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The Story of Heyford (Extra): Dear Diary – December 1949

December 1949

Dear Diary,

I’m so excited. Christmas is nearly here. The chimney sweep’s been so that Santa won’t get his suit dirty. Mr. West, the coalman has delivered a sack of coal ready for a fire in the front room on Christmas Day, and I’ve asked mum if she can send Father Christmas a letter saying I would love a doll. I’ll do it myself next year when I can write better. I’ll hang my stocking in the fireplace though. I may get an orange, some nuts or coloured pencils.

I live in a Council house in Furnace Lane, on the left, with my mum and dad. My bedroom is at the back of the house and I can see right across the fields. I can see our long back garden with a little lawn for me and our dog, Sally, to play on and dad’s vegetable patch at the bottom, and all the way down one side is a line for mum’s washing on Mondays. I like Mondays because the copper in the kitchen where mum boils the washing, smells lovely and steams up all the windows.

After Christmas it’ll be 1950 and I shall be starting school because I’m four now. I want to go to be with other children, because there’s only me, but I don’t want to leave mum on her own all day. Still, she has my grandparents, a sister and brother and lots of good neighbours in the village so she can always visit one of them. School starts when the bell rings at 9 o’clock. I shall walk down Furnace Lane, with mum of course, and cross the village green on the footpath that runs from the corner by the chapel straight across to the school. There’s another one that goes opposite to the shops. If we took that one I might be tempted to jump the stream that runs along the side of Hillside Road. Still, I just remembered, the cows are on the green some days, chomping away at the grass so we might have to walk along The Tops. She said she’ll fetch me home for dinner at 12 o’clock but I have to go again at 2 o’clock. I’ll probably fall asleep in that time; it’s so quiet while dad’s at work. He’ll be home when it gets dark for his dinner, then perhaps he’ll have a
game of snakes and ladders with me before I go to bed at 6 o’clock.

I’ve started Sunday school and we have been learning all about the baby Jesus and singing hymns. When dad fetches me home we go up Church Lane to see Mr. Potter’s horse. It’s a big horse and it pulls the milk cart round the village so that we all have fresh milk delivered to our door. The lady who delivers it doesn’t need to tell the horse when to stop, it knows.

Well, I’m about to have one of my Nan’s boiled eggs with soldiers for my tea. She has lots of hens in her orchard and I help her collect the eggs sometimes. It’s about this time of year that they seem to die, maybe they get too cold.

Polly

Letter published in The Prattler – December 2019

 

Revitalising the Allotments – December 2019

Weather
As a nation we love to talk about the weather. It’s too hot, too cold, too wet. And gardeners are even worse. However, for once it would seem as though something very odd really is going on with our weather and more particularly, our climate.

As I write this, the river is again overflowing its banks, the playing field resembles a lake and the allotments are getting soggier by the hour. The poor folk of Fishlake are trying to salvage possessions from their flooded homes and it is snowing in Gloucestershire. Just two months ago I dug down two spade depths and the ground was as dry as a bone. For two years now we have had a bumper crop of grapes, the fig tree is flourishing and we’ve just picked the last of our beefsteak tomatoes from the allotment. In the near future we are likely to reap both the benefits of a Mediterranean climate and its drawbacks (including a whole host of little beasties that do nasty things to our flora and fauna).

I guess if there is any lesson to be learnt from all this it is be ready for ‘change’ … and plant more grapes!

Trees
The community orchard goes from strength to strength and the trees we planted just a year ago are looking in good health. Several of the orchard volunteers are about to embark on pruning workshops and they will then be wielding the saw and secateurs on the trees, creating an even better, well shaped orchard for the coming Spring.

I was fascinated to read an article in the Prattler some months ago about a local resident who had successfully grown trees from fruit stones and pips. It is a fascinating thing to do but does not necessarily result in producing good ‘true’ fruit.

All named fruit trees come about as result of something called ‘grafting’. This is a process whereby a young branch from a good, productive tree is fixed onto a vigorous rootstock from the same genus i.e. apple branch to apple rootstock (you can’t mix apple and pear or plum and cherry). The two cut pieces are spliced into each other and sealed with tape during February/March. Providing the two cut surfaces meet smoothly a ‘graft’ is achieved and the result is a tree with all the fruiting characteristics of the good, productive tree and all the vigour of the rootstock. Next time you see a fruit tree, particularly a youngish one, take a look at the trunk near the ground. You’ll see a knobbly knuckle. That is the graft union. Earliest records suggest this practice has been going on for thousands of years, although it is likely that it first occurred by accident when two different trees simply rubbed against each other, wore down the bark and fused together.

Grafting isn’t really complicated and if you have the right growing material, a sharp knife and little patience you can do it yourself. Whilst the bulk of the wonderful trees in our community orchard came from specialist grower Andy Howard, several have been grafted by us. It is as cheap as chips to do … £3 to £4 for a vigorous dwarfing rootstock and the rest is free or easily available in your shed or garage. Within a year you’ll have a tree that is a metre tall!

Community Cut Flower Patch
Following on from the creation of the community orchard and jam patch, work has now started on the community flower patch. Digging was hard when it was dry and it is harder still now the ground is wet (I told you that gardeners obsess about the weather). However, the beds are starting to take shape. With the kind donation of paving slabs from our local Bowls Club we will be able to divide the beds so that flowers are easily accessible. The flowers we have on offer will be a mixture of annuals from seeds collected or donated, some perennials and both spring and summer bulbs. If you can help in any way by letting us have unwanted seed or plants you have lifted/divided, do let us know. We are keen to cover the soil; that is good for the environment and stops the weeds from having a nice bare patch to colonise.

Allotment Holders
It is so good to see that more plots on the allotments are being cultivated and that many of the new allotment holders represent the younger generation. Growing your own fruit and veg is for old and young alike and all are welcome. If you want to join us here are the usual telephone contacts: Sue Corner on 01327 342124 or Lynda Eales on 01327 341707. They’d love to hear from you.

Wildlife
Dave, Pauline, Mark and Mary, our wildlife enthusiasts, have written quite extensively in the past about the wildlife area they have created on the allotment and I have no doubt they will be keeping you all briefed about future developments. However, I must just mention the wonderful pond they are in the process of creating within this area. It is going to be a huge asset to the allotments as a whole, as good ponds encourage a host of beneficial wildlife. We look forward to our first batch of frogs, newts and toads.

Mike Langrish

“When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree”
Vietnamese Proverb

Heyford Gardening Club – December 2019

Heyford-Gardening-Cluband-allotments

At our November meeting we had the pleasure of a return visit from Caroline Tait formerly of Coton Manor, who has spent a year in Philadelphia in some magnificent gardens on a Horticultural Fellowship. Caroline’s account was fascinating despite the technological gremlins that tried to sabotage her pictures.

Our December meeting will be on the 14th and will feature a talk on snowdrops, to anticipate the spring, and there will be a competition for a Christmas display. The meeting will start at 8:00 pm as usual.

Disasters and triumphs

This year my leek plants grew particularly well, and knowing that they can be attacked by leek miner (which is a species of fly) I kept them covered with fine mesh netting all summer. I took this off in September, but when I pulled the first leek a few weeks later I found it full of little maggots. At this point I did what I should have done much earlier and checked the RHS website where I discovered that the fly is active in October and November. The net went back on. So far it seems the damage has been limited. Moral: know your enemy!

On a more encouraging note I had several areas where I had spread compost over vegetable beds without digging it in, mainly due to lack of energy. These areas turned out to be particularly productive despite the hot dry summer. This is a system I shall continue in future.

We tend to think of trees as being long lived organisms, but this year a white-berried rowan that I had grown from seed suddenly died after twenty years. This had happened to another rowan that we had some years before. Is this due to the rich living in Heyford? They seem to live much longer in the hills of the north and west where the soil is poor and conditions more exacting. I have noticed that the same seems to have happened to the hawthorns outside our house on the Green, which were healthy bushy trees when we arrived forty years ago, but which have dwindled sadly since.

Some Things to do in December and January

1 Keep ponds clear of ice.
2 Put out food for the wild birds
3 Buy and plant bare root trees and shrubs (if weather permits)
4 Sit indoors and decide what seeds to buy for the spring

Mark Newstead

~/~

www.heyfordgardenclub.com

For more information visit the Heyford Gardening Club & Allotments page

Heyford-Gardening-Cluband-allotments

Community Wildlife Area – December 2019

View from The Wildlife Patch

Right now much of the ground on the patch is cold and very wet. The difference between the ground that has been cleared, sown or made ready to sow and that still covered in old standing grass is very clear. The latter is still relatively sheltered with a few dry places even after all of the rain we have had. There is evidence of runs made by mice and voles in this whilst the bare earth is cold, wet and exposed to all elements. It is very clear that untouched grassland is much more conducive to the bio diversity that we desire than that managed by other means.

One of the things that I noticed, at ground level in the long grass was the presence of small pieces of “bitten off” green leaf seemingly placed around the aforementioned runs. This is often evidence of Wood mouse activity. Previously named “Field mice”, these are large (for mice), brown, with whitish tummies and bulging, black eyes that look about to fall out. If you grab one by the tail it will shed the skin of the tail to get away and you will be left with just a mouse tail skin in your hand. They are relatively numerous, you will almost certainly have come across a Wood mouse at sometime.

As far as is known they are the only British mammals that place “markers” to help to find their way round. The pieces of leaf are some of these “markers”. They do use other material but green leaves are the most noticeable. In autumn a family of two parents with 4 or 5 young will live in a nest which is usually a burrow but may be anywhere warm and dry. They line the nest with dry grass etc and build up a store of grain, nuts, berries etc to keep them through the winter. My Wife has a family in her greenhouse right now that has stored an incredible amount of chestnuts. Unlike House Mice they never breed in the winter but all snuggle up as a family throughout the cold weather whilst using up their store. In Springtime parents stay together whilst the young find mates of their own. They then feed on young buds and invertebrates such as Caterpillars, Worms, Beetles etc. and start to breed again. In Spring and Summer months the broods are larger with 7 young not unusual. Populations are kept down due to a high level of predation.

As a young man I spent many winter months ploughing with tractors much smaller and slower than today’s tractors. There was usually a Kestrel or two watching the plough from a comfortable perch. There were also Carrion Crows doing the same. I often ploughed up Wood mouse families that were over wintering as described. Often alive but exposed they would run like mad to find shelter. The Kestrel would come down to pick one up, then take it to its perch to consume at leisure. A Crow would fly down. Then hop from one mouse to another, despatching each mouse with its huge bill. It would then pick them all up in one “beakfull” and fly off to eat them on the edge of the field. There must be lesson there somewhere.

Merry Christmas

Dave Musson

Village Hall – News – December 2019

Pantomime : Sunday 29th December at 2pm.
Our ‘Dick Whittington’ posters are now all distributed around the village (on a telegraph post near you) and our remaining tickets are going fast. They are £9 for adults and £3 for children under 11, and can be purchased from Richard on 01327 341044.

Christmas Decorations
By the time you read this, our village hall will be sporting its Christmas decorations, with thanks to our team of helpers.

Carols on the Green
This is a new venture by one of our regular user groups, the Heyford Singers, and will take place on the Village Green on Friday 20th December at 6.30pm. Full details are given elsewhere in this issue. However, knowing what the December weather might be like (remember the Fete in June?) we are on standby in case of: ‘If wet, in village hall’.

Website
This time last year we appealed for someone to help us restore our village hall website after it had been hacked. Thanks to Jez Wilson who volunteered to do this, our new website has now been in use for several months, attracting around 20 new hits each week and helping to generate additional bookings. So thanks again, Jez.

Main Hall Flooring
For many years the wooden flooring has been cared for with regular cleaning and polishing. Unfortunately, in recent years the floor has suffered some water damage, so it now needs a complete restoration. A specialist company will undertake the work, hopefully immediately before Christmas, during which time access to the main hall will be restricted until the new coating has dried out completely. Please check the website for the dates www.netherheyfordvillagehall.org.

Heating
Recently the radiators along the back wall of the hall have not been working adequately (or at all, at times), caused by some problems with the boiler in the storeroom. The cause has been identified but will require a lot of work to fix. Meanwhile, there is now a notice next to the boiler telling hirers how to deal with the problems.

Additional Storage
We have been awarded a grant from the Northants Community Foundation to fund a new external storage facility, which will release more internal storage space for our many regular user groups. This will probably be a self-build steel building which will be delivered as a ‘flat pack’. So many hours of Ikea-type fun lie ahead for our volunteers.

Alwyne Wilson

 

Nether_Heyford_Village_Hall_Book_2019

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

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

Dear Friends.

This year, Advent Sunday falls on December 1st, marking the beginning of a new Church Year. Unsurprisingly, Advent Sunday also marks the beginning of the season of Advent itself, a period of expectation and preparation as Christians everywhere prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and look forward to his future return. Advent is a period of watchful waiting for the joy of Christmas.

But these days, we’re not very good at waiting. We live in an age of instant gratification and next-day delivery. Waiting is hard. So we fill Advent with activities to make the time go quicker, and anticipate the excitement to come; Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, decorating the Christmas Tree, writing Christmas cards, and so on. And we have special calendars to help us countdown the days and weeks to the big day. In church we light candles on the Advent wreath to mark the four Sundays before Christmas, to remind us that with the birth of Jesus, hope, peace, love and joy have come into the world.

And, of course, we have Advent Calendars to mark the days leading up to Christmas Day. As a child, I remember we had a glittery Advent Calendar, with a snowy stable scene on it. Behind each window there was a little picture of a character, animal or item associated with the nativity story, and on Christmas Eve, a large window depicting the full nativity scene; parents, shepherds and wise men gathered around the child in the manger. When Christmas was over, the windows were closed again, and the Advent Calendar put away for the following year. These days, there are a multitude of Advent Calendars, many of them filled with little chocolate treats, whilst more ‘grown up’ versions offer different teas, gins, cosmetics and so on, for each day of the season. However, visiting Flore Primary School recently, I glanced at the ‘Families Northants Magazine’, which suggested something radically different – an Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar, which invited children and their families to do a small act of kindness on each day of December, such as greeting everyone with a smile, helping to cook a meal, donating tins and packets to a food bank, and so on. Isn’t that a wonderful, selfless idea! Perhaps we can all give it a try!

So as we watch and wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas, I pray that we might all be inspired to know and share the hope, peace, love and joy of the season, during Advent, Christmas, and on into the year ahead.

With prayers and best wishes for Advent, Christmas and the New Year,

Yours in Christ,

Stephen – 01327 344436

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

NetherHeyfordChurchServicesDecember2019

Midweek Communions are held weekly on Wednesdays, 9.30am at Heyford and Thursdays, 10am at Flore, all welcome. (Not Wednesday 25th or Thursday 26th December)

Prayer During December we shall be praying for people living in Winston Close, Roberts Field and Ridgeway Furlong in Heyford, Nether Lane and Thornton Close in Flore, The Green in Church Stowe and The Old Rectory, Rose Cottage and Western Cottage in Brockhall.

Rev Stephen Burrow (Tel. 01327 344436)