Village News

Modern-day Almshouse

01/04/2023

Find out how you can invest in a modern-day alms house for our community – 7–8 pm on Wednesday, 19 April at the Vale Room in Blewbury Village Hall

If you are looking for a genuinely good investment opportunity that will also help a family in need, don’t miss this event hosted by Blewbury Resettlement Support Team (ReST). Your support has helped ReST achieve our initial funding target to help a refugee family start a new life as part of our community. However, we have yet to find a suitable house to rent that would allow us to welcome a family in need.

We’re also very aware that many people are also struggling to find a home in these challenging times. With this in mind, we are exploring an investment opportunity that would allow us to buy a house in Blewbury. For the first 2-3 years this would house a refugee family, but thereafter it could be offered at an affordable rent to any local family in need. A modern-day alms house, funded by the local community…

At the meeting, we will hear from Homes With Purpose (www.homeswithpurpose.org), an Oxford charity which has bought and rented out six homes in the city using the same model that ReST proposes to use. There will also be ample opportunity to ask questions over drinks and nibbles.

To find out more ahead of the event, or to register your interest, please email lydandmuz@gmail.com.

Outdoor Table Tennis

Just in the last few days our brand new top quality outdoor table tennis table has been delivered, constructed and installed on Tickers Folly Field. Huge thanks to the District Council, who gave it to us, to the Parish Council, who brokered the deal, and to all who helped in different ways with this exciting venture – especially Mark Shayler, who did the groundwork and put in the concrete base and playing area.

The table is there now 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for anyone to go to play on it (although we don’t yet have floodlights installed!). Some tips for first time users are to take a cloth or old towel with you to wipe down the surface as it often gets wet or slightly muddy overnight. Also take your own bats and balls, as there is nowhere there where we can store them. And finally try to choose a time when the wind isn’t too strong! Table tennis is fine as an outdoor game if the conditions are still, but if the wind is strong it can be very difficult to have a good game.

On Saturday April 1^st and 8^th from 2-3pm members of the Blewbury Table Tennis Club will be up there with bats, balls, and coaching advice (if needed), so why not come up and have a go on Blewbury’s new play area? Also if you want to play on our four fabulous indoor tables do join us for our regular Blewbury Table Tennis Club sessions in Blewbury Village Hall every Tuesday from 5-6pm. All standards and ages welcome.

Roger Murphy, Chair, Blewbury Table Tennis Club

New 20 mph village speed limit

21/08/2022

Blewbury’s reduced speed limit of 20 mph came into force on December 19th 2022, together with a number of new street signs and road markings.

The changes do not apply to the A417 (London Road) and the B4019 (Bessels Way), which will retain their existing 30 and 40 mph limits. However, in the light of all the data on speeding vehicles collected by Blewbury Speedwatch, OCC councillor Sally Povlotsky has asked for a safety review of Bessels Way and London Road. Blewbury Parish Council thanks everyone involved in volunteering with Speedwatch.

HM The Queen: Mourning at St Michael’s

09/09/2022

Blewbury Church will be open each day during the period of mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

You are welcome to come in, say a prayer, light a candle and sign the Book of Condolence.

From Brovary to Blewbury

18/05/2022

I want to start my story by talking about my meeting with Andy and Laura Jarvis. Me and my daughter Katrine (aged 6) and my sister Marina and her daughter Nastya (aged 10) escaped from the aggressive and horrible invasion by Russia on Ukraine.

Just before we escaped Ukraine, I wrote a short post about myself and my family on Facebook. Andy and Laura, who wanted to support Ukrainians in these troubling times, saw this post and sent me a message welcoming me and my family to their house together with many photos of their beautiful family. My sister would stay at another lovely home nearby with Miriam and her dog Ruby. When I saw the message and the photos of our future home, I just fell in love with Blewbury.

When we arrived in this beautiful small village, I was very surprised at how many kind and friendly people live here. Everyone was very happy to help us in every situation, including taking us to the bank and to the supermarket. Every person we have met has offered us something different, treating us to burgers at the Beer Festival, croissants and pain au chocolates, sweets for the children, candles, chairs, flowers, clothes for the children, English lessons and above all the possibility for us to feel safe and happy.

A week after we arrived in Blewbury, our children started in the school where they began to learn English and immediately felt more at home in their new environment. They have made many new friends and are beginning to enjoy their new lives in Blewbury.

Blewbury is beautiful, with many lovely old houses, delightful views of the countryside, wonderful people, horses, rabbits, red kites and squirrels! Everybody takes care of their gardens, this is one of the reasons why this village is so comfortable, cosy and welcoming.

In time, I think that Blewbury will become like a second home for me, my family and every Ukrainian refugee that comes here. I want to say a big thank you from the bottom of my heart, to everyone that has supported and continues to support Ukraine and our people.

From Hanna and my family, with love.

Photo: Hanna, Marina, Kartine, Nastya and baskets of Ukrainian bread

New nature reserve and woodland

25/08/2022

Nature reserve – Sustainable Blewbury’s negotiations with Thames Water to convert the old sewage works site, at the end of the concrete path going north from the Village Hall, to a nature reserve have progressed well and we are now expecting work to commence in autumn. This first stage will be carried out by Thames Water contractors and when the work is complete, hopefully in early spring, we will be calling for volunteers to help manage the site. Before then we plan a full project launch with a presentation of what to expect on completion.

Woodland – On the way to that site is the field that was once the Quaker burial ground. The owner, in an act of very great generosity, is planning that SB should take it over to create a woodland for the benefit of the village and to assist the national campaign to increase tree cover in the fight against climate change. This project will need a lot of input from the village in terms of both hard physical labour and financial support. Planning is well underway and we hope to present our ideas in September. John Ogden, Chair, Sustainable Blewbury

Blewbury Art Project

Calling all local artists… An exciting new art project for Blewbury!

We have a grant from the Vale of White Horse District Council for a village art project. Initially linked to the village hall refurbishment, this one-off commission now has a wider remit – to celebrate our village and all that makes it a special place to live. It will be sited on a public open space in Blewbury.

We are seeking a local artist to lead on this opportunity, and will favour applicants who can demonstrate how they will involve the community in their design. The artwork could be in any medium or material – as long as it is durable and reasonably easy to maintain – and could celebrate any feature or aspect of the village, from historic architecture to chalk streams, downland views to atomic energy!

Interested artists should contact lisashayler@aol.com for an email copy of the brief. A paper copy can be provided if required. The brief details the application process, including how to submit your ‘expression of interest’ in time for the deadline of 17^th October. The Blewbury Art Project steering group – made up of artists, villagers and PC reps – will then shortlist applicants to discuss their ideas, before appointing the winning artist. We hope to install the new artwork during next spring/summer, and can’t wait to see your ideas…

Blewbury Art Project Steering Group
(photo is to show we have talent in the village!)

Community Speedwatch

31/07/2022

We have made great progress but there is still more to do about traffic speeding in our community.

We understand that Blewbury Parish Council (BPC) has applied for a 20 mph speed limit within the internal roads in the village to be effective from September 2022. Great news for pedestrians, cyclists horse riders, in fact all road users.

Over the 100 sessions that we have completed, we have created evidence to support the Village Plan 2016, which identified the crossings on Bessels Way to Blewburton Hill, and the London Road to Tickers Folly Field and the Play area as being ‘hot spots’ requiring traffic calming measures.

Meetings are being held by BPC and Highways to come up with some suggestions that we can implement in the future. We still need to collate statistics so if you can spare an hour or two, once a month please join the group. If you would like to join us, here’s what to do:

Type https://www.communityspeedwatch.orginto a web browser.
Click on the [Register]
Then to the left, click on [Join Existing Group].
Choose [Thames Valley]from the pull down and click [Continue].
Choose [Oxfordshire]from the pull down and click [Continue].
Now choose [Didcot Blewbury Speedwatch Group]from the pull down menu and click [Continue].
Finally complete their details in the registration form and follow the emailed instructions.

If you would like more information please contact Jill Ingoldby on jingoldby@btinternet.com, or come and talk to us when you see us in action.

Savages: Now delivering to Poland and Ukraine!

18/05/2022

Thank you to everyone who supported us on our trip to Poland, transporting aid to the Ukrainian border.

The journey was long but ‘Thunderbird One’ got us there and back safely. It was very rewarding and an experience we will never forget – we’re hoping to return again soon! We got to meet some amazing people and see the work they’re doing to help refugees with shelter, food, clothes, support and so much more. The aid we took was distributed between two refugee centres, which we visited, and also taken into Ukraine to reach those still there.

We would like to extend our thanks to the local community who have been extremely generous and supportive of the journey, we cannot thank you enough.

Emily Savage and Dave Huett

Jordi joins Team GB

Blewbury A-level student Jordi Hart was selected to join the national team for the UCI Downhill World Cup at Fort William, Scotland, on 21st-22nd May, despite not living near any mountains!

Unfortunately, the event was something of a washout – literally! The weather went from very bad to cataclysmic, which left all the riders sitting in the wind and rain at the top of the mountain for about an hour. Many riders, including Jordi, also had to repeat their race following a big crash by a rider from the USA. In the end, an exhausted Jordi finished 33rd out of 60. Still, this is what downhill mountain biking is all about! It is an extreme sport that requires immense skill and precision, as well as no fear.

Jordi has shown he has what it takes: he started racing bicycles at the age of 6 in the form of BMX racing. He was selected to race for Great Britain at the age of 7 at the World BMX Championships, and by the time he was 11 he had received financial support from Blewbury’s Tony Loy Trust to help develop his talent. At 13, he changed sports to Mountain Biking and quickly excelled. However, not all was straightforward for him: two years later, he suffered from Osgood Schlatter disease which affected his ability to train and ride bikes for long stints. But in 2022, with his knees getting better, he made a podium in his first race.

Next up in Jordi’s ring calendar: the British National in Llangollen, Wales, and then the UCI IXS European Downhill Cup in Austria.

After attending Blewbury pre-school and primary school, Jordi now studies at the Downs School in Compton and has a keen interest in Aerospace Engineering. He is fully funded by his parents, therefore any support is welcome. Just call me on 07795 807243 or email me at ebaracing@gmail.com. Gareth Hart