Tackley Newsletter
April & May 2019

Contents

Parish Council

tackleyvillage.co.uk

Members

The clerk is Janette Read.

Meetings

The next formal meeting of the council is on 15 April followed by a surgery on 29 April. 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 parish council meetings appear on the website two weeks after the date of the meeting. See there, also, some personal details of your councillors.

Copies of this report are also circulated via Tackley Notices.

Road Closures

Nethercote Road will be closed between 09:00 and 15:30 from 1 April to 4 April for the installation of a low voltage cable. Parking will be affected. A map showing the details of the closure can be seen on the door of the village shop.

Residents of St John’s Road who were concerned that their bins were not emptied during the recent part road closure should be aware that representations have been made to West Oxfordshire District Council about this.

Developers’ Lorries

Residents concerned about further infractions of the arrangements for developers’ lorries entering or leaving the village should contact the county highways department direct; at the same time, copying any written communication sent or received to the parish clerk.

Balliol Farm

Your council continues to be concerned at what may be infringements of the agreed planning requirements on this site, and is currently investigating the possibility of seeking legal assistance in the matter.

Grants to Village Organisations

The parish council has made financial grants to the primary school for the purpose of establishing and stocking a new school library; to the TAG group who are developing a new portable stage to replace the present arrangement in the village hall thus enlarging the scope of its facilities; and also to mental health charity Clean Slate.

Railway Crossing

Station users are asked to make sure that the gates at the end of each platform are closed after you pass through, in either direction. There have been instances of dogs killed by trains because they have gained access to the platforms and thereby got onto the lines.

Path to St Nicholas’ Church

Oxfordshire County Council has been contacted about the possibility of extending the pedestrian path to St Nicholas’ church as far as the crossover to the church entrance.

Parked Cars

It has been reported to the council that non-residents have been parking their cars in Nethercote Road and leaving them there for several days. Any resident becoming aware of this should take the registration number and report it to the police.

Welcome Pack

Creating a welcome pack for newcomers to Tackley is an ongoing task. Local organisations who wish their activities to be promoted to new residents are asked to supply full details to the clerk at her address.

Hedges Over Pavements

There are still hedges and outcrops of plants growing over and obstructing pathways. Please check yours.

Welcome Pack

June Collier, Parish Council Chair

Your parish council is creating a ‘welcome pack’ for new residents moving into our village. The intention is to produce a booklet to help newcomers feel welcome and to give advice, both practical and social, and to introduce people and organisations that will make them feel part of a caring and friendly society.

We would very much like to feature all of the clubs, societies, and groups in the village at no charge, with the addition of any businesses that may wish to advertise their wares and expertise for a small nominal fee.

We intend it to be as up to date and informative as possible. Therefore, we would like you to send us any information, graphics or photographs you would like included. Keep it short but informative and eye-catching. Please email [removed from archive version] or drop in any paper copy to [removed from archive version].

Once we have the information it can be put into book form and online. The intention is to have it ready for September, so our deadline for contributions is 1 June.

The village is in disarray at the moment. It is hard on some of you, but it will settle down and we will soon forget the mess and turmoil and accept that those ‘new houses’ haven’t always been in the village.

Horse and Dog Show

June Collier

The annual show is back for its 52nd year on Sunday, 28 April.

It is a great day out, even if you are not ‘horsey’. There will be jumping and gymkhana games, showing, dressage and our very famous fancy dress – judged this year by our own Joan Ackrill – plus an opportunity to show off your dogs both neat and scruffy.

Food and hot drinks will be on sale from breakfast until late afternoon. The Gardiner Arms bar is open all day and there are trade stands to tempt you with their wares.

The show is an annual event and the proceeds are shared between our village organisations and charities close to the hearts of the people involved. To put on a show like ours needs a lot of labour. If your organisation benefits from the proceeds or you would just like to come along and be involved please let us know. Not necessarily with the horses; we also need help with the catering, in the secretaries’ tent, or putting up jumps that the horses knock down.

Bring your family, your friends and your dog, come for an hour or stay all day, helping or spectating, but come and join us to make the day a success.

We do have space for some more trade stands. Got something to sell or someone to tell?

PTA

Roz Hicks

We’ve had a great start to 2019, with a very successful night at the races last month — our racing piggies managed to raise us a whopping £2,000! Many thanks to those of you who supported this fundraiser. As a result, the school is now able to proceed with installing its much-anticipated new library. Along with our contributions, there were also donations received from Tackley Parish Council and Councillor Ian Hudspeth’s Community Priority Fund. The library has been ordered, and the plan is to install it this month. If you would like to make a book donation, the school wish list can be found at tinyurl.com/tackleylibrary.

We are also planning to run an oompah band night, or Oktoberfest evening on 19 October. The last one in 2017 was enormous fun, so keep an eye out for more information! We are also joining with St Nicholas’ church for the summer fete on 6 July.

Our next Bag2School collection is on Wednesday, 3 April.

Finally, can we remind you about our Easyfundraising account. They have agreements with thousands of retailers, and donate a percentage of the purchases you make to your chosen cause. Signing up is very easy and costs nothing. Please register, and help us raise much-needed funds! Visit easyfundraising.org.uk.

Scout Leaders Wanted

Rosie Hawes

Scouting helps young people, both boys and girls, aged 6 to 25 achieve their full physical, intellectual and social potential. The Scouts develop young people through fun, challenge and adventure to become responsible citizens and members of their local, national and international communities.

In Tackley we are looking for section leaders and assistant section leaders. This position primarily involves helping to run these exciting activities. You would be joining an experienced and motivated team, and a thriving group.

Volunteering with Scouts can enrich your life, and don’t just take our word for it! Over 90% of our volunteers say their Scout experiences are hugely beneficial. You can gain skills, boost your CV, make new friends and change lives.

About Us

1st Tackley and Heyford Scout Group is based in Tackley, providing skills for young people and beyond. We make full use of the wonderful countryside on our doorstep, and regularly meet on the heath during summer months. We have vacancies for leaders and assistant leaders, and can be flexible about the age group that you would prefer to work with.

We provide the young people in Tackley and surrounding areas the opportunity to be involved with:

Who Are We Looking For?

Someone who is willing to have fun while:

Practical Considerations

This is a voluntary role. No specific skills or qualifications are required, as full training and support are given. Experience of working with children and young people may be useful but is not essential.

Experienced section leaders are already in place within this group to support you in this role. The district also has many other groups, with plenty of additional support, resources and experience on hand.

For more information please email [removed from archive version].

Amazing Archives, Artefacts and Exhibitions

Deb Ollman

I guess there are a lot of people in the village who don’t really know much about Tackley Local History Group. You might have seen them earnestly digging or slowly field-walking; you might have heard the chatter after one of their evening talks in the village hall; you may even have attended one of their hands-on pottery days and got stuck into shaping genuine Tackley clay… but other than that it’s not really for you…

Well, maybe it’s time to have a closer look.

At a point when our environment is going through another period of change in its ongoing history and we are about to welcome many more people into our community, perhaps it’s fitting to learn about and celebrate all the other changes that have happened in the past 12,000 years!

For children being raised in the village, the new housing developments will become their reality — and some of our current memories will be lost. This is simply a new chapter in the ever-changing life of a much-loved place to call home. But isn’t it comforting that a little piece of Tackley’s history is saved and cherished to inform future generations of the lives lived here.

All items we hold are catalogued and you can now access the catalogue via our website. All artefacts are available to look at in person if you are interested: browse the actual Tackley School register from the 1850s, thumb through the Tackley Youth Club scrapbook, discover our Tackley ghost, find out about the Gardiner Arms Slate Club or read up on the Gardiner family.

We also record historical finds that have been discovered and kept by individuals in the village. So, if you are lucky enough to find a Roman brooch, a Civil War cannonball, a silver-plated Celtic coin or a seventeenth century clay pipe, let us know. We can help identify objects and give advice.

Membership of Tackley Local History Group is only £10 per year and includes access to our talks, projects and events. Talks are varied and interesting and aimed at a general audience (suitable for older children too). They are held monthly on Monday nights in the village hall, with tea and coffee beforehand and a glass of wine after. Non-members are very welcome at £5 per meeting.

If you can’t make the talks on a Monday evening, why not buy a copy of the Tackley Through Time book – £8 from the village shop – and read up on the way our village developed and survived through the ages. It’s a fascinating and easily-digested summary from prehistoric times to the modern day.

And if you haven’t yet visited the Tackley Through Time exhibition in St Nicholas’ Church, try and get there! On show are lots of genuine artefacts to browse at leisure and a great display board providing the historical context and further information. It’s open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

Tackley Local History Group is here for us all. Please do join in.

Contact Deb Ollman for further details about archives, artefacts and exhibitions on [removed from archive version].

For membership contact Sue Ashton on [removed from archive version].

Find us on Facebook and at tackleyhistory.org.uk.

Name That Field

John Perkins

Jobs Baulk, Upper Lizard Ground, Sixty Low, South Sweeting Tree, Furzy Bottom, Puppys Parlour. These are all names of fields in Tackley as recorded in a map of 1844. All the hundred or so fields in the village had, and still have, names that have evolved over the centuries.

The history group is going to make available copies of the map which measures 22 inches by 17 inches. For further details, including price, and to order copies please contact Deb Ollman on [removed from archive version].

Roman Mosaic

John Perkins

Three mosaic floors were laid in the Street Farm Roman villa in the late third and early fourth century AD during the final phase of its rebuilding. Two were destroyed by ploughing. The other, which measures about five by five metres, has also suffered modern agricultural damage – a central strip approximately a metre wide is missing – but it is an impressive reminder of Tackley’s Roman past. It is solely geometric in design and made up of thousands of red (terra cotta) and white (limestone) tiles, and was probably made by craftsmen from Cirencester (Roman Corinium).

In June 2018 Deanfield Homes, the developer of the Street Farm housing site, offered the mosaic to the village.

In July the parish council set up a subcommittee made up of councillors and members of the local history group to take the project forward and to assess the feasibility of accepting the mosaic. The committee has looked at: local interest and support; benefits to the village; ownership; conservation and protection; a building and its location; display and interpretation; maintenance and security; costs; sources of funding; and timescale.

The committee has submitted its report to the council and recommends that the village accepts the mosaic, that it should be housed in a specially-designed building on the edge of the playing field, and that funding for it should be sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund, other public bodies, charities and companies.

The council will be considering the report at its meeting on Monday, 15 April. The full feasibility study is on display in the village hall coffee shop and is available on the history group website.

The only other mosaic readily accessible to the public in Oxfordshire is in the Roman villa at North Leigh, although it is poorly housed, presented and interpreted. Only a few communities in the country are the sites of or owners of Roman mosaics.

This is a unique opportunity for Tackley to acquire an important part of our heritage and to place it at the heart of our community and history.

Gardiner Arms

Martin Perrin

Easter Sunday on 21 April will mark exactly two-and-a-half years since Jackie and I reopened the Gardiner Arms. It has been a great period in our lives. Establishing your village pub as what is now a viable business; putting the pub on the local map as a live music venue with regular music nights; our own beers Tackley Bitter and Tackley Gold; and of course, this year the second annual Tackley Beer & Music Festival, which is an event that we will put on every year.

Pop-Up Pub

We intend to keep this special arrangement going every year in partnership with the village hall. The pub donates 50% of the profits made to the village hall committee. We intend to commence this on Friday, 3 May — we will keep you updated.

Beer & Music Festival

This will take place on 21 and 22 June. It is primarily for the people of Tackley to enjoy every year; family friendly and pet friendly, with free entry for all. There is a big stage, quality sound system, and quality local musicians, many from Tackley itself.

We want everyone from Tackley to attend the event at some time over the weekend, and help make it an event of which the village can be proud. Please put it in your diaries now and come along and join in the fun.

We have all the proper licences and insurance in place, and the music will stop at 11 pm prompt each day.

Upcoming Events

Pool Table

We now have a pool table in the pub. Come and play.

Table Tennis

We have a table tennis evening on Tuesdays from 6 pm to about 8:30 pm. Everyone is welcome — all skill levels.

Village Hall

Les Summers, Vice Chair

Tackley Village Memorial Hall (TVMH) held its AGM on 14 March. Sadly only one member of the public was able to attend. The following matters will be of interest to Tackley people.

Treasurer

After nearly 10 years as TVMH treasurer, Mike Willemite is leaving the village so has indicated his wish to relinquish the post. We are extremely grateful to him for his sterling work.

We now need someone to take over. Anyone with the appropriate skills and who would be interested in doing this is asked, in the first instance, to contact Mike.

Representation

All societies and clubs in the village are entitled to have a representative on the TVMH committee, but very few do. There is a benefit, especially if your organisation is a regular user of the hall. We would welcome people from any such organisation joining us. Please get in touch with the secretary about the dates of meetings.

Upkeep

Residents and others using the hall are asked to remember that it should be left in the condition in which it was found. There have been problems of late, particularly with hirers leaving the kitchen without cleaning up, and interfering with radiators and heating thermostats. If the hall is to serve everyone properly, everyone must use it thoughtfully.

Performance Evening

This event, projected in the last edition of the newsletter, aroused very little interest and has, therefore, been cancelled. Apologies to the few who did express an interest.

Officers

Village Hall Stage

June Collier

It is my civic duty as one of your ‘village elders’ and with much sadness and regret to inform you of the demise of the village hall stage. As of 14 April it will no longer reside in pride of place at the end of the village hall, and will be taken to ‘stage heaven’ — woodworm, spiders and all!

Once alive with folk dancing and bingo callers, skiffle and rock bands, DJs, thespians and even politicians, it has now reached the end of its useful life. The old oak boards will shake no more to the weight of treading feet.

The time has come to remove it and replace it with a portable stage that can be erected when needed and packed away when not.

Back in the summer of 2017 when sitting outside enjoying a glass of something at the Pop-Up Pub I was approached by a couple of village chaps who said ‘if we got rid of that old stage we could play badminton in the village hall’. After all, we are all being encouraged to play more sport and get more active, even those – no, especially those – who are past the first flush of youth. It was emphasised that there are activities for the young but at the time nothing for those who are older. We looked at it, scratched heads, paced out measurements, discussed and considered the job, deliberated the consequences and after a couple more drinks came to the conclusion that the hall was just big enough and the stage should be demolished and removed.

A consultation came about with the committee and the users of the hall. We discovered that all of the hall’s regular users had no use for it and would love the extra space that it would open up for their activities. Research was undertaken and after much deliberation it was decided to get the job done.

This will happen on Sunday, 14 April when a working party will remove the stage in preparation for the floor beneath to be relaid and the whole floor sanded, lined, and repainted.

Help on this day would be very much appreciated, be it labour for removing the boards, a trailer to carry away the wood and the rubbish, and most importantly tea and cake for sustenance whilst the work is being done. Please make contact if you can help with any of the above. And if anyone has any use for the stage when it is taken down, please let us know and be there on the day to take it away.

The hall will be closed from 15 April until 28 April. If you need a meeting space during this time, the Methodist Church is available — contact Jan Grimwood on [removed from archive version].

We hope that once the project is finished villagers, young and older, who would like to play badminton, pickleball, or short tennis – all of which can be played by anyone of any age or ability – will use the facility and we can have regular games. Perhaps, too, another ‘show’ of village talents may be necessary to give the new stage an airing?

Hope to see you on 14 April. Please come and help!

Good Things Come in Threes

John Newton

I can’t remember the last time – if ever – Features screened one genre on three consecutive occasions. However, last month we showed the latest version of A Star is Born, and over the next two, we intend to screen two more music-filled films. All three are laced with nostalgia and will leave you wanting the soundtrack!

As many of you know, Tackley’s own Helen Laughton is running the London marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support. So, whether you have sponsored her already or not, come along in April and enjoy Freddie!, a biopic of the Queen front man.

In May we again support a cancer charity, though I doubt many will have heard of it. ALK Positive was set up because of the belief that lung cancer is self-inflicted. Those found positive with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) include younger people, non-smokers, women and east Asians. Our film successfully reimagines an absolute cinema classic, which originally starred Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke. Nanny is Back casts Emily Blunt as the eponymous nanny who plays her far closer to the original P L Travers book.

At the end of our trilogy we have another film in which music takes a significant part. It is a heartwarming drama set in America’s deep south in the 1960s, and tells the story of a black opera singer and his driver/bodyguard.

All these movies are real crowd-pleasers, so please make a note in your diary and come along on the second Sunday of each month.

Please note that we have had to make changes to our procedures regarding Gift Aid to allow the charity to benefit from your donations. Those attending the screenings who would like to Gift Aid their contribution can only do so on the night by writing a cheque to the charity (payee = the charity).

Thank you and happy viewing.

Methodist Church

Paul Carter

As you will know, Easter moves around from year to year. This is because it is historically related to the Jewish festival of Pesach, or Passover, which is governed by a calendar based on the phase of the moon as well as the sun. This year, Easter is on 21 April and will be celebrated in various ways in our churches. In this, my first year here I’m looking forward to leading worship at the Methodist church at 10:30 that morning.

But before that, we mark Good Friday, the day on which we remember the death of Jesus. The stories of Jesus show him seeking out the shamed, weeping with the weary, healing and forgiving, challenging the powerful and eating and drinking with all kinds of people. It didn’t go down well in polite society. The elite wanted him dead — and, as is often the case for powerful people in society, they got what they wanted and washed their hands of it all. For us Christians, who see God’s way in Jesus, we see his death as the final identification with our humanity: in Jesus we see a love, God’s love, which was willing to accept even death for our sake.

Time and again the story is played out. The people who have power forget why they have it or how they got it and focus their efforts on keeping it. So those who still seek out the shamed, weep with the weary, challenge the powerful and accept all kinds of people and so on — they risk getting pushed out of things. They don’t all get executed, but some of them do. And in smaller ways we all have to accept that choosing a way based on the love we see as coming from God can be risky.

But at Easter we celebrate that Jesus lives on, strange though that may seem. And, of course, it is strange. I used to think of Lent as being a season of preparation for Easter, but now I’m not sure anything can prepare for Easter. It’s a weird set of stories which challenge us to work out what they might mean for our lives.

We Christians see God’s way in Jesus. And so, first thing in the morning on Easter Day, afterwards in our different churches and, in fact, all though our lives, we Christians celebrate the fullness of life we find in the life, death, and living on of one man who chose to make a stand. In things large and small the laying down of power by the powerful can, in strange and surprising ways, bring new life to those who never thought they would have a chance. It’s a revolutionary message, but ultimately a message that love is what lasts.

St Nicholas’ Church

Rev Marcus Green

Christ is risen! From all at St Nicholas’ church, may I wish everyone in the village a very happy Easter indeed!

Easter falls about as late as it can this year – 21 April – so hopefully everyone will be back from breaks away and ready for the term ahead, and we’ll have a full church, as last year, to celebrate this most glorious day.

But what does it mean?

Oh, it’s just a celebration of the spring; it’s about life returning after winter; it’s the Church trying to pinch pagan rituals… I hear all these things and smile. For sure, early Christians were pretty good at hearing the songs around them and singing different words to the same tunes, but Easter has always been something else entirely. The English word has a chequered history, but in many countries (from France, Pâques, to Wales, Pasg) the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection during the Jewish feast of Passover remains clear in the festival’s name.

And why such a fixation on that part of the Jesus story?

Because being a Christian is never simply about being a ‘good person’, whatever that might mean. It’s about realising how imperfect we are as human beings, and yet how loved. So loved that in Jesus we see a God who gives us everything. He even gives away his own life that we might be forgiven. And he rises again to show that God’s love is stronger than death, and will stay with us always.

If you need St Nicholas’ to be a place with perfect people who always agree and have perfect lives, I’m afraid we really aren’t the church for you! But if you long for a place where real people, with real differences and real lives, come together to find a God who loves us and gives us hope, then do come and join us – any Sunday – but especially at 10:30 am on Easter Sunday as we celebrate the joy, the gift, the wonder of God’s life and love in the risen Lord Jesus.

Please note the time, and that this will be our morning service for April. We will return to 9:30 am on the last Sunday of the month in May.

And if you’d like to spend an hour or two preparing for that, we have Rev Clare Hayns from Christ Church Oxford in the benefice during Holy Week just ahead of Easter. Clare will be with us at Tackley on Maundy Thursday evening, Steeple Aston on Good Friday afternoon, and North Aston on Holy Saturday evening. See the services rota for full details.

Finally, may I invite you to our annual church meeting following the evening service on Sunday, 7 April. Only church electoral roll members can vote for parochial church council members or on any issues raised, but we would like to welcome everyone to attend. God’s love is not just for people on the church electoral roll but for all of us; as rector it is always my full intention to welcome anyone who wants to come along and see what happens in church life, and to pray with us. Everyone in Tackley is invited to be a part of this journey of love and hope.

Clow Cottages

Thank you to everyone who has been so patient during the building work at 54 Nethercote Road.

As I write, I am promised that the parochial church council will be handed the keys to 1, 2 and 3 Clow Cottages during the last week of March. Thomas Merrifield is acting as our agent, both for selling numbers 2 and 3 and for letting number 1, so please do have a look at their website if you know anyone who might be interested in buying or renting.

The PCC and I are very grateful to all the help that we have received, and all the kindness people have shown during the build period. We very much hope that now the cottages are finished they will provide wonderful homes for people in our village and be a real asset to our whole community.

We particularly hope that Bob would love them, and are delighted that through them his name and his legacy will live on in Tackley for very many years to come.

Walking Group

Linda Birch

Meet at Tackley Village Hall at 10 am 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.

Our AGM will be on Wednesday, 8 May at 2 pm at Linda Birch’s home. All are welcome to review the past year and to plan future walks.

Gardening Club

Mary Lee

Hello Tackley gardeners! We’ve had a lovely spring so far, but don’t get fooled into putting plants and seeds out too early; we can still have some very cold weather and frost!

Our next meeting is a return trip to Batsford Arboretum on Friday, 26 April. Hopefully it will be full of blossom and spring colour.

On Sunday, 19 May we will be holding our annual plant and table-top sale. Tables will be available at £5 each. Look out for more details nearer the time.

On Tuesday, 21 May we have our normal meeting in the village hall, featuring ‘The Cactus Man’.

Everyone is welcome to join us — guests for £2 each, or annual membership is available. Come and see what we do and how to improve your garden this summer.

Litter Pickers

Judy Robson

There was a wonderful turnout for our delayed-by-the-snow litter pick on Saturday, 2 March. A big thank-you to all those who came to help, and a warm welcome to the newcomers who joined us that day. We hadn’t been out since November and this was reflected in the amount of litter collected.

The PALs are making a difference to the roads and verges in and around Tackley and it is very noticeable, particularly when you compare the surrounding areas.

Our next litter pick is scheduled for Saturday, 27 April (to avoid the May bank holiday) meeting at Tackley Village Hall at 10:30 am, with a cuppa in the cafe at the rear of the shop when we have finished. We hope to see you all again plus any more newcomers who would like to join us.

Memorial Plaque

Irene Hutchinson

I would like to thank Mr Holland-Oakes for donating the plaque marking the loss of the brave men of Tackley who died in both world wars, which is displayed at the memorial hall for all to see.

The dedication, the silence at 11 am and the following service inside the hall on 11 November 2018 were deeply moving.