This month, the Newsletter Box contained £23.72 — thank you.

We'd like to say thank you to Patrick Fox for the photograph on this month's cover and to Derek Brotherston for the M@C photographs.

NEWSLETTER CONGRATULATIONS

Once again, I wanted to congratulate the Newsletter team on a truly brilliant newsletter - it puts other villages to shame! It is stacked full of news and don't Hooky people do a lot of interesting things!? I always look forward to it being dropped onto our doormat and in our family it is always a race to see who gets to it first!!!

Thank you so much for the time you put into it and for being so accommodating with all the different articles that are sent in - it never ceases to amaze me that you always manage to get everything in each copy.

Also a big thank you to the village directory, it is always dog eared as it is referred to so often!

Well done to you all.

[Aw Shucks! We are all embarrassed now!
Anyone fancy joining the newsletter team and looking after the advertising?

The newsletter relies on several sources of income; one of which is advertising. Do you have access to a pc and can you spare a couple of hours a month to organise and co-ordinate the advertisers, send invoices and ensure the income is received?

So what's involved?

Well, we have about 60 regular or semi regular advertisers; most of whom repeat their bookings for 6 issues each year. Don't worry about the 'correct' software or being ‘clever with computers’; everything relating to this task can be achieved with free software so if you don't have it now; we can supply it very easily.

If you can help with this, please let Helen or Andy know – our phone numbers and email addresses are on page 5 It’s a job worth doing!]

Once again we have reached the end of a very busy year at school, with lots of exciting things happening. We have been very involved in developing our international links with visits to Spain, Sweden and Turkey and we have also enjoyed hosting children and teachers from those countries. We have also developed a link with a school in Banbury where children from both schools have met together for picnics and games. Children have enjoyed a varied curriculum with lots of practical experiences, culminating in a fantastic Science Week. Year 5’s work with rockets was pretty hair-raising….wherever I stood they seemed to explode water over me…

Our Musical Extravaganza was a treat: so many talented children sang and played a range of instruments to a very enthusiastic audience.

The one sad note of the year was the loss of our much loved school bell, which has been part of the fabric of the school for decades. There are parents of children at school who can remember ringing that old bell. Unfortunately it ‘disappeared’ one weekend and has not been seen since, despite many ‘appeals’ (pun intended). The Harris family has very kindly donated a replacement with the school’s name engraved upon it, so now we guard it very carefully.

We wish you a very happy summer holiday from everyone at Hook Norton School.

5 years ago I started my Duke of Edinburgh Award and for my service I choose to help at 1st Hook Norton brownie unit. For the last 5 years I have helped out on a Monday night weekly from 5 – 6.30pm. Within this time, we have done a lot of different activities and by the time you read this I will have left due to going to university in September. This last term we have done a number of different activities that have been really good fun and have meant that my last few meetings with the brownies have been enjoyable.

There are 24 girls in our unit, this term we took on 5 new rainbows and along with me moving on there will be 3 girls moving up to guides in the autumn. I am also currently working towards my leadership scheme for Girlguiding UK, which I hope to come in use when I go down to university. The 3 leaders and I have worked really hard this term to get a wide variety of activities for the brownies to do.

This term we have tried to get out and about as much as we could as we wanted to make the most of the summer nights!! We have played golf at Rye Hill which was good fun and the girls did extremely well especially with the younger ones. We have also had tropical inc, which is a company that talk about tropical creatures to different groups. They brought with them owls, spiders and even the skunk which all the girls did insist on smelling!!

To get the girls to respect the environment we went up to Sugarswell farm to pick some strawberries and help rebuild the guys which they had made last summer, we also invited the rainbows to join us to see what brownies do.

Other activities that we have done have been to make fathers day presents, a BBQ and games at one of our leaders farms, crafts, games and swimming at the Lido pool in Chipping Norton.

Over the last 5 years I have seen a large number of girls develop through attending brownies and I have also benefited from doing this voluntary work. It has also helped me with my decision to train to be a Primary School Teacher. I would like to say a big thank you to the Brownies, Teresa, Vicky and Ady who have supported me through my service to guiding.

On the 27th of May we went camping with Bloxham Guides at Youlbury Scout Campsite near Oxford, this was the second time we had stayed there and we all really enjoyed ourselves. We always camp with Bloxham guides because we can meet up with old friends and also make new ones and it is nice to have more people at camp than just our unit. Overall there were about 28 guides, 5 guiders and 2 young leaders. Quite a few of the guides had not camped before so it was a new experience for them.

Some of the older guides from Hooky and Bloxham as part of their Baden Powell Challenge made a Bivouac and slept in it for a night! Luckily it didn’t rain so it wasn’t too wet under the stars and amazingly everyone stayed warm throughout the night!

The weather was not too bad, we had some rain but the sun came out for a while just at the right time (when we were packing the tents away). On the second day we went on a walk but as we left the campsite it started raining very heavily and continued thought the walk until we were all completely soaked to the skin, but everyone enjoyed it despite the weather.

This year we did patrol cooking which is where everyone is split into groups of about 5 or 6 and they build their own fire together, cook their own meal together, eat it together and wash it all up together this was a great idea but unfortunately we could only do it once as the weather let us down on some of the other nights.

At the campsite on two days we had a go on a climbing wall, a zip wire, Jacobs ladder and crate stacking. The older girls all had a go at the Ariel trek which was a big challenge and they all did brilliantly and had the best go they could at completing the course. We all had a fantastic time and thank you to all the guiders for organising another great camp and giving up their half term!

Hi Youth Clubbers, its the summer holidays already and we haven't forgotten you. With all the sporting fixtures, we haven't been able to all get together. Hopefully by now, we have had our long awaited Rounders Match. We had a successful 'Bottle Tombola' at the Club Fun-day back in June. (Thank You to the people of Orchard Road for donating some bottles), and had a great day with the 'Skittles' at M @ C. Thank You to everyone who supported us there despite the awful weather. Congratulations to our winners, Keith, Hugo and Jack! Well done to all the organisers. We really appreciate all the hard work that goes into M @ C. Youth Club is back during the holidays and we hope to organise a trip to 'The Lakeside Bowling'. Look out for the Youth Club Post through your door. New members Welcome, aged 11 - 16 years old. Check out our website at hooknortonsportsandsocialclub.co.uk and click on Youth Club for dates and further information. Take Care

In the first week of July, Chipping Norton School Jazz Orchestra went on tour, for the first time, to Lake Garda, Italy.

Of the 40 students that went, 9 of us live in Hook Norton: Megan Wood (vocals), James Rooney, Claire Gardner, Ryan Souch, Nick Whitehead (clarinets), Hattie Callery (violin), Lauren Hollidge, Esther Mead (flutes). There should have been 10, but sadly Owen Kay, having already broken his foot, then had appendicitis and couldn’t go.

We had a great time! We performed each evening in different places, but we had more fun during the day. We went to Verona and visited Juliet’s house and the amphitheatre.

The best bits of the trip were when we went swimming: in the hotel pool, at a brilliant water-park and, the highlight of the trip, swimming in Lake Garda!

It was a fantastic experience and I’m sure we’ll all remember it forever.

Come on in - the water is warm, even if the summer has forgotten to arrive!

Every Tuesday until the first week in September, the Lido will be hosting youth nights for 11 - 18 year olds from 7.30pm to 9pm. There are special events, a toddler pool and plenty of safe space for picnics and play. Perfect for the holidays!

For more information 01608 643188 or www.chippylido.co.uk

LOST! 2 CANVAS FOLD UP CHAIRS One blue, one green LAST SEEN IN THE BEER TENT AT M@C ON 5TH JULY Their remaining companion blue canvas fold up chair is pining ... Telephone 730456 if you can reunite these three friends!

We've enjoyed a very busy time at the library.

The Team Read which is a national reading challenge to encourage children to read books over the summer, got off to a flying start by having the children from Hook Norton Primary School visit the library. They all helped decorate the children's area by colouring flags which look wonderful, the children are always so well behaved and they are all so creative.

Already many have joined the challenge and they get stickers, bookmarks, and when completed a certificate and medal. So if your children haven't joined yet, do bring them along and sign up, the challenge runs until September.

Other news, Anna the children's librarian from Banbury has also been entertaining the younger 0 - 3yr olds with our free regular monthly rhymetimes; the next ones being on Monday 28th July 2.00-2.30pm, then Monday 18th August at the same time. No ticket is needed, just turn up.

I've already started spending some of the money raised from the Book and Plant sale, all books bought have a sticker inside showing donated by FOHNCL If anyone does have any suggestions of books they'd like to see, or authors I do not stock, do let me know.

Here's wishing you all a very happy summer and let's hope the sun shines for us all.

On Tuesday 17th June we had a very interesting and amusing talk with lots of photographs and several items used by Sylvia Brown on '35 years on the Milk Round'. She read out some very odd! Notes that were written to the milkman by householders. One I remember goes like this - ' We have just had a new baby, please can we have another one?'

The quiz after the talk was won by Carol Cooke and the prize was a pint of milk!

The competition was a jug and the 1st prize went to Caroline Smith.

On 15th July we had our summer garden party at Malthouse Barn and our meeting on 16th September is on Wychwood Forest. It will be very interesting to learn about our local area and anyone who would like to hear about this is welcome to come as a visitor. The competition is a Fir Cone.

In October, our meeting will be on the fourth Tuesday, 28th October and is about Shetland and its wildlife. The competition on this occasion will be 'something made of wool'.

We have our monthly meetings on the third Tuesday of every month at 2pm in the Baptist Hall. It is a great opportunity to make new friends and meet people you have not met before. A warm welcome awaits you.

This is a busy time of year for gardeners and it is always a pleasure to visit other peoples gardens for inspiration. The visit to Sir John and Lady Airds' garden at Grange Farm Evenlode was indeed inspirational but it was such a shame that what should have been a balmy summer evening with the scent of honeysuckle and roses in the air was cold and windy. This garden is open for the NGS on Tuesday afternoons in June and would be well worth visiting again next year.

The Autumn Show will once again be held in St. Peter's Church on Saturday 13 September with the entry night on the previous Wednesday in the Memorial Hall. Schedules and entry forms will be delivered to all members in early August and we look forward to having a good turnout.

The annual outing will be to Hatfield House and Garden on Sunday 21 September and enquiries about availability should be made to Malcolm Black on 730668.

In the meantime we hope for a good summer with the right balance of sun and rain for successful gardening.

The group met at Hooky Primary School on 17th June. We took the opportunity of calculating our energy use on the school computers. It's a great way of seeing where the money goes, and finding out how to save energy and so reduce our energy bills.

You can calculate your energy use on direct.gov.uk/ActOnCO2 or www.carbonworkout.org.uk

Plastic Bag Free Hooky

There has been much publicity over the past few months about the need to reduce our use of plastic bags, as they take energy to make and add to the landfill problem.

Gill White reported a good response to our efforts to make Hooky a plastic bag free zone.  The Post Office has been recycling plastic bags for some time now, and the Village Shop has introduced a small payment for each plastic bag issued, the proceeds to be donated to a local charity.  Bags for Life and Jute bags can also be purchased there.

The Brewery phased out plastic bags in the shop some time ago. They also recycle the packaging that they use.  Other measures that they are taking include a recent survey of water use and looking at ways of reducing their fuel consumption.

A big thank you to all our local businesses for making such a huge effort.

Biofuels

A local company called Golden Fuels buys and collects waste oil, mostly from restaurants, and this is recycled to make biofuel for diesel engines.  Some people within the group have already used these fuels successfully.  Also biodiesel is available from The Silver Group on Southam Road at the old Alcan site.  If anybody is interested in giving this a go, please contact Tim Lunel.

If you're thinking of changing your car, you can find out which cars are the most fuel efficient from www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving. This site also gives lots of advice on how to reduce your fuel consumption for the car you are driving now. New cars now have a fuel efficiency label which will help you to choose a car that will save fuel and save on vehicle tax.

We're a friendly lot – please come along to our next meeting at Hook Norton Brewery visitor centre at 7.30 pm on Monday 1st September and see what you can do to reduce your bills and save some CO². 

At the meeting you’ll have a chance to hear back from 10 Hook Norton residents on the specific advice they received from an expert visiting their house in July/August.  This is part of a trial of a national scheme that the Energy Saving Trust will be launching later this year.  Hooky was selected for the trial as it is being seen as a place where people really want to make a difference!

(contact Tim Lunel: lunel@btinternet.com)

The health walks which go from Hook Norton surgery on a Thursday afternoons will be finishing on the 24th July for the summer. Due to lack of walk leaders it is unlikely we will start them up again. If anyone is interested in becoming a leader please contact Allison Thomas.

As you will have already read in the last newsletter, the Macmillan Coffee morning will be held on Friday 26th September 2008, at the Study Centre, at Hook Norton School, 9am - 11.30am. I shall be holding the normal Macmillan Christmas stand - selling Christmas cards and gifts (I know that it is only just summer, but yet and I am talking about Christmas, but often people attend the coffee morning, announcing that is the time for them to buy their first Christmas cards!). Please put the date in your diary now. I would be very grateful for offers of help with raffle prizes and cakes to go with the coffee that will be on sale. If you are also able to spare a few hours to help me, I would be very grateful too - please let me know.

As you know from the last newsletter, we have raised a total of £8,001.69p since 1996, please help me to get near to £10,000 this year. Many, many thanks for helping to raise such a huge amount of money for such a good cause. PLEASE do join me again this year.

Many thanks.

Many thanks to all who turned out to support this event. The weather was kind and so a good day was had by all.

Thanks to all who made the day possible - The Lions club of Chipping Norton, Hook Norton Playgroup, Our youth clubbers on face paints, tombola and the bouncy castle.

To Ramthornes for their bouncy castles, Keith Wise, Val and the Stratford clan for the skittles, to Sue, Chris and all the helpers on the field, Matt on the tennis courts, Jackie White and Sally Wood for their Yummy Cakes and to Rita Watts who helped tidy up before the Bingo.

Well done especially to all our medal winners and to everyone who took part in the races and tug-of-war finale! Well done too to all our raffle winners, a list of which is on the club notice board.

See you all same time, same place next year.

Midnight Walk Success!

Katharine House Hospice was delighted with the success of its 2nd Fundraising Midnight Walk, held on 28th June. It was a fantastic event, with nearly 650 Walkers taking part. They set off at Midnight from Cotefield Garden Centre, Bodicote, to a rousing rendition of the Proclaimers “(I would walk) 500 miles”, to make their way around the 13 mile course.

Awaiting them on their return was a delicious bacon butty and commemorative balloon release! An outstanding £76,000 was pledged in sponsorship on the night and is arriving at the Fundraising Office in a steady stream! A huge Thank You to all those who supported the event!

Beer Festival

23rd – 25th August, the Fox Inn, Middle Barton

Looking for some entertainment for the Bank Holiday weekend? Then why not pop along to the Beer Festival being held by James and Abby Bagnall at the Fox, Middle Barton. There will be several great local bands to entertain you, a village Tug-of-War, a raffle, tombola and a Pig Roast and barbeque. Proceeds to Katharine House Hospice.

Banbury Bench Press

Annual Charity Event

2pm, Sunday 14th September, Que Pasa, Banbury

Local power-lifter, Steve De-Meis is holding his annual Bench Press Event in aid of Katharine House Hospice and Dogs for the Disabled. The event is open to anyone and has a £15 entry fee. Application forms can be downloaded from

www.banburybenchpress.co.uk or by calling Sarah at Katharine House on (01295) 812161. Spectators are also very welcome (£2.50 adults and £1.00 children) and a full bar and barbeque will be available.

These are stressful times for us all.

Your Village 'MUSEUM and ARCHIVE' has benefited in the past by the donation of small household and family items which no longer fit into current ways of living or available space. We find that these are very useful to add to our collections which illustrate the way people have lived in the past. It is also a way of preserving family history.

Please don’t throw away your old house deeds. These and old family photographs are especially welcome. They contain valuable information about life in Hook Norton in the past. (These photographs and deeds could be copied and returned to you if wished).

We often have visitors to our village Museum and Archive searching out their family history: local knowledge which cannot be obtained through national resources. They are delighted when can show them artefacts which perhaps their grandfather used. We can sometimes add copies of family photos to their own collections.

We can make suggestions about prospective items and collect them if that helps.

Are you interested in HTML? Do you understand URL?

Are you a frustrated Web-master? Do you have some ideas about lively web- sites?

Hooky Parish Council is looking to refresh its web-site to make it a truly represent what goes on in our village. But we need some web enthusiasts to help. A few meetings and a few hours or even minutes of your time are what is needed.

Interested? email Jem - jem@briksdal.co.uk

We know you are out there and we need your expertise/ enthusiasm. Thanks in advance.

Paul Cooper, who moved to The Bourne recently, heard a Cuckoo on 1st June between 06.30/07.00. This is the only report I have received about this bird in the village, I would be pleased to hear from anyone else who has seen or heard a Cuckoo. He has had the usual visitors in his garden, plus a Bullfinch and a pair of Goldfinches, with Blue Tits and Blackbirds nesting. On 1st June at about 07.45 a pair of Red-legged Partridge were walking in the right-hand side verge on the road to Wigginton. Julia Lehmann phoned on 4th June as there were 5 Buzzards flying over her house which is near the Post Office.

In the morning of Saturday 7th June Alison Shard in South Hill saw a pair of Spotted Flycatchers in high trees in her garden. These birds can be found throughout the UK and were once a widespread breeder, but are now a very rare sight as its numbers have dropped by about 84% which means that finding one is a real challenge. As their name suggests they catch flying insects and usually have a perch which they return to frequently. They are a summer migrant and family parties do stick together so keep a look out for this entertaining little bird whose total length is about 14cm and it has a streaked crown and breast.

On 9th June at about 15.15 a Red Kite was flying over the middle of the village from east to west high up in the sky. A Yellowhammer was seen on 9th June in the hedgerow along South Hill. The weekend of 7th/8th June David Shirt, who lives in Sibford Road, repeatedly heard a Raven calling. One night in May he heard an altercation between a Tawny Owl and Little Owl right outside their bedroom window - he thinks the Little Owl escaped unscathed. On 15th June he heard another racket from both Tawny Owl and Little Owl, but this time he did not think the two were connected. They have had frequent visits from a Great Spotted Woodpecker on to their peanut feeders. On 17th May a male Yellowhammer was just outside their french windows. For two weeks running before 24th June Betty Couldrey in Bourne Lane saw a pair of Yellowhammers in an old tree in the field perching on the same branch across the road from where she lives.

I expect like us many of you will have seen baby Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Blackbirds, Starlings, Dunnocks, Sparrows and Goldfinches and this year we had put roundels on our conservatory windows and so far have not had any birds fly into them which is very good news. We have seen a Song Thrush a great deal and eventually found out what the awful mess was on our patio, which was where it had taken huge slugs to rub off the slime which exudes when they are touched. When we found this out we were very happy with what the Song Thrush was doing.

Maisie Green, aged 7, emailed me to say that at 22.30 on 6th June she had seen a Hedgehog in Old School End opposite her home. Martin Madge also emailed as on 10th June at the junction of Austin's Way and Station Road at about 05.00 he saw a Fox. On 19th June he saw a Muntjac "as bold as brass" stood in the middle of the road just in the dip by the kissing trees. There was a Muntjac in the field in East End on 1st June and a young Fox in our garden during the day on 30th June.

The odd Dragonfly and Damselfly have been seen - look out for them in your garden as they do venture far away from water.

Unfortunately there do not seem to be many Butterflies around which is a great pity - any sightings would be very welcome, even if the Butterfly is supposedly common.

Very many thanks to those of you who have been in touch, please contact me with any wildlife that you see.