If anyone is in need of a birthday card (or for other occasions), I have plenty of Claire's handmade cards (blank inside) for sale at £1 or £2 depending on size.

Jane Holmes, Foxley (241367).
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Some of you won't have been able to see the video in the newsletter from yesterday, so here is a direct link to it.

Great Coxwell applause for the NHS
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Applause for the NHS – Thursday 23rd April. 

​It was great to see so many people out at their gates on Thursday evening, once again applauding the NHS and key workers across the country.  At the bottom end of the village, the applause provided an accompaniment to Nick Warr’s wonderful saxophone rendition of the Judy Garland classic, ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’. (It’s now become the NHS anthem!).   Below is a photo of Nick and a video of his virtuoso performance.   His son, Dexter, is alongside providing moral support! Great stuff Nick!

Lockdown spotlight - Jane Holmes.

Last week, the newsletter featured the Smith family, who were interviewed and asked how they were coping under lockdown.  This week, we turn to Jane Holmes, who we found nurturing her delightful garden at ‘Foxley’, which is possibly the only pink house in Great Coxwell.

Jane and her husband bought Foxley in the 1960’s.  They rented it out for many years whilst they served abroad in Tanganyika, (now Tanzania) and later Borneo.  Eventually moving into Foxley and becoming firm Great Coxwell residents in 1987.  Now a widow, Jane is a driving force behind the Women’s Institute (WI), and has a reputation for independence, resilience and generosity.  During these difficult Covid 19 times, she is supported by Sandy John of Arch Cottage, who shops for her once a week and by next door neighbours, Mike and Pauline Durham.

How has lockdown been for you?  Jane described the lockdown as ‘strange but Ok’.  She feels that the days go by quickly.  She enjoys being outside in this good weather and works hard both in her flower garden and her greenhouse.  Her tomatoes are abundant and have pretty much taken over her conservatory.  They are for-sale, but all have future owners!  She is also an avid reader, (’The Boy from the Wild’ by Peter Meyer is her current read) and is the custodian of the WI scrapbook.

What is most difficult about the lockdown? Jane was very frank in answering this question.  ‘Getting up in the morning!’  She explained that there is no pressure to do things so she can get a bit lazy.  For Jane, that means an 8.30 start instead of 7am!

Any tips for us whilst we are on lockdown?  Jane’s advice is to have a routine and try to stick to it.  She prefers the outdoors rather than staying indoors, although she is also busy making a great selection of dolls for Christmas.  That’s forward planning for you!

By the way, Jane’s father was champion jockey and later National Hunt trainer Gerald (Gerry) Wilson.  In 1934, Gerry rode Golden Miller to victory in the Grand National in a record time of 9 minutes 20 seconds.  They also together won the Cheltenham Gold Cup that year.  Golden Miller remains the only horse ever to win both races in the same season.  This was the third of five consecutive Gold Cup wins for Golden Miller.  Gerry was Champion Jockey 7 times!

Ginny Green has donated a selection of DVDs to the village. They are residing in the Telephone Box. 

Please help yourself.

Hello everyone and welcome to week 5 of the Covid 19 Lockdown.

Prescription Pick-ups.

This week, I want to make special mention of Jonny Farrow (Oakfield), who has been pivotal in the pick-up and delivery of our prescriptions from both Faringdon and Shrivenham Health Centres.  As many will know, Jonny runs his own taxi business, but whilst the lockdown is in place, he volunteered to help with these prescription pick-ups, which are so important for the recipients.  Jonny has already picked up around 60 prescriptions and so far, without any issues or mistaken deliveries, which is fantastic.  Remember collections are each Wednesday for Faringdon Health Centre and Thursday for The Elms, Shrivenham.  Jonny suffered a family bereavement a few weeks ago, (not to Covid 19), so it is both remarkable and typical of him to commit to helping others at this enormously difficult time for him personally.  And by the way, he also refused to accept any petrol money for his journeys…

Lockdown Focus.

Each week, going forwards, I thought it might be helpful to focus on the lives of one of our households and to see how they are coping with the lockdown.  To start the ball rolling, the Smiths of Pieman’s Thatch volunteered to be interviewed by our roving reporter (my husband Robbie!).  The interview was by Face Time so no social distancing rules were broken!
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The Smiths comprise of Richard and Vanessa, their children, Oscar (11) and Nancy (9), and, of course, their black Labrador, Mable.  Vanessa is the daughter of Carol King and was born in the village, whereas Richard was a ‘newby’, from East Sussex when he arrived 20 years ago.  They bought Pieman’s Thatch in 2007, did a great job of renovating and extending it and then moved in in 2008.  Richard runs his own construction business whilst Vanessa is a teacher at Covingham Primary School, Swindon. Nancy goes to Longcot Primary School and Oscar attends Faringdon Community College.

Q.  How has lockdown been for you?  For Richard, his workload isn’t “too bad”, but he is now struggling to get hold of materials and is a little worried about his forward order book. Vanessa still works two days a fortnight, teaching children of key workers and NHS staff.  Oscar and Nancy are ‘a bit bored but not a lot bored’ at home.  They get schoolwork sent to them daily by email and under Mum’s guidance, they work until about 3pm each day.  They have also used Zoom to have a virtual class session.  Their fitness routine is to run as a family - very impressive! – you might see them on Puddleduck Lane.  But don’t blink or you will miss them.

Q.  What’s the hardest part of the lockdown?  They each admitted that they are beginning to irritate each other!   Oscar and Nancy miss their friends.  Vanessa misses school!

Q. Any tips on surviving lockdown?  Oscar said ‘Keep a sense of humour!’, whilst Richard said ‘find a good book!’

Good luck to the Smith family.  What was clearly apparent from talking to them was their resolve and determination to get through this difficult period, and their generosity of spirit.

Best wishes to everyone.

Remember to Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives.

Mandy
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We would like to thank the anonymous donor who left a bag of ginger biscuits and carrots for the donkeys at their stable a few days ago. They are most grateful and enjoyed them very much.

Angela and Peter Scales

At Fluffy Puffin we produce all our ice cream and sorbet in house from scratch, only using fine quality ingredients, seasonal and locally sourced wherever possible. None of our ice cream contains any artificial stabilisers, preservatives, emulsifiers, colourings or flavourings.

We recently started a delivery service and on TUESDAY 21ST APRIL we are delivering our bespoke ice-cream to Great Coxwell!! To place an order please fill in an order form which can be found here or at instagram.com/fluffypuffin2017.

If you encounter any issues, or have any questions, please contact Francesca on 07889 333739.

COVID-19 Delivery Instructions
Due to current regulations concerning Covid-19, our delivery driver will leave your order on the doorstep of the property and ring the bell or knock. They will then wait away from the door until you collect your delicious treats without contact.
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Dear all,

Please find attached the second issue of “Corvid-19 Oxon” from the CEO of Oxfordshire County that has been sent to “All County Councillors”.  I believe that this rather lengthy document provides some very useful information from all of our critical health partners.  It will be circulated across the county to key stakeholders. As your County Councillor I feel that I should be circulated to you, too.

With best wishes, keep safe,

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)
01865 815284
01367 241468

Just a brief note as we head to the end of the Easter week-end to thank everyone for staying at home and for keeping to the social distancing rules.  It is terribly difficult to keep to this regime, particularly whilst the weather is gorgeous,  but we can all see that the benefits are beginning to show nationally.  A special thanks to those with young children, for whom it is doubly difficult to stick to the rules by keeping at home.  My daughter, Jess, lives in a small house in Birmingham with two children under 3 and a garden the size of a postage stamp.  It’s clearly very challenging for her and for all of you with youngsters to entertain.

Easter Eggs were delivered as promised yesterday morning.  The four Easter bunnies managed to make the deliveries without compromising the social distancing rules, and it was great to see so many smiling faces on the doorstep.  Here are a few photographs of villagers with their Easter eggs:  My Ma,  Margaret Thompson, Gavin Anderson, Peter Zinovieff, Brian and Danni Hall and kids, and Hannah Fairley and kids.  Disappointingly, Mike Durham did not wear his Easter bunny outfit.

Again, thank you to Graham MacDonald for making this possible and for the lovely chocolate.

Keep safe this week.  Let’s give the NHS a round of applause at 8pm on Thursday.  Maybe we can make enough noise so that the Great Western Hospital in Swindon can hear us!

Best regards

Mandy

Hello Everyone.  I hope you are all coping ok in this, the third week of lockdown.  In many ways, we in Great Coxwell are very lucky to be locked down in such a lovely village, with a great community spirit, and beautiful countryside right on our doorstep.  Whilst we might not have a pub or a shop, we are a strong, caring community which is in some ways being re-enforced by the challenges we are currently facing.   I am confident that by sticking together and looking out for each other, we will all get through this.

One example of our great community spirit is Graham MacDonald, who runs a chocolatier business in Oxford. (Graham’s house is just behind the War Memorial)  He has kindly donated chocolate Easter eggs for every household in the village.  Indeed, we think we have enough so that each child in the village also gets their own Easter egg.  (Brilliant. – Well done Graham!).  The Easter bunnies, Mike and Pauline Durham, together with Robbie (my better half!) and me, will be distributing the eggs between 10-12am on Sunday (Easter Sunday) morning, so look out for them on your doorstep.  Disappointingly, Mike said he wasn’t prepared to wear a bunny outfit for the occasion!

It was great to hear the 8pm applause across the village for the NHS last night.  Our next=door neighbour, Sean O’Kelly, runs Cambridgeshire NHS Hospitals Trust and has been working day and night for many weeks, saving many lives in the process.  Three cheers for Sean and all his colleagues.

So far, the prescription collections appear to be going well, and our volunteers have been out and about, looking after their designated households.  Thanks to Debbie Best, who read last week’s newsletter and made contact, stepping forward to fill a gap in our support network.

At the bottom of this newsletter is a message from the Vale of the White Horse District Council, thanking all volunteers across the District for our support.  Please have a look.

That’s all from me this week.  Remember to stay at home, support the NHS and save lives.

Mandy

THANK YOU!

Hello everyone
 
We just wanted to drop you a line to let you know how much what you’re doing is appreciated and to show you a little video we’ve made to say thank you. You’re doing an incredible job and as you’ll see from the video, our staff and councillors all think so too.
 
At a time our communities were most in need, you were the people who stood up and did what needed to be done to support them. When we look back on this time, we hope you’ll do so with pride in the absolutely crucial role you’ll have played in keeping our country going.  Thank you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PcgotRHFao 

We’ll be sharing this on social media shortly as we believe everyone needs to know what a great job you’re all doing.
 
THANKYOU ?
 
Michelle Wells 
COVID-19 Community Support Programme Manager 
South Oxfordshire & Vale of White Horse District Councils
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