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Since 1994 Margaret has worked under five headteachers and has prepared and served an estimated 750,000 meals to around 3,500 pupils. (Yes, that’s three quarters of a million meals.) She is undoubtedly one of Blewbury’s unsung heroes!
VILLAGE CAROL CONCERT – MONDAY 16TH DECEMBER – ST MICHAEL’S CHURCH
Everybody welcome! Orchestra rehearsal 7.15-7.30, doors open 7.35pm, concert starts at 8pm.
A joyful evening heralding all Christmas festivities, with lots of great carols for all to sing with items from the school, church choir, orchestra, brass band and some festive readings. The retiring collection will be for Crisis Homeless Charity.
How to join the ad hoc orchestra
If you can play any instrument, do come and join our ad hoc orchestra. The only qualification needed is enthusiasm! The music is very straightforward and, if wanted, is available from early December. It is helpful to know how many chairs to put out so please contact Lindy on lindyfarrell(at)btinternet.com to reserve yours. Please arrive at 7 to be ready to play at 7.15. Please bring a music stand.
Your Christmas diary
Thank you to everyone who came to Bonfire Night, and particularly to the Amazons for lending us their floodlights, Savages for providing the event banner, Martin Cox for his generator, Pete Baker for the amazing fireworks display, and all the helpers who collected wood, baked and served potatoes, ran the entrance desks, marshalled, organised and served beer, wine and other goodies, and much more: we could not have done it without you! Over 900 people attended, making it a very successful event – so much so that we got through all the supplies of beer and nearly all the mulled wine!
The BVS is delighted to continue running two favourite Christmas events this year: Santa’s Sleigh and Carols on the Playclose on Christmas Eve; and the Boxing Day Walk on 26th December. See page 3 for more details.
Plus, do join us to blow off the cobwebs/clear the hangover for the convivial Roger Cambray Memorial Walk from Blewbury to The Bell Inn at Aldworth and start the new year on a high note! We meet at The Pound at 10:30 am on Wednesday 1st January 2025.
The BVS marquee is available for hire by other groups, societies and individuals in the village for a small charge. It measures 12m × 6m and has sides if needed. If you were at the Beer Festival, or have supported the Fireworks Night or Summer Dance, you may have seen it in action. To book it, contact lydia.wanstall@gmail.com.
Quaker Wood Planting Day, Sat 7 December, 10am to 1pm.
If you would like to plant a tree or trees as part of this exciting project please come along to Quaker Wood on 7 December. We will have some bare-root trees 40-60cm high to plant with tree shelters and canes in pre-marked locations within the woodland site. You will be shown how to plant and fix the shelter.
You are welcome to bring children but they must be supervised at all times.
Wear appropriate footwear and clothing, gloves, and bring refreshments and a spade if you have one. Toilets available in the Village Hall. RSVP to anthony@stiff.org.uk or call 07798 876819 by 2 December if you can come because we need to know how many trees to make available. If you have any saplings which you have been keeping for the wood, bring these too and let Anthony know the number.
Nature Reserve. We will be maintaining the hedging on the site on Saturday 14 December between 0930 and noon. Following the enlightening talk on reptiles, James Morgan spotted a grass snake under one of the reptile mats! Please do not move the mats; they are part of our monitoring programme. Winter bird visitors such as redwing and fieldfare have been arriving so keep your eyes pierced. If you would like to join our list of volunteers, please email the secretary below. Many thanks to everyone who has helped so far.
| BLEWBURY FREECYCLE FREE ITEMS TO A GOOD HOME | TEL NO. | |
| Children’s IKEA kitchen with pots and pans. Good condition | Jane Dunwoody Jndunwoody@gmail.com | 07850 178306 |
| Vacuum cleaner (Hoover Enigma) in working order Car battery charger | Alison Clark kafenken@btinternet.com | 850541 (daytime only, please) |
| Set of junior golf clubs in a golf bag. Also another junior golf bag (no clubs). | Lydia Inglis lydandmuz@gmail.com | 07801 932393 |
| To freecycle your item please send a short description, email & phone number to Lydia Inglis (lydandmuz@gmail.com) | ||
If you want to know more about Sustainable Blewbury and become a supporter who receives occasional newsletters, email secretary@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk.
We will soon be heading in to our busiest period here at Blewbury Village store and Post Office. Our last Christmas posting dates for Christmas are listed below. Please allow plenty of time for posting. If possible please post items and gifts for Christmas early, particularly for International deliveries.
| Wednesday 18 December | 2nd Class • 2nd Class Signed For • Royal Mail Tracked 48 |
| Friday 20 December | 1st Class • 1st Class Signed For • Royal Mail Tracked 24 |
| Saturday 21 December | Special Delivery Guaranteed |
| Monday 23 December | Special Delivery Guaranteed (Guaranteed Saturday delivery for an extra fee) |
The sale of our fresh free range eggs is going well and we have a regular delivery every week so we will always have eggs available. As always we have our delicious local honey, along side a variety of sweet treats, ice lollies, chocolate and cool drinks on sale.
Thank you very much for your business over the last few weeks. We look forward to serving you in a busy December.
For our opening hours over the festive period, please see next Bulletin. Thanks so much, Sarah, Karen and Andrew
THE BLEWBURY BRIDGE CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY will be held on Sunday 15th December in the Village Hall, starting at 5pm. Military Bridge will be played – as is traditional (!). Participants are requested to bring along an item of food to share – a list has been circulated separately for you to indicate what you plan to bring. Liquid refreshments will be provided.
At the Annual General Meeting on 5th November Michael Allen retired as Chairman and was replaced by Matt Wright. All other Officers and Committee Members continue to serve.
£240 was raised, both on the night and by direct contributions, through the Simultaneous Pairs held in aid of Children in Need on 12th November. Congratulations to Malcolm Cochrane and Michael Allen who, on the provisional results, came 10th out of 1,363 pairs nationally on the Tuesday evening, with a score of 68.03%.
Blewbury will run Realbridge sessions on Thursdays 5th and 19th December, welcoming Wantage members, and, indeed, any visitors from other clubs. Wantage Bridge Club will host Blewbury members on December 12th. There will be no session on December 26th.
It is hoped to run Friday evening Social Bridge sessions at 7.30pm on December 6th and 13th, subject to sufficient participants, then re-start in the New Year.
Any enquiries, etc., to the Chairman, please – Matt Wright at matt.wright.2002@gmail.com
Blewbury WI’s next main meeting is their annual Christmas lunch – members only this time. This will be held at the Goring and Streatley golf club on Thursday 5 December. But do look out for our 22 January 2025 meeting which will be “The amazing, life-saving medical detection dogs”. Details in the next Bulletin.
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. Come as a visitor – you will be made so welcome!
Calendar of events
| Mondays most weeks | 2.30pm | Mah Jong | Sharon (ask for venue) |
| Wednesday 4 December | 7pm | Carols by Candlelight | Joy |
| Friday 6 December | 7pm | Craft Evening | Karen |
| Wednesday 11 December | 2.30pm | Rummikub | Judy |
| Wednesday 11 December | 7pm | Evening Scrabble | Joy |
| Thursday 12 December | 2.30pm | Afternoon Scrabble | Graeme |
| Tuesday 17 December | 7pm | Book Club | Karen |
| Wednesday 18 December | 10.30am | Coffee morning | Sharon |
Our opening hours of 9-3pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 9-12pm on a Wednesday have been working well and the post office has been very busy.
Please note that from the 28th October to the 5th of November 2024 it is half term so we will be operating our reduced hours of 9am – 12pm. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Royal Mail has announced that their prices will increase from 7th October. 1st class stamps will increase by 30p but 2nd class stamps will remain the same. We recommend you restock your stamp supplies soon to avoid the increase.
As always we have local honey and eggs on sale, and a variety of sweet treats, ice lollies, chocolate and cool drinks are available. As well as sending parcels, you can also do banking at the post office, including cash withdrawals, cash deposits and cheque deposits.
We look forward to seeing you in the Post Office soon. Thanks so much, Sarah, Karen and Andrew
SID says: “I am pleased that traffic speeds have dropped since I was switched on. Along Bessels Way the number of vehicles speeding has dropped from 34 percent to 21 percent. On London Road a drop from 16 percent to 8 percent has been measured.”