Everything cancelled. Events below are subject to notice of cancellation:
Scarecrow Festival September Village Field Apple Day October Village Hall Christmas Lunch Sun 6th December Village Hall Carols & Refreshments Mon 21st December Village Hall
The Play Area
The play area will be installed this month and should be opening in September! There will be some necessary preparation including mowing or topping the field, drainage works and a new footpath and entrance alterations. The public footpath will close temporarily as the drainage works are completed, but there will be minimal disruption. During installation, the area will be secured and made safe and the project team will be working to Covid19 secure guidelines. For the latest news, please use the Gaydon Parish Council facebook page and the website and there will of course be signage.
Pocket Parks
At the same time, Pocket Parks will be starting to come together. We would like to invite any Wildlife experts and enthusiasts to contact mirrinl.gpc@gmail.com to volunteer your expertise in the creation of habitat enhancements and living landscaping!
We hope to celebrate this new amenity with a Village Event this Autumn. You can find details of both on the village website: www.gaydonvillage.co.uk
Housing Needs Survey
The Housing Needs Survey has been distributed and responses will need to be sent by 18 August. This will go directly to Warwickshire Rural Community Council and will be analysed and a summary sent to GPC. The Parish Council will consider the results and explore how any housing needs can be addressed in future.
County and District Council News
Warwickshire County Council medical advisors are taking control of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull for the testing and tracing of Covid 19.
Stratford is entering talks with Warwick District about taking steps to work together. Stratford District Council has taken an £8 million hit due to the virus and has received £1million in aid from the Government to offset this - but the shortfall is significant.
Most Councils are in a similar position and Stratford District Council are looking to see if savings can be made by working with Warwick District.
Contacting the Parish Clerk and Council
Please note that the Clerk's working days are now Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so emails and correspondence will be acted upon during those days. For anything related to Covid19, please contact the Parish Helpline on
07398 093023 and please use the Gaydon Parish Council facebook page.
Next meeting: Tuesday 4 August 7.30pm via Zoom.
The month of July seems to have approached with extraordinary rapidity, perhaps due to the continued restrictions of the virus. I have a very stylish face mask with swallows logo made within the village - the actual birds have nested successfully at two places in the village, whilst others have been seen taking mud from the two new ponds near Edgehill view. One group are still around the Church lane area hunting the adjacent fields but the others in Poplar Farm barns seem to have moved on. This does sometimes happen when another area has more insect food, so a possible explanation here. The main predator of swallows is the Hobby falcon, not seen this year. Sadly, the care lavished on them in the UK is not replicated and thousands die in cheap plastic mist nets when they pass through Egypt, Lebanon and Morrocco; full also of trigger-happy ’hunters’. Cuckoos,White-Throats, Storks and many songbirds suffer a simular fate. The lack of insect life, due to ‘tidiness' and industrial farming with chemicals, is also a factor. Many farmers realise this now and are entering the Countryside Stewardship schemes available - but is it already too late?
Confusingly, many butterflies seem to have emerged a month early. We have already seen the superb Red Admirals and Peacocks on our Buddleia bushes, or the Hummingbird Hawks on the ubiquitous Red Valerian. The meadows have many Ringlets, meadow Browns, the scarcer Marbled Whites and a population explosion of Orange Gatekeepers. The meadow behind the church is alive with chirping grasshoppers, a sound that has all but disappeared from many arable fields. Another precious resource is the cemetery field which has colonies of Small Coppers and Common Blues. Look out for Blue Scabious, Knapweed, Greater Hawksbill and Ox-eye Daisies.
When Karl Linnaeus began to classify plants and animals in Latin Taxonomic families, common names had already been established by ordinary people. Thus, many are living history: relics of a distant past when the Red Admiral was once the Red ‘Admirable'. Moths' names in particular are fascinating: no-one knows who named the Gipsy, the Heart and Dart, the Mother Shipton, Hebrew character or Clifton Nonpareil. In the past, the timber yards in Camberwell no doubt gave rise to the name Camberwell Beauty: it would have been a stowaway from Scandanavia hiding in the logs, a rare butterfly even then. The footman moth is named after a once-common occupation.
I expect that many of these species will have a second brood this year.
In the skies above the village the Buzzard and Ravens now have young and the aerobatics - often very high up - are fascinating to watch from a chair with a drink to hand: truly leisurely birding! Bernard Price
July Birthday Congratulations to: Paul Dodd on the 8th; Alastair Hotchkiss on the 15th, his 50th; HRH The Duchess of Cornwall on the 17th; Belle Walden on the 25th.
Something to celebrate? Contact Siobhan Hannan on 07780678582. Cost? £5 donation to Church Funds.
Mini Market Saturday 1st August 10am - 12 noon. Breakfast Baps and Coffee on Sale; Variety of Stalls.
Sunday 2nd 9.30am Morning Prayer
Sunday 9th 9.30am Holy Communion BCP
Sunday 16th 9.30am Morning Prayer
Sunday 23rd 9.30am Holy Communion
Sunday 30th 11.00am Zoom Group Service
Dassett Magna Service Times*: Gaydon: 9.30am; Farnborough: 10am; Burton Dassett, Fenny Compton and Northend: 11am.
9.30am Monday - Saturday: Morning Prayer 6pm Monday - Wednesday; Friday & Saturday: Evening Prayer 6pm Thursday: Songs of Praise 11am Sunday Service
The Vicar writes:
'There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens' (Ecclesiastes 3) and summer is the season when for many of us life takes on a different pace. Summer is perhaps for most of us our favourite season - long days, short nights, no school! Summer is when we have most time to take seriously the entreaty 'Be still and know that I am God.' (Psalm 46:10)
Summer is an invitation to contemplate ordinary things; to use our senses to enjoy the sound of waves lapping on a shore, the taste of juicy fruit, the warmth of sunlight on our skin, the faintly sweet smell of jasmine. These things are small and they may seem ordinary until we stop to really notice them for what they are: creation speaking to us about God. And for those who like to garden there is something very spiritual about tending to growth and watching beautiful things spring forth from the earth. We know the science behind such a thing as a flower’s growth, but it really is wondrous and mysterious too.
Summer is a time when the momentum of our lives is interrupted. For many it’s holiday time. Part of the joy of a holiday is doing something different, having a break from the normal routine, getting away from the day to day pressures of struggling to get a task finished before the end of the working day, or rushing from one appointment to another in a very full diary.
However we spend our summer we need the chance to 'recharge our batteries', space for relaxation and unwinding - and time to think. Too often we get so caught up in the relentlessness of ordinary life that we never stop to ask where we are going and what it all means. After what we’ve all experienced in the last few months, it may be that this summer, more than most, we need to take time to stand back and look at our lives and ask 'where is all this taking me?' What balance is there in my life between work and leisure, between home and work, between self and others? How might we adjust the balance in our own lives to make them better for ourselves and those close to us? Is my current life-style fair to me and to my family and friends? Does it enable me to make a proper contribution to the wider community, to nurture friendships, to become a more mature and rounded person?
What do I need to change - what can I change?
I really hope that you all enjoy this summer season and that you find time to look around you and see the blessings that daily come your way; not just in nature but in all aspects of your life. The gift of life itself, the gift of people with whom to share it, the gift of clean water, of enough food…the list is endless. Rev. Nicki Chatterton
'Patience is a bitter plant that produces sweet fruit' (Charles Swindoll), is a rather appropriate saying when we think back to late winter and early spring when the first sowing and planting began. It is greatly satisfying that our time and effort hasn't been in vain, as we have all produced picturesque allotment plots that are offering rewards and joy of summer harvest!
In early Summer we would usually have our eyes glued on tv screens and our ears tuned in to the sound of wonderful Wimbledon. Although there was an empty 'Henman Hill' or 'Murray Mound' this year, the allotments did not falter and provided sweet succulent strawberries (they never make it back home to receive cream, just Yummy!).
The warm wet showers in early July were most welcome as water haulage to the plots has reduced to a small amount. (PHEW!!!) The weather recently has re-enforced why the UK is so good for growing crops, with warm and wet conditions being the dream for us growers. The only gripe is all those Weeds that have thrived in recent conditions.
The fertile Gaydon soil has once again produced a large array of vegetables and fruits so far this year. We have filled our bellies on: Mixed salad, garlic, spring onions, beetroot (golden and purple), new potatoes, spinach, carrots, courgettes, broad beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflowers and raspberries (The list goes on).
We are very lucky to have allotment plots so close to home, it is simply a joyful experience of walking down to hand-pick your veggies/fruit for your evening meal. What a Beautiful Village we live in! Andrew Smith
The Village Hall Committee will continue to review the safety concerns around re-opening the hall for village use. The next committee meeting will take place on Monday 14 September.