Hook Norton Newsletter February 2007

February 2007

Series 32 No 1

Village Affairs

NEWSLETTER TEAM

Directory:	Diana Barber
Advertising:	Judi Leader
Distribution:	Malcolm Black
Proof reading:	Nigel Lehmann
IT/Web Support:	Martin Baxter

FROM THE EDITORS
This month, the Newsletter has received donations totalling £44.76. As well as donations in the Post Office Newsletter box, several donations have been received via our Paypal account (hookynews@totalise.co.uk)
Thank you.

Sadly we report the deaths of Stanley Maurice Cox, of Swerford, aged 77 years, George Hummer late of Hook Norton and Elizabeth Anne Moore, aged 80 years. On behalf of the village we send our condolences to their families and friends.

We welcome Malcolm Black to the Newsletter. Malcolm has taken over the distribution from Bunty – thank you Malcolm.

Finally, we thank John Burke from Southampton for the postcard, below, showing the Flower Show in 1913. John writes

'I have a picture of the Hook Norton Flower show in 1913, produced as a postcard. I inherited it from my grandmother, who appears in the picture together with friends who lived in Hook Norton; the now rather faint text on the reverse is a note to my great grandmother in Winchester (where my grandmother lived)'.

Andy Horne	Helen Foster
hookynews@totalise.co.uk	helen@broadedged.co.uk

The views expressed in the Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Editorial Team.

RATES – CHEQUES PAYABLE TO 'HOOK NORTON NEWSLETTER'
Text & advertising copy deadline	15^th MARCH 2007
Text for Village activities	Free (a small donation is welcome)
Inserts for Village Activities	On request from Judi Leader
Commercial Advertising	£22 per page & pro rata per issue
Commercial Inserts	£20 per issue
Donations can be put in the Newsletter Box in the Post Office or posted to; Newsletter, c/o Hook Norton Post Office, Chapel Street, Hook Norton, Oxon.

COMMUNITY MORNING

A fun session for babies and pre-schoolers
accompanied by a parent or carer.
Play, 'making' projects, singing, stories and refreshments.

Wednesdays 9.10am to 11.15am, term time only
at the Field Study Centre, Hook Norton School

**No Session on 14th February **

For information, contact 01608 730875 or 01295 721752

NEWS FROM HOOK NORTON PRE-SCHOOL PLAYGROUP

There have been some changes inside the playgroup buildings for this year. A big thank you goes to Ian Street for all the decorating that he's done for us. The place is looking bright and fresh and a welcoming environment for all the children.
We've also managed to get our new kitchen installed in the home corner for the children to play with and it's proving to be a big hit with all of them.

Notes for your diary:

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: This takes place on the 6^th of February this year at 8pm in the playgroup. It's vital that as many parents as possible attend this. Please make the effort to be there.

After the success of last years Pamper Evening we are going to be repeating the experience on the 10^th of March. Last year was such a big success that we would urge you to make your bookings as soon as possible.
All the events that we run make a big contribution towards the continued running of the playgroup.
For more information on either of these events or for more information about the Playgroup in general, please contact Mrs Julie Riley

HOOK NORTON PLAYGROUP
Hook Norton Playgroup are proud to announce that on the 4th January 2007 we passed a gruelling OFSTED inspection with flying colours. The inspector was very impressed with what we do with the children in playgroup, giving us a 'good' in all areas except one, 'helping children enjoy and achieve' where we received high praise indeed with an 'outstanding'. The overall conclusion of the inspection was GOOD - GRADE 2 - given to strong settings that are effective in promoting outcomes for children. As you can imagine we are extremely pleased to have our playgroup and our work with the children validated in this way.
(A complete copy of the report will be available to read in Playgroup as soon as we receive it; it will also be available to view on the OFSTED web site.)

FRIENDS OF HOOK NORTON SCHOOL

FOHNS have been very busy since September, and with the help of a lot of volunteers and the support of you, we have managed to raise a staggering £3999! This is an amazing start to our fund raising year, but we still need to keep the momentum up, as the school does not always have the funds that it needs. That is why we're here, to fill any gaps, and fulfil wish lists!
To kick off 2007, we brushed up on our general knowledge and had a quiz night on a courtroom theme, inspired by Hazel's recent jury service. Great fun was had by all! The whole evening was extremely well organised by Hazel and Kevin Hope, many thanks to both of you.
We are also having a Casino Night on 24^th February. This will be a smart affair (we basically wanted an excuse to get dressed up!) so Suits or Dinner Jackets for chaps and cocktail dress for ladies. If you are interested in coming along, please contact the school office for more information and to buy tickets.
We will be serving tea, coffee and pancakes for all new and existing families at school on 20^th February from 11.30 – 1pm in the Study Centre. This is to enable you to meet some of the FOHNS committee and get to know other parents and carers at school. We do hope to see lots of you there.
Friday 23^rd March is Family Bingo Night, which proved extremely popular last time, in fact is was a sell out! We will be selling tickets soon, so watch out for posters, or contact the office for details.

Forthcoming Events:

20^th February	FOHNS Pancake Lunch
24^th February	Casino Night
22^nd March	Bags2School
23^rd March	Family Bingo Night
1^st May	Coffee & Croissants (May Day Celebrations) 9am
19^th May	FOHNS Disco
22^nd June	Mid-Summer Fair 3.30pm-5.30pm

You don't have to have children at the school to come along to any of our events, so if you are interested in buying tickets, please contact me or the school office, and we'd be glad to help.
School Office: 01608 737379

Nancy Hawkins, Chair of FOHNS

1ST HOOK NORTON GUIDES

The last meeting before Christmas took place at the beginning of December, in order to avoid clashing with various school entertainments. We finished with a fun filled Christmas party, decorating cakes and playing games.
The lead up to Christmas was extremely busy though - 4 of our guides helped Val Stratford with her children's parties and had a great time - Val came to the first meeting after Christmas to present the girls with a Community Spirit Award certificate and a chocolate orange for their help. She said "she couldn't have coped without them". Following on from that about 12 of us went to Beechaven, in Chipping Norton to do carol singing with the old people, which as you can imagine, they really enjoyed. (Thank you to Katie and Megan from Hook Norton Rangers for joining us). Finally, on Friday 22nd December, the guides and rangers helped Katie Wood with bag packing in Marks & Spencers in Banbury and raised a total of £678. We shall advise you in the next newsletter how this money will be distributed.
Last night (15th Jan), we took 21 guides to watch "A Christmas Carol" at The Mill, in Banbury - an excellent production, with lovely costumes and a number of very talented people involved. (Mind you, very strange to hear Christmas carols in January!).

Next week we are planning to do a walk with them, whatever the weather! We have been working towards the "Anglia Walking Challenge" badge and are just about to finish it - should be interesting to see - will it be in the rain, a nice clear starry night, or lots of clouds! We have also been working on map reading and map symbols, which the girls will hopefully find a useful skill in years to come. Last week they made board games using map symbols as their theme. The older guides are preparing to work on their Baden-Powell Challenge badge and are planning to organise some of the meetings in the next few terms.
By the time you read your copy of the newsletter, we will have taken the guides to see the village panto and if it is like previous years, will be an excellent show.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rosi Callery, who has been our Young Leader for the last 18 months and has been a total asset to the unit, lending herself to lots of new activities and challenges. Unfortunately, Rosi has had to finish with us due to other activities and studies, we welcome Sarah Chadwick and Megan Wood who have offered their services to 1st Hook Norton Guides as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Julie Wood

KATIE WOOD - WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me over the last 6 months to help me fund raise for the above event this summer - total of £1,300. I have now finished all my fundraising (my thanks go to the Hook Norton Guides and Rangers, who helped with the last event that I organised. Bagpacking in Marks & Spencers in Banbury). I am now thoroughly looking forward to the trip in July and will no doubt put a report in a future newsletter.

Katie Wood

LEE STRATFORD COMMUNITY TRUST
The Village Children's Christmas Parties Saturday 16^thDecember
WOW! What a Day!!!
Lots of smiling faces and laughter - that's what it was all about.
If you missed out, catch the 2007 version it will be even more fun. There will be a few adjustments on the next parties, as this was a big learning curve for us. We have more ideas on what will work and how best to stage the parties. Thanks to the Guides Jess Wood, Hollie Hemmings, Martha Tingey and Amy Hambidge for their help serving at the Seniors Tea Party. Thanks to Santa for his visit, although he was very busy on that day, he made time to come and join us.
Walk For Wheels
Join us on Saturday 31st March for a sponsored walk in the Cherwell Valley. Start time is 9:00 am and we will meet in the Station Car Park in Lower Heyford. You can either walk one lap of the route which is 14 miles or do two and make it 28 miles. This was not initially planned as a sponsored walk, just a fun one to get in the mood, but why miss the opportunity of raising some money.
The sponsor money from this walk will be split equally between Lee's Trust and the Foundations Mini Bus Appeal at Cherwell Valley College Banbury (hence the name of the walk). The appeal for a new mini bus was launched just before Christmas to replace the now worn out current mode of transport for the Supported Learning Unit at the College. I now work full time at the College within Foundation Studies, so I know the impact that this new bus will have on the Students. Their goal is to raise £30,000, so anything we can put in will be very much appreciated. Sponsor sheets for the Walk For Wheels are now available from me - contact details below. This walk is a warm up walk for the BIG ONE - The Oxford Canal Walk on Saturday 4th August.
Donations
We have received several donations recently and would like to thank the following for their generosity:
Hook Norton Beer Festival, Hook Norton Charitable Association, Hook Norton Baptist Church, Nick & Hilary Holt at The Cherington Arms, Nigel & Jackie at Matthews Plant Hire, Les Gray and Trevor at The Bell, Holly & Fran for their Carol singing money and The Mums & Tots Group.
And a special thanks to all the staff and customers at Salon 2 for their continued support selling and buying our hand made cards.
Thanks also to Collette & Kerry for organising the forthcoming St Patrick's Day evening at the Sun (see separate entry for details)
Recycling
Please don't forget that we still collect old mobile phones. Now Christmas is over a lot of you will have had new phones, so we would be very grateful of your old ones. Doesn't matter how old it is, as long as it still switches on, we can use it.
We are also collecting used printer cartridges (but not Epson). I have Freepost envelopes for both phones and cartridges or you can drop them off in the collection box outside our house.
Also we are still in need of old greeting cards, these too can be placed in the collection box or contact me and I will collect.

Valerie Stratford valerie@stratford4496.fsnet.co.uk

A BIG THANK YOU
To Val and Family
and the Lee Stratford Community Trust
For organising our Christmas Parties.

We had a great time.
Luv From Chelsea, Sacha, Bronte and Zach

MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING

A rather belated thank you to all who supported the Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday 29th September. I have in fact only just wrapped up the money side of things following the tremendous amount of Christmas card and gift orders that I received. Despite the terrible weather at the coffee morning and a power cut half way through (thanks to the nursery for lending us a gas portable cooker), it was a very successful morning. We raised £211.04 with the coffee and cakes and raffle, with a further £838.29 raised at the coffee morning and since then on Christmas cards and gifts. I would like to take this opportunity in thanking all those people who attended this annual event and especially all those who have supported me over the last 7 years since I have been running the event.
We have not had notification of the date of the event this year, but as soon as I get it, you will be the first ones to hear about it! Many thanks to you all.

Julie Wood

GARDEN CLUB

As usual you will find the Club Calendar in the centre of the Newsletter. You will see that the first meeting of the year on Wednesday 21 February will be an illustrated talk by Bob Claridge who is a garden tour guide at Upton House. We look forward to welcoming old and new members to this first meeting to open what promises to be an interesting programme of events. Please remember to bring your annual subscriptions with you . Although the visit to Malvern will not be until September we will be taking names now so please check your diaries and be ready to add your name to the list to be sure of a place on the coach.
As I write the garden is windblown and water logged so hopefully things can only get better. Spring doesn't seem far away though we seem to have missed Winter so far-it all makes for interesting gardening!

Verity Calderan

EDITH GIBBINS

Although dated 1952 when the artwork was done, we really don't know when my Grandmother wrote the poem THE NEW YEAR. It was found in her handwriting on a small piece of paper in draft format among her treasures when my Aunt Ruby Gibbins Bryan's house was sorted out in 1992, before she moved to the hospital. We know that Grandma became ill early in the year and died in mid 1953, hence it was dated 1952. However, it could have been written any time from January 1913 or January 1914, after her daughter Winnifred's death in December 1912, their first year in Englehart, New Ontario then, after complications from pneumonia in August; or after her husband John Gibbins' unfortunate death at age 35 on April 25, 1913 on her birthday, after a tree-felling accident; and up to her final January in 1953. To raise her remaining family in such hostile conditions, Edith remarried in very early 1914 to "Uncle" Ted Smith.
The calligraphy version of the poem was done by our teacher daughter, Loreen Joan, commonly called Loree, in the 1990's, who inherited her teaching talents from another Grandmother, my Mother Lillias McDonald Gibbins, as well.
You will recall that Edith Cox was a teacher at the old Hook Norton School on High Street from July 1899 to December 1900; while there, she boarded at the house of the Vicar of St Peter's. She then returned to Leicester for reasons we do not yet know, but she no doubt met my Grandfather, Hooky's own John Gibbins while she was in Hook Norton; for his birthday in 1901, she gave to him on May 4,1901, the book The Use of Life by the Right Hon. Lord Avebury. They were married in the Fall of 1902 at Blaby, near Leicester. They had four children, two girls and two boys before leaving to pioneer in New Ontario, Canada, in April 1911. Born and raised in Hook Norton, Grandpa John had worked full time at the Brewery from 1895 to 1911 and was promoted from Assistant Brewer in July 1899 to the office or management staff.
Grandma Edith never seemed to spend much time looking to the past. She was probably too busy surviving, burying her oldest son Jackie, in 1914, running her dairy farm, raising the two remaining members Ruby and Kenneth, my father, of the original family and a young Arthur Wallace; this was to honour a pre-death request of his Mother, one of Ted Smith's sisters. In addition to her closing thoughts expressed in A Pioneer Christmas in the December issue of the Newsletter, she has also expressed elsewhere that her faith and practice in religion at the Church of England was another factor that helped her through those tough pioneering times.
In later life, she also became very active in provincial politics. A story for another day.

Ron Gibbins, Ottawa, Canada

WILDLIFE NOTEBOOK - MID NOVEMBER 2006 TO MID JANUARY 2007
After all the rain and strong winds the sun is now shining. At dawn if you open a door or window you can hear the birds singing. It is interesting that the Song Thrush has been singing loudly since December. With Robins the fluffed-out red breast is used in threat by both sexes, as females to hold territories in winter and also sing. In spring, territorial boundaries change and the male's song becomes louder and more robust. With such aggressive temperaments and similar plumages, females entering a male's territory must adopt submissive behaviour to avoid violent rejection. Nesting begins early and three broods can be raised in a season. At this time of the year with spring just around the corner the birds all look super with their bright plumages. We have been watching large flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings taking the berries from the bushes at the edge of the fields . You can hear the harsh chuckling calls as they fly and a ragged look epitomizes a Fieldfare flock. On 19th and 25th November single Herons were seen flying over East End. On 24th November after the field in East End had been ploughed up a flock of approximately 50 Pied Wagtails were seen, together with many Crows and Rooks.
Gillian Liddell of Magdalen Lodge has had various birds in her garden, but for the first time ever she saw what was a really exciting bird, a Kingfisher, on 30 November which sat on a little statue by the pond, dived in and took a couple of fish before resting for about five minutes. It has been back briefly. Also in her garden she has seen Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit and Long-tailed Tit, together with regular visits from a Sparrowhawk. It is often difficult to tell the sexes apart, particularly with the small birds, but in the case of the Great Tit the male's black belly-stripe is wider than the female's.
Mark Allman was looking out of his bedroom window which overlooks the gardens of Rectory Road towards the telephone exchange on 5th December, when he saw a Sparrowhawk swooping low and fast across the hedge tops and was almost gone before he had time to identify the bird, so it is a question of luck whether you are looking the right way when it flashes through - he commented it was a great sight - if short lived.
Two Mistle Thrushes were seen in a field together in East End on 6th December.
On the bird table in Ray Gasson's garden on 8th December for about 10 minutes he was able to watch a Sparrowhawk just sitting there. There are many House Sparrows on their feeders and he surprised the Sparrowhawk whilst it was plucking one in his yard.
Janice Quartermain has seen a Kingfisher half a dozen times down at the brook in Brick Hill, but on the morning of 15th December she had a particularly good view of it on a branch overhanging the brook.
At the end of December and the beginning of January Cedric Brain has had a pair of Blackcaps in his garden and the Long-tailed Tits have been feeding off the fat balls.
We saw a female Blackcap in our garden on the morning of 17th December and have had a few visits from a Marsh Tit.

The new year always starts a new bird list and our first bird was a Goldfinch. There seemed to be many birds around on 1st January.
Tom Skelton (aged 5), who lives in Beanacre, spotted a male Great Spotted Woodpecker in his garden, which stayed on the nut feeder for about 5 minutes on 13th January. His Dad, Peter, observed an unsuccessful Sparrowhawk attack Tits and Sparrows feeding on the same feeder the week before.
Quite a few Butterflies were still around in November and we spotted the last one on 20th.
Now most of the trees and shrubs have no leaves it is so much easier to see the birds and although it seems really early to be mentioning about the spring migrants, when I write my next article in the middle of March some might have arrived already, so please keep your ears and eyes open and let me know of any arrivals. Thank you to those of you who have been in contact with me, please let me know about your sightings.

Geraldine Moore email: geraldine.moore1@btinternet.com

HOLISTIC THERAPIES
Angie Woodard set up Soul Energy - www.soulenergy.co.uk - 5 years ago and it is now one of the leading providers of training in holistic therapies. Most courses are offered in Kings Sutton at the Memorial Hall. However, we would now like to offer workshops within local communities. Classes include short tasters in Indian Head Massage, Aromatherapy & Massage, Reflexology, Assertiveness etc and these can then lead on to professional ITEC qualifications or more advanced non-qualification courses. Reiki courses are a speciality and a monthly support group runs to help those trained in their work. A wide range of Continuous Professional Development courses are also on offer.
For further details of all Soul Energy's courses & our new brochure please contact Sue Lee. In addition if you think a workshop or range of them would be popular in your village please get in touch to discuss the possibilities.

Sue Lee - Administrator sue@soulenergy.co.uk

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Olivia Belle, daughter of Barry and Natasha Pearson was baptised at St Peter's Church, Hook Norton on 3rd December 2006.