NEWSLETTER TEAM

Directory: Diana Barber
Advertising: Andy Horne
Distribution: Malcolm Black
Treasurer: Kevin Hope
IT/Web Support: Martin Baxter




FROM THE EDITORS

Sadly, we report the deaths of Anthony Abbot aged 88, Keith Dewdney aged 55, Derek Harvey aged 70, Doris Elizabeth Hicks aged 101, Doris Hirons, aged 85, John Albert (Jack) Humphrys aged 85 and Anne Elizabeth Mobley aged 60, John Sharp aged 71, and Ann White aged 93. On behalf of the village we send our condolences to their families and friends.


Andy Horne Helen Foster
hookynews@totalise.co.uk helen@hook-norton-newsletter.co.uk

The views expressed in the Newsletter
are not necessarily those of the Editorial Team


A CHALLENGE...FOR ALL HOLIDAY MAKERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS

We are ‘promised’ a proper summer this year, so while you are enjoying the sunshine here is a challenge for you. We are looking for the most inventive or different or distant place that a Hooky resident has been seen reading the Newsletter. It could be on the beaches of California, the mountains of the Himalayas or the very top of a tree. Use your imagination and send your pictures to hookynews@totalise.co.uk. The prize? Publication on the front of the newsletter, of course!!



SCHOOL NEWS

It has been a very busy time for us, as usual, since Christmas. We were well represented at the Chipping Norton Music festival with our choir, recorders and thriving orchestra as well as children who entered individually. Our current Year 5’s are benefiting from the government funded programme to encourage the playing of musical instruments, with the whole class learning to play a band instrument (or should that be banned…). May Day saw the unveiling of our new maypole and the children enjoyed learning the dances. Weaving the ribbons was fine; undoing them was more of a challenge!

Ofsted visited us in March, followed by a Church inspection in May. I am delighted and proud to say we received one of the best inspection reports ever in Oxfordshire:

“This is an outstanding school with a distinctive, caring, community ethos.”

The school received the top grade in every area, from overall effectiveness and the quality of provision to achievements and standards and personal development. I was especially pleased to see that the inspectors acknowledged our commitment to an inclusive education and our belief in developing the whole child as well as the outstanding achievements and standards of work. They also noted the strong teamwork and partnership with governors, volunteers, community, local churches, parents and children that go to make us “first class”. The church inspection was equally full of praise, awarding us grade 1 in every area: “The school through its distinctive Christian character is outstanding at meeting the needs of all learners.”

Year 6 have completed their SATS – could they be the last children to take them? We shall see! Now we move on to the Swedish exchange with 12 children going to visit Vastra Skolan to meet with partnership schools from Turkey and Spain, then it is our school production, Musical extravaganza and Sports Day to fit in before the summer break, which we are all looking forward to!



CONGRATULATIONS – HOOK NORTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

“If some villagers are not already aware Hook Norton Primary School recently had an Ofsted Inspection, which it was rated OUTSTANDING. On behalf of the board of governors at the school I would like to say a huge congratulations on receiving such an outstanding report. I would also like to say thank you to parents for their support, to the pupils for having a school which they are very proud of, to the Headteacher Stella Belgrove and all the staff for all their commitment and hard work which does not happen overnight but over years. Well done. The full report can be found on the Ofsted website www.ofsted.gov.uk”

Joe Williams – Chair of Governors


FRIENDS OF HOOK NORTON SCHOOL

Summer is here folks and the Friends of Hook Norton School have been busy planning exciting events to tempt you out into the evening light. So open your diary and make a date to have some fun, meet your friends – and raise money for our ‘Outstanding’ school (the Ofsted inspector was obviously at one of our Quiz nights!).

First date is your night with Hook Norton’s answer to ‘The Weakest Link’ and ‘Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?’ all rolled into one. It’s Summer Quiz Night at the Sports & Social Club on Friday 5th June. The price is a snip at £10 per table. Doors open 7.30pm for an 8pm start. So be sure to book early through the school office and avoid disappointment.

When you have got your head sorted after those brainteasers, the next date is a fortnight later – a Family BBQ with live band 'The Silverfish' on Friday 19th June, 6pm. There will be a licensed bar. So there is something for everyone. A great chance to relax together at the end of the week.

Here’s a quick run-down on latest news from FOHNS. Remember to join the School Lottery. It could be you - recent winners of our £50 monthly draws have been Lisa Nottingham (April) and Dave Newman (May).

The Easter Treasure Hunt was a big hit enjoyed by many. Entrants had to identify photographs taken around the village - the first prize of a large Lindt Chocolate Bunny, donated by Joe Williams at the Village Shop, was won by Marcus Pendery.

May Day raised £165 from donations and sales of coffee and croissants, which will be put towards the purchase of headphones for the new school laptops. Thanks to everyone who helped out. And thanks to everyone who offered items for sale and who came to buy at our Car Boot & Bike sale in May. Another great success.

FOHNS Committee


STEWARDING HELP

Can you spare an hour or so to help with stewarding at Music at the Crossroads on 4th July?

If you can, please contact Phil Shepherd at phil@hookymusic.co.uk to let him know when you could be available. Alternatively, please call the number on the poster.

Thank you –

HNCA


LEE STRATFORD COMMUNITY TRUST

About the Trust

The Trust was set up in January 2006 to commemorate the life of our eldest son Lee, who sadly passed away in November 2005 aged 23.

Anyone who knew Lee will tell you that he was a very special person and forged lifetime friendships with everyone he met (unusual for someone with autism). He loved so many things in life but the big three were Hook Norton, The Sports & Social Club and children. The idea for the Christmas Parties came from his love of Christmas and his even bigger love of the children in the village. Most of the money we raise goes towards providing a free Christmas party for 0 – 10 years olds in the village plus supporting other events and projects involving our youngsters. We are not a huge organisation and rely on donations from other village activities to top up our fundraising, for which we are very grateful.

Two dates for your diary:

Sunday 9th August – Lee’s Six-a-side Football Tournament

The deadline for team registration for the Football Tournament is Sunday 12th July. Application forms are available from the Sports & Social Club or me.

Sunday 30th August – Hooky Duck Race

Both these events will take place at Hook Norton Sports & Social Club

Events Committee

There has been no response to the request for help with our fundraising, so we will carry on as before. A big thank you to all our friends and family who have promised their ongoing support to help us at the Duck Race etc.

Spirit Award

The Spirit Award is presented every year to honour our youngsters’ footballing achievements. Village football was a great love of Lee’s and he was a regular visitor and supporter to both Junior and Senior fixtures. The Spirit Award is presented to players, who in the opinion of the management, have shown throughout the season, the qualities: Dedication, Camaraderie and Pure Spirit. These three qualities define the passion that Lee had, not only for the game, but for the Club and its members.

The winners for the season 2008/09 are:

Senior – Daniel Poole

Junior- Arthur Ward

Valerie Stratford vstratford@fsmail.net


OUR BUS SERVICE JUST GETS BETTER

From 31st May our last bus from Chipping Norton now leaves at 7.10pm – an extra bus – and one hour later than before. For more details, please ring Isita Pickering.


GARDEN CLUB

As usual St. Peter's Church was a wonderful backdrop for all the colourful entries at the Spring Show on 18 April. The standard was high and although the number of adults entering was lower than last year they all entered more classes and the competition was keen. It was a shame that fewer children entered; those who do take part have fun and a great sense of achievement especially when they collect their rosettes and prize money. Parents, please do encourage and help children to take part; there is something for even the youngest child to try. The children's' section is a very important part of the Show.

The cup and prizewinners were:

Harry Pargeter Cup for the highest number of points by a gentleman - Peter Arnold;

Bill Clarke Cup for the highest number of points by a lady - Vicki Harvey;

Willis Cup for the highest number of points by a child - Eleanor Taylor;

Floral Art Cup - Vicki Harvey;

Redlands Cup for Homecraft - Valerie Cornelius;

Joe Bishop Cup for Photography - Vicki Harvey and Peter Arnold.

The Certificate of Merit for Floral Art was awarded to Sheila Lilley and the Diploma of Excellence in Horticulture to Chris Harrison.

The Peoples Choice went jointly to Ann Faulkner, Nicola McHugh and Anthony Wyatt.

A big thank you to everyone for taking part so enthusiastically and to all the Committee who work so hard to make it all possible.



HOOK NORTON WI

In March a team from the W.I. entered the Quiz Night held by the Arts Society. This was great fun and we managed to end the night in third place. We called ourselves The Wobbly Intentions and won first place for the funniest named team.

A group of members visited an Open Day at Denham College. We had a talk of the history of the college, lunch and then a guided tour. We saw where classes covering numerous subjects were held and the modern equipment which had recently been fitted. We also saw the residential accommodation in both the old and new buildings.

Our W.I. President, Teresa Forrest won first place with her embroidery at the Annual Oxfordshire W.I. competition and received a silver salver.

The March meeting was our AGM and Mini Show. There were 6 categories in the show to enter. After the formal business was over the various entries were judged by two members of the Sibford W.I. The overall winner was Val Cornelius.

April's meeting was a lively talk by Mr Adrian Thomas on National Parks in England and Wales. He kept us alert by showing slides of the 12 National Parks and asking us questions on each one. He also explained what goes on in each area and how we can protect the National Parks as well as enjoy them. The competition of a garden bloom was won by Frances Price.

At the end of April four members of our W.I. attended a service in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford to celebrate 90 years of the Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes.

Our next meeting on May 19th will be a talk from the Associated Country Women of the World and on June 16th Geraldine Moore will give a talk on Hook Norton Wild Life.

All visitors are welcome at The Baptist Hall at 2 pm.

Doreen McLaughlin



MARTIN HARRIS

I would like to thank everyone so very much for their kind words and gifts and for coming to the Farewell Party to “see me off”. I am grateful to the Bloxham and Hook Norton communities for enabling me to have such a wonderful career amongst such special people. The comments in the book will give me a continuous reminder of all sorts of both happy and sad occasions and will stay with me for ever.

To those who asked what was I going to do - I’m afraid I haven’t had time to think about it!!

With best wishes to you all.

Martin


FRIENDS OF HOOK NORTON LIBRARY BOOK AND PLANT SALE

It’s not only Hay-on-Wye that has a remarkable collection of second-hand books…….the quality and range on display outside the Library last Saturday morning was a treat for any book lover. What was special, too, was that it represented the generous offerings of Hookie residents. Once again the sun came out and serenaded by FiddleBop and refreshed by coffee from the Font Café armies of people raided the tables and loaded up with literature to fuel them through the summer to come.

Thanks are due to the following people for making the Book and plant sale such a roaring success this year……….

….and to you all who provided us with the books to start with and then came and supported us and helped to make the sale such a heart warming village occasion.

The amounts raised were all up from last year – overall total £531.65, made up from:

Plants sales - £155.00 which goes to Book Aid

Raffle - £96.65

Book sales - £280.00

Start saving your books for next year….thank you very much.

Olwen Goodwin


KATHARINE HOUSE HOSPICE

Yellow Week Collection Days

Yellow Week is a national initiative developed to highlight the work of hospices in the UK and raise funds towards their work. If you’d like to support Katharine House by helping with our supermarket collections, then we’d love to hear from you!

Our Collection Days will take place at:

-Chipping Norton town centre on 10 June

-Sainsbury’s Banbury store on 12 June

-Morrison’s Banbury store on 18 and 19 June

-Tesco’s Brackley store on 18 and 19 June

-Tesco’s Bicester store on 19 June

2 hour slots are available from 9.15am – 7pm. If you would like to volunteer, please call Sheila or Sarah in the Fundraising Office on (01295) 812161.

Midnight Walk- 4 July, Banbury Rugby Club

The closing date for applications to take part in the Midnight Walk has now passed, but we would be pleased to hear from anyone who might like to volunteer as a marshal on the night. This would involve being assigned a point along the route in a pair, helping Walkers to cross the road safely and encouraging them. Please call Sarah in Fundraising on 01295 812161 if you would like to help.

Grounds and Gardens Raffle

Wow – what a response! Our Fundraising volunteers have now receipted over £20,000 of tickets and we are well on the way to buying patio furniture, turf, ride-on lawn mower and our tree planting programme. Our new patio area looks stunning as the flowers unfold in the adjoining beds. Our day hospice patients think the view is magnificent and we are hoping for some warm weather to enable them to sit out and enjoy the exquisite gardens and adjoining quiet countryside.

Obviously we cannot thank you all individually but please accept our special thanks to all who have contributed so far. Draw takes place 8 July. If you want to be in with a chance of winning £1,000, £500 or £100, please send in your tickets or contact Sarah on 01295 812161

Hospice Hessian Bags

Our environmentally friendly jute (Hessian) bags are now on sale at our local charity shops and from hospice reception. At 43cm (17”) wide, 34cm (13”) high, with a strong cotton handle, they make the perfect shopping bag and are a bargain at £3.50, while stocks last.

Hospice E-Newsletter

We are now offering a monthly e-newsletter to local businesses. If you would like to find out more about forthcoming events, please email

sarah.bidwell@khh.org.uk



FIREFIGHTING

Fancy becoming part of a valued team & help the community, and get paid for a rewarding job – if so then read on to learn about us.

We currently have a number of vacancies on the station for firefighters.

Hook Norton is a retained station where it is unmanned. On receipt of a 999 call into our control room in Kidlington operators alert the station crew by pager, where we respond either from home or work. We answer an average of 3 calls per week, which can be a variety from Standbys to House fires or flooding to Road Traffic Collisions.

We are looking for new firefighters to provide a variety of cover, maybe just daytime Monday to Friday or nights, weekends or a variety of hours i.e. 3 days 2 nights, there are many options available.

Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue service provide all training. Before you can go to emergency calls there is a training course, once completed you are on the run. Then specific courses to deal with incidents like chemical spills & wearing breathing apparatus, even emergency driving & first aid. We train every week on a Wednesday night 7pm – 9pm.

To become a Retained Firefighter you should ideally;


If you are interested in joining us or wish to find out more information then there are a number of ways you can enquire:-

Calls

So far this year we have answered 44 calls which include 20 for standby at Banbury & Chipping Norton, 3 standbys for the M40, 5 chimney fires, 7 hedge & rubbish fires, 1 house flooding in Chipping Norton, 2 Road Traffic collisions (only minor injuries) a call to electric cables arcing in the Bourne, 1 false alarm, a house fire, a small roof fire at Swerford, a shop fire at Shoezone in Banbury and assisting the ambulance service when a recovery driver had fallen over in the snow and broken his leg during the snow at Wigginton.



CALLING ALL DOG & CAT LOVERS

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has so far donated items for unwanted cats and dogs. Please don't forget that it is an ongoing appeal.

One of the local veterinary surgeries is collecting items for homeless dogs and cats. If you have any of the following to spare, they would be very gratefully received. Every few weeks the donations are distributed to the most needy animal shelters around the country.

Old Dog Leads – Collars – Blankets – Towels –

Beds – Dog Coats -Scratching Posts – Spare Food –

Chews – Brushes – Combs – Shampoo – Toothpaste –

In date Wormer / Flea Treatments – Toys etc..

Anything you think would make an unwanted dog's / cat's life a little happier. Anything not suitable will be divided between the RSPCA and PDSA Charity shops in Banbury.

Please spare a few minutes to search for any unwanted items mentioned above. If you care to give me a call, I will be happy to collect them. Many thanks –

Hilary Wiseman



WILDLIFE NOTEBOOK - MID MARCH TO MID MAY

Maggie White from Scotland Bungalow phoned to say that on 17th March she had seen a Brimstone Butterfly in her garden and on 19th March there were three Peacock Butterflies in Watery Lane. In an East End garden a Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock Butterflies were flitting around on 18th March. Helen Foster in Burycroft Road saw her first Peacock Butterfly on 1st April as it came out of hibernation in her utility room and flew off in the sunshine.

Victoria Harvey was walking in the fields at the back of the brewery when she saw two brown Hares (not together) in the fields. In the early hours of 7th April, along by Woodside Farm towards Milcombe, Martin Madge saw two Roe Deer standing casually, one on the verge and one in the road and he slowed right down before they decided to disappear through the hedge. Bill Dixon was coming from Sibford towards the Gate Hangs High at about 5.00pm on 3rd April when he saw three Roe Deer in the field about two thirds down the dip on the right hand side. On 8th May at about 3.50pm he saw a Fox in the middle of the road crossing from the Peartree, which stood starring at him in his car before moving off.

So far this spring, now the Grass Snakes have awoken from hibernation, Celia and Kjell Trogstad in East End, have seen one in their pond when it is sunny, but comment that there is poor hunting though as Frogs are too big, but it still tries to eat them. More recently they have seen one big and one small Grass Snake and with the pond being full of tadpoles it will not be long before they will enjoy a feast. Marion Galloway in Sibford Road picked up a concrete slab in her garden and was amazed to see about 7 Frogs. Goes to prove that maybe none of us really know what animals we have in our garden! particularly overnight when we are not watching.

During the past two months Maggie White has seen a Marsh Tit fairly regularly and, on her niger seed feeder two Siskins. On the morning of 31 March at about 11.00am Betty Couldrey in Bourne Lane, was looking out from an upstairs room towards the fields when she saw a very beautiful male Siskin which sat for a while, then flew off and when she went upstairs later it was there again. On 29th March John Morris, also in Bourne Lane, had four Greenfinches all together on the peanuts in his garden and on 31st March he heard a Yellowhammer in a field nearby. Patrick Fox makes a comment about the decline of the Cuckoo over recent years, so I can understand why he was thrilled to see one first thing in the morning of 1st April at close range next to the allotments. It took off as he walked past and flew across the valley with its unmistakable wing beats. He walked to the top of the hill and sat for a while hoping to hear it call but unfortunately it did not. On 22nd April at 7.15am at Sibford Heath Peter Ford heard a Cuckoo. In the evening of 23rd April Vivienne Steele in Down End heard a commotion and when investigating saw a pair of Blackbirds in her espaliered pear tree squawking at something. As she went closer the Blackbirds held their ground until she was almost on top of them and she realised something was flapping in the border. The Blackbirds eventually took flight from her flowerbed swiftly followed by the Cuckoo. 9 Buzzards were seen flying over the East End at 12.30pm on 3rd April. Ray and Linda Gasson had the back of their Range Rover open in their yard and, after an hour they returned to the car to find a female Sparrowhawk in residence, which was not under any stress sitting in the driver's seat! After taking some photos they opened the front doors and the bird flew out. The first Swifts that I have heard about were two seen on the morning of 6th May - you can now see them flying around everywhere. Hilary Wiseman saw a paid of Red Kites over towards the pond behind Ironstone Hollow at 4.30pm on 10th May.

Thank you very much indeed for getting in touch - some really interesting and unusual sightings this time. Please contact me when you see anything of interest.

Geraldine Moore geraldine.moore1@btinternet.com


WELCOME TO THE BIG POND DIP!

Want to know if your garden pond is in good shape for wildlife?

Do the Big Pond Dip to find out! The survey is quick and easy to do.

Enter the results online at http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/bigponddip

Add your results to the national Big Pond Dip by 1st August 2009



THE NEWSLETTER TEN YEARS AGO ...

We have been looking at moving the archive of newsletters from the newsletter website (http://www.hook-norton-newsletter.co.uk/) to the new Hooky website (http://www.hook-norton.org.uk). It struck me how much has changed in the village - and how little.

Ten years ago the Parish Council was worrying about vandalism in the play areas, the state of the Memorial Hall which had recently been refurbished and the difficulties of finding people willing to fill vacancies on the Council itself. Familiar?

The Wildlife notebook and the WI meetings also have a comfortingly familiar ring. The Firefighters were attending road accidents and providing standby for Banbury, just as they do today. FOHNS were running successful social events and making money, the Garden Club’s Spring Show had a good number of entries. There is debate about the buses and reports from the churches. All there in this issue.

Folk in a Field 3 - a night of Night of Folk, Rock and Blues - is not so different from M@C11. There are the same points about bbqs and beer, chips and buying your tickets early. The Beer Festival is worrying about closing the bar at 10pm - now it closes when it runs dry, and that is often well before then!

But the Rural Fayre - now that is different. Anyone for Barrel Rolling (demonstrate your ability to get the beer home without deviating from the straight and narrow; a relay race with a difference!); Welly Whanging - with the added feature that each welly is full of water;Tug-o-War; Straw Bale House Building (Shift the bales and build a structure that will take the combined weight of the whole team); Egg Catching (How many eggs can be thrown and caught without being scrambled); and Tractor Pulling? St Peter’s ran a Noah’s Ark and there was the Hook Norton Dog Show, no doubt a rival for Crufts in its day.

Time moves on too.

Ed.