April/May 2010

Letters to the Editor: White Lines

Can we be assured that the hideous white lines that have appeared on the road outside the Village Hall will disappear as quickly as they arrived? Building work for the shop may have created a short-term parking problem, but these suburban excrescences have done nothing to alleviate it. They have simply pushed the bottleneck further down the street.

I know the Parish Council was understandably concerned about the problems of parking on the Street, but the highways authority seems to have come up with a completely over-the-top solution. Quite apart from the visual damage caused to the streetscape, it seems wrong that even the people most affected – i.e. those who now live behind a lurid barrier of Keep Clear markings – do not seem to have been consulted. I, too, live in a part of the Street where parking is a problem. Does this mean I might come home one day to find white lines stopping me from parking outside my own house?

Temporary yellow cones on days when children are likely to be milling around the front of the Village Hall – for example, on Toddler Group Mondays – would be perfectly adequate. Or, if we really have to have white lines, must they be on both sides of the street?

We’ve just loaded some wonderful 1943 black and white photographs of the village on to the website. Everywhere you look, there are trees and more trees, and not a car in sight. Of course we can’t ignore our 21st century traffic problems, but we need to do our utmost to preserve the rural character of the village. This is the slippery slope. Next stop: double yellow lines and traffic wardens?

Sally Dugan

Mona Nicholls 1912-2010

Mona and Ron Nicholls came to live in the village when they were first married in 1939. They lived in Combe House, Slade End and later built a bungalow next door naming it Oakridge after the village in Gloucestershire where Mona had been born and lived until coming to work in this area as a clerk for the electricity board. A few years ago Mona had a smaller bungalow built next door, which became the new Oakridge.

During the war both Ron and Mona were in reserved occupations and while Ron was in the Home Guard, Mona was a member of a combined attachment of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade and the WVS and had to cycle to the Church Hall in Wallingford every night to prepare for casualties should there be an attack or an invasion. During the war years and after when she had her children, Mona developed a passionate interest in gardening and she also acquired good cooking and sewing skills and for many years made all her own and the children’s clothes. Mona though was never destined to stay at home and in 1954 she returned to work with Brayshaw and Co. a local firm of accountants who were also agents for the Halifax Building Society. She developed lasting relationships with many of her clients and took great pleasure in helping and encouraging those who were starting in business for the first time. Mona notionally retired at 65 years but continued to work from home with a few select clients until she was in her early 80s.

From the end of the war up to 1978, Mona was a very active and committed member of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade. She was appointed a Nursing Officer and ran the Wallingford Girls’ Cadet Division for some 20 years. In November 1960 she was appointed a Serving Sister by Henry Duke of Gloucester with an investiture at The Guild Hall, London and in June 1972 became the Divisional Superintendent for Berkshire. As a Serving Sister Mona provided first aid support at numerous functions and was on duty at the Coronation in 1953. Her interests were varied - she was just as content providing first aid cover at the Reading Pop Festival as at a village fete.

Despite her involvement with the St John’s Ambulance Brigade and also working, Mona was a devoted wife and mother. Her home and family were very important to her and she was unstinting with her encouragement and support. In her later years she continued with her interest in nature, particularly wild life and gardening. The family always had dogs and she loved nothing more than a brisk walk down the fields in the early mornings. Latterly with diminished mobility she enjoyed visits from family, friends, and neighbours so that she could keep abreast of village news and up to a couple of years ago regularly attended the village Lunch Club.

In all a happy life and a life well lived.

Sue Nicholls

Community Village Stores: “A little house, whose humble roof is weatherproof….”

Well not quite, but at least the timbers are up in all their glory as I write this. You can see our progress on the excellent website and blog which Nicola Benning has created at http://www.brightwellvillagestores.blogspot.com/ You can also get up to date news on the Community Village Stores from there and it will become a major means of telling the village what special offers and other attractions are in our Stores each week. At the moment, the Stores seem surrounded by a moat, the relic of our very wet winter but spring is nearly here with daffodils and drying ground so don’t despair.

We have advertised for a paid manager to start about six weeks before the Stores open. This is a really important appointment and we are very grateful that the ex Head of Wales for Odgers, Jemma Terry, is helping Corinne in her search.

Corinne and her growing team are now meeting regularly to plan the look of the shop, what it will stock, where we will source the products and to start the organisation of the volunteers. Mundane matters such as book-keeping and VAT returns also need to be included in the planning as do the many permissions necessary to start a shop. We are receiving a great deal of help from Jane Barker of ORCC who herself used to run a shop and who co-ordinates all the village shops in our area.

Virtually all the money pledged by the village has now been collected by David Dobbin and his team – a sterling (no pun intended) effort. We cannot thank everybody enough for their generosity. Money is still coming in from those who did not pledge in the initial stages. So don’t stop now, every little helps. Sue Robson at the Red Lion generously hosted a quiz recently which raised £180 for both St Agatha’s and for the Stores; thank you very much, Sue. Now we are in the bureaucratic maze of filling in the forms to claim the grants which we have been awarded -– time consuming but necessary and also productive! All systems “Go” .. and soon we will be weatherproof.

Jim Sanger

Environment Group: Millennium Wood

Were you in the Millennium Wood in March 2000? If you were, then you would have been planting a cherry, ash or some other native sapling along with many other toiling villagers. Fortunately March 2000 was dry for the planting, but April and the remainder of the year was quite wet, allowing the trees to become established. A ring of larger oak trees was planted by a contractor to form a central glade and lots of smaller trees were put in the area alongside the A4130. Some time later, the names of all those villagers who contributed to the Wood in effort or money were recorded in a beautifully illustrated book. Initially the land was leased to the Parish Council by SODC at a peppercorn rent, but later it was gifted to the Council and it is now owned by the Parish. Over the last ten years the trees have flourished. Many are now much more than head-high and bursting out of their guards. The Wood attracts lots of insects, birds and some deer and the undergrowth has developed, boasting fine blackberries in the autumn. With a grant from TOE and money from the Parish Council, the Community Association and the Environment Group, a path has recently been constructed to circle much of the wood. This eases access and allows a stroll through the trees with a return across the glade.

John Rodda

Spring Projects at Brightwell School

It’s good to see that Spring has now sprung! We have a number of spring projects underway at the school, all of which are very exciting.

We began the term with a surprise for the children – a new servery area for lunchtimes. The new area is quite beautiful with rainbows, hot-air balloons and fluffy white clouds on a blue sky background. It raised a huge “wow!” from the children when it was revealed! We also have some fabulous new chairs and tables for lunchtimes. As a consequence, we have a number of older chairs and tables available if anyone would like any.

Recently we were privileged to have the expert knowledge of Paul Chilton with us in school. Paul has kindly donated 5 apple trees to the school. Each is a different variety and therefore will produce different blossom and the fruit will ripen at slightly different times. Each of our 5 classes now has a tree and as the children grow through the school they will inherit a tree for the year and learn about that particular variety. In years to come we may even get a pie or two from them!

The school eco-council held a competition to design the new pond area. Zoe Govan was our winner and her design is now underway thanks to the muscle power of the RAF working in school to help us dig the new area. The eco-council plan to be planting their flowers and shrubs in the next few weeks. Our aim is to include lots of insect houses and bird boxes with the use of new ICT equipment to be able to view the nests inside from the classrooms! With our focus on outdoor learning this area will be become an invaluable asset.

On 1 March we held an open evening for parents to come and comment on the direction for School Improvement over the next twelve months. This was a fabulous evening and all who attended have said how much they enjoyed it. I appreciate everyone’s input and comments and with the governors, will endeavour to take on board as many as is practically possible.

Liz Hunt

The Red Lion

At last the Spring is here and it is a delight to be opening up in daylight. We have had a busy year so far and have lots of special evenings planned for April and May. Hopefully there is something to tempt most tastes. We do tend to get fully booked on our special nights so please try to book a table in advance. Our pies are going from strength to strength - after much experimentation we can now offer a 'made to order' pie. Choose your pie with or without a bottom and with a shortcrust, puff pastry or mashed potato top, choose also from a selection of delicious fillings Don't miss our special pie nights (see below).

As always we have four local real ales on tap. Our local Brightwell beer is particularly popular and amazingly there are still people in the village who don't know about it. Andrew brews two beers at Highlands farm Brightwell Gold and Power Station. If you haven't tried them yet why not come in a have a taste - you won't be disappointed.

Plans are well underway for BrightFest which will be the weekend of 5 and 6 June. Hopefully the weather will be good in which case the bands will be performing in the car park like last year. We have split the days into Saturday for the lively bands and Sunday for the Folk/Jazz style of music. Any money collected over the weekend will be split between the St. Agatha's church extension fund and the new Village Shop. As there is no entry charge we hope people will donate generously. I do appreciate that BrightFest is not to everyone's taste but I feel that as a local pub we try to cater to all sections of the community and hopefully a noisy weekend once a year is not too much.

Sue Robson

Parish Church

When I was at theological college it was customary to check out the current theologian of the day who was capturing everyone’s imagination. So I looked into the work of John Milbank who was then (and still is) championing a movement called ‘Radical Orthodoxy’. My enthusiasm waned when I found the concepts rather obscure. In the 1960s, the current theologians were Reinhold Niebuhr and C.H.Dodd (a Welshman and Congregationalist who taught Biblical Criticism at Oxford). So the phrase was coined in the colleges; ‘love thy Niebuhr as thyself and the lord thy Dodd with all thy heart’.

Niebuhr was unusual amongst academic theologians of his day in that he spent a sizeable chunk of his career as a pastor. Following two years of study at Yale, his experiences as a pastor in Detroit from 1915 to 1928 brought him face to face with the harshness and disruption of urban industrial life and the seeming irrelevance of his ‘simple little moral homilies’ to it. He found that if his theology only worked in theory, then it wasn’t much use to the people he met in downtown Detroit. Against the prevailing liberal theology of his day, Niebuhr emphasised human sinfulness and our capacity for self-deception. In his view, contemporary culture under-emphasised the force in humans for corruption. However, he wasn’t a pessimist, he believed that people could deal constructively with their problems if they relied on grace and forsook illusions. His prayer about ‘knowing the difference’ was written in 1934 and has much to say to the uncertain times we’re going through today:

God, grant us grace to accept

the things we cannot change,

Courage to change the things

we can change,

And wisdom to know the difference.

These extra lines are often left off the end:

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time,

accepting hardship as the pathway to peace;

taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;

that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

and supremely happy with Him for ever in the next. Amen.

These are thoughtful words born of a struggle to see God at work in our ordinary lives. They don’t over-romanticise or infantilise religion. Rather than manipulating God they offer us a hint that the ‘holy’ is present amongst us in the dust and dirt of everyday life, if we watch out for it, and work at it.

Safari Supper anyone?

Jeremy Goulston

Farming Update – Highlands Farm

Seasonally depressing – and I’m not talking about political confusion as we move inexorably towards a general election - it is the winter weather of course! I dislike grey, cold and wet in any combination and hope by the time this is read, that ‘spring will have sprung’ in abundance!

We completed new hedgerow planting in January – digging hundreds of holes is one thing, but every plant has to be staked, guarded and the entire sections fenced to prevent damage from marauding wildlife - rabbits, hares, deer apart from the grazing sheep.

Lambing finished here in mid-February and not a moment too soon! Three weeks of concentrated effort and 18 hour shifts meant some weary shepherds - but with the best lambing results ever, we can be very satisfied with the detail invested. The flock was scanned in early December when all pregnant ewes were colour marked and batched depending on singles, twins, triplets or quads being expected. Scanning is an essential management tool, ensures ewes are fed accurately and eases any guesswork at lambing time. We have a ‘closed flock’ which means breeding from our own stock - only buying rams occasionally to improve the genetic potential of the flock. Our best ewe lambs will be retained and the others are destined for the fat lamb trade. These may end up in the supermarkets, but apart from a few that are sold locally for the freezers – most Brightwell lamb often goes to France in carcass form, where there is a strong consumer demand for a range of sheep meat.

As I write, the next arable task is planting spring beans directly into over-wintered stubbles. The land is currently very wet and needs to dry before any progress can be made. Beans grown for human consumption – with the fall back for animal feed if quality is poor – will provide a break crop in our arable rotation giving fertility build-up and a disease break; greatly benefiting the following wheat crop.

Looking ahead – harvest 2010 will start here at the end of July or early August - depending on weather conditions during the growing season. Most of our grain is now moved directly from the farm at harvest time to a cooperative storage facility near Stonehenge. This means all grain is dried, cleaned, blended, stored and marketed from a central point providing advantages of scale, supply, guaranteed quality and logistics for buyers or exporters. With greater accountability, food health and hygiene standards apart from cost advantages from strength in cooperation – this is the way ahead for many and will undoubtedly be a concept that will expand substantially in the years to come.

That said – I miss the cut and thrust of speculating on the grain markets although any predictability of price and market movement is now almost impossible to gauge! Perhaps the greatest influence on world grain markets is investors, hedge funds, traders and speculators. Exchange rates are also critical, as is the price of crude oil which reflects the value of grain destined for ethanol production. Supply and demand hardly features in the equation - unless there is a major food crisis or global harvest shortfall.

So where does this leave us in the U.K? Much of our farming is world class and given the encouragement could produce much more from existing resources. The knowledge and experimental base that was outstanding here in the 70’s and 80’s has been seriously eroded and needs major repair if agriculture is to contribute to the growing concerns on food production. This means a balanced approach to future livestock and arable production, conservation and climate change - but cannot discount advances in technology including plant breeding techniques.

Farming will respond to any challenge.

David Greasby

Brightwell Free Church

It is with sadness that I let you know that one of our long-serving members, Janet Coles, died on Saturday 20th February at the age of 63. Some of you will know who Janet was; many who don’t will have been served by her in her work on the checkouts in Waitrose for the last 9 years until her death. We will miss her very much but we do believe she is in a better place now, free from all suffering and tears. Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians (Ch 4:13) says that he doesn’t want us to be ignorant about what happens to believers when they die, so he tells us. If you have a Bible you might like to look it up. It is good to remember that we are mortal and to make preparation for the inevitable. Avoidance of Inheritance Tax is not the only preparation we need to think about! Eternity is a long time!

Many of you have noticed the refurbishment work going on at our church. The concrete skim on the walls has been removed, replaced and painted. The roof is being fitted with a layer of insulation before replacing the slates. We also arranged for some electrical sockets to be replaced. It was supposed to be a one-day job but the electrician soon discovered some wiring that possibly dates back to when the oil lights were replaced! This meant not a day’s work but a week’s work rewiring much of the premises. We were back using the building on 5 March when we hosted the Women’s World Day of Prayer.

Does prayer work? We pray every day for my son who is in the RAF and is currently posted to Afghanistan. Last week he was on patrol in the Kandahar region when their vehicle hit one of those home-made roadside bombs. One of his colleagues was killed and another seriously injured. The miracle is that they had driven over the same spot twice before in that same evening and it didn’t go off. My son’s survival does not detract from the horrible loss to the parents of the young lad who was killed and we pray that they may be comforted. I believe God does answer our prayers, not always in the way we expect, but He does hear. I am not going to try to expound the theology of that here but why not try it. Ask God (with an open mind) to show you if he does exist and does care about you. You might be surprised!

During Lent, the Churches Together Wallingford Area are looking at the healing ministry of Jesus. Some people of course doubt the validity of the accounts but it won’t surprise you that I don’t doubt them. Does Jesus still heal today? I believe that he does. A number of Christians in the area are so convinced about it that they have begun to make themselves available to pray for healing for people in Wallingford Market Place on alternate Saturdays. Faith is being put to the test. I look forward to hearing accounts from those that are healed.

Neville Burt