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Heyford Spring Clean – Saturday 4th April 2020

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Heyford Spring Clean

The annual village spring clean will take part on Saturday 4th April, Heyford Preschool and the Bliss Charity School will be taking part in the week leading up to this.

Once again, we are hoping to clean up the whole village.

If you would like to take part, or would like further information, please either email
heyford_prattler@yahoo.co.uk stating where you would like to clean or call in at Sunrise Cottage, 15 The Green.

Many thanks to all the volunteers.

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There are over 135,000 volunteers nationwide signed up to help in the 2020 Great British Spring Clean.

Everyone is welcome to volunteer and join the growing numbers of individuals and organisations who are already signed up to help this year, including regular contributors Nether Heyford Pre-School and new for 2020 a class from our Bliss Charity Primary School taking on the playing fields and the school “Eco Team” who taking on the village green.

On average the village spring clean collects between 30-50 bags of rubbish and helps our village look great ahead of the warmer months and the start of our annual village events.

If you would like to join us, please sign up and we can co-ordinate together the streets & areas with volunteers. Simply send us a message with your name and the street/area you would like to volunteer to clean up on Saturday 4th April between 9am and 5pm.

3 options to sign up:

EMAIL: Send an email to Heyford_Prattler@yahoo.co.uk

or

FACEBOOK: Send a message to us via our Facebook community page The Prattler or join the private Facebook group Nether Heyford Tidy Villagers

or

ONLINE: Sign up on the Great British Spring Clean website

 

#GBSpringClean 

 

 

 

 

 

Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul – Services – March 2020

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Midweek Services Midweek Communions are held weekly on Wednesdays, 9.30am at Heyford (not Wednesday 4th March) and Thursdays, 10am at Flore – all welcome.

The Streets we shall be praying for during March are: Close Rd, The Pound and The Peak in Heyford, The Avenue and The Glebe in Flore, The Old Dairy Farm in Upper Stowe and the outlying farms around Stowe and the Mews Houses in Brockhall.

Rev Stephen Burrow (Tel. 01327 344436)

Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul – March 2020

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

Dear Friends,

My wife Deborah and I have had a worrying time of late, as concerns for our family have added to existing anxieties on several levels. On the global scale, the coronavirus and climate change are extremely concerning; at work, I worry about how we’ll pay for the various church repairs needed, whilst at a lower level, I worry about the state of the Rectory garden. There seems to be a lot of anxiety and worry about, and much seems to have been written about it. One commentator suggests that ‘anxiety is the new base line in the symphony of life’, whilst another writes ‘Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere.’

There’s a story told about a young man, a newly qualified accountant, who applies for a job with a local small business. He’s interviewed by the business owner, a very anxious man, who tells the applicant; ‘I worry about a lot of things, but I don’t want to worry about money. Your job will be to take all my money worries off my back.’ ‘I see’, says the young man. ‘How much does the job pay?’ ‘I’ll start you on £100,000’, replies the owner. ‘£100,000!’ exclaims the accountant. ‘How can such a small business afford a salary like that?’ ‘That,’ says the owner, ‘is your first worry’.

Another story that might be a little more helpful. J Arthur Rank, the British industrialist, film maker, and devout Methodist, decided to do all his worrying on one day of the week. He chose Wednesdays. When anything happened to cause him anxiety or stress, he wrote it down, and put it in his worry box. Then he forgot about it until the following Wednesday. The interesting thing is that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him during the past six days were already sorted out. It would have been useless to worry about them!

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says “do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus points us to the vastness of God’s gifts, to the wonder of creation, and reminds us that God takes care of all that. And if God takes care of the flowers of the field, and the tiny birds of the air, how could he forget all of us? Jesus reminds us that when we trust God, somehow, things always work out in the end. Jesus urges us to hand over to God the anxieties that rob our lives of peace and joy. Similarly, the Apostle Peter writes, ‘Cast all your anxiety on [God], because he cares for you’. I trust and pray that as we do that, rather like J Arthur Rank and his worry box, when we go back to those things, we’ll find that God has sorted them out for us!

Yours in Christ,

Please note that work repairing the roof over the South Aisle of Heyford Church is
due to start at the end of February, and last 4-6 weeks. As a result, services in
Heyford Church may be relocated to the Church Rooms across the road.

Stephen – 01327 344436

Parish Council – February 2020 Meeting

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The February meeting was held as normal on Monday 2nd in the Baptist Chapel Schoolroom.

Like all Council meetings it was open to the public.

Reports from the District and County Councillors. Cllr P Bignell reported that he is confident that LGR will proceed, and that much work is being done towards the introduction of the unitaries, with blueprints for the various processes being produced; although nothing is certain until the statutory instruments have gone through parliament. (Which has now happened). The larger towns (incl Northampton) will have Town councils, which is likely to change the dynamics of Town/Parish relationships.

Public Participation. A resident had noted that many runners are avoiding wet paths and verges and running in the road in the dark, many without light or luminous clothing – causing concern that vehicle drivers will not see them. Another resident asked for a speed panel in Furnace Lane as he felt that vehicles were travelling as fast as 60mph past his house. Chair responded that speed cameras were being considered.

PCSO. had supplied a January Report. Councillors were concerned that some residents misunderstood the role of the PCSO and expected too much. Despite some reports on social media he is round and about the village on a regular basis. His work pattern is not made public in advance for obvious reasons. He is shared with Bugbrooke and we pay 1/3rd of the cost against Bugbrooke’s 2/3rd. He has made himself known at the pubs, the shops, the Friday café, the school and Youth Club. Just at this moment we have a remarkably low crime rate within the village; whether that is due to the PCSO being around is open to question, but his presence certainly helps.

Parking issues. There have been complaints about parking on the pavements, partly or wholly. The legality of this is debatable, and enforcement against it unlikely. The Parish Council would ask residents and their visitors to be considerate about their parking, and remember that there are wheelchairs and mobility scooters about, as well as mothers with pushchairs buggies etc who can be seriously inconvenienced or endangered if you have completely blocked a pavement.

Lights. It was reported that 3 suppliers had been short-listed, and that some nominal costs were anticipated. It was hoped to have schemes finalised in mid March ready for an application in April for New Homes Bonus money.

VE day. It is hoped to join in the national celebrations, but nothing definite yet has been planned by any village organisations. The Parochial Church Council and Village Hall Committee are understood to be looking at this at their forthcoming meetings.

Storms and Flooding. The Village has got off relatively lightly during the recent storms, although some damage and inconvenience has been caused.

Reporting Highway and Footpath Issues. The Clerk will report issues that Council is made aware of, but Council would encourage residents to use the FixMyStreet service to report issues themselves as there will then be no time lag and first-hand reports are almost always better than 2nd or 3rd hand reports. The service can be found here: www.fixmystreet.com  It is easy to use; you can have your own account and can check up on any issues you have reported.

Parish Council meetings in 2020 will continue to be at the same venue, on the first Monday of each month, (unless a Bank Holiday) and would start at 19.30. The next one is on March 2nd.

Clerk to the Parish Council: Guy Ravine, c/o Old Dairy Farm, Upper Stowe, Weedon, Northamptonshire, NN7 4SH
Telephone: 07935 931787
Email: netherheyfordparishcouncil@gmail.com

For further useful information about Nether Heyford Parish Council and full contact details for the clerk and the Councillors please visit:

Nether Heyford Parish Council Website 

Nether Heyford Neighbourhood Watch – February 2020

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The 2020 revival is a fresh start for the village “Neighbourhood Watch Scheme” and expands the area to include the complete parish area and Upper Heyford.

Also linking together with the Facebook group, Northamptonshire Neighbourhood Watch, The Parish Council, The PCSO and The Prattler.

The scheme is open to village residents only and all applications should be made
online: www.ourwatch.org.uk/scheme/25380/nether-heyford-and-upper-heyford

For more information, please visit the Neighbourhood Watch page on this website.

The Story of Heyford: The Manor House 1947-1956 V4C6

The Manor House 1947-1956

Volume 2 in our series of booklets included the story of the Manor House, but there were some gaps in the post war period.

The Story of Heyford: Heyford Manor and the Manor House V2C5

Since the publication of the original story in Volume 2, some more information has come to light. The words below, written by Julie Rands-Allen, fill in those missing years.

After the billeting of soldiers in the Manor House and other uses for the war effort, it was difficult to know who occupied it in the forties and fifties. But by a chance encounter between Bill Needham and one of the occupants at that time, we find that it was owned by Mr and Mrs Colonel Reid from 1947 to approximately 1956.

When they were there, there were only two servants and an ‘odd man’ (as Mrs Reid describes him). This ‘odd man’ had a bed sitting room by the back door (which is now in the front of the house) being a basement, which in the old days, was the servants’ hall. He was responsible for numerous chores, one of which was bringing in the wood which fuelled the aga. At that time the side door (now the East Wing’s front door) opened out on to a magnificent rose garden and the garden wall ran right along to the Denny’s. The staircase was, according to Mrs Reid, listed and is still I believe the original in situ.

Mrs Reid and her husband brought up three children in the delightful surroundings of the Manor. But developers were harassing the Reids even then to sell part of their land. However they flatly refused to part with any, with the exception of land to Mr Denny to build the houses along the Green between the Foresters and the school. As Mrs Reid said, they had road frontage and would not be too intrusive. She is understandably horrified at what has happened since.

The lawns of the manor went down to the Nene and it was here that Colonel Reid used to practice his ‘shout’, for in 1953 he commanded the Trooping of the Colour. Old photographs from Mrs Reid’s family album show the Colonel in full regalia commanding the regiment for this spectacular event and others show Colonel Reid in his official capacity at the State Funeral of George VI.

In these heady days – almost the last of the Manor being used as it was originally intended – the family holidayed in St Moritz and enjoyed an era that has hitherto disappeared. But unlike previous occupants, Mrs Reid was an excellent cook taking an active part in the running of the household.

She now lives at The Glebe House in Marston St Lawrence – a magnificent old house which has also stood the test of time and enjoys the companionship of just one ‘absolute gem’ who helps her with the work involved in the up-keep of such a place.

Julie Rands-Allen

~~

Extract from “The Story of Heyford” – Local book series published in the late 1990’s

Volume 4 of 4 | Chapter 6 of 8 | Pages 27

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Heyford’s Historical Heritage  |  How the books were created

Index  |  Covers