If you hear a church bell ringing at 12 o'clock, that's the Pancake Bell. Traditionally rung to remind housewives (in the old days) to prep\re the pancake mixture. We haven't been able to ring this for a couple of years, but now we are reviving the practice.
Mike Summers · Mon 28 Feb 2022, 17:24 · Link
The Charlbury Town Council Website has moved to its new address at:
https://www.charlbury-tc.gov.uk
we are adding lots of new information all the time so please have a look and let us know what you think.
Gary Harrison · Mon 28 Feb 2022, 16:30 · Link
The following planning applications have recently been lodged. Click on the address to see full details at the WODC website.
Mon 28 Feb 2022, 06:15 · Link
If you can make a good cup of coffee/tea, then we need you down at the station to prepare hot drinks for rail travellers! Okay, so it's an early start (06:00) but you'll finish by midday and there's plenty of time between trains to read, study or work, and you'll get paid for doing so!
We are an accredited Living Wage employer.
Call 07836 689881 for full details.
Hugo Pickering · Wed 23 Feb 2022, 06:44 · Link
West Oxfordshire District Council has approved the planning application for works to convert the former Post Office, on Market Street, into a bistro and cafe.
The works envisage a replacement shop front, windows and gates; a kitchen extraction system; and the subdivision of the first-floor flat into two smaller flats.
The permission is conditional on WODC approving more detailed plans for the gates, windows and doors, and extraction system.
Tue 22 Feb 2022, 12:16 · Link
WODC waste collections are running a day late this week, as no service could be provided last Friday because of the storm conditions.
Stephen Andrews · Mon 21 Feb 2022, 10:19 · Link
The following planning applications have recently been lodged. Click on the address to see full details at the WODC website.
Mon 21 Feb 2022, 06:15 · Link
After having been locked away in isolation for the past two years, the Charlbury Street Fair Quiz and supper is returning to the Memorial Hall on Saturday 26th March. This is a chance to get those dusty parts of the brain working again. Teams of up to six, licensed bar with contact details on the poster below. All profits to the Corner House and War Memorial Hall charity.
To be clear, whilst the theme is the Jubilee, this is a light touch, and more about the bunting. The questions will be on the normal rounds and subjects, not a night of royal trivia.
For booking please email Rachael Lunney on csfquiz@gmail.com or phone/text on 07940 308695
Steve Jones · Sat 19 Feb 2022, 09:58 · Link
Darryl has decided that the weather today is too bad to risk driving over to Charlbury. He sends his apologies and hopes to see you all next week as usual.
The Pre-School is closed due to today’s storm. See you all after half term.
James Goad · Fri 18 Feb 2022, 08:36 · Link
GWR trains from Charlbury on Friday are expected to be running no further than Didcot Parkway, where you can change for services to Reading and Paddington.
Chiltern Railways (who run services from Oxford Parkway) have advised people not to travel if possible.
Richard Fairhurst · Thu 17 Feb 2022, 18:50 · Link
The following planning applications have recently been lodged. Click on the address to see full details at the WODC website.
Mon 14 Feb 2022, 06:15 · Link
Saxon bones, Roman coins and life on the land
The fields and countryside around us often hide traces of early settlers who have left no written records or surviving buildings. Today the hamlet of Walcot may seem a small outpost to Charlbury but recent discoveries have shed important light on its past. A new film, the brainchild of Rob Stepney who lives in Walcot, brings this history to life.
Rob Jackson spent much of his working life on the Cornbury estate farming for Oliver Watney and Lord Rotherwick. Interviewed by Rob Stepney, he tells how in 1981 he unearthed a skeleton while ploughing in Spring Piece field. Buried in a crouched position and with some children’s bones nearby, the burial was marked by a huge stone. The skeleton had been buried with a dagger and a spearhead* leading it to be nicknamed the Saxon warrior. Its discovery caused quite a stir with much coverage in the local press.
The field near the stables at Walcot Manor is called Horse Ground and many farms still used horses alongside tractors into the 1950s. Horseshoes still surface in the fields nearby. Rob Jackson recalls how the land was farmed 40 years ago, with mixed farming and small fields. The 1970s brought more intensive arable farming and with the use of larger machines, many hedges were removed to make bigger fields.
Ploughing eradicated some features in the soil. Rob recalls that when he was a child the remains of Walcot medieval village were still visible between the bridleway and railway line. It is thought there were 17 huts there in the 14th century. Walcot Manor also had a Park attached to it surrounded by a stone wall, but this land is now given over to crops.
Roman coins and pottery have surfaced from time to time in this area. In 2019 metal detectorists obtained permission from Cornbury estate to explore the field above Walcot cottages and unearthed a hoard of Roman coins dating from the 4th century. About 50 or 60 bronze coins had been buried deliberately, probably for safe keeping in troubled times. The hoard is being studied by the British Museum and it will fascinating to hear the results of their analysis.
When you walk along the bridleway to Shorthampton, imagine how Romans and Saxons passed this way before you, and medieval villagers lived nearby. As Rob Jackson says, no one really owns this land but we merely keep it for a while before passing it on to the next generation.
Rob Stepney interviews Rob Jackson. Film produced and edited by Alan Snelling. Music courtesy of Charlbury & Finstock Morris side.
To view the film on Youtube, follow this link or paste into your browser (If it opens with an advertisement: press Skip Ad when prompted and the film will start):
The film will be shown as part of the Charlbury Festival in June 2022.
* The dagger and spear are on display in Charlbury Museum
Planning for Street Fair 2022
I'd like to invite anyone interested in helping us organise Street Fair to join us either on the 17th February, Thursday evening, at 7.30PM in the Old Three Horseshoes, or on Saturday 19th February at 5PM in the Memorial Hall's Garden Room. Do set these dates in your diary as we are arranging our 'recruitment drive' for our Committee, and the new ‘Friends of Charlbury Street Fair’.
The ‘Friends’ is a new group of people who will help support us in various ways - at the Quiz, at the Barn Dance, at Open Gardens and on the Fair day itself.
Do please join us on one of these dates to find out more!
Prof. John Dora
Chair
Charlbury Street Fair Committee
Can you help maintain this Charlbury tradition?
Since 2017 (when the Tour of Britain passed through Charlbury) I have organised the annual Children’s Bike Rally round the five churches of Charlbury on the second Saturday in September. This has attracted between twenty-five and forty primary and pre-school children. It has been good fun for a lot of children and their panting parents.
For the last two years the rally has ended up on the Charlbury School playing field. There the Windrush Bike Project has organised a ‘bike gymkhana’ for the children taking part and the Town Council’s environment committee has sponsored a display of e-bikes for adults. Together these three separate events could potentially create an annual Charlbury BikeFest built around the children’s rally.
Unfortunately for family reasons I am now moving away from Charlbury. I must therefore find someone who can work with me to organise the 2022 rally and, I hope, continue the tradition in future years. The systems are now in place so it should not take too much time. Apart from publicity the main task is finding the volunteer marshals to ensure that all goes smoothly and safely on the day, but a bit of preliminary planning is needed this term.
The rally is part of the annual sponsored bike round Oxfordshire’s churches organised for the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, and there are more details and pictures of pre-Covid rallies on the OHCT website at https://ohct.org.uk/ride-and-stride/take-part/charlbury-kids-rally/
Do please give me a ring on 07969970003 if you think you might be interested in helping to maintain and build this Charlbury tradition.
Basil Eastwood
Basil Eastwood · Fri 11 Feb 2022, 13:51 · Link
We are very excited at Charlbury CC to be running both the All Stars and Dynamos programmes again this season. Both programmes will start on Friday 6th May and run for 8 weeks.
All Stars is open to boys and girls aged 5-8 years and will start at 5.30pm - the link to make a booking is HERE
Dynamos is open to girls only aged 8-11 years and will start at 6.30pm - the link to make a booking is HERE
We can't wait for the days to get longer and the weather to get warmer so that we can welcome everyone back to the Club! If you would like more information you can find more details on our club website
A Westbury · Thu 10 Feb 2022, 14:37 · Link
The following planning applications have recently been lodged. Click on the address to see full details at the WODC website.
Mon 7 Feb 2022, 06:15 · Link
The Town Council is considering applying for grant funding to improve access to some of our green spaces. Gates like the one pictured can be difficult or impossible to use if you have a pushchair, wheelchair, mobility scooter or walking frame. We would like to hear views on which entrances are most important to make more accessible. You can add your views to the thread in the forum or send your thoughts to the town clerk: charlburytownclerk@gmail.com
Claire Wilding · Sun 6 Feb 2022, 14:19 · Link
As the station ticket office has been shut on a number of occasions recently, here are the planned closures for the next few weeks, so that your visit to the station to buy that ticket for a future journey is not wasted!
Meanwhile the kiosk is open Monday to Friday mornings regardless of the station opening times, serving great coffee, tea and snacks!
Hugo Pickering · Thu 3 Feb 2022, 07:45 · Link