The Sibford Drivers wish their customers and potential customers a very Happy Christmas and New Year. This is the first …
The Sibford Drivers wish their customers and potential customers a very Happy Christmas and New Year. This is the first festive period with which we will be contending and we hope there will be enough drivers around who have not gone to stay with their families or are otherwise incapacitated from giving lifts. Please do not hesitate to try your luck but at least a day’s notice is required so that we can accommodate your needs. In the New Year when we all settle back to more normality, please do let us help you get around. The first months of our endeavours have not been overactive and we remain extremely keen to get you out of your houses and make the most of life in the lovely place where we all live.
On the 5th of November 2019 the Planning Inspector released a report that showed he …
From Sibford Ferris Parish Council
On the 5th of November 2019 the Planning Inspector released a report that showed he is supporting the developer’s appeal against Cherwell District Council (CDC) in respect of development of land off the Hook Norton Road, Sibford Ferris. This means that Outline Planning Permission has now been granted. This is very disappointing from a community perspective and the Parish Council has contacted our local Councillors: George Reynolds, Phil Chapman and Douglas Webb to understand how CDC will react to the decision and what steps they will take next and how we can support them. Phil Chapman has advised that a Planning Meeting is scheduled for the week commencing 11th November. A further update will be posted following the meeting.
Attached is a copy of the Planning Inspectors Report for information.
An opportunity to contribute to the agenda for the upcoming
Sibford Gower Parish Council Open Meeting
Tuesday 10th December 2019…
An opportunity to contribute to the agenda for the upcoming
Sibford Gower Parish Council Open Meeting
Tuesday 10th December 2019
The Gower Council Open Meeting is a forum where villagers from Sibford Gower and Burdrop can come together to talk over matters of common concern or shared interest.
The meeting will be held in the ITC Suite of the Village Primary School starting at 7.30pm.
The full agenda will be published on Thursday, 5th December.
If you would like to have an item included, the Council requires 2 weeks’ notice: please let me know by e-mail or by letter by Thursday, 21st November.
Relationships based on power and control are not healthy relationships. Whether you’re male or female, in a heterosexual or same …
Relationships based on power and control are not healthy relationships. Whether you’re male or female, in a heterosexual or same sex relationship, if you can identify with Jamie and Emma’s story and need support, please contact Victims First on 0300 1234 148 or via www.victims-first.org.uk .
A new opportunity to serve as a trustee of the Town Estate Charity in Sibford Gower
The Town Estate Charity …
A new opportunity to serve as a trustee of the Town Estate Charity in Sibford Gower
The Town Estate Charity is a specifically Gower & Burdrop institution but much of the support it provides particularly through its support for the school and the Village Hall, extends across the valley to embrace the wider community as a whole.
In a nutshell
Amongst all the many organisations, institutions, clubs and societies that contribute so richly to our community the Town Estate Charity is unique – and the oldest. It has a 400-year old history that began and continues to this day as an endowment for the village primary school.
Another of its charitable arms is the personal support it provides for those in the area who are in need, might be experiencing particular hardship, or are in some personal distress; a quiet dedication that hasn’t changed much over all those years. A posting in support of that work appears elsewhere on this website.
What has changed is the increasing range of general benefits and grant funding it has provided or underwritten over the years – all supported from the income it derives from its management of the estates and property it owns.
To give just one of many examples, it contributed £2,000 towards sound system improvements and a hearing loop at the Village Hall during its refurbishment. In recent years it has purchased significant plots of land in the village that have assured the future independence of the primary school, and in the case of Wheathills and the Millennium Field have together secured a landscape break in the Sib Valley between the villages.
Nomination
The Gower Parish Council would like formally now to invite interest from anyone living in the locality in taking the place of the Rev Liz Hawkes, presently one of the Council’s five nominations – who as many of you will now know, steps down at the close of the year.
There are formal eligibility declarations to be signed, but in the first instance applicants should simply let the Council know in their own words their relationship with the village, and the skills, knowledge and experience they feel they would bring to the role.
On this occasion, the council will have particular regard to increasing the diversity of the Trust’s trustees, and in addition to the wider work of the charity would particularly welcome a personal interest in the school.
Applications should be sent to the Council’s clerk, Vanessa Mulley, at sibford.gower.pc@thesibfords.org.uk preferably before Tuesday, 26th November.
... from the editor of the Sibford Scene to Nigel Fletcher and Diana Hughes. Nigel has stopped his painting classes …
… from the editor of the Sibford Scene to Nigel Fletcher and Diana Hughes. Nigel has stopped his painting classes and the advert in the November Scene was included in error. Also, Diana’s Pianist with Altitude evening on the 30th November has nothing to do with the Sibfords Society.
Is there enough funding for young people in your area?
Find out how your community could bid for funding from …
Is there enough funding for young people in your area?
Find out how your community could bid for funding from Oxfordshire County Council‘s new £1million Youth Opportunity Fund to provide activities and support.
The Planning Inspector has dismissed the most recent appeal against CDC's refusal to allow a change to residential use of …
The Planning Inspector has dismissed the most recent appeal against CDC’s refusal to allow a change to residential use of the Pheasant Pluckers Inn (formerly Bishop Blaize). You can find details of the Appeal Decision on the PI website.
(The link should take you to the PI’s webpage for the case, but if instead you get a notice about a “New beta service”, click on “Search for a case – current service”, which should then get you there; if not, you’ll have to use their search, for case number 3216818.)
Our community is typical of small villages across the country having a mix of narrow twisting roads with limited footpaths (to keep pedestrians safe). Traffic volumes and speeds moving around and through the Sibfords vary dependent on time of day, and drivers range from the courteous and safe to potentially dangerous. We also have two schools and safety of our children is so important. A group has been formed to look at what can be done to improve overall road safety and raise awareness of motorists who drive in our community.
Do you believe this is an issue that needs to be investigated? Would you like to be involved? Contact Richard Irons or Simon Rayner, who would welcome your thoughts on this subject.
3 August, #1: Our final pair have left us. We hope to see them all again next May.
2 August, …
3 August, #1: Our final pair have left us. We hope to see them all again next May.
2 August, #3: Having give up on their eggs 5 days ago, this pair has spent the last few nights roosting, but are not there tonight. Gone back to Africa!
30 July, #1: It looks as if this pair have given up on their eggs; the photograph shows one egg off to the right of the concave.
28 July, #3: This pair has discarded their second pair of eggs.
27 July, #4: Although their brood has fledged, the parents have been staying in the box overnight for the last few days. But only one of them was in the box last night, and tonight the box is empty.
22 July, #4: The wide-angle lens shows the box completely empty and no shadows from the entrance tunnel. The chicks have flown! They were about 6 weeks old.
13 July, #3: A new batch of two eggs explains why this pair has been so diligent in continuing to sit on the nest, despite the discarded eggs on the floor of the box.
12 July, #1: Surprisingly, the pair that took up residence a couple of weeks ago are now incubating two eggs!
28 June, #3: The nest is empty, and the eggs are on the floor of the box (see photo – one is almost hidden behind the concave). It seems that the parents have decided that they are not viable.
27 June, #4: The two-week old chicks in #4 are growing fast.
27 June, #3: We’re concerned about the two eggs. They were laid about a week after #4, so now they must be about a week overdue in hatching. The parents are still dutifully incubating.
27 June, #2: We have seen the occasional visitor in this box, but last night we caught sight of a pair having a good look around together.
27 June, #1: A new prospecting pair took up residence two or three days ago. They are spending nights (and this morning!) cuddling up together.
12 June, #4: In a rare moment when both parents were out foraging, we saw that the eggs have hatched. May have been a couple of days ago. Unfortunately the pictures from this box are somewhat blurred, but it looks like there are only two chicks.
30 May, #3: A second egg.
27 May, #3: First egg; probably the first ever for this pair.
23 May, #4: A third egg. Going by previous years, that will be the lot.
22 May, #4: A second egg.
20 May: Since last night there has been a pair in #3.
19 May, #4: An egg!
17 May: We watched as a new swift flew up to each of the nestboxes in turn and called into them, finally spending a night in #2 – the first time this box has been used.
12 May: A small screaming party of four swifts entertained us outside this evening. The pair in #4 have been happily cuddling up together every night. And there’s a single bird in #3 again tonight; is it the same one who left 5 days ago, or is it their partner finally returned?
7 May: Our first breeding pair today returned to #4, where they successfully raised chicks last year and the year before. Unfortunately, after 4 nights alone in #3, the first bird of this season seems to have given up waiting for their partner.
3 May: The swifts are back! Well, one is, anyway. This must be one of the prospecting pair that took a shine to nestbox #3 last summer. Let’s hope that their partner makes it back as well before too long.
The nesting boxes are in Sibford Ferris. Revisit this page to keep an eye on progress.
The School House, owned by the Town Estate Charity of Sibford Gower and Burdrop, is currently being refurbished and will …
The School House, owned by the Town Estate Charity of Sibford Gower and Burdrop, is currently being refurbished and will be available for rental shortly. The house has 3 – 4 bedrooms and the Charity trustees would ideally like to help meet local housing needs by letting to a local family. Further details can be obtained from the secretary, Peter Morgan (petermorgan2@hotmail.co.uk or tel.01295 788 207)
