
Monday 9th Mini Motorists Monday
Tuesday 10th Gaydon Gathering
w/e 14th & 15th Classic and Vintage Commercial Show
Sunday 29th Ford National Clubs Blue Oval
Information and tickets at www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk
Mobile Library
The Mobile Library will call at the Telephone Box at 2.25pm for half an hour on Friday 13th June.
Nature Notes for May
Gaydon, like much of the UK, has had continuous sunshine and virtually no rain at all for the past two weeks. Although much of the surrounding countryside is still verdant and May blossom is in full flower, the temperatures by day have been exceptionally high and with rather chilly nights. The clear blue skies above the village now have a good number of newly-arrived Swifts and House Martins circling high up and indulging in spectacular courtship flights - prior, we hope, to setting up nesting sites around the village. Swallows are sadly absent once again but present in nearby Warmington.
The grubbing up of old hedges is never good for wildlife, though on the
Fosse way it gave a splendid view of a roadkill Muntjac deer carcass being picked clean by a Pair of Buzzards. A photographic opportunity I
missed, driving past!
I'm sure a lot of us have nesting birds in our gardens at the moment. The Alarm calls of anxious Blackbird parents are often heard and the 'Yaffle' of a green Woodpecker with several juvenile birds is often heard too. This is an ancient Warwickshire dialect word that has remained in use, meaning to 'bark'. Much of Shakespeare contains Warwickshire dialect words like 'boltered' in Macbeth for hooves. Snitterfield means of course Snipe field. Some familiar birds' names have mediaeval origins. It's much rarer now to hear a Warwickshire accent than when I was a child in Alcester when it was common amongst local people. Gaydon (Geydon) may have meant a 'leash' or collar in the past.
Last year was probably the worst on record for Butterfly species in
Warwickshire, even common ones. This spring looks promising so far, as it is a lot earlier for Orange-tips and Brimstones, early Speckled woods and Holly Blues seen around the village; and also some
pollinating flowers like ox-eye daisies showing on the verges.
There have been a number of reports from local farms about swarms of bees around Gaydon. These are not dangerous: if a swarm arrives, Beekeepers will collect it if you let them know. Recently, a swarm gathered on the small Christmas tree in front of the Village Hall. It was successfully tempted into a section of hive by a local beekeeper. 'A swarm of bees in May is worth a bale of hay; a swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon' as the old adage goes. BP
Carers4Carers
At Kineton Village Hall 10:30am to 12 noon on Friday 27 June. We'd love to welcome you to our carers' group for refreshments, chat and mutual support. Come along and discover the multitude of disability aids now available. Please bring your loved ones - they can join our Companionship Group while we meet.
For further details about our carer support group or help with transport arrangements to/from our meetings, contact Gillian on 07947 893504 or send an email to kcarers4carers@gmail.com or explore our website www.carers4carersonthefosse.org.uk.
Flag Days in May
6th Anniversary of the Coronation of the King and Queen.
8th 80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day
& 99th Birthday of Sir David Attenborough - many happy returns!
10th Unveiling of the Francis Liddington Memorial Seat.
19th Funeral of Sheila June Heath with love from her family.
If you have something to celebrate or commemorate, ring Siobhan on 07780 689582, and she will raise the flag for you, in return for a £5 contribution to Church funds.
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 Development Update - June
‘The Eagle has landed!’ (Maybe…)
After nearly two years in ‘orbit’, the CEG (Malta) Ltd’s proposal to land a giant commercial development to be perched above our village, has re-entered our space. It seemed, for a while, that they would never come back with a re-submission in response to the major concerns the development has aroused both in villagers and multiple environmental organisations. As time went by, they did not seem interested in answering the 28 areas of concern raised by the SDC Planning Department (Oh, as recently as December 2023…). Until now. A re-submission is imminent.
Owing to an earlier deadline for the printed edition of the June Gaydon Magazine, it’s not been possible to examine CEG’s re-submission documents in any detail before the magazine is published, so a fuller evaluation will follow in due course. However, in the meantime, the best response involves a forensic evaluation of their revised documents by Gaydon residents and interested organisations (Campaign for Rural England etc.). As was proven by the magnificent response of comments by over 200+ individual local people and numerous institutions to the original proposal, it was shown to be vital in the stalling of any smooth process for CEG’s original application. There is now, once again, a new need to comment on, question and oppose this unnecessary development.
When going through the resubmitted CEG proposal 23/01054/OUT (soon to be uploaded on https://apps.stratford.gov.uk/eplanningv2 and also available at the village shop from 27th May) - before looking at their specific ‘answers’ - it’s helpful to have a preparatory list of some (there will be more!) of the issues which relate to our concerns.
Such as: Does it refer to the ‘site’ without any reference to Gaydon village and the fact that we are, effectively, on its lower slopes?
The only mention of flooding in relation to our location is 1998 (the Avon/Leam flooding…not here), but no mention of the 2007 floods which did affect 27 Gaydon properties. Any reference to that?
The original proposal showed a naïve faith in the ability of Severn Trent to provide the drainage/sewage infrastructure to counteract problems. Since then (if you pardon the comparison…) ‘a lot of water has flowed under the bridge’ in respect of UK, privatised, water companies being shown to be totally unable to provide a safe, clean, water and drainage provision.
Will CEG (Malta) Ltd. be paying a full measure of UK taxes and thereby contribute to the future infrastructure repairs and improvements? Or will the burden of future costs fall on UK citizens and, in particular, South Warwickshire residents?
Any journey across South Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire will take you past signs revealing vacant commercial and warehousing space which runs into millions of square feet (one unit, alone, adjacent to J.11 M.40 has close to a quarter of a million square feet vacant capacity). Can they still make a case for more hangars and silos to litter the countryside?
The forthcoming government plan to ‘speed up’ planning has a controversial proposal to ‘offset’ where any replacement greening of the environment (to compensate when countryside is built upon) can take place anywhere in the UK, not necessarily in the locality or county of the development!
This proposed development has been purely speculative (to make money): there has never been a requirement in local plans to provide more commercial/warehousing space. Perhaps some honesty on this, please?
The proposed development at ‘Swallowfields’ (opposite JLR) is a game-changer. This previously developed ‘brownfield’, and level, site, situated away from housing is - if there is a requirement for further commercial/warehouse footage - a much more ‘ready made’ and vacant site for such development. Tony Hughes
June Church Services
1st 9.30am Morning Prayer Gaydon
10.00am Holy Communion Burton Dassett
Whitsun Pentecost
8th 9.00am Holy Communion Gaydon
10.30am Baptism Service Burton Dassett
6.00pm Evening Worship Farnborough
15th 9.30am Morning Service Gaydon
10.00am Morning Prayer Northend
22nd 9.30am Morning Service Gaydon
10.00am Morning Worship Northend
Benefice Communion
29th 10.30am Holy Communion Gaydon
Roman Catholic Church of St Francis, Kineton
Sunday Mass 11am every week
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
Funeral of Sheila June Heath
9 June 1947 - 22 April 2025
A service of love and celebration for Sheila's life was held at Oakley Wood Crematorium on Monday 19 May at 11am. The celebrant was Annette Gann and there were family tributes, with music and poetry. After the ceremony, further memories of Sheila were shared at the Malt Shovel Inn in Gaydon. Sheila was a bird-lover and donations at her funeral will benefit The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Forthcoming Event at All Saints' Church, Burton Dassett
Friday 20 June, Concert, Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra. Tickets by email from normakinghollies@btinternet.com
Something to Think About
Disappointments, Set-Backs and Loss
When chatting with a mum after school drop off in Moreton Morrell, she told me how her son had had a meltdown that morning because they had only just arrived in time. He likes to get there early because then he is allowed to do some colouring, and he was very disappointed that they were running behind schedule.
Disappointment is a complex emotion that can involve a combination of frustration, sadness, loss, grief, and anger. We experience it when whatever happens in life doesn’t match what we were expecting or hoping for. Disappointment is a part of life because each day rarely turns out exactly how we would have wanted.
We might smile (or be deeply frustrated) at a child's tantrums over something that seems so minor because as adults we have faced (or are facing) much deeper hurts and disappointments.
We have all been there at times in our lives… an unexpected bill that wipes out our savings, a setback at work, a holiday disaster, a breakdown in a relationship, the loss of someone we love, or even disappointment in our own behaviour … sometimes the word ‘disappointment’ does not even come close to describing the depth of anger or loss we feel when life throws us something that we are not expecting.
The disappointments we experience and overcome in life, even the minor ones we experience as children, can be important stepping stones to help us build our resilience, our ability to bounce back. Unfortunately, sometimes our disappointments can become straitjackets, and we can find it impossible to move beyond our anger, resentment or grief. Holding onto these feelings can stifle us and profoundly affect our lives, shaping behaviour and restricting positive emotions. When that happens, we often need the help of others to see what’s going on in our lives and move forward.
I think that is one of the reasons why Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment:
‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another' (John 13:34b).
He knew his disciples would face enormous challenges and disappointments, be persecuted, have to deal with huge setbacks, and even be killed for following him. He knew that they would need each other, that they would need a community that was committed to helping each other.
One of the biggest disappointments we can face is the grief that comes from losing someone we love. Whilst death is a reality we all must face, losing someone is never easy, and a community that understands what we are going through can be a tremendous help. That is one of the reasons we offer the Bereavement Journey course* for those facing that kind of loss.
Whatever hurts, losses or disappointments you are carrying at the moment, I pray that we all find the people and the community we need to help us weather that storm and find a way to a brighter future.
Rev. Barry Jackson, Priest-in-charge
* The next Bereavement Journey course starts on Tuesday 3rd June at Kineton Primary school.
More details are available from the Rev.
Matthew Arnold