Gaydon Parish Magazine November 2020
index of magazines
Remembrance Sunday 8th November
We are living in very different and difficult times, but it remains important to pause and remember the sacrifices of previous generations.
This year Remembrance Sunday will have to be a little different so that we can keep everyone safe. There will be a socially distanced service for limited numbers inside the Church at 9.30am to commemorate the many lives given for our freedoms; then at 10.45am there will be a small, short Act of Remembrance attended by official wreath-layers only at the War Memorial, culminating in the National Silence at 11am.
The Royal British Legion are encouraging people to download, print, colour and display a poppy in a window in return for a donation as the usual events and fundraising are unable to take place. It would be lovely to see lots of poppies displayed around Gaydon. If you are interested please follow the link to their website: www.britishlegion.org.uk
Poppies
Paint a poppy on a pebble and lay it at the war memorial is a further idea from another village. In Gaydon the village war memorial is the Church Clock and there is a plaque commemorating the names of those killed during the two world wars to the right of the church porch.
If anyone would like to paint and lay a pebble in the gravelled area beneath, you are welcome to do so at any time leading up to 11th November.
November Church Services
Dassett Magna Service Times
Sunday 1st
9.30am Morning Prayer Gaydon
11.00am Morning Prayer Fenny Compton
10.00am Holy Communion Farnborough 11.00am Communion (BCP) Northend + Live Zoom
6.00pm Songs of Praise on Zoom
Sunday 8th
9.30am Remembrance Service Gaydon
11.15am Remembrance Service Fenny Compton with Live Zoom
11.15am Remembrance Service Northend
10.30am Remembrance Service Farnborough
Sunday 15th
9.30am Morning Prayer Gaydon
10.00am Communion (BCP) Farnborough 11.00am Morning Prayer Fenny Compton 11.00am Holy Communion Northend + Live Zoom
6.00pm Songs of Praise on Zoom
Sunday 22nd
9.30am Holy Communion Gaydon
10.00am Morning Prayer Farnborough 11.00am Communion (BCP) Fenny Compton 11.00am Morning Prayer Northend + Live Zoom
Sunday 29th
6.00pm Group Advent Carol Service on Zoom
Zoom Midweek Services Every Week
9.30am Monday to Friday Morning Prayer
6.00pm Monday to Friday Evening Prayer
Gaydon Calendar
Carols by Zoom on Monday 21 December. Further details in December's Magazine.
St Francis of Assisi, Catholic Church, Kineton
The church is now open for Mass at 11am every Sunday. Please wear a face-covering for the service.
Parish Priest: Fr David Tams Phone 01608 685259
email: father.david@stfrancis-kineton.co.uk www.stfrancis-kineton.co.uk
Parish Council News
Pocket Parks
The Orchard section of the field is being developed thanks to the ‘Pocket Parks’ grant, a Government scheme which provides support, through grants, to community-led bodies working in partnership with their local authority. The Parish Council were awarded a grant of £15,000.
These are some the objectives of the scheme:
That communities value the green spaces around them and their positive impact on social well-being and physical and mental health is well-documented. Providing good quality green spaces where people can come together, enhance their wellbeing, have access to healthy exercise, meet other people and find companionship are vital in addressing issues such as rising health costs, loneliness and division within local communities.
Local parks and green spaces provide a wealth of opportunities to get closer to nature, meet friends, play, take physical exercise, walk the dog or even just have some quiet time in the fresh air.
They can offer communities access to space to facilitate community integration. Parks can also contribute to wider government outcomes, including delivering quality natural environment and increasing opportunities for people to overcome isolation and loneliness and engage with their communities.
This could include making physical changes to a park to improve access for those with limited mobility, a location for communities to come together improving integration or helping to overcome isolation and loneliness.
The bug hotel
This has now been installed and will need to be filled with foraged furnishings once the most compatible components and arrangement thereof has
been researched.
Competition
Although the place holder name is ‘Gaydon Bug Hall’, residents are invited to submit alternative name suggestions. So far, Buggingham Palace, Minibeast Motel, Critter Cottage and Air Bee & Bee have been put forward - can you top those? Email mirrinl.gpc@gmail.com with your ideas, or add them
on facebook.
Further works will occur this month, including the willow tunnel construction and some necessary maintenance to the western border. Look out for further updates on the Parish Council facebook page.
Play Area
The new play area is bedding in well and the earth mounds have been re-seeded and cordoned off to allow the grass to grow. It’s proving to be very popular with local children and friends from nearby villages. The kissing gate has had a new latch fitted, so please remember to close the gate; and the main gates are planned to have a self-closing mechanism retro-fitted. New signage is in production and Bins are also being ordered.
Housing Needs Survey
The Parish Council asked Warwickshire Rural Community Council (WRCC) to undertake a survey of housing need during July. Around 200 survey forms were distributed and 16 returns identified a local housing need. This is a relatively high level of local need and the parish council will consider it at our November meeting. The next steps would then be to work with residents to consider sites to fulfil the need through the Neighbourhood Development Plan. Thank you to all who delivered the forms and returned the survey. Should copies of the report be required, please let the clerk know and he will arrange for them to be delivered.
Councillor Vacancies
Cllr Bourne has resigned and we thank Matt for all his hard work during his time as a parish councillor. Stratford District Council have now issued a notice of the vacancy. We will advertise this vacancy and fill the position, along with our other casual vacancy, in due course. Should you wish to know more about the rôle of a parish councillor please contact the clerk or one of your parish councillors for an informal chat.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 3 November at 7.30pm via Zoom.
Church Gift Day Sunday 22 November 10.30am-12.30pm
Can you support St Giles Church?
The Gift Day is on Sunday 22 November from 10.30am to 12.30pm (after the 9.30am service) when the church will be open for people to put gifts on the Christmas Tree. Gifts can also be delivered to the church treasurer, Martin Phelps, at 5 Church Lane tel. 640 559.
Please make any cheques payable to “Gaydon & Chadshunt PCC” or contact Martin about direct payments to the church bank account. If you are a UK taxpayer, the church can reclaim 25% tax back on your gifts at no cost to the giver. Use a Gift Aid Envelope or ask Martin. If you would like to be included on the church electoral roll, please contact Sue Wilkshire (641 414).
Nature Notes for October
The fall in temperatures in the past week heralds the start of Autumn in the village. The first trees are now shedding leaves whilst others are displaying vivid colouration of deciduous species. I particularly like the red Leaves of a Spindle tree in my garden, accompanied by distinctive orange and red pendulous berries. I brought this back as a cutting from the Caucasus Region of the then Soviet Union and it always changes much earlier than the native Euonymus. This tree was, once, more widespread in Warwickshire but was pulled up by Pre-war farmers because it was alleged to attract bean fly. The vivid yellow witch-Hazel is also spectacular. I’m still collecting blackberries - an essential with baked cooking apples; and Sloes for gin - everyone has a different recipe. Some involve piercing with a silver needle or actual blackthorn: but putting them in the freezer to simulate early frosting splitting the berries is my method.
Dragonflies and Bumble bees are still active as I write from my garden, bathed in autumn sunshine. A flock of Goldfinches has settled in my Walnut tree and closer scrutiny with my scope reveals a few Siskins amongst them, proof that they are migrants from the Northern Boreal forests. Every year flocks of Pied wagtails occupy a nearby supermarket carpark, delicate little birds with a constant metronome of a tail and attractive pied plumage: picking up crumbs from nearby cafés. I try to encourage wildlife on my allotment: the clumps of Teasels have been covered with passing flocks of finches; pheasants come to my fruit cage to steal my autumn rasperries.
A dead Otter, possibly the one I was feeding earlier this year, has been reported and a Great crested newt was a Traffic victim in Church road. New houses are going up everywhere and our quiet rural village may well soon be a thing of the past. However, I note the increases in poultry-keeping (although fox threat is a hard lesson), home baking, and walking. We are lucky to live in such a pleasant environment where all this is on the doorstep together with a great pub and shop that need our support; but creeping urbanisation must be guarded against or you won’t notice it happening. Within living memory, thIs village had two pubs, a school, an enclosed playground, a shop by the phone box, a garage that repaired cars and did MOTs, a large church congregation: some went quite recently, a few are still here. Some species of birds are very scarce now, in particular Cuckoos, Grey Partridge, Bullfinches and Snipe. Hares and even rabbits are no longer common. Time once again to fill your bird feeders. Niger seed is liked by Goldfinches, while peanuts are preferred by Blue tits and Woodpeckers. You can even buy a special insectiverous mix now, suitable for Robins and Hedge Sparrows. Bernard Price
Millennium Group News
Sadly, our last event was Souper Saturday in February; everything else has had to be cancelled. We have worked on our accounts and have finalised income and outgoings for 2019/20. One payment to the Parish Council hasn’t cleared our bank account but it is being investigated. The accounts are now available for perusal by contacting Debbie Price.
Join our Drive to Save Lives
Community Transport drivers are needed more than ever before to take elderly and vulnerable people to their medical appointments. Can you join our drive to change lives as a community transport driver? If you’re interested in volunteering, please get in touch immediately: call VASA on 01789 262889 or email emma@vasa.org.uk. We’d like to hear from you even if you can’t start straight away.
Flag
Something to celebrate? A Birthday, Anniversary or Examination success, for example? Contact Siobhan Hannan on 07780 678582 and she will raise the Flag for you. The cost is a donation of £5 to Church funds. The event will also be recorded in the Parish Magazine!
Gaydon Village Store
Where have you all gone?
Since the easing of restrictions, our sales have worryingly fallen below lockdown sales. We had lots of new customers visit the shop and it was lovely to see the community pull together during the pandemic. As many of our volunteer workers were shielding, many new volunteers stepped forward to help serve in the shop and make personal deliveries to many residents who were shielding.
We would like to say a great big Thank You to all those volunteers who helped provide a vital lifetime to many people. We would not have been able to stay open without you. But we need to keep supporting our village shop if it is to remain open.
What about just buying one item from the shop each week? Eggs, milk or bread, for example?
Fresh Veg, Meat, Fruit and Cakes
Apart from everyday items, we stock fresh bread daily (except Sunday) and fresh meat from Carpenters Farm (orders to be placed by lunchtime Thursdays for delivery on Fridays and prices are the same as you would pay if you drove to the farm shop). You can order fruit and veg twice a week with deliveries Tuesdays (order by Monday pm) and Fridays (order by Thursday pm). We have a delivery of homemade pies, sausage rolls and cakes every Friday morning, made locally by Lisa from Bloon & Co.
Please help support your local community shop! Gaydon would not be the same without it.
Obituary
Kevin Heath
It is with sadness that we record the death of Kevin Heath on 4th October. Kevin died of cancer in Warwick Hospital where he had been receiving treatment for several months. He was a resident of Gaydon some thirty years ago and carried out maintenance work for the Parish Council. He continued to help maintain the Village Hall until his illness was diagnosed this spring. The funeral was held at Oakley Wood crematorium on 29 October. We extend our sympathy to his friends and family.
Alan Povey
We are very sorry to have to report the death of Alan Povey on 18th October. Alan was born at the old shop in Church Road in 1950. As a youngster he lived at the shop, then after moving around locally with the family, he returned to live in a house along the Banbury Road. He left the village yet again but returned in the mid-seventies with his wife Sue and two children and settled in St Giles Road. Our condolences are offered to his family and friends.
November Allotment News
The end has arrived for those glorious summer evenings spent down on the allotments, as we approach the winter months and those darker nights! October has brought with it a successful harvest of pumpkins for the allotmenteers, with a great mixture of colour, size and shapes. We have also been rewarded with Butternut Squashes, Potatoes, Pumpkins and Sweetcorn. Special mention to Mirrin and Griff for producing such delicious-looking Broccoli.
With the summer harvest now over, it feels satisfying to clear the leftover foliage and fill up the compost pile. It is like starting a new chapter in your favourite book. On my plot we are experimenting with the Gaydon soil and have rolled the dice by planting winter peas, following last month's instructions. Only time will tell whether these delicate seeds can survive the harsh winter months. For those who are keen to grow throughout winter, it is a good time to plant out spring cabbage, onion and garlic.
To keep warm during these colder days, have a go at this quick and easy soup:
Spicy Butternut Squash Soup
1 Roast 1kg of Butternut squash with oil for 30 mins (add 1 tbsp sugar)
2 In a saucepan gently fry 2 onions, 1 garlic clove and 2 chopped chillies
3 Mix together and add 850ml veg stock
4 Blend to your preferred consistency, add seasoning and Enjoy!
Andrew Smith
Church Gift Day Sunday 22 November 10.30am-12.30pm
Can you help support St Giles Church?
You are probably aware that church services for the village are now being held every Sunday, with distancing, face coverings and other Covid precautions and services are also regularly on zoom. Unfortunately, Covid safety means that we cannot welcome large numbers to special services or hold our usual fundraising events. As well as missing the involvement of villagers in these events, there is a significant impact on church funds.
It takes about £12,000 a year to keep the church running, in addition to the needs of the crumbling stonework, and this all has to be raised from the small number attending church and from fundraising. We expect to lose about £3,000 of our usual funding this year as a result of the Covid restrictions.
Are you able to help the church with either a one-off gift or regular contributions? - to help keep the church open in Gaydon, for all its activities open to all villagers, including services, christenings, funerals, choir, knit & natter etc.
Please come to the Gift Day on 22 November and make a donation to the upkeep of our village church.
Alastair Hotchkiss, Churchwarden
Neighbourhood Watch
The travellers have left the Old Warwick Road but the cost, once again, will be high: sanitising and removal of waste, site clearance, gate repairs etc. The Police have thrown substantial resources into patrolling and controlling
problems as they arose. Cllr Hill, County officers and others have worked tirelessly but unless a permanent solution to this problem is found, the travellers will return again and again whenever they want to. The gate across the road was useless. We need to lobby our District Council for urgent action to be taken to block the access.
'Shell Shock' Online Play Production
11 November 2pm-4pm; book your free place via the Eventbrite link below. We are thrilled to announce that in conjunction with Shell Shock Media CIC, Changing Minds Changing Lives and SSAFA that we will be hosting an
on-line adaptation of the award winning Shell Shock play starring Tim Marriott. The play depicts one veteran’s experience of trauma and mental ill health and the impact of this on their return to civilian life. This on-line adaptation has been specially developed in view of the current pandemic and to ensure that the armed forces community are aware of how to access support and the range of services available.
The deadline for registrations is Monday 9 November:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shellshock-a-remembrance-day-performance-with-expert-panel-qa-tickets-124993838937 Also www.walc.org.uk
The Vicar writes:
We walked towards each other, and in the instant before we touched, we paused, our minds running quick, last-minute calculations on the risk of physical contact. We live 131 miles apart but there’s rarely more than 6 to 8 weeks between seeing each other - it had been 36 weeks. The hesitance felt alien - we’re a tactile family who always hug. But, after turning our faces away from each other, we finally connected. Wrapped in my sisters bear hug, I momentarily forgot we’re in the midst of the worst global crisis we’ve experienced in living memory.
We’re living in a world respecting social distancing rules. For many staying connected with friends and family has been through Zoom and Skype, but those virtual interactions are no replacement for being with each other, being able to give them that hug. With the closure of so many community social events many of us feel we’re loosing touch with not only loved ones but also others in our communities.
Ahh, yes... touch. When did you last touch someone outside your family bubble or intimate relationship? I don’t mean a brush of the fingers when you took your parcel from the delivery guy. I mean a handshake or hug. I’ve touched no-one outside my bubble in months, but in a usual week there would have been numerous instances of acceptable touch before distancing rules. The most recent being the blessing of a wedding couple - we were 2 meters apart instead of my hand on their head.
Humans love touch - we crave it. Touch is the first sense we develop in the womb, possessed even of 1.5cm embryos. We love it so much that the word has the power to sell a heap of products from soft-touch pillows to velvet touch tights. But somewhere in adulthood what was instinctive to us as children comes to feel awkward, and in an age of pervasive and historical sexual abuse and harassment and with the added COVID restrictions touching no longer feels safe and is out of bounds.
Is this what a crisis of touch looks like? And if so, what do humans risk losing, when we lose touch? Touch is commonly thought of as a single sense, but it is much more complex than that. Some nerve endings recognise itch, others vibration, pain, pressure and texture. And one exists solely to recognise a gentle stroking touch. Touch and hugs “slow down heart rate, blood pressure and the release of cortisol”, which gives people better control over their stress hormones. Being touched increases the number of natural killer cells, the frontline of the immune system. Serotonin increases. That’s the body’s natural antidepressant. It enables deeper sleep.
We instinctively understand the power of touch and Princess Diana knew this when she held the hand of an Aids patient in 1987. In the UK over half a million older people go weeks without touching a soul. A fact highlighted to me, when as an acupuncturist, I visited a housebound gentleman. He looked forward to my weekly visits which consisted of a social chat with a neck and shoulder massage - the only touch he had from anyone other than his G.P. The Bible encourages us to ‘greet one another with a holy embrace’ (2 Cor 13:12). When all this is over let’s remember this and return to greeting one another with a handshake, pat on the back, a hug - it may be the only touch that person gets! Rev. Nicki Chatterton