Blewbury Amazons Girls FC is a brand new girls football club based at Blewbury Recreation Ground.

We have teams from U8 to U12 playing in the Oxfordshire Girls Football League of whom train on Monday evenings. We also have our Mini Amazons on a Sunday morning in term time 10-11am for our 4-7 year old beginners. The club was formed this year to give more opportunities for girls to play sport and develop as young independent women. The emphasis is very much on development and FUN.

For more details please contact Jermaine via email at Blewburygirlsfootballclub@yahoo.com

We are delighted to announce that BlewSing will recommence this month (September). We meet fortnightly at the Melland Room 7.30 – 9.15 p.m. Dates for this term are September 9^th, 23^rd, October 7^th, 21^st, November 4th, 18^th, December 2^nd, 16^th.

The choir always sings for pleasure. There are no auditions and no requirement to read music; the only requirement is simply a love of singing. We need to know who is coming along so, if you would like to join us and/or would like further information, please contact Sheila Loy on 850537 or sloy24@gmail.com or visit http://www.blewsing.org/

In 1943 John Hone, who was a lieutenant at the Army School of Survey in Hampsted Norreys, hand drew and illustrated a rather fine map of Blewbury Village.

Individuals whose families have been in the village for a long time may well have a copy of the map, and the Blewbury History Group knows of several – one of which is hung in the waiting room of the Doctor’s Surgery in the Village Hall. The copies are not however all identical. The one printed here for example is a different version to many, because it shows the old Orchard Rood house to the left of Westbrook Street just opposite the Wool Shop. It is likely that John Hone gave this version of his map to the two women who lived in Orchard Rood in the 1940s, and we suspect added in their house for them (There is more information about those two women in another article in this issue of the Bulletin.)

An original version of this map was given to the Local History Group, a couple of years ago, by Jeni Whittaker, who is a great-niece of Gladys Hazel, who was one of the two occupants of Orchard Rood, and it has recently been lovingly restored by Elphin Lloyd-Jones. This exciting development means that the group is now able to print a further limited edition of copies of the map and make them available to people who would like one.

Because of the size of the handwriting on the map we think that it looks at its best in its original 50 x 36 cm size or bigger, but it is possible to also print it in smaller and larger sizes if anyone prefers that. Examples of this map will be on view around the village at venues such as the Post Office and Style Acre, and orders for copies can be placed either at the Post Office or via Mary Gaines, 9 Westbrook Green (m-gaines@outlook.com or 07730-438598)

Printed on 50×36 cms  Card. (Sample in the Post Office)                                         £15

Printed on 50×36 cms  Laminated Foamboard (Sample in the Post Office).       £30

Printed on 50×36 cms  Card and Framed (Sample in Style Acre)                           £65

Prices for other sizes available on request through Mary Gaines

Roger Murphy on behalf of the Blewbury Local History Group

Quite a few Blewbury residents have moved house within the village numerous times. However, whether any of them have relocated as many times as our Post Office must be in doubt.

Will there be further twists to this tale of exploration around Blewbury? Who knows? If you can add further details or indeed corrections to this account the Local History Group would be pleased to hear from you.It isn’t known exactly when the Blewbury Post Office first opened, but it was certainly operating in Carramores, on Church Road, by 1887, and we have a photograph of the earl 1900s (top) to illustrate that. If you look closely at the front of Carramores today you can still see the bits of metal protruding where the Post Office sign used to be displayed. In 1914 it moved to Upstone’s Shop (see below) in Treble House Terrace on London Road, where no doubt it benefitted from more passing trade.

Upstone’s Shop and Blewbury Post Office in Treble House Terrace in the 1920s

In 1924 it then moved to Fir Tree Cottage, on the other side of London Road, where a new purpose built extension had been created for it by Jesse Dunsden, and the village telephone exchange was located in the Dunsden’s living room!  After Jesse Dunsden retired in 1943 it then crossed London Road again to take up residence in Laurel Bank where it was run by George & Rose Smith. George was a relative of Jesse Dunsden and Rose was an Upstone, and together they were the parents of Derek Smith, whose book A Blewbury Life is the source of much of the information in this article.

Then in 1968 the Post Office moved to Old Wheelwrights for 24 years with Ann Edwards and then Marion Armstrong in charge.  After 74 years of trading and crossing the London Road, the next move, in 1992, was to Prior’s Village Shop, in Chestnuts in Church End. With the eventual closure of Prior’s Shop the Post Office moved to the Village Hall, where it has lived ever since October 18^th 2001.

Roger Murphy on behalf of the Blewbury Local History Group

The Blewbury Table Tennis Club is now just over one year old and we are very pleased with everything that has been achieved in that time.

Over the last fifteen months we have held regular Tuesday evening club sessions and over 70 different individuals aged from 6-90 years of age have participated in our club sessions. In the early days we played on tables generously loaned by four families in the village. With generous support from the Tony Loy Trust and the Vale of the Wight Horse Active Communities Fund we now have four top quality Cornilleau Table Tennis tables, which are a joy to use both because of the quality of the playing surface but also because they are so easy to fold up and wheel around when they are not in use.

As well as our regular Tuesday evening club sessions, we have also now established a regular Tuesday afternoon After-School Table Tennis Club at Blewbury School, and both clubs have benefited from specialist coaching from a fully qualified Level 3 Coach, who visits us every now and then. On top of all that we have recently, almost seamlessly, been able temporarily to move the sessions for both Clubs from the Village Hall to Blewbury School Hall.

Sadly like so many other groups we are now suspending all Club activities as a response to the Coronavirus situation. We are however looking forward to being able to welcome new members to both of our Clubs once we start up again in the refurbished Village Hall – hopefully very soon! Roger Murphy, Club Chair