Author: Jez Wilson

Heyford Picturedrome – November 2019

The November film to be shown on 21st November in the Village Hall will be ‘Green
Book’, a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama inspired by the true story of a
tour of the deep South by classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley. Co-authored &
directed by Peter Farrelly, it stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.

At the 91st Academy Awards this picture won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original
Screenplay, and for Best Supporting Actor.

Doors open at 7.15pm for free coffee or tea with a film start at 7.45pm. The
admission price remains at £4.00 per person and there is no joining fee. A licensed
bar will be serving wine and soft drinks before the film and during the interval.

The December film, Swimming with Men, will be shown at the Picturedrome
Christmas Supper evening on 19th December and which is ALL-TICKET. Tickets will
be on sale at the November film evening.

Tony Clewett – Phone: 01327 341533

Nether Heyford W.I. – November 2019

WI-Logo

After sorting the business agenda of our AGM in October we ended the evening with an hour of playing board games, old and new. As expected, there was much laughter followed by the usual delicious refreshments for which Nether Heyford W.I. is well known.

Laughter was again very much to the fore on the following Wednesday when a few of us went to see the musical version of ‘Calendar Girls’ at the Derngate Theatre. There were a few gentlemen present but the majority of the audience were ladies (probably WI members). It was a fantastic show and anyone who thinks that the WI is an old and stuffy organisation should have been in that auditorium!!

We would like to thank everyone who supported us by coming to our Quiz Night. It was a very successful evening and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. At our meeting in November we will be welcoming Helen Frost who is coming to talk to us about the often forgotten, largely overlooked and unknown Woman’s Land Army of the First World War. This was the time when women’s lives began to change and it has had a lasting effect on us all. The meeting will be in the Village Hall on Thursday November 7th at 7.30pm. Any ladies who would like to join us are very welcome and the cost for the evening, including refreshments, is £5.

There will be no meeting in December as WI members will be ending the year by
meeting for our Christmas meal.

Mary Rice – Heyford Lodge – 01327 340101

Village Welcome Packs

Welcome packs are available for newcomers to the village.

The information in them helps people feel at home quickly.

If you notice that someone has moved in recently, get a pack for them delivered by calling:

Sue Morris, 21 The Green, Nether Heyford. Telephone: 01327 349387

Flood Watch – November 2019

A flooding event is defined as any occasion in which river water encroaches onto the adjacent floodplain. In the case of Nether Heyford this occurs when the monitoring gauge reads 71.55m which has not occurred since March/April 2018. However with the recent changes in the weather pattern as a result of the jet stream being centered to the south of the UK, 2019 has seen increased rainfall totals per month since June .This has resulted in saturated ground and increased run off in the catchment area. This culminated in flooding on 15th October when Broad Meadow opposite Crow Lane and the fields downstream of the Bridge were flooded.

Since Easter floods of 1998 such events have occurred on average 2.5 times a year. Tracing events back to 1947 the trend has been increasing until the latest changes in weather pattern over the last 2 years. Clearly climate change is taking place with weather becoming more unpredictable as evident when comparing rainfall in June 2018 of 1mm to June 2019 of 97mm.

CommunityFloodNov2019

J.Arnold

Neighbourhood Plan – November 2019

NHNPSurvey

This month we are asking for an update on the housing needs in our village – unbelievably its been nearly 3 years since you told us all about not only your housing aspirations, but also many ideas about heritage, roads, green spaces, business, etc. We have built many of these ideas into our draft Neighbourhood Plan, and shared with you the sites around the village where there is potential for any small developments.

In order to satisfy our examiner and to reassure both villagers and landowners, we are working with partners at Midlands Rural Housing to update any details about people who are looking to move within the village – be they young families, single people or downsizers – and the types of accommodation they’re looking for (for example affordable, rented, plots for self build). Midlands Rural Housing will handle the returns and analysis of surveys, ensuring an objective statement of what our needs are in 2019/2020.

The short surveys will be with everyone (the Neighbourhood Plan Group will post them through everyone’s letterbox) before the end of November. Once again, we’re pleased to offer a £100 prize draw for entrants. If everyone can complete just the first part, and then the remaining questions if you are looking to move, we’ll have up to date numbers that we can use in the plan. The survey will be short (unlike our first Neighbourhood Plan survey!) and if anyone needs support to fill it in, all the members of the Neighbourhood Plan Group will be on hand to help. Please post returns by the date that will be on the letter inside, and don’t forget to include your prize draw ticket for a chance of winning £100.

The Neighbourhood Plan is built on the support and ideas of our villagers, so thanks in advance for your help in making the plan both as up to date as possible, and robust in its recommendations.

Tony Clewett, Tom Dodd, Sue Corner and the NHNPG Group

For more information on Nether Heyford Neighbourhood Plan visit the website:

netherheyfordneighbourhoodplan.org.uk

Heyford Patchwork Group – November 2019

Heyford Patchwork Group

This active group is run by Carole Wood and Jane Rimell who are both very experienced patchwork and quilting tutors.

They run classes Tuesday mornings 10am to 12:45pm and Tuesday afternoons 1:15pm to 4pm although many people stay all day and bring a packed lunch. The cost is £10 per session and you can either work on a project of your choice with help from Carole and Jane or you can request tuition on a particular technique, the choice is yours.

We meet every Tuesday except June, July, August and December when we meet only on one Tuesday each month.

We would be delighted to welcome new members so if you are interested in joining and learning how to do patchwork or wish to learn some new techniques then please feel free to call in one Tuesday and have a look at what goes on or contact Carole on 07940 256400 or carole@churchstowemanor.com for more information.

Heyford Gardening Club – November 2019

Heyford-Gardening-Cluband-allotments
At our October meeting we had a talk from Malcolm Dickson of Hookgreen Herbs who gave us an insight into the exigencies of running a herb nursery, no doubt disillusioning anyone with dreams of having their own little nursery. There was also a wide range of herb plants and seeds for sale.

The evening also featured a competition for the best Autumn Arrangement. The winner was Rosemary Dunkley with a colourful display which was even displayed in a pumpkin shell! Mary Newstead came second with Anne Haynes and Gil Guglielmi in joint third place.

Our next meeting will be on the 11th November when we will have a return visit from Caroline Tait who will tell us about her work at Longwood in Philadelphia.

Breaking the rules
In gardening many jobs have to be done at the right time, but sometimes I find that we have more freedom than you might expect. This year in June I had some gaps that needed filling and I had some annual seeds left over. The instructions on the packet said sow in April, but I went ahead anyway, and the result was a good display of flower in late summer and autumn.

In the past I had always struggled to grow leeks, finding them difficult to establish from sowings in the early spring as advised. One year having seed left over in May I sowed it in the vegetable patch, and found to my surprise that the seedlings grew lustily despite dry and hot conditions and made decent plants for the winter. I have done this again each year since with the same result. I wouldn’t win any prizes with the plants but they are fine for the kitchen. Leeks are obviously tougher than you might expect. Sometimes a bit of experimentation can pay off.

Cyclamen
I have been growing hardy cyclamen for some years now, and have been keeping the special varieties in pots in an unheated greenhouse. Last year owing to shortage of space I released some plants into the garden. These have prospered beyond my expectations, no doubt helped by the hot, dry summer this year which would have been like the conditions they would experience in the Mediterranean area where they originate. Recently I have noticed drifts of seedlings appearing next to the mature plants. They may look delicate and dainty but they are bruisers and can tough it out with the biggest weeds when they are somewhere they like.

Some Things to do in November
1. Clear up leaves from paths and ponds (but don’t be too tidy!)
2. Plant tulips in pots or beds
3. Put grease bands on fruit trees to stop winter moth
4. Plant winter bedding.

Mark Newstead

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www.heyfordgardenclub.com

For more information visit the Heyford Gardening Club & Allotments page

Heyford-Gardening-Cluband-allotments

Community Wildlife Area – November 2019

View from The Wildlife Patch

We have been busy preparing the patch in preparation for sowing the wildflower seed on the designated meadow area. We have removed the weed smothering covers and raked over the soil ready to receive the seed; all we need now is for the rain to stop and the seed can go in.

We were extremely pleased to find during the uncovering operation that our resident toad is still in situ.

HeyfordResidentToad

We shall have to ensure that we keep an area covered over for it to lurk in. Toads, unlike frogs, are very conservative creatures and will only lay their eggs in the place where they themselves were tadpoles, so it is unlikely that we will have toad spawn in our new pond. However we shall almost certainly find frogs and newts in there fairly soon.

As the days shorten and cool, the amount of insect life in the patch is reducing, but the flowering ivy is still producing things of interest. Recently there has been a group of large black flies with showy orange wing bases hanging out there; these were noon flies, something I don’t remember seeing before. A large orange flying insect also appeared, looking at first like a hornet, but it turned out to be a species of hoverfly. This creature not only looks like a hornet, but flies and moves like one too. Its larvae actually live in hornet and wasp nests where they eat the rubbish in the bottom of the nest, and so are tolerated by their hosts.

On a recent trip to Suffolk (prior to the wet weather) I was astonished to see on lawns and patches of grass numerous little bees flying just above the ground. These were mining bees which had just hatched from their burrows in the soil. This is something that would normally happen in the spring (I have seen that at Harlestone Heath in the past) but September would seem too late for the bees to get enough pollen and nectar to make the nests to raise the next generation. If we keep an area of close mown grass we can hope for a similar colony of bees on our own patch in due course.

Mark Newstead

Heyford Singers – Christmas Evening 13th & 14th December 2019 – SOLD OUT

heyfordsingersconcertdec2019_sellout

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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.

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