News

There is useful information on the Sibford Surgery website about getting a Covid-19 vaccination.

Winter Clown

Winter’s sliding in.
Frost-painter. Clown. Ice-cracker
beckons us join him.

Winter Stew

In the Hag’s Kitchen
Earth’s slow-cooking Winter Stew.
Bubbles of new life.

Winter Night

Blackboard sharp with stars.
A winter night’s clarity.
Oneness with the cold.

Winter’s End

Winter’s slipping off.
Wheelspin on frost damaged road.
Dirty slush splashing.

Jo Huckvale

Are you inspired?

If so, try composing your own haiku on the theme of Spring and sending it to haiku@thesibfords.uk for publication here in … Spring. If you’d like to be published anonymously, just say – use a pen name if you wish. You can find guidance on writing haiku on the web, but for our purposes it is simply a short verse of 17 syllables in three lines, in a 5-7-5 pattern. No prizes – just for fun!

The Banbury Guardian reports that three local areas currently have fewer than three cases of Covid infection:

• Kings Sutton, Greatworth and Evenley;
• Cropredy, Wroxton and Shennington;
• Sibford, Hook Norton and Milcombe.

Read the Banbury Guardian article.

Bend down your ear to listen please the trembling snowdrop said,
I can’t speak very loud you know, I never raise my head.
I’m but a little servant, and yet I’m honour’d too,
A message from the land of flowers this day I bring to you.

The primrose and anemone, above the dead leave shining,
The bluebell carpet in the woods, the honeysuckle climbing.
Sweet roses in the gardens, heather on mountain brow.
They are coming! They are coming.  They are getting ready I know.

I see them all, a shadowy throng, each taking its own part
Wait, only wait, and each in turn ‘ere long will cheer your heart.
They are peeping o’er my shoulder and you may see them too,
Thank God then for the message the snowdrop brings to you.

God sends me as the token of the bright returning spring,
His promise on my cheek is stamped with its pencil green.
The flowers are His, He bids me say, unfolding at His call
And He who waked one flower from sleep will do the same for all.

M.E.M.

From the Cherwell Parish Bulletin of 25 January:

Cherwell District Council is able to help people who are struggling to afford food and stay warm this winter.  The Winter Support Grant scheme is available for households that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.  The support is available through Citizens Advice North Oxfordshire, in the form of advice, supermarket and fuel vouchers or through the direct payment of energy or water bills.

Any household struggling to afford food or pay fuel bills may be eligible to receive help.  If you know of someone who is struggling please advise them to get in touch:

• Phone: 01295 221448
• E-mail:advice@cano.org.uk

The Cherwell DC website is showing today (27 Jan) that The Pheasant Pluckers Inn planning application for “Erection of an agricultural barn store” next to the Sib has been withdrawn.

Oxfordshire County Council has issued a media release warning about how scammers are taking advantage of the Covid vaccination programme. Read it on their website.

It’s a good read, with useful reminders of how to avoid becoming a victim of this and other scams.

Churchwarden Barbara Foster has received this note from Polly:

Dearest Barbara and all,

Oh my gosh, how do I begin to thank you all for all the lovely Christmas boxes that you so kindly delivered for the poor: you have truly amazed me and god. This is going to be such a special Christmas for my folk as they’re going to realise how much they’ve been thought of by you all, especially to what we’re all going through, you are all AMAZING. I pray you all have a peaceful Christmas. Let’s hope and pray for a better 2021.

Bundles of love to you all for being so wonderful.
Love, Polly and all
xxx

Bernadette Jones writes: Would it be possible to remind residents to be more mindful on how they park their cars in Sibford Ferris? The bus was unable to get through Main Street on Thursday evening (Christmas Eve), due to bad parking! The poor driver had to reverse back down village and leave via Burdrop. On the return journey from Banbury, I was informed that I wouldn’t be able to be dropped off in the Ferris, only Burdrop, which is a fair trek after a full days work as a supposed ‘key worker’. Thank You.

What is the Priority Service?

You can’t always predict when an emergency situation may cause a disruption to your utility provision. If you register for the priority service register with your local supplier, they will do their utmost to prevent your supply from going off and, if it does, make sure that your service returns as a matter of urgency, providing additional support if necessary in the meantime.

Depending on your provider, extra assistance may include:

• Hot drinks and food
• Charging points
• Generators
• Delivery of bottled water to your home
• Temporary heating and cooking appliances.

Are You Eligible?

If you receive a state pension, are disabled or have a child under the age of 5, then you may benefit from joining the utility priority care registers.

If you rely on one or more of the following, you will also be eligible to join:

• Home dialysis machine
• Oxygen concentrator
• Artificial ventilator
• Stair lift
• Adjustable bed.

If you are eligible and would like to register for the priority service, contact your provider(s) using the following contact details (for Sibford residents):

Water provider: Thames Water
Phone: 0845 641 0068
Text phone: 0845 7200 899
Online: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/extra-care/priority-services

Electricity provider: Western Power Distribution
Phone: 0845 724 0240
Text phone: 0845 601 2318 (or use Text Relay)
Online: https://www.westernpower.co.uk/customers-and-community/priority-services

Information taken from a leaflet published by Oxfordshire County Council Emergency Planning Team.
01865 323 765
emergencyplanning@oxfordshire.gov.uk
https://oxfordshire.gov.uk/emergencyplanning

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 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.