Christian Aid Week will be held 11-17 May 2025.
The tomato seeds are sown and I hope they will give me enough plants to satisfy any orders. I’m
waiting for the collecting envelopes to be available. A poster will soon go on the new Church
Notice Board and we are already talking about the Garden Party at St Mary’s on Saturday 17th May at 3:00 pm. Please make a note of the day.
Any questions – or offers of help – to Malcolm Wright 850705 or via the village WhatsApp
Upton Neighbourhood Watch
There will be a meeting at the Village hall at 8pm on Tuesday 4th March to discuss how we might
restart the Upton Neighbourhood Watch scheme All are welcome to come along with your thoughts
about how we might take this forward.
Derek Whitmell (1940 – 2025)
Derek collapsed following a wonderful Christmas spent with family and passed away peacefully at
the John Radcliffe Hospital on the 2nd January. A thanksgiving service was held at St Michael’s
Church, Blewbury on the 10th February this year.
Derek and his wife Charmian moved to Grahame Close, Blewbury, as a young married couple with
their daughter Clare, in the autumn of 1965 and stayed there for the next 23 years raising their four
young children, Clare, Nick, Anne and Andy. They moved to Pippins in Upton in 1988, where they
both lived until Charmian passed away in 2019, followed by Derek’s passing this year. Derek took a
keen interest in village life: he was an original member of the Upton Village Wine Appreciation
Society, always ready to share his passion for, and knowledge of, fine wine, which was quite
extensive! He was a long-time member of the monthly Gentleman’s Breakfast and also spent
several happy years volunteering at the Style Acre Tea Rooms in Blewbury, helping to support and
mentor young people with learning difficulties. He chaired a committee to produce a Parish Plan for
Upton in 2005 and volunteered for a few years as an Ambulance Community First Responder.
Outside of his commitment to the village he was known as an enthusiastic walker and could often
be found striding up and down the embankment in Upton with various labradors in tow.
Derek grew up in Beckenham in South London and laid an early claim to fame when he was
bowled out by a young Derek Underwood whilst at school! In 1959 he won a Major Scholarship to
Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he read Maths, Physics and Metallurgy as an undergraduate. He
then took up a research position at Cambridge, specialising in Field Ion Microscopy and earning
his PhD in 1965. Charmian and Derek met at a party hosted by friends in 1961 and were married in
the summer of 1963. In 1965 Derek took up the offer of a job at the Atomic Energy Research
Establishment in Harwell and the young family moved to Blewbury. Over the years he worked on
various projects in his specialism of metallurgy including the use of ion beams to lay down
metallic surface coatings and developing a completely new technique for the safe storage of
radioactive gases. By the end of his time as a research scientist, Harwell held 14 patents listed
under his name. In his later career he led Harwell’s Programme and Planning Group and advised on
the management of the Harwell and Culham sites, including the decommissioning of various
research centres. He took his final retirement in 2003 having spent 38 years at Harwell.
Outside of his passion for the sciences Derek was an enthusiastic gardener, transforming the
outdoor spaces at Pippins into a beautiful garden of vegetable beds, flowers and trees, many of
which were grown from cuttings taken from his own father’s garden. He is remembered as a
sociable and outgoing individual with a great store of fascinating stories, a wicked sense of humour
and a kind and courteous person who was curious about the world and everything in it. He will be
greatly missed.
His children and the wider family would like to thank the many people who have sent cards and
letters of condolence and shared their memories of Derek in the period since his death.
Upton Nature Garden
The nature garden, if you haven’t heard of it, is a small, natural oasis for people, animals and plants
in the heart of the village, at the back of the Village Hall.
It’s 3 years, give or take, since work began. Take a stroll around it now, and you’ll see a decent
hedgeline, flourishing ferns and shrubs, and at long last a good clutch of bulbs. The dogwoods,
which haven’t done much until now, are suddenly thick enough to add strong yellow and red to the
muted winter tones. It’s an encouraging glimpse of what the garden will be like when it ‘grows up’.
You may have noticed the woodchip at the bus stop gate. It was donated by a local tree surgeon a while
back, but it’s been too wet to shift much of it onto the paths where it’ll help suppress the grass. If you
have an hour spare (and a wheelbarrow) it’d be lovely to see the pile go down.
Last year we spread plenty of mulch on the woodland beds. This did a good job of keeping
down the grass, especially on the mound, but elsewhere it’s proving quite formidable. Again, if
you have a spare moment to weed around a dozen or so plants it’ll reduce competition for nutrients
and moisture.
Plans for this coming year are deliberately low key: to make sure the plants we put in last spring get
established. Occasional weeding, watering if dry. Feel free to fill up the can at the big butt and give
any thirsty plants you see a drink!
On a financial note, the nature garden continues to be funded by grants we received from TOE and our
county councillor, plus donations from local businesses. We hope you enjoy it!
Upton Wine Club
We all know wine can be an expensive business. The quality (or perceived quality) of a wine, it’s rarity and brand have all contributed to some wines demanding an exceptionally high price. However, a lucrative industry such as this one does attract attention from less scrupulous characters and encourages business and even countries to try some interesting things to protect their investments!
We obviously couldn’t try any illegal wines on the night but we did take some inspiration from some
of the wines we tried! Take, for example, our first wine: a Masottina Contrada Prosecco Superiore
from Veneto, just NW of Venice. This was a great Prosecco with a creamy, intense feeling in your
mouth yet is a really crisp wine that was a little like tasting liquid Golden Delicious apples! We heard
how Italy, in an attempt to protect their highly profitable cargo, tried to rename the Prosecco
grape to Glera and make it only possible to produce wine from this grape in Italy, much like
the Champagne region. Unfortunately they soon found out that several other countries had already
been growing Prosecco vines for some time and were promptly told that wouldn’t be acceptable.
If you have ever tried wine from Austria, then you may have seen a red and white striped cap on the
top, indicating that the wine has been tested for quality, This is a necessity given that, several years
ago, New York Times reported that the Austrians had added “antifreeze” to their bottles in an
attempt to sweeten wine during a poor harvest: they hadn’t (but had been up to no good adding
some compounds that would allow them to sell their wine)! The result was they had to throw away
several million litres of wine and the fallout was sufficient to cause sales of Austrian Riesling to
plummet overnight and it took them over 15 years to recover!
We heard many other stories about people who drilled through concrete walls to get to cellars
containing precious bottles of wine (just like a bank robbery), and a lady who ordered room
service in a high end French hotel late at night, so her boyfriend could steal the wine cellar keys and
get away with over £1.5m of wine!! Perhaps the scariest was when Romanee-Conti, a vineyard in
the French Burgundy region producing Pinot Noir that starts at around £1,800 per bottle, was sent a
detailed map of their vineyard, with a note saying that unless they paid 1 million EUROs, each vine
would be poisoned! The blackmailer was caught but it begs a question as to how you protect your
land!
The Upton wine club is about wine but it is about so much more. Each month, a large proportion of
the of 50+ members (mainly from the village), come together each month to learn a bit more
about wine but also to have a great social time! If you are interested come and give it a try, details
can be found on our website. The meeting will be held on 19th March at 8pm – we hope to see you
there!
Wine Club – The Effects of Age on Wines
This month we were delighted to invite Martin from local wine retailer, Grape Minds to talk to our
members about the effects of age on wine. With a Diploma in wine, he was able to provide some
great background into the economics of aged wine and the influence it has on the taste. Over the
course of the evening, we tried wine that was over 30 years old and some as young as just 2, which
was fantastic and allowed us all to sample wine that we probably wouldn’t go out and buy without
trying first!
The ageing process significantly influences the flavour profile of wine. As wine matures, its
flavours become more complex and nuanced. Young wines often exhibit vibrant, fruity, and
floral notes, while aged wines develop deeper, more integrated flavours. Over time, tannins in
red wines soften, leading to a smoother mouthfeel and a more balanced taste. Additionally,
secondary and tertiary aromas, such as earthy, nutty, or spicy notes, emerge, adding layers of
complexity. The acidity in white wines may mellow, resulting in a richer, rounder palate.
However, not all wines benefit from long-term ageing; some are best enjoyed young to appreciate
their fresh, lively characteristics. Some wines, for example Rioja, have quality restrictions that mean
it must have a minimum number of years in oak barrels before it can be released. We tried a Gran
Reserva Rioja this month, which means it must have had a minimum of 5 years in an oak barrel
before being released for sale.
Next month we will be taking members through some of the stories behind wine, that have caused
producers, sellers and wine intermediaries to do some unscrupulous things in the hope it will make
them a bit more money! It really is amazing (and at times humorous) what people will do! If you
want to come along and join in the fun, please see our website for details. The meeting will be held on
19th February at 8pm – we hope to see you there
Derek
It is sad to report that Derek Whitmell passed away after a short illness on January 2nd. A thanksgiving service will be held at St Michael’s church at 2.30pm on Monday 10 February, followed by light refreshments at Upton village hall. All are welcome.
Farm cat holds the key… – Performed by The Blewbury Players
STOP PRESS:
Farm cat holds the key to defeating the ogre of farmer’s inheritance
The owners of a smallholding in the Oxfordshire town of Tabbyshire are pinning hopes of saving their home and business on
Continue Reading Farm cat holds the key… – Performed by The Blewbury Players
Blewbury Players, an exciting year ahead
Blewbury Players have an exciting year ahead. Don’t miss out, why not come along and join in? You could join the singing and shouting in the pantomime audience or audition for our summer production… something for everyone 😊
Audition workshops for A Monster Calls
Jesse
It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Jesse West who has been a pillar of strength in the village for nearly 60 years. Jesse’s funeral service will be held at St Michael’s Church, Blewbury at 12pm (noon) on Thursday 6th February. Burial at St Mary’s, Upton will follow the service with a further gathering at the Upton Village Hall after that. All are welcome to attend any or each part of the proceedings.