I want to personally thank the villagers who were able to come along to the Vicarage BBQ last Saturday to meet me informally. After lockdown it was a real joy to meet so many people. I am sure that I shall enjoy my time here as vicar in this beautiful part of Oxfordshire. I have three other village churches to look after (Buscot, Eaton Hastings and Coleshill) on a half-time basis, therefore my normal working days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays, but I am a villager 24/7.

If you want to contact me to arrange any special services (baptisms, weddings etc) or need a chat over coffee, then please do get in touch.

Tel: 01367 240875
Email: [email protected]

The following documents have been added to the website:

Parish Council Minutes September 2021
Reading Room Minutes September 2021

Garden Waste Collections Restart from Next Week

Dear Garden Waste Customer

Firstly, please accept our sincere apologies for the disruption to your garden waste service this summer.

We are pleased to share the news that we have agreed a temporary arrangement with Biffa that will enable us to begin collecting garden waste again from 27 September.

The well documented national shortage of HGV drivers is still an issue for Biffa, as well as for other council waste collections and many supermarkets, but the temporary arrangement they can provide requires fewer drivers, which means the service can resume sooner.

The temporary arrangement is that fortnightly collections will change to take place every four weeks, but you will be able to leave twice as much garden waste out as normal.

We appreciate this is still not the service you expect from us so we will be extending your subscription this year by three months to make up for the collections that you have missed while the service has been suspended. We will delay the collection of your next Direct Debit payment by three months – if we have recently informed you that your payment is due to be taken imminently but the payment has not yet come out of your account, the payment will be cancelled, and you will be notified of the revised collection date in due course once your subscription has been amended. If somebody else pays for your garden waste collections, please let them know of this change. If you choose not to continue with the garden waste service when your subscription expires, we’ll continue to empty your brown bin for three months after your subscription was originally due to end.
While we will be reviewing the situation closely on an ongoing basis, we have set an agreed review date with Biffa at the end of October to see if the normal service can resume and we will let you know the outcome of that review.
Your collection day remains the same as before
If your bins are usually emptied on a Monday, for example, your brown bin will still be emptied on a Monday under a new temporary garden waste timetable with your bins emptied once every four weeks, instead of every two weeks. 
You can see the temporary timetable, which shows when your four-weekly collection will take place on our dedicated webpage here southoxon.gov.uk/gardenwastecollectionchanges whitehorsedc.gov.uk/gardenwastecollectionchanges
Remember, when you put your garden waste bin out while this temporary timetable is in place, you can leave an extra bin’s worth of garden waste out next to your brown bin. The extra garden waste can be put out in cardboard boxes, old compost bags or bin bags (not the very large trade waste bags please).
We will still collect your food waste weekly, and your recycling and rubbish every two weeks as normal.
We want to thank you for your patience and understanding and apologise once again that the service has fallen short of the standards you have come to expect. We hope you feel that the temporary arrangement is a good way of getting the garden waste service up and running sooner rather than later, while Biffa continues to look for ways to address its driver shortage.

We are looking to rent a field locally, does anyone have or knows about a field to rent?

Any help would be appreciated.

We would use the field for a pony or two little Shetlands that we have been offered that need caring for.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Danielle Hall
07730921000

For several days there has been an 'abandoned' pink bike lying on the bank by the path leading up to the church porch - it looks practically full size - an Apollo Recall, which has number 84 on the front forks. I have had no responses to a general enquiry and, if no one shows any interest, John Rounce has kindly offered to take it to one of the Faringdon bike shops as they may be able to put it to good use.

Sylvia
​07923 563662

Hello all, I am hoping to do a monthly drop off .If you can spare tins, rice, pasta, biscuits, cereal, uht  milk etc for Oxford Asylum.

​They al

Please bring them to Clayton Villa by 18th of each month.

Thank you,

Sally tipple 244318

Our U3A returned to the Corn Exchange with a fascinating talk by Alison Mees, “Living the African Dream”.  Her talk was presented in a hybrid form, to the audience in the Corn Exchange and to those members at home, via Zoom.  Those members in the Corn Exchange enjoyed watching her amazing photographs and listening to her tales of life in Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania.  We had not met formally since March 2020, but today was a great afternoon and everyone commented that it was so nice to see friends face to face again. At the end of an excellent talk, we all enjoyed tea/coffee and superb cakes from Sadlers, which was an unexpected treat.

Hand sanitiser was available and everybody felt comfortable with the social distancing measures in place.

Next month will be organised in a similar style – come and see for yourself and catch up with friends, although we cannot guarantee cakes every time!  We are aware that not everyone feels comfortable or able to come out for such events, so, for those people, please continue to join in on Zoom from your own home.
​

On Wednesday, we delivered a mountain of food and other provisions donated by the village for people arriving from Afghanistan.
 
Oxford Asylum Welcome were very grateful! Please see their note below, with thanks again for everyone's generosity.

Dear Richard
 
I wanted to write straight away to thank you and your whole community for the incredibly generous food donation that you brought to Asylum Welcome today. This is a great boost to our stocks and very, very much appreciated. It is wonderful that your whole village has come together in this way to support refugees and asylum seekers. I can't thank you all enough!
 
Very best wishes
 
Janet
 
--
Janet Stewart
Volunteer Food Bank Coordinator
 
Asylum Welcome
Unit 7, Newtec Place
Magdalen Road
Oxford OX4 1RE

01865 722082

www.asylum-welcome.org
​

Reminder - Next Saturday, 25th September at 5pm

Village Barbecue at the Vicarage

Just to remind everyone that we would love you all (children included) o come to our village barbecue at the Vicarage next Saturday.  Do come and join Maureen for a sociable evening - including burgers, hot dogs and cake!  Wine is also provided, as are soft drinks if you prefer (or are under age!).  If your preference is for beer, lager, cider or anything other, please bring your own.  You don't have to be a church-goer.  Maureen is the Vicar for the whole parish and more three days a week.  The rest of the time she is a villager - one of us.  She has already joined our WI and is keen to get to know more of you, so do come along.   Although the current forecast is favourable, there is a marquee ready in case of inclement weather so that need not prevent you coming.  We hope to see as many of you as possible.

Thanks to those who have already been in contact. If you haven't already done so, it would be useful to know if you intend to come ([email protected] or 01367 241632, or any other member of the PCC) so that we don't run short!

Pat and the PCC members (Sylvia, Jane and Jennifer)
​