October/November 2010
Basil Crowe 1922 - 2010
This is a précis of son, Jonathan’s, tribute to his father at his funeral at St.Agatha’s Church on 9 July 2010.
My sister Julia and I have been privileged to have a wonderful and loving father. He had a warm and welcoming temperament and a great sense of humour.
He was to complete his preliminary accountancy exams and then joined the Navy as an Ordinary Seaman, as he used to say a very ordinary seaman. He did make it to Able Seaman but was passed over for selection for a commission because instead of looking lively and throwing a rope he was just admiring the view! Spurred on by this early set back he gained his commission and on 8 June, 1944 he was a Sub-Lieutenant in HMS Lawford which was acting as a headquarters ship off the Normandy beaches. At 0500 an enemy aircraft suddenly appeared and dropped a 500lb bomb which penetrated the main deck. When we asked Dad about this he said he remembered the bomb hitting. He also remembered standing on deck looking into the grey channel, taking his shoes off and putting them neatly together and then jumping. While swimming around he thought that he should have remembered his life jacket. Secondly, he remembered, as the chap in charge of the wardroom safe, now on the seabed, and having done reconciliation the day before and found it , he had made up the deficit with his own cash much to his chagrin.
He moved to The Old Barn in Sotwell in 1969 and was welcomed into the Village with much kindness. In turn he was very sociable and welcoming which was much appreciated by Julia and me as we used to bring home many friends from University including, once, a minibus load from various countries of the world. A ready supply of Home Brew helped on these occasions, whether the visitors were students, beekeepers or newcomers to the Village.
He enjoyed his life in Brightwell,be it digging the allotment, walking the dog, helping with the Fete, printing The Villagerand even collecting for the Conservatives! St. James was close to his heart, too, whether as reader, sidesman or just mowing the grass which he did for many years.
It is said that you live on in the memories of others and if this is the case Basil will have a very long and happy after life.
We will miss him very much.
Viola Crowe
Norman Large 1931-2010
The village has lost yet another stalwart resident in Norman Large, who sadly died on 11 August after several months’ illness. For many people the name of Norman Large was synonymous with music in Wallingford, where for 40 years he served as the Methodist Church organist and, subsequently, as choir master to the group of singers he brought together.
He went to Mexborough Grammar School from where he gained an Exhibition to read Chemistry at Exeter College, Oxford. As a boy his success on the piano had led one of his teachers to encourage him to learn the organ, practising in the local Methodist Church. Before he went up to Oxford he had gained his LRAM in piano teaching. It was at Oxford that Norman met Esther, also reading C, and they married in 1956. After taking a Doctorate, he went to work for UK Atomic Energy in Harwell and he and Esther settled in Reading where their two children were born. On moving to Brightwell,they found a house that had a room large enough for a grand piano. Once he had retired he became one of the volunteers on the surgery run and also helped with delivering The Villager.
Some thirty years ago Norman was asked if he would help with a production of ‘The Mustard Seed’ at the Methodist Church and it was from The Mustard Seed that larger things grew, in particular a series of concerts as well as the choir. His patience was much appreciated, even though he could never really understand why less gifted musicians couldn’t pick things up more quickly! He had an eye for detail that ensured the right choices of hymn tunes.
Norman was involved with many local groups of amateur musicians including the Barezzi opera company, charity concerts at Brill, and for over forty years accompanied the Didcot Choral Society. In Brightwell he accompanied the carols in the Village Hall with verve and vigour each Christmas and, more recently, conducted performances of the Fauré Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria in St.Agatha’s Church. The last time he played in public was just before Easter this year when he accompanied on the organ the sing-in of Stainers Crucifixion at the Methodist Church. As he once said to Esther “I have been given this gift and I must use it”. That he most certainly did, and we give thanks for the way he did it.
(With acknowledgements to Norman Atkinson and David Kershaw who provided the original copy for this note.)
Derek Nightingale
Allsorts Pre-School: Au Revoir!
We are leaving for pastures new, in case you haven’t heard.
But being us, we cannot go without having one last word.
(Or maybe two.)
There are still a few things we need to oversee,
Like commissioning the construction of the canopy.
Woo! Hoo!
And when we’re not reviewing various awnings,
We hope to introduce some, new coffee mornings.
(Oh! Therein lies the rub.
They’re only scheduled for our local pub!)
Also on the programme, what’s called a “Forest School”,
Hands-on play in the great outdoors that makes learning really cool.
And with Flexible 15,
We offer the earliest start there’s ever been.
Now, it is absolutely fine,
To drop your little one off at quarter to nine.
Our French club’s back and continues to enrol.
Soon, they’ll know a whole lot more than “Papa” and “Nicole”.
But before this rhyme reaches its conclusion,
There’s all the staff, parents and village to thank, without exclusion.
Your support is invaluable, on that we agree.
Thank you for making Allsorts a wonderful place to be.
Some things our littles ones did, have been really ace,
Like going out at playtime and stepping into Space.
They really have learned so very much,
‘Bout Jolly Phonics, smelly plants, healthy snack and such.
Now it’s other children’s turn, to love swinging on the gate
And over to another mummy to be “running rather late”.
As we ride off into the sunset, way, way out west,
We wish the incoming committee all the very best.
Tania Bevis (Chair) and Victoria Clyde-Matthews (Secretary)
THE VILLAGE STORES: FROM THE STORE MANAGER
After weeks of rearranging shelves, finding suppliers, ordering, cleaning, stocking and endless training sessions, we finally opened the doors to your new Village Stores, and I only joined the project at the last stages!!
This shop has been long anticipated and I feel privileged to be a part of such an exciting venture. Although I was thrilled at the prospects of the role in my new job I was also daunted by the task in hand. You all as individuals have expectations of what your new shop should represent and stock. I have tried to combine local products with value for money and an environment in which you feel welcome to shop in.
For a village community store you have a huge range of stock which has been carefully sourced. It is important for us to support our local producers and also local companies. We currently stock products from 16 local companies some of which you may recognise and others less familiar. For example we have beautiful cakes from Dolly's, fresh free range eggs from Harwell, lovely cuts of meat from Ray Park and Little Wittenham Lamb, and from our own village, Brightwell honey and wine.
I am constantly working towards building a shop that suits you as a village but as you can understand this takes time and more importantly capital. We have a request board in the village shop for you to put your wishes on and when I order stock I include what I can from your lists!
We have a range of fresh baked bread delivered daily and newspapers and magazines, which we will be happy to save for you, you just have to ask in store! We finish off the week with croissants and pain au chocolat on Saturday mornings, so don't miss out!
I must also take this opportunity to say thank you to the volunteers. I can't praise them enough for their professionalism, commitment and their ability to work the till (although I still hear beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep in my sleep!) I hope they are having as much fun with me as I am with them.
I encourage you to come and try your new village stores you might be surprised just how much we do stock Use us when you can... handy for the forgotten birthday card, last drop of milk scenario and for those unexpected guests.
I look forward to meeting and greeting you!
Stephanie Clelland
REPAIR OF THE PARISH ROADS IN TUDOR TIMES
As the worst of this years crop of pot holes have been filled in and we start to think of the coming winter it would be of interest to see how such problems were tackled by earlier generations.
The first great Highways Act was passed in the reign of Philip and Mary. In essence the Philip and Mary Act of 1555 said that each parish was to appoint a ‘Surveyor of the Highways’ from among its number to oversee the repair of the roads by the parishioners each working 4 days a year. Materials and draught horses were also to be supplied by the parish.
Things did not always run smoothly with Philip and Mary’s Act. First, it was not easy to find a parishioner willing to take the post of Surveyor. This distinctly unpopular and unpaid post was to be avoided and in some parishes :“ the Surveyors were unable to enforce Statute Labour from farmers who beat them if they approached their houses with obnoxious demand". No doubt an appointment for Brightwell was usually made because the fines on the parish for non-appointment were draconian – and after all he was only required to serve for one year. Once in post the Surveyor would inspect the roads, ditches and their adjacent hedges throughout the Parish and where work had to be done it would be announced in church on a Sunday after the sermon.
It was a requirement of the Act that the work should be completed in the following 30 days. The material for repairs would wherever possible be dug up from adjacent gravel pits. We have in the Village Archives a map of 1811 identifying the site of one such pit in Mackney. There was a specific requirement that the roads be in order come harvest time and everyone had an interest in achieving this, although some were more willing than others. W.E.Tate in ‘The Parish Chest’ writes “Before the end of the seventeenth century the statute labourers had become a by-word for inefficiency and neglect. The cottagers did almost everything on earth except the unpaid work in which they were supposed to be engaged, and in particular used the occasion for gathering alms from the passers–by”. Highways Acts in the reigns of subsequent monarchs changed little of Philip and Mary’s Act until the time of William IV when responsibility was passed to local authorities by the General Highway Act of 1835.
With our Coalition Government urging us to take responsibility for our own affairs is it not time to resurrect the post of Surveyor of the Highways so that at the end of the coming winter we are ready to fill in our own potholes? After all we’re not talking about rocket science here. Volunteers could if they so wished be put on the rota for the even more ancient village post of Ale-taster.
Leon Cobb