Editorial June/July 2013

John Wardle 1928-2013

John was born in Reading, the youngest child in a large family. He had a hard childhood but a happy one. When John was in his teens he joined Reading Working Men's Rowing Club where he met Jean who later became his wife. They were married for 62 years.John and Jean spent many years living in Caversham where they had three children - Stephen, Susan and Sarah.

John was an early conscript into National Service. He served two years in the RAF as an engineer on the Sunderland Flying Boats.John's first job was with Huntleybourne and Stevens where he worked as a toolmaker. From there he went to Ideal Casements in Earley and Handley Page where he became a skilled engineer.He had to leave through ill health and spent time as a postman, as a salesman at Marley Tiles, and also worked for County Flooring.

In the early 1970's John and Jean decided on a radical career change and became publicans - firstly at The Bell at Wantage and later at The Bell in Crowmarsh Gifford where they stayed for 15 years until they retired in 1988.Upon retirement, John and Jean moved to Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, where they made many good friends. A favourite haunt was The Red Lion pub where they enjoyed many a Friday night.

Of course retirement did not mean a time of rest and relaxation for John, in fact quite the opposite! He enjoyed running the pub and Post Office in Standlake when the owners were on holiday. He also worked as a bearer for Howard Chadwick's Funeral Service, something he continued to do until only a short time ago.

John was a member of the British Legion for many years, including being Branch Secretary. Along with Jean and their good friends Terry and Beryl Bennett, they organised fundraising dinner evenings in the Village Hall which were always very well attended.

Life was a big adventure for John. There was always a project on the go, things to do, places to go. John's family and all of us will remember him as a kind, generous and a good man who lived a long life and lived it to the full.

Tony Hayzelden

President,Royal British Legion Branch

Tony Johnson 1933-2013

On 1 May, the family, friends and former colleagues attended the funeral at St Agatha’s church of Brightwell resident Tony Johnson. Married to Jean, Tony, who lived in Church Lane, served on the Queen’s Flight at RAF Benson for 19 years. His log books detail more than 3,000 hours flying as crew chief on the Andover aircraft which used to be a familiar sight in the local skies.

Tony travelled extensively with members of the royal family; HM the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother among others, taking in many trips across the USA, Caribbean, Africa, India and Australia. Even as far afield as Tonga for the coronation of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV in 1967. Journeys closer to home in the UK and Europe also included carrying VIP passengers ranging from senior politicians – Castle, Carrington and Healey to King Hussein of Jordan and Shah of Persia. As a member of this very special RAF unit, Tony and his colleagues – all hand-picked engineers, were responsible for keeping the Queen’s Flight aircraft maintained and serviced to the highest levels, at home and abroad, even on remote airstrips where resourcefulness and ingenuity was par for the course. Unquestionably, Tony was very proud to do his duty to the full whatever it took.

After leaving the RAF in 1973, he followed up with a successful career in the motor caravan industry. This was quite a change from looking after the Queen’s Flight’s Andovers, but his commitment, loyalty and can-do approach still applied. Away from work, Tony put his time and energies into a range of community activities. He served as a churchwarden in Wallingford, chairman of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell scouts and Wallingford School association. He was involved with the Wallingford Regatta for many years and the first bar manager at the Corn Exchange theatre when it opened in 1979.

To mark Tony’s RAF career, his funeral included a coffin drape of an RAF Ensign kindly loaned by RAF Benson, with a Royal Air Forces Association standard bearer also in attendance. For a final touch, Tony would have been especially pleased that a Merlin helicopter from Benson was specially authorised to fly low over St Agatha’s on its return from a training flight. Timed to perfection, everyone agreed that this was a perfect tribute from his former station.

Steve Johnson

Flower and Produce Show – Sat 13 July

Scarecrows, bunting, wind chimes …all have featured in the popular vote class for the Show (held every year as part of the Village Fete). This year we are trying a new tactic: a mystery competition, to be held between 2.15 and 3 pm at the Produce Show tent. No previous knowledge or skill required! Visitors to the tent will judge the results.

We have a new class for beer or cider to add to our highly popular home brew section. This year we will be getting a special judge, as the growing number of entries for these classes has made it a challenge for the committee to stay sober.

So, cartoonists and limerick writers get sharpening your pencils and quills; cooks get cooking; photographers and gardeners alike dig out your entries. We have a new ‘Any Handicraft’ class, so if your thing is knitting, sewing, crochet, felting, paper-cutting, modelling… or anything in between, we’d love to see what you’re up to. And for the under-16s, don’t forget you can compete for the Joan Sheard trophy for the best Junior entry in an adult class.

Note: After many decades of inflation-beating entry prices, we have increased our charge to 25p per adult entry (if entries come in by 6 pm on the Wednesday before the show), with 50p for each later entry (by 10.30 am on the morning of the show). Children’s entries stay the same, at 10p. We hope this modest price rise will encourage people to hand in their entry forms as early as possible, thus avoiding a last minute card-writing panic.

Sally Dugan

Environment Group May/June 2013

Conservation Plan for the Parish of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, 2nd Edition

You will have, or will soon be receiving, a copy of the second Parish Conservation Plan, produced by the Environment Group and delivered free to households in the parish. This 50-page fully illustrated publication, describes the projects undertaken in the Parish by the Group since the 1st Edition of the Plan was published in 1998.

Our Parish is currently under more pressure from outside influences than at any other time in its history. Some relate to planning and development issues, particularly the expansion of Didcot and Wallingford. Others concern the likely impact of climate change and invading species of plants, animals and diseases. How we may have some chance of controlling our own affairs should come through a Community Led Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan both of which are being developed currently.

The physical and human landscapes of the Parish are described initially, followed by an account of the twelve projects mounted by the Group. These include: a Garden Birds Survey, the Millennium Wood, the St James’s Churchyard Project, the Fruit Trees and Traffic Surveys and Thermal Imaging. It concludes with a discussion of coming problems such as increasing traffic and the rising costs of energy, together with a list of the talks staged by the Group every half year.

A large number of parishioners contributed in various ways. They are thanked sincerely for their help. Funds for the publication of the Plan came from the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and from the Parish Council and this is gratefully acknowledged.

New and continuing projects

Last summer’s wet weather halted the survey of moths. In the hope of some warmer weather, plans are being made for moths to be trapped, counted and identified this year at number of sites around the village. Based on guidance from SODC, a tree survey is to be conducted this summer. Heights, girths and species are to be recorded for trees over 10 metres in height in gardens, hedgerows and open spaces, so we have knowledge of what trees are here before ash dieback and other diseases strike. Noise has an impact on all our lives, particularly noise from the A4130. We are looking into the possibility of recording levels using a noise meter.

John Rodda

Brightwell School

It is lovely to see so much sunshine this half term. The children have been enjoying the weather and making great use of the outdoors. Russet class have been out and about around the village deciding what they should include in their scrapbook that will go out to the Puspita Foundation in Jakarta later this term. They have met many people in the village whilst on their travels, including learning all about quiltmaking from the ladies in the village hall about which they were extremely excited to tell the rest of the school. Pippin class are using the Millennium Woods once a week for their Forest School style learning and really enjoying their time there. Discovery class have been digging over the raised beds ready for seeds to be planted. The seeds have been provided by Waitrose and once harvested will be sold outside the store later this summer. Let’s hope the weather is on our side!

By the time you are reading this we will be nearing the end of another school year! Our Year 6 children will soon be moving on to the next stage in their education and we all wish them the very best of luck. They are a wonderful class and I shall miss them very much. It has been a privilege to watch them grow and blossom into such confident and honest young people. I hope they will take with them fond memories of Brightwell School and come back to visit when they can.

This year we are saying “goodbye”to two members of staff who have worked at the school for many years: Mrs (D.) McLaughlin and Mrs Teague from the Key Stage 1 team. Mrs McLaughlin has held a variety of different roles over the years: assistant cook, teaching assistant, breakfast club and lunchtime supervisor! She has decided that after 12 years it is time for a change and is moving on to pastures new. Mrs Teague has worked here for six and half years. She has worked in every class across the school and supported many children. She is moving to Yorkshire where her husband has been working for two years. We wish both Debbie and Miranda the very best of luck. I would like to thank them for all their hard work and dedication and hope they will stay in contact with the school as they move on to their new adventures. We will miss them both very much.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer,

Liz Hunt

Brightwell Bees

Viv and I started beekeeping seven years ago, mentored by former Brightwell beekeeper Viola Crowe. Our hive numbers have grown from just a single colony in 2006 to a current hive count of over seventy. We keep our honey bees in the villages around Brightwell, the hives are in groups of about six, typically located in large gardens, although we also have hives at the Earth Trust and Withy Mead nature reserves.

In defiance of the never ending cold wet weather, our bees came through the winter really well; it is amazing that a winter colony of about 10,000 honey bees can survive the rigours of a harsh UK winter – but of course, they have a wonderful food to sustain them – honey. Unbelievably, a single hive will consume about 25kg of honey stores between November and April – bees have a very healthy appetite!

During the spring, the queen honey bee will normally lay up to one thousand eggs each day, to take worker bee numbers up to an enormous headcount of around 40,000 by late spring. However, the persistent icy winds , which lashed the hives throughout March and April , have taken their toll, causing the spring growth in bee numbers to be slow. By vibrating their wing muscles to generate warmth, the bees maintain the temperature of their nest area at a constant 35°C whatever the weather outside. With such prolonged cold spring weather, the poor bees simply could not heat enough of the nest area to incubate a full contingent of baby bees, so throughout early spring, our bees have been about 3-4 weeks behind compared to a normal year. The good news is that much of the spring blossom has also been nearly a month late, so the bees have been able to forage on a full range of spring flowers, albeit significantly later than usual.

Friends in the village often ask us the question “What can I do to help bees?”Contrary to the recent media frenzy, it is not pesticides which are threatening our bees –it is lack of habitat. We can all help by planting bee friendly plants in the garden, summer and early autumn flowering plants being preferable, as in spring there is an abundance of hedgerow and tree blossom. Marjoram, thyme, geraniums, sedum and aster to name but a few, and if I were to select just one plant it would have to be lavender; all bees adore it. Preserving wild areas is another very important way in which we can help all species of bees. The “big three” sources of nectar and pollen for bees in late summer and autumn are bramble, rose bay willow herb and ivy. These plants are life savers for bees …. regrettably, they are often top of the slash and burn hit list for gardeners. Fortunately, all these plants are abundant in our village – this coupled with so many beautiful gardens is perhaps why we are blessed with an abundance of bees in Brightwell cum Sotwell.

Steve Moll

Beating the Bounds

Sixty parishioners joined us to beat the bounds on Sunday 12 May – a 15 mile walk around the parish boundary. The custom has ancient origins with many traditions – some of which we tried to weave into our perambulation. We started at St. Agatha’s with a church blessing, we planted thorn trees as we processed to mark our boundary and we beat boundary hedges on our way with willow sticks. We even managed to find a small boy willing to jump over a muddy ditch (as was the custom) – well done Elliot Frost for ‘volunteering’. The walk traditionally finished at the Red Lion so in the spirit of the event we all met up in the pub at the end.

At fifteen miles, the walk was quite a slog but well worth it. Fifteen hardy souls and 3 dogs even made it the whole way round! The beating of the bounds was organised as part of the Community Led Parish Plan. An important consideration in preparing the plan has been to ensure that all parts of the parish have been included so this was a good way of holding an event that through necessity takes place in Brightwell, Sotwell, Mackney, Sires Hill and Clapcot and I am pleased to say that we had walkers from each of our settlements. Chatting afterwards we agreed that the walk had opened our eyes as to what an extraordinarily varied and beautiful landscape we have in our parish. We all considered ourselves very lucky to live in such a wonderful place.

Jason Debney

Allsorts Pre-School

Have you been to the Red Lion recently? We hope so –not just because it’s our lovely village pub and it’s great to support it, but also because just across the road you may have seen the artwork of our children. The old phone box has been turned into Brightwell’s very own “fourth plinth” and Allsorts preschool was delighted to have been given the opportunity to showcase some of their work. See more below on the Opening Ceremony and the “Allsorts aquarium”. Many thanks to Alison Debney who masterminded the whole brilliant plan and Natasha Hillier who worked so very hard to get all the children’s work on display, with lots of their lovely comments too. Natasha is already planning the children’s next collaborative art project….

Julie Carr has now started her Forest Schools training so every Tuesday afternoon the children get out and about in the wilds of the village and usually go home wet, muddy, but very happy! We must thank the Sheard family who have very kindly allowed us to use some of their land near preschool as an area for exploration and Forest School activities. Thank you too to Paula Marsh our tireless and endlessly innovative fundraising guru who has come up with the ideas for so many exciting events in the past few months. On the horizon are a Teddy bears picnic (9 June) and a book and toy sale. We’ll also have our fantastic summer sports afternoon on Saturday 6 July. Our annual pub quiz will be on Monday 24th June at the Red Lion of course. Please come along to support us at any of these events!

Recently we have had visitors from the WI who have helped us with our garden –thank you so much. Parents formed a very successful working party where fences and walls were painted, growing areas dug over in readiness for the children to plant seeds and lots of other fairly boring but nonetheless important jobs done. We are looking quite a lot smarter now! Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who gave up their time for this. Special thanks to Karen O’Hanlon and Charlie Butler who have spent many hours revamping the children’s loos - they are now very colourful! Several parents and friends of the preschool have visited us recently to talk about what they do to fit in with our theme for the term “people who help us” - thank you to Kim, Anne-Marie, Hannah, Emily and Greg. Thank you too to our regular visitors Ron, Bob, Amanda and Jessica for all you do to increase the children’s enjoyment of the sessions.

Finally it would be very remiss not to remember all our fantastic staff –who are working even harder than usual at the moment in the knowledge that we are due an OFSTED inspection at any time. We know that the children have a brilliant time when they are with us - we hope OFSTED will see this too!

Team Allsorts

The Telephone Box Gallery aka the ‘BcS fifth plinth’

The inaugural exhibition of the Brightwell Cum Sotwell Telephone Box Gallery, Life beneath the Waves, was created by the children of Allsorts Pre School (2 ½ – 5 year olds), to aid learning about animals and their habitats. The exhibition and the gallery were officially opened on Easter Weekend by Councillor Celia Collett and Pre School Supervisor Julie Carr. The artistic director was Natasha Hillier. Audience satisfaction surveys conducted from the window seat of the Red Lion proved that the exhibition was a real hit with many visitors to the village as well as residents enjoying the children’s work.

It is the intention that the Telephone Box Gallery will be a long term project for the village utilising the iconic Sir Giles Gilbert Scott design. We are keen to hear from future exhibitors. The concept is an on-going series of temporary displays by local and national artists, societies, clubs, schools and crafts people with exciting ideas that are visually impressive and that will make people think about Brightwell cum Sotwell, its locale and its people. We expect the exhibits to change every couple of months depending on demand!

Alison Debney

Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Village Orchard

I think it is fair to say that Village Apple Days and the Apple Pressing Days have been an unqualified success. They have brought villagers together in celebration of our local fruit and fruit trees, the autumn harvest and the joy of gathering and preparing food and drink. Last year was, of course, a fallow year: hardly any fruit on the trees and little or no chance of gathering the forty pound boxes of apples necessary to fill the village press. The press itself only left storage four times, and in the early Spring we had to cancel the Apple Pressing Day planned for the beginning of last October. We hope that the blossom, the bees and the weather will this year deliver the bumper crop of fruit to make up for last year.

Meanwhile, work has continued on the idea of planting a community orchard as a new Village amenity. Those interested have consulted widely over the last 12 months and a consensus is beginning to build around the proposal. The original proposition, described in Linda Dixon’s article in The Villager last year, has been radically re-thought as a result of the very helpful input from many of you. Part of the opinion gathering process was the stand we presented at last year’s Village fete. As you might expect, the views expressed ranged from outright opposition to enthusiastic support – with enough of you expressing support, however, to encourage us to continue looking at the project. We have looked at five potential sites in the Village to assess the options. There are a number of possibilities, but any final proposals put to you for consideration will require some further work in conjunction with the preparation of the Community Led Parish Plan. Your comments are important to us and before any plan can be taken forward we need to hear your views. In order to make the debate more accessible to all we have launched a website. It is intended to be a focal point so that you can see some of the proposals and think about them, as well as offering feedback. It is still under construction, but do pay a visit and see some of our initial thoughts.

http://brightwellorchards. blogspot.co.uk/

If you would like to talk to the Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Village Orchard Group, please feel free to contact our chair, Robert Field, on 836275 or by email on robertdfield@aol.com.

Finally, we are considering bringing back the Village custom of wassailing. The provisional date for this is the eve of Twelfth Night, so shortly after next Christmas. There will be more about this in the next edition of The Villager and we will be posting details on-line in due course.

Robert Field