Tackley Newsletter
October & November 2018

Contents

Parish Council

tackleyvillage.co.uk

Meetings

The next formal meeting of the council is on 8 October followed by a surgery on 22 October. All meetings commence at 7 pm. Should there be matters of concern between these dates please contact the parish clerk or councillors.

Draft minutes of all meetings appear on the website two weeks after the date of the meeting.

Copies of this report are also circulated via Tackley Notices emails.

Who’s Who

There has been a request for information about members of Tackley Parish Council, and it is hoped that the following will be useful to residents — both those who have lived here for some time and newcomers.

June Collier, chair: I think most parishioners know me as I’ve been a member of the parish council since the 90s. I work the early shift in our shop on Thursday morning; however, I am probably better known for owning the famous ‘Dazzle’ and driving her through the village in our carriage! I am a local girl who has been associated with Tackley since 1960, living in the village for 30 years and before that on one of the outlying farms. I retired from my professional life in 2000 and since then my home has become the ‘village spare room’ — along with George, I run the B&B in Nethercote Road. Someone asked me when I stood for election the first time what qualifications I had to be a councillor. My reply was that I have an ‘A-level in local knowledge’ and a ‘degree in common sense’. I feel akin to the ice cream man: people stop me in the street, normally to chat, ask me for information, to do something, or just to have a good moan! I’ll always help if I can.

Paul Joslin, vice chair: Paul has been resident in Tackley for 37 years and an elected councillor for 18 years. He is a retired chartered surveyor and member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a partner in local property consultants Carter Jonas, and past president of Oxford North Rotary Club, as well as a member of Tackley Golf Society, village shop volunteer, fundraising auctioneer, pantomime dame and grumpy grandad.

Robin Gibbons: Robin is a Catholic priest looking after Arab Christians in the UK. He is an academic at the University of Oxford, belonging to the Faculty of Theology and Religion, and works for the Department of Continuing Education as their Director of Theology. He is also director of their main summer school for adults. He is an Honorary Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. Robin enjoys history, art, architecture etc. – achieving a PhD in Architecture – is very involved with artists, and is a singer in church. He has lived in Tackley (with variations) for 20 years. A good customer of the Gardiner Arms, he is a Yorkshireman with French blood who loves Cornwall, the sea and all things country-wise.

Les Summers: After service in the Royal Navy, Les Summers was a teacher for 30 years, latterly involved with research into difficult children. He was also a teacher’s professional association case officer. Since retiring he has devoted himself to writing. He is an internationally-known author of railway books and magazine articles, a former officer of the Great Western Society and was for six years editor and designer of the society’s magazine. He has been a member of the Village Hall Committee for 15 years and, living in Tackley, can be seen any day of the week in the company of a black and silver dog. More: lasummers.co.uk

Katy Layton-Jones: Katy has lived in Tackley since 2015 and has been a parish councillor since spring 2017. Having grown up in south Manchester, she lived in London, Liverpool and Cambridge before moving to Oxfordshire. She is a historian and consultant on public green space in her day job lecturing for the Open University; she advises Historic England and The Gardens Trust. She is particularly focused on green space management within the village and the new housing developments. Katy is also the parish council’s representative on the airport’s consultative committee. More: katylaytonjones.com

Liz Marshall: Liz has lived in the village, with husband Rob, since 2007 and they now have two boys in the village school. Liz was very much involved with the playground project as treasurer and has been on the school PTA as treasurer for five years. She is also very involved with the Scout group, being a Beaver Leader and assistant Group Scout Leader. She was asked to join the parish council, when there was a vacancy in 2015, due to the need for representation of the families with young children in the village.

Andrew Lines: Andrew grew up down the road in Stonesfield and has lived and worked in Cardiff and London. He now resides up the north end of Rousham Road and has lived in the village since 2011. He has two children and three step-children; next year all five will be in the primary school (best of luck to the headteacher!). A regular user of the railway station, he is a management consultant who has worked for organisations like Oxford City College, Goldman Sachs and Saatchi & Saatchi. Andrew has a passion for sailing and is an active member of West Oxfordshire Sailing Club. He was on the committee for the playground redevelopment, and is working with the history group to organise the display of the mosaic.

Janette Read, clerk: Jan has lived in Tackley for 30 years, the longest she has ever lived in one place as her parents were in the RAF and the family moved every three years. She is a retired primary school and special educational needs teacher. Jan has also served on the parochial church council of St Nicholas’ Church. She is married to Peter, the church organist, and has two grown-up children. Often found on the allotments near to the village hall, Jan is a keen gardener, crafter and really ought to take up running again!

Remembrance Day

In conjunction with our Scouts and Beavers we are intending to hold a Remembrance Day service in Tackley Village Memorial Hall on the morning of 11 November. See plans outlined in Remembrance Service and watch out for Tackley Notices emails and the village noticeboards nearer the time. We would welcome all groups from the village along with those working in any of the services past and present to come and join our procession.

Loose Manhole Cover

The loose manhole cover at the top of Church Hill has been reported to the relevant authority and hopefully will have been properly secured by the time you read this.

Playground

Parents are asked to note that the zip-line is currently out of use, and should not be interfered with. At the time of writing some essential repair work is required, although hopefully it will be back in use very shortly.

Path to St Nicholas’ Church

Your council is continuing its investigation of the best options for doing this and is currently awaiting a response from Oxfordshire County Council (OCC).

Bus Shelter at the Village Hall Entrance

The bus shelter has now been completed and looks very smart. There are suggestions to give it a more rural look — see ‘Greening’ the Bus Stop.

Developers’ Lorries and Other Building Site Issues

The statement made in the last newsletter continues to be valid: developers working on the building sites at Balliol Farm, Street Farm and Clow Cottages have been given instructions about the proper routes for lorries entering and leaving the village. They should be coming into Tackley down Church Hill and leaving via Rousham Road. Residents seeing any infractions should first take up the matter with the relevant site management representative or, should that not resolve the issue, with the OCC Highways authority.

New Dog Waste Bin

The new bin for the Jubilee Garden area has been ordered and will be installed soon, as will the bin by the entrance to the playing field. Please can residents remember that dogs are not allowed on the playing field, and are at liberty to remind those who forget!

Hedges etc. Growing Over Pedestrian Walkways

The problem of hedges and large outcrops of plants growing over walkways has still not been fully dealt with; a resident was recently injured because of such overgrowth. Would all residents please ensure that whatever is growing at the front of their property allows plenty of room for pedestrians to pass without needing to step into the road.

Railway Crossing

A recent presentation to the council by Network Rail suggests that a solution to this particular problem might now be in prospect.

Remembrance Service

Liz Marshall, Parish Councillor

This year on 11 November, the centenary of the end of World War I, Tackley Parish Council is planning a remembrance service at the village memorial hall at 11 am.

The parish council would like to invite any service personnel, representatives of the emergency services and NHS (past or present), or any village group or individuals who would like to join us to parade from the village green to the hall. The procession will be lead by 1st Tackley and Heyford Scout Group.

We will meet at the village green at 10:30 am. The parade will leave the green at 10:40 so we are well in place at the memorial hall for the two-minute silence at 11 o’clock. A wreath will be laid at the new memorial plaque followed by a short service in the hall itself. Those who do not wish to process are welcome to wait in the hall.

At the end of the service, you are all invited to stay for refreshments.

If you or your group would like to be part of the parade, please contact either June Collier or Liz Marshall.

If any crafty people would like to be involved, Vi Banbury is collecting crochet and knit poppies to decorate with. Please contact Vi directly, or June or Liz.

Flu Clinics

Woodstock Surgery

The Tackley flu clinic will be on Friday, 5 October from 2–2:30 pm at the village hall coffee shop. Please advise the surgery beforehand if you wish to attend in order that we can provide the right number of vaccines.

Woodstock

This year’s vaccines are age-specific.

Please telephone the surgery to make appointments for these clinics.

Eligibility

‘Greening’ the Bus Stop

Katy Layton-Jones

As many of you will have noted, the parish council recently used some Section 106 money that had been allocated for a bus stop to relocate the bus stop at the entrance to the village hall car park and install a shelter. As many residents rely on the bus to access essential services, such as the GP, it was deemed right that they should not have to stand in the rain and cold for yet another winter. At the same time, we took the step of improving visibility for vehicles and safety for pedestrians by widening the mouth of the entrance to the car park.

While these were practical and necessary steps, we have received feedback from a number of residents that the overall appearance of the new facility is not as sympathetic to the surrounding village environment as they would have expected, and they would like to see steps taken to integrate some ‘greening’ into the area to soften its impact. I agree with these views.

I am acting here in my capacity as a parish councillor. However, in my professional life I am a consultant on historic green spaces and one of my clients is the national government consultee on planning and public green space. I often work with councils and agencies to improve green space design and sustainability and so in this instance I have put together some ideas about how this area might be improved.

While planters may seem an attractive option, it is impossible to naturalise the planting and they require constant watering and soil replenishment; they are also not in keeping with the natural ecology and aesthetics of the village. Similarly, while I appreciate the ease of maintenance that tarmac offers, it is my view that we live in a rural village and at a time when such substantial development is taking place here, it is incumbent upon us to retain, maintain and improve the native green infrastructure that we have inherited. What future generations choose to do with it will be their responsibility, but we are here now and this is happening on our watch.

Maintaining hedges and trees takes more work, but the benefits are all around us. I am prepared to undertake this responsibility and I know a number of residents are also committed to that principle. What I am proposing is ecologically and financially sustainable. It is relatively low-impact and serves to provide slow-growing, native screening. The maintenance of this scheme would be covered by our existing green space management contract and so would attract no additional ongoing costs.

A computer rendering of this proposal is included here. It can be difficult to distinguish spatial elements on an image such as this, so if you would like any further explanation, or to add your comments, please do email me.

The bus stop currently
Computer rendering of the proposed planting

Primary School PTA

Roz Hicks

After a lovely, hot summer break we are back at the start of another academic year at Tackley Primary School. The PTA had a very successful year of fundraising and we hope to better it in 2018–19.

The Horse Show donation funded a ‘poet in residence’ day at school, which was hugely popular with the children, teachers and parents. Our ‘Right Royal Spring Fling’ proceeds have been set aside to help fund a planned increase of the school’s library shelving and to purchase new books for this area. Our grant application for the updating of the library was sadly unsuccessful, so this project is ongoing and now needs more donations than originally thought. The summer fete income is contributing towards much-needed iPads for the children during this new academic year.

We have many events planned for this year, starting with the popular Jacket Potato Night on Friday, 16 November. The next Bag2School collection is scheduled for Tuesday, 13 November, so please do look out any spare items of clothing that you no longer want. Without the wonderful support we continue to receive from our local community, we wouldn’t be able to provide the extras for our children that the school budget can no longer stretch to — we have been able to send the whole of the school on a day out to Hill End outdoor activity centre in October, something which the children all enjoy.

Finally, the PTA is looking for a new treasurer. It is a vital role and the committee cannot run without one. If you or anyone you know are interested, please contact the school office.

St Nicholas’ Church

Rev Marcus Green

Tackley Praise

We’ve started a new series of services for children and families working with Tackley Primary School, called ‘Tackley Praise’. These will happen through the year, and this year they will fall on Thursday afternoons straight after school. The first is at Harvest, on 27 September, and the second is the Christingle service on St Nicholas’ Day, 6 December. After that we will celebrate St Francis with a pet service in February! And others will follow — watch this space. All of them will be short, full of fun and praise, and with lots of opportunities for everyone to join in. Do put Christingle in the diary!

Harvest Festival and Auction — and Abseil!

Thank you to everyone who came to our church harvest festival and harvest auction on Sunday, 30 September — it’s a great Tackley tradition, and we depend on your support for these things. Our collection this year was given to HoverAid for their work supporting needy people in Madagascar.

I am following that up on 6 October by abseiling 262 feet down from the Orbit for HoverAid, in the Olympic Park in London. Please visit wonderful.org where you can find me and sponsor me and HoverAid.

Clow Cottages

We hope you can see the progress happening at Clow Cottages, 54 Nethercote Road, and we are delighted that Thomas Merrifield are now our agents and are selling two of the three cottages for us. If you would like to know more, please contact them for details. We expect the work to be complete before the end of the year. The third cottage will be available to rent early in 2019.

All Souls Service

Our annual All Souls service, our yearly thanksgiving with love and remembering for those who have gone before us, falls on 4 November at 5:30 pm. This year we will remember those who have gone before us, but also link All Souls with All Saints, two Christian festivals that come together in the diary and remember to pray for ourselves as well, and for those who will follow us. We are all part of a very long story, and the memories and love that shape us are gifts we want to pass on to others too. Please join us for this service as we light candles with thanksgiving, place tokens of love around the Cross, and praise God for all his people.

Remembrance 100

This year marks 100 years since the end of the First World War. Remembrance Sunday itself falls on 11 November. Our annual service will be a very special occasion, honouring those who have served our country in the armed forces, those who have given their lives, and those who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe and the world peaceful. Remembrance Sunday is a time to pray for hope and a brighter future, and to reach out to a God who calls us to love each other as he loves us. Please join us as we remember, pray and sing together. Afterwards, our bellringers will join with bellringers across the nation ringing out bells for peace at 7:05 pm.

Advent concert

And looking ahead — do put 8 December in the diary. We are looking forward to the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church, Oxford, coming to Tackley with a very special evening of Christmas-themed music for us. Posters and tickets will come soon: please make sure you don’t miss this amazing evening of top-quality singing right here in Tackley!

Methodist Church

Paul Carter

Let me introduce myself. My name is Paul Carter and I’m the new minister working with Tackley Methodist Church.

I mean ‘new minister’ in two senses. First, I’ve just arrived in the area and officially started in September. I’m working with four Methodist churches: as well as Tackley I’m also attached to Kidlington, Woodstock and Bladon. I’ve recently moved in next door to Kidlington Methodist Church with my wife and teenage son.

I’m new to Oxfordshire too, having lived most of my life in the north of England, most recently York. So there are plenty of new things here for me, with all the new faces and new places. People have been very welcoming so far and we’re looking forward to exploring this wonderful part of the world, in which you have already lived at least part of your lives.

I’m new in another sense too: I am new to the whole idea of being a minister. I’ve just left college (in Birmingham) and this is my first appointment to a group of churches. And it all seems quite strange still: I’m finding it difficult to think of myself as a minister. In the years of discerning I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t really know on my own whether it was the right thing or not to offer for the ministry and I had to put myself in the hands of others so that we could do the discerning together. I still can’t be sure but as far as I can tell it is the right thing for me to be here, and now the people of this area are joining that group of people who discern whether it is in fact right that I should be a minister.

The Methodist Church has a slightly unusual system for new ministers: my first couple of years will be a kind of apprenticeship, learning on the job, before my actual ordination — likely to be in the summer of 2020. Being at this early stage in my journey means that, perhaps more than ever, I am feeling my way, trying things out, seeing what it feels like to be a minister and to work with Tackley Methodist and the other churches as we live out our mission to help bring life and abundant life.

So I don’t really know yet what my ministry here will look like. None of us knows what the future holds, of course, however much we might like to control things. Who knows what life in and around Tackley will be like in the next weeks or months or years? We’re all in a position to keep on trying things out and learning, however much or however little we think we know. So let’s look to the future with hope and enjoy finding out together what emerges.

Going to the Dogs

John Newton

If you have been keeping an eye on Features recently, you will have noticed this year has seen several films set more than 60 years ago. To offset this, our next screening on 14 October is set in the near future in Japan and is the brain child of Wes Anderson. Unlike his previous stop-motion animation Fabulous Mr Fox, our film Canine Island plays to a mainly adult audience, and has received excellent reviews from both critics and cinema goers alike, regularly placing in the top 50 of the year’s best films.

Unlike most of our screenings, the film was chosen after a request for a charity was made. Our October screening is right at the end of Guide Dogs Week, so I was very fortunate that I could pick such a good film. I believe it appropriate to screen this film with audio description and subtitles. If you know of any blind or partially-sighted person who would like to join us, please let them know.

Please note: To prevent clashes with Remembrance Sunday and the Wassail evening, both the November and December screenings will be one week earlier.

On 4 November, the mood changes to a cross between Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Set in rural Bulgaria, it follows a set of construction workers building a hydroelectric power plant.

Our final Features of the year on 2 December is a family-friendly double bill, featuring two sequels that are arguably better than the originals. At 4 pm a certain bear from Peru with a marmalade sandwich always at hand takes to the screen, followed at 7 pm by a film featuring the music of Abba.

In fact November and December’s screenings place even higher on those top 50 lists.

Please see village noticeboards nearer the dates for details of the charities these screenings will support.

Local History Group

John Perkins

Roman Villa

We have started a small excavation at 17 St John’s Road which shows that the walls of the Street Farm villa complex extended further into Nethercote. The dry summer has shown up lines where the grass was particularly parched, which indicate that the villa buildings also continued under the school and into the playing field in front of the village hall. We are planning a geophysics survey of these two areas in the hope of finding more detail about the extent of the villa site.

Street Farm Mosaic

A committee of parish councillors and history group members is producing a study into the feasibility of re-siting the mosaic from Street Farm in the village. This will be published at the beginning of December and will be submitted to the parish council for a decision on whether or not to go ahead with the project. For more information contact Jan Read.

Pottery Day

On Saturday, 27 October we will be repeating the very successful Pottery Day from last year when Jane Bowen helped 70 of us make pots of all shapes and sizes from local clay dug at Wood Farm. Come along from 2–5 pm in the village hall to play with clay. All ages are welcome, though young children must be accompanied by an adult. There is an entry fee of 50p to cover the cost of hiring the hall. To book your place contact Sue Whitaker.

Recording Tackley

Tackley is undergoing a period of great change, not least because of the new housing developments. We want to record memories and experiences of growing up and living in Tackley and this project will create an archive of interviews and conversations with people of all ages. For more information or to join in, contact Sue Ashton or Sue Whitaker.

Gibraltar Point Excavation

The excavation is now in its second season and there is still time to join us in completing the dig. So far we have uncovered several early Iron Age pits in an east–west alignment which were probably used for storing grain and the wall of a Roman or pre-Roman building. After this building collapsed or fell into disuse, probably late in the Roman period, three infants were buried on top of the rubble. We don’t yet know what the building was for though it is possible that it may have been a temple or a shrine — the site certainly had a ritual significance since we have found another infant burial, a cremation from the Bronze Age or Iron Age, as well as the skeleton of an adult woman, who may have been Roman or Anglo-Saxon. Come and visit the site, join in the excavation or help us clean and identify the many bags of finds. Contact Sue Ashton.

Field-Walking

Now that the crops are in and the fields in the village are being cultivated it is the ideal time for field-walking to find flints, pottery and other artefacts, as long as you have permission from the landowner. From scatters of pottery we have just identified another Roman farmstead along the Rousham Road, bringing the total in and around the village to 10. Together with the Street Farm villa, Akeman Street, the roadside village at Samson’s Platt with its villa and temple, a possible temple near the trig point and a shrine or temple at Gibraltar Point, Tackley was a thriving place during the Roman Empire. Contact John Perkins.

Talks

Our programme of talks recommenced in September. Talks are on Mondays in the village hall (except for 28 January, which is in St Nicholas’ Church) and start at 8 pm. Join us for coffee before and wine after.

Pictures From the Past

Katy Layton-Jones for Tackley Local History Group

Can You Help?

After considerable interest in the Tackley Through Time exhibition and booklet, Tackley Local History Group is planning to publish an updated version of Pictures From the Past, and would welcome all the old photographs that you may have of Tackley. These could include individuals or families; buildings or landscapes; sports teams and leisure activities; childhood; Tackley events; working life; transport; station; canal etc. from drawings, prints, paintings, and early photographs through to the 1970s.

Traction engine

Please search through any pictures you might have as they would be invaluable contributions to the village’s history. We would be so grateful for your support in this project, so if you can help, please phone us or email and we will collect them from you, record, scan and save them securely and return the originals to you promptly. Please contact Simon Somerscales or Meryl McQuay.

PALs

Dave & Judy Robson

Tackley People Against Litter (PALs) were back in action again on 15 September after a four-month break over the summer. We were pleased to welcome Louise and David and thank them and all our regular pickers for their continued help and support keeping our village and surrounding area clean and tidy.

Our absence was noticeable from the amount of litter that we collected. As the verges had been cut we were able to gather up all the cans, paper, etc., plus a child’s car seat found within the village itself, that had accumulated over this time into 20 bags to be collected by West Oxfordshire District Council.

It is always worth remembering that you can arrange for the district council to collect larger pieces of rubbish — why not liaise with a neighbour who might have waste to dispose of and share the cost? Alternatively you can make a trip to the tip and dispose of it yourself — we have one close by at Ardley, which is open 8 am to 5 pm seven days a week.

Our next litter pick will be on Saturday, 17 November. This will be the final one of 2018 and will hopefully ensure that the village is looking its best for Christmas.

Gardening Club

Mary Lee

Our last two meetings of the year are coming up. 2018 has flown by and I expect you’re all sorting out the borders and pots for a splash of spring colour.

On 20 October we are going to visit Batsford Arboretum near Moreton-in-Marsh. We’ll be meeting in the village hall car park at 10 am. Please let Mary Lee know if you’re coming if you did not sign up at the meeting.

On 21 November Vi Banbury is going to show us how to make a centrepiece for the Christmas table. It will be hands-on so we all get the chance to make our own on the night. Keep a lookout for posters.

Walking Group

Linda Birch

Meet at Tackley Village Hall at the time shown to arrange car sharing; please contact the walk leader if you would rather meet at the start of the walk. Some walks conclude with lunch at a local pub or cafe; please contact the walk leader if you will be joining the group for lunch. Most walks are circular. All walking is at your own risk.

Late Spring

Bec Hoare

Late Spring is a network of support groups run by Age UK Oxfordshire across the county for anyone aged 60+ who has been bereaved. Meetings provide an opportunity to get together with others who understand; and to remember that, in the midst of the pain, there is still life left to live. The groups aim to meet twice a month in a relaxed and friendly setting, over coffee, tea and cake.

The Tackley Late Spring group meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month in the Methodist Chapel from 1:30 to 3 pm:

Whilst recognising that each bereavement is unique, the opportunity to meet with others who understand and have shared experiences can offer a great deal of support and encouragement. Please do consider coming along to join us!

And if you would like to have a chat first to find out more, please call Bec Hoare.

Woodstock & District U3A

Pam Rook

Speaker meetings are at 2 pm at Woodstock Community Centre, New Road, Woodstock OX20 1PB. Visitors are welcome for £2.