The Prattler – November 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.

Village Hall – News – November 2020

With the redecoration of the main hall completed, the next project is to improve the rear wall of the stage. We have planned the work for minimal impact on users, but for a short while there may be rather more dirt and dust around the stage area than is usual. However, when this is finished, we shall once again have a village hall to be proud of – such a pity that so few people can enjoy it at present.

However, the re-opening of the hall as Covid-19 Secure in September has allowed Pilates, Yoga, Cha Cha Chimps, Martial Arts and craft groups to return to their regular meetings. We are grateful to them all for following the Covid-19 Secure procedures.

Our website www.netherheyfordvillagehall.org has been in use for several months now. Website traffic has increased again and several new enquiries for hire of the hall are in discussion – potentially, good news for the future.

Light at the end of the tunnel – although the tunnel keeps getting longer – for us all.

Just keep smiling…

Alwyne Wilson – 01327 340803

Chairman, Village Hall Management Committee

Letters: ‘Walk of Hope’ fundraiser for the charity Brain Tumour Research

On Saturday 26 September 2020, my mother, Janet Haynes, my daughter, Emily Stroman and I took part in the Virtual Walk of Hope raising valuable funds for Brain Tumour Research.

I was inspired to take part after my Mum and her two sisters were all diagnosed with brain tumours and tragically in May this year my Auntie Lesley (Bushell) passed away.

At the time of writing, we have raised £1,270 surpassing our target. We would like to thank everyone who kindly donated to this very worthwhile cause and if you would like to make a donation please go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sally-stroman

Thank you.

Sally Stroman, 11 Winston Close, Nether Heyford

The Story of Heyford (Extra): Dear Diary – November 1958

November 1958

Dear Diary,

It’s another lovely morning. Not much left in dad’s veggie patch now summer’s over, just boring green vegetables like cabbage and brussels. It all has to be picked at the right time, vegetables to store in the pantry, fruit to bottle and onions to hang in the barn. We can see his Army influence in the garden, all the vegetables and the flowers in straight lines, like they are on parade, but he’s got so much to look after and he’s very proud of it. Mum’s preparing dinner. I love the first course of Yorkshire pudding with gravy but have to show willing with the main course of meat and vegetables after she’s gone to the trouble of preparing them. Could be rice pudding for afters if we have plenty of milk.

On November 5th some of us made a Guy Fawkes, dressed it in old clothes, put it in an old pram and pushed it round the village with a sign saying “penny for the guy”. Some people were kind enough to give us 1d for some sparklers but it was fun anyway.

We didn’t get a family summer holiday this year, which I wasn’t surprised at, not many families go away. I did get a treat though when I went on a day trip by train to London with my friend Jane. We visited Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. We didn’t see the queen though. We forgot to let her know we were coming.

We’ve got a telly now and I like to watch Crackerjack. The TV came from Radio Rentals and we pay for it weekly but it’s great fun for us all and it’s on until about 10 o’clock. They then play The National Anthem, a bit like they do at the cinema, except nobody stands up at home. I still like listening to the wireless on a Saturday morning though, with Children’s Choice and Uncle Mac, who always says “Hello Children everywhere”. They have some smashing songs on and I know them all. There’s Tubby The Tuba, A Four-Legged Friend and The Ugly Duckling.

The old Bricklayers Arms on the canal bridge has been sold to a coal merchant. That’s another pub that bites the dust. The Wharf opposite was also a pub at one time called The Boat but that was before the First World War. They say we used to have several pubs in Heyford, now we only have 2. None of them could have done much trade in such a small village though. I think The Old Sun and The Foresters Arms are here to stay. Sometimes my family catch the bus to Daventry, have a drink in the pub near the bus terminus, then come back on the same one. It’s good because it goes through all the little villages. The Railway at Daventry which runs to Leamington Spa is closing to passengers. I’ve never been on it myself. I think it will still be open for freight for a while.

I’ve joined the choir. There are quite a lot of us, maybe 6 girls, 6 boys, 6 warbling women and 6 growling men. We walk to the choir stalls by the altar from the vestry at the back, like in Noah’s Ark, 2 x 2. I enjoy the services and the singing except when we have to learn a special anthem. They are hard to learn, pretty tuneless and the congregation look bored because they can’t join in. Still, it’s not every week. The church looked beautiful in October for Harvest Festival with flowers everywhere and children brought along fruit and vegetables grown in their garden or allotment. On Remembrance Sunday, the nearest one to 11th, the choir will walk to the War Memorial after the service to remember those who died in the two World Wars, and we have 2 minutes silence. Rehearsals will then start for the Carol concert at Christmas. Roll on.

Polly

Letter published in The Prattler – November edition 2020

Nether Heyford Tennis Club – November 2020

NetherHeyfordTennisClub_Logo

Nether Heyford Tennis Club – 2020 Tournament results

Mixed Doubles – Frances Dickson and Andy Lawrence
Men’s Doubles – Gavin Wright and Ian Brodie
Ladies Doubles – Jo Ellison and Lynne Adams

Would you like to come and try out our new courts?

Please get in touch if you would like to come along and play.

Coaching – Adults – Saturday mornings
Beginners 9.00 am
Improvers 10.00 am

Free Friday Tennis – half term – 10.00 am – 3.00 pm

NEW to the tennis club in November – WALKING TENNIS

This is a slowed down version of the traditional game. Who is it for – anyone! No membership or tennis skills required.

Benefits: Playing walking tennis can bring real benefits, aside from the physical health gains, players benefit from the boost of being outdoors with the mental health benefits of exercise, interaction with others, and a sense of achievement of developing new skills.

Starting Monday 16th November – 10.30 am to 11.30 am and then the three following Mondays at Nether Heyford Tennis Courts. Sessions will continue after this if there is demand. Equipment will be provided and there will be no charge for these 4 sessions.

For further information and to book a space please contact Jo using the details below.

For further information – please find us on Facebook or contact Jo on 01327 349094 / 07749 822016

Email: jodickson@btinternet.com

Website: clubspark.lta.org.uk/NetherHeyfordTennisClub

Full facilities and location details can be found on our Nether Heyford Tennis Club page.

Heyford Amblers – Children in Need Walk October 2020

Heyford Amblers

NetherHeyfordAmblers

On Sunday 11th October Heyford Amblers walked to Flore and back in aid of Children In Need. It was glorious weather and we spoke to fishermen, boaters, dog walkers, football supporters and horse riders along the way, also enjoying the morning sun. There were 15 of us socially distancing along the canal towpath and back through Heyford Mill. We all contributed a fiver, as did some who couldn’t join us, and we have sent off our donation of £100.

We look forward to meeting up again but can’t be sure when that will be.

Mick & Shirley Collins

Nether Heyford W.I. – November 2020

One thing that this enforced break has done for many of us is to bring us more up to date with technology! Earlier in October the Nether Heyford branch of the WI, alongside other branches in the country, had to hold their A.G.M. and, after consulting our members about meeting face to face, it was decided that we would hold a Zoom meeting. Sometimes we complain that technology is taking over our lives but this was a lovely way to see people again with the business part of the evening ending with the usual laughter!

A few days before the meeting each member was sent a card from Pat Essery, our President, and a bag of yellow narcissus bulbs. These are for us to plant, take a photo and to bring to a meeting in the spring (we hope!) We will endeavour to bring our Spring Garden into the Village Hall.

We are hoping to use Zoom again before Christmas; so, Ladies, watch this space, and also that we may be able to have just a small ‘distanced’ gathering to mark our 90th Birthday. We have decided to delay our main celebration until next year. I know I speak for all the Committee when I say that we miss our evening meetings and that we hope we will all be able to meet up soon.

Mary Rice – Heyford Lodge, Church Lane – 01327 340101

Allotment News – November 2020

Still much to do
There is a feeling at this time of the year that everything is finished on the allotment. The last tomatoes have been picked and any green ones are now ripening on a windowsill. The bean frames are leaning over at an alarming angle and any pods that have clung on are turning brown. The flowers that once grew amongst our veg have either faded or are, like the condemned man, awaiting the first frost. It can seem like gloom and doom arrives with the month of November. The poet Thomas Hood had this feeling when he wrote:

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, –
November!

But I’m having none of that. If we look around us there is still so much to be done and, more importantly, so much that the allotment can give us in return.

We are currently using the empty beds to store winter hardy plants for next spring’s bedding – Wallflowers, Sweet Williams, Foxgloves and Marigolds. The green manure that we sowed as we lifted our potatoes and onions has grown vigorously and now gives our soil a warm blanket of green that will be dug in as the winter progresses. The compost we have nurtured all summer will be spread over the soil that is bare and any crops we still have in the ground like leeks and parsnips will be harvested with extra relish in the dark months ahead.

Alan Jenkins in his wonderful book Plot 29 says that he visits his allotment as to an elderly relative and is dutiful, loyal. I think of it as a friend who still needs me when the winter sun is low. The truth, of course, is that it is me who has the need – to nurture, to walk through memories. To grow.

Maintenance
As you will be aware if you have visited the allotments over the past year, the plots are in a good state of repair. They have been well tended, pathways have been mown and lots of produce has been grown. And how lovely to see so many flowers being cultivated amongst all that fruit and veg. However, there will be some basic maintenance tasks to carry out over the winter, including covering plots for new owners to take on in the new year. We are also keen to tidy up the area by the Watery Lane entrance so that it does not become a dumping ground but a space where manure or compost could be delivered. We are also keen to carry out some work on the large shed by the orchard, improving storage and strengthening the structure. If you are able to assist in any of these tasks we would love to hear from you and will be publishing details of when we will be starting work in the coming months.

Our thanks goes to all those people who have helped with the upkeep of the allotments over the past year, whether that be giving of time and labour so generously or donating equipment for general use. Your support is appreciated.

The Orchard
Our fruit trees have grown really well this year and the area we planted up just two years ago is beginning to look like a real orchard. I would like to think that this time next year we will be picking fruit and asking you to share in our bounty. Basic tree maintenance will continue in the winter and early spring.

Wildlife
Dave Musson has been keeping readers of the Prattler fully informed of developments in the wildlife area with his monthly articles, so suffice to say that the bio diversity that he and Mark and Mary Newstead have helped create in that area has enhanced what we on the allotments do, day in, day out. That is something we all benefit from.

Equipment
A range of equipment is available for allotment holders to borrow when working on the allotment site; this includes mowers, rotavators, wheelbarrows, brooms and watering cans. Many people will own some or all of the above, but for those who wish to get access to such equipment, please contact Lynda Eales (01327 341707) or Mike Langrish langrish_heyford@hotmail.com (01327 341390). We can ensure that you get the equipment you require at a mutually convenient time.

Allotment Holders
If you are considering growing your own fruit and veg, act quickly by contacting Lynda Eales on 01327 341707. We have a few vacant plots but at least five local residents who are keen to begin allotmenting. Rent night will be held in January – more details in the next edition of the Prattler. It is hoped that by then we can reallocate vacant plots so that everyone is able to benefit from this wonderful village resource.

Mike Langrish

Heyford Gardening Club – November 2020

Please note that Garden Club activities have had to be suspended until further notice.

One of the perils of being a disorganised gardener is the tendency to buy plants on impulse without little or no consideration of what to do with them. The aftermath of a visit to a nursery usually results in wandering round the garden with a plant and trowel in hand wondering where to plant this new acquisition. Having crammed it into a tiny space in the border that is often the last that is seen of the poor thing until the next year when the label is found in among the foliage.

Sometimes though a plant manages to survive this treatment; during the early summer last year some shoots were spotted in the border. Since it looked suspiciously like willow herb it was about to be removed, when something about it stayed my hand. The shoot grew and eventually produced a spire of purple flowers. What we had was a variety of Lythrum (purple loosestrife) and an excellent elegant, long flowering plant it has turned out to be. But where and when did we buy it, and which variety is it?

Sometimes disregarding the normal advice can produce unexpected benefits. We were given some seeds of Morning Glory and Black Eyed Susan long after the conventional time for sowing, but I sowed them anyway, and the result has been a fantastic late show of flower. A lesson for the future perhaps, nothing ventured nothing gained?

Autumn is the time when toadstools and mushrooms sprout in dark corners of the garden. This year a group of small fungi of a striking shade of lilac mauve have popped up under one of our shrubs. Apparently these are an edible variety, but they don’t really look like something one should eat, so I shall leave them to the slugs and snails.

As I write, outside the window there is a plant of white flowered honesty which is still blooming six months after it started in the spring; I have never seen anything like that before. It will be interesting to see when it does eventually stop.

Things to do in November
1. Plant tulip bulbs
2. Put grease bands round fruit trees against winter moth
3. Plant bare root trees shrubs and roses
4. Lift and store dahlia and other tender tuberous perennials.

Mark Newstead

~/~

www.heyfordgardenclub.com

For more information visit the Heyford Gardening Club & Allotments page

Heyford Singers – November 2020

HeyfordSingersNovember2020

A tribute to Joan Hanley

Nearly forty years ago on a preparatory visit to Nether Heyford before our move here (Bliss Charity School for one son, playgroup for another, and the all-important allotment) we wandered into Manor Park to have yet another look at our soon-to-be home, when we met Joan Hanley. She chatted to us, extolling the praises of this village, its friendly community and its facilities, undoubtedly a lovely place to work and bring up a young family. It was the beginning of a long friendship with this very special lady. But there is much history to Joan, and it begins many years before our first meeting …

Joan was born in December 1925 in the small Yorkshire village of Bubwith, where she later attended the local primary school, before moving onto a girls’ grammar school in Selby. Although Joan’s father and brother both enjoyed singing, the “cronky” piano with its untuned sound was the only instrument in the house. However Joan showed an early interest in learning to play the piano, received lessons from the village church organist and achieved Grade 8 before going off to train as a teacher in Ripon, studying music and history. It was here that Joan’s organ playing moved to a higher level, taught as she was by Dr Moody, organist of Ripon Cathedral. For two years she was the resident college organist, and on one occasion was invited to play the Cathedral organ for a special event!

Her teaching career began in 1945 at a primary school in Fulford, York where she taught for seven years, now also taking on the permanent post of church organist in her home village. In 1954 Joan applied for her third teaching post,”a first assistant (female)” at Willow Park Junior in Pontefract, which had 500 pupils and was the largest primary school in the West Riding. She got the job and worked alongside Arthur, who also taught at the same school. They married on 27th December 1954. The ensuing years saw Joan taking on more responsibility for music in school, playing the organ and accompanying choirs. She and Arthur joined Pontefract Choral Society, soprano and tenor respectively, and it was here that they developed their love, and experience, for great choral works as well as attending numerous music concerts.

When their daughters, Judith and Pamela arrived, Joan gave up teaching to be a stay at home mum. But as ever music teachers were much revered and Joan was frequently invited back into the classroom, to take music lessons, begin recorder groups, form school choirs and play for assemblies! Joan’s dedication to music in children’s lives was strong and varied! On one interesting occasion there was an evening’s entertainment of Sooty and Sweep with the ever-popular Harry Corbett; when the accompanist failed to turn up for the show Joan stood in at a moment’s notice – another musical accolade!

In 1974 Arthur took up a job with the Northamptonshire Inspectorate and the family relocated to this county, moving into the newly created Manor Park in February 1975 where extensive floods greeted them on their first day! It was to be a very long, settled and happy time for Joan and her family. She taught at Grange Junior School for ten years, and also at the Saturday morning Music School in Daventry. I am sure that there are many people reading this who will fondly remember their Saturday morning music classes with Joan, recorder playing, singing, etc. As a family we were always so grateful for Joan accompanying our son Jeremy on the piano and practising with him for his violin exams, his success in part attributable to her encouragement… and patience!

During my years of teaching at Bliss School I hold lovely memories of Joan playing the church organ for numerous carol concerts, leavers’ services and Harvest Festivals, as well as the occasions when I took my class of little people down to the church and she would let them press the organ keys or pedals! Her passion for music, and her love of children was very evident in her kindness, her delightful sense of humour and the ever-present twinkle in her eye. There are families who have christened their young children, walked down the aisle to be married, or bade farewell to those who have died – all to the musical accompaniment of Joan playing the organ in our local village church.

In 2003, shortly after Heyford Singers was formed, Joan joined the choir as an alto, where she remained a loyal and valued member until age and mobility applied their inevitable restraints. Her legacy with the Singers will live on in every new member who joins “ for the love of music and singing”.

Joan’s last few years were spent in a local care home, until she died in August at the grand age of 94! Her funeral, which was a beautiful and very personal occasion, taken by Reverend Stephen Burrow and Sue Morris, reflected all the aspects of music which Joan so loved – Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring (played on the organ), If with all your hearts (from Mendelssohn’s choral work, Elijah) and My Favourite Things (from The Sound of Music). We will miss Joan, her smile and sense of humour, her love of children, and the musical accompaniment that she gave to so many of our lives. We are all the richer for having known this lovely lady.

I would also like to dedicate this article, and indeed this issue of the Prattler, to all those friends and family members, within our village community, who have died in recent months. Sadly the restrictions of Covid 19 have prevented us sharing the grief, the tears and the hugs that we would normally give so freely. But they all live on in our hearts and leave us, each and every one, with such precious memories.

Take care as we enjoy the beauty of these late autumn days and we look towards the hopes of a new year. Stay healthy and content, take care of one another, and may music feature somewhere in your life every day.

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.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: