Green fingered residents who use the garden waste service in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts will have a change to their service subscriptions this year.

Each year, the two districts combined collect around a staggering 25,500 tonnes of garden waste – that’s the weight of over 5,000 mature oak trees or 3,000 large tractors!

A change to how the popular service is paid for is coming this spring to improve the efficiency of the subscription process for residents.

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils are introducing a permit scheme from April 2025 that will involve customers receiving a sticker permit for their bins to identify them as fully paid-up garden waste customers. This kind of scheme is offered successfully by many other local authorities, including in neighbouring West Oxfordshire.

As this is a change to how the garden waste service is managed, there are actions subscribers will need to take to continue receiving garden waste collections. The new permit payment system opens towards the end of February.

When the new system goes live, all existing customers will be invited to subscribe to the service. Existing customers will be notified directly, with full information on the council websites and each house getting a bin hanger flagging the changes.

Customers will then need to make an annual payment for a permit – this replaces the existing direct debit scheme. Everyone’s payment year will run from 1 April to 31 March each year.

When customers sign-up they will be sent a garden waste permit sticker to put on the top of the lid of their brown bin. Each bin needs its own permit and all customers will receive a new sticker annually each time they renew.

The permits will help the waste collection crews identify which bins should be emptied. This will ensure that only households that have paid for the service have their garden waste bins emptied and the changes are part of the councils’ ongoing work to improve the efficiency and value of public services.

Benefits to customers include a new online system so they can manage their account and change their details much more easily. This will also mean the councils can contact people quickly if there are any major disruptions to the service, such as during adverse weather. When customers pay for a permit, there will be a link to sign up for an account and the account sign up is also available on the councils’ websites.

Cllr Sam James-Lawrie, South Oxfordshire District Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:  “The new permit scheme will help enhance our well used garden waste service. The option for an online account should be easier for customers and will mean that you no longer need to contact us if your bank account or any other details change. The new permit stickers will help us to make sure that only those who pay for the service, actually get collections, which we think is only fair, since this is an opt-in service.”

Cllr Mark Coleman, Vale of White Horse Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Waste, said: “I’m confident the new permit scheme, combined with introducing online customer accounts, will make our popular, opt-in garden waste service even better for everyone.

“We do appreciate that any changes to a major service can initially be challenging so we will make sure all our customers are fully informed on all changes that are coming between now and 1 April 2025. There is also a frequently asked questions page on our website with further detailed information.”

An FAQ page covering all the changes is available on the garden waste section of the councils' websites: South FAQ / Vale FAQ. The councils’ customer services team will also be on hand to assist with any queries customers have. Garden waste sack customers can find out more information on how the new permits will work for them within the FAQ.  

Dear all,

I usually send an email about just one concert, but there are so many amazing concerts coming up, that I would rather share the link with you.

In short:
Sunday 2nd of Feb at 4 pm - Manus Noble (guitar)
Sunday 9th of March at 4 pm - Voice, Clarinet and Piano
Friday 14th of March at 7 pm - Young stars from Abingdon School
Sunday 16th of March at 4 pm - Nina Schumann, a wonderful pianist, sharing her inspiring story of living with Parkinsons as well as focal dystonia and still playing, a talk and music.
Sunday 27th of April at 4 pm - Pavlova Quintet
 
For more information and to book your tickets, please follow this link:
 
https://www.whitehorseconcerts.co.uk/stonevaleconcerts.

Please let me know if you would rather like to leave a donation at the church, and reserve a seat, as that is also fine. Please share this with as many people as you can, as I am trying to build the numbers but also make as much money for the artists and the church roof fund.
 
Next year will be the 20th year of running Stonevale Concerts, and we are approaching 200 - quite amazing.
 
Best wishes,
Lynette

The Parish Council seeks your views on the timing of the verge cutting next season.

Please submit a response to the following survey:  https://forms.gle/JYTkzCcm2jv8uK8y7     
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Following my considerations as to what might be done to prevent used postage stamps going to waste and then an  announcement prior to Christmas, of the intention to set up a collection arrangement of used postage stamps towards fundraising for 'Canine Partners', myself and Emma Roodenberg have now had the opportunity of setting up a village collecting point at the Old Red Telephone Box.
 
Canine Partners at www.caninepartners.org.uk are a UK registered charity that provides training for highly skilled assistance dogs carefully matched to support adults with disabilities with daily living tasks (civilians and former service personnel), that include opening and closing doors, unloading washing machines, moving and picking up items, pressing buttons and switches, using cards at an ATM and fetching help in an emergency.
 
The collection of used stamps (cut from their envelopes please) has raised almost £30,000 over ten years for the charity as part of their overall fundraising campaign. Stamps are sorted and graded towards raising up to £6 per kilo at auction and the funds returned to the charity.
 
Donations also of first day covers, stamp collections or albums can be sent to the national training centre in Leicestershire by emailing: [email protected] or if you have further questions or enquiries regarding their work, or to donate money directly.
 
Your cut stamps can be collected by you, friends and relatives and deposited in an envelope and placed in the marked bin situated in the telephone box on the Holloway, and accessible to all in the village.

These will then be collected by us at the end of each month to be sent on to the charity. Please Do Not donate cash or cheques in the box as this is not secure.
 
Our thanks to our Parish Council and Red Telephone Box Trustees, along with our phone box Chief Librarian, Ian Mason, for the granting of permissions for the use of the box as a collecting point and for what will hopefully, be a village wide and worthy cause.
 
Thank you all for your support in 'training dogs to transform lives'. Any enquiries to us may be made on the village WhatsApp Group.
 
Malcolm Gee and Emma Roodenberg

Pat is looking to raise monies for the MND Charity, you can find details in the attached sponsorship form.

​Today the garden was shining with frost and deceptively still. It may look as if no animals are here apart from the birds but most of the creatures are hidden.

The grass, cut short at the end of the summer, offers protection for some to overwinter out of sight.  Bumblebees are deep in the soil in the wax lined cells they make in autumn. Butterfly and moth chrysalises wait attached to stalks, adult grasshoppers die but their unhatched eggs survive underground.

The scrub areas and stone piles provide shelter for other invertebrates, beetles, slugs, snails. and spiders. On warmer days worms will come to the surface and pull dead leaves down.

In 2022 we sowed patches of yellow rattle. It parasitises the grass, reducing its vigour to make more room for the wildflowers. It flowered in profusion last summer.  As it is an annual we are hoping it will be setting its seed now. Last summer also produced a record number of pyramidal orchids. The committee is always interested to hear of unusual wildlife sightings or photos to add to our records.

You will see that we have planted two new trees. One is a hybrid Rowan, Sorbus hupehensis, bearing pale pink berries and the other a hybrid Hawthorn Crataegus punctata ‘Ohio’, with showy berries and larger than average leaves. Inevitably, we have been visited by deer so have created some wire shelters for all the new trees. A few more spring bulbs have also gone in.

We welcomed a new professional gardener, Allan O’Connor, this year. He installed the sundial in June and mowed and strimmed the paths and meadows all year. In January and February, he will cut the hedges and clear some ivy. The nest boxes must be cleaned out before St Valentines Day. Come Art Weeks we hope the garden will be in good heart and draw its usual complement of appreciative visitors.

If you would like to support the Contemplation Garden please do be in touch with, churchwarden Pat Cook, email - [email protected]

The Christmas tree is up in the church, thanks to the generosity of Sue and Barry.  Please go and enjoy it.
 
As the Christmas Day services this year will be in Coleshill (9 am) and Eaton Hastings (10.30) we have an additional Holy Communion service here next Sunday, 22nd, at 10.30 - with carols.  Do take a break from wrapping presents, etc and come and join us at this special time of the year.
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Documents have been added to the following pages:

Parish Council Meetings and Minutes
​Governance and Policies
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Please also take some time to complete this survey about the park.

https://forms.gle/HXZMyNGtXqubcPPz5
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I have just had to "put pen to paper" metaphorically, so say a big "thank you" to Jo, Pauline and all those who had helped put on the village Christmas Fayre!  Yesterday, Mike and I came back from a peaceful and friendly Holy Communion Benefice Service at Eaton Hastings and walked down to the Reading Room and our feeling of well being continued as we walked into the Reading Room where we were absolutely bowled over by the transformation that had taken place there.  
The atmosphere was so warm and friendly - the displays, the colours and the goodies for sale were perfect and so enticing!  It was lovely to hear folk's laughter and chatter! We walked round two or three times absorbing the sights, stopping at each display - we did managed a glass - Mike bubbly Elderflower and I "just" managed a glass of Prosecco! The raffle was essential to try our "luck" on and we looked at the furniture which was so tempting that we came home with a small table - thank you!
The occasion was perfect and I'm sorry for anyone who missed it! I'll end by saying once more - THANK YOU!!
Judy Heathcoat, Jemima, Puddleduck Lane

Thanks for this Judy - I have also added some of the photos taken at the event kindly shared by people on the village WhatsApp, if anyone else has photos they'd be happy to share please let me know  by email to [email protected]
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