| May 1993 Issue 50 |
| [New Issues] [Old Issues] [Subject Index] | |
| [Issue 49] | [Issue 51] |
| May 1993 Issue 50 |
| Priest-in-Charge: | Rev. Robert Morgan, Lower Farm, Henley |
| Road, Sandford-on-Thames. Tel: 748848 |
| 8.0 a.m. | Holy Communion (1st Sunday of the month only) |
| 10.0 a.m. | Family Communion (1st Sunday of the month) |
| Parish Communion (other Sundays) | |
| 6.30 p.m. | Evening prayer |
| (Choral Evensong on 6th and 13th June) |
THE BUSINESS TO BE TRANSACTED AT THE MEETING WILL BE AS
FOLLOWS :-
1. MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD IN 1992
2. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - Mr M.J. Leary
3. COUNTY AND DISTRICT REPORTS
4. AUDITED STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 1991/92 (Presented by the
Clerk of the Parish Council)
5. MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION
6. MATTERS RAISED BY PARISHIONERS
PLEASE NOTE: ANYONE WISHING TO RAISE MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION
SHOULD CONTACT THE CLERIC IMMEDIATELY
Clerk to the Parish Council: Mrs Carole Leary
Telephone Oxford 773266 after 5.30 p.m. and week-ends
to Alex Andrews of 97 Church Road, who was one of a
'four' entered by Pangbourne College in this year's Ghent
International Spring
Regatta held in Belgium
over the Easter Bank
Holiday. Against stiff
European competition,
particularly from Germany,
the 'four' came home with
two gold medals, having
won the under 16s 'coxed
fours' and the under 16s
'coxless fours' by very
convincing margins.
W.P.C. Katharine Lowe and P.C. Kevin Darbyshire write:
* Three hours ironing
SANDFORD
Saturday June 26th
at 4.0 p.m.
(Registration 3.30-3.45)
Cups, prizes etc. 5 p.m.
Support requested.
Sponsorship forms from vicar (748848) - you can nominate
your favourite charity on your form, but local needs, e.g.
Youth Club, building funds etc., hope to benefit.)
Children and women 3 miles, youths and oldies 5 miles.
Can we do it?
[Best kept village competition]
This village has entered the competition this year, and
volunteers are urgently needed to cut verges and generally
keep the village neat and tidy in readiness for the judging
which will take place early in May and again later in the
summer. Many thanks to those of you who have already cut
the verges outside your property.
Youth Club
Members of the Youth Club spent much of April 21st
collecting 25 sacks of rubbish from public parts of the
village.
New leaders for the Club are needed - if you can spare the
time please contact the Chairman on 748848.
People don't much care to be reminded of duties, even basic and obvious duties like our responsibilities to elderly parents and children, so what price duty to God who is supposed to hold our whole life and the moral order together? We prefer to dwell on the JOYS - and so they even make church enjoyable not the laugh a minute that our fun culture looks for, but something deeper and more lasting..
Singing is not much fun if we can't sing or don't know the music. Much is written on the joy of prayer, but like the Sandford River Run or the London marathon it takes a bit of training before you get to enjoy it. But even listening can be a joy, and prayer is mainly listening.
We are
reminded of our duties when we bring our children to be
baptised. Just as we help them talk by our example, we teach
them to pray by giving them a language, and to live good
human lives, maybe better than we manage ourselves. All that
should be a joy, but when it is neglected we need reminding
of our duty. We owe that much to posterity, whatever we
ourselves make of the mysteries of our life and death.
In addition to the Wardens for all their work, the Vicar
thanked Mr Martin Pitson, organist, deputies Mrs Boyd and
Mrs McKissack, and the choir; the secretary, treasurer, and
auditor (Mr McKissack); Messrs C. Pitson, R. Crickmay, J.
Smith for care of the churchyard; Mrs Harris and all those
in the flower team; all who have helped with cleaning and
Mrs Webber for care of linen and key, and all who in various
ways had sustained the worship of God in this place.
Bob Oliver has written the following account of his
experiences:
Earlier this year I was part of a Bosnia Aid Convoy
loaded with food and medicines, destined for Travnik and
hopefully Tuzia. Having reached the coastal town of Split I
had the misfortune to suffer a slight stroke which ruled me
out as a driver and I was left behind at a small hotel,
which was our staging point, while the rest of the Convoy
went on.
When it was quiet I took stock. The only damage to me appeared to be a useless left hand and arm to which some feeling was slowly returning - being a left hander this was to produce problems undreamt of at this stage. My sole reading matter was a phrase book entitled 'Holidays in Yugoslavia' which I put to one side and one of the 'Sundays' which, as it was then Tuesday, was less than riveting.
Bill Croker, our Convoy Leader, had left me with the grand sounding title of Communications Officer, largely, as I thought, to make me feel good, and I resigned myself to an unexciting and lonely listening watch. But I was not alone for long. The hotel staff, including some very attractive young ladies, went out of their way to be as helpful as possible. One in particular, Elvira, spoke excellent English and soon I was drawn willy nilly into discussions which would have left most of our home based 'Bosnia Experts' wide eyed.
It would be wrong of me not to record the depth and
intensity of feeling which came over in these discussions.
Sometimes there were two or three of the family who ran the
hotel involved, another time a group of Bosnian truckers.
On occasions it seemed as if half the restaurant was taking
part. They were bewildered and resentful at the West's
apparent reluctance to become involved and there was the
harder message that 'if you are not with us, you are against
us.' There are no neutrals in a Civil War.
Not that there was any unfriend-
liness to me. I learnt during the
week that I was known throughout
the hotel as 'Grandpa' - but I was
told that among Muslims this is a
term of affection and respect,
which was some consolation.
Perhaps with a premonition of impending trouble I asked Elvira to teach me some sentences and phrases in Croatian, which she did. I had reason to be more than grateful later, for trouble did arrive in no uncertain fashion after twenty-four hours, when the convoy failed to return.
The detail of communications, telephoning and general to-ing and fro-ing which then ensued would fill a book, but the upshot of it was that the convoy had encountered a late winter blizzard on the return journey and after two nights in sub zero temperatures the lead truck had been pulled clear and motored back into Split. Bill Croker was driving this truck and we agreed that if the remainder of the convoy did not return within twelve hours we would go back to Bosnia in an attempt to locate them. They did not return, and we set off through check point after check point, my little Croatian working wonders. German, however, is virtually a second language there, and my very rusty knowledge of that language was rapidly being mobilised. I was becoming quite pleased with the amount of German I was remembering when it occurred to me that the 'instant fluency' had more to do with looking at the wrong end of a Kalashnikov than any linguistic ability.
Bill and I had to turn back at last, beaten by the atrocious weather conditions and finally returned through some of the areas which had suffered severe shelling. We had been searching for most of a day and all through the night, and it was now early morning. We stopped and looked at the wreckage. It lay not by house, nor by road, but by areas.
It was unnaturally quiet. Bill was taking photographs
for the record, but looking round in the hard cold light of
early morning I felt that I would need no camera to remind
me of that scene of silent desolation.
Present: Mr M. Leary (Chairman), Mrs J. Shepherd (Vice-
Chairman), Mrs G. Ashburner, Mrs H. Hutton, Mr D. Judd, Mr
M. Norton, Mr S. Rudman. The meeting commenced at 7 pm. Mr
Judd and Mr Norton having been delayed joined the meeting at
a later time.
The minutes of the previous meeting were
taken as read, having been previously circulated, and signed
by the Chairman. There were no matters arising, and no
correspondence.
Matters for consideration: General
Oxfordshire Best Kept Village Competition. 5 votes in
favour.
Annual Meeting with Parish and Town Councils. Chairman and
Clerk to attend. Any matter the Councillors wish to be
raised should be handed to the Clerk in writing at the next
meeting of the Parish Council.
Extension to the Churchyard. The Chairman proposed that the
Parish Council approach Magdalen College with a view to
obtaining a piece of land in order to enlarge the
Churchyard. 5 votes in favour.
Oxford Family Health Services Authority - Application for
preliminary consent to provide pharmaceutical services at
Donnington Health Centre. Noted.
Planning
P92/W0654 Kings Arms Alterations and extension of
existing public house and demolition of
outbuilding. Amendment. Objection.
P92/W0655/A Kings Arms New fascia and free standing
signs. Amendment. Objection.
The Chairman reported on the Planning meeting where it had
been decided that the Parish Council would object to the
planning application on the following grounds:
a) disturbance/noise and smells would be detrimental to near
neighbours b) the Parish Council considers the access road
to be inadequate to cope with the increase in traffic
c) size of extension is considered to be overdevelopment of
the area d) the Parish Council would not wish the footpath
to be re-routed unless the new footpath is designated a
'public right of way'.
Community Policing
Inspector Tony Leake attended the meeting. Inspector Leake
is in charge of Community Policing in the Oxford/Cowley area
(30 PCs). He spoke of the work of the police in the
community. One and a half police officers look after
Littlemore/Sandford. PC Kevin Derbyshire (full time) and
WPC Kath Lowe (part time). Both operate out of Cowley
Station and there is also a police office on the Peers
School Complex. Surgery on Thursdays between 10.30-12.30.
County Councillors Report Reported on Kings Arms planning
application.
District Councillors Report Reported on Kings Arms planning
application.
| Income | £ | Expenditure | £ | |
| VAT return | 466.03 | Magdalen College | 75.00 | |
| Additional rent | ||||
| Clerk's salary | 200.00 | |||
| SEB - repairs | 17.20 | |||
| Meadhams | 298.98 |
Present: Mr M.J. Leary (Chairman), Mrs J. Shepherd (Vice- Chairman), Mrs G. Ashburner, Mrs H. Hutton, Mr D. Judd, Mr M. Norton, Mr S. Rudman. The minutes of the previous meeting were taken as read, having been previously circulated, and signed by the Chairman. 7 votes in favour. There were no matters arising and no correspondence.
Matters for consideration: General
Report on Playground Equipment. Mr Rudman presented his
report on the recreation field (site 1) and new play area in
Broadhurst Gardens (site 2). Site 1: it was noted that the
concrete/timber seat was in need of repair and quotations
are to be sought from Mr James and Mr Donnelly. Site 2: a
number of items are outstanding. Clerk requested to write
to Mr Jacques (SODC). It was also noted that Laing site in
now completed by no playground equipment has been installed.
Clerk requested to write to Mr Jacques. 7 votes in favour.
Provision of Refuse Skips 1993/4. Noted.
Grass Cutting 1993 season. Clerk instructed to accept tender
from SODC. 7 votes in favour.
National Spring Clean 24/25th April 1993. 7 votes in favour.
Seminar for Parish Clerks. Clerk reported that she was
unable to attend.
Thames Valley Police. Literature to be circulated.
Planning
P92/W0654 Kings Arms Alterations and extension of
existing public house and demolition of
outbuilding. Amendment.
P92/W0655/A Kings Arms New fascia and free standing
signs. Amendment.
Mr Marthews was asked to put forward the Councils views at
the Planning Meeting on the 10th March. The Clerk was
instructed to write to SODC expressing the following points:
County Councillors Report Nothing to report.
District Councillors Report Nothing to report.
| Income | £ | Expenditure | £ | |
| Nil | 0.00 | G & I Ayres | 8092.23 | |
| OALC subs and publications | 105.45 |
Date of next meeting 5th April. Meeting closed at 8.30 p.m.
| * | * | * | * | * |
| [Issue 49] | [Issue 51] |
| [New Issues] [Old Issues] [Subject Index] | |
| Comments to: m.hills@btinternet.com | [Home Page] | Last update: 18 August 2000 |