South Oxfordshire
At the Upton church fete the Promises stall made over £200 but the following Promises are still available:
A cross stitch of a name in either winter, spring, summer or autumn colours £20.00
Have your gutters cleaned out before winter. Kindly donated by David Warren roofing of Upton. Conditions apply up to a 4 bedroom home, a max of two stories, within an 8 mile radius of Upton. Access will be solely by ladders
£80.00
If you are interested in either Promise please contact Ann Parham 850748
This is like 2003/04 all over again, except this time we need more help. As you might be aware, BT is running a ‘race’ to decide which of the UK’s smaller exchanges will jump the queue to get super-fast fibre optic broadband (Didcot and the larger towns will get it automatically, but once again we’ll have to fight for it). There will be five winners, and one of them will also get computer equipment worth £5000 for a local school or community project.
The race runs from now until December 31st and simply requires people to vote for their exchange. There’s no cost and no commitment – you just need to stand up and be counted.
For the Blewbury exchange (serving Blewbury, Upton, the Astons, West Hagbourne and part of East Hagbourne) to be in with a chance, we need at least 1,000 votes from all the villages combined.
If you’re on the Internet already, you can vote by going to http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/vote/cast and entering your details. It takes less than a minute.
If you’re not on the Internet, you can call Graham de Wilde on 01235 851600, he’s the Upton representative for the campaign and he will place your vote for you. Only one vote is allowed per postal address, and according to BT there are only 1236 postal addresses in all the villages put together. That means in order to get 1000 votes, we need 81% of all our households and businesses to stand up and be counted. So you can see why we need your help! Please vote as soon as you can and ask your friends, family and neighbours to do the same.
We’ll report on progress in Upton News and on the village web site. If you want more frequent updates than that, you can contact Chris Whatmore at cwhatmore.tst@btinternet.com and he’ll add you to the campaign mailing list. And for all you social networkers out there, you can follow us on Facebook. You can also follow 0123585infinity on Twitter. Whatever it takes to spread the word and get this done, we’re going to do it!
The Spring Lines first anniversary service will be at the Blewbury Centre on 24 October. The reason we are holding the service in October is because it was on 12 October 2009 that the church councils of the two churches voted ‘to join to form a new church to be known as Spring Line Methodist Church with effect from 1st January 2010’. So our real anniversary is in October each year. Everyone is invited to help us celebrate our first birthday.
Jo Lakeland
Thank you to all the volunteers whose hard work helped to make Saturday’s fete a huge success. You will be pleased to know that the total receipts to date amount to £2476. We really appreciate the work which goes in both on the day and beforehand. Thank you all very much indeed for giving your time and for being so willing to help. It was a great occasion and we were so lucky with the weather.
The dog fun show raised £82 which the organiser has sent to the RSPCA.
If you think of anything which we might do differently or better next time please let me know while the ideas are fresh in your mind.
Clare
Many people in Upton will know that Nick Parham has MS and is confined to a wheelchair. At present he receives 2 hours of exercise a week following a regime designed by a physiotherapist. The young man who has been conducting these exercises with Nick is off to University in September and so we are seeking a fit individual who would be interested in continuing to support Nick with the exercises. Full training by a physiotherapist will be given and the payment is £25.00 per hour (£50.00 per week).
Please contact Ann or Nick Parham
850748 or anneparham@hotmail.com
I hope you have all had en enjoyable summer break.
The Drop-in sessions will resume on Thursday, 2 September when we will be hoping to see some of you in the Village Hall for tea, coffee and biscuits at the usual time of 10.30 until 12.00 noon.
Further sessions will be held on 16 September and 30 September.
Yvonne Collins
01235 850989
Oxfordshire County Council is holding a series of Big Debates.
"We have to reduce county council spending over the coming years. This means changing both the services we provide and how we deliver them to you. We face difficult choices and want your ideas about how we can do thing differently and what our priorities should be. Join us at one of our Big Debate events”.
The event nearest to Upton is on Thursday 16 September at Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot, from 7.30 – 9.00 p.m. For further info visit www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/bigdebate."
Sat 4 Sept – 2.00 p.m. at Upton Recreation Ground
Dog Show Classes
1. Prettiest Bitch
2. Most Handsome Dog
3. Best Veteran – 7 years +
4. Best 6 Legs
5. Dog with the waggiest tail
6. Open Brace (any pair of dogs any size or breed)
7. The dog the judge would most like to take home
8. Best in Show
£1 PER ENTRY TO BE MADE ON THE DAY. Judge – Trudie
Donation will be made to RSPCA
For more information: Jessie 01235 851206 or Clare 01235 850486
*Fun Dog Show – Jose – 01235 221209
UPTON OIL SYNDICATE
The next order is scheduled to be placed on Monday 23rd August (that’s a week later than normal). To be included, I need to have your orders by Saturday 21st August at the latest.
My current contact details are (preferably by e-mail) colin.batchelor@eggconnect.net or by telephone 01235 851362 (after 7.00pm).
Colin Batchelor