Change of Parish Council members
At the recent Annual Parish Council meeting Maggie Rawcliffe was elected as Chair and Sarah Balaam as Vice Chair; Tom Barron was co-opted onto the Council.

Clive Briffett
Clive Briffett stood down from the Council in April. He has served the Parish for seven years - as Chairman of the Friends of South Hinksey, as a Parish Councillor, and for the last few years as Chair of the Council.

Clive instigated the South Hinksey Parish Plan, published in 2005. On his watch 14 of the 21 proposals in the plan have been partially or fully implemented. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Parish woodland off Chilswell Path, and was deeply involved in the negotiations to secure the use of the field behind the Village Hall for community events. He planted several trees in the Village.

He has very generously agreed to continue to supervise the woodland on behalf of the Parish Council, and to represent South Hinksey on the Oxford Green Belt Network. Once again the parish will have the benefit of his energy and immense knowledge about the environment.

He has been a regular contributor to the Echo - "Nature's Niche" is a seasonal and fresh look at nature and wildlife around the parish.

Our wholehearted thanks to Clive for his service to the parish; for his vision, enthusiasm, perseverance and achievements.
Maggie Rawcliffe

New Waste Collection Service in the Vale of the White Horse from 4^th October this year. The aim of the new service, which is simpler, is to increase recycling and reduce landfill costs. Each household will be receiving new bins between the 6^th and 20^th September. Information on the new services will be sent out by Royal Mail from the 24^th of May.

If any Parishioners have opted out of junk mail then they will need to contact the VOWH waste services team directly in order to receive this information, this can be done by email admin.vale@verdant-group.co.uk or by phoning 03000 610610.

An information pack describing what can be put in each bin will be inside the kitchen caddies when they are delivered. More information about the new services can be found on the Vale's website: 

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Two councillors attended the recent Botley Traffic Advisory Committee meeting and will report at the next PC meeting.

Proposed car park on Oxford City Council owned land
Three councillors recently attended a site meeting on the field at the back of Church Close with Jane Wingfield from Oxford City Council. She will write a detailed report for the PC, which will be considered at the next PC meeting.

Most people know of the planning application by the Vale Brewery for a change of use from the General Elliot pub to one large residential dwelling. This has provoked a flurry of indignation, as the Elliot was the only meeting place apart from the Village Hall left in the Parish. One cold Saturday morning our then prospective MP, Nicola Blackwood, joined us at the pub and stood with a large group of residents shivering in a hailstorm as a photographer from the Oxford Mail came to take a picture.

Later on in the week a meeting in the Village Hall attracted more than forty residents – quite a feat for such a small community. At the meeting the feeling was unanimously against the change of use. The Parish Council have therefore written a detailed letter opposing it. A decision is expected by Friday 28th May.

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Photo competition: Summer in South Hinksey, closing date 27^th August
Get out and about! We are running a photo competition with the title: Summer in South Hinksey. Take a picture of anything within the Parish. Print it, size 4"x 6", and deliver it to any of the editors (addresses at the end of this edition).

Prize: a big box of chocs.
Two categories: Children up to 10, and the rest.
Exhibition of all entries at the Summer Fete, then on the website.
Do join in!

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The Spring Party The get-together on May 14th was a great success. The Donkey House Band, children’s songs, adults’ songs, beer, wine or Pimms, and a chance to get to know your neighbours- What more could anyone want to celebrate spring? See p.6 for information about our next Parish celebration!

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Garden Club

In March the Garden Club came out of hibernation. We started off with a talk about new varieties of shrubs and roses from Sam Mallet of Notcutts Garden Centre. She gave a good practical demonstration of rose pruning and many helpful hints to increase the vigour of our ornamental shrubs. In April the Oxford Garden Centre (formerly Wyvale Garden Centre) in South Hinksey very generously hosted an evening in which they demonstrated aspects of kitchen gardening and growingfood plants in containers. The plants

ranged from salad crops, pumpkins and courgettes to dwarf apples and pears. And the evening finished with a walk around the garden centre where staff had planted up a number of raised beds. In May Harry Robinson returned with decorative plants for hanging baskets. He gave a demonstration of how to establish attractive hanging baskets and outdoor summer pots, bringing a wonderful assortment of plants and offered help and advice for successful planting. We plan to continue monthly meetings and future events include a trip to open gardens in Iffley village, a talk on community gardening projects, and build your own Christmas wreaths and garlands. New members are always welcome. Contact Anne Markham: 730577

Book Group Visits

Our group has branched out into literary themed visits following our successful trip to the Bodleian Library. We read Lies and Loyalty by Rachel Billington and then attended her talk at the Oxford Literary Festival. She is one of the Pakenham family and regaled us with some revealing tales of life in a literary clan. We were able to pose a question about how she managed make what seems to be an unlikely tale believable to the reader.

The second visit was to the Kennington Literary Day where there was a presentation by some of the Oxford Women’s Group about using Oxford as a backdrop to their short stories. Their forthcoming Bodleian Murders is on our short list for forthcoming meetings.
Barbara Jeffrey

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Saint Laurence Church

Blessing of new extension

On Sunday 16^th May the Bishop of Ebbsfleet came to St Laurence Church to bless the new extension, comprising a kitchen and toilet facilities. He gave an amusing sermon, touching lightly on the delicate nature of relief.

The church was well filled to hear him and the extension was duly blessed. Fr James thanked all those who had contributed in so many different ways to the successful completion of the project. Afterwards refreshments were served.

The congregation of St. Laurence Church, South Hinksey, would like to thank the Oxford Garden Centre for the kind donation of daffodils and primroses. This spring the churchyard has been enhanced by the plants given last year.
Parish office – Tel 01865 245879,  frwilkinson@ukonline.co.uk
www.acny.org.uk/468 
(Fr James Wilkinson)

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Nature’s Niche

After the coldest winter since 1978/79 with temperatures dipping to -17.7degrees in Oxon we experienced a balmy spring cut short by the return of low temperatures in May. Spring flowers have been slower to emerge, tree leaves and hedge blossom delayed their flowering, migrant birds were later to arrive and our amphibian friends much less reluctant to reach their breeding ponds.

Last year it was recorded on the website for amphibians and reptiles http://arc-trust.blogspot.com/ that 40,000 toads were saved from being killed on the roads with the help of 35,000 human volunteers manning 750 road crossing points. These intrepid helpers spend two to three weeks of their evenings every year in collecting up toads and transporting them across a road towards their intended pond destination. I was fortunate to join a local group at Kennington on the 25^th March and we collected over fifty toads plus a few frogs in one evening in about two hours after dusk. The toads live in Bagley Wood during the winter and head for the ponds in Chandlings Manor School in spring. Their ponds are considered to be the most diverse in the area.

Bird arrivals are now at their peak with the first swallows at the end of March, swifts at the end of April, and two cuckoos recorded at Chilswell from the 26^th April. Blackcaps, whitethroats, garden warblers and willow warblers can be heard all round the parish. If you wish to learn how to recognise some of these birdsongs do join a dawn chorus bird group arranged throughout May or tune into the RSPB web site to hear all the calls. If you are less adventurous why not try listening out of your bedroom window at about 4.30 a.m. onwards. Many birds are not always easy to see but much easier to hear especially at this time of year. It is a most rewarding experience to get out and just listen to nature.

I paid my first ever visit to Raleigh Park in North Hinksey last week and was pleased to experience such a wild, heterogeneous range of habitats within such a urban area. True, the sound of the A34 is nearby but ones ears can automatically filter out this background to enjoy a cacophony of bird calls that defy the imagination. How a song thrush can sing for six hours virtually non-stop or a grasshopper warbler purr like its namesake, or how the wren, one of our smallest birds can create the noisiest rumpus certainly does reinforce the wonder of nature.

Although our bird counts may be down they are certainly not out. Enjoying the nuthatch and woodpeckers at the bird table you could possibly recognise great, blue, coal, long- tailed and marsh tits. Due to a recent injury my sporting activities were curtailed in April and I found myself sitting in the garden just waiting and watching. Do you really know what wildlife uses your own garden? After this experience I can categorically say no. Within half an hour I had a rabbit chasing a muntjac; next door’s cat and a bank vole visiting the leftovers on the bird table; a jay chased off by a one-legged heron and a goldcrest coming to bathe in the parrots feather of the pond. I suddenly realised I was in a very busy garden indeed. A male orange tip butterfly flitted by, followed by the early yellow brimstone resembling butter that gave rise to the name "butterfly". The clue to success was to stay absolutely still and train one’s eyes and ears to the beauty and diversity of wildlife. The sights and sounds of nature are indeed a most amazing experience. Try it in your own garden when the rain stops!
Clive Briffett

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Things to do

Bridewell Organic Gardens will be open on 6th June 2010 from 2 – 5 p.m. Teas, plants and Bridewell organic wine for sale. Bridewell is situated in Wilcote, between North Leigh and Finstock. For more information, please telephone 01993 864530 or 868313 South Hinksey Garden Club June trip Sun 13th June (2 - 6 p.m.) We are planning a visit to Iffley Village where seven different gardens will be open to the public. These range in variety and style from an English cottage garden with Californian plants to a small professionally designed Japanese style garden, with maples and miniature pines. Varied planting throughout the gardens includes herbaceous borders and shade loving plants, roses, fine specimen trees and plants in terracing. Features include water features, formal gardens, small lake and riverbank. Admission:  £4 for all seven gardens, children free. SHGC Plan: Provisionally we plan to meet at 2.00 p.m. on Abberbury Road. Following a tour of the gardens we will meet for tea at 3.30-4.00 p.m. All welcome.

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Forthcoming Events

Adrian Walsh from SOL will give a presentation about solar energy in the Village Hall on 18^th June at 7.00 p.m.

NOTHING UP MY SLEEVE: at the Village Hall 7.30 p.m. on Saturday 23^rd October. An Evening with Magical Comedian Ian Keable. Amongst the laughs, he is promising some answers, explaining some of the techniques he uses to mystify his audience.

Ian Keable was named the British Magical Champion of Comedy and has been given a Variety Award for Best Magician. He is also a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star; and in 2008 was given the prestigious Magic Circle Comedy Award.

Tickets available from beginning of September from MaggieRawcliffe (735288) or email mstopard@btinternet.com

Parish Event
Following the success of the Christmas party and the Spring Celebration, our next Parish Event will be the second annual South Hinksey Fete, to be held in the Village Hall and the field behind on Saturday 4^th September. It promises to be even bigger and better than last year’s, so put the date in your diaries now!

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Burial Ground and Wildflowers

Spring brought the cowslips and they are now setting seed, so hopefully numbers will be up again next year. There have been losses from the plug plants put out last year - the grass is growing strongly in some places, providing unwanted competition, and the harsh winter did not help. Nevertheless many have settled in well; seen already in the spring end (nearest the church) are the beautiful Meadow Saxifrage; and Bird’s Foot Trefoil and Dropwort will probably have flowered by the time this appears in the Echo. So too will Goatsbeard or Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon, raised from wild seed, and so called because it only opens fully on sunny mornings; it later forms a large dandelion-like ‘clock’ seed head.

Under the trees at the far end Red Campion, Dog’s Mercury and Sweet Woodruff are now well established and Foxgloves are on the way.

We planted Snowdrops in the green near the entrance gate off Parker Road in the early spring.

Seedlings are being raised in pots: these include Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Meadow Vetchling, Musk Mallow, Lady’s Bedstraw, Bladder Campion and Harebell. Seeds of Great Burnet have germinated but it remains to be seen whether they will do well here - they tend to like a wettish habitat.

Grass is removed with each mowing so fertility should fall with time, making things better for wildflowers. The annual Yellow (Hay) Rattle has germinated well in situ from seed sown last winter; it will help reduce the vigour of the grass, being semi-parasitic on grass roots.

Mowing of the (far) summer end will stop soon and we will then see what emerges there - there are already hopeful signs. All in all the meadow, now in its second year, is doing well.

A new Burial Ground sign has been erected by the Parish Council. The old concrete tubs have been removed. The untidy tap area will be sorted out soon and the path to the church improved in due course. Peter Rawcliffe

  Spring Flowers
We had the best ever display of snowdrops and violets in the churchyard. However, it is not only the Village that has enjoyed a wonderful spring - the bluebells on the Hill have been superb.

Ditches and Willows
Thanks to Nick Frearson , who has cleared all the ditches around the Village, as well as the culverts under the Devil’s Backbone. He has also pollarded the willows overhanging the pathway, leaving it looking a bit bare to our shocked eyes. Be reassured: new strong growth will follow soon!

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Save the Children Week 25^th April to 1^st May 2010
£78.18 was collected in South Hinksey. The total amount for Oxford was £5,639.33.

New Opportunity
The Oxford Spires Practice has opened a tranquil treatment room in the Hinksey Hill area. For more information about how hypnotherapy and other holistic methods of healing such as reiki and meditation can contribute to your wellbeing please contact Lubna Yaqub on01865 321861, or visit the website www.oxfordspirespractice.com. Alternatively please email the practice to come along to our meditation evenings every Monday at 7.30.

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