​Remembrance Sunday - Act of Remembrance

Just a reminder that our Act of Remembrance takes place at the War Memorial on Sunday at 12 noon.  

This year we are able once again to accompany the laying of the wreaths with our usual short service and Act of Remembrance.

Just a reminder about Jane's Christmas Bazaar this Saturday for St Giles Church. Hope you can come.

Free entry, coffee and cake, 10am - 12.30 and 2 - 4 pm, or give Jane a ring for some raffle tickets (241367).
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All the votes are in and have been counted and checked by the adjudicators, the results:

In joint first place were The Mad Hatter and Eeyore the Guard Donkey - both with 10 votes, and in third place was the Nautical Theme with 8 votes.

First prize was £50 and third prize was £25, well done and thank you to everyone who took part, helped out or supported the event.
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Dear Everyone,
 
As I have been your County Councillor for  24 years with effect from 1997 and prior to this a Town Councillor in Faringdon and District Councillor at the VWHDC , I thought that the village might like to know of the news below?
 
Today has been a rather special day for me and it has been a little bit of a "roller coaster" as I have been made an Honorary Alderman at a full Oxfordshire Council meeting . Mike was able to attend and we enjoyed a lunch at the "top table"..............!
 
If I give you a "wee" outline of what this means, just for info:
 
Section 249(1) of the local Government Act 1972 allows a Council to confer the title of Honorary Alderman on former Councillors who have, in the opinion of the Council, rendered eminent service to the Council as past member of that Council. This requires a resolution passed by not less than two thirds of the members voting on it at a meeting of the Council, specially convened for the purpose. (I received a unanimous agreement for the vote). Both Eddie Reeves and Yvonne Constance proposed
and seconded my appointment and spoke on what I had done during 24 years at OCC!
 
The criteria for appointment are:-
 
a) Has made a significant contribution in public life.
b) Has given a notable service on behalf of the Council, which has enhanced the reputation of Councillors and the Council itself.
c) Has rendered a minimum of 12 years service as a Member, and, is no longer politically active.
 
The role has certain privileges and duties:
 
Use the title of "Honorary Alderman of the County Council, wear the badge of Honorary Alderman at civic events, attend the Aldermanic Council Mtg every 4 years and to use council facilities including the
Members' Resource Centre, lounge, headed notepaper, parking etc. To attend functions for which the Chair and Vice-Chair and past Chairs still serving as councillors are unavailable, where they are representing the County Council. To assist in promoting Oxfordshire by undertaking appropriate visits within the County on behalf of the Chair if requested to do so.
 
I now have a lovely badge of office which features an inscribed bar and crest of OCC affixed to a decorative ribbon and a certificate of appointment with the Common Seal of the Council Council. The order of precedence for attending civic events will be Chair, Vice Chair, and then Aldermen!
 
Best wishes, Judy
Judy Heathcoat - Honorary Alderman

Dear all,

Oxford Friends of the Earth are supporting small groups to send a message to the COP26:

We suggest that at 11am people across the county organise a group of people wherever they are to stand up with a common banner or similar, take the photo with the banner message and send it to the Prime Minister, share it widely on social media, and add it to an online display wall. 

People could do this outside a community centre, college, or faith building, or on a village green, or in front of an Oxfordshire landmark – maybe on top of White Horse Hill, at the Rollright Stones, Banbury Cross, or simply outside a local pub.  

This will rapidly build a simple and strong visual display of action across the county – ideal for local media.  A ‘Twitter / Instagram storm’ will help build awareness of the day and encourage more people to join the march or other linked events. The 11am timing will give people ample time to get to the march in Oxford.    Register at https://actionnetwork.org/events/sat-6th-november-stand-up-for-our-future/

If like me you can’t get to the main rally in Oxford on Saturday but would like to do something shall we join together at the Great Barn at 11am?

Best wishes
Annabelle 
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Welcome to Bulletin 4 from the Energy Project team. Again a big thank you to everyone who contacted us to show your support, completed the interest form on our Website or spoke to one of us on the doorstep. We are pleased to say that we have reached our target of 60% of our households expressing an interest by the end of October -  in fact we are now well past this with 72 addresses. Apologies if we haven't had a chance to speak with you and if anyone else would like to contact us or visit the website please see the links below. We welcome any last minute supporters - everyone helps our grant application.
 
Last week, the Heat and Buildings Strategy gave more details of the government's 10 Point Green Industrial Revolution plans. Two points of particular relevance to our project were their promise of £340m for the growth of heat networks like ours, and their 'aspiration' to end new gas boilers by 2035. To encourage this change they provide outline proposals, once the current energy price ‘spike’ has subsided, to shift environmental levies through the next decade so that gas will become yet more expensive but electricity less so. 
 
Over the last weeks Greener Great Coxwell Heating Network have:

• Received and reviewed three bids in response to our Invitation To Tender for the Consultancy work on the feasibility study. 
• Completed our draft funding application (to the Greater South West Energy Hub - for Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) ,  Stage 1 funding) which will be submitted before the Friday 5th deadline. Our application has been reviewed and described as 'very strong'. So we are optimistic.

• Completed our selection process and eventually appointed Locogen (https://locogen.com) as our consultants to carry out the feasibility study should we be successful in our grant application.  Locogen has experience in guiding 12 clients through the RCEF Stage 1 Process. We were impressed by their engagement with our village and project profile, their wide experience and their professional yet personal touch. Also, Locogen has much experience of the full cycle of implementing, investing in and managing Local Energy Networks. We feel Locogen will be a good fit with our village and will be able to help with all aspects of our project.

Locogen say:

We’re an internationally recognised and award-winning expert in facilitating the development, construction and operation of renewable energy systems for our partners and clients.

• We have now submitted our application to the Financial Conduct Authority to form a Community Benefit Company. This will give us the legal framework we need to carry out the first part of the project and manage the finances should we be successful in winning the grant. 

               Cosy Homes presentation for Greener Gt Coxwell    Thursday, 18 November⋅7:30 – 9:00pm
 
Whether we are successful with the Heat Network project or not, one of the quickest and most cost effective means of reducing our energy use and thereby saving money and emissions, is by improving home insulation. For some time Greener Great Coxwell have been working with an Oxford Low Carbon Hub home insulation project called Cost Homes (https://cosyhomesoxfordshire.org/). This project provides a single source of help and advice for anyone considering retrofitting home insulation. Cosy Homes offers a consultancy service that will survey your home and provide a comprehensive assessment of your current insulation status and a costed plan of how it could be improved. They have their own contractors who could be engaged to carry out any retrofit work and if you wish they could manage the whole project. 
 
Greener Great Coxwell have arranged a Zoom meeting on 18th November from 7:30 to 9:00, when the Cosy Homes Manager, Geordie Stewart, will give a Presentation of the program and be available to answer questions. Details are: 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86346161016?pwd=Q2ZPWVI2M25nVFVremt6YlZyNkNjZz09

Meeting ID: 863 4616 1016
Passcode: 569786
 
We will send these details out again nearer the time.

Finally: 
If you are at all interested in the Energy Project but have not yet expressed an interest and would like to, please contact us to let us know - with no obligation or commitment - either : 
e-mail:  [email protected]
visit :     https://greenergreatcoxwell.com/contact-page/   
To find out more or to send us specific queries visit www.greenergreatcoxwell.com or e-mail [email protected].
For general information from Greener Great Coxwell please mail : [email protected].
You can find these Bulletins on the website at : https://greenergreatcoxwell.com/great-coxwell-community-energy-bulletins/
Thank you, 
Annabelle Zinovieff, Ken Hirons, Ian Mason, Karen Mason, Margaret O’Donohoe, Richard Benwell, Sophie Stainer, Jacqui Russell
 
--
Ken Hirons (Dr.) 
Mob: +44 (0)7771 504211

Good afternoon everyone
 
I would like to say a huge thank you for the wonderful gesture that you as a village presented to me on Sunday.

I feel thoroughly touched by your generosity and I was amazed that I am held in such high regard by so many of you.

It was so nice to see all of the familiar faces in the reading room and to be able to chat and catch up. I will do my upmost to keep in touch with you all. If I didn't get the chance to speak to you I can only apologize and that we can catch up again soon.

I also want to thank Pauline and the team for their hard work during the teas and for the delicious cake that was supplied ( and more sent home with me, of which I may have had more than my daily ration). 

So again a huge thank you for your generosity and friendship
 
Take care 
Paul x

... thanks to those wonderful scarecrow makers (28 plus some extras) and all the visitors to the village who made the effort to come along and do the trail.

Ticket sales were brisk, around 260 sold, 140 maps were handed out and there were 70 maps returned after the trail, a fantastic effort, and thanks to the volunteers at the Scarecrow Cafe many of them left full of baked potatoes, quiche, cake and tea.
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We'll announce the winning scarecrow in the newsletter when the votes are all counted up.

There were some lovely comments on various social media sites:

"Great scarecrow hunt in Great Coxwell on Sunday. Thank you to the organisers. My children had a lovely time and spent the majority of the day looking for scarecrows. The jacket potato pit stop was also well received! Thanks!."

"My granddaughter loved it especially the live chickens & donkeys "

"There are some great ones. Some people have really made a good effort"

"All the scarecrows were brilliant! So pleased everyone had such a lovely day"

"Great job Hope it becomes an annual event !!"

Along with the well supported raffle, I think we can say it was a success.

Once again thanks to everyone who helped out or did the trail and to the whole village for hosting the event.

Until next time??

Regards
Great Coxwell WI Scarecrow Team
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