On Thursday 4th November, the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Imam Monawar Hussain, made a special award to Karen Foreman and Blewbury Good Neighbours for all the good work they’ve done during the pandemic.

In a ceremony at County Hall, the award was one of 21 presented to individuals and groups throughout the county, chosen from over 60 nominations. Says Karen: “I was delighted to accept the award on behalf of the Blewbury Good Neighbours and the whole village. We’ve all ‘done our bit’, helping with shopping, prescriptions, dog walking, getting newspapers, telephone calls and tech support, along with a million other little things, that kept us all going. Lots of the volunteers have said that helping others was really good for them too: they’ve made new friends and it really helped with their mental health. So thank you to you all, well done, and we’ll keep going, as we’ll all need a helping hand one day!”

Attendees at this year’s Remembrance Sunday gathering at the London Road War Shrine were rewarded with the gift of a beautifully refurbished commemorative stone.

In September, the Church Choir bade farewell to Caitlin Smith as she leaves to study at Exeter University.

We are so grateful to Caitlin for her time with the choir of nearly 10 years!  In the photo, Caitlin received flowers and a gift with some of the choir.

If you love singing and want to join a Choir, we are very fortunate to have two in the Village!  For Blewsing, please contact Sheila Loy for further details: 850537 or www.blewsing.org or for the Church Choir, Sharon Phillips on 850817 or office@churnchurches.co.uk

The Courage Game is a fictionalised account of the life of Gladys Hazel, the infamous ‘Militant Suffragette’, who lived in a bungalow in Westbrook Street from 1939 to 1959 and is buried in Blewbury Cemetery. It is written by Gladys’s great-niece Jeni Whittaker.

The novel starts in Blewbury in 1950, where Gladys who was by then retired decides to write about her very eventful life. Her life story was something of a secret until Jeni Whittaker’s father Peter Waterfield discovered her account, when he was clearing out a potting shed in Devon many years after Gladys had died . Jeni used this account as the basis for her novel, which will make fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in Blewbury, the Suffragettes, or even what life was like for a young independent woman born in the late 1800s.

The publicity for the book states:

‘Gladys grows up in a large family, convinced she is the odd one out especially compared with pretty Rita, the sister closest to her. Then elder brother Jim invents a new game he calls the Courage Game, in which all seven of the children will be tested for their ability to keep a stiff upper lip.

Little does she know, she’ll recall this game later, comparing his little hand-made badges to those handed out by the W.S.P.U, the suffragettes. The poverty of Ireland in the 1890s is capped by the terrible conditions of the Birmingham slums where she first works as a teacher.

Heartsick at the hardship she sees all around her, she’s driven to change it, but only the Pankhursts seem to offer any hope of a woman’s voice being heard – providing they win the right to vote, that is. Enthusiastically, Gladys throws herself in, juggling her job, her burgeoning love life and her work for the suffragettes. But how long can one woman keep walking such a line without losing her balance?’

The Courage Game is available from all good booksellers.

Roger Murphy, Local History Group

Blewbury School is delighted to announce Miss Jo Reeder as its permanent new Head of School, who will join the School from September 2021.

Jo Reeder will for her first year be working alongside Miss Lisa Austin who will continue as the School’s 0.5 Executive Headteacher. There was a lot of interest in this position and Jo Reeder emerged as the successful candidate from a strong field of a large number of applicants. Everyone involved in the process was delighted when Jo accepted the post and confirmed her availability to start in it in September.

Jo herself has said that she is thrilled with this new opportunity to work with Lisa Austin and the rest of the School’s staff. She already lives nearby in Wantage, where she completed her ownsecondary education at King Alfred’s School. She is currently Deputy Headteacher at St Philip and St James’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Oxford. Prior to moving to that school in 2015 she was a class teacher at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Church of England Primary School, so she is very familiar with the local area.

Jo states that she sees the School as being on an exciting journey, and when she visited it recently could already seethe fruits of the hard work the staff have put in during this difficult time. She is keen to support the staff to further this when she joins them. She also comments that the School is set in beautiful surroundings and she is aware of the strong community spirit that surrounds it. She is looking forward to drawing on what the local area has to offer.

She is passionate about teaching and her ambition is for Blewbury School to flourish. She enjoys baking, music and going to the theatre, and in lockdown she took up yoga and building giant Lego models.

Jo will be visiting the School and the village before she starts in September and we will I am sure all look forward to welcoming her and wishing her every success in her new position.

Roger Murphy, Blewbury School Community Governor

Due to Coronavirus restrictions in force at the time, Blewbury Pre-School unfortunately had to postpone its 50th Anniversary Party on 17th July.  We will let you know the new date as soon as possible.

Since lockdown last year we’ve been unable to do any of our usual fundraising events – that’s the best part of two whole academic years where we’ve been unable to fundraise as normal.

We’ve therefore devised the Blewbury Pre-School Lottery to raise funds in a COVID-friendly way, and we’re delighted that the first two draws went ahead as scheduled in July and August. The next draw is due on Thursday September 2nd and the last day for new sign-ups to be eligible for this is Sunday August 22nd.

If you would usually have supported one of our big evening events, or perhaps bought a few raffle tickets or some of our merchandise, could we ask you to please consider joining our Lottery? There are still plenty of numbers available, and if you sign up now you will be eligible for draws from September onwards.

Draws are held on the first Thursday of every month. Forms and full T+Cs can be obtained at the Post-Office or downloaded from www.blewburypreschool.co.uk. Queries can be directed to lottery@blewburypreschool.co.uk.

For those of you not aware of how the Lottery works, for £5 per month members will be entered into a monthly lottery with a chance to win one of three cash prizes. There will be a 50:50 split between prize and fundraising money.  It’s an annual membership, and we plan to sell a maximum of 200 lottery numbers each year.

We have been genuinely heartened by the positive response to the Lottery so far, and it is clear that so many of our community are committed to ensuring that this pre-school will continue to survive way into the future. Thank you to everyone who has already joined. We look forward to welcoming more of you!