We've had this link on the home page for a while, but here it is again if you have never seen it, from the BFI web site

"This travelogue of the countryside around Great Coxwell and Faringdon was sponsored by Shell-Mex, and written and narrated by poet John Betjeman. Great Coxwell was in Berkshire until 1974, when it became part of Oxfordshire after boundary changes."

Watch the 3 minute black and white film from 1955 here.

This second film from 1952 is 5 minutes long and without dialogue, but in colour, to quote the BFI"In the market town of Faringdon in Berkshire (it transferred to Oxfordshire in the 1974 council re-organisation) a carnival is underway to raise funds for All Saints' Church. The unusually squat tower of the church is a legacy of a Civil War cannon ball that drastically reduced its height in 1645. This historical oddity is commemorated on one of the floats in the brightly decorated parade captured in vivid Kodachrome by Joyce Skinner.

Look out too for an appearance by an American military band that is visiting from Fairford in Gloucestershire. The United States Air Force were running the base at the time as the Cold War escalated. The filmmaker, Joyce Skinner, was later a member of the South Birmingham Cine Society and went on to make several sponsored industrial films and prize winning amateur productions."

Watch it here

Enjoy!
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From Lynette - we are going to have another Great Coxwell member joining Katherine and I,  in the form of Richard Benwell!  He will stand on his side of the wall with another microphone.  We are going to perform Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world".  (Of course he did not write it, but he is famous for it...)

We are going to play it three times, if people feel like joining in for the third one - here are the words.


Lyrics for "What a wonderful world"

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them blue before me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Or also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying "How do you do?"
They're really saying, I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them them grow
They'll learn much more and I'll never know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Welcome to another week at home.  I do hope everyone is managing in these enormously difficult circumstances.  At least we are allowed out once a day for exercise.  Although this last week has been less favourable weather-wise, hopefully that has not prevented you getting some fresh air.

My husband and I have been trying to vary our daily walks whilst staying inside the Government Covid 19 lockdown rules.  One new walk we tried is the National Trust Coleshill Estate yellow route.  (Map below.)   It’s just under three miles so is achievable within the hour if you get a move on.  Lulu, our Long haired Hungarian Visler, enjoyed herself enormously climbing up Badbury Hill from Brimstone Farm.  And the bluebells are currently in full bloom.

There was another excellent turn-out for Thursday evening’s ‘Applause for the NHS’.  At the top end of the village, Lynette Stulting (keyboard) and her daughter Katherine (violin) from Stonevale, played a beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, which was appreciated by everyone who came out to support.

Take a minute and play the video and an alternative view here. 

Lockdown Spotlight.  John and Biddy Rounce.

This is the third in the series of ‘Lockdown Spotlights’ on families in the village, focusing on how they are managing under Covid 19 Lockdown.  This week, we have been interviewing (from a distance!) John and Biddy Rounce, of Glebe House, right next to St Giles Church.  The Rounces moved to Great Coxwell in 1992, from Weston Turville, ‘to get away from commuters!’.  John retired from BP two years later after an illustrious career which took them all over the world.  Company ‘postings’ included 2 years in New York, 3 years in Cape Town, 3 years in Houston Texas and frequent trips to Russia and the former Soviet Asian Republics.  Their children, William and Kate, thrived on this exotic lifestyle.

How are you finding the lockdown?  Biddy and John have been getting wonderful support from their daughter, Kate, who has been in lockdown with them.  They do a big shop once a week but find the social distancing when shopping difficult.  Kate finds Waitrose a bit more organised than Sainsbury's in that respect.

What is the most difficult part of the lockdown?  Biddy said she was fine but that the most difficult part was the lack of shape to the week.  Indeed, she revealed that she sometimes had lost track of the days and didn’t know what day of the week it was!  (We know the feeling!).

Any tips from getting through lockdown?  It’s clear that their dog, Pentti, gets lots of attention and daily walks.  They all said that a routine is helpful. And John admitted to an afternoon nap.  (very sensible!)

By the way, John mentioned amazing journeys he made when he was just 10 years old.  Home then was Tanganyika as his father was in government service there.   To get home from boarding school in England, he flew by Solent flying boat from Southampton…via Augusta (Sicily), Alexandra (Egypt), Khartoum (The Sudan), Lake Naivasha (Kenya).  The journey took two days!

That’s it for this week.  Hopefully with the Government COBR meeting this morning, we may be getting some news later today on how this Lockdown might come to some sort of conclusion.

In the meantime, Stay Home, Protect the HNS and Save Lives, 

Best wishes
Mandy Burns xx
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Dear All,
 
Below is the most up to date information from Vale regarding the CoVID-19 response, this includes the weekly town & parish update and other information that may have come through, as more information comes down the chain we will send round updates as and when required. Thank you all for your amazing work locally, it is making a huge difference to those at risk and may be ill during this time. 
 
Garden Waste Services
There’s good news for people in southern Oxfordshire looking for ways to dispose safely of their garden waste. South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils have reopened their paid-for garden waste service to new customers.

The service has continued throughout the lockdown for existing subscribers. For a short period of time the council and waste contractor, Biffa suspended taking on new customers to prioritise the kerbside household collections while members of the waste collection crews were off sick or self-isolating.
Biffa has now built up sufficient resilience in its workforce to enable new customers to join.

The service will also take extra garden waste (equivalent of another brown bin e.g. three bin bags) in the week of  11-15 May

Harwell vaccine centre
Fast-tracked construction of the UK's Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Harwell Campus will accelerate the start of their vital research in the fight against COVID-19. You can read more about the centre in the press release issued by Harwell Campus: https://www.harwellcampus.com/news/vaccines-centre-fast-tracked-at-harwell/
 
Supporting the homeless in our district
A couple of weeks ago we updated you on the excellent work of our housing staff in ensuring all our rough sleepers were offered accommodation within 24 hours of the lockdown announcement. It’s worth pointing out that this was really just the beginning of the hard work as our staff have also been working flat out to secure on-going accommodation for this vulnerable group or residents.  So far, we’ve managed this for more than half of the people we currently have in temporary accommodation.
 
Grants funding available
We’ll start with some good news – grants of up to £3,000 are currently available for town and parish councils to apply for from Scottish and Southern Electricity towards projects that will specifically support residents in vulnerable situations.

They’re encouraging applications for projects that will provide extra help to those who are self-isolating or social shielding, such as the elderly or anybody with underlying health conditions. They’re looking for projects like social delivery services, online advice centres, befriending schemes, etc.
You’ll need to be quick to catch the first round of funding - the deadline for applications is 30 April 2020.
 
You can find out more about the fund here and apply for funds through their website.
 
Community support update
We’ve had encouraging reports from the voluntary and community groups we’re working with that they are feeling confident and able to provide support to the people that need it on an ongoing basis. We hope this reflects your experience – please do contact our Community Support team if you have any concerns.
 
We have now referred over 452 residents to our network of volunteers across South Oxfordshire and the Vale since the Community Support service began less than a month ago. We’ve also called over 537 residents on the shielded list to check if they needed additional or ongoing support.
 
Food remains the main area people require support. Last week we provided 37 food parcels to residents of both districts that had nobody else to turn to and where we weren’t able to immediately refer them to a volunteer group. This takes the total number of food parcels to 67 food parcels since launching the service, which has helped to feed 74 Adults and 22 children.
 
Please make sure you’re using the correct details (below) to contact our Community Support service and please do share these details widely: 

• 01235 422600
• [email protected]
  

Response to planning letter
Since our last update the Leader of the Vale, Cllr Emily Smith has received a response from the Ministry for Housing and Local Government to her letter, which raised issues around targets for determining planning applications and the 5 Year Land Supply during the pandemic. You can read Emily’s letter here and the response from the Ministry here.
 
Business grants update
In the past week we’ve made significant headway in paying out the government funding to support small businesses affected by COVID-19.  As of yesterday, we’d paid out £17 million across both districts, and we’re well on track to pay all the requests we’ve had by 30 April.
We are currently phoning all of the eligible businesses in the district that haven’t yet taken up the offer of support.
 
Bulky waste services return
To help residents deal with some of the waste they may have built up during this pandemic we’ve reopened our bulky waste collection service for large household items, such as sofas and washing machines. We had initially suspended the service to focus on collecting kerbside household waste while some of the waste crews were off sick or self-isolating. We will keep the situation under constant review and if necessary, suspend it again if staffing levels become an issue. 
 
Whilst recycling centres and charity shops stay closed, we’re urging residents to store any waste that we cannot collect through our regular kerbside service.
 
Finally, going forward I will try and include a directory of helpful web addresses - If you have found any which have been useful for yourselves please let me know and I will include them going forward for others.  
 
https://www.oxfordshireallin.org/
https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-staying-at-home-tips/
http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/coronavirus-community-support
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council/coronavirus-covid-19
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-abuse-how-to-get-help

Any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. 
Best wishes, and stay well
 
Cllr Simon Howell
Watchfield and Shrivenham Ward
Vale of White Horse District Council
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