The Prattler – June 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.

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

Community Wildlife Area – June 2020

View from The Wildlife Patch

It’s hard to believe that the year is nearly halfway over. I am still waiting for the spring rains to bring the Patch into life. Of the wild plant mixtures sown, some seeds have germinated but many are still awaiting the right conditions before raising their little green heads. This is a bit disappointing but not a disaster by any means. These are wild plant seeds and adapted to survival in adverse conditions. They will come up sooner or later, sometimes after laying dormant for years.

The pond now has its full compliment of plants and is looking good. Tadpoles are growing and the Smooth Newts are eating tadpoles and laying eggs which will duly develop into “Newtpoles” which are like frog tadpoles but a bit slimmer with external gills. My Wife Pauline, and I were there today removing blanket weed which is a type of algae. It is surprising how many invertebrates are in the pond already. Many like the Great pond snails and Water hog lice – a close relative of Woodlice – and others will have been introduced with the plants. Some insects including several Water Beetle species, Pond Skaters and Water Boatmen have flown in attracted by the sight and smell of the pond.

Whilst we were there, Dragonflies and Damselflies were landing on the water plants. These lovely insects must surely be familiar to everyone. Dragonflies are the large, often huge and colourful four winged insects that sometimes visit gardens, especially if there is garden pond around. Damselflies include the smaller, often brilliant coloured insects that look a bit like bits of blue of green straw floating on air around water margins. There are also larger, often blue bodied damselflies that often have a black band on their wings. These latter are often in abundance on the River Nene in the height of summer. It’s safe to say that Damselflies rest with their wings along the back in parallel with the body, whereas Dragonflies rest with their wings sticking out, often at a right angle to the body also Dragonflies are usually larger.

Both groups are carnivorous in all active stages of development. Dragonflies patrol a “beat” catching insects on the wing whilst damselflies mostly catch smaller prey by sitting on a fixed object and rising to catch small flies etc. All lay eggs in water or on plants above water. I remember watching one of the banded Damselfly species at an old stone quarry in South Warwickshire. They flew joined in pairs. Both would land on a rush sticking out of maybe 4 feet of water. We could watch the female in the crystal water, as she descended the rush stem to it’s base, then deposit an egg there whilst the male waited, sometimes flying a short distance before returning to collect the female as she reached the surface to repeat the process on another stem. Maybe we will eventually see this in our pond. All have highly predatory larvae that develop underwater often taking years according to the species. Some Damselflies were seen last year laying on plants in the area where the pool now sits. Maybe they had a premonition.

Dave Musson

Davemusson073@gmail.com 07942 674867

Heyford Singers – Desert Island Discs – June 2020

Desert Island Discs – your choices

Below is another selection of favourite music chosen by one of our readers. We
thoroughly enjoyed reading and listening to this choice, so thank you Mick.

Jill Langrish

Mick Watts’ Desert Island Discs – May 2020

I never realised quite how difficult it would be to choose just 8 pieces of music – almost every piece brings back memories of certain times and places. I have chosen 8 classical pieces and 8 more popular compositions and as the choices are so tenuous have placed them in alphabetical order. If pushed for just eight I would choose those with the *.

*Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor
Abba – I have a Dream
*Carly Simon – No Secrets
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major
*Dire Straits – So Far Away
Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms
*Joaquin Rodrigo – Concierto de Aranjuez
Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
*Ludovico Einaudi – Divenire
Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing
*Steeleye Span – Thomas the Rhymer
Fairport Convention – Sir Patrick Spens
*The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
Ludovico Einaudi – Andare
*Wagner – Overture to Tanhäuser
Ludovico Einaudi – Oltremare

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3 in C Minor is arguably the best piano composition of all time. Such virtuosity required to play. First heard it live at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, conducted and played by Vladimir Ashkenazy. A bit disappointing really as he was seemingly not able to give his full attention to either the orchestra or the piano and his antics rather distracted from the overall performance. But then, quite recently, I heard both piano concertos 3 and 4 played by Krystian Zimerman with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein, which were absolutely sublime and would be an extremely hard act to follow. Those are the recordings I have chosen.

On the other page so to speak is the contemporary concert pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi. I have several of his CD’s and had tried, with limited success, to replicate some of his compositions on our piano. My excuse is that he must have a very large finger span. Anyway, I went to the Birmingham Town Hall to see his concert with my elder daughter and having fought our way through a jam packed Christmas market only just made it in time. It was as expected a brilliant performance and it was just as if his hands were hovering over the keyboard yet this magnificent sound was produced. I would need to play 8 hours a day for 10 years of lockdown to come close.

What can I say? Virtuoso guitar performances by Mark Knoppler. Just magical. We used to put the Brothers in Arms audio cassette on when we travelled down to Devon when the girls were quite young. They always said “can we have the Whoo Hoo song” (The Walk of Life) and they laughed and giggled for ages. It certainly delayed the cries of “are we nearly there yet”. With so many people in enforced isolation the song I have chosen could be rather apt but the Brothers in Arms track would be just great as a finale.

The sheer volume generated by The Who is almost enough to blow your brains out. A classic.

And the Overture to Tanhäuser by Wagner always makes my neck hairs stand up.

Last year we went to The Stables at Wavendon near Milton Keynes to see the 50th Anniversary tour of the reformed Steeleye Span, wondering if they may have lost a bit of magic. We need not have worried as they were great. Jessie May Smart, the classically trained violinist in their latest line up brought a new dimension to the band and harmonised well with Maddy Prior. Again a difficult choice of their repertoire – The Wife of Ushers Well and 700 Elves just losing out.

Carly Simon is in another class act – she had such a vocal range. A recent TV programme entitled ‘No Secrets’ was indeed apt and showed that she certainly led a full, uninhibited life as many of her songs portray. Her voice is still fantastic.

Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez is for me one of the most relaxing guitar pieces ever. You can close your eyes and be transported.

Mick Watts

____________________________________________________________________________________

If you would like to find out more, visit the Heyford Singers page or our website:

www.heyfordsingers.org

alternatively come along to one of our rehearsals in Nether Heyford Village Hall.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Heyford Singers – June 2020

HeyfordSingersJune2020

Quiz question (for we are all into quizzes now)
Where and when was the song above played, sung along to, and greatly enjoyed?

It has been a truly beautiful spring and early summer. And despite other restrictions we may have, there is no doubt that nature in her true glory, has softened the anxieties of the past few weeks. Sitting watching the sun set in the early evening, we are often serenaded by a blackbird who routinely perches on a tree in our garden. How privileged to have this free daily concert!

If the flowers and trees have provided the rich tapestry of spring and early summer, it is the birds that provide the musical accompaniment. From very early in the morning these feathered choristers can be heard, outside our bedroom windows, cajoling us into action. Like eternal optimists their songs have the ability to brighten each day. The robin’s song is beautiful and joyful, as if sung with all his heart and soul, and unlike other birds can be heard all year round. The full-throated melody of the blackbird is one of our best loved songs; as soon as green shoots appear he bursts into song from dawn until dusk. A tribute to the fact that size is not everything, the tiny wren has a lively and full-throated warbling song, whilst that of the great tit resembles a squeaky wheel! The much loved visitor to our gardens, the blue tit, has a loud and high pitched song which ends with a long rapid trill. Were you fortunate to hear a cuckoo this year? For me the best of all is the rich, high pitched song of the skylark as he soars upwards in a blue summer sky before plunging downwards …. and the melody stops, as if on cue! I have yet to hear a skylark this year, but as the lockdown eases and we venture further, both in distance and into longer summer days, I hope to enjoy what the poet George Meredith described as “ a silver chain of sound”.

If I have to wait a little longer for that real skylark song then there will always be the beautiful “The Lark Ascending” by Vaughan Williams, to listen to again … and again, and now rightfully acknowledged as one of the nation’s favourite pieces of music.

If I want another music genre to celebrate the joy of our feathered friends, there is the wonderful compilation between Yehudi Menuhin (violin) and Stephan Grappelli (violin and piano) entitled “Strictly for the Birds” – “ A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”, “Lullaby of Birdland” and “Bye, Bye Blackbird” amongst the many great tracks.

So back to the song quoted at the top of this article and the quiz question.

Answer During the 1980s and 90s at Bliss School a little teddy bear, called William Bliss, travelled the world in the company of a pilot friend of headteacher Alan Watson. Every time William arrived in a new destination he sent the school a postcard to be read and shared by everyone, and this was heralded by playing and singing the song above. Happy memories, but also happy thoughts that soon we may all enjoy places and people who are further afield. Until then keep safe, keep well and keep smiling.

Jill Langrish

____________________________________________________________________________________

If you would like to find out more, visit the Heyford Singers page or our website:

www.heyfordsingers.org

alternatively come along to one of our rehearsals in Nether Heyford Village Hall.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Letters: Sheila Maud (Humphrey) Beharrell – June 2020

Sheila Maud (Humphrey) Beharrell

Regretfully we are announcing the passing of Sheila on May 13th, just short of her 95th birthday in June. She was the last of her generation of Humphrey who moved to Labrams Yard on Church Street. Previous residents/tenants of the property included her brother Ron and family, May, and Arthur. Dunkley, Connelly, Buck, Collins, Barnes, and Gilkes also resided on the property at one time or another. Probably there are others. Her niece, Jean now resides in one of the Humphrey cottages on the property.

Some villagers may also recall the family business of E.W.Humphrey Ladder Manufacturers. This has been documented in the Prattler and the Heyford History.

The Story of Heyford: The Humphrey family and ladder making V1C8

Obscurities
Sheila worked at The Beauty Counter of Adnitts Department store (now Debenhams) Northampton. She then progressed to being an accounts clerk at the hospital guild.

Sheila, from time to time recalled her childhood. The Humphrey family kept dairy cows, Sheila and her niece Jean were often tasked with distributing milk to Heyford villagers. She had a pet lamb, ‘Betty’ who was missing one day upon returning from her day at Bliss School, evidently in latter years realising the pet was part of the family larder. She recalled as a teenager the drone of the aeroplanes on their way to bomb Coventry in the Second World War.

The Humphrey family were very involved with the Baptist Chapel in the village, Sheila along with sister May enjoyed being a Deacon and part of the weekly flower rota at the Chapel. Both Sheila and her step daughter Trudi were married in the Chapel. Besides flower arranging, Sheila embraced singing with the Heyford Singers.

In her latter years Sheila endured Cancer, and after the death of her husband Albert found it increasingly difficult at home at Ladder Cottage. After a nasty fall in her home in 2015 – at her request – she moved to Bethany Homestead in Northampton where mother Alice spent some convalescing time.

In these challenging times, Sheila has sadly become another statistic of our current pandemic. We will hold a memorial to commemorate Sheila’s life when time allows.

Solemnly,
Jean, Trudi, Glenn, and Family

Published June Edition 2020

Letters: Police warn of rogue traders operating in the county – June 2020

Police warn of rogue traders operating in the county

Northamptonshire Police is urging the public to beware of rogue traders, following recent incidents involving bogus offers of driveway and gutter cleaning services. In each of the incidents, elderly people were targeted by men who were out door knocking and forcefully trying to persuade the residents to have the work done. The men were believed to have Irish accents and were driving vans with Irish number plates. So far, incidents have been reported in Daventry and the Kingsthorpe and Duston areas of Northampton.

Chief Inspector Pete Basham said: “I’d like to send out a strong message to Northamptonshire’s residents to be on guard for this sort of activity. It is often the elderly and vulnerable that are targeted by these fraudsters, who will frequently try to take the victim to a bank or cash machine while they are completely unaware that they are falling victim to a scam. “If you or someone you know finds themselves in such a situation and have any doubts, call police to attend. Please be vigilant in your neighbourhood for potential rogue traders operating, and encourage elderly or vulnerable relatives to call you should any tradesman insist work needs to be carried out, or are demanding money.”

Cllr Jason Smithers, Northamptonshire County Council cabinet member for Highways and Place, said: “Our advice is never to agree to work on the doorstep even if the trader says that it is urgent, but if you do need work done to your property, get quotes from two or three reputable traders and compare them.

“Homeowners can find a Trading Standards approved trader through the national ‘Buy With Confidence’ scheme www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk

“And always remember that ‘If you’re not sure, don’t open the door’.”

Published June Edition 2020

Village Hall – News – June 2020

Little to report, other than the village support group’s continuing work on Wednesdays to prepare and deliver food boxes to vulnerable and isolated local people – the first time the village hall has been used in this way in its 60-year history. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that, because of the enforced isolation of many of the village hall’s management committee and friends, we have been unable to clear the weeds around the area. Apologies for this – although I reckon the insect population will be enjoying the benefits.

Alwyne Wilson – 01327 340803

Chairman, Village Hall Management Committee

Nether_Heyford_Village_Hall_Book_2019

Photo Gallery: VE Day 75th Anniversary Celebrations

Northamptonshire ACRE Village Awards: Nether Heyford

Northamptonshire ACRE Village Awards : Nether Heyford

Northamptonshire Action for Communities in Rural England

Nether Heyford is a village of 1750 people with approximately 50 organisations and amenities benefiting its own folk and those of neighbouring villages. Activities take place around the village, many based in the village hall, school, churches, youth club, on the sports field and village green (see map). Volunteers of all ages are involved. Our village hall committee includes an active 92-year-old; and a 96-year old gentleman, a founder member of our village choir, has just retired after 18 years.

For young people we have a primary school, pre-school, before-and-after-school clubs, cub and beaver scouts, and a youth club. Our village play area is about to expand for a wider age range. Young people can enjoy tennis, football and cricket on our village playing fields, along with adults. We have events in the village hall, including family martial arts and Cha Cha Chimps. Apart from the school and pre-school, the other groups are run by volunteers.

Older people enjoy social activities, including our weekly community café and an annual ‘holiday at home’ in the village hall. Many are actively involved in groups and activities, including bowls clubs, film nights, choir, craft, gardening and flower arranging clubs, and helping to look after our village hall.

People needing transport to medical appointments or events are given lifts by neighbours and friends.

For safety, we have a Police Community Support Officer, a recently re-launched Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, dropped kerbs for wheelchair users and two defibrillators.

Our developing Neighbourhood Plan will identify additional housing needs – currently, demand exceeds supply.

Information technology and social media are widely used, for instance: village newspaper website (https://heyfordprattler.org), Parish Council, village hall, village, organisations – full list and details available.

In addition to two local charities, fundraising goes on for a variety of causes, including the village fete in aid of our village hall, built 60 years ago by volunteers, and maintained by volunteers ever since. In July, the hall’s chairman will do a sponsored tandem parachute-jump, celebrating the village hall’s 60th year and her 80th, with proceeds shared between the village hall and ‘The Prattler’ the village newspaper – two of our community mainstays.

There are several shops and businesses, providing local employment, plus two public houses. Most of them support local fundraising efforts, especially our village fete, with financial donations and gifts in kind.

Alongside their allotment revitalisation, villagers have created small flower plots and planted trees at village entrances, as well as flower boxes near the village shops.

Our Tidy-Villagers group organises litter-picks, and school children litter-picked the village green ready for our last fete.

Near our village hall are recycling, garden waste and general rubbish bins: plus an Air Ambulance textile collection point.

We have two keen gardeners, qualified as ‘Compost Masters’, helping to train their fellow villagers.

There is a Welcome Pack to help newcomers settle in quickly.

To conclude, Nether Heyford is a community of volunteers and friends – of all ages, abilities and backgrounds – a great place to live.

2020 Village Award Scheme – Update – June 2020

2020 Village Award Scheme

Northamptonshire Action for Communities in Rural England

We have just learnt that this year’s competition has been cancelled. However, we have taken up ACRE’s option to leave our submission with them for next year. Meanwhile, as mentioned in May, we have asked the Prattler to include in its June edition our 500-word statement in support of this year’s application. Whilst, because of Covid-19, most of our activities are on hold for the time being, there are several positives.

Our village’s voluntary support group is continuing to support vulnerable and isolated local people with weekly food boxes and also with prescription deliveries, both greatly appreciated.

The Foresters is running a food bank, and The Olde Sun Inn is now offering takeaway meals on Fridays and Saturdays as well as Sunday dinners.

Finally, the allotment revitalisation project in its several forms is continuing, and already showing beneficial results. I would strongly recommend that you use your exercise time to walk down and see for yourselves.

Therefore, despite these difficult times, we are indeed fortunate to live in Nether Heyford.

Alwyne Wilson 01327 340803
alwyne76@gmail.com

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