News

St Mary's Chimes

For those of you locally who are wondering what has happened to our church clock chimes, for some time the automatic winding gear on the quarter hour chimes has been giving trouble. It has been patched up a number of times but now it has expired altogether. We did engage the clock mender to come and fix it but in the meantime he broke his ankle - so we are waiting for this to mend and get the job done properly. He hopes to be up and about again in a couple of weeks so with any luck the clock will be back to its full glory soon.

In the meantime you might like to take the opportunity to have a closer look at our clock and workings.

For any further information about the church bells and clock mechanism, contact mikesummers@summwhere.co.uk .

///(From the St Mary's news mailing list.)///

Richard Fairhurst · Sat 27 Oct 2007, 20:06 · Link

Get your traditional Charlbury Christmas tree

Each year the Chamber of Trade arranges with Geoff Burroughs of Halcyon Farm to deliver Christmas trees to businesses and householders who want to help brighten up the town centre in the festive season.

"Lighting Up" will take place on Thursday December 6. Local shops will stay open till 8pm and there will also be a mummers play, carol singing, Santa in his grotto and craft stalls to tempt people out. There will be a second late opening for shops on Thursday December 20.

If you already have a bracket on your building, we very much hope you will have a lighted tree in place in time for the Lighting Up evening. (For preference, white lights, please, not coloured! It's the tradition, and the effect is magical. Lights can be bought from News and Things.) You should get an order form through your door in the next day or two: if we miss you, please collect one from the bookshop (819117). We aim to deliver trees on Friday November 30, and the deadline for orders is TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20. The cost per tree is £9.

To order your tree, please return the form to Evenlode Books, Market Street by TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20.

If you do not have a bracket on your house, we can order one for you (cost about £25) if you order by November 1.

More information: contact Jon Carpenter on 819117.

Jon Carpenter · Thu 25 Oct 2007, 10:28 · Link

10km and Fun Run 2007 results

Results from this year's 10km and 2.5km Fun Run can be found here in PDF format.

• funrun2007.pdf

Richard Fairhurst · Thu 11 Oct 2007, 14:17 · Link

Help shape Charlbury's future.

Thomas Gifford's Charity needs a new trustee

One of the co-opted trustees has resigned because overseas work commitments make it impossible for her to attend the Charity’s meetings.

The trustees (there are eight others) are advertising for a replacement trustee. The primary responsibilities of the trustees currently are to maintain the Playing Close and to develop the vacant site that the Charity owns on the Spendlove Centre. The trustees are keen to ensure they represent a good cross section of the community of Charlbury and to provide a range of complementary expertise (e.g. experience with developing activities with young people) that will allow good execution of its responsibilities. The trustees are at present agreeing a plan for the Spendlove site with the local authorities which will, with the help of enabling development, provide new community facilities for Charlbury and surrounding areas.

If you would like to participate in benefiting the community in this way we would ask you to provide an informal biography on your skills and experiences that would benefit the Charity, and also the residents of Charlbury. We do not expect an academic CV, just a couple of paragraphs on your business and personal skills that would enable the Charity to be run effectively and could help to achieve the goal of a new community facility at the Spendlove site.

Please send your details to Annette Cooper, Secretary to the trustees, 11 The Green, Charlbury, OX7 3QA or email her at: aracooper@hotmail.co.uk

russell robson · Tue 9 Oct 2007, 22:27 · Link

Grace reaches 100

From the Oxford Mail:

A Charlbury woman celebrated her 100th birthday with a street party for the whole town.

Charlbury Memorial Hall was packed out with hundreds of residents young and old on Monday, as Grace Fredericks blew out her birthday cake candles. There were displays of gymnastics from local children, live music and a Punch and Judy show. Dancing to a folk band went on until late in the evening.

Born in Shanghai, Miss Fredericks later moved to England, where she took a place at Oxford University to read history. She went on to become a teacher of English and history, specialising in the classics. She moved to Charlbury in the 1970s, when Diana Cooper first got to know her as a neighbour.

Mrs Cooper said: "She and her two sisters took the place of grandparents both for my children and lots of others locally. They have always taken an interest in promoting children and families."

The 100-year-old, whose interests include painting, pottery and reading, organised Monday's party herself, with the intention of bringing the whole community together. She requested that instead of presents, people made donations towards the memorial hall.

Mrs Cooper said: "We call her Amazing Grace. She is a very wise and kind person, much loved by the whole village."

Richard Fairhurst · Thu 4 Oct 2007, 10:11 · Link

Community Centre Surveys

Details of the local surveys undertaken by the Thomas Gifford Trust on locals needs and existing provision of facilities can now be found on the community pages of the website.

This information has been collected by interviewing local people, clubs and committees in the Town on their perceived needs and existing levels of provision.

This information will, in part, by used when considering what will be provide in the community centre to be built on the Spendlove site.

russell robson · Tue 2 Oct 2007, 11:56 · Link