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Charlbury School warns for possible child abductor

This was written in today's school newsletter; the children were also warned in assembly.

"We have no wish to alarm you unnecessarily, but the following has been reported to us: there has been an attempted child abduction in Banbury, involving a driver of a silver-coloured Nissan Micra. This week a man was seen chatting to children in Kingham and ran off when approached by a parent. A seperate incident of a man taking photos of children has been reported to the police and a silver Nissan Micra was apparently present."

Fri 30 Apr 2010, 15:44 · Link


Cotswold Line redoubling plans finalised

Network Rail has announced the final plans for redoubling the Cotswold Line through Charlbury.

The line from Charlbury (just south-east of the station) to Ascott-under-Wychwood will be redoubled in evening engineering work, starting in mid-December. Late evening train services will be replaced with buses. Overnight 'possessions' can also often mean delays to the first trains of the day if they overrun.

The work will include a new westbound platform at Charlbury, plus new lighting and a "real-time digital passenger information system".

The redoubled line will enter service in May 2011. Though the main rationale for the project is improving punctuality, it will also mean three more off-peak services every day between Oxford and Moreton, which are likely to be operated by Turbo trains from Paddington which currently terminate at Oxford. These will help fill some of the current 1hr+ gaps in the service.

The second phase of the redoubling, between Evesham and Moreton, will take place later in 2011 and should mean more off-peak services to Worcester.

Cost overruns forced Network Rail to scale down its original signalling plans. One of the results is that the characteristic signal box at Ascott-under-Wychwood will be retained. Ascott's short platforms will be extended to three-coach length, with more trains stopping there.

The next milestone for the project will be when plans for the expanded Charlbury station are submitted for approval to West Oxfordshire District Council. (The picture accompanying this piece is not a real artists' impression, but a two-platform version of Charlbury station designed for a PC 'train simulator'!)

See also the Network Rail press release and Oxford Mail report.

Richard Fairhurst · Wed 21 Apr 2010, 20:08 · Link


LITTER ACTION

Many thanks to the small but intrepid band of volunteers who kindly turned out on Sunday afternoon for a litter pick. I hope everyone will notice the difference, especially in the Rochester Place passage and in the shrubbery on the approach to the station.

If you see litter do please pick it up. If you see large quantities or cases of fly-tipping on the roads approaching Charlbury do please report it to West Oxon DC on 01993 861020 or via their website (go to Environment/Street Scene/Street Cleansing/Fly Tipping or Litter). They are very good at responding to this kind of report.

Lastly, if you wish to do a spot of litter picking in your spare time you can now borrow equipment from the Town Council. Contact me on 811410 or the Town Clerk.

Gareth Miller (Councillor)

Sun 11 Apr 2010, 18:11 · Link


Site changes

A handful of changes to the website.

There's a new way of contacting the site admins if you need help (for example, with a community or directory page). Follow the 'Contact us' link at the bottom of the page. Unlike the old e-mail address, this link will send a message to all of the site admin volunteers.

The forum has returned and is now hosted at forum.charlbury.info. Forum postings aren't displayed on the front page as standard, but you can choose to turn them on. You may need to log out and in again before you can post to the forum.

A few people have generously offered help with running the forum, and the offers are much appreciated - I'll hopefully be in touch in the near future.

Please remember that the forum is not for one-to-one discussion. If you want to contact an admin about the forum, please do so using the new link, not by posting your request in open thread. Please don't try and publicly bounce us into closing a thread (or whatever) - it's not fair on volunteers. Thanks.

And the lovely new pic at the top of the page is courtesy of Dave Murphy!

Richard Fairhurst · Sun 11 Apr 2010, 00:36 · Link


Local badger group proposed

We're in a particularly rich part of the country for badgers, but surprisingly West Oxfordshire is poorly covered when it comes to badger monitoring and observation.

I'm hoping the Oxfordshire Badger Group can help raise local interest in, and care for, these remarkable and popular (but rarely seen alive) mammals. They have agreed in principle to give a talk about badgers and the conservation issues, and hopefully a local group will form as a result. I should have a date for the talk soon, but in the meantime I'd be pleased to hear from anyone who would like to help with starting a local badger group.

Anyone who walks regularly in the local countryside is likely to be able to make useful observations, and certainly record setts.

Incidentally, I have heard a rumour of badger poisoning in the area. Please tell me if you have any evidence of this, or any reason to suspect it. Hopefully it is completely unfounded.

Jon Carpenter email jon@evenlodebooks.co.uk

Jon Carpenter · Sat 10 Apr 2010, 19:21 · Link


Nine Acres Sports Pavilion Fund raising - QUIZ NIGHT

Charlbury Town Football club would like to thank all those that helped and took part in the recent Quiz night, it was a great night and we raised £1300 to add to the fund.

Check events page for Fun run and Tournament info.

Thu 8 Apr 2010, 20:03 · Link


Garden Soc Spring Show definite for 24th April

Charlbury Garden Society's Spring Show (which was postponed in March because of unusually cold weather)will go ahead on Saturday 24th April, in the Memorial Hall. The wide range of classes should mean a good display of flowers, and local shops will have the show schedule.

Mon 5 Apr 2010, 07:51 · Link


'Managing Deer in the Cotswolds'

The Cotswolds Conservation Board have recently issued a leaflet on the subject of wild and feral deer in the Cotswolds AONB. You can get copies from the Board's Northleach HQ or download a pdf of the leaflet from their website at www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/?page=conservationboard
Among the subjects covered in the leaflet is the growing problem of collisions between deer and motor vehicles. Not surprisingly a map of recorded deer collisions between 2000 and 2007 shows a particular 'hotspot' around Charlbury and Wychwood Forest.
Research into the problem continues, and anyone involved in a traffic incident involving deer is invited to complete the report form which you can find at www.deercollisions.co.uk

Sat 3 Apr 2010, 15:30 · Link


Charlbury Cricket Club announce their first Black Tie Summer Ball

Charlbury Cricket Club have just announced that they are going to hold their first black tie Summer Ball on Friday September 10th in the Cricket Club grounds. With a 4 course meal being prepared by local Chef Gary Walsh and the hiring of a local Swing Band and supplementary Disco, tickets are confirmed to be in short supply.

Indeed 75% of the tables have already been reserved even before the event has been officially marketed but the Cricket club has extended the event to offer a further 8 tables making the event available for 230 local people.

Tables can still be reserved at a cost of £500 per table (for 10) with individual tickets being release from 1st June 2010 (a minimum of 40 are reserved for this date)

If you need any further info or wish to reserve a table or individual ticket please email Paul Jenkins on pj@mayfieldproperty.co.uk or see the events section of this website for further details.

Fri 2 Apr 2010, 20:04 · Link


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