Author: Jez Wilson

Village Signs – April 2019 Update

Village Signs – April 2019
Sue and I have put ourselves forward to help get Heyford looking pretty. We are starting with planting bulbs and flowers on all the Nether Heyford signs on the entrances into our village. The first thing we need to do is find volunteers who would like to help set this up. We could possibly have volunteers to look after the entrance nearest to where they live within the village.

You can contact me on 07912 971799 or by email at jillgarrett@hotmail.co.uk if you have any interest, We can get together to discuss the way forward and work out costs etc.

We really hope to get a reasonable response in helping to make this a reality going forward. People have tried in the past and failed for various reasons, so let’s try to make this work for all of us.

Thank you

Jill and Sue 

Village Signs – February 2019
The signs into the village seem a bit drab and we would like to decorate them with containers and plants to make them more welcoming. If you have any ideas, suitable containers for the plant boxes, or any other items i.e. compost and plants, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Please contact either Jill Garratt, Sue Boutle or The Prattler

 

Pensioners Meal Club – April 2019 – Cook Wanted

As villagers may or may not know, there has been a pensioners meal club run in the village for many years now. However due to a change of circumstances and work commitments, my wife and I are no longer able to run the meals club.

We have run this meal club ourselves for the last 7 years approx and before that it was run by another couple from the village who left the village so were unable to continue to run the club hence we then took the club over. When we started there were around 18 members, we now have in excess of 50 members and more and more enquiries every week.

The club runs on the first Thursday of every month and is a once a month meal club but could be run as often as weekly if anyone wanted to do this, or just keep to how it is at the moment. It was a very emotional last meal club on the 7th March when we had to tell everyone that we could no longer run the club due to our immediate work commitments and also we will be very sad if we cannot find anyone to carry the club on.

So is there any one out there who would be prepared or able to take on this meal club and keep it going? We would give any advice to any interested people and explain how the club runs at the moment. There is a fantastic team of helpers who have helped us over the years to serve and wash up etc and with them the club would not have been as successful as it is, I am sure most of these will still be able to help run the club but they feel they could not fully run the club on the same scale as it is run at present. MY WIFE AND I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE TO ALL OF THE HELPERS DURING OUR YEARS OF RUNNING THE CLUB.

We really hope there is someone out there who is able to cook for around fifty people once a month or more if they want and keep the club running.

Neil & Debbie Botterill

1 The Pound, Nether Heyford

Nether Heyford W.I. – April 2019

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At our March meeting we were treated to an evening of reminiscences of a working life in education – through life as a young teacher, progressing to School Inspector and ending working on white papers for the Ministry of Education. Despite playing golf retirement weighed heavy – and so an author was born! Graham Jones told us of the problems of getting books published, the sometimes unexpected reactions of people when they were and of his surprise when they were a hit in China! All this was done with great humour and the evening flew by.

There is a slight change to our April meeting. Renee Watt will still be there but will be showing us how Country Dancing is made easy! It is some years since I took part in country dancing and my joints were more supple – perhaps one or two of you younger ladies could come along and remind me how it’s done?! However, I do remember the laughter that always accompanied the effort that went into it and, as the world seems a bit short of laughter at the moment, let’s hope it still has the same effect. We will be in the Village Hall at 7.30 on Thursday April 4th and the cost for the evening plus refreshments is £5 for non-members.

In May we will be going on a W.I. Members’ visit to Rugby School so there will be no meeting in the Village Hall but it will be back to business as usual in June.

Mary Rice – Heyford Lodge – 01327 340101

Nether Heyford Baptist Church – Services – April 2019

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As we enter the time of Lent and Easter we are reminded that this time of the year in the Christian calendar is synonymous with “giving up, going without and giving back – about sacrifice”. The shops of course have their Easter eggs and we are reminded by the TV advertisement that we can go on “an Easter egg hunt – to search, to find and to enjoy” – but we have to do something, go somewhere, give something up in order to potentially and possibly discover something.

Lent and Easter means different things to different people and last evening, as I watched Songs of Praise I was again reminded by an old hymn that lent and Easter is about giving and getting, about failure and forgiveness. That hymn “When I survey the wondrous cross” is special to me as it reminds me of time spent with a very dear friend who I journeyed with for a good number of years and who died in 2010. I was privileged to visit him often (a privilege I still value today) and up until his journey drew to a close. I recall the last time I was with him and he was so poorly. Just before leaving him I prayed with him and for him and in that prayer I quoted the first verse of that hymn.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

To my absolute amazement, knowing that he was so poorly, after I had finished speaking he then spoke the words from last two verses:-

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

A few hours later I received the call to say that he had left us. Whenever I hear and sing that hymn I am reminded of my friend and also of Lent and Easter – giving up and giving back, of failure and forgiveness and of restoration and resting on the great and precious promises of God.

We may not find the hidden Easter eggs even if we look for them but we will find the Easter message if we take the time to look and discover – it is there for our taking.

Details of services in the Chapel are above and may I please say again – you will be made so welcome.

Bye for now and thank you.

Martin Buckby – For and on behalf of The Chapel on the Green

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For more information visit the Nether Heyford Baptist Chapel page.

Meet Christian Aid – Sunday 14th April

Christian_Aid_Nether_Heyford_2019

Meet Christian Aid!  

Sunday 14th April 6.30 pm
Nether Heyford Village Hall

The Parish Church invite you to come and hear more about the work of Christian
Aid from visiting speaker Wendy Wheeler.

Wendy will talk about some of her experiences working with Christian Aid, visiting places such as India, Mali, Ethiopia and Malawi, and describe how the money raised from Christian Aid Week can really make a difference to people’s lives.

Cheese, wine and nibbles will be provided, and there will be a chance to win some tasty fair-trade chocolate.

The evening is free of charge – please save your donations for the May collection !

With thanks again to all who support Christian Aid.

Shirley Waterhouse

Good Friday Walk of Witness

NetherHeyford_WalkOfWitness2019

2pm – Meet at Nether Heyford Parish Church to walk round the village, pausing at various points to reflect on the events of that first Good Friday

2pm-4pm – FREE Refreshments and Display in the Baptist Schoolroom

4pm – Good Friday Service in the Baptist Church, led by Rev Stephen Burrow

Everybody welcome to join in at any point

Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul – April 2019

Nether Heyford Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

Dear Friends.

For many years, I worked for Somerfield Supermarkets, as part of the finance team overseeing distribution operations. I was involved in the operation of a number of warehouses, alongside hundreds of delivery vehicles, and over a thousand semitrailers. I remember that as soon as Christmas and New Year were behind us, the warehouses would fill with Easter Eggs, which would then be sent out to the stores by the palletful – however late Easter might be that year. Nothing has changed since I left the distribution industry to go to theological college; our shops and supermarkets are still full of chocolate Easter Eggs, which seem to get ever more elaborate – and expensive – as the years go by.

Easter Eggs remain an enduring symbol of the season. Alongside chicks, Easter bunnies and daffodils, they are images of new life, as spring takes hold. There are signs of this new life all around us, as trees and flowers bud and burst into life, and spring lambs gambol in the fields. The arrival of sunshine, warmth and blue skies lifts our spirits, as we look forward to the summer months. February’s unusual heat wave reminded us of that, and the return to wild and windy weather in March has been most unwelcome.

For Christians, all these symbols of new life remind us of the resurrection of Jesus. After the sombre reflection of Lent, and the emotional roller-coaster of Holy Week, we rise on Easter morning and celebrate; the stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty, Jesus is risen! Alleluia!

Strangely, according to Mark’s Gospel, the women who discover the empty tomb don’t respond with the joy and gladness that marks our Easter celebrations. Instead, they flee from the tomb, terrified and upset, and tell no-one what they’ve seen (Mark 16:1-8). What is there to be afraid of? Perhaps it’s because in the risen Jesus, God is on the loose, and can no longer be contained by the ‘box’ his opponents – and we? – try to put him in. God is on the loose, and those who try to control him with religion should tremble. For just as the burgeoning new life of spring is beyond our control, so too is God, crucified, risen, alive and at work in our world. So, as we celebrate the resurrection, I pray that we might imagine the unimaginable: the creator God, bursting out of the tomb, out of all the constraints we try to put on him, and striding boldly into our lives, inviting, challenging and calling us to share his abundant new life with the world around us. And I pray that you will have a joyful and a peaceful Easter.

Yours in Christ,

Stephen – 01327 344436

On Good Friday, 19th April, we will be having a Walk of Witness around Nether Heyford, starting at St Peter & St Paul Church at 2 PM, arriving at the Baptist Hall for hot cross buns and refreshments at about 3 PM, and then having a Good Friday service at 4 PM, in the Baptist Chapel on the village green. As we make our way around the village, we will pause at various points to hear about and reflect on some of the events of that first Good Friday afternoon, as Jesus made his way through Jerusalem to his crucifixion.

The Streets we shall be praying for during April are: Bugbrooke Rd and Wakefield Way in Heyford, Bliss Lane and the Nursery, Meadow Farm Close and Brington Rd in Flore, Main St in Church Stowe and Manor Farm, The Old Coach House and Manor Cottage in Brockhall.

Flower Society – Lipstick, Powder & Paint – Monday 28th April

FlowerSociety

Tickets available from Maria 01327 341783  |  theowenhouse@yahoo.co.uk

We invite you to join us at our monthly meetings to relax and watch demonstrations by a fully qualified NAFAS Area or National Demonstrator. This is followed by refreshments and the opportunity to win one of the arrangements in our raffle. Learn how to arrange and enjoy flowers.

Meetings are held on the fourth Monday of the month at 7.45 pm in Nether Heyford village hall. Our next meeting on Monday 29th April is an Open Meeting when we will welcome National demonstrator, Lorena Dyer, with her demonstration “Lipstick,Powder and Paint”. A hugely talented and entertaining lady this is guaranteed to be a wonderful evening.

Tickets £10 for visitors, available from Maria on 01327 341783.

A warm welcome awaits both new members and visitors and those new to flower
arranging are especially welcome.

For more information please follow us on Facebook or contact Dianne on 01604
830063 or Simone on 01327 342167.

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The Bugbrooke and District Flower Society meet every fourth Monday in the month in the Village Hall. Our meetings start at 7.45pm and usually take the form of a Demonstration when a qualified demonstrator will create several floral designs which are raffled at the end of the evening and lucky members take home the beautiful flowers.

Flower Society affiliated to the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies (NAFAS) promoting Floral Art. www.nafas.org.uk

Revitalising the Allotments – April 2019

Community Orchard
The official opening of Heyford Community Orchard will be held on Saturday 6th April, at 11.30.am – for a 12 noon start. We have invited our wonderful band of sponsors and supporters and we would also like you, the good folk of Nether and Upper Heyford, to feel free to come and join us. Everyone is welcome. All that we would ask is that if you’d like to join in our picnic, you bring a nibble to eat and something to drink. We can’t provide refreshments for all as we have no idea how many people are likely to attend. How embarrassing to have a hundred guests and only a packet or two of sandwiches. Conversely, a handful of people and hundreds of items of food and drink left over! If you are planning to stay for a while you may also want to consider bringing a chair.

Despite the recent gales Mother Nature has been kind to the trees, although we can’t predict at what stage of growth they are likely to be on 6th April. We’ll certainly have to wait a year or two for boughs laden with fruit.

If you haven’t seen what has been achieved so far this is a great opportunity to have a first look at the orchard. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask those involved how it is going to be managed and how you can take advantage of the fruit we will eventually have on offer. Remember, this is a community orchard.

Jam Patch
Work on creating a Jam Patch is moving on swiftly. We have planted three long rows of raspberry canes and rescued at least a dozen currant and gooseberry bushes. Rhubarb crowns have been unearthed and replanted and a more manageable blackberry trellis created. If, in our trawl of discarded plots, we find strawberries they will also be planted up. This, like the orchard, will be a community area so available to all.

Like the orchard, this area will be clearly signposted so that villagers are quite clear about what is a community space and which plots are exclusively reserved for individual allotmenteers.

Tester Plots and Renting and Allotments
The tester plots are slowly taking shape and we are pleased to report that already one has been occupied. Since my last article we have decided that these small strips of ground (measuring about 2m x 10m) will be offered rent-free for a year, enabling potential tenants to see if allotmenteering is for them. After that they will have the opportunity to rent a proper allotment. We have plot sizes to suit all tastes so potential tenants should not panic about having too much to cope with. If you’d like to try out one of the tester plots but feel uncertain about what (or how) to grow vegetables, we can provide you with advice and help setting yourself up.

If you are interested, come and have a look at what is on offer and then contact either Sue Corner on 01327 342124 or Lynda Eales on 01327 341707.

Seats
A big, big thank you to all the people from the village who offered us unwanted garden benches and picnic tables for our community area. As with the sponsorship of fruit trees we are so heartened by the generosity of the villagers.

The furniture is currently being given some TLC and will make a wonderful addition to the community area. We now have enough items, although as the orchard grows, we’d love to think that we could secrete a few more benches in among the trees – but that is for the future.

Food for Thought
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

Mike Langrish