Repair Café. Our next Repair Cafe will be in Blewbury Village Hall on Sun 25 Feb from 2 to 4 pm. You can get free repairs to many items: electronic gadgets, mechanical items including bicycles, toys and furniture, clothing and textiles, and tool sharpening. In fact, if it is broken we will have a go at fixing it! And our cafe will be serving delicious cakes. Donations towards costs welcome.

Don’t forget: Talk on space-based solar power, Mon 29 Jan 8pm Melland Room

Nature Reserve. There is evidence of small birds, maybe wrens, roosting in the bug hotel around the notice board. Look for signs of bird poo! And a common orange peel fungus was seen on the path over towards the orchard area, by Glen Meadows, at a recent work morning. During this, we were working on the hedging plants to give them more space and to fill gaps, as well as manually levelling some of the paths. If you would like to help, our next volunteering sessions are Sat 10 Feb and Sat 9 Mar from 1000 to noon. Come and meet some new people and find out more about the reserve. Contact secretary@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk for more information.

Getting involved in Sustainable Blewbury can contribute to the village and its environment. To participate, or to receive our free bi-monthly Newsletter, email us at info@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk or phone 850372.

So you’re interested in Shakespeare? (Well, the picture obviously caught your attention…) Or maybe, ever since school, you hate him and all his works? Fair enough. What I want to know is: if you love him, would you welcome an opportunity to get to know him better? And if you hate him, would you be willing to give him one more try? I only ask because I’m kind of astonished at the number of people who turn up for my talks on the various Shakespeare plays that the Players have put on over the years, and I’m wondering whether there’s an appetite for some kind of local Shakespeare group that might take things to the next level.

What is the next level? You tell me. It could be:

• Talks on Shakespeare – any aspect you like. (That would probably mean more of me to start with, but if we can get some momentum going it might also mean actual professional scholars/actors/directors who can be persuaded to do something not-too-academic for the price of a nice meal.)
• Group trips to Stratford to see shows or visit the houses where Shakespeare and his family lived
• Similar trips to London for theatres and historic Shakespearean locations
• Events focusing on current GCSE/A level set texts
• Shakespeare-themed, sack-fuelled annual dinners
• All or none of the above

If this sounds in any way your cup of tea, please call me on 851055 or email me at editor@blewbury.co.uk with (preferably) some specific thing you’d like to see or hear or do, or just a general ‘might be interested’. Shakespeare, to me, is an inexhaustible mine of miracles and wonder, so it would be good to find people who might want to do some more digging!  Thanks for reading.  Chris Whatmore

Our next monthly meeting is Wednesday 28 February at 7.30 in the Vale room.

We will hear about “Six warrior women of the English wars.” This talk will cover the three Civil Wars of the 1640s and the position of women at the time. These women were not meek bystanders who took no part in the conflict but actively participated in a variety of ways, challenging the orthodoxies of their day and perhaps our own preconceptions. They undertook spying missions and negotiated deals with politicians. It also touches briefly upon cross-dressing soldiers; widows seeking compensation from Parliament and political activists. Wow!

We have welcomed a number of new members recently, Blewbury WI goes from strength to strength. Just give it a try! Come as a visitor – no commitment – see if you fancy it. If you’d like to come along with someone else or find out more, ring our Secretary, Joy, on 850543 or email blewburywi@gmail.com.

Calendar of events

Happy New Year to everyone!

Our Wessex League team have scored another good win and so, with one more match to play, we lie second in Division 2 of the League. February dates for Realbridge sessions will be:

Blewbury – 1st, 15th, 29th (its a Leap Year!)   Wantage – 8th, 22nd.

We hope to have sufficient participants to run Social Bridge sessions on Feb 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd. Michael Allen 851870

The tradition of ringing out the old and ringing in the new continued this year as we welcomed 2024.

Bell ringing is not only about ringing bells; there are also the social events. Our annual ringer’s dinner on twelfth night in the village hall was one such social event, thank you to Sheila Austin and Creative Catering for a fabulous meal…so good we’ve already booked Sheila for next year!

Rob Nickless’s Benefice Outing, which has now become an annual January event, combines both ringing and social. This year there were three guest towers in the morning (Chalgrove, Berrick Salome and Benson) followed by North Moreton. A big thank you to Jo Nickless and all her helpers for lunch in North Moreton Village Hall. Afternoon ringing continued at East Hagbourne, Blewbury and Aston Tirrold before an evening meal at The Red Lion in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. The day was enjoyed by all those who attended and several people have commented on how lovely the bells sounded in Blewbury that day.

January seems to be disappearing fast and with Easter occurring at the end of March it won’t be too long before our intrepid ducks are getting ready for the annual Duck Race. More details in the next Bulletin.

DIY for beginners: We were delighted to welcome back the DIY beginners who moved on from drilling and fixing last November to ‘saws and cutting’. Some have their own woodwork projects they want to get on with so now intend to join BlewShed to complete them with full workshop facilities and expert help if needed. Topic and dates of next DIY for Beginners workshops to be announced soon.

Community Projects:  Servicing and repair of the first section of the cricket club’s mower is almost complete and awaiting the return of its cutter from the sharpening specialists. Two more sections to go…

BlewShed products: Over the winter we have been busy expanding our product range to include bat boxes, rustic garden trays and boot pullers using recycled pallets from Savages and used horseshoes from village farrier Ian Belcher. These can be bought and ordered directly from the Shed now and will be available at Savages from March.

Meetings: Members tried their hand at wood carving, very successfully, thanks in part to a recent donation by Salli Baker of her grandfather’s wood working tools, including wood carving gouges. Our next meeting will be a presentation of metal detector finds by BlewShed member and detectorist Robert Keyes. His collection of items from battles through the ages sounds especially interesting. Date: Tuesday 13th February, 7.30pm. All welcome, you don’t need to be a member.

Outdoor storage space needed:  with membership increasing rapidly and materials for Shed projects stocking up, we are in urgent need of somewhere to store things outdoors as the Shed indoor space is very limited. If you have, or know of, an unwanted shed, storage box or panels that could be assembled into one please let us know. You can leave a message on the website or pop in when we’re open.

Opening times and membership: BlewShed opening times: Tuesday and Saturday afternoons 1.30-4.00 pm and Thursday afternoons 2.00-4pm for electronics sessions, non-dusty work and a chat.

BlewShed annual individual membership subs are £25, or £37.50 for a family, which includes expert advice from members and use of a well-equipped metal, wood and electronic workshop. BlewShed aims to help or facilitate people to learn how to do various woodwork, metalwork and other practical tasks themselves, so come along and learn some new skills, or just have cuppa and chat.

Everyone is welcome to club night meetings on the second Tuesday of the month. We look forward to seeing you.

Mike Wrottesley, BlewShed secretary https://blewshed.home.blog/news/