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For a charge of £68 residents can arrange for their unwanted vehicle to be collected from within the District and a charge of £20 for up to three bulky item e.g. fridge furniture etc. and a further £6.35 for each additional item. To arrange this service residents can call the Public Amenities Team on 01491 823416 or print a copy of the form from the Council’s website www.southoxon.gov.uk .

We apologise for any inconvenience over the past few weeks and would like to thank residents for their continued patience and understanding.

I would like to set up a “Rubbish alert” if the collections are going to miss their designated day. SODC do have information on their website but I think it would benefit residents if they received an email. If you are interested please contact me by email giving me permission to send you information. This is a sure way to ensure that the collections never go wrong again!!

The Oxfordshire County Council Waste Recycling Centres at Redbridge, Drayton (near Abingdon) and Oakley Wood are open Monday to Saturday 8.30 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. and Sunday 9.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.

OXFORDSHIRE ROAD CASULTIES CONTINUE TO FALL
The annual total number of road casualties in Oxfordshire has fallen by more than 1,000 over the last 10 years according to the latest figures released by Oxfordshire County Council's Road Safety Team.

Provisional road traffic casualty figures for all reported injury accidents during 2009 show that over all, the county is continuing to see an improving picture, with the number of people killed reaching an all time record low and the number slightly hurt continuing to see a steady decline.

However, the county’s Road Safety Team is disappointed to note that the number of people who sustained serious injury has not shown the same pattern of reduction.

It is with sadness that I have to record the passing of Mrs Eva Hart. Maurice and Eva Hart ran Greystone Stores at the top of the Haseley Road and moved away from the village in the late eighties. The passing of Eva ends a long connection with the village but I keep in touch with her daughter Janet Carpenter. I am sure that those of you who remember Greystone Stores will share this sense of loss. Our thoughts are with Janet and her family at this time.

With the cold, snowy weather in January, BBOWT’s stock watchers were kept busy across the reserves, trying to keep the animals well fed with hay and a good supply of water. For Wells Farm, conditions were at times too difficult for BBOWT staff to travel to us, and our resident stock watchers (The Jones Family) did an excellent job looking after the sheep, cattle and ponies here. Carting bales of hay around is no easy matter in the snow!!

February will bring the occasional warm spell, and the birds have already started thinking about nesting. Now is the time to help them boost their energy, by providing plenty of bird food so they are ready for the busy spring that lay ahead.

At the time of writing, our hedge planting work party on the 31^st January has not taken place yet. If we do not manage to complete the work, we will aim to continue on 7^th February from 10.30am. Please join us if you can as many hands make light work!

BBOWT have started issuing out the contracts to the existing and new tenants for 2010. Three plots are yet to be market up, which will happen in the next couple of weeks. Now is the time to finish preparing the ground ready for planting.

Next Meeting: Our next meeting is on Thursday 11th February at 7.45 pm at the Pine Lodge, Little Milton. We shall welcome Christina Dore who will talk about and demonstrate the art of Scrapbooking.

Unfortunately our New Year Dinner, scheduled for Thursday 14^th January, had to be cancelled because of the recent bad weather. We are hoping to arrange another date for this enjoyable event in the near future.

Calling all young ladies! Don’t think of WI members as just ‘older ladies!’ We love to welcome young ladies too! We are pleased to say that, currently, quite a few new young members have joined us, which is great. Come on, young ladies, we have a lot of entertaining and fun evenings in store for 2010! For information please ring Anne Hawkins, our President.

The snow in December and early January made life interesting for all of us, and I am delighted to say that the Shop lived up to the challenge! With daily supplies of milk and bread, free range eggs from Lacey’s and Views Farm, and intrepid expeditions through the snow to the wholesalers and butchers, we kept many villagers fed and watered!

After a very busy Christmas, we expected a quiet January, but the snow gave us some of our best trading days since launch!

There are many very special items in the shop, and we would like to share some of our best kept secrets with you. For example: LACEY’S MILK

Lacey’s milk comes exclusively from Guernsey cows, one of only two dairy herds in the South East of

England

. 98% of milk sold in this country comes from Friesian cows, which are renowned for their high yield, but relatively low quality. Guernsey cows are low yield, high quality. Milk from Guernsey cows contains:

Beta Carotene- high levels-which promotes immunity from infection, better eyesight, and skin

We have skimmed, semi skimmed, and whole milk, plus single and double cream. If you have never tasted Guernsey cream you are in for a treat! The yellow colour comes from the Beta Carotene-after Guernsey cream, nothing else comes close!

We are still in need of more volunteers, and it is a very enjoyable (and sociable) experience, so if you can spare a couple of hours in the week or on a Saturday, please come in and have a chat.

I called into the Post Office in mid –January and was overwhelmed to receive your ‘good wishes’. Thank you.

I must apologise for my sudden departure from Little Milton. I have enjoyed 15 memorable years as ‘Postie’ in what I consider to be a lovely area and leaving has been very hard.

Unfortunately over the last 6 months, changes at Royal Mail have left me despondent and demoralised. It seems Royal Mails priorities are totally different to mine.

So after months of deliberation, I made the very difficult decision to leave the job. Unfortunately, this meant leaving the part of the job I enjoyed – being a Postie in Little Milton, Little Haseley, and Rofford!

I have made many good friends in the villages over the years and can only thank you for your help, friendliness, generosity and most of all to me your trust, making my job pleasant and enjoyable.

A special thanks to Annie in the Post Office, a special lady. (I hope the Mars Bar sales don’t go down too much!). Annie and all the staff in the shop need your support, which I am sure you will all continue to give.

Once again, thank you from myself, Sarah, Edie and Thomas who were also made to feel part of the village.

FARMER’S MARKET

GREAT HASELEY VILLAGE HALL

Sunday, 14th February 10am -1.00 p.m.

(2nd Sunday of every month)

Many different tables selling; eggs, fruit, vegetables, meat, cakes, wine, cheese, bread, flowers, plants etc

Why not have a bacon butty with a cup of tea or coffee whilst reading a Sunday newspaper!

Deirdre Mann 279334; Will Meadon 0771621

The next meeting of the sewing group will be on Wednesday 24^th February at the home of Anne Hawkins, Willowbrook Cottage, Haseley Road . Please

inform Anne on 279526 if you wish to come and join in the lunch. Everyone welcome especially if you would like help with any sewing queries. Time 11, 00 a.m. until

Enjoy a positive and fun approach to this amazing time in a woman’s life. By looking at the psychology of positive change, helpful physical exercises and how to release blocks, you’ll learn how to throw off your anxiety, restore the twinkle in your eye and the smile on your face.

Lynda Shaw PhD of Shaw Psychology; Laurelle Rond BA (Hons), PGCE, Dip ST (BAST), MBRCP of Your Sound and Natasha Rond-Alliston BSc (Hons), MSST, REPs of Your Sports Therapy.

The Pine Lodge presents:

Performed by the Oxfordshire Theatre Company

LITTLE MILTON CINEMA CLUB

at the Pine Lodge

Thursday 18^thFebruary

8pm

‘Moon’

The story of Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), whose isolated three year posting on the moon is about to come to an end and he longs to return to Earth to see his family. His only company has been Gerty, a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey. But strange things start happening…

A classic but thought-provoking Sci-fi film with a baffling mystery

6 months membership available on the door

Adult/Child £10

OAP £7

DINNER *** DISCO *** DANCE

IN AID OF

HAITI EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

Saturday, 20^th February

The Pine Lodge

7.30 p.m.

Tickets £10 from Little Milton Post Office

(Please buy early to assist the catering!)

Happy New Year from the team at the Maple Tree Children’s Centre! At the start of 2010 we are launching some new activities in our villages.

Calling all childminders, au pairs and nannies. Our childminders drop-in sessions will be run with the support of the Trio Childminding Network one a month, so if you are if you are a childminder or thinking of becoming a childminder come along and join us with the children you look after for some great play opportunities, the chance to meet-up with new people and find out about new training opportunities and legislation. These sessions will be run each month on the 4^th Monday starting from 22 February from 9.30-11.30 at Horspath Village Hall, Oxford Road , Horspath

Family fun sessions – following the success of this event in October, we planning to hold mini fun session on Thursday 4^th March from 10.00-12.00 and an Easter Family fun day in April. Look out for more details at your local stay and play, or contact Sarah Lowman on 07988 159041.

Bumps and Babies has moved to the Wheatley Youth Centre in Littleworth Road but still runs from 2.00-3.30pm, and we are delighted that Gerry Jewell, Health Visitor, is joining us at these sessions in addition to her regular Wednesday clinic at Morland House. Don’t forget we also run a drop-in alongside the Wednesday clinic in the Barn at Morland House.

Children’s Centres are one stop shops for all young children with their mums, dads, grandparents, childminders and other carers.

For a complete copy of our programme please contact Sarah Lowman on 07988 159041 or email sarah.lowman@oxfordshire.gov.uk

LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE

households are throwing away 8.3m tonnes of food a year, most of which is perfectly edible. A typical family with kids bins £680 worth. Equally unsettling is the environmental cost - the wasted water and energy in growing and transporting uneaten food and the methane it produces in landfill. So, how can we do better?

1) Send less food to landfill
WRAP, the UK authority on waste & recycling, recommends that we plan meals, manage portions, keep an eye on ‘use by’ dates, and freeze surplus (See lovefoodhatewaste.com).

2) Compost food waste
Over 30% of average household waste could be composted. Peelings and tea bags can be converted into rich food for your garden. Home composting doesn’t starve waste of oxygen so it releases very little of the potent greenhouse gas methane.

3) Recycle food containers
On average the

resident sends 2000kg of waste to landfill every year. Why not recycle? Aluminium cans are one of the most cost effective materials to recycle. Compared to manufacture from scratch around 95% of energy can be saved. 80% of all glass sent to recycling reappears in the UK , mostly as new bottles and jars.

For more green, money saving tips, call the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512 012.

It could hardly be said that the weather has not been interesting this year, mid all the criticisms of the authorities not doing what they should to keep the country going, it is certainly not a task I would want myself. Apart from being a struggle to do the routine chores we have managed to get everything done before the end of each day. The only thing that has really been difficult is getting all our eggs sold as, needless to say no one wants to drive to get eggs from our vending shed. Add to this that the new flock of 300 pullets started to lay a month early. Before Christmas we had to turn custom away, now at the middle of January, with the new flock, and snow, we have got eggs coming out of our ears. One day we shall get straight again, (“’s-no’ joke!”).

Of course the weather has been very difficult for wildlife, being obviously short of ready food; many different birds have been attending our bird tables. Some of which are species that we do not normally see in the garden, such as a stray fieldfare that would normally be part of a flock, and a pair of blackcaps that usually reside in the undergrowth, all a plus from our point of view, but I guess not from theirs. It is important that those of us that do feed these small garden birds continue to do so, even after the thaw, as they will have become dependant on us and their normal supply of feed may well have been destroyed. Whilst the land is covered in snow the massive marauding flocks of pigeons will have to go elsewhere, let’s hope they do not return! Some hopes. At the moment it is too early to say if the crops will suffer, I somehow doubt it, usually cold does more good than harm by killing off most diseases, and the covering snow will protect and insulate them from the cold.

Although the weather has not affected us too badly, others in our industry will not have had such an easy time. I should not harp back to my early years but in some ways in those days you could adapt. Milk, for instance was collected in 10 gallon churns, so could be moved in any farm vehicle. In 1963 when I was a farm student on a farm near Burford my daily job was to take the milk to the dairy which, then, was only 4 miles away. Nowadays, health & safety determines that churns are too heavy to be man handled, centralisation and streamlining means that the local dairy has gone and all milk has to be picked up in specialised tankers. These are usually large artic’ lorries renowned for their inability to cope with slippery conditions. I heard anecdotally the other day that, to make our life even more complicated, if one farmer has a contract with a certain supermarket and his neighbouring farmer has a contract with another, neither supermarket will allow the milk to be picked up in the others tanker. Add to this the fact that if the milk cannot be picked up by a certain day it has to be disposed of, usually by spreading it on the land. Farmers now have to obtain a licence to do this but I understand that on the days that the milk was unable to be picked up, the environment agency, which issue the licenses were not able to get into their office…!

We also seem to have a shortage of salt for the roads. Salt was never used until after the 1963 winter. The current shortage is, I understand, partly because stockpiles of salt in the summer were sold to America , having been offered to our government who deemed it to expensive and unnecessary, what wonderful foresight.

This year I did not attend the “Oxford Farming Conference” as I usually do. But I did attend the pre-conference dinner to hear Vince Cable saying he thought we were in for a period of high taxation, nice news to start the New Year. I then gather that, as expected, our dear DEFRA minister Hillary (Veggie) Benn telling us all, that he wanted farmers to produce more but from less land as he wanted us to leave more areas for conservation. He also asked that this increase in production be achieved by using less inputs derived from fossil fuel. A very laudable aspiration! It would seem to me that no one has ever told him that these are goals we have all been striving for as long as I can remember. This so called aspiration is all very well, what with the ever increasing downward pressure on the value of our sales, and the fact that most of the agricultural research has been axed by previous administrations. In short they want us to feed the world for less or nothing, I personally do not think this direction will in anyway solve the world food poverty by the 2030 target.

I would like to briefly mention the “farmed environment”. This is a voluntary initiative that farmers have agreed to, the details of which will not be published until about the time you read this. The idea is that we all do some form of conservation work on our land over and above those environmental measures already in place. In return for this the government will not impose legislation upon us to take certain prescriptive measures to enhance wildlife. There is not to be any payment for this, but I think if it does work it could be of great benefit to all. As we will have a pretty good idea what would be good on our own farm it could turn out to be a win win situation.

Thursday 11th. Walk. Meet at Great Kimble (park on grass verge off B4009 by the pub) at 10:00am for a 7 mile hilly walk via Chequers Knap, Buckmoorend and Lower Cadsden . 01844 213608.

Sunday 21st. Walk. Meet at Chilton (park carefully in the village and meet outside the pub) at 10:00am for a 6½ mile circular walk with lovely views via Dorton and Brill. Several stiles. Sorry, no dogs allowed. 01844 208517.

The level of demand for the service is relatively low in Little Milton but to those who need support it is vital and very much appreciated. Please give it some thought and ring me to find out more information if you are interested in helping or require transport to the surgery or hospital.

If you want advice or general information call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47. This is a 24 hour service staffed by nurses who can give confidential advice and information on what to do if you are unwell, have any health concerns and give contact details or self help or support organisations. You can also visit their website at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

If you need to visit a GP or health professional outside of normal working hours you can call our service on 0845 345 8995. We will then arrange for you to see the right health professional in the right place. This service runs from 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 a.m. weekdays and 24 hours over weekends and bank holidays. In an emergency please call 999 to talk to the ambulance service.

WHAT THAT OLD THING DARLING!!

If you haven’t heard Georgia , Ruth and Sue are holding a fabulous ladies nearly new and vintage clothes & home-wares sale.

So girls make sure you pop this date in your diary to join us

SATURDAY MARCH 6^THFROM 10.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.

THE NEIGHBOURS HALL, GREAT MILTON

It’s great chance to shop, shop, shop and then shop some more…. whatever the budget!

Plus treat yourself to a visit to our manicurist on the day!

In the meantime, please don’t throw away or eBay any good quality ladies clothing. We will sell it for you and you will receive 85% of the profit!

Information for sellers will be available shortly but if you want to find out more call Sue on 0774 8653338

Please tell as many of your friends and family as you can, as this event is open to anyone who loves clothes, shopping and a bargain or two! Whether 16 or 60 come along!

Teas, coffees, cakes and chit chat available!!!

Unless stated otherwise, all events take place at Northmoor Trust, Hill Farm, Little Wittenham, and booking is essential:

Northmoor Trust Hurdle Weaving Workshop. A one day practical workshop making traditional hazel hurdles to take home. Whether you want to camouflage a compost heap, disguise a dustbin or make an interesting trellis, this is the course for you. Adults £75, Friends £60

Northmoor Trust Introduction to Landscape Photography. Join professional photographer David Hall for an enjoyable day to improve your landscape photography. Adults £45. Friends £36

Northmoor Trust Advanced Hedge Laying Workshops. A two day hands on course suitable for anyone who has previously been on a hedge laying course. Adults £75, Friends £60

Morland House Surgery

Dr A Harnden and Partners

Morland House Surgery, London Road , Wheatley , OX33 1YJ

Telephone: 01865 872448

The Surgery and Dispensary is open

Surgery appointments times:

Monday to Friday: 8.30am – 11.00am and 3.30pm – 5.50pm

Saturday: 8.30am – 11.20am

On Saturday mornings we have a limited number of pre-bookable appointments and emergency ‘walk-ins’ until 11.00am on the day.

Please telephone 01865 872448, call at the reception if you wish to book an appointment, make an enquiry or register with the practice. Alternatively, visit our website www.morland-house.co.uk for further information on appointments and the full range of facilities and services that we offer.

The surgery is situated on London Road (just off the roundabout at the top of Holloway Road ). Car parking available.

The surgery is currently accepting new patients from the local area.

DEADLINE REMINDER – Please note that unless articles are in the hands of the Editor by the 20th of the month (unless otherwise stated), such articles will miss the scheduled Newsletter. The views expressed in this Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Parish Council. All material for inclusion in the March 2010 Newsletter should be with the Editor at 27 Chiltern View, Little Milton, by 8.00 p.m. on 20th February 2009. The Editor reserves the right not to print items submitted for publication and to edit those items, which are published.

	Garden	Non Recycle	Recycle	Food
2 February	No	Yes	No	Yes
9 February	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
16 February	No	Yes	No	Yes
23 February	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

4^th February	Tiddington Village Hall
11^th February	Garsington Sports & Social Club
18 February (Half Term)	Great Milton Primary School
25^th February	Tiddington Village Hall
4^th March	Garsington Sports & Social Club
11^th March	Tiddington Village Hall
18^th March	Garsington Sports & Social Club
25^th March	Tiddington Village Hall

Monday Morning Monday Afternoon	10.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m. 1.30 p.m. – 4.00 p.m.	Open Door No appointment needed Appointments and phone advice
Tuesday Morning	10.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.	Appointments and phone advice
Wednesday & Thursday	Closed
Friday	10.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.	Appointments and phone advice