At the end of the first day of reopening, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member  Cllr Yvonne Constance wanted to thank all those who visited for playing their part.
 
The sites at Alkerton, Ardley, Dix Pit, Drayton, Oakley Wood, Redbridge and Stanford in the Vale have been extremely busy since they opened at 8.00am this morning but Cllr Constance said it was encouraging that residents had understood the importance of the social distancing measures the Council had introduced.
 
"We were committed to get these seven sites open and we knew today would be very busy with people bringing in their essential waste. As expected, traffic queues have built up but our residents have played their part by being considerate and adhering to the revised site layouts.
 
"We know things at the recycling sites will be busy for the foreseeable future, so I hope people will continue to be patient. My main plea to residents is to consider whether they can wait a few days or longer before visiting their nearest site. The more we can stagger waste coming in, the less traffic will queue and the easier it will be for everyone."
 
The council asks residents to remember:

• You should only visit the site if you cannot safely store your waste at home.
• Revised opening hours: All sites will open at 8am and close at 4pm to allow them to be cleaned for the following day. Please do not arrive before 8am. 
• For an initial period, no hire vans or trailers will be permitted onto sites.
• Vehicle numbers and parking bays are reduced on site, and once the maximum is reached the site will operate on a one-out one-in basis. PLEASE NOTE the potential for long delays and queues.
• Please follow any instructions given by traffic marshals to ensure queues are managed safely
• We will continue to charge for non-household waste brought to sites and this will be by contactless card payment only. If you are unable to pay by contactless means you will not be able to deposit non household waste at the site.
• Residents must self-police and abide by social distancing of two metres from site teams and other residents at all times.
• Site teams will be there for guidance only and will not be able to assist residents in unloading their waste.
• Only one resident is permitted out of the vehicle, unless it is to remove a heavy load which would otherwise be unsafe to remove. Visits are best made by just one person per vehicle.
• In line with Public Health England guidance, residents who are vulnerable, or who are showing symptoms which may indicate coronavirus, should not visit household recycling centres.

Specific rules and restrictions will vary by site. Please refer to the county council website before leaving home to familiarise yourself with these and to avoid frustration and delay:
 
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastereopenquestions

URL : http://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council-offers-big-thank-you-to-oxfordshire-residents-as-recycling-sites-reopen/

For those of you who missed the performances last week - you can see the videos below, thanks to all the performers!

Memory
A Whole New World
Bare Necessities

More this week when Katherine and Lynette will play the first movement of the Spring Sonata by Beethoven.

Great Coxwell Parish Council has discussed the advice and recommendations issued by the Government, councils and relevant bodies on social distancing and access to parks and green spaces.

The play equipment on our "Doorstep Green" is not separated from the general village green area. When the initial social distancing guidance was issued, the Parish Council posted signs asking people not to use the equipment.  Unfortunately, these signs were ignored and thus the Council decided to close the area in order to ensure that access to their facilities did not compromise social distancing guidelines from the Government.

Given this situation and with consideration of the extended period during which we as a Council have not been able to perform our usual weekly safety checks and litter picks of the area (due to Councillors' own need to be shielding themselves), we have decided that the whole of Great Coxwell park will remain closed during this period of social distancing. 

We hope that this does not compromise your ability to exercise locally and intend to reopen the park again just as soon as it is safe and reasonable to do so.

Great Coxwell Parish Council 18/05/2020

Lockdown Spotlight – Dan and Ainslie Williams

This week, our Lockdown Spotlight shines on Dan and Ainslie Williams and their daughters, Mabry (11) and Wren (7).  The Williams live at Danes Cottage, right next to the post box.  They moved to Great Coxwell four years ago, after 13 years residing in Faringdon, in a cottage beside the Crown hotel.  Dan met Ainslie at Dundee University – she still has parents in Scotland.  For Dan, who has worked in the biotech science industry for many years, a new opportunity in the town of Delft, The Netherlands came along in January, which had meant living away from the family for four nights a week.  Of course, the Lockdown has changed all that for the moment, and Dan works from the kitchen table now, ‘Skyping’, ‘Face Timing’ and ‘Teaming’ his colleagues in Holland each day.  Dan’s work is intriguing and could ultimately have an impact on all our lives.  He is involved in a project to grow meat from single cells (!), thus diminishing the impact of world beef production on the environment….wow!

Ainslie’s events business is also on hold.  She was looking forward to another Tythe Barn event, planned for 7/8 June but now postponed until late summer (perhaps).  She is definitely planning on a bumper event next year!
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Mabry (Faringdon CC) and Wren (Longcot Primary) are also at home, missing friends badly now, but enjoying the sunshine and the garden.  Their dog, Rory, (2) isn’t too bothered as long as he gets his walks and is pampered.  His speciality trick is to eat any promising flowers in their garden!

How has Lockdown been for you?  Well, for Dan, working from home has had its benefits with the luxury of kids and dog at home.  He doesn’t like being shut away in his office, preferring the mayhem in the kitchen as his working environment.  Ainslie enjoys listening to the piano practice next door each evening.

What has been most difficult about the lockdown?  For Ainslie, it’s been not seeing Mum and Dad.  They normally descend on them from Scotland once a month, and have a holiday house in Faringdon, so that they can be close to the Williams family.  But all is on hold for the moment.

By the way, Dan rides a motorbike but life on two wheels started badly.  His second day on the Advanced motorbike driving course saw him crash before he even got out of Faringdon, and two days before he was due to trade it in for his super new BMW….

Village life from yesteryear.

Some photographs courtesy of John Gould and Jo Hankinson.  See if you can work out where each was taken from….Who is outside the alehouse, and who are the cyclists??

That’s all this week.

Best regards  

Mandy  xx
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Have you lost your Fitbit on your walk?

If so contact Mandy in 01367 240142.

On Thursday the “Great Coxwell Lockdown Band” will perform three popular songs from Musicals. The band is growing, and as being outside is now a little more relaxed, anyone who would like to play along are welcome to join us at a safe distance. Email Lynette at [email protected] if you would like a copy of the music.
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Dear Everyone, please find attached a briefing that has been circulated to all Oxfordshire County Councillors from our CEO Yvonne Rees.  It is a very detailed and lengthy document but has some exceedingly interesting and valuable information which I wish to share with you all.  Do come back to me if you have any queries. This will also be circulated to all of our key stakeholders.

With best wishes,

Judy

The latest report from Judy can be found on the Parish Council page, here.

VE Day.  Friday 8th May 1945.

Not many Great Coxwell residents remember VE Day.  But, seventy-five years ago, Ted Nieass, (Sandcroft), was a twenty-year old RAF pilot as the war in Europe came to an end.  What were his memories of VE Day?  Our investigative reporter went to find out!  It turns out that Ted was the other side of the Atlantic on 8th May 1945.  His WW2 story begins three years earlier, when at the age of just 18, he volunteered to become an RAF pilot and was summoned to Lords Cricket Ground, of all places, to be inducted into the RAF.  Amusingly, Ted remembers being put up, eight to a room, in commandeered luxury flats in Maida Vale.  London Zoo was their temporary cookhouse…The wild animals had packed their bags and been evacuated to Whipsnade Zoo, apart from the monkeys, who remained!

Roll forward to November 1944, and Ted arrives in Terrel, Texas, to begin his flying training at the No 1 British Flying Training School.  At this stage in the war, all flying training was overseas, either Canada, the USA or Southern Rhodesia.  He began his training on Stearman PT-18 bi-planes, and then graduated to the Harvard, (AT-6) Trainer.  His instructors were all American commercial pilots.  (One of the other students at Terrel was the actor, Robert Hardy.)  Ted’s life in Terrel was wonderful.  The RAF aircrew were thoroughly spoilt by the local population.  Indeed, the town still keep in contact with their Allied guests and publish an annual BFTS newsletter!

Ted recalls that VE Day was not hugely celebrated in Texas, for understandable reasons. The war in the Pacific was still raging in May 1945, and the US were taking heavy casualties in that theatre.  Ted returned to the UK on the Queen Mary on his 21st birthday in July 1945, and married Joan the following year.

When the glut of pilots subsided after the war, Ted went on to become a jet fighter pilot in the fifties and sixties, finishing his flying career leading an RAF training team with the Kenya Air Force in the mid-seventies, before a posting to RMCS Shrivenham and retiring from the service in 1979. He then spent six years as Bursar at Christs Hospital Girls' School in Hertford finally coming home to Great Coxwell in 1986.  He was soon persuaded to become Parish Clerk; a job that lasted for thirteen years, while Joan was WI Treasurer during ten of them.
Ted has one daughter, Jenny, three grandsons, Christopher, Martyn and Jonathan, all in their forties and one great granddaughter, Emilia Rose, Jon's child, born last September. 

Friday 11th May – 75th Anniversary of VE Day

Great Coxwell marked the 75th Anniversary of VE Day on Friday the best we could, given the continuing lockdown restrictions.  Musical entertainment at the bottom of the village kicked off with Nick Warr playing the Last Post and then Glenn Miller’s ‘In the Mood’ brilliantly on his saxophone.  This was followed by Nancy Smith, playing the National Anthem and then ‘the Can-Can’ very assuredly from her improvised stage – her Dad’s 1943 EAC ‘Matador’ towing lorry, (once used to tow artillery guns to the battlefield).

At the top of the village, Lynette Stulting and her band…more like an orchestra!... played Vera Lynn’s famous song, ‘We’ll meet again’, followed by ‘A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square’.  It was hugely appreciated by the socially distanced audience.

Below are some of the video recordings, and some photographs of village residents taken from Friday evening …..

(The Last Post) - Nick
(In the Mood) - Nick
(Can Can) – Nancy - (Offenbach's Infernal Galop)
(We’ll Meet Again) Lynette Stulting Band 

Great Coxwell Community Fund.  

The Great Coxwell Community Fund is managed by its Trustees, Pam Smith, Pauline Durham, Sylvia Athawes and Annabelle Zinovieff.  It is available for village community events, but also, in extremis, for those in difficulties who have tried all other avenues for support.  If you are struggling and need a little help, please contact Pam Smith in the first instance.
  
Pam Smith – 01367 240233 or email on Chris Smith [email protected]

That’s it for this week.  At last, we heard some good news last night about the Government’s plans to end the lockdown.  Hurrah!  What is clear from the last two months is how the village has pulled together, how we have all looked out for each other, and how we have helped and cared for each other in adversity.  My thanks to everyone for all their kindness and consideration so far.  In a funny way, Great Coxwell feels a closer-knit community now.  One positive from the lockdown.

Stay Safe,

Best regards,

Mandy xx
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As you are aware Oxfordshire’s seven Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) have been shut to waste delivered by the public since 24 March 2020, following Government’s direction that everyone should stay home due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
 
Since then we have been working with the city and district councils to ensure excellent kerbside collection services have continued, and preparing for full service reopening of the recycling centres. The sites will reopen on Monday 18th May at 8:00am.
 
All seven sites will be open seven days a week as long as they are not overwhelmed and can operate safely, and will accept all waste materials. Sites will open at 8am and close at 4pm to allow for additional cleaning.
 
The number of vehicles allowed onto the site will be reduced by approximately 50% to allow for social distancing. This means that queues are highly likely, especially at peak times such as weekends. Traffic marshals will be in place to manage queues, but queuing is not allowed on the public highway.
 
Residents are therefore being urged only to visit the site if their trip is essential and they cannot safely store their waste at home
 
Other policy changes in place include:

• Contactless card payments for DIY waste only
• Site staff are there for guidance and will not be able to help unload waste from vehicles
• Only one resident will be allowed out of the vehicle, unless assistance is needed with heavy items, and then 2 people will be permitted
• For the time being hire vans and trailers will not be allowed access, even if they have a permit.
• Sites will shut at 4pm promptly and anyone queuing will be asked to return another day.  This will allow the site staff the time needed to clear and clean the site thoroughly.  Traffic marshals will monitor the queue and warn those who may not reach site by closing time. 
• In line with Public Health England guidance, residents who are vulnerable, or who are showing symptoms which may indicate coronavirus, should not visit household recycling centres

 
We will begin our communications to residents at the beginning of next week. A full list of FAQs will be available on our website shortly.
 
When communicating this good news with your residents, please emphasise that Government guidance says that trips to an HWRC should only be made if ‘essential’ – that is if the waste cannot be stored safely without harm to health. The Government guidance states: “It would be reasonable for residents to undertake a journey to a HWRC if the waste or recycling could not be stored safely at home or disposed of through other legitimate routes such as a dedicated collection. By this we mean that the waste/recycling could not be stored on their property without causing a risk of injury, health or harm to the resident or other members of their household or harm to public health and amenity.”
 
If you have any questions please contact the waste management team

Judy

Judith Heathcoat
Deputy Leader to the Council, 
Cabinet Member for Community Safety
Oxfordshire County Council
Cllr. Faringdon Division (Buckland with Gainfield, Littleworth, Faringdon, Eaton Hastings, Buscot, Coleshill, Gt Coxwell, Lt Coxwell)