The Church has been beautifully decorated. With many thanks to Mandy for organising and all those who helped.

Many thanks also to Andrew Liddiard who donated the Christmas tree.😀

The Church is open daily so do pop in and take a look.
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The current incarnation of the nativity scene up at the Great Barn started in 1999, and even with one pause in 2020 its been running for more than 25 years.

Jennifer has kindly shared some photos with us so I am adding them here.

You can read about the history of the nativity scene in an older post here. In it Ian Beckwith talks about finding some small ceramic nativity figures in the vestry, Joy Lee talks about being inspired by seeing life-size figures of the Nativity in Prague and Jennifer Norman talks about how the current incarnation came about with help from Geoff Lee, John Rounce, Richard May, Peter Turner and Helen Anderson and others no doubt.

The nativity scene and figures have had running repairs over the years, but apart from the Angel and sheep, are broadly the same as they were 26 years ago - a testament to the creativity, ingenuity and hard work of the original barn team and the tenacity of the current team to keep them going.

There were also some Christmas cards produced in the past to help with fund raising, one from 2011 and one from 2015 - both from photos by John Rounce.

Click on an image below to see it full-size, it may take a while to load as the images are quite big.
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Pennyhooks Farm Trust

Some of you may have attended the Christmas Fayre at Pennyhooks on November 22nd, for those that weren't able to you can find our more about Pennyhooks and what they do here, including a video from Pennyhooks and a BBC program that was made.

You can donate too if you want to, there is a Christmas Crowdfunder running currently.

Root and Branch

Root and Branch also recently had a Winter Fayre in November, you can find out more about their work on their website, here.

You can also donate to Root and Branch using their JustGiving page.

Merry Christmas

Notice of temporary road closure for the Christmas eve procession. The Holloway Road from Foxley Cottage in the south to the junction with the B4019 between the hours of 17:00 and 18:15 on the 24 December 2025.

Link to notice.

The next Men's Night will be held in the Reading Room this Saturday from 6pm to 8pm (note change of time).

The format will be the same as before, drop in anytime from 6pm, bring along your own beverage of choice, it's all very informal, partners welcome to come along too.

The Reading Room has glasses so no need to bring anything else.

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
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This year the team behind last year's fantastic Great Coxwell Grand Christmas Event will be selling some beautiful and exclusive Christmas Wreaths; there are limited numbers so if you are interested please get in touch with us as soon as possible.

Prices from £50, they will be available to collect from Saturday 6th December.

To reserve yours, please email [email protected], first come first served.

Newsletters (with link fixed):

Local Government Reorganisation - Special Edition.
A win-win for White Horse Lottery supporters and local organisations
Visit Southern Oxfordshire launches campaign to boost festive trade

For those that were not able to attend the Remembrance Sunday Service at the War Memorial on Sunday 9th November 2025, you can find the words spoken about James Wearn on his page here, along with a more detailed biography and links to relevant artefacts and further information.

I've also taken the time to update the information about Tom Titcombe, who was spoken about back in 2018 on the 100th anniversary of The Armistice, you can find that information on Tom's page here. With much help from a distant relative of Tom's (Richard Titcombe) we've been able to fill in the gaps, I think it's a fascinating tale of Great Coxwell life from the late 19th into the 20th century.

If you have any more stories or information on these 2 soldiers, or any of the soldiers commemorated on the memorial (you can find a list here) please email me.

For those new to the village you might like to know that in remembrance of the soldiers of Great Coxwell the streets on the development on land of Steeds Farm were named for them. The land formed part of the Parish of Great Coxwell before the development and the Parish Council were asked to name the streets, now called Fern Hill Gardens, James H Wearn and James L Wearn were commemorated with a road name (Wearn Road) on the opposite side of the Coxwell Road.

Many thanks,

Gavin Anderson - biographical research
Robbie Burns - militrary research

I would like to thank everyone who attended the special Remembrance Service on Sunday 9th November and to the village committee who organized the drinks and nibbles in the Reading Room afterwards.

The donations amounted to £95 which were given to the Church towards roof repairs.

Thank you for this generous donation.

Regards all,
Reverend Maureen (on behalf of St Giles' Church).

The Christmas decoration of the Great Coxwell St Giles Church will take place on Wednesday 10th December starting at 2.30 pm. The Flower Ladies would welcome anyone who would like to join them to assist in the decoration.
 
Also, any greenery from your garden such as Cypress, Ivy, Rosemary, Holly (wonderful if it has berries as well), eucalyptus etc. Flowers are welcome but not essential. This can be left outside the Church or we can collect.

Please let Mandy know if you can assist and/or have greenery we can collect on 07968 439408.