Gaydon Parish Magazine October 2026
index of magazines
Gaydon Gazette for October
Book Club Tues 6th at 7pm Malt Shovel
Parish Council Tues 6th at 7.30pm Village Hall
Mobile Library Friday 9th at 2.25pm Phone Box
Churchyard Tidy Sat 10th at 10am St Giles' Church
Coffee Morning Sat 10th at 11am Village Hall
Talk on Gaydon Thurs 22nd at 7.30pm St Giles' Church
Tai Chi Mons & Weds at 7pm Village Hall
Gaydon Parish Council News
Churchyard Tidy Time
Villagers are urged to join the Parish Council Working Party that is being held on Saturday 10 October, starting at 10am at the War Memorial*. Please bring your own implements. There will be free tea and coffee at the Village Hall for all workers.
*The War Memorial is the Church Clock and to the west of the porch is a plaque commemorating those who died in the Great War.
Next meeting
The next meeting of Gaydon Parish Council will be held in the village hall on Tuesday 6 October at 7.30pm.
October Church Services
4th 9.30am Morning Service Gaydon
10.30am Holy Communion Burton Dassett
3.00pm Harvest Festival Chadshunt
11th 9.30am Agape Service Gaydon
11.00am Harvest Festival Northend
18th 9.00am Holy Communion Gaydon
10.30am Morning Worship Northend
25th 10.30am Group Holy Communion Warmington
All Souls
Monday 2nd November 6pm service at Northend
Roman Catholic Mass
St Peter & St Paul 5.00pm Saturday Brailes
Our Lady & the Apostles 9.15am Sunday Shipston-on-Stour
St Francis of Assisi 11.00am Sunday Kineton
Harvest Festival at Chadshunt
On Sunday 4th October at 3pm a service of Thanksgiving for the Harvest will be held by candle light in the ancient Church of All Saints. After the service there is tea at Chadshunt House.
Victorian Gaydon (Part II)
A Talk by Martin Phelps at St Giles Church, Gaydon on Thursday 22 October at 7.30pm. Hear about more episodes in Gaydon's history from 1881 to 1901: Village Hall, Banbury Road houses, Co-op Stores, Bank crash, Water Supply, Pestilence, Pig and Clothing clubs and the Parish Council.
Admission is free - donations to church funds welcome. Please let Martin know if you will be attending.
Coffee Morning
Saturday 10th at 11am in the Village Hall, Gaydon. Coffee and Biscuits; Books and Jigsaws; Raffle; proceeds to Church.
Gaydon Book Club
Tuesday 6th October at 7pm at the Malt Shovel.
Tai Chi
We meet in Gaydon Village Hall at 7pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. 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.
Mobile Library
This month the Mobile Library will call at the Telephone Box at 2.25pm for half an hour on Friday 9th.
What's On in October at the British Motor Museum?
Monday 5th Mellow Mondays
Saturday 10th Porsche Boxter 30th Anniversary
Sunday 11th Large Model Aircraft Show
Tuesday 13th Gaydon Gathering
Sunday 18th Autumn Access Day
Monday 19th Mini Motorists Mondays
Saturday 24th-1st Nov Half-term Family Fun
Weekend 24-25th Great British Model Railway Show
Saturday 31st Jaguar Breakfast Club
Information and tickets at www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk
Carers4Carers
Carers4Carers are your local support group for family carers. We usually meet on the fourth Friday of the month (except December when it's the second Friday) from 10.30am to 12 noon at Kineton Village Hall. Loved ones are welcome too; they can join our Companionship Group during the meeting.
Friday 23rd October. Our speakers this month will be from Talking Therapies, a free local NHS service to help people with symptoms of depression, anxiety, worry and low mood. Please join us to find out about this important service and how to access their help.
For further details about our group or help with transport arrangements to/from our meetings, please contact Gillian on 07947 893504, send an email to kcarers4carers@gmail.com, or explore our website:
www.carers4carersonthefosse.org.uk (new website under construction).
Flag Days
8th September - Anniversary of the Accession of HM The King.
Nature Notes for September
The plant of this month should definitely be the Hedge Bedstraw which I think can be bought from our local nearby Herb centre. The reason is a good one: the wonderfull influx of Humming bird Hawkmoths this year will have laid eggs on the leaves in August, caterpillars will have pupated and a new generation of moths is now emerging. Fingers crossed they can survive our winters; but as they are increasingly mild now, a possibility. The alder Buckthorn is another plant vital to Brimstone butterflies, the bright yellow species that is often around in very early spring and grows in our hedgerows.
After living in the village for over 40 years I have seen many drastic changes to our small rural location. It's now unrecognisable since the M40 was constructed. Soon I'm moving homes to a more tranquil rural location between Ledbury and Malvern, Herefordshire.
I have spent most of my life so far in Warwickshire and I will miss some aspects a lot. The changes in species I have experienced in these past years have been significant. The Red Kites, Buzzards and Ravens are quite recent arrivals while other birds have declined or gone entirely. Kestrels, Nightjars and Sparrow Hawks are not often heard or seen; Barn Owls, Bullfinches and Nuthatches are very rare, while Orchids and Scabious are even rarer.
We still have a lot of deer, foxes and a few Otters but I miss the coveys of Grey Partridges and flocks of Golden Plovers and Peewits, once a very common sight in the fields. It is of course inevitable that a small village will change. One can still remember the eccentric characters and you knew everyone in the village by name.
I'm hoping to send a few notes from Herefordshire when I'm settled in and unpack my binoculars. Bernard Price
Over-65s Christmas Lunch 2026
This year it will be on Sunday 6th December at 12.45 for 1pm in the Village Hall. Invitations will be sent out at the start of November. Let me know if you haven't been before and I'll add you to the list.
Helpers
Thank you for the offers of help with preparation and serving that we have already received; I will remind you nearer the date. More help is always welcome, so please get in touch with me, Julie Rickman, at the Old Bakehouse or by phone or email, if you would like to join the team. A Millennium Group Event
October Update - Selling England by the Pound?
No, that's possibly an excessive description (borrowing the prog rock
Genesis album title) when reflecting on the South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP). It's probably more a case of 'Reducing Shakespeare's Warwickshire field by field'. Now, in case that seems to signal nostalgia for a Tudorbethan world it would be wrong. Who wants a Disneyfied theme park of ruffs, cod-pieces - oh, and the plague? No, it's more the sense that this plan is heralding an unwelcome huge, qualitative change - far in excess of existing or predicted needs. There's also a feeling that the plan could be seen as a speculators' charter greenlighting massive, unsuited and insensitive developments with only a token regard for adequate infrastructure.
It's fair to ask: Are quotas are being filled in haste by looking for 'vacant' plots (i.e. fields) without any real regard for the plot's place
in a community? There's also a whiff of 'blame-tennis' between local councils and central government which will, predictably, turn into a full-scale tournament, to rival Wimbledon, in the run up to the next general election.
Gaydon's response to the plan, by deadline day 8th September, was robust and organised. As well as numerous individual submissions, the Gaydon Residents' Group co-ordinated comments and objections from around 80 residents to give our opinions more heft. Thanks, must be given to the individuals who gave their time and effort to extract and compile from the fiendishly difficult plan, coherent arguments. Apologies in advance if I've omitted your name, but Wendy, Jonathan, Jeff, Sue, Martin, Aristotle and Eirwen come to mind. However, we must single out for special praise, Heather, who managed to marshal some of the most obscure sections and subsections of the plan and produce unassailable arguments for us to forward to the inspector.
Thank you, Heather.
Someone described the South Warwickshire Local Plan as being like a labyrinth. In this age of the runaway success of 'The Odyssey' film it would be tempting to visualise tackling the highways and byways of the plan as a mythological quest. Except there was not one discoverable Minotaur at the heart of the Labyrinth, but umpteen places and rooms, in this plan, which had to be uncovered - each with their own separate challenges!
Sometimes it's necessary to view reality through absurdity in order to arrive at a revelation and a truth. There's only one candidate in this case: 'Alice'.
Alice’s Adventures in the ‘Stratford Wonder Plan’ (SWLP)
Alice lay down dreaming in tranquil solitude
Until she was startled – a white rabbit, loud and rude
“I’m late, I’m late, I’m late…
Must complete plan by September 8!”
Curiosity made Alice wonder in hope to find the source
Where else but to follow - down the rabbit-hole – of course!
Down they descended into the complex plan
But light was obscured as far as they could scan
The plan had multiple numbers in a complex habitat
As constant as the smile on a fading Cheshire Cat
A tapestry of gobbledygook designed to baffle brains
Clear as water in ST pipework and eternal blocked-up drains
There were thickets of words they desperately hacked through
As fast as they understood – away the meanings flew!
“Look! said the rabbit, “there’s an open door!
We’ll go through in hope that we find out more.”
To Alice the door was tiny – she was obviously too tall
“Don’t fret,’ said the rabbit “here’s a pill makes you small.”
The door opened on a vista that chilled her through and through
Building after building crowding every view
One house after another in a chaotic treeless sprawl
Some boasted double bedrooms but took a bed – that’s all!
No true gardens for houses - so close - there’s no doubt
One neighbour has to breathe in, so another can breathe out!
“Now Alice, let me warn you” the rabbit did confide
“About a predatory bird who builds nests county-wide
This bird rose up and swooped without a trace
And nested everywhere it could find a space.
Corporate speculators carpet-bag our precious scene
They keep the county in a turmoil until they’ve picked it clean.
They say it’s for ‘growth’ and even ‘more growth’ is the quest
They stick a pin in a map and say, “It’s for the best!”
Little thought for villagers or even incoming folk
‘Conserve’, ‘sustain’ was the Holy Grail – now the chalice is broke…”
Alice caught sight of landscape where fields had once stood
Now halls, vast as empires, replaced living wood
Said rabbit, “You’ve heard people speak of cloud-capped towers…
These halls are so high they generate their own showers!
To enter, you need a pill to make you tall
There is no human scale in each massive hall
Three jumbo jets, a battleship and more
All could be contained - with still space on the floor!”
Words are coloured with ‘greenwash’ while real fields are lost
While urban sites are ignored because of spurious ‘cost’
This was a village once, loved by one and all
Now the plan is convert it to a chaotic urban sprawl
Said Alice, “This makes the Mad Hatter’s tea party a sane and safe event
People must wonder how their anger they should vent.
This vampire plan drains your will to live –
There’s lots of ‘take’ and precious little ‘give’.”
Then the Queen of Hearts roared: “The plan is what the plan is!”
Alice reeled back at this absurd royal tizz
But there’s no figuring the mighty and their cryptic ways
They’re all money and more power to the end of their sad days
The Queen menaced her with Jacks and Jokers and other creeps around
But Alice saw her chance, so she stood her ground
“You seem as solid as a pack of paper cards:
I don’t fear your power or your flimsy guards!”
With that all the characters whooshed out of view
And Alice, from her dream, gradually came to
Her adventure was over – her wisdom now renewed
A plan with some good intentions was corrosively skewed
“It doesn’t have to be like this!” she emphatically cried
A better future is ours to make – let locals decide
It’s a community’s duty: protect people and countryside!”
Tony Hughes
October Memorial Book
1992 1st Rhoda Lovesey
2012 14th Christopher Wrighton
2025 14th Janette Emily Hotchkiss
2022 15th Frederick William Morgan
2020 18th Alan Povey
2010 20th Joan Hare
2014 22nd Margaret Diston
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
Moreton Morrell Craft and Produce Market
Sunday 11 October 11am-3pm at the Church of the Holy Cross, Moreton Morrell.
Local produce includes gin and cider, samosas and chutneys; local crafts include jewellery, candles, cards and more. Everyone welcome!
Farewell Service for the Reverend Alison Abbott
As many of you will know, Rev. Alison Abbot is preparing to leave us and go to be a prison chaplain. Her last service with us will be a service for the whole benefice at 10.30am on Sunday 25 October at
St Michael's Church, Warmington. I hope you can join us to give thanks for Alison's time with us and to pray for her future work. BJ
Something to Think about
The habit of helping
As I was preparing for our Charity Harvest Barn Dance, I discovered that the tablecloths and bunting I thought I had ordered were still sitting patiently in my online shopping basket.
With little time left, I sent out an appeal asking if anyone had decorations we could borrow. Almost immediately, offers of decorations and practical help came flooding in. By the time the doors opened, the hall looked wonderful. More than 90 people came along, a great deal of fun was had, and we raised over £200 for the Farming Community Network. It was so successful that we are already talking about doing it again next year. No one person rescued the event but together they made an enormous difference.
The American children’s television presenter Fred Rogers once shared:
'When I was a boy and I saw scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."’
The news gives us plenty to fear and it is easy to feel overwhelmed and conclude that the world is becoming a darker and more dangerous place.
But if we look carefully, we will also see the helpers: rescuers searching for survivors, people bringing food and medical assistance, peacemakers calming tensions, and people speaking against injustice or supporting strangers.
Fred Rogers’s mother was showing a frightened child where to find reassurance. As adults, perhaps we are called to take another step. We can look for the helpers, but also ask how we might become one of them.
Most of us will never lead an international peace negotiation or take part in a mountain rescue. But we will all encounter someone who needs a lift, a telephone call, support or a listening ear. These acts are part of what makes a community strong.
Autumn has a sense of fresh beginnings as schools, activities and routines restart. It is not only a season for harvesting, but one for planting - preparing the ground for growth that may not become visible until much later.
Lasting change often begins with something small: a simple action that gradually becomes a habit. A good question for us this autumn might be, “What small habit of helping could I plant?”
We can begin by noticing the needs around us. We can respond by doing one thing within our power and repeat it, allowing occasional kindness to become part of the way we live.
St Paul wrote: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
Doing good does not mean pretending that suffering and injustice do not exist. It means refusing to allow them to determine the people we become. God is continually at work bringing healing, reconciliation and hope, and every act of compassion allows us to become part of that work.
A tablecloth or length of bunting cannot change the world. But offered at the right moment, it can help turn an anxious muddle into an evening of laughter, friendship and generosity.
This autumn, may we look for the helpers, give thanks for them, and plant one small habit that helps us become helpers too.
Rev. Barry Jackson
Copy Date
The deadline for articles for the Parish Magazine is the 20th of the month. Ed.