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Tony Skowronski writes: Found – an iPhone. If you have lost one, please ring me on 01295 780 490

This is a fund raising challenge for Katharine House Hospice – a week in China, walking sections of the wall.

I worked at Katharine House for about 8 years and know it as a very special place. A colleague, Nic Rossiter, another Sibford resident is deputy sister there, and is also doing the challenge, organised by the hospice and ‘The Different Travel Company.’

All hospices depend on charitable donations in order to provide their expert end of life care.

Nic and I are planning to do some training walks together, along with Eva, another colleague from the hospice. In order to keep me motivated and to get into training for the steep terrain I have decided to aim for 2026 km in 2026.

We will be fund raising to make, I hope, a significant donation to the charity. If you’d like to support us in our endeavours we would be most grateful. 

• Nic’s fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/nicola-rossiter-6?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL
• Eva’s fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/eva-moreno
• and this is mine: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sarah-bryson-5

Thank you,
Sarah Bryson

Please see below the Notice of Election published by Cherwell District Council.

Notice of Election May 2026

Banburyshire residents are beating the energy price crisis with home grown power
… Sibford solar farm which is providing local people with cheap electricity placeholder image. The Sibford solar farm which is providing local people …

Fred Inns died 26th November 2025 at home, peacefully, as he wished.

Help and support came from many sources,especially Shipston Home Nursing for which the family were very grateful. Donations at the funeral were in excess of £700 which has been divided between Sibford Endowed School and Shipston Home Nursing.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Pauline Inns and family

Please see below a summary from Sean Woodcock MP on his work through February 2026.

Cerys Upstone
Policy and Communications Officer for Sean Woodcock MP
Email: cerys.upstone@parliament.uk

It has been a busy month, both in Parliament – where I have been scrutinising legislation and across the constituency – visiting local people. February has been a productive mix of policy work and local engagement.

Here is a look back at what I’ve been up to this month:

Working for You in Westminster

Much of my time in London this month has been dedicated to committee work and legislative scrutiny.

This has included my work on the Finance Bill Committee – where I scrutinised legislation, ensuring that national fiscal policy remains robust and fair.

On the Housing, Communities, and Local Government Committee, we continue to look at the vital issues affecting local councils and the delivery of housing. I have celebrated the new Homelessness Strategy – backed by £3.6 billion, which includes 3 pledges to be achieved by the end of this Parliament. We will halve long-term rough sleeping, end the unlawful use of B&Bs for families, and prevent more households from becoming homeless in the first place.

I also attended a dedicated drop-in session to discuss the impact of social media on young people and how we can better protect children in the digital age. Lots of constituents have emailed their views on this, and I would encourage anyone who is interested to contribute to the national consultation to have their say.

As well as this, I attended a rural reception with the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution Farmers Charity, where I was able to discuss the unique challenges facing our farming community and how we can support them.

Across the Constituency

Back home, it was a pleasure to visit several schools and community hubs to see the incredible work being done on the ground.

I visited both Blessed George Napier (BGN) School and North Oxfordshire Academy (NOA) to speak with students and staff about the challenges and triumphs in our local education system. I also spent time at Banbury Sure Start, seeing firsthand the essential support they provide to young families in our community.

I also chaired a seminar on the Oxford to Cambridge growth corridor. This is a vital project for our regional economy, and it is essential that we balance growth with the needs of existing residents.

I have also been visiting lots of local businesses and groups, such as the Breadline Project, Contact Web, and Banbury Museum, and have invited lots of different constituents to meet with me about their individual casework issues.

As always, if anyone needs my support, please do email my office at sean.woodcock.mp@parliament.uk.

Sean
Member of Parliament for Banbury

Phil Hilton writes: Many thanks to all of those who attended our walkers meeting at the Wykham Arms yesterday evening March 4th. Your input was most valuable, and thank you to Deb for hosting.

I thought it would be worthwhile summarizing the points that were discussed and the agreed actions to be taken going forward. 

1. Phil Hilton will be leaving the village by the end of March, and so will not be able to lead the walking group thereafter.
2. Attendance on the fortnightly walks has been low compared to years gone by.
3. Many people would like to walk more regularly but the current 2 hour walk is just too far or too strenuous.
4. It was generally accepted that trying to do a combined walk that satisfied the needs of both long and short walkers was logistically challenging and severely restricted the choice of routes.
5. There seemed to be  strong support for the creation of two separate walking groups – a 2 hour walking group as currently exists, and a new 1 hour walking group for those less active.  Two separate group leaders would therefore need to be found.
6. Both groups would organize walks every alternate week as the current arrangement, but the day of the week for each walk would need to be driven by the availability of the group leader .
7. Christopher Steane offered himself up to be the leader of the 2 hour walking group, and suggested that Wednesdays would be the best day for him to lead.   
8. Christopher highlighted the fact that there would inevitably be days when he will just not be available, and on such occasions there will need to be a deputy or deputies who can take over a walk on short notice. It was agreed that the WhatsApp Group Chat could be used to pre-empt such a situation, and regular walkers could either take over the lead of the planned walk, or just substitute it with a more familiar walk known to all.
9. Sue Bannister offered herself up to be the leader of the new 1 hour walking group,  provided a trial walk to test her hip goes ok. Sue would like the 1 hour walks to take place every alternate Thursday, starting at the village hall at 10.00 am prompt.
10. For the 2 hour walkers there was general support for an earlier  9.30 am start, particularly if the walk in question was longer than average or if the start and finish point was some distance from the village. Christopher to decide whether to make all 2 hour walks commence at 9.30 or just the longer/ more distant ones. 
11. The new regime will start in April, with the first 2 hr walk led by Chris on Wed 1st April and fortnightly thereafter. The first 1 hour walk led by Sue will be on Thursday 9th April and fortnightly thereafter.
12. Walking dates for the month ahead will continue to be published in the Sibford Scene and displayed on the Sibfords website. If the leaders do not wish to be burdened with this monthly task, then perhaps we could ask for a volunteer to provide Tim and Tony with the dates by the appropriate deadline.

The Editor of the Sibford Scene writes:

Many apologies to Ginny Bennett for printing an unedited version of the article which appears in the March Sibford Scene on page 5. The correct version is shown below and will appear in the April Scene.

OUR VILLAGE HALL

“You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” (Joni Mitchell)

• Can you imagine Sibford without a Village Hall? Because that may become a reality!
• Many Village Halls are struggling to keep going due to lack of volunteers. Do you want a pleasant venue to hold meetings, do Yoga, play Bridge, have your kids parties, listen to a talk, or watch a film or play?
• Do you want the heating programmed on for you, know that the Hall complies with statutory H&S, Fire and Insurance Regulations?
• A hall that is welcoming, well-equipped and clean? Would you like someone to open the hall for you, show you around and make sure you have everything you need?

All these tasks and many, many more have to be done — or the Village Hall cannot function. We need people to put in the hard work for their community. This work is not glamorous or showy, but just done quietly behind the scenes and is vital to keep our community asset running smoothly.

If you can help by doing some of these tasks, or could do a month of Hall Management as part of a rota, then please contact us for a chat.

Become a Villager — not just someone who lives in a village.

Please call Ginny Bennett 01295 780 373 or David Gill 01295 788 171