Heyford Gardening Club – February 2019

Our January meeting featured Dave Lantsbery who introduced us to the world of bees, a fascinating subject of which he could only scratch the surface in the time available!

Our next meeting will be on the 11th February when we will have our AGM, our annual art show and a speaker; Christine Lewis who will be talking about plants and dyes.

The classes for the Annual Art & Craft Show will be:

A photograph on the theme of “The Turn of the Year”

A piece of visual art in any medium

An item of craft work.

(please note that each exhibitor can only have one entry in each class)

Because of the full programme the meeting will begin at 7:30 pm

Programme for rest of the 2019:

March 11th: Liz Taylor from Woodland Trust; Mini Show – Daffodils

April 8th: Patsy Raynor – Plants in Literature: Origins & Anecdotes; Mini Show – Tulips

May 13th: Branch Out MK –Helping People to Grow Through Gardening; Seed Swap; Mini Show – Spring Flowers

June 8th: Village Fete

June 10th: Steve Brown, Bonsai Trees or Graham Pavey, Vertical Gardens; Mini Show – Roses

July: Summer Party

August: No Meeting

September 9th: Autumn Show

October 14th: Malcolm Dickson Hooksgreen Herbs

November 11th: Caroline Tait – Fellow of Longwood Gardens, Philadelphia A Year at Longwood

December 9th: Christmas Tree Festival; Snowdrops

Things to do in February
1. Plant lily bulbs in pots for the summer
2. Plant bare root trees and shrubs
3. Take cuttings of tender fuchsias.

Mark Newstead

www.heyfordgardenclub.com

For more information visit the Heyford Gardening Club & Allotments page

Flower Society – February 2019

Bugbrooke and District Flower Society

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 7.45pm in Nether Heyford village hall.

Our next meeting is on Monday 25th February when we look forward to
welcoming Richard Twistleton and his demonstration entitled “Upcycling”.

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

Heyford Athletic Football Club – February 2019

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year and got to spend some time with loved ones over the festive period. As I write this from my office in London it is finally starting to turn cold and actually feel like winter, hopefully we will not be impacted by too many postponements as there is a bit of momentum in the club currently.

Firstly, on behalf of the club we would just like to send our well wishes to Linda Eales, an important lady in our club and we hope you are back on your feet soon and coming along to cheer the lads on.

Following on from my optimism last month results didn’t quite turn out as we had wished and we suffered a number of heavy defeats in the early weeks of December, which caused us as a committee to seek additional support. I am pleased to say that Danny Macintosh joined the club in the middle of December. He has delved into what I have since seen as a lengthy list of contacts and has brought in a number of players to help the club. We badly needed more players and we are now focusing on embedding these players into our club structure with a management team for both sides that I am sure can take the teams forward and reap the benefits.

In Danny’s first match in supporting Gary Hammond we were up against local rivals Harpole and we had a bumper crowd down the playing fields in the week between Christmas and New Year. They were treated to well contested 1-1 draw. After the season we have had this was a much welcomed point for the Blue’s. It is also the first time since I returned to the club 6 years ago that we have taken any points at all from Harpole. There have only been a smattering of games since then due to a certain somebody going off and getting married, and also the Christmas period. Both teams lost 2-1 in the last weekend (12th Jan). For the first team it was against current Champions Moulton and the reserves lost by the same score line at Finedon. However, the results here don’t tell the story – both teams had 15 in their squad – the first time that has happened in a number of years and there were certainly much better performances that gives us hope and optimism for future games. So welcome to the new players and I hope you enjoy your time here at Heyford, we are delighted you are on board.

I wont put any focus on the youth sides in this article – we currently have 4 teams and I am proud of each and every one of them. The time the coaches dedicate to making these young people better players is humbling. I am asked a lot by people about whether we will have new teams. So I wanted to say in our local news letter that yes. As a club I am happy to support the set-up of any new youth teams – it is, simply put the future of the club… we want boy and girls of all ages to become a part of our club and join our teams or help set up new ones. You will have my full support and that of a fantastic committee and secretary to do everything they can to help you. However, I can only do this if I have volunteers to run these sides. Without them these things cannot happen. I can have all the children ready to play, but without a coach it just isn’t feasible. So if your child is wanting to play and you think you can spare the time to run a team (ultimately this would involve training once a week and a game on the weekend) then please get in touch. Or if you are reading this thinking you would love to run a team but don’t know how then again, get in touch and we can have a chat.

Finally, I wanted to mention a fundraising event coming up in March. We will be holding our first Comedy Night at the Village Hall on 16th March. We have 3 great acts for you on the evening and tickets are costing just £10. The bar will be provided by the Foresters and a great evening should be had by all. Tickets will be available from The Foresters and Brian Edgington.

Hopefully next month I can give you news of positive results, but please come and see for yourselves, a friendly welcome and a cup of tea is always provided down the club – and there is a bar if you would like a pint 🙂

Gary McMahon – Chairman – 07801 276488

Revitalising the Allotments – February 2019

Renting an Allotment
I am sure that readers of the Prattler won’t have missed our many messages about the good reasons to rent an allotment. Now is the perfect time to adopt a plot. The weather should, by the time you read this article, have started to warm up and the days will certainly be getting longer. Why not give allotmenteering a go and grow your own, tasty fruit veg.

Plots of all sizes are available for rent, from the tiniest of spaces to full sized allotments. In almost all cases they are now in a good state to begin cultivating. What better way to get some exercise and work off the pounds you put on over the festive period?

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.

Community Orchard
All the trees we ordered have now been planted and are, hopefully growing away nicely. Additional fruit trees have also been added to the impressive hedge that separates the orchard from the new junior football pitch. This will not only look good as it grows on but also provide a rich source for pollinating insects and other wildlife. A big thank you to the Playing Fields for organising this and further enhancing the site.

A full list of the trees we have planted is available for anyone who would like to know more about the fruit on offer. Eventually we hope to label each tree with not only the variety but also some notes about when fruit should be picked and what it is best used for.

The apples, pears and plums that we are familiar with in supermarkets have been avoided. Many of these fruits are often grown to survive being shipped halfway across the world. As a result, taste and variety are sacrificed. By contrast, our orchard is made up of heritage trees, many local to this part of the country and noted for their flavour. And what names they have … “Beauty of Bath”, “Ribston Pippin”, “Deddington Golden”, “Aynho Scarlet” and “Ashmeads Kernel”. We even have a “Flore Plum”. There is poetry in just reading them out!

In the recent past our rich history of fruit growing was in jeopardy, as more and more orchards were lost and trees unique to Britain (and individual counties) were overlooked in favour of massed produced imports. Hopefully that trend is being slowed and, perhaps in some small way, we in Nether Heyford, have done our bit to help.

Do go and look at the orchard. It is ours, the community’s and I am sure the good folk of the Heyfords will do everything they can to help nurture and protect it for future generations.

Mike Langrish

Heyford Singers – February 2019

Its that rather gloomy ‘hibernating” time of year, when our indoor companions are memories of Christmas festivities, family gatherings and the long hot summer days of 2018. As I write this, members of Heyford Singers are still enjoying their winter break, but preparing to return to rehearsals for the spring concert (May 10th and 11th). I thought I would therefore take this opportunity to write about another side of Heyford Singers – the incredible amount that has been raised and donated to various charities over the years. Following the recent Christmas concert we sent two cheques of over £225.00 to The Brain Tumour Charity and New Life the Charity for Disabled Children, a not inconsiderable sum!

This is how it works, and has done since the choir was formed seventeen years ago in 2002; during rehearsals choir members put their pennies and pounds into a sealed box which is opened a couple of weeks before the concert, and counted. This money is used to purchase all the raffle prizes for both concert evenings, with the occasional top up from funds if necessary! Meanwhile choir members offer suggestion for charities that are special to them, or that relate to local or national issues. We each vote for our two preferences. The money taken during the concerts from the sale of raffle tickets is divided between the two chosen recipients. The recent Christmas concert charities I have already mentioned above, in 2017 we donated to Medical Detection Dogs and The Carers Trust, in 2016 to Live at Home and Reach For Health, in 2015 to Tommy’s Fund and Dementia UK, and in 2014 to the British Legion and Alzheimer’s Society. Donations in earlier years have gone to such organisations as Special Baby Care unit, Northampton General Hospital, SHAME, East of England Air Ambulance, Meningitis UK, Singing For The Brain, and there are many, many more worthy recipients that I could list! We are understandably very proud of having been able to support so many wonderful charitable causes over the years!

The spring concert is slightly different in that Heyford Singers made a decision, when first formed, to annually support both the local Parish and Baptist church. This as also by way of a thank you for allowing us to perform our concerts in St Peter and St Paul Church (before the choir became too large in numbers), and for the good neighbourliness and use of equipment by the Baptist Church. This has continued to this day and each May we are proud to help and support the churches in our local community.

There are also other instances when Heyford Singers feel privileged to support charities and organisations. Whenever one of our fellow singers dies, or a close family member, we always donate to the family’s chosen charity. David Smith had been so well cared for in his last few months that a donation, in his memory, to the Emergency Assessment Bay of Talbot Butler Ward, was most fitting. Bob Wilson’s tireless commitment (with Alwyne) towards Northampton Live at Home scheme, enabling older people to stay living independently in their own homes for as long as possible, with the best possible quality of life, was a very special recipient from the choir. I could continue ….

As a choir, of mixed ages, lifestyles, experiences, even where we live and work, we delight not only in coming together to sing and enjoy music, but in so doing, raising some pennies to ultimately help those less fortunate than ourselves. To date we have raised and donated over £14,000 !

As the song says ………

Love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

____________________________________________________________________________________

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.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Jill Langrish

Flood Watch – February 2019

What’s in a name? Last October I introduced the Midway Development at J16 which has subsequently been named Panattoni Park. An unusual name for
Northamptonshire and clearly of Italian origin. The Company was formed in 1986 by the Panattoni Family in Newport Beach, California and is now the largest international real estate developer specialising in industrial estates and warehouses. Panattoni is a part of Panattoni Europe where they have developed over 30M sq. ft. of new build industrial estates. Recently in a merger with First Industrial to form First Panattoni they have expanded into the area of logistics with development for Stanley (Black and Decker) on the Brackmill Estate. Clearly they see the continued expansion of the so-called Golden Triangle of Logistics, an area from the East Midlands up to Nottingham and extending west to Northampton. The claim of Companies within this area is to deliver anywhere in the UK within 4 hours with a 90% success rate. Whilst the Northampton site ground preparation is ongoing, planning has been submitted to SNC for installation of lighting and security cameras. The whole site which includes provision for parking space for 140 lorries at the Red Lion is due for completion at the end of 2019.

Nether_Heyford_Flood_Group_Feb_2019

At the recent Climate Change Conference concerns were expressed on the 2
degree centigrade cap set as a target for controlling Worldwide Environmental pollution and a new limit of 1.5 was agreed. Nobody can be in any doubt that global changes are increasing with 2018 seeing a succession of catastrophes from earthquakes, landslides, flooding, hurricanes and storms and volcanic activity as well as our general climate. The latest record hurricane, Michael to hit Florida and the new storm, Leslie to hit Portugal and Spain with flash floods and landslides in Majorca and the devastation in the west of the UK by storm Callum are testament to the effect of changes. Locally Northamptonshire has fared significantly better with the River Nene at record low for most of the year. The only flooding event of the year occurred at the end of March when the monthly rainfall was nearly double that of an average March. For the year, the rainfall totalled 70% of average with March, April and December being the only months to exceed average levels. From June through to November rainfall totalled 44% of average for that period.

J.Arnold

Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul – Services – February 2019

February 2019 Services:

Sunday 3rd – 08:00 am Prayer Book Holy Communion at Flore
Sunday 3rd – 09:30 am Holy Communion at Church Stowe
Sunday 3rd – 11:00 am First Sunday – All Age Service at Flore
Sunday 3rd – 06:00 pm Holy Communion at Heyford
Sunday 10th – 10:00 am Benefice Communion Service at Church Stowe
Sunday 10th – 04:00 pm ‘Four at Flore’ – Church for All in the Millennium Hall
Saturday 16th – 02:30 pm Messy Church at Flore
Sunday 17th – 09:30 am Holy Communion at Heyford
Sunday 17th – 10:00 am United Partnership Service at Flore URC
Sunday 17th – 11:00 am Family Service at Upper Stowe
Sunday 17th – 04:00 pm Youth Church at Flore
Monday 18th – 10:30 am Benefice Prayer Meeting at Flore Church
Sunday 24th – 09:30 am Holy Communion at Flore
Sunday 24th – 11:00 am Informal Worship Service at Heyford
Sunday 24th – 06:00 pm Holy Communion at Upper Stowe

Midweek Services are held weekly on Wednesdays, 9.30am at Heyford (not
20th February) and Thursdays, 10am at Flore –

Everyone is welcome to any of the services.

Parish Council – January 2019 Meeting

ParishCouncilNotes

The January 2019 meeting of Nether Heyford Parish Council was held on 7th January, at the Baptist Chapel Schoolroom

Public Participation
Cllr Phil Bignell reported that South Northants Council grants panel had granted money for a container on the Playing Fields, and reported that an appeal had been made against refusal of planning permission for land behind 4 The Green. Mark Taylor asked for financial help towards the purchase of a new first responder’s equipment which costs £2,500. (A £3,500 grant was later agreed).

Jo Dixon informed the Council that the Tennis Club was looking to re-surface their courts and asked about the possibility of funding. Various suggestions were made.

Cllr Brown NCC reported that there had been no announcement at Westminster that there would be 2 Unitary Councils, as they are preoccupied. He feels that the timetable for Local Government Reform is far from firm. He reported that the Budget Consultation is live until 23rd Jan. It is an austerity budget, but has been eased by Government permission to use £75M from the sale of Angel Square. The Commissionaires now feel that the budget will be close to balancing.

Playing Fields Extension
As reported previously the Parish Council were willing to purchase a field adjacent to Middle St field to be included in the Playing Fields. A Parish Council has to go through various processes in order to borrow money for a scheme like this, and unfortunately the vendor was unwilling to wait for this, and chose to pursue another offer. One of the conditions of the loan was that a consultation was undertaken. This was initiated using social media and approx. 150 replies demonstrated a 95% majority in favour of the purchase.

Sharing PCSO with Bugbrooke Parish Council
The shared scheme with Bugbrooke will go ahead beginning in April. Many parishioners feel there is little police presence at present, and it is hoped that this initiative will help restore confidence. Final arrangements are still to be worked out, but there should soon be a regular PCSO presence. The PCSO patrols will not follow the same pattern every week, and only the Clerk and Chair will know the shift pattern. Precept -There is, naturally, a cost to the community for this service, which will be 4 approximately £12,500 p/a. As a consequence of this the annual precept has had to be raised, but not by the full amount. It will go up from £70,000 to £75,000.

Allotments
Rent night would be on Jan 24th. A plot holders meeting would be held on Feb 7th, and an Open Day for the Community Orchard is planned.

Neighbourhood Plan
It was reported that information was still being received in the form of postal votes for preferred future building sites. SNC were looking for 25 – 59 new houses. It was felt the village would be more comfortable with 25 – 29., and felt that that community led housing and self-build should be explored.

Dog Mess
The shorter days and darker early evenings always bring an increase in dog fouling as irresponsible dog owners use the cover of darkness to fail to clear up after their pets. The Council would appeal to Dog owners not to do this and to help keep our village as clear of dog waste as possible.

Election Dates
It has now been established that there will be no District or Parish elections in 2019 with the onset of the unitary council imminent. The Council had expressed a preference for elections in 2020

Roads and Pavements
Parishioners are reminded that anyone can report a pothole or other highways problem online to the Streetdoctor service, and this can refer to problems outside the village too. Alternatively, phone 0300 126 1000 and ask for Streetdoctor

Next Meeting
The next Parish Council meeting will be on Monday February 4th at the Baptist Chapel Schoolroom at 7.30 pm and is, like all Parish Council meetings, open to all Parishioners.

Parish Council Notes by the Clerk; Guy Ravine January 2019

For further useful information about Nether Heyford Parish Council and full contact details for the clerk and the councillors please visit our Nether Heyford Parish Council page.

Parish Council – 2018 Meeting Notes

ParishCouncilNotes

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – January 2018

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – February 2018

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – March 2018

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – April 2018

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – May 2018

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – June 2018

July 2018

August 2018

September 2018

Ooctober 2018

November 2018

December 2018

For further useful information about Nether Heyford Parish Council and full contact details for the clerk and the councillors please visit our Nether Heyford Parish Council page.

Parish Council – 2017 Meeting Notes

ParishCouncilNotes

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – January 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – February 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – March 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – April 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – May 2017 – AGM

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – June 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – July 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – August 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – September 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – October 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – November 2017

Nether Heyford Parish Council Notes – December 2017

For further useful information about Nether Heyford Parish Council and full contact details for the clerk and the councillors please visit our Nether Heyford Parish Council page.

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