The Maple Tree

From Coordinator Hayley Hayle

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many families who have supported us throughout 2019 including the 200 lucky dippers at Wheatley Christmas Street Fayre, the 50 families who came along to our Christmas crafting event, the 30 families who supported Wheatley Scouts and ourselves by buying Christmas Trees, the congregation of St Bartholomew’s Church who arranged a collection for us during their Carol service and the many people who regularly put their loose change into one of our many collection tins scattered around the area. 

“Afternoon Tea with Marcus and Mary Braybrooke”

- a biography: A Review by Veronica Sandilands

In the Baldons and Nuneham Courtenay you have raised a fantastic amount of £1,129.24.  My grateful thanks to everyone who gave to this very worthy appeal, without your support we could not have achieved this amount of money. 

If you are a European Union citizen living or working in the UK, you might be wondering what will happen when the United Kingdom leaves the EU and what you should do so that you have the right to remain in this country.

From 15th December I will have wild winter wreaths available to buy from the garden gate. 

VISIT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY AND SEE WHAT WE HAVE ON OFFER

Could you spare a couple of hours a month to help run this newsletter?

For most of the last decade, Sheila Harris has coordinated the advertising for the newsletter.  This is a critical role, as without the income from advertising, it would be difficult to provide the newsletter for free to every household, so we are immensely grateful to Sheila for all her work.

She now wishes to pass this role to someone else, so we are looking for someone who could take over in the New Year.  

Could you spare a couple of hours a month to help run the parish newsletter?

For most of the last decade, Sheila Harris has coordinated the advertising for the newsletter.  This is a critical role, as without the income from advertising, it would be difficult to provide the newsletter for free to every household, so we are immensely grateful to Sheila for all her work.

She now wishes to pass this role to someone else, so we are looking for someone who could take over in the New Year.  

Thank you to everybody that either donated to, or bid on our Silent Auction, we made a staggering £3,000.  This will enormously help with our running costs. 

The Trustees would like to thank John Wright and Ray Claridge for the service they gave to the charity over the many years they served as trustees. Both retired this year.

Your local Citizens Advice is launching its annual initiative to help people in financial need who find it hard to pay their energy bills.  The project, called the Energy Advice Programme (EAP), is going live throughout Oxfordshire South and Vale from October to March 2020. It includes comprehensive steps to help people who have to spend a significant proportion of their income on fuel bills.

We regret to announce that after more than six successful years, Matt has decided he will be calling time on his stewardship of the Seven Stars.

Oxford to Cambridge Expressway/Motorway Update
July 2019
 
This autumn, Highways England will announce the specific routes they will be considering for their Motorway/Expressway.  In this update, we report on recent relevant news events and also on action you can be taking in advance of the autumn announceme

Let there be light
The Seven Stars gets a generator

Fed up of having to huddle over a candle every time we have a power cut in the villages?

Now when we’re plunged into darkness you can simply head to the Seven Stars for hot food, light, WiFi, power sockets and a warm welcome.

The Maple Tree

by Hayley Hayle, Maple Tree Co-ordinator                                            

If you haven’t previously heard of us, we are a community charity based in Wheatley aiming to replace some universal services that were lost when local Children’s Centres closed in 2017.  We serve families from Wheatley and surrounding villages, including the Baldons and Nuneham Courtenay.

Would you like to contribute to the success of our community pub, or have more say in the BNCS committee? Now’s your chance. The pub committee warmly welcomes new members and will be holding an AGM in the summer, when potential committee members can stand for election.

Nominations to begin before 3rd April please

Urgent!

Are you already a shareholder? Want to be one?

SODC has issued a revised local plan.  You have until 18th February to reply.  You can do this online here.

A copy of the SODC Local Plan 2034 briefing presentation can be found in the Document Archive section of the local politics.

SODC have published their updated Local Plan for 2034.  In the letter, received from the Head of Planning at SODC, there are a number of meetings for the general public to hear about the plan and to ask questions.

Comments about the plan can be made online using the links below or by collecting a comment form from one of the meetings.  Deadline for comments is 5pm on 18th February 2019

Oxfordshire County Council have developed a new web site which provides a comprehensive database of support services and help and advice available in Oxfordshire.    

Yoga is on most Monday evenings at 7:30 pm.  

The Seven Stars is a community-owned asset in the heart of our villages. 

Citizens Advice offers haven for "hate crime” victims 

An Update

We are sad to announce the death on 25th July of Nina Wells, a much-loved villager over many years. 

We are sad to announce the death of Nicola Barclay-Watt, who lived in Marsh Baldon until recently.

Many in the Village will remember Carrie and Ollie, who ran the Seven Stars in 2012. We have recently heard of Carrie's tragic death

The Expressway Action Group now has has in excess of 35 parishes involved including the Baldons Parish Council  The steering group lead by Peter Rutt has  Elizabeth Gillespie  Dawn McGiveron and John Clark as members  and the group is a stakeholder  representing the various villages and providing information to support the evaluation of the route option  The group are not opposing the road in principle but by providing information on biodiversity and ecology and the views of local communities aim to help  Highways England  make the best possible evaluation of the scheme taking account of ,practicalities problems a and costs , we still hope to provide enough information to ensure that the recommended route goes north and west of Oxford.

Baldons Neighbourhood Plan

An Expressway action group, EAG, has been set up by Cuddesdon Parish Council and there are  in excess of 17 parishes from Radley and the Wittenhams to Wheatley involved with the group.

SODC is now consulting on the final version of its local plan prior to its submission to the Planning Inspectorate and public enquiry in 2018.

The defibrillator is now installed.

The Grenoble Road Development is still a threat

Protection of The Green Belt is still a live issue

An update

Cakes and Bottles for Baldon Feast

Nature gets everywhere; we need to learn to start appreciating it in as many ways as is possible.

Subsidised Bus services

Oxfordshire County Council have confirmed that in order to implement the previously announced  savings targets, they have agreed to withdraw all rural bus service subsidies from 20^th July. 

We have been informed by Oxfordshire County Council that due to reorganisation the Mobile Library will visit the village on a Wednesday from 14.00 -14 30hrs from Week commencing11th April.  

Everybody is invited to participate in this vital project

You have probably seen the dreadful images of thousands of refugees. These people have lost everything: their homes, their possessions, often their families. They need our help. 

The 50th memorial of the Baldons’ Air Crash was held on 5th July. A record number of people attended the service, some from as far away as Perth and Auckland. We think we had around 300 people at the service

The new Baldons Parish Council website has been launched.

The new website includes lots of information about the Parish Council and the local area. Read on to find out more...

This stunning Sheaf of Corn bread was made by Caddy Attewill, using flour from Parsonage Farm. 

Clifton Hampden Patient Participation Group (PPG) organised a lovely concert on 26^th October by kind permission of our local church.