FROM THE EDITORS

Great news! I should like to welcome Helen Foster who has joined me as coeditor as from this issue. She will tell you about herself below. I shall continue to collect the news, type and prepare it. Helen will put in advertisements and lay out the copy.

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I’m Helen Foster. I am reasonably new to the village and remember how much help this newsletter was when I first arrived, and how it still keeps me in touch when I am travelling a lot. So this is a case of putting something back into village life.

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Thank you Class 6 of the primary School for your selection of covers. It was difficult to choose one but we thank William Curtis for the last cover of 1999.

Would anyone like to sponsor a coloured cover to mark the passage into February 2000? It could be a joint effort between advertisers and others sharing the cost. First come, first served.

Dear contributors, please continue to send in your lovely copy but please, please, please make it a little bit shorter. You will notice that the Newsletter print is smaller this issue because of pressure of space. We have a waiting list for advertisers and also another extract from Canon Dumbleton’s Diary waiting for available space!

It is the time of year to say thank you to everyone who helps with the Newsletter. Thank you especially Julian and her delivery team which brings the Newsletter to your door.

The amount in the Post Office Box together with two generous donations amounted to £124. 55. Thank you. The Charitable Association and the Festival of Fine Ales have both sent very generous donations towards running the Newsletter and we thank them very much indeed.

We sadly report the deaths of Ray Stanbra, Arthur Grey, Florence Santhouse and Alexander Pedell and on behalf of the village send our condolences to their families and friends.

Cutoff date for entries to the Directory is almost here. Please get your insertions and alterations to Diana Barber as soon as possible.

BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION

We would like to thank everyone who came and supported us on our stall at the village market on the 13th November.

Our thanks also go to the Post Office, Village Shop and family and friends for donating the wonderful raffle prizes and also to our friends and neighbours who gave so generously to our stall. The grand total raised for the Heart Foundation was £214.

This stall was held in memory of our father Norman Woodward who died in August from a heart attack ten years after undergoing a triple heart bypass. Many thanks to you all from the Woodward family.

AN INVITATION

Andrea Bates invites you to a special Christmas exhibition of paintings and prints in aid of the Lawrence Home Nursing Team, (Registered Charity No 1076445), on Saturday 4 December and Sunday 5 December at Hillside, Enstone, Oxfordshire, open 10am - 6pm. Parking in the Harrow Pub car park or in side road opposite.

For further details ring 01608 677231

THE HARRIERS IN AMSTERDAM

After a successful trip to the Paris Marathon last year, six team members decided to keep the International flavour going by taking on the Amsterdam Marathon. The idea is to make it a fun weekend with the race just part of it. We take our partners, take trips, go sightseeing and indulge in food and beer.

Our trip starts early Friday with the drive to Harwich which, after a small panic with a wrong turn, we make in time. We board a catamaran which I believe is a first time experience for us all. I can recommend them, very smooth and fast, an excellent crossing to the Hook of Holland. The fun starts of course when you disembark, you have to drive on the right hand side of the road. My experience of this is not great so I opt to bring up the rear in a convoy of three cars.

Amsterdam is a nightmare to park in with hardly any empty spaces, expensive and with clamping taking place. Here in Amsterdam we were joined by other team members and friends who had arrived by train and plane. The group had to be split into two hotels so we arranged to meet later for a meal in a restaurant.

Saturday morning, the runners had to find Zuid Sports Hall by the Olympic Stadium to collect their race numbers. We did a training jog to the sports hall only to find that despite pre-entering the race, some of us did not have race numbers allocated. We were directed to the trouble desk, which by this time had a queue of some length. Most of Saturday morning was spent there.

In the afternoon we went on a glass topped boat trip along the canals, sat watching the world go by from outside a cafe enjoying a beer and visited the excellent flower market. This was special, many lovely blooms, plants, shrubs and seeds, including cannabis.

Sunday is taken over mostly by the race; for us, not doing too much, not doing too little, preparing and getting to the start on time. For the organisers, they had other races before the marathon, a half marathon, a 10k race and a half marathon for skaters. The marathon course is two laps around the city and is fairly flat. We started off on time with all our runners having enjoyable runs. The first home was Mick Hailey in 2-57-42, breaking the three hour barrier for the second time and a personal best time. Next in was veteran Barrie Price with 3-12-00, followed by the star of the weekend Cecilia Peterson in 3-17-39, knocking over 5 mins off her best time. Brian Healey finished in 3-42-07 with Dee Hailey 3-49-25 and Alan Upstone 3-59-13. It seemed a good idea to celebrate that night with a meal at a restaurant and our own presentations and champagne for the stars.

Monday morning we visited one of Amsterdam's famous museums, the Rijksmuseum with many paintings including Rembrandt’s Nightwatch. In the afternoon we journeyed back to the Hook of Holland for the crossing to Harwich. Being last in the convoy does have some drawbacks; I may not have to navigate that much, but I did have to cross a couple of changing red lights to keep up! All in all a most enjoyable weekend. I wonder where we will go next year?

HOOKY’S MILLENNIUM BOOK

We have taken nearly all our photographs for the book which should be ready by late Spring next year.

Calling all 11 - 18 year olds We are short of photographs for your age group and would be grateful if any of you would send in photos of yourselves and friends or groups for possible inclusion. We should hate the idea that you wouldn’t be able to point out yourselves to your grandchildren in thirty or forty years time! (Parents, can you help?).

Now is the time for anyone or any group who feels they may have been overlooked to let us know.

You will find an insert in this Newsletter inviting you to buy discounted copies of the book before publication. Please take advantage of this if you can as it would help the Book Committee greatly with its finances.

More forms will be available round the village and certainly at the Post Office.

Contact Venice Barry or Barbara Hicks.

FIRE SERVICE

Following the staffing shortage from which the village fire station has suffered recently, things have improved dramatically. Currently there are twelve firefighters, with a further application being processed. This means the fire engine should always be available to respond to emergency calls day and night.

However there is still some space! If anyone is interested in joining, particularly anyone who could offer some day time cover, we would be glad to hear from you. Please contact any of the local firefighters, or call in at the fire station on a Wednesday evening between 7pm and 9pm.

There were twenty three calls during the last two months for our firefighters. Three alarm calls were made from Hook Norton, Chipping Norton and Swerford. There was malicious setting fire to a farm straw trailer, there were two bin fires and a manure heap on fire. There was a rubbish fire at a local pub and an electric cable found to be on fire in Hooky itself. There were two Road Traffic Accidents; one at Milcombe and a car on fire on the M40. A dog was released from a badger sett where it had become stuck. Our firefighters were also on standby for three calls for Chipping Norton and eight for Banbury.

CHRISTMAS TREES

Once again St Peter’s Church will be selling Christmas Trees. For anyone new to the village the trees should be ordered anywhere you see a poster. You need to tell us what size tree you need - in feet, (we haven’t moved into the metric age yet!), plus your name and a phone number or address.

You collect your ordered tree on Sunday 12th December from the Brewery between 11.30am - 12.30pm. All the trees will be laid out in sizes and you choose a tree from the size you ordered. The price this year will be £1.60 per foot.

You will find this Sunday morning is where Christmas begins as it is a social occasion and you don’t have the struggle of bringing a tree back from Banbury often difficult to fit in the car! The trees come from a local nursery, freshly cut.

TO THE EDITOR

I would like to say how appalled I feel about the delay of the new doctor’s surgery in our village. It seems that anything that could be put in the way of this development has been. This is probably one of the most important buildings (for villagers) to be built in this village.

Can anyone explain why the building should not have been a simple square brick unit, good quality but relatively cheap to build? Instead the doctors have had to have a building that is supposed to look like a barn conversion with awkward and expensive roof extensions, which if I am correct will prove to be expensive to maintain in the future. They have also been made to have a 16 space car park, yes 16, that is more than you have at Chipping Norton hospital. Why? Have you ever seen more than five or six cars at the surgery?

If you look at the road in which it is to be built, it is a hotch potch of houses, starting with concrete block bungalows, very red brick new houses which could not be more intrusive even if you tried, stone and brick council houses, brick council bungalows, one or two nice older type houses and one very nice stone farmhouse. Surely the erection of one more slightly different building would not have been out of place, especially if the car park was at the front and surrounded by nice hedge and a few trees. I am assuming that the car park is at the front but I have heard a rumour that they have been made to put it at the back.

Do planners and councillors lose their common sense when they get the job? Or is there some other explanation?

I feel that we should be extremely grateful to the doctors for putting up with all the hassle they must have had and for all I know, are still having. I am surprised they did not say, enough is enough and stay wholly in Bloxham. I and a lot more people are very glad they did not.

In this day and age, we seem to be run by more and more of these so called preservation groups who seem to want everything to comply with how they alone decide it should look. The whole of the architecture in this country was built on people being allowed to add wings or extensions as they grew richer or had larger families, even on stately or historical homes. The country would not be as interesting or as diverse if these groups had been around then.

Hook Norton has been very lucky so far in its amenities, good vets, doctors, Post Office and shops. Let us hope that if in the future any of these decide to move their premises, they will be allowed to do so with far less trouble than our doctors have had.

THANK YOU FROM THE SANTHOUSE FAMILY

We would like to thank family, friends and neighbours for the cards we received after our Mum passed away on 29 September. They were a great comfort to us all. Mum loved to be in her garden tending her flowers so it was lovely to see the beautiful floral tributes at her funeral. Thank you again.

HOOK NORTON CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION

Important dates for your diary:

11 January 2000 Open Meeting, 8 pm The Sun Inn

18 March 2000 Mid-year event (details to follow)

8 & 9 July 2000 Folk in a Field and Rural Fayre

(NB - one week later than usual)

The HNCA is run by a group of Hooky people responsible for putting on the Rural Fayre and Folk in a Field events each year which raise thousands of pounds for local Hook Norton organisations and charities. The Association believes that by supporting local organisations it helps maintain the community spirit that we all enjoy so much in this village.

Under the Association’s Constitution, everyone over 18 and living in the parish of Hook Norton is automatically a member!

Since the Association started, many people from the village have made valuable contributions to it’s success. The Rural Fayre involves a lot of people who help in varying amounts from being Committee Members to running events and helping on the gate. Being involved is great fun and extremely rewarding. Every year new faces are needed with fresh ideas to keep the event vibrant & successful.

Anyone can get involved by attending open meetings or contacting a committee member. The next open meeting is on 11th Jan at the Sun Inn. The objectives of this meeting are:

a) to co-ordinate all village events during 2000 and avoid clashes of dates

b) to seek ideas, suggestions and contributions for the Rural Fayre 2000

Also, if you are involved in an organisation which benefits from the Rural Fayre, or you would like it to, we would recommend sending a representative to the open meetings to get the opportunity to put forward ideas and provide a contact point for the committee.

You can help us to help you! Contact HNCA Chairman Andrew Parton or Secretary Simon Mead

As the new chairman of the Charitable Association, I am happy to inform you that preparations for the Rural Fayre are well underway. The Fayre next year will be on Sunday 9 July preceded by the concert on the previous evening. We are planning a major historical theme looking at Hook Norton through the ages, from the Jurassic period to the present day. We would like everyone to be involved, so start preparing your costume now!

We still have two places on the committee, if anyone is interested. If you are, then please contact Andrew Parton.

I am sorry to let you know that, unknown to the committee, our previous chairman, Roger Hawkins, was unable to attend the AGM due to sudden ill health. We wish him well in his recovery and thank him for all his efforts over the last two years.

THANK YOU

Lilian Peddell and family would like to thank the Reverend John Acreman, neighbours and friends for their support and kindness since the loss of dear Alex.

WI

We are nearly at the end of our ’99 programme and will celebrate the end of the century at our Christmas lunch at The Gate on December 21st. October’s meeting was very enjoyable when members left with very professional looking buttonholes, made under skilled tuition from our floral art expert Pat Fletcher. On November 16th we staggered through a hailstorm with entries for our annual mini-show. Most entries and all the members survived! Pat Fletcher was awarded the Cup, Anne White was second and Mary White third. Alrys won the best bloom competition. Thanks were given to Brenda Power for judging the entries. At the start of the meeting, Professor Ronald Speirs, chairman of the Lawrence Home Nursing Team based in Chipping Norton, gave a short talk about the scheme and their fundraising efforts. Alrys Morris then gave an intriguing account about her trip to Buckingham Palace with their two daughters when John received his MBE from Prince Charles. They were nearly late for the Royal appointment because of a flock of sheep on the road! The WI ‘Wall hanging’ received a lot of admiration and comment at St Peter’s Craft Fair and when it has been framed, it will be displayed at Hooky library as a WI Millennium memorial. A very successful stall was held at the last market and thanks are given to everyone for their support. At the Group Meeting in Wigginton on October 27th, Pat Fletcher again had success when her lovely poem ‘Autumn ’99’ won the Cup for Hook Norton. Year 2000 will open with a talk to be given by Dusty Roades on ‘Country Superstitions' on January 18th and on February 15th WPC Corrine Martin from Thames Valley Traffic Police will speak about ‘Safety on the Roads’. An eventful programme is being planned for the rest of next year. Meetings are on the third Tuesday of the month in The Baptist Hall at 2pm. Look out for posters! Visitors are always welcomed.

GARDEN CLUB

Another successful year for the Garden Club was reported at the annual meeting in October. David Coates, chairman, said that the Spring and Autumn Shows went down well, although the entries for both were slightly down on previous years. The standard and presentation were excellent, the Autumn Show in particular benefited from a spectacular display of flowers, pot plants and floral art down the centre of the Memorial Hall.

David was re-elected chairman, as was Yvonne Higgins as treasurer, but Pam Wood stood down as secretary and was replaced by Keith Wood.

A garden seat given to the Parish Council by the Club has been erected at the bottom of Bells Lane.

Next year’s Spring and Autumn shows will be on April 1 and September 2. The photography classes for the Spring Show will be Memories, Travelling, Windswept and A Spire. The children’s subject will be A Pet. The Autumn Show classes will be Family Album (four photographs on a mount), Woodland, and Cloud Formations and for children- A Party.

The last meeting of the year on 17 November featured Chris Brown of Compton Lane Nurseries, who suggested many interesting plants for the small garden in a talk illustrated by excellent slides.

ST PETER’S CRAFT FAYRE

The annual Craft Fair hosted by St Peter’s was again a great success. Financially the amount raised - £2000 plus was an enormous boost to the funds required to provide toilets and other facilities in Church and the splendid atmosphere that always prevails at this event was certainly very evident. The incredible number of visitors, many of whom travel considerable distances, showed that in the craft world, this event is well and truly on the map. A vast selection of beautifully made, well presented crafts were available and the skillful demonstrations provided added interest.

Thanks to our amenable Rector John, we were able to offer ‘Vittals in the Vestry’. Excellent home made refreshments were available in church giving a new and most enjoyable perspective to the ambience of the day. Visitors stopped off at this convenient ’cafe’, then rested and replete, shopped on and on and on............!

Three of the ever popular crafters were literally almost sold out by the end of the day, despite bringing huge stocks and all the crafters went home commenting on how they enjoy the day at Hooky and asking the date for next year! (Advance notice - Saturday 4 November 2000!).

As always, thanks are due to many; those who helped on the day in various ways, door and raffle duties, baking and sandwich making and special thanks this year to those who successfully managed to keep the traffic flowing and avert parking problems; never an easy task in this popular village.

My grateful thanks also go to all the businesses and individuals who generously supported us with prizes for the grand raffle and specially to Jane and Richard of The Sun who kindly loaned us equipment. The Christmas Hamper was won by Les Hyett, a craftsman from Shipston who was delighted with his good fortune and the festive fayre.

St Peter’s Church has proved once again that it is so much more than an old building for marking births, deaths and marriages. It is a living breathing venue for magnificent concerts, exhibitions and festivals, thoughtful civic services, celebrations and of course it is a place of worship, fellowship and yes, fun. Come and share in it again soon, don’t leave it until the candlelit carols, we welcome you anytime.

‘Caring Matters’

This magazine published four times a year covers a great variety of ways in which carers can be supported. It lists carers' groups and has many articles on relevant matters such as counselling, lip-reading and taking care of yourself.

Telephone 0345 125546, e-mail CC.Nwoxon@dial.pipex.com

Volunteer Reading Help Please contact Nicola Menage at Drayton School, Drayton Road, Banbury on 01295 273900.

FOHNS

We started the new school year with a successful ‘recital’ at St Peter’s Church on 9th October. This evening was most enjoyable with the superb talents of Jo Bartlett, Dorothy Carrington, Arthur Taylor and of course, the Hook Norton Ensemble. I can’t thank them enough for this wonderful night. On Saturday 27th November we held ‘Disco through the Decades’.

This year for Christmas we are holding a ‘XMAS RAFFLE’ with 1st prize being a ‘14in colour/text TV, 2nd prize ‘Video Recorder’, 3rd prize ‘Portable CD/Cassette/Radio’ and 4th prize ‘Personal CD Player’, plus other ‘goodies’. Tickets will be available soon.

Lastly we wish everyone a very merry Xmas and best wishes for the next century.

TRICK OR TREAT

This practice did not go down very well with certain householders of Hook Norton on Halloween. Discarded sweet papers were strewn all over one garden and one elderly lady who did not get to her door in time with sweets, had some minor damage done to her garden!!

Oxfordshire County Council

wants volunteers who can give a few hours a week to help man its Independent Parental Support Education initiative. Marian Roiser, (01865 810541) is setting up the scheme which aims to help parents whose children have special educational needs at some time in their childhood. It will offer support to parents by guiding them through the system and by helping them to understand it.

OCC promotes a course on Essential Skills for Professional Care Advisors aimed at women who have been out of the workplace for at least two years.

ORRC tells you how your community could set up and run a community shop. Jane Gilbert 01865 883488 or e-mail to oxonrcc@ruralnet.org.uk

Cherwell District Council

highlights BBC Thames Valley Radio. A varied programme starts at 5am with news until 9am. Bill Heine hosts the lunch time phone-in 0645 311111, Alison Booker has the afternoon slot with people and music and Drivetime is from 4 -7pm. Jonathan Kent is your reporter for Cherwell and West Oxfordshire on 01295 278396 (mobile 0860 408649)

Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment Ltd

has moneys to distribute which have been rebated by the government from the collection of Landfill Tax in Oxfordshire For instance, it helps support the Wild Waste Show Bus which tours schools and communities showing how we can protect our environment by less waste and recycling. Tel: Krista Soper on 01865 497792 Other projects which are considered are: better use of church buildings, repairs to valued historical buildings, improvements to village halls and recreation grounds, etc Tel: Fiona Danks 01865 883488 on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

FILM SOCIETY

There are three films to view during the next two months. Roberto Beningi’s beautifully acted Life is Beautiful and set in wartime Italy is shown on December 11. Our first Millennium film, The Apple is set in Teheran and concerns young twin girls liberated by social workers from their father’s oppression.. It casts a new light on Western ideas of Iranian attitudes towards women. It will be shown on January 8. John McNaughton’s mystery-and-suspense thriller Wild Things is on January 29. It is also the Society’s Benefit Screening Night when everyone, including members, pays £4 to see the film.

LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

These are exciting times for the Group as it moves to the Visitors Centre at The Brewery, for its future meetings, starting on Tuesday, December 7 with a talk on Christmas Customs and their Origins, by Mairi Macdonald of the Shakespeare Birth Trust. On January 11 2000 David Goodall will talk to us about Weapons of War.

The group has now moved its artefacts to the storage room adjacent to its Museum in the Visitors Centre and is busy using this time to organise and catalogue artefacts and documents. More about our efforts and plans in the next issue.

RURAL SUB POST OFFICES

Sub Post Offices are quite different from the Main Post Offices found in towns and cities. They have to be bought by individuals, entailing therefore a mortgage or loan of some kind. The Sub-Postmaster is neither employed nor self employed. All Sub Offices are completely dependent on the business that comes across the counter for their survival and to maintain their viability. There have already been too many Sub Offices that have gone for good due to shortage of use and rising property prices.

Currently we are under siege as never before. The Government is trying to force all Child Benefits to be paid directly into the Bank and failing this, weekly payments to be paid monthly. We have already seen a steady decline of Retirement Pensions and Child Benefits as new recipients are very strongly urged to have these paid directly into the Bank. This is very serious for the future of Sub Post Offices and therefore I urge you to think very carefully about acceding to these demands. Perhaps you prefer that your money is paid into your Bank - in which case why not have an account you can use at the Post Office? Maybe you already have your money banked directly but would like to change to the Post Office? This is quite easy - just pick up a form from us.

Business that you bring our way counts as a “unit” but of course we offer services for which we don’t charge - such as being a pick up point for parcels and packages which the postmen have been unable to deliver - thus saving you a trip to Banbury.

There are many ways you can help, by using us for paying your bills, banking, licences, foreign currency etc. - it is for both our benefits.

BOWLS CLUB

Requiescat in Pace!!! The Bowls Club is no more! Although we were able to complete our programme for the Season it has been a difficult and uphill struggle and we were only able to play all our matches with help from the other Clubs with whom we had games.

Those members who remained loyal to the Club gave unstinting support and kept the Club alive but we needed players and these were not forthcoming so it was decided with deep regret that the Club should shut down. We have decided to join another Club so we shall keep on playing but it will not be the same!!

DEAR NEWSLETTER

The 31 December 1999 is fast approaching and some people have made plans to celebrate the evening and the transition into the year 2000. I believe there is already a tradition of people gathering outside St Peter’s to ring (and sing) in the new year. It would be really nice this year if as many people as possible could come and share in this experience.

In the absence of a large organised event involving the whole village, this is something we can all share in. One thought, which appears to be popular, is to descend on the centre of the village, just before midnight, carrying candles where we can meet friends, make new ones, and let the evening unfold as the mood takes us. Hope to see you there!

WELCOME CLUB

We have had some very good meetings; first we had a good afternoon with an exhibition of items of wood turning; this was followed by our annual birthday lunch which was taken at the Gate Hangs High and I think it may be fairly said that a good time was had by all!

Next we had a jolly afternoon with a fun quiz. The questions were all clues to the names of sweets - the chocoholics among us did very well! Our next meeting should have been a shopping trip to Milton Keynes but - oh dear!- it would seem our members were not very keen on that idea!! We started out with 20 names on the list but during the two weeks that elapsed between meetings the names began to disappear! We finally came down to only ten names but such a number was not viable and we had with great regret to cancel the outing. Very sad but these outings cannot be run without adequate support!!

BAPTIST CHURCH

Family Carol Service - Sunday 19 December at 10.30am.

Christmas Eve Communion Service at 11.30pm.

Christmas Day Family Service at 10am.

Boxing Day Service at 10.30am.

New Year’s Eve - Praise Party and shared meal - Communion - 7pm till 12 midnight.

By the time you read these notes we will be at the beginning of the Advent season and looking forward to celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World. And what an anniversary it is this year, coupled with the change to a new Millennium.

As a child I remember working out how old I would be at the start of the year 2000. No, I’m not sharing that info with you but I did realise that it was half a lifetime away, almost incomprehensible to a small child.

Of course many of us will spend some time over the New Year looking back, remembering times past, relatives and friends no longer with us and this is only right and natural. But what of the future, what do we hope for in the new Millennium? As Christians we know that God has specific plans for each one of us. He tells us in Jeremiah 29 v 11, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” When Big Ben strikes midnight and we move into a new century, you may feel that this verse could never apply to you, you may feel exactly the same, you may feel that nothing has changed, that despite all the hype your own situation, whether good or bad remains static.

To walk into the new century with Jesus is exciting, dynamic, ever changing and at times scary. He doesn’t promise you a smooth ride, but he does promise that He’ll never leave you to go it alone.

We wish you all a Happy Christmas and a New Year filled with good health and hope. We would love to welcome you to any of our services over this period.

Millennium News

Beacons will be lit on New Years Eve all across the country as the sun sets. The beacons of the four Capital cities will be lit by 10pm and beacons on meridian lines at midnight. Any community can join in with a bonfire or brazier beacon and be recognized for inclusion in the official Beacon Millennium Souvenir publication. For further details contact

Beacon Millennium, PO Box 171888, Fordingbridge, Hants SP6 3SB.

Tel 01725 518810

WORLD CAMP 1999 at FOXLEASE 24- 31 July 1999

Planning and preparation for this year’s World camp started last November, when all who wanted to go to the World Camp went for selection in front of a panel of Oxfordshire Guiders.

From then on, once I was selected to lead a group of eleven Girl Guides from Oxfordshire with Jo, we started eight months of very hard work to coordinate information between the World Camp Committee and twelve members of my team, who came from all over Oxfordshire. This part proved very important in the preparation for the camp. I was thrilled to have Kate, Kayleigh and Lauren from 1st Hook Norton Guides to join me at World Camp.

Everyone in our team helped with fund raising and collecting donations from different Companies to help cover our costs.

Three weeks before the camp, we were thrilled to receive information that we were to give home hospitality to one Guider and four Guides from Zimbabwe; together with my daughters Katie and Megan, this made a group of twenty for the camp. Having been asked to look after the Zimbabwes at camp and also Home Hospitality for the week after, we were rather surprised to only have names and dates of birth. Unfortunately the E-mail numbers got lost in communication, so we were only told names and dates of birth, the rest was left to guess work! The Zimbabwes turned out to be a super group - they got on with us all immediately. Luckily the ‘guess work’ paid off and they were placed with a perfect match in Oxfordshire.

The Motto for the World Camp was Peace, Vision and Power. Our contingent was camping on Copacabana Beach with 300 others. We were told that our sub-camp theme was to be sun, sand, music and fun - they were not wrong - it was fun, fun, fun all the way through the camp.

In preparation for the camp we decided to make drawstring bags containing pictures drawn by all of us. As we had been asked to wear a bright T-shirt for our sub-camp activities, I suggested that we tie-dyed our T-shirts orange - at the time it seemed a good idea, until I came to do twenty of them! We stood out very well and by the end of the week, we had become quite famous for our orange T-shirts.

No one can prepare you for the large-scale camp we have just taken part in. 3,500 Guides and leaders from more than 50 different countries round the world made it a truly International Camp. Those of you who have been to a large event like this will understand how moving the opening and closing ceremonies are when you get that amount of people together in one place. I felt very proud, rather emotional and above all extremely privileged to be present at such a gathering.

From the moment we left home on Saturday 24 July to the time we returned a week later we had the time of our lives. Yes the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky or any rain for the whole week.

It was a week I shall never forget. Shopping in the Tesco’s on site and pushing the trolley up the fields was a tough job, especially as often I went to do the shopping when the Guides were at their activities and quite forgot that I was shopping for twenty and not a usual family of four! But there was always a person willing to help me up the hill. Cooking for twenty was another shock to my system! Cooking a full English breakfast was quite ambitious but it went down a treat with the girls. The girls said they were never hungry, so I must have done my job properly. It was an exhausting experience for me, but during the week, as well as meeting many new friends, I took part in ‘It’s a Knockout’ and wind surfed on the sea which was great.

I entertained Joy-Ann the Zimbabwe leader and Kayleigh had Michelle for a week after the camp - we had a wonderful time. We went to Blenheim Park, spent the day in Oxford with the rest of the World Camp team and the other Zimbabwes and we toured the Cotswolds as well as visiting places of interest in Hook Norton! This finished our camp off very nicely and we hope to keep corresponding with our new-found friends.

Guiding is a world wide Association. As part of the Guide Association, the opportunities are out there for anyone who is willing to give it a go. Hopefully most of the girls who came to World Camp with me will go on for International selection later on this year. The Guides, who came with me to this year’s World Camp were absolutely super. We all got on extremely well and had a lot of great fun - the week was completely full of activities for the Guides, climbing, boating, swimming, rafting, craft and singing to name but a few. In the evenings they had wonderful events including a disco, barn dance, line dancing and a night hike. One evening there was a fashion show and Kate from Hook Norton and two other Guides from Copacabana Beach won their section, which was a great thrill. We ended the week by all of us sleeping under the stars on the last night. A few of them needed a little persuasion, but did admit the next morning that they had had their best night’s sleep ! We all have great memories of World Camp 1999 which will stick with us for ever.

1ST HOOK NORTON GUIDE UNIT

At the Division Patrol Competition at the end of September, we sent 21 girls from the Unit. This was an evening of lots of different activities, for the girls to work in Patrols. One of our patrols came second. At the beginning of October, we took two teams to Youlbury Scout Camp for our annual outdoor competition called Girloree. The girls had a great time and one of our teams came second out of the 30 teams from all over Oxon.

Diana Barber very kindly came to our meeting for a beauty night. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the evening as they tried cucumber on their eyes and had a go at hand massage. This was as part of the World Camp Challenge Badge that the girls are working towards. This term we have also planted a Trefoil out of bulbs in the flower bed outside the Memorial Hall. The girls have also made a ground sheet out of recycled carrier bags and they have held a Yo-Yo competition.

We had another four girls join us after half term which brings us up to 31 Guides.

Three weeks ago we had a tramps night where the girls dressed up as tramps; we played lots of games using newspaper and the fish and chip van came to our meeting for the girls’ supper, which they thoroughly enjoyed. We finished off the evening with a Promise Ceremony done by candlelight.

Last week at the Remembrance Day Parade we had a record of 21 guides attending the Parade and Service. This last week we heard that Catherine Crick’s badge design for Cosmic 2000 had won. This was out of the whole County; it was a great thrill. Everyone going on the camp will be wearing her badge on their T-shirt/sweatshirt. A report will appear in the next newsletter on the end of November weekend at the Stratford-upon-Avon Youth Hostel.

WILDLIFE NOTEBOOK Mid Sept - Mid Nov

Spells of high pressure with clear skies and light north easterly winds tracking in from Scandinavia and further east are ideal for autumn bird migration and here in Hook Norton you can see birds on the move. Most obvious are the small flocks of fieldfares and redwings which pass through the area or descend on pasture fields and hedgerows to feed on invertebrates and berries. Less obvious are the increased numbers of blackbirds, song thrushes and chaffinches in gardens and the surrounding countryside. Many of these will be Continental birds moving south to avoid the harsh northern and eastern winter.

Along with the common visitors we occasionally have rarer species passing through the parish. On Oct 4 a male stonechat was found feeding along a track in the west of the parish and in November a male blackcap was reported by Tim Burchell in a garden near the cemetery.

Our last village walk on 23 Oct attracted a committed group willing to brave cool weather and showers. We walked over to Rollright Heath and it proved to be one of our best walks for birds with several parties of skylarks, fieldfares and long-tailed tits present. Among the more unusual species were a buzzard, two coveys of grey partridges which presumably have been released, 14 golden plovers and good views of a great spotted woodpecker and tree sparrows.

Most reports of mammals recently have involved road casualties with muntjac, badger and red fox, all found dead near the village. Elsewhere a few brown hares are being increasingly seen to the west of the village and hedgehogs are still visiting some gardens.

In a warm sunny spell at the end of October brimstone and red admiral butterflies were seen in village gardens and a few common darter butterflies hawked for insects along south facing woodland edges.

Wildlife reports this period included:

six buzzards seen together over Beanacre by Ann Faulkner in early October; a male tawny owl regularly heard ‘hooting’ in the village by John and Rita Wheatley; two great spotted woodpeckers in Michael Terry’s garden in Down End on Oct 4; a grey wagtail back for a second winter in the gardens of the Rose and Whithead families in Ironstone Hollow; an escaped budgerigar seen by Pat in Austin’s Way on 1 Oct.

Look out for goldcrests, long-tailed tits and coal tits which are all visiting gardens at present. A sparrowhawk is still hunting through the gardens in the village and good numbers of fieldfares and redwings are about. Further flocks of up to a 100 waxwings are arriving on the east coast. If the weather hardens look out for a repeat visit to the village - and don’t forget to telephone!

BRASS BAND

The Band commenced the run of Autumn engagements by leading the congregational singing at Marlborough Road Church, for the Harvest Festival on Sunday October 3.

Resplendent in uniform jackets of maroon and gold, worn for the second time only, the band presented the annual Bill Clarke Memorial Concert at Hook Norton Church on October 17, giving a varied programme of music. Titles ranged from the compositions of Tchaikovsky and Rossini to Elton John and James Horner, providing a mixture of classic and easy listening. Paul Roberts’ vocal solo , Panus Angelicus, displayed another dimension within the band and added a touch of class from a fine singing voice. The Church of St Peter is always a wonderful venue for the band, with good acoustics, beautiful surroundings and a good receptive audience.

Marlborough Road Church was the setting for the bands’s next event, organised by Bandmaster Ron Glynn. This time, a concert party for the Senior Citizens of Banbury, providing entertainment combined with a warning message to beware of the bogus caller, was followed by a tea party. Ron had organised concert parties many times in the past when he worked as a Crime Prevention Officer and although now retired from the Police, he is still busily engaged as Neighbourhood Watch administrator for the whole area and decided to resurrect this initiative after repeated requests. Financially supported by Cherwell District and the Crime Prevention Panel and a donation from Banbury Homes, it was a very enjoyable, worthwhile occasion, with plenty of laughs, as Ron joked his way through the programme. There was audience participation, when they were invited to play percussion instruments along with the band during the concert and finally, with a sing- along session. Included in the varied programme was a fun sketch with a serious message.

On Remembrance Sunday, the band led the parade through the streets of Hook Norton to the Church for the Service of Remembrance, attended by a very large congregation of people from Swerford, Great Rollright and Wigginton as well as Hook Norton. The names of the district’s war dead were specially remembered. Musical Director Jason Glynn played the ‘Last Post’ after two minutes silence, followed by ‘Reveille’ after the poignant words of remembrance had been spoken. It was good to see so many people, both young and old, come together on such a significant occasion.

The band were engaged again during the evening at Shutford church for a Remembrance Service, accompanying the hymn singing. ‘Last Post' and ‘Reveille’ were played by Julie Hancock. The band have a busy Christmas period in front of them, the first event being the Lights Switch-on in Banbury on November 25.

We have had to say goodbye to Dawn Quartermaine for a while, with a baby expected in February 2000, she is taking time off to prepare for the happy event and a well earned rest.

David Ford took up the position of Secretary from September this year and will be a good asset to the band. Thanks were expressed to Charlotte Bird as she retired from this position.

Note: Julie Hancock won the Solo contest in June and not Jane Hancock as printed in the last Newsletter.

ST PETERS CHURCH

It seems a long time since the Harvest Festival but it was too late for a report in the last Newsletter. As last year, the gifts and money collected in the Benefice were given to ‘Children in Distress’. £805, twelve huge computer boxes of goods and ten other full boxes have gone to help children in Eastern Europe, particularly in Kosovo. The more traditional gifts of fruit and vegetables went to Castle View, the home for the elderly in Chipping Norton.

The Craft Fair in the Church on 6 November has a special report elsewhere in the Newsletter and so has the information about ordering Christmas trees.

There was an Act of Remembrance in Church on November 11th, including the 2 minutes silence, which was well attended and there were about 400 people at the Remembrance Service on Sunday 14 November. This was preceded by the procession from The Green to the Church. The preacher at the service was General Sir Cecil Blacker.

On Advent Sunday November 28, Anglicans and Baptists held a United Service in the Main Hall at the School thus leading us into Christmas and the Millennium.

On Sunday 19 December at our Candlelight Carol Service, it is hoped to light 2000 candles to mark the 2000 years since the birth of Christ. If you would like to remember someone special or say ‘Thank You’ for something or just wish to be involved in this event, you could sponsor a candle or candles, at £1 each. Please get in touch with Beryl White.

Christmas Services at St Peter’s :- Christmas Eve, Friday 24, the usual lovely Crib Service at 5.30pm. At 11.30pm Holy Communion (RiteA). On Christmas Day at 10am Morning Worship. Boxing Day, Sunday 26, 8am Holy Communion (BCP). We are celebrating the Millennium with ‘Songs of Praise’ in the Church on New Year’s Eve. It will commemorate Church Music over the last 1000 years.

On January 1 there will be an Act of Worship at 11.45am.

Looking ahead into the year 2000, the Annual Sale in aid of St Peter’s Church will be held on Saturday 15 January. There will be the usual stalls - books, bottle stall, bric-a-brac, cakes, gifts, nearly new clothes and plants - also teas and a raffle, with a large variety of prizes. Do come and enjoy the afternoon.

Marianne Joyce hosts a Scrabble evening approximately every six weeks, charging £2 for the evening (which includes tea/coffee and biscuits) and there is a raffle. The money raised goes into Church Funds. These evenings are great fun. There is no need to be a brilliant Scrabble player, just come along and enjoy it! If you are interested phone Marianne. Best wishes to all for Christmas and the Millennium.

BONFIRE NIGHT

Thank you to everyone who supported this year’s bonfire. In excess of £1,000 was raised for the Fire Services National Benevolent Fund. The bonfire has become an annual event, organised by the local firefighters and we are extremely grateful to everyone who helps to make it a continuing success.

Following the bonfire a pair of brown gloves with furry cuffs was found; if these are yours please contact James Clarke.

Note: If the gentleman who complained as he left would like to contact me, I am sure we can resolve the matter.

HOOK NORTON PRESCHOOL PLAYGROUP

By the time most of you are reading this, we will have completed all our fundraising events for this year. We would like to thank all of you for your continued and generous support. As we do not receive any official funding, all money required to run Playgroup is either raised from session fees, from donations or from our various fundraising events. We therefore rely on the goodwill and help of the people of Hook Norton who come up trumps every time! Many, many thanks.

The Annual General Meeting will be held in the Playgroup building on Wednesday January 12th at 7.30pm. If you have preschool children who are soon to attend Playgroup and would like to become a committee member, please come along or contact me. Alternatively, if you would just like to find out more about Playgroup and what it can offer your child, please contact Alrys or Maria. A 24 hour answer phone is available on this number.

Before ‘signing off’, I’d like to thank the staff of Hook Norton Playgroup: Alrys, Pat, Maria and Angie for their dedication and commitment. I’d also like to thank this year’s committee, some of whom will be retiring at the AGM. We have had a very successful time and are very pleased with all the things we were able to achieve and projects we were able to complete. Well done everybody. It just remains for me to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Successful New Year.