Officially the NHS clapping is over, but the doorstep concerts will continue at Stonevale for a few weeks more.

Tonight at 8pm we will perform two pieces:

Allegro brilliante by Ten Have, for the Classical lovers (Katherine and Lynette)

Let it Be by The Beatles, for the Pop folk (Richard and the GC band)

All depending on the kindness of the weather of course!
Thanks,
Lynette
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Songs from movies tomorrow night!

1. Ladies in Lavender  (Lynette and Katherine)
2. Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Great Coxwell Band)
3. My Favourite Things from Sound of Music (Great Coxwell Band)

This week Katherine and Lynette - Beethoven - Spring Sonata, 1st movement.

Spring Sonata

For those of you who missed the performances last week - you can see the videos below, thanks to all the performers!

Memory
A Whole New World
Bare Necessities

More this week when Katherine and Lynette will play the first movement of the Spring Sonata by Beethoven.

On Thursday the “Great Coxwell Lockdown Band” will perform three popular songs from Musicals. The band is growing, and as being outside is now a little more relaxed, anyone who would like to play along are welcome to join us at a safe distance. Email Lynette at [email protected] if you would like a copy of the music.
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VE Day.  Friday 8th May 1945.

Not many Great Coxwell residents remember VE Day.  But, seventy-five years ago, Ted Nieass, (Sandcroft), was a twenty-year old RAF pilot as the war in Europe came to an end.  What were his memories of VE Day?  Our investigative reporter went to find out!  It turns out that Ted was the other side of the Atlantic on 8th May 1945.  His WW2 story begins three years earlier, when at the age of just 18, he volunteered to become an RAF pilot and was summoned to Lords Cricket Ground, of all places, to be inducted into the RAF.  Amusingly, Ted remembers being put up, eight to a room, in commandeered luxury flats in Maida Vale.  London Zoo was their temporary cookhouse…The wild animals had packed their bags and been evacuated to Whipsnade Zoo, apart from the monkeys, who remained!

Roll forward to November 1944, and Ted arrives in Terrel, Texas, to begin his flying training at the No 1 British Flying Training School.  At this stage in the war, all flying training was overseas, either Canada, the USA or Southern Rhodesia.  He began his training on Stearman PT-18 bi-planes, and then graduated to the Harvard, (AT-6) Trainer.  His instructors were all American commercial pilots.  (One of the other students at Terrel was the actor, Robert Hardy.)  Ted’s life in Terrel was wonderful.  The RAF aircrew were thoroughly spoilt by the local population.  Indeed, the town still keep in contact with their Allied guests and publish an annual BFTS newsletter!

Ted recalls that VE Day was not hugely celebrated in Texas, for understandable reasons. The war in the Pacific was still raging in May 1945, and the US were taking heavy casualties in that theatre.  Ted returned to the UK on the Queen Mary on his 21st birthday in July 1945, and married Joan the following year.

When the glut of pilots subsided after the war, Ted went on to become a jet fighter pilot in the fifties and sixties, finishing his flying career leading an RAF training team with the Kenya Air Force in the mid-seventies, before a posting to RMCS Shrivenham and retiring from the service in 1979. He then spent six years as Bursar at Christs Hospital Girls' School in Hertford finally coming home to Great Coxwell in 1986.  He was soon persuaded to become Parish Clerk; a job that lasted for thirteen years, while Joan was WI Treasurer during ten of them.
Ted has one daughter, Jenny, three grandsons, Christopher, Martyn and Jonathan, all in their forties and one great granddaughter, Emilia Rose, Jon's child, born last September. 

Friday 11th May – 75th Anniversary of VE Day

Great Coxwell marked the 75th Anniversary of VE Day on Friday the best we could, given the continuing lockdown restrictions.  Musical entertainment at the bottom of the village kicked off with Nick Warr playing the Last Post and then Glenn Miller’s ‘In the Mood’ brilliantly on his saxophone.  This was followed by Nancy Smith, playing the National Anthem and then ‘the Can-Can’ very assuredly from her improvised stage – her Dad’s 1943 EAC ‘Matador’ towing lorry, (once used to tow artillery guns to the battlefield).

At the top of the village, Lynette Stulting and her band…more like an orchestra!... played Vera Lynn’s famous song, ‘We’ll meet again’, followed by ‘A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square’.  It was hugely appreciated by the socially distanced audience.

Below are some of the video recordings, and some photographs of village residents taken from Friday evening …..

(The Last Post) - Nick
(In the Mood) - Nick
(Can Can) – Nancy - (Offenbach's Infernal Galop)
(We’ll Meet Again) Lynette Stulting Band 

Great Coxwell Community Fund.  

The Great Coxwell Community Fund is managed by its Trustees, Pam Smith, Pauline Durham, Sylvia Athawes and Annabelle Zinovieff.  It is available for village community events, but also, in extremis, for those in difficulties who have tried all other avenues for support.  If you are struggling and need a little help, please contact Pam Smith in the first instance.
  
Pam Smith – 01367 240233 or email on Chris Smith [email protected]

That’s it for this week.  At last, we heard some good news last night about the Government’s plans to end the lockdown.  Hurrah!  What is clear from the last two months is how the village has pulled together, how we have all looked out for each other, and how we have helped and cared for each other in adversity.  My thanks to everyone for all their kindness and consideration so far.  In a funny way, Great Coxwell feels a closer-knit community now.  One positive from the lockdown.

Stay Safe,

Best regards,

Mandy xx
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Important Update

Hopefully, you will have seen the Additional Newsletter posted yesterday on the village’s VE Day celebrations.  It has been brought to our notice that the arrangements as they were described could contravene the Covid 19 Social Distancing rules. This note seeks to re-enforce those rules and make sure that we continue to keep safe.

What are we doing in Great Coxwell?
With the need for social distancing limiting what can be done to mark this event, the following two small events will take place from home:

1) Location: Driveway opposite 'Olde Willows' at the bottom of the village.
Time:  5.30pm.
Event:  Nick Gow will be playing the saxophone and Nancy Smith will be playing the oboe from home.
Music.  ‘In the mood’ (Glen Miller),’ The Last Post’ and ‘the National Anthem’.

2) Location: ‘Stonevale’ on the T junction at the top of the village.
Time:  6pm
Event:  Lynette Stulting (piano) and her daughter, Katherine (violin) will be joined by Russ (guitar) and son Oliver (drums) as well as Ken and Richard to play ‘We’ll Meet Again’, (Dame Vera Lynn)

Unfortunately, it would not be appropriate to gather together or visit both performances so please enjoy either event if you can from your own home.

Let’s make sure this virus does not stop us remembering and celebrating VE Day.

Mandy Burns.  Xxx
(Great Coxwell Support Group)

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From Lynette - we are going to have another Great Coxwell member joining Katherine and I,  in the form of Richard Benwell!  He will stand on his side of the wall with another microphone.  We are going to perform Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world".  (Of course he did not write it, but he is famous for it...)

We are going to play it three times, if people feel like joining in for the third one - here are the words.


Lyrics for "What a wonderful world"

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them blue before me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Or also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying "How do you do?"
They're really saying, I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them them grow
They'll learn much more and I'll never know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Welcome to another week at home.  I do hope everyone is managing in these enormously difficult circumstances.  At least we are allowed out once a day for exercise.  Although this last week has been less favourable weather-wise, hopefully that has not prevented you getting some fresh air.

My husband and I have been trying to vary our daily walks whilst staying inside the Government Covid 19 lockdown rules.  One new walk we tried is the National Trust Coleshill Estate yellow route.  (Map below.)   It’s just under three miles so is achievable within the hour if you get a move on.  Lulu, our Long haired Hungarian Visler, enjoyed herself enormously climbing up Badbury Hill from Brimstone Farm.  And the bluebells are currently in full bloom.

There was another excellent turn-out for Thursday evening’s ‘Applause for the NHS’.  At the top end of the village, Lynette Stulting (keyboard) and her daughter Katherine (violin) from Stonevale, played a beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, which was appreciated by everyone who came out to support.

Take a minute and play the video and an alternative view here. 

Lockdown Spotlight.  John and Biddy Rounce.

This is the third in the series of ‘Lockdown Spotlights’ on families in the village, focusing on how they are managing under Covid 19 Lockdown.  This week, we have been interviewing (from a distance!) John and Biddy Rounce, of Glebe House, right next to St Giles Church.  The Rounces moved to Great Coxwell in 1992, from Weston Turville, ‘to get away from commuters!’.  John retired from BP two years later after an illustrious career which took them all over the world.  Company ‘postings’ included 2 years in New York, 3 years in Cape Town, 3 years in Houston Texas and frequent trips to Russia and the former Soviet Asian Republics.  Their children, William and Kate, thrived on this exotic lifestyle.

How are you finding the lockdown?  Biddy and John have been getting wonderful support from their daughter, Kate, who has been in lockdown with them.  They do a big shop once a week but find the social distancing when shopping difficult.  Kate finds Waitrose a bit more organised than Sainsbury's in that respect.

What is the most difficult part of the lockdown?  Biddy said she was fine but that the most difficult part was the lack of shape to the week.  Indeed, she revealed that she sometimes had lost track of the days and didn’t know what day of the week it was!  (We know the feeling!).

Any tips from getting through lockdown?  It’s clear that their dog, Pentti, gets lots of attention and daily walks.  They all said that a routine is helpful. And John admitted to an afternoon nap.  (very sensible!)

By the way, John mentioned amazing journeys he made when he was just 10 years old.  Home then was Tanganyika as his father was in government service there.   To get home from boarding school in England, he flew by Solent flying boat from Southampton…via Augusta (Sicily), Alexandra (Egypt), Khartoum (The Sudan), Lake Naivasha (Kenya).  The journey took two days!

That’s it for this week.  Hopefully with the Government COBR meeting this morning, we may be getting some news later today on how this Lockdown might come to some sort of conclusion.

In the meantime, Stay Home, Protect the HNS and Save Lives, 

Best wishes
Mandy Burns xx
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There should be music at both ends on the village this Thursday during the applause for the NHS and key workers, whilst ensuring we all observe the social distancing rules you can gravitate towards Stonevale by the crossroads where Lynette and Katherine plan to bring us a musical accompaniment to the applause at 8pm.

Outside in the road if it is nice, or if the weather is bad, through open windows.
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