Editorial October/November 2011

Core Strategy

The bald statement that the “Examination in Public (EIP) of the Core Strategy will resume on 1 November” belies the importance of the event. The Inspector’s findings will shape the future for Brightwell-cum-Sotwell in a manner unparalleled since the impacts of the Norman Conquest in 1066 and the Enclosures of 1811. Should he favour the development of Site B, then life in our community will be altered adversely and irreparably. Should he reject the development, then our village will retain its individual rural identity and not be merged with Wallingford.

The Inspector is expected to follow the same procedure as in the July hearing, Each day he will put forward a paper setting out “Issues for discussion” asking a series of questions to be debated by those he has invited to participate. The Parish Council has asked to take part and will argue that the Strategy is unsound. Our case against building on Site B is based on hard factual evidence that it is not the optimum location for the expansion of Wallingford. In contrast, Site E has a number of advantages as the situation for the new houses. Thanks to the generous support of a number of villagers, a written submission putting forward our case will be prepared with assistance from planning consultants using commissioned material on transport and traffic. This will be lodged with the Inspector in early October.

The Parish Council was represented at several sessions of the July hearing, and participated in the session on Henley. Discussion centred on the 4% increase in the proposed number of houses. This figure was considered to be far too low compared to Wallingford where it would be 17%.

Because SODC was required to make changes to the Core Strategy, particularly the increase from 400 to 555 in the number of houses for Site B, there was a further 6 week consultation which closed on 19 August. The Parish Council responded with a paper arguing against the change, noting that the proposed increase was purely arbitrary and lacked a factual basis.

The session on Wallingford will take place on 9 November and the support of villagers at the hearing will be very welcome.

Should you want a “Drop Site B” notice to put in your garden, please contact the Clerk on 826968 or any member of the Parish Council.

John Rodda

Church Extension – Almost There!

Following a £20,000 grant from LEADER, announced in the last Villager, we are delighted to have been awarded a grant of £40,000 by WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd). WREN supports community projects with funds donated by Waste Recycling Group under the Government’s Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. The pavilion on the Recreation Ground and the children’s play equipment on Kings Meadow are other village projects that have benefited from WREN grants in the past.

Funds pledged for the Extension now amount to almost £156,000 leaving only £14,000 more required to reach the target. By the time you see this issue of The Villager the second Safari Supper on 24 September will have been held, reducing further the funds still needed. Thanks in advance to Hilary Rogerson and her team for organising what I know will have been a great evening.

Progress with fundraising has only been possible with the tremendous support of everyone in our community. The Appeal Committee is very appreciative of all the support, help and encouragement that has been forthcoming. The wide-ranging variety of fundraising events – from concerts to pub quizzes, from a sponsored walk to open gardens, from safari suppers to an art sale, from a bridge drive to an organ recital, from the Son et Lumiere to the Midsummer Ball – not forgetting contributions from Brightfest, Appleday, book sales and so on – is evidence of the enthusiasm and ability of all involved in their organisation. Most importantly, it is hoped that everyone coming along to these events has enjoyed themselves.

Fundraising events have contributed 18% of the funds secured so far, as have pledges and donations from the local community. Grants have accounted for 54%, the remaining 10% coming from St Agatha’s Building Fund.

At the instigation of Dick Mason a display of photographs from many of the fundraising events has been set up in St Agatha’s. I hope you all will take the opportunity of viewing this display – you may find you feature somewhere!

Redeeming those pledges

Now that we are close to the target the Appeal Committee believes it is appropriate to take delivery of the pledges of financial support that have been made in the community. Committee members will be contacting people over the next couple of weeks in this regard.

What about the outstanding balance?

Applications are pending with four more potential grant providers and we are confident of reaching our objective in the near future. However there is one application where everyone’s involvement can help.

The NatWest Bank has introduced a CommunityForce programme, under which three community projects in each of its local markets have an opportunity to win awards of £6,000 each. There is a two-stage process, the first of which involves being approved as an eligible project; this we have done. The second stage involves promoting the project, since the winners are decided by public vote in the autumn.

Each person can vote up to three times, in any area, but only one vote for each cause. This means that you can get relatives and friends anywhere in the UK to vote for our project. We would welcome your vote and as many others as possible that you can urge to support us; the winners will be those projects that sell themselves better than the competition. Your help could make all the difference!

Tony Lascelles

Allsorts ‘Graduation Ceremony’

The end of the summer term is always tinged with emotion as we say goodbye to many of the children we have come to know so well. On the last day of term Allsorts held a small graduation ceremony for all the children who were leaving pre-school and heading off to start primary school. This was followed by a picnic in the park where they were joined by lots of their younger pre-school friends, their parents and staff. Not surprisingly, the significance of reaching this important childhood milestone was lost on the children themselves who all carried on with their usual exuberance.

As is the natural order of things, when we return in September the 'little ones' will become the 'big ones' and we will have a new intake of 'really little ones' to make the 'big ones' look as if they have grown at least three feet taller over the summer. The process of settling in the new recruits will begin with lots of cuddles and reassurances whilst they find their feet and get used to the routine.

Fortunately, we will have two extra pairs of hands to help as Lisa McIntyre and Victoria Clyde-Matthews begin their new roles as play assistants. Both bring a wealth of relevant experience as well as being familiar faces at Allsorts: Lisa's daughter has just left to go to the primary school and both of Victoria's children are Allsorts graduates too. In addition, Victoria was Allsorts secretary for several years during which time the Pre-School became her second home. She also stepped in as play assistant many times last term when her cooking sessions proved to be one of the highlights of the week. Both Lisa and Victoria will undoubtedly be valuable additions to the Allsorts team and we would like to wish them a warm welcome.

As well as having lots of exciting new activities planned for the coming term the staff will also be continuing to familiarise the children with the phonics system of learning letter sounds which is currently used in primary schools.

Allsorts takes children from the age of two and a half upwards. Morning sessions are between 8.45am and 11.45am Monday to Friday and afternoon sessions between 12.45pm and 2.45/3.15pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. There is also a daily lunch club which enables the children to enjoy having lunch with their friends.

Many of the activities are planned around the children’s interests and ideas so that the home corner can be a pirate ship one week and a hairdressers the following week. The children are encouraged to move freely between indoors and outdoors to make full use of the covered decking area where there are always activities such as painting and sand/water play.

If you are interested in finding out more about Allsorts or would like to apply for a place please call the Pre-School on 826387 and we will be pleased to help with your enquiry.

Paula Moulton

The Red Lion

Well, where did summer go? – it flew by. We were busy throughout, thank you for your continued support.

It seems ages since BrightFest but I do feel I need to say thank you to all the people who helped put the festival together, without whom it wouldn’t have been the great success it was. Angus and Mike for the sound, Roly (of Wittenham Lamb fame) for delivering the trailer which became the stage, all the bands who played for just food and drink, the music was particularly good this year I felt. I must also thank the Lewis family and all the other barbecuers for their brilliant burgers, all the Red Lion staff for the extra hours worked while still smiling, and all the people who didn’t ring to complain when the music went on a little past 12.00. For those of you who don’t know around £1,400.00 was raised for Bone Cancer Research in memory of our great friend Alex Lewis who died this year of this cruel disease.

Red Lion Summer Exhibition If you didn’t go you have missed it (!) but, at the time of writing, I have seen a few of the paintings framed and they look amazing. There is so much talent around. I hope lots of you managed to get down to see the exhibition on the 3rd and 4th September.Hopefully it will become an annual event. The Friday morning Art Class still meets and welcomes new participants.

Charity Quizzes Our monthly quizzes continue to be popular and raise substantial amounts of money for various charities. On 31 October the quiz is being run by Friends of Brightwell School and on the 28 November by Save the Children. Please ring to book a table and order a delicious Chilli supper with bread. Teams of any size, £2.00 per person to play and £5.00 for supper.

Ancient Order of Frothblowers! Those of you who were at the Son et Lumiere may remember a song about this group of beer enthusiasts who meet to “become acquainted over a pint, swap anecdotes, sing songs and eat lunch” Well, blow me if a group didn’t book a Frothblower lunch at the Red Lion on Saturday 8 October at 1.00 p.m. I believe anyone is welcome. Should be fun, do ring if you would like to join them.

Although it seems very early to be mentioning the ‘C’ word we already have bookings for Christmas meals. Please ring soon if you have a particular date in mind to avoid disappointment. We are planning a few changes to our menu for the winter including a Casserole of the Week served in a Giant Yorkshire Pudding. Check out the web site for the whole menu. We are definitely getting busier particularly at weekends and on Wednesday nights (strangely!), so it might be a good idea to ring before popping down, just to make sure we have a table to avoid disappointment. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Sue Robson

The Earth Trust Warden’s Diary

The Earth Trust manages sites in Wallingford, Crowmarsh, Didcot and Abingdon. Below are extracts from the Warden’s diary for Summer 2011.

Well what a summer we have had! Record numbers of thistles this year throughout the whole of Castle Meadows but we are still, thankfully, well in control of the ragwort. Pulling the thistles has certainly kept the volunteers busy but in the end we had to resort to cutting them, as we just couldn’t pull all of them by hand. This won’t remove the plant but will prevent them from seeding and spreading. We have installed two new interpretation panels at Castle Meadows The Burh to Borough archaeologists came back for a short, unscheduled dig in the upper meadows this summer Check out their web page http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/wallingford

Now for some really good news - Wallingford Castle Meadows has retained its Green Flag award for the 4th consecutive year! The Green Flag is a scheme that recognises and rewards the best green spaces in the country.

Over at Riverside Meadows people have been enjoying the warm weather, picnicking and sunbathing right beside the river Thames. We will soon be working in the main ditch cutting the tall vegetation to prevent it from filling in and removing silt from the ditch that runs alongside the Wallingford Bridge to ensure that water is able to flow unimpeded to the Thames.

Mowbray Fields has had a lovely summer this year. We have had record numbers of orchids, with the plants starting to colonise the wildflower meadow, which is great news.

Thrupp Lake at Radley had its circular walk officially opened. Maps and leaflets for the self-guided trail are available on site and will soon be downloadable from the Earth Trust website. If you would like more information about the sites and events or are interested in getting involved with one of our volunteer groups or as a warden please contact me, on 01865 409410 or 07982 218493, or email lorretta.waters@earthtrust.org.uk

Lorretta Waters