HNNL December 2005 page 3

December 2005

Series 30 No 6

Parish Council and Cherwell news

Hook Norton Newsletter Home


	PARKING As mentioned in previous Notes the Parish Council is concerned by careless parking within the village, which is positively dangerous in places, notably Mobbs Lane. May we remind parishioners that it is illegal to park within 10 metres of a road junction. Please have consideration for your neighbours when parking your vehicle; we do not want a spate of accidents in the village to create a need for unsightly yellow lines and further street signs pointing out what drivers should already know.
MEMORIAL HALL We are pleased to acknowledge a generous donation to the Hall from Chris Tobin, organiser of the Saturday markets. As readers will know it is difficult to make the Memorial Hall self-financing and yet remain competitive and we are grateful for the continued support of our regular users. As previously reported the Hall has been repainted recently and is available for hire. We have also submitted a planning application for an extension to provide a new kitchen, which should further improve the facilities at the Hall. It is your Hall; please make use of it. For details of availability please contact the Parish Clerk, Ken Porter, 01295 758352.
RECREATION AREA We have suffered an increasing incidence of vandalism in the Play Area, ranging from graffiti, kicking out planks and even damaging the equipment through sawing. The park is valued and respected by most people in the village but a small minority seems intent on spoiling the facility for everybody else. As a parish council we have three alternatives: keep on repairing the damage at a cost to each council tax payer; report and catch the culprits, until it stops; close the park altogether. We are reviewing the situation at the moment and hope we do not have to take drastic action. However, if you witness any wanton or wilful damage being carried out, please report it to the clerk at once. If sufficiently serious it will be reported to the police so that offenders can be prosecuted.		VACANCY FOR PARISH COUNCILLOR Following the resignation of Joe Williams we have a further vacancy on the Parish Council. Anybody wishing to become actively involved in local affairs is asked to contact the clerk, Ken Porter, on 01295 758352 or at kenneth_i.porter@virgin.net.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

The Parish Council's shoppers' bus will be running on Thursdays 8 and 22 December for your last-minute Christmas shopping. The Jeffs coach picks up near the Fire Station at 9.50, and then at the church, The Green and Austins Way. Return from Banbury is at 12.30. The fare is £1 (children 50p). The bus will also run on 5 and 19 January.

Peter Fry

HOLIDAY IN DEVON DIRECT FROM HOOKY

This year about 10 people from Hooky enjoyed a holiday based in Scarborough, with outings to places of interest in Yorkshire. It was privately organised, and included people from other villages in the Chipping Norton area. The 40 or so people who went voted it a great success, and the idea is being repeated next year.
Picking up at various places in the village on Saturday 29 July and returning on Saturday 5 August, the holiday will be based in Ilfracombe, with excursions planned to Lynton and Lynmouth, Dartington Glass, Dartmoor, etc. The cost is £345 per person, with no single room supplement. Full details are available from Mr B.P. Wood on 01295 258482.

Peter Fry

2006 HOOK NORTON DIRECTORY OF SERVICES
Would you like to be included in the 2006 Hook Norton Directory of Services? This brochure of names and numbers for local businesses and places of interest is distributed along with the February Village Newsletter, so entries need to be in by 31st December.
As well as the obvious advantage of advertising our ever increasing number of local businesses, this brochure is intended to inform villagers of contact names and numbers for the many local organisations that we have, under headed categories.
Please print and fill in the form below, if you would like to be included in the next directory or to have any current details altered and deposit it in the box in The Post Office, or send it to:-
Diana Barber: Dove Close House, Scotland End, Hook Norton.
The form is also available in MS Word format, or plain text, (right click and save Target/Link as ...)
To help with the printing costs, a donation of £3 for the Hook Norton Newsletter should be attached to all forms. Thank you for your support.

CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION DONATIONS 2005

Following another great Music at the Crossroads in July, the Hook Norton Charitable Association held there AGM in September and handed out donations to the wide variety of organisations and societies that applied. Over £5,600 has been donated to good causes and charities. As with previous years the association are proud to be able to help village societies and clubs that provide such good facilities in the village. Some examples of how funds from this year's donations will benefit the village include…….
New PC for the museum to archive the growing museum collection
Fund a summer day trip for the elderly who attend the Care Group
New safety helmets for the youth team at the cricket club
A complete list of all the donations includes…

Leukaemia Research	£1000	Air Training Corps	£500
Cancer Research	£300	Baptist Church	£150
Pre School Play Group	£500	Blue Cross	£250
Katharine House Hospice	£350	Guides	£50
Primary School	£750	1^st Brownies	£100
WI	£100	Rangers	£50
1^st Rainbows	£100	Newsletter	£50
Care Group	£250	Cricket Club	£205
Sports & Social Club	£350	Village Museum	£500
Beavers	£100

A reminder that next year's Music at the Crossroads will be on Saturday 1^st July 2006. It will be the 10^th M@C event and so we are aiming for an extra special day.
Thank you for everyone's support for this year's event and if anyone has any requests for bands, entertainment etc please contact Peter Skelton or Pete Watkins. www.hookymusic.co.uk

HOOK NORTON BEER FESTIVAL 2005
On 20^th October, the Clarke family very kindly hosted a donations evening at the brewery, during which cheques were presented to the various charities selected to receive donations from this year's Beer Festival. 2005 saw record proceeds from the festival, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved. The money donated this year totalled £13,500 and was distributed as follows:

Leukaemia Research	£8000
OSCAR	£2000
Katharine House	£1000
DebRA	£1000
Village Newsletter	£500
Playgroup	£400
Hooky School music department	£200
Dogs for Disabled	£400

Becky Cooke (one of our beer beggars) works for Barclays Bank, who generously agreed to match the donation to Dogs for Disabled, which was therefore £800. Two exciting announcements were made at the donations evening.
Firstly, Cathy Gilman from Leukaemia Research told us that, in recognition of the generosity and support of David Clarke, the Clarke family and of Hook Norton itself, a research fellowship at the John Radcliffe Hospital has been named the Hook Norton Clinical Research Fellowship! Graham Collins, the Senior Registrar who is currently in receipt of this funding, gave a talk on the research work he is undertaking in an attempt to find a cure for this disease. And secondly, John Parker from DebRA (the charity that provides support for families and funds research into the debilitating condition known as EB) announced that clinical trials into a cure for the condition will start in 2.5 years. This is a charity we have supported for the last 5 years and it is wonderful to know that our donations have contributed to this exciting development.
Particular thanks this year go to: the Clarke family and staff at the brewery for advice, equipment, cellarage, transport, beer and Simon the Cellarman! Ian and Linda Miller for allowing us to take over the Pear Tree and grounds; the merry band of beer beggars (Becky, Cathy, Helen, Liz, Roger, Sian and Tristan) for acquiring more beer than ever before; Margaret Daisly for co-ordinating all the transport; East West Ales of Paddock Wood who were instrumental in getting many of the beers from all over the country; British Airways for their assistance with some of the transport arrangements! Graham Wilkes for making the extra stillage we desperately needed to house the extra beer that was begged! All those who helped on the day particularly the leaders of the pouring teams most of whom having been organising teams since Year 1, Pete Watkins for organising the music which has become such an integral part of the day; The behind-the-scenes people, Dave Coates (road signs), Gary Begnor (cones), John Harris (car parking field), Ray Gasson (shelter for equipment trailer) and David Golby (use of The Rickyard) Theresa from the Firs for her generous assistance in providing the new car parking signs and last but by no means least, everyone who attended the festival and drank such an impressive amount of beer!
We look forward to your equally generous support in 2006!
Put the date in your diary now - 22nd July.

MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING

A huge thank you to all who came to the study centre on Friday 30th September, for the Biggest Coffee Morning. It was a really good event and raised a huge amount of money. £153.76 on the coffee and cakes, £197 on the raffle and we sold £321.95 worth of Christmas cards. In addition to that I have just ordered another £200 of Christmas cards for customers. Well done to all who were involved and thank you to those who helped me, especially Katie, Megan, Amy and Lucy who had an inset day from Chipping Norton School.

Julie Wood