South Oxfordshire
UPTON OIL SYNDICATE
Happy New Year to you all.
The next order is scheduled to be placed on Monday 11th January. To be included, I need to have your orders by Saturday 9th January at the latest.
My contact details are (preferably by e-mail) colin.batchelor@eggconnect.net or by telephone 01491 671253 (after 7.00pm).
Colin Batchelor
The following dates are police NHW Drop In surgeries at the Methodist Hall, Upton from
5.45 – 6.45pm. Feel free to call in and discuss in confidence any neighbourhood issues or concerns.
Thursday 24th December 2009
Monday 4th January 2010
Celia Davies
Yet again we broke all previous collections for the Poppy Appeal …….this year we raised £383.50.
Thank you very much to all the collectors and to everybody who gave so generously.
Helen Weston.
Come and join us in the Methodist Hall for the last session before Christmas on 10 December 10.30 until 12.00 noon. Enjoy a cup of coffee and a mince pie – a bargain at 50p.
The first session next year will be on 7th January 2010
Yvonne Collins 01235 850989
The total amount raised by the fete this year was £2900. This was significantly higher than in previous years and the PCC has resolved to donate £300 to the village hall extension fund.
On Saturday 12 September the Fletcher family, aged five to “no longer counting”, cycled around our local villages visiting as many local churches as we can, in order to raise money for our small ancient church – opposite our house in Upton – and the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust. We cycled 21 miles in total in a figure of eight – coming back to Upton for lunch – and visited the churches in Upton, Chilton, Harwell, Didcot in the morning, and then Blewbury, Aston Tirrold, Aston Upthorpe, South Moreton, and East Hagbourne in the afternoon. The route was a mix of download tracks, minor roads and very grassy bridleways across the fields between the villages. We were very grateful for the generous sponsorship from the village and Kathryn’s colleagues, and raised about £250 (including GiftAid) in total. Thank you all our sponsors.
Pictures of the route we cycled and of each of the 16 churches we visited can be seen on: http://www.sine-nomine.co.uk/album/index.html
Village Hall Drop-in Sessions
As you all know, the Village Hall is now closed so as to allow work to proceed on the new extension. However, we have very generously been offered the use of the Methodist Hall for the next few months, so please come along and join us there on:
29 October – 12 November – 26 November
10.30 until 12.00 noon
Yvonne Collins
01235 850989
Upton and Blewbury Methodist Churches
A New Beginning in the New Year?
There is going to be a big change for Upton and Blewbury Methodist Churches from January 1st. We are combining to become one church. Although plenty of people come to the churches for community events during the week, numbers have fallen at Sunday Services, so we agreed at the recent joint Church Council Meeting to start the process of becoming one church. This will be known as the Spring Line Methodist Church. It will have two places of worship, the Blewbury Centre and the Upton Centre, and services will alternate between the two centres.
Why Spring Line? Well, we wanted a name that would express where the two villages are, and how they are joined historically. The two villages evolved where they are because they are sited on the Spring Line, the line where the chalk of the Downs meets the sticky clays of the Thames Valley, the line where springs emerge from the ground. Some of the Blewbury springs emerge on the South edge of the Cleve, so Blewbury Church actually stands on a Spring Line. And Upton Methodist Church is close to the springs that rise in Stream Road.
January 1st is the official date for the new Church to come to life, and our minister Helen White will be writing more about it in the January edition of the Upton News, but do think of us and remember us in your prayers as we prepare for this new venture together.
Jo Lakeland (for Blewbury and Upton Methodist Churches)
Are you an accomplished musician? Can you sing or harmonise?
Do you spend most of your time playing or practicing on your own?
Ever wished to hear what your playing would sound like in a group? Then read on.
I would like to start an acoustic/folk group in Upton. The direction it takes would depend upon what players and instruments become available. There is no age requirement only an interest in contemporary/traditional folk sounds.
So if you can play any of the instruments listed or sing you may well like to give it a try.
Guitar
Mandolin
Flute/whistle
Accordion
Bodhran
Violin/fiddle
Any other instrument you think would ‘fit in’
Please drop me a line at
or telephone any evening on 01235 850032 and ask for Rob
Many thanks
Rob Traynor
Cutting the first sod
It is underway!!!!!! After so many months/years of hoping, during which we have been through so many highs and lows, we have finally achieved sufficient funding to award a contract for the extension to be built. We are still looking to raise more funding to pay for a patio and to extend the car park.
We are greatly indebted to the persistence and enthusiasm shown by Brian Simpson and Jessie West who have put in hours and hours of work meeting with and talking to so many possible sources of funding as well as filling in application forms and the countless support documentation that has to go with each application. It has been a big mountain for the village to climb and I know that so many of you have contributed in so many ways, it has been the enthusiasm that has come from so many parishioners that has kept Brian, Jessie and the rest of us going at times when we thought the idea could become just a fading dream.
Two contracts have been issued to ABS Ltd, one from the Parish Council who are responsible for spending all the money received from grants and one from UVHAT for the balance of the total cost.
As you can see the builders are already busy on site with a target completion date of the end of February.
Mike Brown