Upton Village

South Oxfordshire

Blewbury Produce Stall News

Last years produce stall was such a success that we will be doing it all again this year! For those who missed it, this is a way of selling your excess plants, seedlings & produce and buying them too! This way we reduce food miles, have fresher fruit, vegetables, eggs and cakes etc, save petrol, help our village economy and promote a nice villagey atmosphere by making new friends!

Our stall will run every Saturday morning from 7th May until late September. At the moment we are asking you; our growers, do not throw away your excess seedlings (why do seed packets contain so many seeds?) and pot them up ready to sell, you will get back 90% of the selling price. My propagator is full at the moment, but it now means I don’t have to grow everything as I can buy different seedlings and plants at the stall, and my compost bin is emptier!

I will also be selling the majority of my rhubarb, I eat some and put some in the freezer, but if someone else can use it, then great! We would also love to have some extra pairs of hands on the stall throughout the summer; we have a rota which means we all only do a few mornings throughout the summer. Please ring Sara on 851441.

Thank you, Sara, Karen, Brenda, Dave, Kathy, Ange & Eric

Post Office News.

Postal rates are going up on 4th April; but to beat the price rise you can buy 1st and 2nd class stamps, (standard and large letter) which will then re-value themselves!

ID is now needed for all bureau do change transactions, we can not issue euros etc without your ID!

We have also been made aware of an email scam using the Post Office logo, and a so called Post Office Gift Reward Dept, you are promised £150 for taking part in a short survey, but to get the money, you have to provide your bank details. There is no “gift dept”, and the Post Office does not give away money!

Please also be aware that all special delivery and recorded items of post need to be in by 4.30 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday, or 10am on Wednesday & Saturday to catch the last collection.

Thanks from Ann & Karen

Blewbury Post Office

Car Sharing in Oxfordshire

clip_image002

Concerned about rising fuel prices? Looking for a way to lessen their impact on you? Well, we have the answer: Oxfordshire Car Share.

The scheme provides a free service for you to find others to share your journeys with, cutting your travel costs in half or by even more.

The scheme is available to anyone living, working or travelling in or through Oxfordshire. Registration is completely free, and there are no obligations involved in using the service. You can choose whom you wish to share with from the matches generated for you; how often you wish to share; whether you wish to be the driver or the passenger, or to alternate. It really is entirely up to you, and you don’t even need to own a car to use the site – just register as a passenger. Register today at www.oxfordshirecarshare.com.

Meeting Everyone’s Needs Survey for the District Council

MEETING EVERYONE’S NEEDS SURVEY (Vale of White Horse District Council)

Local councils have a duty to provide services for everyone in the community and to promote good relations between different groups of people.

New legislation means this is a good time for us to check what else, if anything, we need to do to make sure services are delivered fairly.

You may be aware that funding to local government is being reduced significantly over the next four years. Whilst we may not be able to introduce expensive new services, you may have suggestions about how we can do things differently to meet everyone’s needs.

I would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to give your views by completing our online survey  www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/haveyoursay by Friday 8 April. 

Information about the outcomes of the consultation will be made available at www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/haveyoursay

Alternatively, if you provide your contact details when you take part we will keep you informed of how we have responded to what people have told us.

If you have any questions about taking part or would like to request a paper copy or alternative format of the questionnaire please contact the Consultation Officer on 01235 547614 or email haveyoursay@southandvale.gov.uk

Thank you for taking the time to give your views.

Kind regards

Cheryl Reeves

Shared Equalities Officer

Corporate Strategy

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils

Direct Phone: 01491 823047 (South)

Direct phone: 01235 540324 (Vale)

Text phone users add 18001 before you dial

For address details visit us at:

www.southoxon.gov.uk

www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk

Invitation to participate in the Healthy Lives Consultation

NHS Oxfordshire

You are invited to participate in the Healthy lives, healthy people: a strategy for public health in England consultation by the consultation manager, Julia Stackhouse.

NHS Oxfordshire has been asked to seek the views of the public in Oxfordshire.  The consultation can be accessed at the following link: www.oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk/consult
If you have any questions please feel free to contact Julia Stackhouse on 01865 334638. Thank you.

Participate in this consultation

If clicking on the above link does not work, ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ the following line above into your web browser’s address bar:
https://consult.oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk/consult.ti/healthyliveshealthypeople/invited?e=kameki39%40btinternet%2Ecom&p=212D18562011021717

Blewbury Festival 11th – 26th June 2011

Please put these dates in your diary and on your calendars! 

Family Day will launch the Festival on Saturday 11th June at 12 noon with a fanfare from the Brass Band;  There will be a bar and a tea tent plus a pig roast and barbecue and lots of stalls and attractions for all age groups. We will have a dog show, tug of war and children’s races. Too much to mention now.

The Summer Dance will be on Saturday 18th June and a Father’s Day curry lunch on 19th. 

A full list of events will be available next month but keep your eye on the Blewbury Bulletin website for all details.

Telephone scammers target computer users

Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards team is warning people about conmen who are cold calling residents and claiming that their computers are infected with viruses which they can fix.

The number of complaints received by Trading Standards has risen in the last month with 23 people reporting the scam since the beginning of December.

These conmen often say they work for Microsoft or Windows, although many different names are used. They will know the victim’s name and address and will suggest that their computer is at serious risk from the viruses or “malware” with which it is “infected”.

Stealing information

They may ask the consumer to shut down and re-start the computer or direct them straight to a program called “Windows Event Viewer”. This will list errors, some of which will be labelled “critical”. In fact, there is nothing wrong with the computer and the program is simply being used to con the victim into thinking they have a problem.

If the consumer falls for the scam, they will then be directed to a website to download a program which will allow the caller to control the computer to “fix” it. All that is actually happening is that the conmen are being given access to all the data stored on the computer, which could include personal, banking and identity information.

The caller will then demand payment for the so-called service provided. The victim will be asked for a direct debit or credit card payment and may also be asked to sign up to a direct debit payment scheme for ongoing “protection”. If they refuse to pay, the criminal on the other end of the phone may threaten to crash their computer. Trading Standards has received reports of up to £240 being demanded as a one off payment.

Tip of the iceberg

In July 2010, the Metropolitan Police closed down 19 websites being used by such fraudsters, but the problem appears to be on the increase again, certainly in Oxfordshire.

Lists of names, telephone numbers and addresses are marketed internationally and call centres, particularly in India, make thousands of these calls, preying on unsuspecting computer users. Trading Standards has also received reports in the past where these scam callers have contacted people who do not own a Windows computer or who don’t even own a computer at all.

Richard Webb, Deputy Head of Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards, said: “If you do receive a telephone call like this, we advise you to hang up straight away. If you have noted the caller’s telephone number or have been given a trader name or website address before you hang up, please report the call to Trading Standards at 0845 051 0845 or trading.standards@oxfordshire.gov.uk.”

Transport Event at Blewbury School

At Blewbury School we work hard on our creative curriculum to give the children a ‘hands on’ education. We find the children are more engaged and motivated by this approach to learning. To this end we decided to focus half a term to a whole school theme based on transport. As well as trips to Beaulieu Motor Museum and the Coventry Transport Museum the whole school made moving vehicles. These were exhibited for parents and showed fantastic progression throughout the school as well as a lot of imagination and creativity. As a grand finale we held a transport festival with a large array of vehicles on the school field/car park for the children to look at closely, draw and even sit in. The older children interviewed the owners while the younger children loved the police car siren! We had everything from a JCB, cement mixer and tractor to motorbikes, camper vans and vintage cars including a Rolls Royce. The whole afternoon was great fun and a huge amount was learnt and experienced. Our thanks go to all the willing lenders of those vehicles.

Mandy Slater

Blewbury School

Christian Aid Sponsored Walk

If anybody would like to take part in the Sponsored Walk for Christian Aid, we have sponsor forms and maps.  It will take place on Saturday 9 October; it starts between 9 and 10 am from Chilton Church; and a 5 and a 10 mile route are available.

Elisabeth and Malcolm Wright 850705