Gaydon Parish Magazine May 2017

index of magazines

This Month's Diary

     Ecological Presentation        Tues 2nd 7.45pm            Village Hall
     Village Hall AGM               Mon 8th 8pm                Village Hall
     Village Barbecue               Sun 14th 1pm               Village Hall 
    Parish Council Meeting          Tues 16th 7.45pm           Village Hall
  ** Big Coffee Morning             Sat 20th 11am              Old Bakehouse**
     Friendship Club                Tues 23rd                  TBC
     Library                        Monday 15th                Telephone Box    
     Pilates                        Tuesdays 6.15pm            Village Hall

GAYDON CALENDAR PROPOSED DATES

      VILLAGE QUIZ NIGHT             SAT 10 JUNE                VILLAGE HALL
      BIG LUNCH                      SAT 15 JULY                VILLAGE HALL
      SUMMER COFFEE MORNING          SAT 19 AUGUST              VILLAGE HALL
      CHRISTMAS FAIR                 SAT 25 NOVEMBER            VILLAGE HALL
      CAKE MIXING                    SUN 26 NOV                 CHURCH
      CHRISTMAS LUNCH                SUN 3 DECEMBER             VILLAGE HALL
      BURNS' NIGHT                   SAT 20 JANUARY '18         VILLAGE HALL 

Church Services in May

Sunday 7th
      9.00   Holy Communion BCP    Burton Dassett     
     10.30   Morning Prayer        Fenny Compton
     10.30   Holy Communion        Gaydon
      6.00pm Evensong              Farnborough 
Sunday 14th
      9.00   Holy Communion BCP    Farnborough
     10.30   Holy Communion        Fenny Compton
     10.30   Morning Prayer        Gaydon
     10.30   Communion by Ext.     Northend
      6.00pm Evening Prayer        Burton Dassett     
Sunday 21st      
      9.00   Holy Communion        Farnborough
      9.00   Holy Communion BCP    Gaydon
     10.30   Holy Communion        Northend 
      6.00pm Evening Prayer        Fenny Compton 
Ascension Day Thursday 25th 
      7.30pm Holy Communion        Fenny Compton
Sunday 28th       
      9.00   Holy Communion BCP    Fenny Compton      
     10.30   Holy Communion        Farnborough        
     10.30   Prayer & Praise       Gaydon
     10.30   Morning Prayer        Northend

Parish Council News

Précis of the Chair's Annual Report for 2017

The past year has been exceptionally busy but with notable landmarks and achievements that will ultimately shape both the medium and longer term character of our village and parish area.

Key themes have been the acceptance of the Core Strategy and its likely impact on Gaydon; planning applications; the village environment and the impact of traffic.

Gaydon is at the centre of a boom of building and planning focus with the acceptance of the Core Strategy by SDC and the focusing of much investment by JLR.

GPC has worked constructively with JLR and the BMM to shape their expansion in a way that minimizes the impact on residents in terms of visibility, drainage and light pollution.

The Environmental Area will guarantee a green break that diverts runoff water away from residents. The promised reinforcement of the hedging and tree line should provide a barrier to limit visibility of the high tech building development of JLR and BMM. GPC has voiced concerns about light pollution with both SDC and JLR and has already had an impact on this.

The local garage adds to light pollution but has never co-operated with the Parish Council over any planning issues.

With regard to housing applications, the number of new houses is guided by already-received outline planning and by the rules set out in the Core Strategy. The Paddocks development is progressing well, having been shaped by GPC so as to reduce density and be seen as an asset to the village. Concerns about the integrity of the old Gaydon Inn have been robustly investigated with no intention of permitting anything that will compromise its Grade II listing. The 15 houses south of the Kineton Rd have been largely supported by GPC who have assisted in the shaping of various aspects of it. There is now an agreement to extend the 30mph zone that should also benefit residents of the Barns development, as should new footpath links.

Smaller developments approved by GPC are 2 houses at Ferndale; offices at Cottage Farm; and outline planning at the Old House.

Such detailed approvals mean that Gaydon has now fully met the numbers of houses that it is obliged to permit until 2031.

The village environment:

The village shop is supported by the Parish Council who welcome a £1000 donation from County Councillor Chris Williams.

The Malt Shovel Inn has been registered as a community asset.

The telephone box has been secured for the use of the village.

The church clock, the village war memorial, has been restored.

Village benches have been repaired.

Litter-picking is carried out e.g. for the Clean for the Queen last year.

Maintenance of grassed areas by GPC's own contractor is always good and flowers have been planted on the village green.

The cemetery has new trees and a central meadow area for flora and fauna.

A new recreation area will soon be available to the village. This is a key aspect of the parish plan and I am grateful to all who have been involved in the project.

The problems with the layby continue to be addressed.

At the Old Warwick Road, signs have now appeared, the gate has been replaced and there will be remodelling of the entrance to both the old Warwick Rd and the cut off section of the B4451.

The impact of traffic in the village

Queuing has been massively reduced thanks to the new road.

A working party was established to investigate the other impacts of traffic in the village, tasked with proposing solutions. A full presentation was made, a plan drawn up and recommendations were approved by GPC. These have since been presented to WCC officers and openly and frankly discussed.

The living village environment and sense of community is something that GPC supports. The Diamond Jubilee Party was a great success and worth highlighting: a wonderful afternoon tea, concert and evening BBQ. It was good to see this well-attended and in receipt of good funding.

GPC is always looking to plan ahead, financially and structurally.

Costs have been kept to a minimum. Although the budget has risen, as there are more houses in the village, the actual costs to individual households have been reduced by 20p.

GPC is set to expand to 7 Cllrs in order to represent fully those who both live and work in the parish. It has absolutely no intention (at this stage) of being absorbed into a new council as has been suggested. It wants instead to protect and enhance the unique character of Gaydon.

A New Parish Plan, in partnership with residents, is needed:

Do we want more housing? What recreational facilites do we want? How do we ensure road safety? What will make the village thrive? Are there new priorities for the next 15 years as GLH grows? Should Gaydon keep its independence of GLH?

In the meantime, I want to thank all those who have come to meetings; our District and County Councillors; our team of Parish Councillors; and our clerk who works with undiminished commitment to our village.

John Brine Read John's full report at www.gaydon.org.uk/pcouncil/reports/

Next Parish Council Meeting

16 May 7.45pm

Nature Notes for April

As I write these notes we are expecting a cold snap; and as fruit trees are in blossom and insects have emerged from hibernation, I am hoping that it will not be as severe as the dire predictions of the weather forecast today!

The lack of vegetation prompts me to remember that years ago, in the sparse Indian Desert, I was working on analysis of the droppings of the endangered Indian wolf. We had to move fast to get fresh samples because the weather and insects would soon destroy them, leaving only bone fragments. If you have been to India you may also have noticed that cow pats are not wasted but used for fuel, stacked up in geometrically patterned pieces.

I remember even further back, that in the leafy suburb of Moseley in Birmingham, we still had a Milkman and Rag-and-Bone man, both of whom drove horses. Householders would rush out with shovels to collect any horse manure: it was gardeners' gold for your roses (for there were no garden centres - you made your own compost).

In a generation we have become detached from all this: no longer can most people pluck a chicken or dress a rabbit. Animal faeces are now regarded with revulsion and the response is the pooper scooper and polythene bag. Two big problems here - the plastic bags are often not biodegrable and, worse, are left on hedges and in fields. Here, the cereal content of the dog food attracts horses who eat them and often die. There is a problem with the cost of disposal too and I see notices, that are more suitable for urban areas to stop pavements being littered, appearing on our footpaths across agricultural land. There is also a danger here with toxic paints on grassland.

In my view, the problem is easily solved by the old 'flick and stick policy' used for years; and once removed, the ground beetles and fly larvae make short work of any droppings and weathering finishes them off. They also biodegrade back into the soil avoiding all the problems I mention above. Sometimes we can learn from the natural world and this is a rural area, after all.

My wife made a very interesting observation last month of a roadkill deer being fed on by Buzzards and crows, united in this bonus feast. My point again: Carrion is a great food source for Buzzards, Kites and Corvids so it does not need to be cleared up, just put to the side of the road. Burying-beetles will cover even a large mammal in just a

few weeks.

Look out for sensational displays of cowslips this spring, locally in Chadshunt. Comma and Orange-tip butterflies are on the wing at present and you may even spot the rare variety, var. Huchisoni, of the Comma which is bright orange. Bernard Price

Mobile Library

The Library will visit the Telephone Box at Gaydon from 1.35-2.05pm on Monday 15 May.

Big Coffee Morning & Plant Sale

Old Bakehouse
Gaydon's next Coffee Morning will be at 11am on Saturday 20th May     
Books, bring-and-buy and plants 
Big Raffle 
This is a special fund-raising event for the Christmas Lunch!

The Ecological Enhancement Area

(The Fields to the North of Gaydon)
Gaydon Village Hall
Tuesday 2nd May 2017 at 7:45 pm
There will be a Parish Council-sponsored presentation by Pegasus Group and Jaguar Landrover about the EEA to the north of Gaydon. This is an opportunity for Parishioners to find out, first hand, what will be happening to these fields. There will be the opportunity to ask questions. It is an open meeting and all are welcome to attend.

Flag

The Flag was raised on 21 April in honour of the birthday of HM The Queen. On the 23rd the flag of St George was flown and we remembered the Bard of Avon whose birth and death it also marked.

Burton Dassett Restoration Fund

A date for your diaries:

Warwick University Brass Band, Friday 16th June, Burton Dassett Church. Please support this event and help raise funds for the new 'Taps and Toilets'. Contact Pauline Carr for tickets at paulinecarr1@btconnect.com

Summer Holiday Job

Are you 16 years or older and looking for a summer job?

The British Motor Museum are looking Kitchen Assistants for the summer season at £6.74 per hour. Days, weekends and some evenings available.

Please contact Paul.kelly@britishmotormuseum.co.uk giving your name, age, contact details and what days/time you are available.

British Motor Museum · Banbury Road · Gaydon · Warwickshire · CV35 0BJ

www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk Telephone 01926 641188

Welcome

We welcome to the village Peter and Lucy who have come to live in Kineton Road; also Lisa and Barry and their family who have just moved into Church Road. We hope that they will all enjoy life in Gaydon.

Village Hall News

The next meeting of the Gaydon Village Hall Committee will be the Annual General Meeting to be held on Monday 8 May at 8pm. Members of the public are welcome at this meeting.

Neighbourhood Watch

Gaydon has had at least one burglary a year for a number of years. These crimes take place during the weekday and seem to have some similarities. This was raised with PC Morgan and she has responded as below. It would seem that if there are no fingerprints and no witnesses the Police do not take it further although they have not confirmed this particular point. There is no doubt whatsoever that an operating burglar alarm works as an efficient deterrent. The most important thing is for any strange vehicles to have their plates noted and immediately reported to the Police.

'As I think you know, as a Safer Neighbourhood Team we make follow-up visits to burglary victims to offer crime prevention advice and reassurance, as well as patrolling our villages as much as possible.

As per Inspector Brealey's article in our newsletter (No.69) we are supported by colleagues in a number of other teams. Burglaries of residential properties are attended in the first instance by our colleagues on the response teams who obtain initial details, and also by a scenes of crime officer who looks for for many things including

fingerprints, footprints and DNA. There is also a team of detectives who make additional follow up enquiries and deal with burglary suspects. This team deals with burglaries in terms of follow-up when there are tangible lines of enquiry e.g. forensics; burglaries that are forming a series/pattern; and burglaries where there is relevant intelligence. This team also has links with colleagues in neighbouring forces to ensure that any cross-border enquiries are pursued.'

PC 892 Catherine Morgan,Wellesbourne Safer Neighbourhood Team, Telephone 101, Voicemail 10892, Twitter @wellesbourncops, Website www.warwickshire.police.uk/wells

Farewell, then, Gaydon Inn Field

       How green your thick clumped grass, perfect for ponies!
       How broad and generous your sloping sides for village fêtes
       and tug-o-wars
       Where one team always seemed to pull uphill!
       How tall your spreading chestnuts and your long-forgotten elms,
       Shading the picnic tables of the Inn!
       But now heart breaking concrete crushes you;
       The chicken-thief, his den destroyed, turns urban fox
       Mocked by his image on a faux-thatch roof.

Our cover this month records the progress of the Gaydon Inn building site. Ed.

Village Hall Barbecue

Sunday 14th May 1pm-4pm: Free barbecue with welcome drink; Bring your own wine or beer.Meet Nicki, the new Vicar of Gaydon with Chadshunt.

Messy Church in May

On Sunday 21 May there will be children's activities at 9.15am in Fenny Compton village hall.

Licensing of the Reverend Nicki Chatterton

The Reverend Nicki Chatterton was licensed as Assistant Curate of the Dassett Magna Group of churches on Wednesday 26 April at the Bishop's House Chapel in Coventry. There was a service of evening prayer at which Nicki took an oath of allegiance to the Sovereign and an oath of canonical obedience to the Bishop. The service was attended by the churchwardens of the parishes of Farnborough, Fenny Compton, Gaydon and Burton Dassett. The Bishop kindly provided a delicious teatime spread prior to the service and everyone enjoyed the auspicious occasion. We look forward to entertaining Nicki at our Village Barbecue on Sunday 14 May when she will be able to meet more of her parishioners.

Election Special

Election Day: 4th May. Please do not forget to vote in our Local Elections!

County Council Elections will be taking place on Thursday 4th May with the new county boundary changes.

We are included in the Kineton and Red Horse Division, comprising of the parishes of Lighthorne, Lighthorne Heath, Combrook, Kineton, Northend, Radway, Ratley, Tysoe, Warmington, Shotteswell and Oxhill. The Feldon ward, which includes Bishop's Itchington, has been expanded to include Fenny Compton, Avon Dassett and Farnborough parishes which were previously in our district. Unlike parish council elections, whereby you must either live or work in the parish, the county elections are different. Candidates from outside our ward are eligible to stand.