The Parochial Church Council and Upton Parish Council are still looking
for volunteers to help plan, organise and help run this year’s Upton
Village Fete.
We are looking for new ideas as well as all the classics and as much
support as anyone is willing to give.
Please contact us at bens@uptonpc.co.uk to register your interest in
being involved.
Benjamin Shaw
Mobile 07934 389171 Tel 01235 850308
Blewbury Post Office News
Spring has sprung in the post office and we are now getting a regular
delivery of fresh kitty’s eggs. You can also buy our lovely local honey. We
also have a variety of sweet treats and chocolate for sale so do come and
have a look.
From now on our opening hours have slightly changed and we will be closed
on a Wednesday afternoon going forward. Our new opening hours are:
Monday 9am – 3pm
Tuesday 8.30am – 12pm and 2.30pm – 5pm
Wednesday 9am – 12pm
Thursday 9am – 3pm
Friday 8.30am – 12pm and 2.30pm – 5pm
We have a variety of special stamps in stock including Harry Potter, Spice
girls and many more. You can also do all your banking at the post office,
including cash withdrawals, cash deposits and cheque deposits.
Sarah, Karen and Andrew
Upton’s Village Drop-in
The next Drop-In planned for the 29th March / Good Friday, will now be hosted at
Upton’s St Mary’s Church for a special family friendly Easter event.
Refreshments and activities will be available from 10.00 am using the fantastic
new facilities. Further details will be announced soon. Please save the date
in your diary .
If you have any questions or would like to help out with any of the meets,
please feel free to email Nicola Hall – events@uptonvillagehall.co.uk
St. Mary’s Church new facilities – Opening Ceremony
On 24th February, the BlewSing singers combined with some Upton readers
for a celebration to mark the completion of the new WC and kitchen
facilities in St. Mary’s church. The singers, under the direction
of Mark Stanley, were on top form and their six very varied
songs were much enjoyed by the sizeable audience. And who will
forget Malcolm Wright’s hilarious performance as Noah
trying to find excuses for delays in completing the Ark? (speaking
of which, we are assured that the new path around the church will be completed ‘any day soon’!).
Tea and cakes, served from the new kitchen, followed and
at the end of the afternoon we all felt the new facilities were well and truly launched!
We’re still planning some work inside the church to make the
space more flexible for a variety of uses.
In the meantime the facilities are available free of charge to Upton residents, subject to prior booking through Paul Batho (pjsbatho@btinternet.com) or Jessie West (jessie@blueshapes.com).
Compost Giveaway
Calling all green thumbs and garden enthusiasts! With spring just around
the corner, The Vale is giving away free compost to help you to get your
gardens flourishing, save money and reduce waste.
Saturday 16 March – 9am to 11am in Abingdon at White Horse Leisure and
Tennis Centre, OX14 3PJ – available to Vale of White Horse residents only.
You can fill up to 3 bags of high-quality compost per household – just
remember to bring your own bags and a spade! This offer is only available
while supplies last.
Our friendly Waste and Recycling team will also be on hand to answer all
your composting questions and share tips to get you started at home.
Nature Garden: spring working party
Over the winter we’ve carried out small maintenance jobs – for example
coppicing a mature hazel – but otherwise the plants have been left to
enjoy their dormant period. Since January, however, bulbs, butterflies
and blossom have been heralding spring, so we’re due
a working party.
Please come if you can – it’d be great to get the patch
up to scratch with a big collective effort.
When: Sunday 17 March, 10.00 am onwards
Where: the Nature Garden at the Village Hall
What to bring: gloves, hand tools, garden fork
Perks: a drink and a piece of cake
Thanks,
The Nature Garden Volunteers
Wines from North America
Mention wines from North America and you could be forgiven for going
straight to California. After all, over 80% of wines from this continent
come from this area. To be fair, there are some exceptional wines from
California. Ever since the Paris wine tasting (also known as The Judgement
of Paris) happened in 1976, where the “great” wines from some of France’s
finest chateau’s were sampled against those lesser known, “lesser quality”
grape juices from across the pond. The blind tasting by some of the best
wine critics around found Californian wines to be better and the reputation
has stood the test of time!
This evening, we did sample some fine wines from California but also tried
to widen our palates by searching further afield, where we found some
exceptional wines. If you are seeking North American wines, you will most
likely come across American Viticultural Area (AVA’s). This is a little bit
like the Appellation areas we hear about in European wines. They are
areas awarded by the state that define, the area, soil type and some
restrictions on where grapes are grown, so a level of quality control can be
given over the wine produced. Look out for this as it will give you some
level of consistency on the wine you are buying. That said there are 100’s
of AVA’s across America.
We had around 40 members from the village join us this month, which was
great to see. To be fair there were favourite wines from across the
continent but a few worth noting included a great opening wine from North
Washington State, a Chenin Blanc from Kiona winery. With long hot days
ripening the grape, this wine had a lovely sweetness but due to excessive
heat the grapes created an acidy that is unusual in these wines. Seriously
worth trying if you like your hors d’oeuvres or sea food! Equally
favourable was a Pinot Noir from the Skolo Blosser estate in Dundee Hills,
Oregon. Oregon has a reputation for high quality wines, with around 60%
of the region’s wines coming from the Pinot grape. If you like this grape
and want to move away from France or New Zealand, then this is definitely
worth a try.
Last but by no means least, we finished with an ice wine from Pelee island,
Canada. Vidal grapes are left on the vine whilst the temperature drops to
just below -8 degrees C. They are then picked, and gently crushed to
extract a very sweet juice, which is then made into an incredibly rich,
sweet tasting wine. This is an expensive wine but worth every penny. Try
it with some strong blue cheese or any sweet dessert!
For more information on the wines we tried or if you would like to come
along to our next evening (8-10pm on the 20th March), where we will be
trying wines from across the ages, please visit our website:
www.uptonwines.com
Hope to see you there!
Ian (Chairman)
Upton Village Survey
Over the past few months, Upton Parish Council has reviewed how it has
previously undertaken building its 5-year plan for the village – also known as
its aims and objectives; it is usually based on a village survey. Whilst
undertaking this review it has reflected on previous surveys and feels the
best way forward is to have the survey in two parts.
Initially we are posing the following four open questions to generate
qualitative feedback. This will then be used to formulate a final,
quantitative, questionnaire thereby ensuring that it is based on the village’s
responses rather than upon the Parish Council’s questions. The ultimate plan
will hopefully therefore be a representative view of the villagers’ wishes and
needs over the next 5 years.
The more responses we receive, the more the plan will reflect the
community’s views, so we look forward to hearing from you all. The survey
contains the four questions below and should ideally be completed on line
via this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M29X7FK
Please answer these four open questions by the end of February 2024 for
your input to be included in the next stage.
ALL ANSWERS ARE ANONYMOUS.
1. WHAT ARE THE THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT UPTON VILLAGE?
2. WHAT THREE THINGS DO YOU NOT LIKE ABOUT UPTON VILLAGE?
3. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE CHANGE IN UPTON VILLAGE OVER
THE NEXT FIVE YEARS?
4. PLEASE ADD ANYTHING NOT MENTIONED ABOVE WHICH IS
IMPORTANT TO YOU?
If you do not want to use the on-line survey, email responses can be
returned parish.depclerk@uptonpc.co.uk
Paper copies will also be distributed and, when completed, may be sent to
the Parish Clerk at
Norton House, Chilton Road, Upton, OX11 9JL
Village Hall Drop-in
The drop-in will be last Friday of the month viz Friday 23rd February
The regular timing will remain at 10.00-11.30, with the occasional extension
for special events.
If you have any questions or would like to help out with any of the meets,
please feel free to email Nicola Hall – events@uptonvillagehall.co.u
The Next Village Fete
The Parochial Church Council and Upton Parish Council are looking for
volunteers to help plan, organise and help run this year’s Upton Village
Fete.
We are looking for new ideas as well as all the classics and as much
support as anyone is willing to give.
Please contact us at bens@uptonpc.co.uk to register your interest in
being involved.
Benjamin Shaw