News

Tim Huckvale writes: If you attended (or Zoomed in on) my talk for the Sibfords History Society last month, you may be interested in what I found in a recent excursion down the rabbit hole of the British Newspaper Archive.

As I mentioned in the talk, the Reverend Edward Stevens was Headmaster of the Bristol Cathedral School for a few years before being ordained and becoming Vicar of Sibford. My research into the newspaper archive has now established that he was appointed Headmaster in January 1866, and left shortly before October 1870.

But I also had a surprise, in finding a newspaper article from 1867 which I have transcribed in its entirety below. Stevens’s own daughter Rosa was then aged 12 and his son Harry 8. It was less than a year later (while still Headmaster) that Stevens began his degree and religious studies at Worcester College, Oxford. Could the tragic event have influenced his change of career direction?

Daily Bristol Times and Mirror, 5 December 1867

THE FATAL ACCIDENT TO A SCHOOLBOY. — Yesterday morning the deputy-coroner, Mr. H. S. Wasbrough, held an inquest, at the cloisters of the Cathedral, into the circumstances attending the death of Francis Scott Gray. Mr. E. T. Stevens, the master of the Collegiate school, deposed that deceased was eleven years and nine months old. He was a boarder in the house, and a chorister of the Cathedral. His parents reside near Dublin. About eight o’clock on Saturday morning witness was alarmed by hearing a heavy thud, as of some one falling, and went from his room to the landing-place, and on looking over the banisters, saw his servant in the hall supporting the deceased. Knowing that sliding down the banisters was a boyish trick in schools, witness had strongly prohibited it. No one saw the deceased fall. Two of the boys were with him a few minutes previously, and cautioned him against trying the silly act. Every attention was paid to him, but he gradually sank, and died about five minutes to eight o’clock on Tuesday morning. W. S. Johnson, one of the pupils, stated that he was with deceased Saturday morning a few minutes before the accident occurred. He spoke of his intention to slide down the banisters, but witness persuaded him not do so. Mr. Stevens would be very angry, and would punish him if he did so. Witness returned to his room to fetch his collar, and in a moment heard the fall, and upon going to the staircase saw the deceased lying at the bottom, in the hall. E. Wait, another of the pupils, also gave evidence, and the deputy-coroner, in summing up, said, according to the evidence, he could only advise a verdict of accidental death, which the jury at once agreed to. The deceased fell a depth of between twenty and thirty feet.

Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

The Reverend Canon Neil Bowler, currently a priest in Sheffield Diocese, has been appointed as the next Rector of the Wykeham Benefice and will take up his new position in early January.

Carolyn White and Sue Bannister write: Sadly, owing to coronavirus, the gardens which usually open in June in aid of NGS were not able to do so this year. However we have managed to raise about the same amount as last year, approximately £2500, through plant sales and donations. We would like to thank everyone who has bought plants, propagated plants, supplied flower pots, helped us sell, passed the word around, made donations, for their support. We very much hope to be able to open next year and hope that you will continue to visit our gardens and to buy plants.

Oxfordshire County Council will, as usual, offer free electric blanket testing this year, but with a different method. They will collect blankets from homes, take them to be tested and return them the same day. The details are on the attached poster and also on the County Council website.

Olivia Sparks and Ella White write: Thank you to everyone who has donated stationery for children in Malawi. We are thrilled by the generosity. We are going to continue to collect stationery until the end of September. We have two drop off stations; one at Home Close, Main Street, Sibford Ferris and the other at Barthrop Cottage, Burdrop (white cottage opposite the Blaze Inn Pub).

Thank you!

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 Estates 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. 

It contributed  £2,000 towards sound system improvements and a hearing loop at the Village Hall during its refurbishment, for example, and continues to contribute to the ongoing work of the Sibford Support Group.    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 Charity’s Treasurer, Mike Lewis, presently one of the Council’s five nominations – who is stepping 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, in addition to the wider work of the charity, the Council would particularly welcome a personal interest in the school. 

Applications should be sent to the Council’s clerk:

Kirsty Buttle < sibford.gower.pc@thesibfords.org.uk >

preferably by Wednesday 16^th September 2020

Olivia Sparks writes: I am 13, and together with my friend Ella White who is 11, am setting up a collection of old stationery to be donated to a small rural school in Malawi.  We thought as it is nearly the beginning of the new school year and most of us, children, are getting new stationery it would be a perfect time to collect your old stationery for children in Malawi. The stationery needs to be working properly but does not have to be brand new. We are collecting stationery such as pencils, pens, rubbers, rulers, colouring pens, sharpeners, highlighters, pencil cases, scissors, calculators, maths instruments like protractors etc.  I lived in South Africa for ten years and our housekeeper was Malawian.  She often told me about the little school resources she had, and that I was incredibly lucky to be able to go to school all year round. We have also recently watched the movie The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.  It is about a boy who built a windmill to irrigate his village crops in the drought.  This movie opened our eyes to the poverty and lack of education in Malawi. We have set up two drop off stations; one at Home Close, Main Street, Sibford Ferris and another at Barthrop Cottage, Burdrop (one of the pair of white-fronted cottages opposite Bishop’s End). We would love it if you could contribute to this cause.

Cherwell District Council has begun work on a new Local Plan for the District. As a first step they have prepared a Community Involvement Paper which begins to identify the Issues the new Local Plan may need to address.

The Paper does not contain any proposals or policy options, but highlights needs and issues simply to stimulate discussion and debate. They want you to contribute to this debate.

If you have a view on the long-term impacts of COVID-19, housing, employment and the economy, climate change, the future of our town centres, green spaces, recreation, community facilities, biodiversity and the natural environment, our built heritage and many other issues, visit the Planning policy consultation page on the Cherwell website.