Brize Norton Parish Council Newsletter

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Here is the text from the September 2011 Newsletter Published here with permission of the Parish Council.

Repatriation

The repatriation of Sergeant Barry John Weston
42 Commando Royal Marines

Will take place on Thursday 8th September 2011.

Sergeant Weston was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on the 30th August 2011.

We offer our condolences to Mrs Joanne Weston, her three daughters Jasmine, Poppy and Rose and to all of the family and friends.

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

The Repatriation of Sgt Barry Weston will take place on the 8th September 2011. The cortege is expected to depart RAF Brize Norton at approximately 5PM.  It must be noted that this timing is entirely dependant on the length of time the relatives of the deceased wish to spend in the Chapel of Rest at RAF Brize Norton.

The cortege will pass through the village via Station Road, Carterton Road, Norton Way and Monahan Way and the B4477 before joining the A40 to Oxford.

Various traffic regulations/conditions have been placed along on the cortege route. There will be parking restrictions on Station Road, Carterton Road and Norton Way all within the parish of Brize Norton. An alternative route for through traffic will operate via Lew/Curbridge.

These roads will be closed just prior to the cortege leaving RAF Brize Norton as it exits via the Britannia Gate at the Southern end of the village and enters Norton Way on the Western side of the Parish. Thames Valley Police motor cyclists will escort the cortege.

The cortege will stop in Norton Way, Brize Norton at the new Memorial Garden where relatives, Royal British Legion, other representative Standard Bearers and members of the public may gather to show their respects.

There are three web-sites carrying detailed information on repatriations the Royal British Legion at www.britishlegion.org.uk/counties/oxfordshire/repatriations/rbl-statement. Oxfordshire County Council can be found at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/repatriations and the Royal Marine Association at www.rmarepatnetwork.org.

Businesses in the parish will be open as normal on repatriation days. This includes the Post Office operating out of the Sports Pavilion.

It is intended to close the Elderbank Hall Car Park at certain times to ensure it is available for the Pre-School and Primary School pick up of children.

This detail is based on the information/situation as known. Until we have experienced a repatriation ceremony it is difficult to estimate how many people will arrive to show their respects or how the infrastructure will cope. The situation will be under constant review. If you have concerns regarding traffic issues please submit in writing to Oxfordshire County Council with a copy to the Parish Clerk, Brize Norton.

Carterton Expansion

The next stage of the ongoing saga of the Carterton expansion will be on the 14th September 2011.

West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) will hold a meeting where members of the public, developers, and town and parish councils can represent their views to the full chamber of WODC councillors. The opportunity to speak is open to those that have responded to previous requests for comment on the LDF Core Strategy. It should be noted no decisions will be taken at this meeting. It is an opportunity for all WODC councillors to hear and assess the views of all interested parties.

The Parish Council will be represented and it is understood that there are other parishioners who have indicated their desire to speak at this meeting. This is an important stage in the procedure and although no decisions will be made at this meeting it is the last chance to influence the WODC councillors.
Decisions on the housing development plans for West Oxfordshire are expected to be made later in the year.

ST BRITIUS CHURCH

Our Harvest Festival celebration will take place at the Family Service on Sunday 2nd October at 9.15 am. All harvest gifts brought to church will be combined with the children's gifts at school and taken to The Porch Steppin' Stone Centre which helps the homeless in Oxford.

If you haven't been to church recently, why not join us on Sunday 6th November for "Back to Church" Sunday. It is a family service at 9.15 am to celebrate our Patronal Festival for Saint Britius day. This was a very popular service last year and again we will be inviting all couples who have recently married, and families whose children have been baptised at St Britius to join us, and everyone else who would like to come. There will be refreshments afterwards including mulled wine.

The Service of Remembrance will take place on Sunday 13th November at 10 am with the wreath laying at the War Memorial at 11 am.

On repatriation days the church will be open for quiet prayer and the office bell rung as the cortege(s) pass by.

FRIENDS OF ST BRITIUS

The "Stop the drips at St Brits" roof appeal continues apace. Thanks to everyone who has organised and supported the many events including Opera in the Garden which raised £1,251 and St Brits Ball £2,526. We are very grateful to Foxbury Farm for allowing us to collect the gate money, which was shared with RABI at their Open Day.

The investigative studies with timber experts etc., have taken place and confirm the state of the roof is as originally thought before fund raising started. We have enough monies to do phase 1 (north face of the roof and both faces of the chancel) and are working towards phase 2 (south face of the nave and the porch) with grant applications and current fund raising efforts being allocated to this phase.

Please look out for details of and support the following events:

• Ride and Stride on Saturday 10th September
• Pudding Night on Saturday 19th November at the Elderbank Hall
• Golf Tournament - date and venue to be announced

Our website for the roof fund is www.brizenorton.org.uk/stbritiusroof

BRIZE NORTON SPORTS & SOCIAL CLUB

After many years of discussion, planning and waiting the new BN Sports & Social Club have finally taken over the responsibility of the running of the Sports Pavilion on the Recreation Ground, Brize Norton.

The hope of the club is to improve both the sporting and social life of the village. The Post Office will still be open for business and the Parish Council will still hold their meetings in the Pavilion. Those who have recently visited the pavilion will have noticed a cleaner and re-decorated hall and kitchen. There is still plenty of work to do and the BNS&SC committee are planning the next stage of improvements.

To help celebrate the new Sports and Social Club we are organising a Sunday afternoon 'Horse Racing on the Rec' event. This will be on 11th September 2011 starting at 3.00pm. All the family are welcome to come along and have a great afternoon's entertainment. There will be eight races, chances to bet (tote), quality beer and good food.

You can buy a horse for £5.00 which gives you a chance to be a jockey and a winning owner, (cash prizes for winning owner!) For those of you who would like to help raise even more funds a race sponsorship is £40. This will include having the race named after you (or your company) plus a horse in that race. You can bring your own publicity if you wish.

We shall be producing a programme of events so please do let me know if you are interested in owning a horse or sponsoring a race as soon as possible.

This will be an outside event so will be dependent on the good old British weather, I am sure the sun will shine all day.

We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday 11th. For further information please do get in contact.

THE ANNUAL FETE AND CRICKET

Another very successful village day. This annual event, run in conjunction with the Horticultural Show, proved to be a rather chilly one but the good spirit on the players and visitors soon warmed everyone up.

The proceedings started at 10.30am and went through to the finals which finished around 6.00pm. The main final was contested between the Jim Bolton side and Jon Curtis team, with Jim's team just squeezing home with a couple of balls remaining. The winners of the Consolation Cup was the Phil Tyrell team who beat Vernon Calcutt's team. Congratulations to all the winners. And many thanks to all who turned up and keep supporting this village event. A special thank you to all those people who helped in making the day such a success.

Look forward to seeing you next year.

Tim Gush
Painswick House, Brize Norton
01993 846730 (home) 01993 846446 (work)

BRIZE NORTON OVER 60's CLUB

We are a small club for village residents. We meet 2.30 - 4.30 at 4 Squires Close.
We had a beautiful day for our visit to Buscot Park but rain came while on our picnic.

Future events are:

• Sept 6th AGM - Shirley Wong to tell us how to avoid accidents in the home
• Sept 20th Trip to Windsor
• Oct 3rd - 7th Weymouth Holiday
• Oct 11th Meeting - Talk on the Cotswold wool trade
• Oct 25th Meal at Wychwood Golf Club
• Nov 8th Meeting - Quiz and games
• Nov 22nd COFFEE MORNING - open to all
• Dec 13th Christmas Dinner at 'The Trout'

Thank you to Benita, June and Connie for our lovely teas.
A happy Christmas to you all.

YOUR VILLAGE POST OFFICE (AT YOUR SERVICE)

Did you know that your village Post Office provides all of the services listed below and lots more?

• Traditional letter and parcel posting including next day deliveries and eBay services.
• Banking - (Cash/Cheque deposits and withdrawal) if you bank with the following banks: Alliance & Leicester (Girobank), Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Cahoot, Clydesdale, Co-op, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society and Smile.
• National Savings & Investment including Premium bonds, Pension bonds and Children Bonus Bonds.
• Bill Payment - Most household bills including BT phone bills can be paid free of fees.
• Foreign currency - generally commission free with 4 days notice.
• Travel Insurance - Inland and overseas (provided on the spot).
• Home Phone - Incentive to transfer your current home telephone service.
• Household Home Insurance - Competitive.
• Car Insurance - There is a £50 cash back on take up.
• Mobile phone Top-up.
• Groceries - limited quantity of snacks and groceries too.

We have an ageing cliental at present and would very much welcome young parents to use our facilities. At a time when the post office network is under considerable threat, we need all the support that we can get. We need everybody using the post office in order to survive.

Michael your postmaster attends the Sports Pavilion on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9.30am and 12.30pm.

Thank you for your continued support.

Michael

BRIZE NORTON HORTICULTURAL SHOW

This year was the 38th Year of the Horticultural Show and we had a bumper crop of entries
this year. It was good to see new people entering for the first time - and winning the classes they entered.

There was fierce competition again for the main cake class with 12 St Clement's cakes being entered this year. Our judge was impressed with the standard of cakes in this class and she
tasted every one - not a bad judging job.

We had more entries in the vegetable section this year than previously which reflects the trend for growing your own. The standard was very good with some unusual exhibits in the 'freak' vegetable class.

We also had a visit from Witney TV and are appearing on their website - www.witneytv.co.uk

The winners of the Cups are

Winners of the John Cambray Cup (Vegetables) are Dave Chapman (1st), Anne Green (2nd) and a tie for third place for Mandy Fyson and Judy Gush

Winners of the Bekstone Rose Bowl (Flowers) are Chris Thorne (1st), Anne Green (2nd) and Roy Henly (3rd)
...

Winners of the Aubrey Smith Plate (Cakes and Preserves) are Anne Green (1st), Barbie Thorne and Peggy Bell (joint 2nd) and Pat Finlayson (3rd)

Winners of the Christine Barnard Cup (Handicrafts and Flower Arranging) are Anne Green (1st), Ann Elsmore (2nd) and in joint third Stuart Finlayson and Jean Butcher.

Thank you all for your entries this year and keep a look out for more news early in 2012 for new classes that may be added.

STEP & CONDITIONING CLASS

Wednesdays 8-9pm at the Elderbank Hall, all levels welcome.
Steph Hill (steph_fitness@hotmail.co.uk 07970831061)

BRIZE NORTON DANCE CLUB

We are on our summer break; the club starts again in September. We dance ballroom, Latin and sequence dances to CDs. We meet Thursday 7.30 - 9.30pm in the hall.

Joy Douglas
842373