Eynsham County Primary School has applied for planning permission to construct a new synthetic Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) with 3m high perimeter fencing and four floodlight columns 6.7m high – see artist's impression. View the planning documents

Any comments to the County and District Councils must be received in writing by 29 March. The OCC planning officer is Naomi Woodcock 01865 815708 email and the WODC case officer is Rupert Lloyd 01993 861657 email.

The Parish Council Planning Committee considered the application on Monday and responded as follows:

“The Council notes that the School will open up the MUGA for community use and that they will continue discussions with the Council. Details of the effect of lighting on neighbouring houses were not included with the application and the Council would want assurance that this has been considered and is acceptable. With these observations, the Council does not object to the application.” – view minutes>>

Background reading

Eynsham Parish Plan – Leisure and Recreation: “... Other suggestions for Eynsham leisure facilities included:
i. restoration and improvement of the outdoor pool (59)
ii. flood-lit all-weather tennis courts
iii. flood-lit Astroturf pitch.”

Development off Bitterell – agreement on contributions to the village infrastructure includes “£150,000 towards provision of an floodlit artificial turf multi use games area or other recreational facilities in the neighbourhood of the site.” Read more >>

Work has begun on Wytham View Play Area, with opening planned for the end of March and official opening on Friday 7 May at 15:30 – do come if you can.

Charles Caine died last week from a massive brain haemorrhage in the Isle of Man. He had returned there to be near to his brothers after his wife died in 2007.

Charles was a Fellow of St Peter’s College, where he taught mathematics and became Vice-Master. As Chairman of Eynsham Parish Council in the 1970s, he was active in raising money to build the Sports Pavilion.

His work for the St Leonard's Church Restoration Fund – of which he was Chairman – is commemorated in a gargoyle on St Leonard’s Church alongside one of Rev Peter Ridley, who was Vicar at the time. The photo below shows him and Peter with their gargoyles before the installation.

The triumph of the restoration appeal is recounted in Eynsham Record no. 5, 1988; and the project lives on thanks to the Friends of St Leonard's.

Charles lived in Newland Street Eynsham, first at Chesneys and later at Lane House which he had built in the garden. He was an extremely talented pianist and had two grand pianos in his drawing room, first at Chesneys and then at Lane House. He had two daughters and a son. For several years he was chairman of the governors of Bartholomew School.

His funeral takes place on 9 March in the Isle of Man and a memorial service is planned for 1 May in St Peter's college.

Thanks to Don Chapman and Fred Wright for the information supplied above. More reminiscences or photos of Charles Caine would be most welcome – please use the Contact form to get in touch.

Other former residents recalled >>

Waiting restrictions on Mill Street are not to be enforced after all, according to West Oxfordshire's Head of Community Services:

“I met with Officers from Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) Highways on Monday and we discussed the situation. They agreed that the time / weight limit restriction is no longer appropriate and it needs to be amended. They indicated this would be done 6 to 12 months after Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) is introduced ...

“OCC have also asked WODC, as their agents, not to regulate the time / weight limit. Following a review of the CPE Agency Agreement between both councils and a site visit last week this makes sense and I can confirm that the Council doesn't intend to enforce this restriction.”

The new signs on Mill Street apparently restrict waiting to one hour, with no return for one hour, from 08:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday and were installed last September – more >>

The agency agreement involved a transfer of parking enforcement from the police to the district council and began on 25 January – more >>

West Oxfordshire District Council’s share of the Council Tax for a Band D property in 2010/11 has been set at £81.63. This represents an increase of £3.06 per annum or 3.9% on the current year: more >>

The Parish Council budget for 2010/11 is down for the third year running at just under £46.12 for a Band D property: view details >>

Council Tax rates for Eynsham 2010/11:

• Band A £ 963.43
• Band B £1124.03
• Band C £1284.62
• Band D £1445.19
• Band E £1766.35
• Band F £2087.50
• Band G £2408.65
• Band H £2890.38

Total charge for a Band D property across the district will be £1,445.19 - of which £1,161.71 will go to Oxfordshire County Council; £154.30 to Thames Valley Police Authority; £47.55 to the town / parish council.

How to reduce your bill >>

Subsidised bus services are under review – send in your comments please >>

The 11 and 18 bus services through Eynsham are subsidised by Oxfordshire County Council.

Eynsham Parish Council is conducting a Transport Needs Survey in conjunction with Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), to inform a review of this subsidy.

As these reviews take place only every four to six years, this is your chance to express your views and say what transport services you rely upon. The survey consists of a simple form with questions about your transport use and needs, with space for your comments on transport services in Eynsham.

We need to hear from you whether you use public transport or not. If not, why not? The more comprehensive the survey, the better the County Council can consider the services Eynsham needs.

Survey forms will be available later in the month from the Library on Mill Street and at Eynsham Medical Centre, and can be deposited in the boxes provided. In the meantime, the form is available here:

• Download the MS Word document, complete it onscreen and email it to ORCC.
• Print off the pdf version, fill it in, then send it FREEPOST to the address on the front of the form.

Completed forms should be deposited in the boxes or sent to ORCC by 19 April 2010.

Further Reading: public transport information & timetables >>

Trees backing on Dovehouse Close have been marked as the first step towards a long term plan for the area: read more >>

The Parish Council was asked to consider removing trees within 2 meters of the boundary fence of the properties and to carry out a maintenance thinning where appropriate.

At this stage, it has agreed only to mark the trees that would be involved if this work were carried out. The Council has not yet agreed to do any tree maintenance work in the area so the work is not imminent.

The marking is intended to allow everyone to see the extent of any work before it is carried out. The next step – here and in the next issue of the Echo – is to invite feedback. The Council will consider any feedback it receives at its May meeting and also the cost of carrying out the work.

Orange has been used to mark the candidates for “thinning”: these trees would be removed to promote the development of the remaining trees.

Pink has been used to mark trees within the two meter boundary. If this work were done, all trees within two meters of the fence would be removed at base except hawthorn, which would be pollarded at 6 feet.

Residents in any part of Eynsham are invited to send in their comments.

Eynsham residents Beverly Chandler, Jennifer Harland and Sally Moyes spent a cold February day delivering frozen blocks of their delicious home-made soup to the Gatehouse, an Oxford based cafe which caters for the homeless.

The aims of the Gatehouse are to welcome the homeless and lonely and to provide a place where dignity, companionship and free refreshments can be obtained in a warm, safe environment.

Beverly, Jennifer, Sally and many other Eynsham residents help the Gatehouse fulfil this aim: read more >>

Image Helen Peacocke; the full story will be available via The Oxford Times in a couple of weeks.

More good causes; more local people >>

Ever fancied getting in to running but don't like the idea of doing it alone? If the answer is yes, then JustJog is perfect for you.

JustJog is a programme offering beginners running groups for anyone who wants to get more active (aged 16 plus). A qualified jog leader will take you through a 10 week programme aimed to help you get fit and have fun at the same time.

Each session costs £2, and if you attend all 10 sessions you will be get free membership to Run in England. Membership includes a t-shirt, log book and water bottle. Check out the Run In England website for more benefits.

Once you've finished the 10 week programme you can either carry on running with the group, or we can help you join your nearest running club.

JustJog groups are launching in Eynsham on Thursday 18 March, starting at 18:00. To find out more details, or to book a place please get in touch: Sarah Sandford, Go Active Co-ordinator: 01993 861564, mobile 07595 090379 email

There are lots more sports groups >>

West Oxfordshire District Council’s share of the Council Tax for a Band D property in 2010/11 has been set at £81.63 – an increase of £3.06 per annum or 3.9% on the current year. More >>

The search is on for a new production team – preferably by the end of March. If you need more encouragement, there's a slideshow from the 2006 event.

For many people, one of the highlights of being part of the village in the last ten years has been the community productions of The Eynsham Mysteries in St Leonard's Church.

The first production, in September 2000, took us from Creation to Nativity and was designed to celebrate the Millennium, but it was soon apparent that here was a tradition worth continuing in future years. In March 2006, The Mysteries focused on the Jesus narrative, with the Morris Men taking the part of his disciples.

From Now to November
And now the next eagerly awaited Eynsham Mysteries is coming soon! Well, 24-27 November 2010 to be exact – so not that soon – but now's the time to move into action and get things rolling. If you have taken part before, you will know what fun it was to work on such a creative challenge, and how many new friends you made along the way. If you've not yet got involved, here's a little bit more information to help you make up your mind.

From Past to Present
Inspired by the ancient tradition of medieval Biblical mystery plays, our aim is to produce a high quality local community production, which draws on a wide range of people and skills, to reflect the unique mix that we have in Eynsham today.

From Eve to Mary
After consultation at a preliminary meeting last June, it was agreed to focus on some of the women's stories in the Bible, starting from the creation of the world, and leading up to Jesus' birth. The play will be written, as with the previous two productions, by widely published local author, Nick Page, in a style that will be sympathetic to the original style, but with a contemporary twist – and, of course, plenty of humour, too. This will be a production for adults and children to enjoy – both working on, and watching, together.

From Stage to Street
But this isn't just about a few performances at the end of November. We'd like to make it a real festival of arts, storytelling, drama and events – so that everyone can be involved in some way. A Festival Trail will bring the story to our streets, too, as with previous Advent and Easter Trails. Schools and shops and local businesses and individuals – all can be part of the Eynsham Mysteries experience.

From Actors to Administrators
We need you if you can act, sing, dance, play an instrument, design, make, cook, sew, build, light, write, compose, video, take photos, operate sound, organise, publicise, sell, work well as part of a team – in fact, whatever you can do, we'll turn it to good use. We will need to set up a production group by the end of March, with additional groups for design and backstage following soon after. Workshops and auditions for actors and performers will get going after Easter, with light rehearsals in the summer, and more intense rehearsal from September to November.

From Here to Eternity
If you feel inspired to get involved in another memorable production of The Eynsham Mysteries, and would like to offer your talents – or, if you are part of a group, organisation, business or school that could contribute in some way, let me know, right away.

Claire Page, Director / Producer of The Eynsham Mysteries 2010: tel 01865 464308 email

Low response to the Echo reader survey has raised questions about the future of this bi-monthly publication. The Communications Committee is investigating the possibility of a Parish Council slot in the churches' Roundabout magazine. Read the minutes >>

Trees backing on Dovehouse Close have been marked as the first step towards a long term plan for the area: more >>

Eynsham Schools Partnership is talking to parents and carers about what organised activities children aged 3 or 4 to 16 years enjoy, out of school hours. The survey will enable them to work with community partners to offer more activities, if they are needed and viable.

A questionnaire is available online and the Partnership will also be talking to parents at each school.

GRANTS

The Partnership has Go 4 It! grants to offer to families who are struggling financially. A grant can support the cost of out-of-school activities for children. Please contact your school or Liz Bickley 01865 884496 email for more details, or read more >>

COURSES

Starting 22 April and every Thursday thereafter, the Partnership is offering a series of weekly sessions where parents can explore some of the challenges of raising children, including increasing cooperation, listening and reducing unwanted behaviours.

The course is open to all parents of children up to 11 years, and is free with trained and supportive facilitators. Some of you may have attended a similar course “From Pram to Primary” for under 5s, which has been running in Eynsham. For more information please contact Hannah Baldwin 0777 1345937 or Sue Rous 01993 881968 email.

View activities for young people; visit the Partnership website >>

With help from the Fishponds Volunteers, this year’s winter work schedule is almost complete.

Harvey’s House Mound and the bramble patch have been strimmed. The purpose of strimming the Mound is two fold: firstly keeping the nettles at bay will encourage the wild flowers and secondly it is now far more obvious as an archaeological feature. Visit the Fishponds >>

A safety barrier has been built where the Chilbrook has been undermining the bank.

Young trees have been planted to replace the diseased chestnuts along the north path

... and the crack willows at the playing field end have been pollarded. They were becoming dangerous in that they might “crack” at any time. Pollarding them will prolong their life and the new growth will soon spring up.

The Fishponds Committee is now considering the installation of child-friendly information boards: view minutes >>

A short (2min) PowerPoint presentation is now available showing last year's finds from Oxford Blues; please contact Verity Hughes if you are interested email.

There was a real buzz of excitement today as master baker William Black and his wife Claire Very opened the doors of their newly acquired premises at 1 Mill Street, which is perfectly positioned right next to the butchers and opposite our lovely deli and the Co-op.

William has named his shop The Natural Bread Company – the trade name he has used since he began baking his delicious award winning sourdough breads several years ago.

Those who attended the official opening included Clive Mellum his flour supplier from Shipton Mill, Tetbury, celebrity television cook and food writer Sophie Grigson and Morey Andrews, the vicar of Eynsham and Cassington.

Morey Andrews said: “It’s wonderful that one of our vacant shops is now reopened with this new venture. As a lover of bread and pastries, I know where I will be going to buy my provisions. I hope and pray that it is a success for the business but also that it plays a part in drawing the community together.”

© Helen Peacocke; full story Oxford Times >>

The shop will be open from 07:30 to 16:30 Tuesday to Saturday and from 08:00 to 13:00 on Sundays.

See also Eating in Eynsham; more food suppliers >>

The District Council has produced a Core Strategy: Preferred Approach to how West Oxfordshire could develop over the next 15 years. The deadline for your response is Monday 22 March 2010.

The document identifies broad locations for new homes, jobs and infrastructure such as roads and schools. At least 3,200 new dwellings have to be identified through the new plan. Sites for larger-scale development being consulted upon are in Witney, Carterton and Chipping Norton. Read more >>

Eynsham is described as a “local service centre” which provides “a wide range of services ... secondary school/leisure facilities ... constrained by its location alongside the Green Belt and congested roads approaching Oxford, its internal mediaeval road pattern, as well as flood land and mineral reserves ... suitable for limited development of an appropriate scale and type that would help reinforce the existing service centre role.”

• Download the full document (2.75 MB)
• Download the introductory leaflet

The survey of sites in Eynsham, available as a separate document, has identified only one site within the village for further assessment:

“The Spareacre Lane works ... would be ... appropriate [for housing], provided the issue of possible contamination of this former gas works can be adequately addressed. Eynsham Parish Council supports such redevelopment.”

Two sites on the village outskirts have been identified for further investigation: limited development / redevelopment at Abbey Farm (Site 210) and land off Old Witney Road (Site 223 and the northern part of Site 179).

The documents are available for inspection in public libraries and exhibitions with District Planning Officers in attendance will be held at:

• Carterton Town Hall Wednesday 10 February 15:00-19:30 and Thursday 11 February 09:30-13:00
• Witney Corn Exchange Friday 19 February 10:00-15:00.

You can contact the Council's Planning Policy team on 01993 861420 or email. There is also an online consultation page.

Background: Planning and Consultation – Eynsham >>

The latest issue of Eynsham History Group's journal to go online – Eynsham Record 24, 2007 – includes ...

• Phillis Pimm: A Tribute
• Samuel Druce, Eynsham farmer
• The Village Name
• A 13th Century Crime
• 'Put that Light out': The blackout in Eynsham in WW II
• Memories of an Eynsham Childhood 1921-37
• 'Wives for Sale'
• The Village Square
• Revd WS Bricknell avoids jail (just!)
• The Oxford Historical Pageant, 1907
• Eynsham: A to Z
• Old Advertisements

Earlier issues of the Eynsham Record attracted no fewer than 1124 viewings last month; the 2008 issue will follow shortly.

Stagecoach has provided a detailed response to last autumn's passenger consultation. The new timetable takes effect on 28 March. Key features:

Timetable Changes – early morning / early evening

• A new bus will leave Witney for Oxford at 05:42 and Oxford for Witney at 06:22.
• Buses leaving Witney between 08:30 and 09:00 are being rescheduled to improve reliability.
• Buses leaving Eynsham for Oxford between 17:00-17:30 are being rescheduled to improve reliability.
• S1 frequencies from Oxford will be every 10 minutes from 16:25 instead of 16:55, providing an additional departure at this busy time.

Smarter Buses
The new Stagecoach Gold buses will come into service on the S1 route on 28 March, although some are in use already. Complaints about heating, noisy ventilation and condensation on these buses are being pursued as a matter of urgency with the manufacturers.

Cleaner Windows
Stagecoach acknowledge that being able to see out of a window is important and promise to pay more attention to external cleaning in the daytime in parallel with the other changes.

Real Time Information
Stagecoach have fitted satellite tracking equipment to all buses but the RTI system and displays at bus stops are supplied by Oxfordshire County Council. They are working with the County Council and the system manufacturers to resolve incorrect predictions on the signs and text messages.

Subsidised Services
The 11 and 18 services (not the S1 and S2) receive a subsidy from Oxfordshire County Council. A review of these subsidies is being conducted in 2010 and Eynsham Parish Council will be consulting travellers about the services later in the year.

For fuller details visit the Stagecoach website. View Eynsham Travel Times >>

Dr Hilary Macfarlane died peacefully in the early hours of this morning at Longlands Nursing Home, Cassington. We reported her 100th birthday last year. The funeral will be held at St Peter’s Church Cassington at 11:00 on Monday 15 February, followed by cremation. It was her wish that the family take her ashes to her husband’s grave at Gairloch in Scotland at a future date when they can all make the journey.

Stagecoach has provided a detailed response to last autumn's passenger consultation. The new timetable takes effect on 28 March.

West Oxfordshire District Council is consulting on its budget proposals for 2010/11. Closing date is 12 February. Read more >>

Eynsham Parish Council's call on your Council Tax is down for a third year in a row. At its special finance meeting in November the Council approved a total spend of £87,027 for 2010/11 – just over £46 per household to cover all the services it provides.

The parish precept for 2008/9 was £87,280 and for 2009/10 it was £87,070.

Oxfordshire County Council, meanwhile, has launched a fight against unlicensed money lenders preying on private individuals.

You can report a loan shark in confidence on the phone (0300 555 2222); by SMS (text loan shark and your message to 60003); or by email. Read more >>

Visits to Eynsham Online last month were up over 133% on January 2009 at 6642, or 214.26 a day.

“Unique visitors” (individual PCs) were up almost 146% on January 2009, at 4723.

Could do better? A small user panel is being set up to help improve the website. Please get in touch with any suggestions or if you'd like to help.

View history and gallery >>; register for 2010 >>

DATELINE 25 January: Oxfordshire Rural Housing Partnership (ORHP) has just provided an update to the Parish Council regarding the plans to build 40 affordable housing units on a Rural Exception Site at Merton Close.

Current Position: scheme started on site September 2009, building completion target remains February 2011.

November 2010 until February 2011: Leadbitter to begin phased handovers of completed units to Cottsway Housing Association – for Cottsway to begin the allocation process.

Action Required: Will Munro (Cottsway) to supply precise details of phased handovers by end of February 2010.

Key Contact: Tom McCulloch (ORCC) tel. 01865 883488 email

Read background >>; housing update >>

Two cars were stolen from a drive in Beech Road overnight 23-24 January. If you you heard or saw anything please call the Police on 0845 8 505 505. Be on guard in any case: the keys were taken from inside the property ... View latest policing report >>

Do you read the Eynsham Echo? Have you any suggestions to improve it? Please complete the short survey form or email the Clerk.

The Eynsham Echo is delivered to every home and business six times a year, at a total cost of £1.38 per household, or 23p per issue. It is also available (in colour!) at Eynsham Online: view view latest issue >>

Feedback from a survey held in 2006 for the Eynsham Parish Plan was quite encouraging – 76% of respondents (568) said the Echo was their primary source of information about events happening in Eynsham. However, it’s probably time to check if you are still getting value for money.

Please help us get it right by completing the short survey form, then returning it to any Parish Councillor, or to the box in Eynsham Library, by the end of March. Your contact details would be helpful but are not essential.

Eynsham Echo Reader Survey

• Q1 Do you find the Echo informative and up to date?
• Q2 Would you prefer fewer issues (say 4 a year) and more pages?
• Q3 Would you like issues/alerts via email, as well as – or instead of – printed copies?
• If you answered Yes, please supply your email address:
• Q4 Please supply any comments or suggestions to improve this newsletter:

Please continue on a separate sheet if you wish. Thank you. Your views are appreciated.

“The lock you have re-opened will set free
The heart of England to the open sea.”
Betjeman
DO YOU REALISE THAT THIS THAMES RIVERSIDE VILLAGE DOES NOT HAVE A SMALL CRAFT LAUNCHING FACILITY?
This is how we started over three years ago.

Well, we now have the launching facility, and the stream is open to small craft traffic.
So, village boat owners, please do use the stream. It helps to keep it open and there is so much more to see from a boat ... View Gallery >>

• This SPRING we intend widening the stream near the road bridge and making safe the roadside willows on the Oxford side of the bridge.
• In the SUMMER we intend to patrol our boat ‘Rex’ up and down the stream to remove obstructions and litter. Though in truth we shall just be enjoying the place!
• We could do with a couple of helpers to give the railings a second coat of black paint.

The kingfishers are back and we reckon the nest in the big poplar tree is that of a buzzard.
Below the footbridge there is a nice area of tasty watercress.

David Miller – Wharf Stream Team

On 25 January Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) will be introduced in West Oxfordshire.

CPE means that local authorities are responsible for regulating on-street and off-street parking controls, taking over the responsibility from the police for most but not all offences on the highway. These powers were introduced by the Traffic Management Act 2004. The key differences are:

• On-street and off-street parking controls are regulated by one organisation
• The majority of parking offences, including parking on yellow lines and in parking bays, are no longer criminal and will now be classed as civil contraventions
• Offences that attract endorsements on your driving licence such as parking on zig-zags of pedestrian crossings will remain criminal and will be enforced by the Police and the Council
• Income from penalty charge notices will be used to improve local transport and parking services.

In West Oxfordshire the service will be provided by West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) who will be acting as agents of the Highway Authority, Oxfordshire County Council.

All car parks in West Oxfordshire will remain free and there are currently no plans to introduce any on-street pay and display or residents parking areas (Controlled Parking Zones).

WODC has employed Community Wardens as part of the Neighbourhood Services Team and they will be responsible for providing the new service.  Community Wardens will carry out regular patrols throughout the District; patrolling on foot in a distinctive uniform and will also use highly visible vehicles.

The Neighbourhood Services Team will also be able to deal with other environmental issues such as fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles and will also be working closely with the Thames Valley Police Neighbourhood Police Teams across West Oxfordshire.

The benefits of introducing the new service will be:

• A coordinated and locally accountable parking service
• A uniformed Council presence will be available to deal with environmental issues
• Partnership working with local stakeholders to tackle neighbourhood priorities
• Town Centres will be kept clear of illegally and inconsiderately parked vehicles which will create a safer environment for all
• In other areas the service has increased the commercial viability of town centres.

Source: WODC 2010-01-19; read background >>

The Traffic Advisory Committee met on 12 January to discuss Witney Road traffic lights; dangerous parking on the corner of Queen Street; parking problems in Mill Street; pedestrian signs – Bitterell / Allotments footpath; The Tuer – parking restriction proposals; Cassington Road bridge; and Chil bridge – danger signs. Read the minutes >>

The Traffic Advisory Committee met on 12 January: full report >>

Several readers have sent in stories about the Big Freeze. Do get in touch if you have any comments, commendation or complaints. A small selection follows ...

12 January: “I don't know if you noticed while you were in the Co-op, but the youngsters who man the tills have suddenly become very helpful, asking if you had a good Christmas and offering to pack your bags. My question is this: Do you think they have been put through a training program to encourage them to be nice to us, or is the cold weather bringing out the best in them?”

10 January: “Only yesterday I learned that buses were running from Oxford as far as the Talbot before going round the roundabout and on to the A40. I hadn't been aware of this as most of my info came from listening to Radio Oxford and I don't think this was mentioned. However a few locals did know about it and when I called in at the Talbot I was able to get a bus back to the Evenlode. The bus stops in the village were giving times of next 'bus due but not where you could catch it! Not everyone, especially the elderly who use the buses quite a lot, has internet access so a notice at the bus stops saying where you could catch a bus to Oxford or Witney would have been useful. Should Eynsham be in this predicament again, is there any way the buses could turn into Hanborough Road, back up at Dovehouse and pick up at the stops there, returning to the Eynsham bypass and the A40? Probably not allowed, but just a thought as a way of catering for that part of the village - even if it was only one or two per hour.
Incidentally if you are passing on any of this to Stagecoach, please thank the drivers who were able to provide some sort of service for Eynsham folk. The Evenlode is a tricky stop to pull into at the best of times but vital for us golden oldies who live here in 'upper' Eynsham.
P.S. Hope this doesn't sound too holier-than-thou. We are car users as well as bus users. When we have several shops to visit in the centre we use the car park and then walk.”

09 January: “This little patch of the village feels marooned - even large delivery vans are struggling. Yesterday I took from the freezer a savoury topping (as I thought) for my pasta - only to discover it was rhubarb ... Kind neighbours with a Land rover went foraging to Witney today and even there report many missing basics. But they brought me back some much-missed items, including some eggs, veg and a newspaper, so I shall survive for a few days longer.”

09 January: The Co-op shelves are naked, no veg or bread, stock levels are down to all those things no one wants. Staff are exhausted as people who normally go to the nearby supermarkets have shopped there instead. Yesterday the check-out queue began by the dairy section!

08 January: “Although the walk to and from the village centre from the far end of Old Witney Road sometimes seems a bit of a drag, we at this end of the village have the great advantage of a bus stop within a couple of hundred yards of home and several buses an hour to Witney or Oxford that are running during this snowy weather. Today, Friday, both the S1 and the S2 were available at the A40 Evenlode stop and we shopped in Witney - thought we would leave the supplies in the Co-op and Spar for those who had no way of getting out of Eynsham!

However it seems a poor show that a village like Eynsham on a main and well used bus route was considered too dangerous for the S1 to pass through. Couldn't some of those parked cars along the route find another parking place temporarily (pub car parks?)? And surely we have someone with suitable plant living within the village, who could clear the roads of compacted snow and ice?”

Related Documents:

01/07/2007 Eynsham Parish Plan – Roads, Traffic & Transport

The final Design Brief for Wytham View Play Area was approved by WODC today. Work begins at once, with completion set for 15 March. Read the Brief >>

The first Parish Council meeting of 2010 will be held next Tuesday: view agenda >>

Oxfordshire Adult Learning has a Botanical Watercolour Painting course (KD09S223C) at Eynsham Sports Pavilion on Wednesdays 13:00-15:00 from 13 January to 10 February 2010 – 5 weeks £40. This follows our successful course in the Autumn.

Some places are also available on existing courses from January 2010:

Village Hall

• Beginners Yoga (KD08R345H) Tuesday 11:45-12:45 – 10 weeks £40
• Improvers Yoga (KD08R095H) Tuesday 09:30-11:30 – 10 weeks £80
• Creative Embroidery (KD09S799C) Thursday 13:30-15:30 – 10 weeks £80

Bartholomew School

• Intermediate Italian (KD12S108L) Tuesday 19:00-21:00 – 10 weeks £80 (for those who have studied the language for 120 hours or more.
• Stained Glass (KD09R164C) Tuesday 19:00-21:15 – 10 weeks £90.
• Computing for Improvers (file management) Wednesday 19:00-21:00 – 5 weeks from 13 January £40 KD06S008T
• Computing for Improvers (word processing) Wednesday 19:00-21:00 – 5 weeks from 24 February £40 KD06S024T

To enrol please telephone 0845 351 0646 or online.

View local activities and contacts >>

West Oxfordshire District Council is performing well, says an independent report; more >>

The Eynsham Cookbook – a follow-up to the the popular Eynsham Apron and greetings cards – is due out next spring. The deadline for recipes is 21 December. We especially need soups, starters, salads, preserves, chutneys, sauces, stuffings and drinks.

If you have recipes to contribute, please contact Jennifer Harland 01865 880872, Doreeen Hockedy 01865 880919 email, Maureen McCreadie 01865 883464 email or June Middleton 01865 731066.

Seasonal Recipes >>

A survey conducted by residents Don & Sue Chapman, with the help of Eynsham Online and the parish newsletter Eynsham Echo, shows that rats are all over Eynsham.

Don says: “Contrary to the claim of West Oxfordshire Senior Environmental Health Officer Clive Salisbury, the rats in our attic are NOT an isolated problem. We have had reports of rats from all corners of the village.

“As I have pointed out to Mr Salisbury on more than one occasion, the root of the problem is Eynsham’s network of disused sewers which were not removed when the current ones were installed. Until three years ago Thames Water baited them routinely. But now they say they only do so when requested by West Oxfordshire District Council.”

Despite spending several hundred pounds trying to rat-proof their attic, Don and Sue were forced to call out the West Oxfordshire Pest Control Service for the second time this summer. “The new pest control officer, Mat Hanlon, is very conscientious, painstaking and professional,” Don says. “But within days of his signing us off the rats were back.

“Mr Salisbury told Sue we had more than had our money’s worth and if we wanted Mat to come again it would cost us another £45. I emailed Mr Salisbury on October 30 and told him that was not good enough, asked him why he had not allowed Mat to conduct a survey to see if he could find where the rats were coming from, and could he tell us, please, who he dealt with at Thames Water. Since then I have heard nothing from him, not even an acknowledgement.

“Sue and I were so incensed by his Pontius Pilate attitude that we decided to carry out a survey to demonstrate the environmental health problem rats pose in Eynsham. These are the results.”

• At the centre of the village, a resident in High Street next to the Co-op has been battling with rats since 2000. After a costly battle he has managed to keep them out of his attic but they continue to infest his garden despite visits from successive pest control officers.
• On the east side of the village, a resident in Newland Street reports a nest of at least six rats. His children have sometimes seen them running along the wall while playing in the garden.
• On the south-west side of the village, a resident in Acre End Street says she lives permanently on a rat run, usually at its worst in spring and autumn.
• On the west side of the village, a resident in Willows Edge has been plagued by rats nesting in her compost heap.
• On the north side of the village, residents in Millmoor Crescent regularly see rats running between their gardens and the rear of properties in Wytham View. The other day a dog-owner saw a dead rat on his daily walk along the bridle path between Beech Road and Hawthorn Road.
• In Mill Street, in addition to Don and Sue Chapman and the neighbours to the north of them, three other residents at the south end of the street have had indoor or outdoor rat problems.
• A rat has been seen in daylight running across Mill Street, another running across Acre End Street, and there have also been reports of rats in Pelican Place and outside one of the village takeaways.

Contacts

• Don Chapman on 01865 881482 email can give other contact numbers.
• Clive Salisbury’s direct line is 01993 861378 and his email address is clive.salisbury@westoxon.gov.uk

Perspectives: an “imperfect systems of sewers” was first reported in 1873/74 – article by Lilian Wright in the Eynsham Record 7 1990, page 25.

Evenlode DIY reported a brisk trade in poison & traps by December 2007: read more >>

The District Council Environmental Health Service has supplied figures for enquiries & treatments in each of the past 3 years – below:

Update 30 December: The Parish Council is to consider the report at its meeting on 5 January 2010: view agenda >>

Dr Hilary Macfarlane, a familiar figure in Eynsham with her white stick from 1994 to 2006, celebrates her 100th birthday at Longlands Nursing Home, Cassington, on Sunday 6 December 2009. She has the distinction of being Witney’s first woman general practitioner.

She moved from London with her husband, Prof Gwyn Macfarlane, who developed Factor 8, the first effective treatment for haemophilia, in 1940, when he took up a post at the Radcliffe Infirmary. The signposts in West Oxfordshire were uprooted in case of a German invasion and she usually found her way to her patients by directions from the nearest pub.

With five growing children she gave up medicine seven years later to concentrate on their upbringing and running a small herd of Jersey cows at Downhill Farm, Hailey, in between playing an active role in local affairs.

She and Gwyn retired to the North-West Highlands of Scotland in the 1970s, where she helped him compile two very well-received biographies, one of Howard Florey, the developer of penicillin into a world-beating drug, the other of its discoverer, Alexander Fleming.

Following the death of her husband, failing eyesight forced her to leave her beloved Highlands and move south to 13 Newland Street, round the corner from her daughter, Sue Chapman. Her eldest son, Robert, lives at Witney. The next eldest, Jay, and the youngest, Richard, are travelling from Perth, Australia, to be with her on her birthday. The fourth son, Donald, a busy professor of oncology at Iowa, hopes to arrive for Christmas, bringing with him his family and baby Hilary, the latest addition, whom his daughter has named after her granny. UPDATE: Donald did come over at Christmas and Dr Hilary was able to meet her latest grand-daughter, who was named after her.

In all, Dr Macfarlane has 14 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and one great great grandchild. All of them who are in the country are gathering at Cassington with her numerous friends to toast her health on her birthday. There will be a telegram from the Queen and one extra special guest, her cousin, Gigi, whose 100th birthday Dr Macfarlane travelled to London to help celebrate last year.

More local people >>

Sold today for £1,080,000; read more >>; follow Jane's blog >>; Life at Eynsham Lock

for qualifying residents >>

Stagecoach are inviting people in West Oxfordshire to have their say on proposed changes to the S1 and S2 bus services between Carterton, Witney, Eynsham, Botley and Oxford.

We have a number of ideas on how to develop these services, so have come up with some proposed timetables which we would like your comments on. The deadline for comments is Thursday 24 December 2009.

Timetables

We are planning some minor changes to the timetables on both routes to help improve reliability, particularly when traffic is at its worst during school term time.

As part of this we are adding an extra vehicle to our fleet to help services stay on time. This will also allow us to run extra Monday-Friday departures on route S2 at 0635 from Witney to Oxford, 1535 from Witney to Carterton and 0850 from Carterton to Oxford. On route S1 there will be an extra departure at 1820 from Carterton to Oxford.

Please let us know if you regularly experience problems so that we can make sure that our plan includes a solution for it.

S2 between Carterton and Witney

It has been suggested that the S2 should run direct between Carterton and Witney via the A40 instead of running through Minster Lovell. This would make journeys a couple of minutes faster but it would leave parts of the village without a bus service, and other parts with a service to Witney every 90 minutes.

Our main objective is to meet the needs of the majority of our passengers, and we have no particular view as to whether this alteration would be of benefit to as many people as it would disadvantage. We would therefore welcome comments.

Evenings in General

We have had requests for evening journeys on the S1 to be diverted into other villages to provide a service over a larger geographical area. This would however leave parts of the main route with a reduced service, making the service less attractive to use and potentially less likely to cover its costs. Given that the S1 receives no subsidy from the Council we therefore take the view that any additional service is likely to need some form of financial support from the local authority and best run as a standalone route.

Stagecoach Gold

We introduced a fleet of brand new high specification vehicles onto route S2 in September 2009, taking S-Series to the next level in terms of comfort and environmental credentials.

We are now planning to introduce a larger batch of similar vehicles onto route S1 in March 2010 and would like to hear your views. If you want to give the vehicles a try and aren’t able to catch the S2, the route S1 journeys Monday-Friday at 0620, 0650 and 0755 from Thorney Leys to Oxford, and 0537, 0712 and 0758 from Oxford to Thorney Leys are also run by these vehicles.

Certain journeys between Witney and Carterton on route S2 that we will be unable to run using Stagecoach Gold buses will be renumbered 102.

Daytime Spruce Up

Behind the scenes we are planning some improvements that will allow each Stagecoach Gold bus to be swept out and given a full exterior wash during the daytime, in addition to the usual daily evening clean. We hope that this will help us to keep our new buses looking new for longer!

Your Views

Please let us have your feedback either by completing one of our freepost comment cards, by telephoning us on 08165 772250 or through our website

We will also be holding drop-in sessions between 19:00 and 20:30 where managers from Stagecoach will be on hand to hear your views and answer any questions:

30 November 2009 – Eynsham, Bartholomew Room, The Square
1 December 2009 – Witney, Langdale Hall
7 December 2009 – Carterton, Town Hall

The sessions won’t be formal, but will probably start with a very brief presentation followed by general comments and questions.

The deadline for comments is Thursday 24 December 2009, with the final timetable to be introduced from Sunday 7 March 2010.

Whilst we will endeavour to incorporate as many comments and suggestions as possible, some may have to be held over until a future review. The S1 and S2 are the only routes in Carterton and Witney that are fully funded by Stagecoach and its passengers.

With effect from today Eynsham has a new Parish Council Clerk, Malcolm Anderson. He lives in Oxford and has previously worked as a Parish Clerk in the Southampton area. He is looking forward to getting out & about and meeting local people over the next few months. Contact him in the meantime at 13 Bailey Road, Oxford OX4 3HU tel: 01865 716943 email

Former Clerk Sue Lee has left to take up the post of Town Clerk in Wadebridge, Cornwall and would like to thank parishioners for all their help and support during three enjoyable years in the village.

Sue worked in finance, then ran the adult education centre in Bicester before realising that she was a traveller at heart. She took off in 2006 and travelled the southern hemisphere for a year.

Back in the real world, she worked as Clerk for several parish councils while studying towards her degree in Local Government Policy. Sue loves walking and is a member of the long distance walkers association. In April 2009 she won a course on a one-day fire breathing workshop ... which should come in useful at parish council meetings, she thought!

More local people >>

If you are running or looking to start your own business come along to the Witney Business Support Fair on Thursday 26 November – it's FREE!

• Find out about sources of funding available to businesses and entrepreneurs.
• Learn about business mentoring and how it has helped many local businesses.
• Talk to experts on energy and waste who will help you reduce your associated costs.
• Find out about training, business rates, tax issues and much more.

Above all, come and meet other local businesses!

Drop into The Langdale Hall any time between 16:30 and 19:30 on 26 November. We look forward to seeing you there.

The Langdale Hall • Langdale Gate • Witney • OX28 6AB
Ample free parking at Woolgate car park

• Business planning • Broadband • Energy saving • Grants • International trading • Finance • Regulation • Employment issues • Training • Emergency planning

For more information contact our economic development team: 01993 861485 email

Don't miss Bartholomew Players latest production It was A Dark and Stormy Night from Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 November 2009 at the Village Hall.

Tim Kelly's hilarious mystery-comedy spoof is loaded with laughs and thrills. The creepy, haunted Ye Olde Wayside Inn oozes New England Gothic atmosphere and never has guests. Several intruders from the outside world are forced to seek shelter. When the wind howls and the lights flicker, the chilling time begins...

"...a murderously daffy romp that plays like The Addams Family meets Arsenic and Old Lace..."

Performances start at 19:45 and tickets can be obtained from Evenlode DIY or at the door. Review from Helen Peacocke follows:

“It Was a dark and Stormy Night is an unnerving play that pokes fun at earlier plays and films such as Arsenic and Old Lace, Psycho and The House of Mystery.
From the moment the curtain goes up it’s clear that there’s dirty work afoot at Ye Olde Wayside Inn, home of the eccentric Saltmarsh family – Hepzibah and Arabella, cousin Ebenezer and Uncle Silas – the oldest living lunatic in Massachusetts. The inn is also haunted by the ghost of an old soldier who deserted during the American Civil War.
Foul weather turns cousin Ebenezer into a grim and dangerous man who lures victim to the inn to get revenge for a past wrong, so when a storm forces several strangers to take shelter at the inn, the fun begins.
Just who will survive this dark and stormy night is not clear as not everyone staying at the inn is what he or she appears to be – and just what is a skeleton doing in a play such as this?
The Players are convinced that this play is so good that it will encourage people to turn off the television and make their way to the village hall, even if it is a dark and stormy night.”

View gallery – last production >>;

A planning application has been received for development of seven dwellings at 37 Acre End Street – four new and three from converted barns – plus alterations to existing Rickyard Cottage, vehicle and pedestrian access.

The site is within the Eynsham conservation area and includes two Grade II listed buildings – view documents >>

The WODC case officer is Miranda Clark 01993 861660 email

The application will be considered by Eynsham Parish Council Planning Committee on 30 November at 17:30 – view agenda >> Members of the public are welcome to attend.

More local barns >>; local housing >>

A court hearing has been fixed for 09:30 on Friday 27 November 2009 at Banbury Magistrates' Court. The OCC Traveller Site Officer, who served notice on occupants from the location today, understands they will contest the case.

Eynsham Parish Council last discussed the travellers on 1 September – view minutes >>

The encampment is towards the southern end of Mead Lane near the junction of Wharf Road (beside Siemens) and Footpath 5, which runs along the north side of Eynsham allotments. It is part of Bridlepath 206/23 – view map >>

Further information – Gypsies & Travellers >>

Until three years ago, Thames Water routinely baited Eynsham’s sewers to control the rat population.

Since they stopped, rats have become a problem in several areas of the village and every household has to shift for themselves.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

In an effort to persuade the authority to reinstate routine baiting, Don and Sue Chapman, who have an ongoing rat problem in Mill Street themselves, are compiling a comprehensive dossier. If you have been troubled by rats, please contact Don and Sue: tel. 01865 881482, or email.

If you are currently troubled by rats, the District Council Pest Control Service handles rats, wasps etc at domestic and commercial premises; charges vary. Enquiries / bookings: 01993 861060.

A rare chance to hear the magical sounds of Oxford Fiddle Group – Sunday 8 November at 20:00 in Eynsham Village Hall (doors open at 19:40).

All proceeds go to Urpichallay's work to help Andean children with learning difficulties.

Tickets from Evenlode DIY £8, concessions £5, accompanied children under 16 free. Refreshments available during the interval.

Eynsham Parish Council discussed with residents the overgrown planting between Dovehouse Close and the B4449 eastern bypass on 28 October and decided to investigate a long-term approach at its meeting on 3 November – view minutes >>

The Council agreed:

• To work with consultant(s) to produce a long term plan for the area to include investigating the possibility of a boundary line of trees against the road boundary.
• To obtain costings for the removal of all trees within 2 metres of the back boundaries of all properties apart from hawthorn where in place where it could be reduced in height to fence level.
• To mark all trees that were proposed to be removed and allow residents the opportunity to inspect these and comment before any works was undertaken.
• To look into the cost to replace the removed trees with a species better suited to the proximity to the houses such as hawthorn depending on tree consultant’s advice.
• To investigate fencing on site to prevent access by children etc as part of the long term planning and the upkeep and repair of the gate onto the site. To liaise with residents with regard to the work outlined above and undertake further discussion once more information was available.

Eynsham has a new contact on the Traffic Advisory Committee.

If the idea of growing your own fruit and vegetables appeals, Green TEA (Transition Eynsham Area) can help you in several ways.

We have had the offer of an eight acre site in Eynsham. If enough people are willing to help organise this, the plan is to provide extra allotments and a community orchard. We are also planning to set up a mentoring scheme for those who are relatively new to growing vegetables.

If you need to start with the basics, a group of us are planning to learn on an allotment in Cassington under the instruction of an experienced gardener.

Lastly, we shall be running a weekend course in permaculture for both beginners and experienced gardeners. There will be a charge for this.

Anyone interested in any of the above should contact Helena Nielsen on 01865 880685 email or Sue Raikes 01865 464021 email.

Full planning permission for the housing development off Bitterell was reported to the Parish Council on 26 October. View conditions >>

The documentation includes a Section 106 agreement on contributions to the village infrastructure as follows:

• £30,000 for improvement/extension of cemetery or other community facilities in the neighbourhood of the site;
• £150,000 towards provision of floodlit artificial turf multi use games area or other recreational facilities in the neighbourhood of the site;
• £110,000 towards enhancement and maintenance of play areas in the neighbourhood of the site;
• £20,000 for public art.

The Parish Council will not have access to these monies until the building works are complete. When the money is available to be spent the Council will discuss with the village the best way of spending it.

There is also a public open space commuted sum of £437,743.50 and £8,487 toward youth facilities infrastructure plus money for library, school etc.

The development has been registered with Royal Mail as Hazeldene Close.

Read background >>; housing update >>

The Eynsham Apron is now available at Cornucopia, The Emporium and the Post Office – or from Doreen Hockedy 01865 880919 email. It comes in a choice of two lengths – 30" (76.2 cm) or 33" (83.8 cm) – with drawings of local scenes in blue on a cream cotton ground and blue ties; and costs £10.

Five local artists have kindly donated their drawings of well known places in or around Eynsham – starting from the top:

• Swinford Toll Bridge by Alice Walker (shown above)
• St Leonard's Church by Ann Hall (below)
• The Bartholomew Room and The Thatched Cottage by Donald Richards (from 'Eynsham - a Chronicle' by kind permission of Donald & Pamela Richards)
• Eynsham Lock (1) by Cate Ferrier
• Eynsham Lock (2) by Jennifer Harland

The aprons are an Eynsham Enterprises project: they are being sold in aid of the renovation of St. Leonard's Church Hall, which will benefit the whole community.

The Eynsham Cookbook is our next project; many thanks for the magnificent response to date. We now plan to publish this in the spring, so the deadline for recipes has been extended to 21 December. We especially need soups, starters, salads, preserves, chutneys, sauces, stuffings and drinks.

If you have recipes to contribute, please contact Jennifer Harland 01865 880872, Doreeen Hockedy 01865 880919 email, Maureen McCreadie 01865 883464 email or June Middleton 01865 731066.

Seasonal Recipes >>

The Play Area Committee met on 20 October following a public consultation session on 12 October: read the notes >>

The Committee heard of a further £19,000 grant from OCC for Wytham View Play Area – on top of the £5,000 award from WODC announced on 2 October.

Committee recommendations follow; view minutes >>

• To retain the current age range for the play area as 14 years and under.
• To use the SE corner of the site for the junior Multi-Play Unit - this should not have areas where youths can congregate and should comprise of ropes, scrambling nets etc and the issue of overlooking the swimming pool should be considered. Landscaping should be incorporated around the boundaries of the site. No shelter will be placed on site at present. The existing entrance should remain in its current position on the SW corner.
• To request the police to place a greater priority on the area with immediate effect.
• To work with residents to set up a residents' association to look at the play area in more detail with members from Council, local residents and users of the play area.
• To receive revised plans for the area and make arrangements for further consultation, with a final decision being made re works at the Full Council meeting of 17 November.

Read more >>

RAF Brize Norton has given advance notice of essential night training to be carried out by crews.

The aircraft in question will be a C-17 and the crew will be conducting Night Visual Circuit training, which involves flying in a circuit over the airfield and surrounding areas, landing and taking off several times over a possible period of 2-3 hours. This training is required as part of a course qualifying new pilots and is an operational requirement. The aircraft will be operating at a height of between 2500 ft down to 1500 ft and will be flown lower than this only during approach and take off.

The training is scheduled for 26 October, 27 October and 28 October (20.00-23.00).

Because of the acknowledged noise impact of this training, each flight is carefully scrutinised and has to be authorised by the Officer in Command of Operations Wing.

“We are sensitive to local opinion and in fulfilling our operational and training commitments we try to reduce any disturbance to the minimum.  However, Royal Air Force Brize Norton is the largest operational base in the RAF and it is inevitable that some noise from our activities will encroach into the local areas.”

FREE 5 week courses for people aged 50 and over, starting on Wednesday 4 November 09:30-10:30 & 11:00-12:00.

Nordic Walking uses poles to make it twice as effective as normal walking. Here’s why…

• The poles mean you work harder but it feels easier!
• Upper body muscles are used as well as the legs.
• It reduces pressure on the joints.
• If done correctly it can burn up to 46% more calories than normal walking.

Places are limited so contact your local GO Active Co-ordinator today for more information or to book a place: 01993 861564.

GO Active, a three-year project (2009-2012), aims to get adults aged over 16 doing moderate exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week. In 2007 only 23.2% of adults in Oxfordshire achieved this amount of exercise (Sport England Active People Survey).

Lots more activities - inside >> and outdoors >>

The Parish Council is looking for a new Public Transport representative to keep an eye on bus services, etc. Please contact the Clerk Sue Lee if you are interested – 01869 347652 email

David Leake, chef at Bartholomew School Eynsham and winner of best Oxfordshire school meal award 2008, has done it again. At only £1.90 his meals will very soon be cheapest in the county – and he proudly reports that take-up is 70% up on last year.

One glance at next week's menus will show why Bartholomew School Catering is so popular. The menus are updated every week in term time at Eynsham Online. Read the background – first published in the Witney Gazette 14 November 2007.

More local people >> | eating out >> | home cooking >>

With television show Strictly Come Dancing fever in full swing, a project is being launched to encourage people to reach for their dancing shoes and take part in classes across West Oxfordshire.

Two Left Feet is a ten-week initiative to give people the chance to have a go at dances such as zumba, salsa mix and street dance.

As well as promising a fun way for people get active, the project is offering an extra incentive to encourage people to take part – the chance to win tickets to the popular Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour.

Zumba classes are running at a discounted rate of £2 at Bartholomew Sports Centre starting Saturday 10 October, 16:00-16:55. Anyone who attends six or more of the weekly classes will be entered into a prize draw to win the ‘Strictly’ tour tickets.

GO Active, a three-year project (2009-2012), aims to get adults aged over 16 doing moderate exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week. In 2007 only 23.2% of adults in Oxfordshire achieved this amount of exercise (Sport England Active People Survey).

Lots more activities - inside >> and outdoors >>

Leadbitter have been appointed by Cottsway Housing Association to construct new affordable houses and flats in Merton Close.

Meet the Builders: please join us on Thursday 15 October 16:00-20:00 at Bartholomew School, Eynsham:

• Understand traffic calming measures
• View the plans
• Meet the Leadbitter team
• Have your questions answered.

DATELINE 01 September: Oxfordshire Rural Housing Partnership (ORHP) has just provided an update to the Parish Council regarding the plans to build 40 affordable housing units on a Rural Exception Site at Merton Close:

• Section 106 agreement on contribution to the village infrastructure has been signed.
• Target date for signing off all remaining documents and contracts was beginning of September. Cottsway Housing Association envisage that site work will begin September / October 2009.
• It is hoped that some units can be completed by March 2010.

Read background >>; housing update >>

Overnight on Friday 2 - Saturday 3 October a number of vehicles in Eynsham had either their tyres slashed or scratches caused to body work.

Extra patrols of the village are now taking place by the neighbourhood team: view latest report >>

The behaviour of a few mindless people is unacceptable - they are committing criminal damage. These offenders need to be identified and arrested.

We need your help; if you see anyone damaging vehicles or property please let us know.

You can contact PCSO Helen Keen on 0845 8 505 505; or email and leave a message; or she will arrange to meet you for a chat.

YOUR STREET YOUR CALL: contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

RAF Brize Norton has given advance notice of essential night training to be carried out by crews.

The aircraft in question will be a C-17 and the crew will be conducting Night Visual Circuit training, which involves flying in a circuit over the airfield and surrounding areas, landing and taking off several times over a possible period of 2-3 hours. This training is required as part of a course qualifying new pilots and is an operational requirement. The aircraft will be operating at a height of between 2500 ft down to 1500 ft and will be flown lower than this only during approach and take off.

The training is scheduled for 5 October (20.00-23.00); 26 October (20.00-23.00); 27 October (20.00-23.00) and 28 October (20.00-23.00).

Because of the acknowledged noise impact of this training, each flight is carefully scrutinised and has to be authorised by the Officer in Command of Operations Wing.

“We are sensitive to local opinion and in fulfilling our operational and training commitments we try to reduce any disturbance to the minimum.  However, Royal Air Force Brize Norton is the largest operational base in the RAF and it is inevitable that some noise from our activities will encroach into the local areas.”

WODC has awarded a further £5,000 to help the Parish Council replace play area equipment for ages 0-8: read more >>

In 2004 surveys were made of the birds, bats, small mammals, plants and pond life on the Abbey Fishponds and recently people have expressed interest in revisiting these surveys.

If you feel qualified and would like to volunteer to undertake a survey, the Parish Council would be delighted to hear from you. It would be good to know what difference the restoration of the site has made over five years.

For more information, or to join the occasional maintenance work parties over the winter (next session 3 October), please contact Verity Hughes on 01865 880243 or email verity@eynsham-pc.gov.uk

Saturday Workshops at Bartholomew School
Saturday 3 October 10:00-16:00 – course fee £33
* = Additional charges may be payable

Enrolment line 0845 351 0646 open weekdays 09:30-17:00.

• Mosaics*
• Drama Games
• Stained Glass – Mixed Ability*
• Manicures*
• Improve your riding with Alexander Technique
• Confidence Building for Returning to Work

Sew and Save: Eynsham's unique sewing surgery - every Friday 14:00-16:00 starting 6 November – cost per session £15.

• Another new idea from Imagine Clothing
• Help and advice from professional and experienced teachers covering all aspects of cutting, sewing, fitting and many effective techniques. Drop in for a free introduction.
• Call Margaret Underwood or June Middleton: 01865 881254.

Local Links are volunteers linking the community to Age Concern – and Age Concern to the community. The link volunteer for Eynsham would be given an induction & overview of our services and be asked to publicise events that we are running in local newsletters, websites and on notice boards.

Links receive monthly newsletters from Age Concern that keep them up to date with changes that may affect older people in the community and events that may be of interest to older people.

The Link role is as big or small as people make it: we just appreciate having people out in communities that can link us in to the local issues at grass root level, as this has proved to be invaluable in ensuring many of the needs of older people are heard about and action can be taken.

All out of pocket expenses are paid. Should you wish to find out more details please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ruth Swift, Community Development Officer - West tel 07827 235461 email

Eynsham Parish Council require a Parish Clerk / Responsible Financial Officer with effect from November 2009. 25 hours a week – flexible with evening / occasional weekend work. A job-share may be considered. The candidate should:

• be able to demonstrate knowledge of local government, qualified to CILCA standard or willing to gain within 12 months.
• have good communication skills and able to manage a small team
• be computer literate and have access to the internet
• be able to work from home
• facilitate the monthly meetings of the full Council & additional committee meetings.
• as Responsible Financial Officer have accounts and audit experience.

Salary is in accordance with the Local Government pay scales point 30-34 (pro-rata) at a point commensurate with qualifications and experience. A home working allowance is payable.

Require an Accounts Administrator – 12-15 hours a month - working from home – salary on Local Government pay scale points 26-29 (pro-rata) depending on qualifications and experience. The candidate must have:

• Financial experience of managing accounts, budgets and year end accounting and audit.
• Preferably experience of Omega accounts package or be willing to learn
• Computer literate with access to the internet.

 
The 2 positions could be combined to one position.

Further information and an application form can be obtained from:
Mrs Sue Lee, Clerk to the Council, 19 Bradshaw Close, Steeple Aston, BICESTER, OX25 4SA or sue.lee@eynsham-pc.gov.uk.

Closing date for applications is 2 October 2009 and interviews will be held mid October.

The Bartholomew Educational Foundation is a charity (registered no. 309278) which results from the provisions of the will of John Bartholomew in 1700.

The Foundation makes educational grants to persons under 25 living in the parish of Eynsham: read more >>

The Foundation has about £2,500 available each year from its income, to pay out grants, but recently the number of applications for grants has increased significantly.

If anyone would consider making a donation or bequest to continue to support the education of the young people of Eynsham, please contact The Clerk:
Robin Mitchell, 20 High Street, Eynsham, Witney OX29 4HB.

Related Documents

21/04/2009 Report to Annual Parish Meeting

Responsibility for parking enforcement is to transfer from the police to West Oxfordshire District Council, who will provide ‘Community Wardens’ to patrol the area.

As a result of this, all the old parking orders are being combined into one – hence the recent advertisement of this change in the Oxford Times, which will not alter current parking regulations at all.

The transition of powers should be seamless, and other than parking enforcement will, in the short term, result in no other changes. Your Neighbourhood Action Group will continue to monitor this and if you have any problems or queries please contact us either through our website www.eynsham-nag.org or through the Police Office in Eynsham.

Ron Hollis (Chairman)
ron.hollis@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk

PARKING IN EYNSHAM
“Thank you for your letter of 1st September regarding parking in Eynsham.
There seems to have been some confusion about the recent advert in the Oxford Times setting out the County Council's proposals for parking throughout West Oxfordshire, for which I can only apologise.
“The County Council has been working on a project to bring together into a single document all the Traffic regulation Orders (TROs) covering parking restrictions throughout the West Oxfordshire District area. This has involved collating all existing TROs, surveying individual streets to see where restrictions are actually marked, and then creating a new draft 'consolidation' order which reflects the lines and signs that are already in place and ensures road descriptions are correct and consistent. The main benefit of this work is that it will make any future changes much easier to implement; it will also aid future enforcement of the restrictions.
“As it is a new TRO, this consolidation order is subject to public consultation in the same way as if we were proposing a new restriction, even though as you have seen from the information in the Library, we are not changing anything in your area.
“I hope this clarifies the situation, but if you need more information, please do get in touch.”

Yours sincerely
David Tole
david.tole@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Details follow.
No Waiting at Any Time: Acre End Street, Back Lane, High Street, John Lopes Road, Lombard Street, Marlborough Place, Mill Street, Newland Street, Oakfield Industrial Estate Road (main carriageway), Oakfield Industrial Estate Road (minor carriageway), Old Witney Road, Queen Street, Spareacre Lane, Station Road,Thames Street, The B4449 (Eynsham - Sutton) Road.
No Waiting 07:00 to 19:00: Oakfield Industrial Estate.
No Waiting 08:00 to 18:00: Beech Road, Hanborough Road, Mill Street, Spareacre Lane.
Waiting Limited to 1 hour with no return for 1 hour, 08:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday: Mill Street.

New blood donors are welcome at the Village Hall on Friday 18 September 13:30-15:25 and 16:15-19:15. To book an appointment visit the website or call 0300 123 23 23. Why not encourage a friend to come too?

On a warm and sunny 5 September, Transition Eynsham Area held a bring & share local produce picnic at the Sports Pavilion. Approximately thirty people turned up, most bearing tasty dishes made mainly from local produce. Some had listed the places of origin of their ingredients and it was fascinating to discover how many items we produce in our area, including a delicious Oxfordshire Rose wine, generously donated by Cornucopia.
It seems that if food importation is restricted by the cost of oil in the near future, we shall be able to continue living “in the style to which we are accustomed”.
Our group is now getting down to practicalities, having formed four working groups: Waste; Coping with Change; Food; and Energy. These groups have started looking into how we as a community will cope with the changes brought about by climate change and by increasingly expensive fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal).
Don't forget the GreenTEA Cafe informal meetings to be held at The Emporium for a trial four Saturdays from 12 September 10:30-11:30.
In the pipeline: We plan to hold another film / discussion meeting, we are forming a party to go to the march run by The Campaign Against Climate Change in London on 5 December (do join us!) and we hope to hold an Eco-Fair in the spring.
Keep an eye on the poster boards and for further information please contact Ros Kent tel: 01865 884119.

Eynsham Parish Council will be considering grants to voluntary organisations and groups in the parish at their finance meeting on 20 October 2009.

All applications for grant aid will be required to satisfy the following conditions:–

• The Parish Council will only accept applications from Community groups and organisations within the Parish for grants that in its option are in the interests or will directly benefit all or a portion of the parish and its inhabitants.
• The application must demonstrate local community need and support.
• The applicant  must demonstrate a clear financial need for the grant
• Retrospective grant applications will not be considered.
• Grants will not be awarded to meet general salary costs.
• The organisation submitting the application must be non-party political
• The closing date for applications is 15 October 2009.
• Successful applications may be required to submit a short report outlining the use made of the grant within 3 months of the project’s completion.
• Grant aid will not be paid out until April 2010.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the Parish Clerk.

The Parish Council Planning Committee has expressed concern that a new development will increase traffic on Hawthorn Road. View documents >>; view minutes >>

Proposals for a new Children's Centre at Eynsham Primary School come before the Parish Council Planning Committee on Monday 7 September. View documents >>; view agenda >>

Eynsham Parish Council has a vacancy for a Parish Councillor and plans to co-opt a new member at their October meeting.

If you would be interested in joining the Council, please write to the Parish Clerk, expressing your interest.  For more information or to discuss the vacancy please contact the Clerk – details below.

To qualify as a Parish Councillor you must be:

• Over 18 and
• A local government elector in the parish or
• An owner or tenant in the parish for the last 12 months or
• Have worked in the parish for the last 12 months or
• Have lived within 3 miles of the parish boundary for the last 12 months.

The closing date for applications is 10:00 on 2 October 2009.

Mrs Sue Lee
Parish Clerk
19 Bradshaw Close, Steeple Aston, BICESTER OX25 4SA
Tel: 01869 347652 – email

Please come along to the Sports Pavilion on Oxford Road on Saturday 5 September 09:30-11:30. This Open Day is your opportunity to:

• view the results of the consultation process and proposals for Wytham View play area; and
• discuss these with members of the Parish Council and Play Area Committee before work begins in the autumn.

GRANTS UPDATE

• Playbuilder (for 8-13 year olds): £45,000
• COMMA (for ages 0-8): £10,000
• Play Day funding (for event held on 5 August): £500
• Parish Council: £5,000
• WODC (application pending): £5,000.

CONSULTATION PROCESS

• Discussion session with 79 pupils from years 5 and 6 of the Primary School (adjacent to the play area)- children designed their ideal play areas;
• Play day attended by around 100 children and their parents- attractions included a climbing wall, football coaching and face painting. Attendees were asked about their preferred play activities.

FAVORITE ACTIVITIES

• 63% wanted enclosed tunnels and slides;
• 52% wanted a zip wire;
• 34% wanted a climbing forest with scrambling nets and 22% wanted a climbing wall;
• 30% wanted football facilities.

COMPETITION

To celebrate completion of the new play area, which should be ready in April 2010, the Parish Council would like to rename the site. All children of 13 and under are invited to post their suggestions (plus age and contact details) in the Play Area box in the library. The winner will be guest of honour at the opening.

The Parish Council is organising a village open day on Saturday 5 September from 14:00–17:00, to launch the Eynsham Directory 2009.

Every village club and group has been invited to set up a stall - in the Bartholomew Room, St Leonard’s church hall and the Baptist church hall and even in the Market Square. Representatives will be on hand to chat and demonstrate the wide range of activities on offer - over 75 groups have confirmed so far. View programme >>

Why not come along and see what goes on in your village, pick up your copy of the Directory and maybe find something new to do this autumn? Make a date in your diary now!

Events / displays include:
14:00 Nordic Walking, Market Square
14:00-17:00 Abbey Fishponds video loop, upper Bartholomew room
14:15-14:45 storytime, lower Bartholomew room
14:30 Eynsham Morris, Market Square
14:45-15:15 craft session for 8 yrs & under, lower Bartholomew room
15:00 Keep Fit ages 60-90, St Leonard's Church
15:30 Dance Aerobics & Body Conditioning, St Leonard's Church
15:30-16:00 storytime, lower Bartholomew room
16:00-16:30 craft session for 8 yrs & under, lower Bartholomew room
16:00 Dance & Stretch for over 50s, St Leonard's Church

Groups confirmed to date are listed here. The list is still open - please get in touch.

1st Eynsham Beaver Scouts; 1st Eynsham Brownies; 1st Eynsham Scout Group; 1st Eynsham Scouts -Swinford Troop; Acre End Tiny Tots; Army Cadet Force-Eynsham Detachment; the Art Class; Bartholomew Players; Bartholomew School Association; Bartholomew Sports Centre; Biscuit Club parenting group; Bump to One; Carnival Committee; Community Website; Crab Tree art collective; Dance Aerobics and Body Conditioning; Dance'n'Stretch for over 50s; Evenlode Explorer Scouts; Eynsham & District Darts Association; Eynsham & District Liberal Democrats; Eynsham Allotments Association; Eynsham Area Waste Watchers; Eynsham Association Football Club; Eynsham Baptist Church; Eynsham Choral Society; Eynsham Community Cinema; Eynsham Country Market; Eynsham Cricket Club; Eynsham Croquet Club; Eynsham Cubs - Eagle Pack; Eynsham Day Centre; Eynsham Enterprises; Eynsham Friends of Helen & Douglas House; Eynsham Garden Club; Eynsham History Group; Eynsham Litter Pickers; Eynsham Neighbourhood Care Scheme; Eynsham Roundabout; Eynsham Road Runners; Eynsham Society; Eynsham Theatre Club; Eynsham Village Show; Fishponds Volunteers; Friends of Eynsham Library; Gatehouse Volunteers; Holiday Storytimes/Reading Schemes; Judo Classes; Keep Fit 60-90; Music & Rhyme; Oasis for Senior Citizens; Old Forge Pottery; Performing Wonders; Powerhouse & Sparklers; Playing Fields Managers' Association; Rhymetime; Rotary in Eynsham; Royal British Legion; Sarah Ayers School of Dancing; Slimming World; St Leonard's Church of England; St Leonard's Youth Activities; St Peter's Catholic Church; Tea Time Drop In; Transition Eynsham Area (TEA); Tuesday Fellowship; Walkie Talkies; WEA; West Oxfordshire Conservatives- Eynsham; Wharf Stream Team; Women's Institute

The Eynsham Directory 2009 is supported by a grant of £1000 from the Cottsway Welcommunity Fund. It covers:

• 246 local businesses - every service you can imagine on your doorstep!
• 100+ clubs, classes, societies and support groups
• All you need to know about public services, especially local government.

Preview Business Directory pdf >>

Over the summer holidays students from Abingdon & Witney college worked as Wychwood v volunteers, to help clear the footpath along the side of Eynsham allotments. The young people had worked with Wychwood V Project Officer Jane Bowley on footpath and habitat management in the summer term, as part of their Steps 3 and 4 programmes, and they were delighted to meet up with their friends in the holidays to have another go at bramble bashing and branch lopping.

Jane said, ‘They are such an enthusiastic group and so much fun to work with. They are amazed at what they can get done in a short space of time and it is also great to see their skills and understanding of the work grow all the time. Judging from their swings with the grass slashers some of them will make very good golfers’.

The group really enjoyed working on the allotments and admired the fantastic crops growing all around them. The allotment holders were very thankful this was one job they didn’t have to worry about, so they could give more time to their vegetables and fruit as the Village Show draws nearer. One couple expressed their appreciation in the form of a bag of carrots and courgettes, which was very welcome too.

Alex and James were particularly pleased that they cut down a tree that had been blocking the path. James said, ‘I really enjoy working outside and doing something useful with my time’ and Katie said, ‘I hope we can come out again next holiday it has been great, especially using the shears’.

They also enjoyed the variety of bugs, beetles and butterflies that they came across and took some excellent photographs for recording and  identification.

Wychwood v is funded by the national youth volunteering organisation vinspired, which is aiming to inspire a new generation of volunteers aged 16-25. For more information about the Wychwood v project please contact Jane Bowley on 01993 814131 or email wychwood.v@oxfordshire.gov.uk

RAF Brize Norton has given advance notice of essential night training to be carried out by crews.

The aircraft in question will be a VC10 and the crew will be conducting Night Visual Circuit training, which involves flying in a circuit over the airfield and surrounding areas, landing and taking off several times over a possible period of 2-3 hours. This training is required as part of a course qualifying new pilots and is an operational requirement. The aircraft will be operating at a height of between 2500 ft down to 1500 ft and will be flown lower than this only during approach and take off.

The training is scheduled for the 24 and/or 25 August, 11 and/or 14 September, 2 and/or 3 November respectively.

Please be aware that this training requires darkness, which may mean quite late into the night in the summer months.

Because of the acknowledged noise impact of this training, each flight is carefully scrutinised and has to be authorised by the Officer in Command of Operations Wing.

“We are sensitive to local opinion and in fulfilling our operational and training commitments we try to reduce any disturbance to the minimum.  However, Royal Air Force Brize Norton is the largest operational base in the RAF and it is inevitable that some noise from our activities will encroach into the local areas.”

Enrol by 31 August for 10% discount!
Eynsham adult learning classes start week commencing 21 September; all last 10 weeks unless otherwise stated.
Enrolment line 0845 351 0646 open weekdays 09:30-17:00.

Tuesday
Yoga Improvers 09.30-11.30 Village Hall 20 wks
Yoga Beginners 11.45-12.45 Village Hall 20 wks
Spanish Beginners 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School
Computing for Beginners 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School
Italian Beginners 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School
Italian Intermediate 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School
Italian Advanced Plus 19:15-21:15 Bartholomew School
Stained Glass – Mixed Ability* 19:00-21:15 Bartholomew School 20 wks

Wednesday
Botanical Watercolour Painting 13:00-15:00 Sports Pavilion 5 wks
Computing for Improvers:
 - Spreadsheets 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School 5 wks
 - Newsletters 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School 5 wks
Italian Improvers 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School
Italian Plus Group 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School
Silver Jewellery 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School 20 wks
Photography for Beginners* 19:00-21:00 Bartholomew School 20 wks

Thursday
Creative Embroidery 13:30-15:30 Village Hall

Saturday Workshops at Bartholomew School
Saturday 3rd October 10:00-16:00 – course fee £33

• Mosaics*
• Drama Games
• Stained Glass – Mixed Ability*
• Manicures*
• Improve your riding with Alexander Technique
• Confidence Building for Returning to Work

Additional charges may be payable on this course

Management of St Leonard's churchyard and of the tree belt behind Dovehouse Close were discussed when the Parish Council met last week. View Minutes >>

The Council also considered:

• parking at the junction of Hanborough Road / Hanborough Close;
• review of speed limits on A and B roads in the parish, including the B4449 eastern bypass;
• review of street furniture: dog waste and litter bins, benches and planters.

You can now recycle your Yellow Pages. To CANCEL future deliveries call Freephone 0800 671 444.

The semi-permanent toilet block for Back Lane car park has arrived. View slideshow >>

View history and gallery >>; register for 2010 >>

The popular leaflet Eynsham Unlocked, introducing the village conservation area, is back: view pdf >>
We have 16 other local maps >>

Residents walking the dog on the playing field today heard a strange bird cry, followed by a flight of birds that might have been parakeets. Your sightings or explanations; more walks >>

New to Eynsham Pavilion - five 45-minute classes starting Friday 31 July from 12:30-13:15. Cost £16.00 for the course, or £4.00 per class.

Get fighting fit! A tough combination of circuits, boxing training, and abdominal workouts to help you achieve optimum fitness this summer led by Boxercise instructor Adam Tarnet.

The class will take place outdoors if weather is good and inside the pavilion if not. For bookings / enquiries please contact Margaret Eaglestone 07827 949156 email

Lots more activities - outdoors >> and inside >>; more about Go Active >>

See Country Tracks on the Thames Path at 11:00 this Sunday or follow Jane's blog >>; more >>. Life at Eynsham Lock

WODC Lowlands Area Planning Sub-Committee has approved this development, subject to the applicant's first entering into a legal agreement. View report >>; read background >>

Eynsham Youth Centre has started the summer in style!

Meeting on 14 July discussed parking on Queen Street, Acre End and The Tuer; road repairs; new signs and decluttering. Read the minutes >>

The Parish Council discussed maintenance of trees behind Dovehouse Close on 7 July: view minutes >>

Note the date! Saturday 12 September 2009.
View Schedules >>; View Gallery 2008 >>

There are two major changes to the classes this year:

Firstly, we have restructured the age groups for children from four groups to three and simplified the classes within these. This we hope, will encourage more entries and avoid the disappointment of “I wanted to enter a ****** but I’m the wrong age.” We have also tried to give entrants more opportunity to be creative.

Secondly, we have combined the photographic groups so that we no longer distinguish between digital and non-digital. This is as the result of feedback we have received over the last couple of years and it will also help with the judging on the day. All you non-digital folks are still encouraged to enter!

New classes include:

• 23 A Bonsai Tree
• 33, 34 and 37 New flower arrangements – we hope this makes up for our mistake from last year!
• 53 Bottle of Fruit Spirit (e.g. Sloe Gin)
• 58 A Sewn Garment
• 59 Home-made Jewellery
• 77 Make a Toy from any medium
• 81 Home-made Dog Biscuits – we have the honour of welcoming a new judge for this class who will kindly be donating a copy of his new book as a prize. We will ask if he will sign the copy.

You need to pre-enter by 21:00 on 10 September and then simply bring your entries along on the morning of the show.

Timetable
Thursday 10 September
By 21:00 Entry forms & money to 42 Spareacre Lane
Saturday 12 September
09:00 – 10:30 Entries into Village Hall
10:45 – 13:00 Judging
14:00 – 16:30 Viewing
16:30 – 17:00 Collection of Entries

The first Saturday of July is a high point in the Eynsham year. View first images >>
You can still visit the Flower Festival.

The old loo in Back Lane car park has been demolished. The contractor is now laying the concrete base for a new unit, with delivery expected in 3 weeks. Read background >>

The yearly Neighbourhood Action Group Engagement will be carried out between 30 June and 4 July 2009. The team will be visiting all villages on the area.

Please come along and have your say. You decide what you want your neighborhood policing team should be dealing with and what is important to you; please let us know.

Current priorities include inconsiderate parking and speeding. A recent competition for the primary age group to design a poster highlighting the problems was won by students from Eynsham Primary School: 1st place Martha Page age 9 (poster shown above); 2nd place Ben Weller age 7; 3rd place Rebecca Wise age 9. Read latest newsletter >>

Dates for NAG Engagement 2009:

30 June
CASSINGTON 10:00-12:00 Village Greeen
NORTH LEIGH 14:00-16:00 behind the school
01 July
STANDLAKE 10:00-12:00 village shop, High Street
STANTON HARCOURT 14:00-16:00 village Hall
02 July
SOUTH LEIGH 10:00-12:00
NORTHMOOR 14:00-16:00
04 July
EYNSHAM CARNIVAL

We will be visiting with the mobile police station. Please come and talk to us. And if you can't make it, use the online form >>.

Eynsham Open Gardens 27-28 June was a huge success, with masses of choice and perfect weather - take a tour >>

Just £3.00 admitted you to all gardens on both days. The programme was on sale from any listed garden - view pdf >>

All proceeds go to the Silver Star Unit at John Radcliffe Hospital; and Eynsham Medical Centre - equipment.

Front Garden awards were made last week, after a tough short-listing session covering gardens of every shape and size, all around the village. Take a tour >>

The winning entries were:

BEST ENCLOSED FRONT GARDEN
1st Imgard & Alan Smith 2 Newland Close (pictured);
2nd Ken & Lynda Webb 2 Thornbury Road
BEST OPEN PLAN FRONT GARDEN
1st Monica & Roy Allen 34 Dovehouse Close; 2nd Sarah & Mick Green 7 Dovehouse Close
BEST HOUSE FRONT
1st Sarah Jones & Julian Robbins 43 Newland Street; 2nd Gillian Jones 39 Newland Street
BEST BUSINESS FRONT
1st Beech Court Nursing Home Newland Street; 2nd The Red Lion Market Square.

Helen Peacocke, food writer for the Oxford Times and steady supplier of recipes to Eynsham Online, has just launched a charming guide to 40 dog-friendly pubs and walks, from Oxford into Wychwood and the Cotswolds - including two in Eynsham.

Paws Under the Table is enhanced by Helen's own photos, comments from her dog Pythius and line drawings by Sue Mynell. Look for it now in all good bookshops (ISBN 978 1 902279 35 0) or ask in Eynsham Post Office, Evenlode DIY or the Country Gallery.

Helen's Garden >>; Seasonal Recipes >> Dog's View of Pubs >> (Oxford Times 21 May).

Meanwhile Pythius is preparing for his own big event: his first PAWS signing on Midsummer's Day Sunday 21 June 21 at 16:30 in the Woodstock Bookshop.

The signing will be followed by a dog walk then a visit to The Woodstock Arms, where free nibbles will be served when you order a drink. The beer clip, kindly supplied by West Barkshire Brewery, is ready for the occasion.

The Eynsham Directory goes to print at the beginning of August. Arrangements for 2009 include:

• a smaller size - more friendly and convenient
• a launch event or Village Open Day on 5 September, offering a useful showcase for local groups.

Arrangements were discussed at the Parish Council Communications Committee on 16 June. View minutes >>

The Eynsham Directory 2009 is supported by a grant of £1000 from the Cottsway Welcommunity Fund. It will cover:

• 230+ local businesses - every service you can imagine on your doorstep!
• 100+ clubs, classes, societies and support groups
• all you need to know about public services, especially local government.

View draft business pdf >> view draft groups & services pdf >>

If you run a local firm or local group, please check your entry now! The Directory offers free publicity and will be widely distributed.

• Go to Business Directory or Local Groups or Services AZ for your full entry or use the search
• Use the Contact form at the top of the page for updates and feedback.

For residents who don't have access to the internet, there are draft copies of the Directory with update & feedback forms in the Library. Please help to get it right.

View report to WODC Lowlands Area Planning Sub-Committee meeting on 15 June; read background >> Decision was deferred for more reports and a site visit.

Proposals for re-furbishing or re-building St Leonard's Church Hall are firming up. View latest proposal >>

Jonathon Bowden is bringing his vegetables to sell outside the Emporium on Saturday mornings starting 13 June. Proprietor Corin Willett says:

"We are delighted to have a new vegetable stall here as we know Worton Organic have been much missed. Jonathon worked for Worton and is looking forward to supplying a good selection of superbly fresh produce, all of which will be sourced locally even if he hasn't grown it himself." Seasonal Recipes >>

The plants in the new "Trough and Trellis" have been supplied by Millwood Market Gardens too. The varieties include:

• Sweet Peas - Cuthbertson Mixed Cupani; bi-coloured flowers
• Courgettes - Black Beauty
• Runner Beans - Scarlet Emperor
• Squash - Uchiki Kuri
• Nasturtiums - Maharajah
• Tomatoes - Tumbling Toms

For information about the "Trough & Trellis" or if you have similar requirements or for suggestions and requests please contact Jonathon email

Other new ventures at the Emporium include a Saturday charity stall (enquiries / bookings to Corin on 01865 731717)

... and a charming set of local scenes produced by Charles Cutting - too good to give away!

Eynsham Primary School is collecting SOS vouchers from the Oxford Mail to try to win new changing rooms for the pool. Please put yours in the boxes around the village or at the school: 9 June-4 July.

Results of the European Parliamentary elections were announced overnight. View details for the UK South East area >>; local counting area >>

Results of the County Council elections were announced on 5 June. Details for the Eynsham electoral ward follow. With a total of 3297 votes cast and an electorate of 7252, the % poll was 45.46. View earlier election results >>

Nicholas Goodwin Green Party: 393
Duncan Alexander Hume The Labour Party Candidate: 233
Charles Christopher Bruce Mathew The Conservative Party Candidate: 1569 - ELECTED
Brenda Smith Liberal Democrat: 1082.

Eynsham electoral division also includes Aston, Cote, Shifford & Chimney; Cassington; Hardwick with Yelford; North Leigh; Northmoor; South Leigh; Standlake; Stanton Harcourt.

Charles Mathew was the current county councillor, elected in 2006 following the death of Harry Wyatt.

Brenda Smith is district councillor for Standlake, Aston and Stanton Harcourt.

GO Cycling is for beginner adult cyclists (16+) and will provide you with the help and advice that you might need to get out and about on your bike. There will be drop in safety and maintenance sessions followed by a leisurely bike ride. The rides aim to give you the confidence to get on your bike and enjoy the great outdoors.

Date and Venue Sunday 14 June - Eynsham Pavilion, Oxford Road.
Times 10:00-12:00 Drop in safety and maintenance sessions with qualified cycling coaches 12:00-14:00 Leisure ride of between 5 and 10 miles. After the rides there will be a cycling flexibility session and refreshments.
Cost £1 per person; all you need is a roadworthy bike and helmet.

Anyone who attends one of the GO Cycling events this year will receive 10% discount for Bike Blenheim Palace, the Festival of Cycling which will take place on Sunday 4 October and offers a wide range of cycling events and activities.

You will also receive a FREE Nexus 'pay as you go' leisure card, which entitles the holder to 3 months of discounted activities at Nexus leisure centres around West Oxfordshire. You will also receive discount vouchers for swimming, exercise classes and gym sessions at the centres. Participants will also receive a free GO Active water bottle.

Places are limited so book today! Contact Sarah Sandford, GO Active Coordinator for West Oxfordshire on 01993 861564 or email

Eynsham Parish Council is asking the county council to involve them in the process of possible purchase. View minutes >>; blog >>; more >>

A new 18/18A bus stop is available on Newland Street.

latest issue >>

Perfect weather and bargains galore at Eynsham Garden Club's 10th annual plant sale in the Market Square on Saturday 23 May. View Gallery >>

There are still a few places for the coach trip to BBC Gardeners' World Live at Birmingham NEC on Saturday 13 June. Please contact Pam Breeze 01865 880725, Pat Whitlock 07966 05430 or Verity Hughes 01865 880243.

Clear a few hours in your diary on the afternoons of 27 and 28 June for Eynsham in Bloom. View Gallery 2007 >>

Plan ahead for Eynsham Village Show in September: latest news >>

Eynsham Country Market celebrates its 25th birthday this month. Visit any Thursday >>

The flora near the Talbot decking area has settled down and now has many different wild flowers where it was previously just stinging nettles. Cow parsley, dandelion, sedges, bulrushes, burdock, bluebells, daisies, flags, dock, forget-me-not, vetches and many others I can’t identify.
There is also some Japanese Knot weed encroaching from the north; this is being removed by hand and destroyed as it is an infestation and requires eradication.

The willow area opposite is being managed and will eventually be a coppice that will include some pollarded willow and a mixture of trees. This will be a gradual process taking many years. View Gallery >>

Sad bits:- Someone removed the work boat ‘REX’ but it has been recovered minus its paddles. Should it be renamed W’REX?
Also from the opposite willow area someone stole a 6”x6” x 8ft corner fencing post.
Wildlife is abundant though the Kingfishers are elusive this year.

Volunteers are required to slap another coat of paint on the railings; please get in touch.

David Miller – Wharf Stream Team

Bartholomew Players present Day of Reckoning – a funny and moving play about sex, lies, and a lot more in village life – by Pam Valentine on 13, 14, 15 May, 19:45 at Eynsham Village Hall. Doors open 19:15. Tickets £7 (£6 concessions) from Evenlode DIY, Juliet New 01865 881150, or on the door. Refreshments available. Preview images >>

Don’t be fooled by the photo, says Helen Peacocke – the Bartholomew Players are not staging a pantomime – or are they?
Their next production, Pam Valentine’s delightful farce Day of Reckoning, is full of panto characters such as Snow White, Friar Tuck, Hansel, Old Mother Hubbard and the Queen of Hearts.
It is actually a comic drama, set in the present day, which is so full of ridiculous comings and goings, it could easily be mistaken for a pantomime.
Day of Reckoning is set in a village such as Eynsham, and revolves around the antics of the planning committee for the Church fête who meet to plan the event.
As their meeting progresses all sorts of things that have lurked below the surface for so long are exposed. The vicar has lost his faith and is now a drunk, and the new infant school teacher alarms the other women by accepting a lift with a village tearaway.
Things go from bad to worse on the day of the fête, when the bouncy castle starts deflating, the wrong prizes are placed in the children’s bran-tub dip and the woman who reached breaking point caring for a demanding old mother confesses she has killed her. Indeed the chaos that takes place on the day of the fête includes tragedy, love and lust, making it essential viewing for any English village that runs its own fête or carnival.

Note the date! Saturday 12 September 2009.
View Class List >>

Full Schedule available 1 July at Eynsham Online and from:

• Evenlode DIY
• Library
• Cornucopia
• 9 Queens Lane
• 3 Back Lane
• 48 Shakespeare Drive
• 42 Spareacre Lane

There are two major changes to the classes this year:

Firstly, we have restructured the age groups for children from four groups to three and simplified the classes within these. This we hope, will encourage more entries and avoid the disappointment of “I wanted to enter a ****** but I’m the wrong age.” We have also tried to give entrants more opportunity to be creative.

Secondly, we have combined the photographic groups so that we no longer distinguish between digital and non-digital. This is as the result of feedback we have received over the last couple of years and it will also help with the judging on the day. All you non-digital folks are still encouraged to enter!

New classes include:

• 23 A Bonsai Tree
• 33, 34 and 37 New flower arrangements – we hope this makes up for our mistake from last year!
• 53 Bottle of Fruit Spirit (e.g. Sloe Gin)
• 58 A Sewn Garment
• 59 Home-made Jewellery
• 77 Make a Toy from any medium
• 81 Home-made Dog Biscuits – we have the honour of welcoming a new judge for this class who will kindly be donating a copy of his new book as a prize. We will ask if he will sign the copy. More to follow in the Schedule!

View Gallery 2008 >>

Three new classes to help you keep fit and enjoy it.

Nitro Circuits that pack a punch! Starting on Saturday 9 May from 09:00-09:55 at Bartholomew Sports Centre - members £3.25, non-members £4.80. Imagine combining a circuit, an abs class, boxing training and rhythm punching in one class – Nitro does just that! Please contact the Sports Centre: 01993 861830.

Post Natal Class starting on Wednesday 13 May from 10:30–12:00 in Eynsham Village Hall - drop in £5.00. One hour of exercise to help get your body back into shape and time to talk. You can bring your babies too! For more information please contact Go Active Activator 07827 949156.

Boxercise: pack a punch in your lunch break! Starting on Wednesday 13 May from 12:30–13:30 in Eynsham Village Hall - drop in £5.00. One of the most effective forms of cross-training available today, boxercise classes are always fun, energetic and addictive. Please contact Go Active Activator for more information: 07827 949156.

Lots more >>

First pix >>; send in your snaps!

'Endless forms most beautiful’ could be the theme of Oxfordshire’s countywide visual arts festival, Artweeks, which opens in early May. Eynsham Arts Group is exhibiting in the Bartholomew Room from 2-17 May. Come and meet some of the local artists and browse through a wide selection of original paintings, prints and cards for sale.

Artweeks in Eynsham - preview >>; map >>

The Old Forge Pottery on Newland Street is open Saturday-Monday 2-4 May and on Saturday-Sunday 9-10 May; Crabapple in Queens Lane is open on the same dates plus Friday 8 May too.

Meanwhile, 200 years after the birth of Charles Darwin and 150 years after the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’, artist Jane Tomlinson is celebrating his life and work in paint. Her exhibition is at 18 Newland Close on Saturday-Sunday 2-3 May and on Saturday-Sunday 9-10 May.

Jane says: “Birds, animals and plants endlessly fascinate me and constantly feature in my work. You don’t have to spend long observing them to begin to wonder, as Darwin did, ‘how did they come to be the way they are?’ Oxfordshire is rich in wildlife and what I see around my home in Eynsham is a constant source of inspiration for me.”
After years of painstaking scientific study Darwin concluded that species evolved through natural selection.
To test the idea of natural selection, Darwin dabbled in pigeon-fancying. This was the idea behind Jane’s painting ‘Darwin’s doves’ (top right). Jane says: “In it, I wanted to show both wild and domesticated forms of doves rising to build a sense of a single, continuing evolutionary line.“The background is gold metal leaf – a reference to the preciousness of the diversity of life, and a nod to religious pictures which often have gold in them to indicate sacredness.”
In ‘Tree of life’ and ‘Endless forms most beautiful’ (right) Jane has taken Darwin’s idea of the phylogenetic tree, that is, species branching off from each other over millennia to create new forms.
The painting’s title ‘Endless forms most beautiful’ is from the final sentence of Darwin’s book ‘On the Origin of Species’.
Jane says: “The natural world is full of wonder and as Professor Richard Dawkins says ‘the more we understand it the more beautiful does it appear’. It’s impossible not to be inspired by it. That’s what guides my painting and drawing.”
Jane’s exhibition also features paintings of pebbles, stone circles and local folklore as well as a series of pictures inspired by local wildlife. “There are foxes, owls, squirrels, moths, fish and lots of hares” says the artist.

A new edition of the popular leaflet Eynsham Unlocked, introducing newcomers to the attractions of the conservation area, arrived hot off the press today - and is still FREE.

The leaflet has a fresh look and feel, and a new set of maps and images, as well as the text revisions: view pdf >>

Lilian Wright has updated her history of St Leonard's Church, first issued in 1981. Copies are on sale for £3 at the back of the church and at Evenlode DIY in the High Street, with all profits going to church funds. The church is open to visitors on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 12:00-13:00 and on Saturday 11:00-13:00.

And Snax on Mill Street is now open on Sundays 10:00-14:00 as well as weekdays and looks forward to welcoming the new season's visitors - from Swinford Lock, or further afield.

Eynsham Parish Council has recently secured grant funding of £45,000 through the Playbuilder Programme. We need your comments >> by 30 June - please note extended deadline.

What for?
The funding is to be used for redevelopment of the Wytham View Play Area (next to Eynsham Community Primary School). As a condition of the grant, the work will have to be completed by April 2010.

Who for?
The Playbuilder Programme’s main focus is children and young people aged 8-13 and it supports projects that will:

• Attract both boys and girls;
• Be inclusive for all local children, including those with disabilities;
• Include natural features such as trees, rocks and landscaping;
• Include areas of active and challenging play as well as areas where children and young people can relax; and
• Be accessible to all.

What next?
Between April and June 2009, Eynsham Parish Council will undertake a public consultation involving various groups in the village. It is planned to present the conclusions at an open village meeting in September 2009. This should then result in a final project plan, which will be used as a basis for the brief to the landscape architect in charge of developing a new design for the play area.

How to get involved?
To help us develop the brief for the landscape architect, we are seeking views of local children and young people, parents and carers, tenants and residents, and those working in partner organisations, including children and youth clubs. As part of this exercise, we would like your comments on the project. Your feedback will help us to understand the priorities and aspirations of our community and ensure that the redeveloped play area meets local needs.
We would therefore be very grateful if you could complete the questionnaire by 30 June. You can drop it off at Eynsham Library, send it by post or email to the Parish Clerk Sue Lee, 01869 347652 email or hand it to one of the Parish Councillors.

More info?
The questionnaire can be downloaded >>
For questions regarding the Eynsham Playbuilder Project, please contact the Parish Clerk (as above) or the chair of the Play Area Committee Linda Pilek, 3 Abbey Street, Eynsham OX29 4HR, 01865 883811, email

Rededication of war memorial and laying up of Royal British Legion women's standard.

more >>

This is a monthly round-up of local news and events, sent to subscribers only. A sample follows below. Just fill in the form to join the mailing list – I look forward to hearing from you. Joan Stonham

WYTHAM VIEW PLAY AREA
The Parish Council has been awarded up to £45,000 to develop this area. There were 32 applicants for this financial year and only 11 Playbuilder grants available. Consultation begins immediately.
WAR MEMORIAL
A re-dedication service will be held on Sunday 19 April at 15:30 in St Leonard's Church. View story and photos of the recent restoration.
A GOOD READ
Five WEA sessions on Anthony Trollope start on Monday 20 April 10:00-12:00 in the Tolkien Room, St Peter's Church. Course Fee £40.00. Contact: Caroline Cochrane 01865 883140.
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
This official review of village 'institutions' takes place on Tuesday 21 April at 19:30 in the Village Hall. Read the reports and agenda.
ALSO ON 21 APRIL
The newly-emerging Eynsham Rotary Club. If you can't make it this time, please ring Brian Key 01865 820702 or email
PARENTING SUPPORT
Another free 7-week parenting course starts on Friday 24 April 09:30-11:00 in the Bartholomew Room. Contact Sue Rous on 01993 881968 email
CROQUET & CHORAL PERFORMANCE
We are spoilt for choice on Saturday 25 April with Eynsham Croquet Club's Open Day and Eynsham Choral Society's Elijah – see the Diary or take a virtual tour of the Croquet Club.
ARTWEEKS IN EYNSHAM
begins on Saturday 2 May. Preview now showing! Check the Diary for dates/times at major venues.
MAY DAY!
Eynsham Morris celebrate 30 years of dancing on Monday 4 May, starting around 11:00 in the Market Square. After a grand tour of the village they return at 18:00 with a visiting side and end up at the White Hart for a sing song. Please support the collection for Helen & Douglas house.
AND FINALLY …
1st Eynsham Brownies is looking for new leaders to help on a regular or an occasional basis. We meet every Thursday in term time from 6.30 to 8pm in Eynsham Village Hall. Enthusiasm more important than experience! If you are interested please contact Sinead Andrews on 07968 598867.

The Annual Parish Meeting takes place on Tuesday 21 April at 19:30 in the Village Hall, Back Lane. Do come if you can. This is a chance to find out what (almost) everyone who is anyone in the village has been doing on your behalf in the last 12 months. Why not find out what they look like?

Meet representatives from the Police, the Fire Service and Parish Council, County and District Councillors, Eynsham Primary School Governors, Bartholomew School, Eynsham Youth Centre, Eynsham Consolidated Charity and Bartholomew Educational Foundation, Playing Field Managers, Village Hall Management and the Allotments Association.

Read the reports, listen to the discussion, join in if you wish. It's your village too.

WEA introduction to Anthony Trollope: Phineas Redux. 5 sessions starting 20 April at 10:00 in the Tolkien Room; course fee £40.00. For enquiries/bookings contact Caroline Cochrane: 01865 883140 email.

Trollope has been applauded for his sensitive insight into the 'everyday' matters of the human heart but in Phineas Redux he is at the height of his powers - depicting, beneath the lighter notes, themes of political intrigue, thwarted love, madness and suffering.

A search is under way for professional business men & women in the Eynsham area, who are willing to give time to serve the community.

The proposed Rotary Club in Eynsham has made an encouraging start, with an enthusiastic group of people meeting regularly in the village. Now the hunt is on for more people to join them.

Rotarian Brian Key, the District New Clubs Officer, says: “The response has been excellent and I am confident that we can build successfully on these beginnings. We are looking for those who want to ‘make a difference’ by giving service to the community.” He adds: “Rotary offers fun & friendship, social events and the opportunity to work together for the improvement of life for many, and all we ask is you give as little or as much time as you can spare”.

The next meeting is on Tuesday 21 April at the Red Lion Inn, Eynsham, starting at 7.30pm. If you would like to discover more please ring Brian Key 01865 820702 email bwk69@tiscali.co.uk or John Simpson 01993 705485 email

The Parish Council has been awarded up to £45,000 to develop this Play Area. There were 32 applicants for financial year 2009-10 and only 11 Playbuilder grants available. Detailed consultation begins at the Annual Parish Meeting.

more >>

Enjoy the taste of spring with more seasonal recipes arriving from Helen Peacocke.

Tour the village: spring scenes >>

Sign up for garden waste collection now at £3 a month. New scheme starts in May but applications must be in by 17 April and numbers are limited. Call 01993 861020 or email.

Adrian Willett has added trellis and planters at Eynsham Emporium, with runner beans and rambling roses to follow.

Eynsham in Bloom takes place on 27-28 June. If think you might like to open your garden to visitors please have a word with Pat Whitlock 07966 054350.

The real time information display at the bus stop next to Eynsham News has been damaged, at a cost of several thousand pounds. If you saw anything please contact the police by email or by phone: 0845 8 505 505.

more >>

Vandalism on the High Street - did you see anything?

The district council has set a deadline of 6 April for public comment on its Core Strategy so Far, published in March. It covers housing, economy and climate change, with a brief section on housing in Eynsham at 3.11 and interactive consultation.

The parish council Planning Committee's draft response goes to Full Council for review on 7 April; members of the public are welcome to attend. View agenda >>

WODC published a draft Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment for Eynsham in February 2009; view document; view map.

more planning and consultation >>

After a short break, The Star on Witney Road is back in business. Mike and Irene Austen plan a major re-think, with a Staffordshire bull terrier that loves children to help them. Family-friendly menus at wallet-friendly prices are coming soon.

Also on the way are new (old?) attractions such as darts and Aunt Sally sessions, sport on Sky, a juke-box and games machine, plus quizzes and open mic nights for local talent.

Mike and Irene have run pubs all around the country but reckon the key to success is tuning in to local demand. They look forward to getting involved with the community ... and doing their bit for Carnival, of course.

Eynsham's Carnival Queen for 4 July 2009 was chosen by independent judges at the disco dance last Saturday 28 March at Beech Road Primary School. Results follow:-

Queen: Lisa Gibbons age 15
Deputy Queen: Amy Jordan age 15
Attendants Age Group 11-13: Eloise Sheffield (12) and Eloise Collins (10)
Attendants Age Group 6-10: Laila Chok (7) and Freya Darius-Nobes (7).

The field was smaller than usual this year, with a total of only 50 people at the Disco, but organisers are confident that Eynsham Carnival 2009 will be as great an attraction as ever. View gallery 2008 >>

Please come along to the White Hart on Tuesday 24 March any time after 19:00 or contact Brian Key if you are interested: 01865 820702 email. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose!

Rotary is non-religious and non-political and offers friendship, good company and a chance to serve the community. Women are welcome. Rotary International has 1.2 million members in over 200 countries.

Brian Key says “We need 20 people to form a club and I'm sure there are a enough eligible people in Eynsham and District. We shall have support from Witney and Oxford Isis Rotary Clubs to get started”.

Young Wychwood Project volunteers have been planting trees alongside the Wharf Stream on the land near Swinford Lock as part of the wider woodland-creation scheme that is under way there. In contrast to the willow coppice that is to occupy most of the site, this smaller section of trees is a more traditional mix of native woodland species including ash, alder, hazel and a mix of shrub willow, dogwood and hawthorn. The new planting is intended to soften the visual impact of the industrial buildings on the northern side of the Wharf Stream as well as provide additional habitat diversity. Funding for the new trees came courtesy of eforests.

The planned short-rotation willow coppice within the new fencing has suffered two years in a row from the heavy summer floods. The County Council, who planted this area, are discussing a further replanting with their biomass advisors. Interestingly there are signs of some first shoots of willow growing from fragments of roots that have survived the floods. This however is patchy and seems to reflect slight local variations in ground level.

The new permissive access in this area means that people can now get close to the Wharf Stream along most of its length, and without being troubled by the cattle. Other plans for the area, including pollarding of the old willows and other access improvements, will be undertaken as and when resources can be found.

Another bright idea from Eynsham Country Market: haute couture chicken cosies for rescued ex-battery hens or birds in moult, for just £5. Commissions being taken now >>

Maureen Sears of Northmoor (R) has two rescued hens, Rocky and Snowdrop, who are just coming to terms with their new lease of life. She soon put them off cannibalism (pecking their eggs) with a foul-tasting mix of washing up liquid applied to one blown egg. But they still needed a little TLC while their plumage grew back.

Enter Jane Blain of Eynsham (L) with needles and ingenuity and a pattern of her own devising. The chicken cosy was modelled this week by a Galt toy bird, loaned by Jennifer Harland, though Maureen threatens to bring a live one in next week. If she has finished her next batch of mango and kiwi chutney.

Jane also runs JB Therapies, offering reflexology and Indian head massage, plus Angelic Reiki from April: contact her on 01865 731563.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s share of the Council Tax for a Band D property in 2009/10 has been set at £78.57. This represents an increase of £3.69 per annum or 4.9% on the current year. More >>

The Parish Council's budget for 2009/10 is down 0.241% - view details >>

Council Tax rates for Eynsham 2009-10:

• Band A £ 938.73
• Band B £1095.18
• Band C £1251.64
• Band D £1408.09
• Band E £1721.00
• Band F £2033.91
• Band G £2346.82
• Band H £2816.18

Total charge for a Band D property across the district will be £1,414.96 - of which £1,130.62 will go to Oxfordshire County Council; £151.27 to Thames Valley Police Authority; £54.50 to the town / parish council.

How to reduce your bill >>

In his response to this application the Police Crime Prevention Advisor has recommended a new surfaced foot & cycle path across the north playing fields. Full statement follows; view Planning Committee comments >>

“The southern boundary abuts the right of way which links The Bitterell and the B4449 (village by-pass from the A40). Alongside this path is a hedge - and a small gate leads onto the playing field. I note that there have been seven instances reported to police of criminal damage to buildings and structures on this playing field since the summer of 2006. Several other instances have not been reported to the police. The WODC Head of Community Services confirms a long history of damage and problems on the site. The toilets are a particular concern to WODC and the Parish Council because they have been vandalised several times.

“I feel consideration should be given to upgrading this gap in the hedge to a defined access from the new development to the recreation field. Ideally this will lead to a new surfaced foot and cycle path with appropriate lighting across the field to the Oxford Road. The closer the Oxford Road exit to the centre of Eynsham, the more likely it is to be used.

“A benefit would be easy access to Oxford Road for residents, especially those wishing to use public transport. It would improve natural surveillance of the playing field and buildings with the potential to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. It should be noted that a similar route for pedestrians and cyclists across Pingle Field in Bicester had the bonus of reducing crime and disorder.”

View the Planning Committee comments at its meeting on 2 March.

Now on Thursdays 19:00-20:00 - give it a go!

DRS Timber Products closed its gates on Monday after 18 years in Spareacre Lane - only to move to a new site in Witney. Owner Dave Stone says this will make no difference to his local authority customers and 11 of the 12 staff will have a shorter trip to work. But he hopes to see some of his Eynsham clients at the new address. His one regret is not buying the place when he moved in, at an asking price of £175,000.

The site is now advertised to let as a workshop unit, though it has also been listed as a potential housing site. Dave says it will need decontaminating first to clear traces of previous use: over the years it has provided storage for tobacco, Aladdin heaters and gas and served a paint shop.

Meanwhile, round the corner in Back Lane, the former school caretaker's bungalow was reduced to rubble in 24 hours - briefly opening up a new view of the sports centre. The site has planning permission for 4 terraced houses.

Eynsham Youth Centre has just been awarded £4,500 for equipment and is wasting no time in spending it. The grant is earmarked to replace old seating and a second-hand TV, plus new audiovisual materials and outdoor games kit.

The Centre, which already offers an impressive range of activities, is now open on Thursday evenings as well as Tuesdays, with around 25 visitors a time - attracted mainly by word of mouth. There are now also Connexions drop-in sessions for training / careers advice on Tuesday 16:00-17:00.

We were lucky to have a group from Wychwood V on 16 and 17 February, helping reinstate some of the ancient waterways created by the monks to irrigate the fishponds. View feature >>

Wychwood V is a project to encourage youngsters aged between 16 and 25 to volunteer for conservation work. Very many thanks to them for all their work.

Eynsham volunteers are always welcome! - please get in touch.

Are you being served?

Take the agro out of sewing! Taster courses for beginners: afternoon or evening sessions or a Saturday workshop.

more >>

On Saturday 14 February Oxford Blues Metal Detecting Club visited the Abbey Fishponds. The 20 finds included 3 Roman coins, a shoe buckle and a cap badge.

The time window for work was limited by frost and snow on one side and new plant growth on the other. Luckily the day went well. The location of each find was carefully recorded and any disturbed ground made good afterwards.

The finds are being checked and recorded by Anni Byard, Finds Liaison Officer, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire Portable Antiquities Scheme. When we have her report of items, dates and location we hope to understand more about the history of the area. Watch this space!

Don't miss the annual Pancake Feast in the Tolkien Room on 21 February. Try a recipe now >>

The Wharf Stream team has continued work through the winter, removing litter and other matter from the stream, and has taken on the management of the area of willows near the bridge by gradually removing the insecure willows. Eventually it is hoped to plant a mixture of trees on the site, while leaving some original willows pollarded.

In the spring they intend to clear some reeds that are causing some narrowing of the stream near the confluence with the lock stream and continue maintaining the access for small boats and canoes.

March Update: Someone, somewhere asked what the two circular steel ring on concrete posts were for ... They were parking places for the weir paddles (boards) to prevent them being carried away by floods.

I have heard the stream referred to as ‘Johnny Juggins’ quite often. He was the landlord of The Talbot for many years. But this week Rose Campbell referred to it, or part of it, as the ‘Nates’ where the youngsters used to go swimming. Historically it has the name ‘Naith’. (In 1796 it was known as the ‘Neat’).

With the weather improving the Wharf Stream Team will be making use of our boat ‘REX’ to clear a few areas of reeds to ensure good flow, keep on top of the obstructing branches and remove a couple of underwater obstructions.

Warm up your Valentine's weekend with this new dance class! Or pick from 24 other ways to keep fit and enjoy it.

Eynsham Garden Club is to restore and maintain this area - with the blessing of Phil Whittaker who has maintained it for many years on behalf of the British Legion. Fieldfare Nurseries has prepared a new planting scheme and the Parish Council will pay for the plants.

More images welcome. View Gallery >>

The first “Transition Eynsham Area” (TEA) group meeting is on Wednesday 11 February at 19:30. Details from Ros Kent: 01865 884119.

The Transition Towns Initiative was founded by Rob Hopkins in 2005 and there are two copies of his excellent book “The Transition Handbook” in Eynsham Library.

The Transition Initiative is a grassroots movement to cope with the effects of Climate Change and Peak Oil by forming an environmentally stable community for the longer term. It is a non-political, democratic movement in which each town or area decides for itself how best to act for the future. There are already 77 Transition Initiatives launched in Britain alone and many more in the “pipeline”.

The Transition Area Eynsham (TEA) group hope to raise awareness of the situation by holding a number of meetings in the area, including films and speakers, in order to give everyone an idea of the problems and how they might be overcome. Watch this space!

This situation is going to affect us all and it is vital that we act together as an area, as a country and as a world. It is important that we put aside all other differences in order together to reduce the effects of climate change and peak oil before a ‘runaway’ mode is reached.

Peak Oil:- As world oil supply peaks and runs down (as early as next year!), demand will be controlled by very large price increases.....

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Oxfordshire County Council plans to prohibit motor vehicles from The Tuer. Deadline for objections & representations is 7 March. Background in minutes of Traffic Advisory Committee.

One-third to half of Eynsham's S1 and S2 buses may not be ‘visible’ to the RTI system this month – giving the impression of long delays. The problem is due to water leaking in round some bus display panels and damaging the GPS units. As a last resort RTI displays may be turned off until reliable again. Do report any further problems.

covered Back Lane toilets, Sports Centre bookings, East Eynsham proposals, burial space and more. Read the minutes >>

The Club is not dead yet, says the new Treasurer, Michael Cross.

“This has been a long week in the life of ESSC. If you read Saturday's Oxford Mail you could be excused for thinking that the Club was finished. We have in fact received generous financial support that gives the Club a secure financial platform to move forward. There are many in this village that do want the Club to pass into memory.

“There is a new Treasurer who has taken on the task of reconstruction. There is an outline plan of how we move forward and which requires some difficult decisions to be made. There will be pain for some and change for many. But the future is secure.

“The saddest part is that of the 433 members only a handful were aware of the depth of the problems”.

The appeal against refusal of planning permission has been upheld: view details >>

Sadly, Eynsham Scout Group have no manpower to run this eagerly awaited village event in 2009: all the leaders & supporters are involved in a county Scout Camp, which is held only once every 10 years.

If you or your group really want May Day 2009 to go ahead, the Scouts are happy to help with all the background you need – why not have a try? For more information, please contact Sue Greenwood on 01865 880339 email.

Work continues on the war memorial and area around it. Edging has been laid to some 30m of borders and Scottish cobbles have been spread over the hard-standing. The challenge now is to prepare the beds for planting before the spring – and preferably before specialists arrive to clean the memorial in February.

Eynsham Garden Club members Leslie Gerrans, Sandra and Simon Harbour, Mike Northcott, Graham Williams and Pat Woodman took advantage of the sunshine last Saturday morning to clear a truckload of overgrown vegetation and roots from the beds, letting in some much needed light and air.

Next they hope to add several bags of soil improver, while Fieldfare Nurseries prepare a planting plan. The area is in deep shade and needs to look at its best for Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day in November, year after year. Hard landscaping and cleaning have been joint funded by Eynsham Parish Council and the War Memorials Trust.

View District Council's final report and programme of works

This new website is dedicated to reducing the miseries of motorists on Swinford Toll Bridge

County Councillor Charles Mathew says: “I have tried to speak to Jane Tomlinson to discover what she wishes to happen. A pure scrapping of the toll leaves the owner out of pocket and smacks of confiscation; the purchase of the bridge by OCC requires considerable funds – several millions – would the people of Oxfordshire be prepared to pay for this? I asked at a Council meeting last January for a review of the Thames river crossings west of Oxford and this is close to becoming public, but I fear will not progress matters much.

“I believe the rush hour situations will only get worse and that OCC needs to grasp the bullet. There are a number of alternatives which require consideration in depth – from a new parallel bridge to season tickets for locals (like oyster cards) or a buy out – to name a few. ... What is certain is that they will all cost the Oxfordshire Council tax payer to a greater or lesser degree.”

Discussion included Back Lane toilets, sports centre bookings and amended plans from Bryant Homes: view minutes

Here are all your old favourites with a new twist for 2009:

• easier to find your way around – main areas on view at all times via left-hand sidebar. Just click on any heading to reveal the contents.
• full-screen presentation – with a host of local news items in right-hand sidebar. Don't miss the link to real-time information on the buses too.
• higher quality images – cunningly manipulated to create galleries of almost any size, illustrating 55 stories and 54 seasonal recipes, not to mention a Virtual High Street for 57 local firms and 67 listed buildings at last count.
• interactive features – check out the Diary for village life as you've never seen it before. Click on any link to discover What's on Where, from parish council meetings to sports programmes or activities for young people.
• intelligent search – there whenever you want it at the top of the screen, for the fastest route to over 230 businesses, 202 documents and 98 local groups.
• more space – a dedicated page for every entry in the Eynsham Directory. Just use the contact form to tell us more ...

more >>

more >>

The Parish Council is writing in strongest terms to the District Council about the toilets at Back Lane car park: read on >>.

The Parish Council has carried out some major work on the board walks on the north path, to make them safer and to make them more secure in times of flood.

The path into the blackthorn clump has also been reinstated and the stream bank cleared. One quarter of the bramble patch near the car park has been cut, to provide a series of different habitats. The cherry trees have been thinned in the north east corner, too. Gravel to resurface the car park is expected in the next few weeks.

A detailed work schedule has been approved for 2008-9. Volunteers are always welcome. If you would like to help in any way please phone Verity Hughes on 01865 880243 or email.

Main Feature >>

Eynsham Parish Council has adopted without modification the Model Publication Scheme prepared and approved by the Information Commissioner.

View schedule & charges.

Students from Eynsham Primary School tackled safety issues in the home and on the streets as part of the 11 Million Takeover Day on Friday 7 November.

more >>

This service from Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network can save your company money – and it's free! Book with Karyn or follow the link.

more >>

The Parish Council have been successful in obtaining a grant from the War Memorials Trust for restoration of the War Memorial. It will be professionally cleaned in the new year and some hard landscaping will improve the area around it.

Five West Oxfordshire toilets have gained an impressive 4 or 5 stars in this year’s national Loo of the Year competition.

The facilities are part of a £800,000 District Council refurbishment programme.

Comments on Back Lane toilets to any of your District Councillors please ...

WEB: follow the bus icons in real time or pick your favourite stop/s from the pull-out "drawer".
TEXT your stop code to TIMES (84637) as you leave your home/office. Outward texts are charged at Standard Network Rate; return texts cost 12p max.
MAIN STOP CODES

A vacancy has arisen on the Parish Council following the resignation of Trevor Green after 15 years' service.

Please contact the Clerk Sue Lee if you are interested: 01869 347652 email.

As part of our aim to improve the quality of life for the community, the Eynsham Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) are currently looking at providing facilities that recent surveys tell us are needed in local youth centres.

The surveys were done by the youth members of the NAG, that is Jenie Keen, her friend Rosie; and Helen Keen, one of our local PCSOs. So we know these are facilities the local youth want, rather what we feel they should have.

As always funding is the problem. We hope, among other things, to install e-drop in centres or internet cafes in some youth centres. Will you sponsor a cause that could both help to keep youths off the streets AND promote your company?

If you can help with cash or equipment (such as old computers) or in any other way, please contact Helen Keen on 0845 8 505 505 or email.

The Parish Council has received several requests for parking restrictions in the Market Square.

The suggestion is a 2-hour maximum stay Monday - Friday 08:00-17:00.

Please send in YOUR views to Sue Lee, Parish Clerk.

The Parish Council is preparing a directory of information that would be useful to residents & businesses in an emergency. It would be most helpful to hear from anyone who has services they could offer in an emergency, such as the use of a four-wheel-drive vehicle or a generator.

Any such arrangements would NOT be made public but would be shared only with WODC, Oxfordshire County Council and the emergency services, as appropriate.

Please contact the Clerk if you can help, or feel something is missing from the draft.