Nether Heyford W.I. – February 2019

Our New Year started with a return to W.I. crafting roots when Deborah Burrow and Arlene Harrison showed members how to paint without paint brushes. It is surprising how much talent lies hidden in Nether Heyford W.I.

Contrary to popular belief, being a member of the W.I. really is not just about ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ or listening to talks given by visiting speakers. As anyone who watched the TV. series about the W.I. a few years ago will remember, the original ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ brigade was responsible for a great deal of amazing war effort. However, as a Nationwide Federation, the W.I. has to move and change with the times. Each year resolutions are put forward by W.I. branches and, from these, six are chosen at a short listing meeting of Federation Representatives. Every W.I. member has the opportunity to vote on the resolution that they would most like to go forward for further discussion at the Annual Meeting. Depending on the number of votes either one or two chosen resolutions then becomes the W.I. Campaign for the following year. This ensures that every campaign is dear to the hearts of our members. In 2017 we highlighted the ‘Plastic soup pollution’ and in 2018 it was ’Making time for mental health’.

Voting time is here and this year’s resolutions range from:-

1. Improving Plant Bio-security – calling for a certification scheme to assure the public that plants, soil and containers they buy have been screened and are infection free, thus ensuring the safety of our native trees and plants.

2. Planting and care of trees – to mitigate climate change, to improve air quality and to reduce erosion and flooding.

3. Call against the Decline in Local Bus Services – particularly in rural and semirural areas.

4. Suffering in Silence – why we have to end the taboo around menstrual health.

5. Pelvic Floor Education

6. Don’t Fear the Smear – encouraging women to look after their health.

As you can see, a real variety and not a single mention of Jam OR Jerusalem!! There is, however, a real opportunity to make a difference in the world about us.

Our meeting in February will be a look at the amazing career of the most popular crime novelist of all times as Steve Dimmer examines the writer’s life. Beginning with the creation of Hercule Poirot in 1920, through the Golden Age of detective fiction, the emergence of Miss Marple until Agatha Christie became the indisputable ‘Queen of Crime’.

Along the way we will be looking at the real-life mystery involving the novelist’s actual disappearance and perhaps trying to solve this intriguing puzzle. If, like me, you are a ‘who-dunnit’ fan this would appear too good to miss.

The meeting will be in the Village Hall at 7.30 pm on Thursday, February 7th. The charge will be £5 for non-members and will include the usual W.I. refreshments. We would love to see you there.

Mary Rice – Heyford Lodge – 01327 340101

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

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

I’m writing this letter in the aftermath of the ‘meaningful’ vote on Brexit, lost so spectacularly by the government, and the subsequent vote of no confidence, from which that same government emerged unscathed. As I write, the Prime Minister and her ministers are meeting with politicians from other parties and from across the House of Commons to try and find a consensus on how best to move forward. At this stage, however, none of us know what will happen next.

In the Church’s calendar, we’re about to enter the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and our Bible readings reflect this. We look at St Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, where he writes about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In a church context, these gifts and talents are given to people to encourage and grow the Christian community. But in the wider context, we all have skills and passions that we can put to use for the benefits of other, and the growth of the communities in which we live and work. We’re all given these gifts to share with others, not keep to ourselves. If we do the latter, the community can’t grow, but if we use our gifts and talents for the common good, if we seek to serve others, our communities will be all the better for it.

St Paul writes about the gift of tongues, but warns of the confusion that can arise when everyone speaks at the same time, which is often how it seems to be when events in the House of Commons are reported. More positively, however, we might reflect on the gifts of wisdom and discernment, and pray that these are seen and used more effectively amongst our politicians. We must hope that’s the case, and trust that our leaders and representatives are now working together for the common good, not just of this country, but of the EU and the wider world. And in the meantime, we can play our part by working for the good of our communities, helping them to flourish and grow in these confused and uncertain times. So, as I pray for Christian unity across the world, I pray too that, whatever our faith, we can all put our gifts to work for the benefit of others, that we can encourage one another, and build up our communities. And I pray particularly for wisdom for our political leaders, and for peace and unity in our nation, and in our relationships with other countries.

With every blessing,

Stephen – 01327 344436

During February we shall be praying for people living in Hillside Rd and Hillside Crescent here in Heyford, Sutton St, Yew Tree Gardens and Sutton Acre in Flore, The Manor in Church Stowe and the Gate House and the Old Dairy in Brockhall.

Heyford Picturedrome – Thursday 21st February 2019

Our next film to be shown on Thursday 21st February is ‘Lion’, a 2016 biographical drama starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman about a 5 year old Indian boy, Saroo, who gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of miles across India and away from his home and family. Saroo must learn to survive alone in Calcutta before ultimately being adopted by an Australian couple. 25 years later and armed with only a handful of memories, his unwavering determination and a new technology known as Google Earth, he sets out to find his lost family and finally returns to his first home.

Doors open at the usual time of 7.00pm for free tea or coffee with the film due to be screened at 7.45pm.

There will be a licensed bar for the purchase of wine and soft drinks.

There is no joining fee and admission is £4 per person.

Tony Clewett – Phone: 01327 341533

Our March film on 21st March will be the 2017 British ‘black’ comedy drama starring Michael Palin and Simon Russel Beale about the bumbling carryings-on in the aftermath of Stalin’s death in Soviet Russia. Highly recommended!

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.

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