Author: Jez Wilson

Honey Bee Swarming Season

May, June and July is the time of year it is most likely to encounter a Bee swarm.

Northamptonshire Beekeepers’ Association offers a voluntary swarms retrieval service throughout the county as a public service. One of these rare volunteers fortunately lives in Nether Heyford.

For Honey Bee swarm retrieval in Nether Heyford contact the official registered volunteer for the village:

Name: Mr Vernon Cameron-Ilott
Mobile: 07968 340495
Land line: 01327 340631

Should you be present when a swarm arrives, move quietly away –don’t run or flap your arms- remove children and pets and go indoors. As colonies of honeybees become more populous, overcrowding can cause a colony to swarm – usually in May, June or July.

The old queen and approximately half of the colony leave to find a new home. A queen will eventually take over the parent colony. Beekeepers do not want to lose half their workforce and take steps to prevent their colonies from swarming. However, the urge to swarm is strong – it is nature’s way of increasing the chances of survival. Beekeepers have no control over feral colonies. Consequently, 20,000 honeybees may arrive in your garden and cluster on a bush, shrub or tree. This is a swarm.

After flying around they will eventually settle and form a rugby ball shaped cluster. They check that the queen is present and scout bees search for a suitable location for a new home, usually the swarm moves to the selected new site within a few hours.

Although 20,000 bees flying around your garden can be alarming to a non-beekeeper, the danger is not very great. Before the bees leave the parent colony they gorge themselves with honey to provision their journey and in order to build comb. They are “full up” and in “holiday mood”.

Do seek assistance as soon as possible. Once a swarm has gained access to a chimney or vent, it is usually difficult to remove.

Beekeepers are not insured and would be foolish to risk life and limb or risk damage to property. REMEMBER swarm collectors are VOLUNTEERS, they may be at work or otherwise busy and will not always be available to respond immediately. The service is to remove swarms of honeybees from accessible places. The beekeeper acts as an individual and not on behalf of the Association, a charge may be made or a donation to the Association requested. In the latter case if you are a taxpayer you can Gift Aid your donation.

Useful links:

Northamptonshire Beekeepers’ Association:
http://www.northantsbees.org.uk/

Swarm Retrival:
https://northantsbees.org.uk/swarm-retrieval/

British Beekeeper’s Association:
https://www.bbka.org.uk/swarm

Originally published May 2019

The Story of Heyford (Extra): VH 60th “Happiness is … A can of hot tea” – Sheila Masters

Happiness is … A can of hot tea

It was a Sunday afternoon some 35 years ago and I was coming home from Church along the Green (in those days the Baptists had afternoon services) battling with the wind and trying to keep my umbrella up against a nasty thin rain. It was cold and wet and thoroughly miserable and as I passed the embryonic Village Hall, my heart went out to the volunteers slogging away inside without any home comforts.

Full of Christian charity I thought, ‘Poor Souls! They must be fed up to the teeth. I’ll pop in and cheer them up. I wonder if they’d like a flask of hot tea?’

I needn’t have worried. Work was progressing steadily, with paintbrush and hammer, drill and screwdriver; someone was singing “Granada”, someone was whistling ,”Roll out the barrel”. Jokes and chaff flew back and forth. Cold, wet and miserable, it may have been outdoors, indoors they were warm, dry and happy. And to put the final touch to their contentment, as I stood there, Freddy Partridge arrived with a large steaming tea-can. I slunk away feeling decidedly de trop, and reflecting that, for keeping the chaps entertained, and out of mischief and the wife’s way, Heyford Village Hall project was the best thing since the Home Guard.

Sheila Masters

Reprinted from The Prattler April 1995 Edition

The Story of Heyford (Extra): VH 60th “Gentleman’s Smoking Club”

Friday 27th February 1987

A highly entertaining evening was enjoyed by a predominantly male audience. The noise level reached 7.3 on the RICHTER scale on occasions due to some of the younger members getting overexcited, too much beer probably.

A good appetite was worked up by the time the food was served which consisted of pork pie, cheese, roll & pickle. Some people were lucky enough to have marshmallow for dessert. Over £300 was raised.

Reprinted from The Prattler May 1987 Edition

Heyford Cricket Club – April 2020

HCC

At the time of writing this update, the 2020 cricket season is facing as much uncertainty as the rest of the community. The Northamptonshire Cricket League are expecting to receive ‘a binding unilateral decision on all recreational cricket’ from the ECB at any time. As soon as we know more, we will post updates on our website and Facebook. There is a possibility that adult and junior fixtures could be cancelled until midway through the season, or the entire season cancelled. At the moment all of our fundraising events are on hold, but we are hoping to reschedule the Fun Day, Golf Day etc. for later in the year.

Bowling Machine:
We would like to say a huge thank you to Mick George Ltd for their generous donation of £1000 towards our new BOLA bowling machine. Unfortunately, we only managed to use it at one of our indoor net sessions before the sports hall at Quinton School was closed to all external groups, but it is a fantastic bit of kit and will certainly improve practice for junior and adult players when we are finally able to resume!

Bonus Ball:
A full list of Bonus Ball winners can be found on the ‘News’ pages of our website. The January and February 2020 winners were as follows. If you would like to support the Club during what is sure to be a challenging season financially then please get in touch, there are still several balls available. It costs just £1 per week to play and you have a chance to win £25 if your ball is drawn as the bonus ball in the Saturday lottery draw.

Bonus Ball:

04/01/2020   11   Chris Peck
11/01/2020   14   Ben Taylor
18/01/2020   11   Chris Peck
25/01/2020   21   Geoff Allen
01/02/2020   52   No Winner
08/02/2020   21   Geoff Allen
15/02/2020   18   Ollie Inwood
22/02/2020   17   Simon Legge
29/02/2020   9    Colin Gillespie

We hope to see you soon, but in the meantime all the very best to our loyal supporters, volunteers and everyone in the village.

More details about Heyford Cricket Club can be found on our website or via social media where we can be found on both Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to get in touch you can also email us.

Website: www.heyfordcricket.co.uk
Download the app: heyfordcc.teamapp.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HeyfordCC
Twitter: twitter.com/@HeyfordCC
Email: heyfordcricket@hotmail.co.uk

Flood Watch – April 2020

Flood Watch

The government eventually succumbed to pressure from communities effected by January and February storms and in the recent Budget increased the flood defence funding from £4Bn to £5.2Bn over the period 2021 to 2026.

The Met Office declared February 2020 as the wettest since records began in 1862 with the UK average rainfall exceeding 200mm or 237% of average for February. In areas such as the north and west of the UK with the most severe flooding problems this percentage rose to 350-400% !

Locally February closed with storm Jorge on 28/29th. Why storm Jorge, as storm Ellen was the next in the Met Office named storms after Dennis? As the storm approached the UK from southern Europe the Spanish Met Office designated name was adopted.

Our local rainfall for the month reached 230% of a February average and although the river flooded on 16.02.20 and peaked again on 28/29th it has subsequently remained low. This has been helped by less rainfall to date in March and a welcome rise in temperature allowing the ground to become less saturated-all good news for gardeners. Generally the River Nene has coped well largely due to the work undertaken by the E/A in 2017/2018.

Disappointingly the E/A has failed to meet the target date of August 2019 to resubmit costed plans for further funding for additional flood defence work in the Village. Let’s hope the distraction of staff to support seriously flooded areas does not reduce Nether Heyford’s priority status.

Whilst our local flooding risk is comparatively low we must remain vigilant. Besides local and National weather news forecasts a reminder of the on-line access to real time data for rainfall and river levels is listed below:-

(A) Shoothill GaugeMap:  www.gaugemap.co.uk

Upstream at Flore:

ShoothillGaugeMap-Flore

Downstream at Bugbrooke:

ShoothillGaugeMap-Bugbrooke

(B) River and sea levels  Flood information service for England from Gov.uk

(C) Northamptonshire County Council: www.floodtoolkit.com

Finally don’t forget to register with the Environment Agency  flood warning service on Floodline 03459 881188 to receive telephone and advanced flood warnings for the area.

The overriding message is “BE PREPARED”.

J.Arnold

The Story of Heyford (Extra): Dear Diary – April 1952

April 1952

Dear Diary,

There’s still a lot of talk in the village about the train crash last September. The Liverpool Express to London came off the rails just out of the Weedon tunnel. We’ve been learning about it in school. The train, engine 46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught, was travelling at over 60 miles an hour when it left the rails and tipped over the embankment into a field just off Furnace Lane. Several people were injured and some killed. Four carriages were damaged but the last two were full of boys returning to boarding school and their carriages stayed on the rails.

The farmer living opposite, Reg Collins, filled his milk churns with water for the injured and Mrs. Collins cycled down to the Post Office to send telegrams to relatives as there is only one public phone in the village. The Army from Weedon Depot were called in to help and ambulances arrived. The Salvation Army and WVS supplied constant tea and ripped up sheets from local families to make bandages. Most of the villagers helped in some way.

Sad news for the Royal family. The King died in February and Big Ben rang once for each of his 56 years. His daughter, Princess Elizabeth was on holiday in Kenya when she was told that she would become our new Queen. I bet the journey home was long.

A Scout group is to be formed by Mr. Woods the headmaster and Mr. Wilkinson. There are about 20 boys, they are to have pack names like Peewit & Kingfisher and will meet every week in the school hall.

If the weather’s fine, we’re going on the bus on Saturday to Everdon Stubbs to see the bluebells. I hope the ‘townies’ haven’t been on their bicycles and, as usual, gone home with basketfuls of the flowers. They’ll be dead before they get home and we shan’t see them again until next year.

Builders are still very busy putting up new Council houses along Hillside Road and Hillside Crescent. People are putting their names down hoping for one, especially those who are over-crowded at home. I have family who would love to get out of their little cottage at the bottom of Furnace Lane and some who are planning to get married next year, so I hope they are fair in choosing.

I’ve been in trouble this week, that’s why I’m spending more time in my room. On our way home from play the other night my friend suggested we go cherry-knocking. “I’ll hold the gate open, you go and knock the door” she said, so muggings here did just that, and guess what, the minute I knocked the door she was off down the street, letting the gate close behind her leaving me stranded on the path in front of the house.

I might have been able to talk my way out of it if I hadn’t been wearing my bright red duffle coat. “You should choose your friends more carefully” said mum. Grown-ups are no fun.

Polly

Letter published in The Prattler – April 2020

 

Nether Heyford Neighbourhood Watch – April 2020

Nether Heyford Neighbourhood Watch.jpg

The 2020 revival is a fresh start for the village “Neighbourhood Watch Scheme” and expands the area to include the complete parish area and Upper Heyford.

Also linking together with the Facebook group, Northamptonshire Neighbourhood Watch, The Parish Council, The PCSO and The Prattler.

The scheme is open to village residents only and all applications should be made
online: www.ourwatch.org.uk/scheme/25380/nether-heyford-and-upper-heyford

For more information, please visit the Neighbourhood Watch page on this website.

Parish Council – March 2020 Meeting

Nether_Heyford_Parish_Council_2019

The March meeting was held as normal on Monday 2nd in the Baptist Chapel Schoolroom.

Like all Council meetings it was open to the public.

Reports from the District and County Councillors: Cllr Harries reported that SNC has passed its final budget, with an approximately 2% increase which will equate to around £5 p/a per band D house. The grants process is being changed, and information will be coming through shortly.

Cllr Brown reported that NCC had also passed its final budget with an increase of 1.9%. The structural Changes allowing the formation of the Unitaries have now been passed by parliament and progress towards the Unitaries is now ongoing, with the new system to be in place for April 2021. A reform of children’s services is taking place, and some other services will be split into two. The final make up is not yet clear as the shadow authority that will run up until the inception of the unitaries may choose to make changes.

PCSO: The PCSO had sent in his regular report, which shows that he is active and working with young people. Councillors felt that some comments made on social media were unfair and had little relevance, and that they were happy with the situation.

Lights: There was some concern that those lights deemed irreparable would be off for some time while the situation regarding the installation of new LEDs was clarified.

Roads and pavements were felt to be deteriorating again, and that repairs in Furnace Lane and Hillside Road were poor.

The Green and Play Area: Resolved. Fete to take place on the green on June 20th. (Update 3/4/2020 Fete is now postponed until 2021)

Playing Fields: A hedge intended to screen the container had been planted. There had been many positive comments about the new basketball/Netball court.

Footpaths: Very wet and muddy. The path from Church lane to the river is collapsing and is felt to be dangerous. To be reported.

Churchyard: Repairs on church roof are taking place.

Canal: The tow paths are so wet as to be barely passable. Clerk to ask that they be upgraded.

Joint Burial Board: Tree damage has occurred during recent storms and one tree has split. STS have been asked to assess the situation.

Youth Club: It was reported that all was well, but concern that the trees between the back fence and the Luddle were in need of assessment.

Defibrillators: reported to be in working order and ready for use.

Neighbourhood Plan: SC reported that the consultant had been visited, and final work to pull the plan together was progressing. The Neighbourhood Plan group were looking to apply for Lottery and other grant funding.

Election: The elections have been postponed until next year, which means that Parish and District Councillors will serve for another year.

Grants Policy: A Grants policy was adopted, stipulating that grants of £250 could be given during the year – but that anything beyond that figure would have to be considered when the annual precept was being prepared.

Play Area: to consider replacement/additional equipment. A further presentation would take place on March 6th after which the various quotes would be compared and brought to Council.

Reporting Highway and Footpath Issues. The Clerk will report issues that Council is made aware of, but Council would encourage residents to use the FixMyStreet service to report issues themselves as there will then be no time lag and first-hand reports are almost always better than 2nd or 3rd hand reports. The service can be found here: www.fixmystreet.com  It is easy to use; you can have your own account and can check up on any issues you have reported.

Parish Council meetings in 2020 will continue to be at the same venue, on the first Monday of each month, (unless a Bank Holiday) and would start at 19.30. The next one is on April 6th and will be preceded by the Annual Parish Meeting. (Update 3/4/2020 Annual Parish Meeting has now been postponed and all meetings are now virtual online meetings)

Clerk to the Parish Council: Guy Ravine, c/o Old Dairy Farm, Upper Stowe, Weedon, Northamptonshire, NN7 4SH
Telephone: 07935 931787
Email: netherheyfordparishcouncil@gmail.com

For further useful information about Nether Heyford Parish Council and full contact details for the clerk and the Councillors please visit:

Nether Heyford Parish Council Website 

The Prattler – April 2020

The Prattler is run by an active voluntary committee comprising of Sue Boutle,
Christine Watts, Vicki Hamblin, Jez Wilson, Nick Essex, Richard Musson and
Mary Rice. If you would like to submit articles or have any suggestions for future
issues, please contact us.

The newspaper is supported by donations from the Parish Council, the Parish Church, the Baptist Church, Heyford W.I., Heyford Gardening Club, Heyford
Singers, the Bowls Club, the Village Hall and Heyford Picturedrome as well as
our advertisers.

We have also recently received a grant from the One Stop Shop to help with
printing costs over the next few months.

One_StopThanks are also due to the volunteers who distribute it every month.

 

 

Village Hall – Events Update – April 2020

Village Hall Fete
It is with great regret, due to uncertain times, the events committee has had to postpone the Fete this summer and has provisionally set a new date 5th June 2021 (provisional)

Garage Sale
The garage Sale has been postponed until later in the year and a provisional date of September 20th 2020 has been proposed. Those who have paid will get a full refund. The current list of applicants will be kept on file.

We will keep you up to date with dates and events in the Prattler.

Keep safe

Pat Paterson nhvhevents@gmail.com

Nether_Heyford_Village_Hall_Book_2019