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FAURE’S REQUIEM
Posted Friday 8th August 2008

St.Agatha's choir is rehearsing to perform the Fauré Requiem on the evening of Remembrance Sunday, November 9th, and welcomes additional singers. Practices take place on Friday evenings in the church at 7.00pm for half an hour (except in August). If you would like to join, ring Derek Nightingale, 01491 835712.

(ST)RIDING OUT TO SAVE CHURCHES
Posted Friday 8th August 2008

If you like walking or cycling, and fancy a chance of exploring Oxfordshire’s numerous historic churches, you might like to join the sponsored Ride and Stride on Saturday 13 September.

Last year, riders and walkers from Brightwell raised £625 for the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, making them the fourth biggest fund-raisers in the area. The total for Wallingford, Didcot and surrounding villages was over £7,000.

Non walkers and cyclists can support the event by acting as welcomers in one of Brightwell’s three churches, by sponsoring someone who is taking part, or by being sponsored themselves. The Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust supports historic churches of all denominations. All money raised will be divided between the trust and a church nominated by each participant.

For more details about the trust’s work, and for a helpful sketch map of suggested routes, visit http://www.ohct.org.uk. To obtain a sponsor form, contact Roy Thorpe on 01491 837334

NEWS FROM WALLINGFORD MUSEUM
Posted Friday 8th August 2008

Bunkfest special events at Wallingford Museum will include a free local history walk on Sunday 31 August, led by members of the Wallingford Historical & Archaeological Society (TWHAS). Meet for the walk at Wallingford Museum at 11.00am, and be back by 12.30pm.

Experts will be on hand to identify archaeological objects and fossils in a repeat of the successful Finds and Fossils Day on 13 September, from 10 am to 1 pm in the Courtyard behind the Museum. Also, by popular demand, on the same day there will be two guided walks led by local historian Judy Dewey. At 11am there will be a Castle history walk, followed by a Town history walk at 2.30pm. Both walks, lasting just over 2 hours, start at the Museum with a charge of £3 for each walk.

Star attraction at the museum is the medieval ‘Burghmote Roll’, with tally stick attached, on loan from the Berkshire Record office. This is a record of the local medieval court of Burghmote and Pie Powder at which the Mayor would have presided. 'Pie Powder' was a special court to deal with problems involving merchants. The name originated from the French "pieds poudre" - "dusty feet", and reflected the state of the merchants' feet as they travelled from town to town. The court dealt quickly with disputes so that the merchants could move on.

The Tally stick is a sort of medieval IOU. It records a debt owed by a Wallingford man, Robert le Taillor and his wife, to a merchant of the Earl of Chester. The amount owed - seven shillings - is shown by notches cut along the side of the stick, a system of accounting which everyone would have understood. The Tally stick, once notched, was sliced in half; Robert would have had one half, the Earl of Chester's merchant the other.

Click here for more news from Wallingford Museum (in Microsoft Word format).

NEW COMPUTER COURSES
Posted Friday 8th August 2008

Make this autumn and winter your chance to get computer literate, with the aid of new computer courses being put on by Wallingford Adult Learning. Extra courses not included in the current brochure include:

• Editing Digital Pictures A. A day getting to grips with manipulating and editing digital pictures. Sat 04/10/08 10.00-16.00
• Editing Digital Pictures B. Enhance your pictures before printing, produce collages, slideshows and posters. Mon 06/10/08 09.00-12.20 3 wks
• Moving to Office 2007. Sat 07/03/09 10.00-16.00
• Newsletters – Beginners, using MS Word. Mon 08/12/08 09.30-15.30
• Newsletters – Improvers. Mon 05/12/08 09.30-15.30
• Practise Your Skills Mon 03/11//08 09.30-11.30 5 wks
• Spreadsheets – Beginners. Mon 05/01/09 09.30-15.30
• Spreadsheets – Improvers. A follow on day covering more advanced formatting and formulae including graphs. Mon 30/03/09 09.30-15.30
• Using Open Office Word Processing. A short course introducing this freeware alternative to MS Office. Mon 12/01/09 09.30-11.30 5 wks
• Maintain Your Computer. Take control of your filing, back up files, maintain your hard disk, update software and start customising your computer. Sat 10/01/09 10.00-16.00 5wk
• Word Processing Hints & Tips. Sat 11/11/08 10.00-16.00

For more details contact Wallingford Adult Learning on 01491 836710 or send an email to cheryl.graham@oxfordshire.gov.uk. If you leave a message you will be contacted as soon as possible.

SCOUTING IN BRIGHTWELL-CUM-SOTWELL
Posted Wednesday 6th August 2008

The cubs now have a new web page, in the Community and Leisure page. Meanwhile, the search is still on for someone to lead a Beaver group in the village. If you think you might be that person, please contact Jon Payne, e-mail jgp@e-3-ltd.co.uk

STEWART MEMORIAL INSTITUTE
Posted Wednesday 6th August 2008

Keith Bailey, who is researching his wife’s family history, has sent us the following request from help:

‘Please can someone in Brightwell help us find if there are records of the families who lived at the Stewart Memorial Institute? According to the 1901 Census, my wife's great grandmother, Sarah Sophia Hawkins, lived there together with her daughter, Lilian, her husband Charles Edward Calladine, and Ivor their son. It appears that several families lived there at the time. We wonder how long the Institute provided housing, and what the criteria were for eligibility?

‘We enjoyed a brief visit to Brightwell some months ago to take pictures and check in the churchyard. We live in Suffolk but have spent part of our lives in Berks and Oxon.’

Keith can be contacted at keith_bailey@btopenworld.com. Follow this link for more family history stories.

FAIRTHORNE MEMORIAL TRUST
Posted Wednesday 6th August 2008

Not many people know that Brightwell has its very own charitable trust, which provides help for local people “in need, hardship or distress”. The amount in the pot may not be of Bill Gates proportions – but the trustees are keen to see more applications for assistance.

“Examples of how we have helped people in the past include payment for trips organized by village bodies, supplementary educational assistance and supporting other village functions,” says secretary Michael Drury.

If you feel you might benefit from this – or know someone else in need – contact Michael Drury on (01491) 832460, or e-mail fnu_snu@msn.com. All applications will be treated in confidence.

VILLAGE FETE – 12 JULY 2008
Posted Wednesday 6th August 2008 - Courtesy of The Villager and Hugh Roderick

The signs weren’t good, but we got lucky and the Fete survived the weather again this year. Who cares, anyway. The village always enjoys the fete, come rain or shine. We recorded a profit of some £3,350, down slightly from last year. The White Elephant stall - £1155.46, the Bottle stall - £598.31, and the Books stall - £399.65 were star performers this year. A popular new attraction was the Candy Floss stall – perhaps less so with parents dealing with the sticky fingers and faces. As ever, Fete profits will be distributed by the Community Association as contributions to village activities and organisations. All groups that want to apply for funds this year and haven’t received an application form should contact our Treasurer, James Davys on 834195. The Fete was very kindly hosted again by David and Jenny Dobbin at Sotwell House. With the bad weather in the week before threatening to turn the garden into a quagmire, we were even more grateful than usual for David and Jenny’s immense preparatory work, and patient responses to requests for branch trimming etc.

Any comments and suggestions for the Fete in the future will be well received. Why not use the Villager to express your ideas.

FLOWER AND PRODUCE SHOW
Posted Wednesday 6th August 2008

Sally Dugan writes:
Another year, another panic… Would the rain hold off? Would gardeners find enough to enter among the rows of blackened onions and blighted roses? By Wednesday, entries were well down on previous years; the night before the show saw committee members furiously raiding their gardens at dusk and indulging in some serious arm-twisting to make sure there was plenty to fill the tables.

But villagers and the clerk of the weather came up trumps. The rain pretty much held off all day – and, although flower and vegetable entries were down, there was still plenty to interest visitors. The animal made from vegetables – judged by popular vote- proved a close-run thing. The winner by a nose was Joy Butterfield’s ‘It’s a dog life’ – a potato in a four-poster bed, with carrots for struts and a cabbage leaf bedspread. Coming closely behind was a particularly stylish parrot, followed by a peacock and a clutch of carrot birds in a nest.

Ideas for next year’s ‘popular vote’ class will be gratefully accepted – along with any suggestions for what we could do better or differently. One complaint about our discrimination in giving the men – and not the ladies - a cake recipe has been duly noted. This is more about schedule space, and encouraging as many entries as possible, rather than sexism. The whole concept of ‘men’s’ and ‘ladies’ cookery, and of the men’s flower arrangement, doesn’t bear too much examination. However, I agree it doesn’t look good.

As ever, we are very grateful to our judges and to our many helpers. Thank you to Brian Smith, for stepping in at the last minute to organise refreshments – and to Martin Lovering, for being willing to do it in the first place, and then organising his replacement when he was hijacked to perform a wedding!

Click here for the full produce show results (in Microsoft Word format).

TEAM HENRY UPDATE
Posted Wednesday 6th August 2008

Jerry Walters has raised £3,285 in a wet cycle ride for CLIC Sargent, the cancer charity that has supported the Walters family during 10-year old Henry’s treatment for a pituitary gland tumour.

‘Team Henry’ – which includes members of the City of London Police, Wallingford Rugby Club and friends - rode in the London to Oxford Cycle ride on July 6.

To find out more, or to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/TeamHenry.

PARISH PLAN - LATEST
Posted Wednesday 2nd July 2008

Brightwell Parish Plan has been held up as a model for others to follow – most recently, being chosen by SERCC (South East Rural Community Council) for inclusion as one of four case studies across the South East. To view these case studies, visit www.sercc.org.uk and click on Community Planning.

Affordable housing, the Environment Group’s energy-saving projects, the campaign for a community shop and improved communication – including this website – are among the developments highlighted. The published documents were presented at the Oxfordshire Community Led Planning Conference and the ACRE Rural Life Conference at Keele University in June. The Chief Executive of ACRE works with Defra and the Commission for Rural Communities and is also a member of advisory groups to government offices.

“It is over four years since we completed the Parish Plan,” says Celia Collett, who chaired the Steering Group. “Since then the Parish Council, various village groups and organisations have been working hard to deliver the action plan. Many actions have been completed and some are still being worked on. The Village Shop is one where there is still a strong dedicated commitment to make it happen.

“Parish and Community-led plans can now have a significant influence both locally and nationally, with the national policy on community empowerment and a new statutory “duty to involve” local people.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that we continue to enable people to be a part of the decisions that affect their lives. We must build on what has already been achieved. Well done, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, for what has been accomplished so far.”

HELP WANTED
Posted Tuesday 1st July 2008

Once again, we are appealing for help with the maintenance and enhancement of your village web site.

The site is operated by a small team of volunteers, and though we have many plans for improvements, time constraints are preventing us implementing these as quickly as we would like. We would very much appreciate assistance both in the day-to-day updating of the site, and with the design and implementation of new features and facilities.

If you have any experience with web page design using HTML and/or PHP and MySQL - or if you are keen to learn, then we would like to hear from you. Please contact Myron Edwards: e-mail myron.edwards@virgin.net

DUCK GREEN OR DATCHET GREEN
Posted Tuesday 1st July 2008

Feathers have been flying on the quiet lawns of Datchet Green with a home-hatched duck saga featuring passion, rivalry and a fluffy ending. Click here for a full account from Leandra Briggs.

FLOWER AND PRODUCE SHOW
Posted Tuesday 1st July 2008

Now is the time to check out your rose beds and root through your photo albums in search of entries for this year’s show. Or you could even start practising on your animal made from vegetables (to be judged by popular vote).

Photography classes this year are on the themes of holidays, the joys of gardening, or simply ‘make us smile’. There is also a class for a set of four photos on the theme of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. So, even if you are not a gardener or a cook, the chances are you will have an odd photo you can enter.

Schedules and entry forms for this year’s show are now available in the Red Lion, in the Villager, or online. The show is staged in the grounds of Sotwell House, as part of the Village Fete, on Saturday 12 July, and you can submit entry forms in advance to any committee member. Late entries are also accepted up until 10.30 am on the day of the show.

For more details contact sally.dugan@virgin.net or ring Paul Chilton 01491 836661 .

NEW SCHOOL HEAD
Posted Tuesday 1st July 2008

Brightwell School will have a new acting headteacher in the autumn term, following Roger Grant’s departure for a new headship in Henley.

Angela Harbut is currently deputy headteacher at Holy Trinity CE Aided Primary School in Sunningdale, Berkshire. She has been at Holy Trinity since 1990 and has experience as acting as Headteacher during various times at this school. She also brings 18 years experience of Sunday school teaching at Maidenhead Baptist Church, including 12 years as joint leader of the primary department (3 to 7 year olds).

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
Posted Tuesday 1st July 2008

New to the Community and Leisure web pages is one for the British Legion. It features pictures of two Remembrance Day ceremonies – one, after the First World War, the other – more recent – featuring Col. Gilbert Talbot. The British Legion always welcomes new members of all ages. Contact John Wardle 01491 833160 for information, or click here for the new web page.

Meanwhile, plans are afoot to stage a performance of Fauré’s Requiem in St Agatha’s Church, to ensure that this year’s Remembrance Sunday weekend is one to remember.