The Hook Norton Village Newsletter
June 2007 Series 32 No 3

Arts & Entertainment


MIDSUMMER FAYRE MADNESS
Forget Thomas Hardy, cast Stow out of your mind. If you want to get the real flavour of a great fayre, then head to Hookie. At Hook Norton Midsummer Fayre, on Friday 22 June, 3.30 to 5.30pm you will find all of human life: craft-making, the lollipop game, Spot the Ball, face painting, a plant stall, tombolas for adults and one for the children PLUS loads to eat - a cake stall and a BBQ with burgers and hot dogs.
You'll have lots of fun and help to raise money for a new school mini-bus. So book to finish work early and get down to the school with your kids and catch a summer evening at its best.
If you fancy lending a hand with FOHNS, why not help out at Music at the Crossroads on Saturday 7 July? We need volunteers to help run a small stall. If you have an hour to spare, let me know on the telephone number below.
A big thank you to everyone who helped to organise the Hook Norton Disco on May 19, especially to Derek Brotherston who kindly provided the music.
And thanks also to those who helped to organise the breakfast for parents at the May Day dancing. The warm croissants (all 150 of them) and coffee were a big hit, so thanks particularly to all the ladies that helped serve. We raised £117.00 and hope to make this an annual breakfast.
Our sole fundraising target is to provide the school with a new minibus.  This is a huge target as new ones can cost anything up to £25,000.  If there is anyone out there who can help us, especially in the motor trade, or perhaps offer some sponsorship, please get in touch.
Thanks to everyone for supporting FOHNS this year. Have a great summer!
Nancy Hawkins, Chair, Friends of Hook Norton School


HOOK NORTON ARTS SOCIETY
A 'Day School' is being held in the Hook Norton Brewery Visitors Centre on Tuesday 26th June 2007 when the subject will be Victorian Art and Literature.
The tutor is the well known Art History Lecturer, Alice Foster who will explore Victorian Art and its relationship to the literature of the time. This will be assisted by slides and text.
The cost for the day is £15; to include coffee at 9.30am, lunch and tea at 3.30pm.
To enrol, please contact Paul Warwick or Sue Coltman. Hurry – only a few places left.
Betty Couldrey


FLOWER FESTIVAL AND OPEN GARDENS
St Peter's Church, Hook Norton
Saturday 30th June & Sunday 1st July

Click the thumbnail for a full size image in a new window.


MUSIC AT THE CROSSROADS - HELP REQUIRED MUSIC AT THE CROSSROADS - HELP REQUIRED
In my email publicising the event lots of you replied that you would like to offer help at the event but were not sure what you could offer. Well.........we could do with volunteers for the following roles;
We are not asking you to provide all day assistance but if you could spare a couple of hours we give you a complimentary ticket for you to enjoy the rest of the day.
Without help from other villagers this event could not continue. Only today I was reading of an event in Warwickshire which could not be run because of a lack of helpers. It had to stop after 27 years. We don't want this to happen to OUR event because people enjoy the event and such a lot of people benefit financially from this event. If you can spare 2 hours please email Phil Shepherd  at ps@philshepherd.demon.co.uk with name, preferred task and time available.
Outside of the event we have raffle tickets now on sale. If you can sell some for us again please email me and I will arrange to get some to you. T shirts will be available soon please look out for them in our ticket outlets. The more we sell the more money we raise to give away in October.



MUSIC AT THE CROSSROADS – ALL THE INFO HERE



LEE STRATFORD COMMUNITY TRUST
Three Huge Thank You's
We have just bought a new football kit for the U13's. A striking Royal Blue to match the Senior First team. We all hope that it will inspire them to carry on with the good work! A large part of this kit was bought with money donated by the Boxing Day Veterans Football Match and Family evening. Special thanks to Alison & Trevor Thomas for all their hard work in putting a great day together, and to all the "old" Hooky footballers who came out of retirement to play.
Sandra & Jill at Salon 2 organised a fantastic Fashion Show held at Chipping Norton Golf Club on March 2nd. Half the profit went to Katherine House Hospice and half to Lee's Trust. It was a fantastic evening and looked very polished and professional. Well done.
Kerrie & Colette organised a great St Patrick's Night bash to raise money for the Oxford Children's Hospital and Lee's Trust. So much effort was put into this. but sadly it was under supported. But apart from that it was brilliant! ! !
Walk for Wheels
On 31st March four of my colleagues from Oxford & Cherwell Valley College, Di Jeffreys, Janine Knight and myself walked the 14 miles from Lower Heyford along the canal to Banbury. It was great weather which helped, and with Di striding out being our pace maker and striking up some banter with passers by, it was a very enjoyable morning. Walking conditions were quite poor in places and we thought we were going to loose Janine in the Canal at one point but we made it safely to Banbury just before 1:00pm, having started at 9:00am. On writing this, not all the money is in yet (a downside to sponsored walks) but we hope to have raised in excess of £500, which will be split equally between Lee's Trust and the fund for a new mini bus for Foundation Learning at the College.
Canal Walk
To celebrate what would have been Lee's 25th Birthday, I was planning to walk the Oxford Canal (77 miles) on the 4th August 2007 and to gather sponsors for this to fund not only Lee's Trust but other village organisations. After walking the 14 mile section on 31st March, I have decided that this will not be possible. Because of the bad state of the tow path, in some places, it would be impossible to actually cover the distance in 24 hours. Logistically it would be a nightmare and I believe that I would not be able to muster the support necessary for this to be a viable fundraising exercise.
So instead -
Hook Norton Football Club Six a Side Tournament
This will take place on 4th August 2007 at the Sports & Social Club. It is hoped that the teams involved will have all known Lee and that they can come together to make this a special day. A sub committee meeting will take place in early June to arrange this event. We feel this would be a fitting tribute to celebrate what would have been Lee's special day.
How We Spend Our Money
This is a break down of where the money raised went last year (our first year).
Total £3,220.00
Thank you to everyone who has supported our events and donated money.

Spirit Award
The presentation of the Hook Norton Juniors Spirit Award was held on 11th May. The winner this year was Oliver Evans. He was presented with a certificate and £50 of sports vouchers.
Well done Oliver, keep up the good work and enjoy spending your much deserved prize!
The Spirit Award for the young player in the Senior section will be presented at the Sports & Social Club on 2nd June.
The Spirit Award is presented to players, who in the opinion of the management have shown throughout the season the qualities - Dedication, Camaraderie and Pure Spirit. These three qualities define the passion that Lee had, not only for the game, but for the Club and it's members.

Hooky Duck Race
This will again take place on 27th August Bank Holiday Monday at the Pear Tree Pub, Midday till around 5:00pm. We have just bought twenty Designer Ducks to compete in the races, this will make it easier for you to follow your sponsored duck in the race. We are asking if any local fundraising organisations would like to hold a stall at the event., if so please contact me by the 15th July. If possible stalls should have a duck or water theme.

A Personal Thank You
This is to my husband Jeff. He is not often acknowledged in the thanks for the things the Trust has done, but without him it could not happen. He is dragged along in the wake of my "good ideas" and has to put up with all the mess (boxes of event things and card making stuff) which is slowly taking over large parts of our home. He's there to put up the signs, loading and unloading the car on many occasions and the general dogs body and at the last Duck Race spent most of the day up to his knees in muddy water! All at my request. So Thanks Jeff, for being a brilliant husband and my best friend. Love you lots!
Valerie Stratford, valerie@stratford4496.fsnet.co.uk


STOUR SINGERS – SHIPSTON'S CHORAL SOCIETY
The start of Stour Singers' concert on Sat 12th May was delayed by people pouring into St Edmund's, Shipston for tickets at the door. The wait was worthwhile for music lovers were treated to a spirited performance of Cherubini's now rarely heard Requiem in C minor & Hummel's Mass in B flat given by the Singers & The Cherwell Orchestra. The Requiem, popular in it's day and played at Beethoven's funeral, is intensely operatic but concludes with a long pianissimo passage followed by a breathtaking silence which was skifully handled by Richard Emms, the conductor.
Stour Singers next concert, on Saturday 8th December 2007 in St Edmund's is also unusual featuring Misa Criolla & Navidad Nuestra by the Argentinian composer, Ariel Ramirez along with familiar Christmas carols for audience and choir. The concert is in collaboration with the South American folk group, Caliche.
Rehearsals start at 7.30pm on Thursday 20th September at Shipston Primary School. New members are welcome (no auditions) – please contact Vic Twyman, tel: 01608 66415 for further details.

BARTON-ON-THE-HEATH SUMMER FETE,
SATURDAY 30 JUNE, 4 PM

BEAUTIFUL village green, SAFE venue for children, LOTS of parking

500 LOCAL-GROWN PLANTS AND GARDEN SUNDRIES all under £3
LIVE JAZZ FROM 6 PM from Nick Gill et al.
HOOK NORTON BITTER plus cider and soft drinks
CREAM TEAS AND ICE CREAMS from 4 pm
FISH AND CHIPS SUPPER from 5 pm
WINE ON SALE FROM THE VINES OF BARTON HOUSE
BYGONES AND HOME EFFECTS STALL bargains to brighten your home
LOTS OF GAMES FOR CHILDREN (AND ADULTS) OF ALL AGES RAFFLE AND AUCTION with attractive prizes
LOCAL FOOD PRODUCE jams, cakes, preserves, etc.
TOMBOLA with 100 bottle prizes of wine and spirits



OXFORDSHIRE 2007 SUMMER GUIDE PUBLISHED
Summer sees some exciting new events for Oxfordshire 2007, the year of special celebrations marking the county's millennium. A second season guide has been published, covering months up to the end of August. Designed to showcase the wealth of cultural events the county has to offer, together with a series of innovative new events specially for this special year, the season guides – published by Oxford Inspires, the cultural development agency for Oxfordshire which is coordinating the year – reflect the huge diversity and talent which exists in the 'creative county'.
Highlights include Opening Doors, Opening Minds (23-24 June ), which leads families on a trail of discovery across Oxford with more than 25 sites and buildings taking part; the first-ever Children's Food Festival (14-15 July), fronted by celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc and Sophie Grigson; a unique Alice's Day (7 July) complete with giant croquet, Mad Hatter's tea party and the chance to see some rare Alice treasures; a Civil War battle (21-22 July) and the best-ever Cowley Road Carnival (1 July) which has 1000 years of carnival as its theme. The hunt is also on for Oxfordshire's outstanding men and women: Great Entrepreneurs (15 May-19 June) gives people the chance to vote from six successful innovators, and Oxfordshire's Finest is a quest initiated by Oxfordshire 2007's broadcast partner BBC Oxford across a number of different categories from sport to science and the arts.
Oxfordshire 2007 celebrates a number of other milestone anniversaries within the county and this summer sees a clutch of festival birthdays: the internationally renowned Henley Festival (11-15 July) celebrates its 25th anniversary, including a spectacular pyrotechnic finale each night with fireworks, fire dancing, jets of fire and fire sculptures; Artweeks also celebrates its 25th birthday with a number of new special events; Art in Action sees its 30th (19-22 July) ; Cropredy Festival its 40th (9-11 August); and Truck Festival its 10th.
With more than 80 festivals across Oxfordshire each year, Oxford Inspires has highlighted this flourishing aspect of the county's culture by publishing an 8-page summer festival guide.
Events on Oxfordshire's waterways are highlighted through Go with the Flow, a millennium project; and Faces of Oxfordshire, a year-long project which celebrates people and stories in exciting and unusual ways.
Both the Summer Season guide and the Festival leaflet are available from libraries and information centres across the county – and may also be downloaded from www.oxfordshire2007.com.