Annual Parish Meetings

Councillors Present

• Philippa Carter (Chairman)
• Mark Tribe
• Peter Rance
• Sandy Timms
• Liz Leffman (County Councillor)
• Tom Simcox (District Councillor)

Responsible Financial Officer

• Stuart Fox

Parish Clerk

• Angela Barnes

Members of the public

• Pete Moss
• Brian Leach
• Wendy Pearse
• Jim Pearse
• Elaine Byles
• James Burgiss

1. APOLOGIES

Chris George (Wychwood Day Centre), Rev’d Mark Abrey PCC and Christian McGuiness Leafield CofE Primary School.

2. MINUTES

The recorded Minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 24 April 2017 were agreed, dated, signed and filed.

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Introduction of the past year’s Parish Councillors – Sandy Timms, Vice Chairman, Peter Rance and Mark Tribe who are longstanding Parish Councillors. Graham Ranson, who joined the PC almost a year ago, has sent his apologies. Mark is stepping down at the next meeting and we would like to record our thanks for his work, especially as in recent years his paid work has become more than full time. We are grateful to Brian Leach for volunteering to take his place and we look forward to working with him. My special thanks go to Sandy, Peter and Graham who have agreed to stay on and complete our number. Introduction of Angela Barnes, Parish Clerk; Stuart Fox, Responsible Financial Officer; many thanks to both for their support, advice and hard work over the past year. Also welcome to County Cllr Liz Leffman and District Cllr Tom Simcox who are regular attendees at our PC meetings and who support us with their specialist knowledge and their lobbying on behalf of Ascott-u-Wychwood.

Stuart Fox will cover the details of our Finances but I would just like to highlight the fact that more and more of our budget is used to pay for certain services which are essential to Ascott-u- W but which had been paid for by Oxfordshire County Council until recently.

This includes snow clearing and shared grant funding for the Wychwood Library, Villager and WOCT buses and the Wychwood Day Centre. Our grant for cutting verges withinthe village has also been severely cut. We are informed that many of these extra expenses have to be paid from the PC’s discretionary funds (S137) but we have asked OCC to investigate whether this ruling can be changed as these funds are now severely reduced. Only S137 funds can be used to support projects and organisations which are not our core responsibility Because the PC had been warned of severe County Council budget cuts we had in past years raised the Annual Precept to be able to support the services I have just mentioned. Now that the dust has settled (we hope) we are pleased to be able to reduce the Precept by 10% for the Financial Year 2018/9.

Planning

This year has been busy on the Planning front. There have been 8 applications for alterations to existing homes, 1 successful application for a development of 6 houses in place of the garages at the top of Maple Way and 1 application won on Appeal for a development of 5 homes on London Lane. The London Lane development has been a very controversial application and so the PC called a public meeting to give residents an opportunity to ask questions of the Head of Planning at WODC, Mr Phil Shaw. Feedback was mostly positive in that residents felt more informed and certain action points were agreed. In particular we plan to set up a database of photographs and maps showing weak points in drainage and sewerage – Sara Russell has offered to run this with Graham Ranson’s support. We are encouraging residents to be proactive and contact a Parish Councillor if they have photographs. These could then be used when commenting on future planning applications. The development of 6 houses on the site of Maple Way garages was negotiated and is making good progress after a difficult winter. Neighbours are having to get used to much larger buildings than the garages but it will give Ascott 6 more dwellings which are planned to be kept as social housing by Cottsway. We were disappointed that the hedgerow was pulled up and this was reported to the Planning Office. The contractors have promised to completely replant – as is instructed in the plans.

WODC Planning Dept are hoping that their Local Plan 2031 will be ratified by the Inspector soon and Tom Simcox will have more news of that.

Grounds and Property Maintenance

We have made good progress with keeping village property and grounds in better order. The 3 large projects have been: – the completion of a new drainage scheme to the Playing Field, refurbishment of the Pavilion and also of the Martyrs’ seats on the Green.

The extremely dry winter, spring and early summer of 2017 meant that a team of volunteers spent many, many hours sowing new seed, raking the drainage lines and hand watering the new grass on the Playing Field.

We owe a huge debt to that team, organised by Laurence Mellor and advised by Simon Gidman. By October the football teams were able to play their matches and they have been extremely pleased with the way that the pitch stood up to this past winter 2018, which has been so very wet. We would also like to thank Shane Barnes, our groundsman, for all the extra hours that he put in to nurture the new grass. We must also thank Richard Smith of Pennington Manches who has helped us with the legal work required to obtain a Sport England grant.The refurbishment of the pavilion included redecorating and a new boiler. Again we must thank another team of volunteers who spent many hours painting the main room and changing room area. The kitchen refurbishment will be completed this year. The Martyrs’ seats were refurbished last summer by their original suppliers. The success of the refurbishment led to a call for a solution to keeping the seats free of bird muck. Ascott Martyrs Education Trust (AMET) took up the challenge and made various suggestions, from relying on a team of volunteers to clean the seats to moving the seats completely. A village consultation was considered but this idea has been shelved and there are currently no plans to make any changes.

3. COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS

Cllr Sandy Timms

Defibrillator

The Defibrillator Cabinet has been out of service for some considerable time of late.  I’m happy to report it is now repaired and glowing brightly. However the cabinet is currently not fixed to the wall and this needs to be resolved. It seems we were sold an old cabinet which is now obsolete.
Therefore the parts were manufactured to order which is why it took some time to be repaired. There are 30,000 cardiac arrests in the UK in a year and of those, 80% happen in the home.

If a defib is used within 3-5 minutes the survival rate jumps from 6 to 74%

Therefore it is our intention to works towards purchasing a second defib and cabinet so that if the one defib is out of service we have a backup. So any fund raising ideas would be gratefully received.
A training session on how to use the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and resuscitation will be arranged in the village for later on in the year..

Wychwood Library

There are around 80 registered borrowers of the library who reside in Ascott, which represents 8% of the total registered borrowers in The Wychwoods.

We have been financially supporting the Wychwood library since 2014 when The Library Service had to make drastic cuts. The Library is run by the Oxfordshire’s Library Service and has a paid part time Manager. Ruth, the Manager for many years has now retired and her replacement is Marianne Ferrero who is due to start mid May. The Library is manned by Volunteers under the watchful eye of the Manager and supported by the friends of The Wychwood Library.

The Library is involved with all sorts of activities in addition to the usual loaning of books including, summer reading clubs and challenges for children, coffee mornings, book clubs and even a knitting club! One Project Ruth started before her departure which will hopefully be continued and developed with the arrival of the new Manager is the Home Delivery Service. A service to deliver books to those unable to attend the library themselves. For some the volunteer merely delivers chosen books and for others, the volunteer visits the customer to discuss which books could be selected. This service works well throughout the county. Fairly recent reports state there are 150 volunteers in the county and 600 customers. Ruth’s concern was that this might be a very popular service in the Wychwoods and that volunteer’s might be hard to find. So, if you think this might be something you could help with then please do pop along to the library and offer your services. The Friends of the Wychwood Library are a very committed group of people and besides being involved with organising the volunteers on the rota they raise small amounts of money through running the coffee mornings. They pay for the Wi-Fi which is installed in the Library. This year there will be an upgrade of the Library Management software and computer system. This will give a more modern and efficient system for the staff to use, with more functions. It seems that Libraries are reinventing themselves, listening to its customers and accommodating changes to keep up with our fast developing world

Cllr Peter Rance

Buses

Together with our other Wychwood PCs, Ascott PC continued an annually reviewed modest grant to the volunteer operated Villager service, calculated upon the number of our own residents who are regular dependent users. Whilst only a minimal service, it has proved a popular and important lifeline. However, from February 2018, the West Oxfordshire Community Transport (WOCT), a Community Benefit Society, has extended their original services to run seven times each weekday linking the Wychwoods with Chipping Norton and Witney, without conflicting with Villager. In response to their appeal, we have given them a one off grant to help them purchase the new bus for this service as this new service would provide much needed additional transport options for our dependent users. Both Village and WOCT 210 timetables are on the Ascott village website. Regrettably, WOTC have concerns that their new service has had disappointing passenger loads across the whole route, and have contacted all affected PCs to seek improved awareness of the service beyond those wholly dependent on buses. We will maintain close liaison with WOTC and fellow Wychwood PCs and give what support we reasonably can to improve custom.

Trains

Unlike bus services, this year, especially in the lead up over Christmas to the New Year timetable, and for two months afterwards, has been a dreadful one of cancellations, inadequate length trains and even taxis in lieu of trains. A great deal of the cause has been placed upon the migration to electrification of the GWR Main Line from Paddington, as its very delayed introduction has directly impacted GWR train sets on our line, coupled to slower driver training on the new diesel/electric sets. Our MP, OCC Local Councillor, Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG) and our train dependent residents have all been involved in vigorously complaining to GWR, and pressing for a reliable service on our minimal provision. The GWR MD has personally responded with his apologies, excuses and thankfully the actions placed on his team to mitigate problems.
Slowly service appears to be responding, but there is no guarantee that we are completely out of the woods.An HMG public consultation on extending the GWR Franchise gave opportunity for users, CLPG etc to make representations on the local service, on reliability, fares and its minimal nature. Meanwhile GWR have no intention of improving our scant service. To end on a positive note however, at our request, GWR did provide a stop on a service train to London, and two returning to Worcester, on three Saturdays in early December, which again proved very popular with residents.

5. PARISH FINANCIAL REPORT

The Council’s total income for the year ended 31st March 2018 was £28,176 (including internal transfers of £2,500); this was considerably down on last year’s total of £107,825. The reduction relates to grants and donations of £67,134 in respect of the playing field drainage scheme and £819 grants and donations towards the cost of rebuilding the village pound wall. There was also a reduction in the annual precept from £31,000 to £25,000 a reduction of 19% in respect of the cost to the local ratepayer.

We reduced the precept based on our forecast expenditure for the year and our aim of eventually reducing the balance on the general fund. We did not achieve this aim in 2017/18 as a number of significant items of planned expenditure were not carried out and have been carried forward to the current year, for example work on the playing field roadway £8,000, parking area matting £3,320, additional drainage work £750, Church path £3,000 and signs in the pound £400.

There has been a further reduction in the precept for 2018/19 of 10% to £22,500.

Expenditure for the year was £25,020 (again including internal transfers to our various funds of £2,500) compared with £94,842 last year. The bulk of the reduction relates to costs of the playing field drainage scheme £69,353. There were also ‘one-off’ costs last year for instance we also spent £2,020 renewing the sport’s pavilion boiler, £748 rebuilding the pound wall and internal transfer were £8,150 compared to £2,500 in the current year. Against these reductions we have additional expenditure in the current year of £1,648 replacing our gang mower, improving the notice boards £480, renovating the martyrs’ benches on the village green £860 and we made a grant of £300 to the angling club towards the cost of otter fencing. Other costs remain similar to last year.

Overall the Parish had a surplus of income over expenditure of £3,156, bringing our total reserves up to £57,225 of which £55,519 is held as bank deposits, an increase of £5,215 over last year. Although, as explained earlier, we had budgeted to run at a deficit for the year, but have carried forward some of 2017/18 planned expenditure to the current year.
Our parish reserves at 31st March 2018 are made up as follows; snow clearance funds £4,087, railway station planting fund £617, playground maintenance fund £2,169, tree maintenance fund £1,000,and the playing field drainage maintenance fund £1,040. This leaves the Parish general funds with a balance of £48,312. The council considers that our current level of funding is sufficient for the future needs and in setting our budget for 2018/19 decided to reduce the precept from £25,000 to £22,500. If all of our budgeted projects and costs occur in 2018/19 we will see a reduction in our overall reserves and bank balances by up to £20,000 the end of the current financial year which ends on 31st March 2019

6. COUNTY COUNCILLOR LIZ LEFFMAN

A short verbal report was presented to the meeting by CCllr Leffman.

7. DISTRICT COUNCILLOR TOM SIMCOX

No Report received.

8. ORGANISATIONS REPORT

Chipping Norton Police

No report received.

Cold Stone Angling

Pete Moss reported that; once again the club has had a satisfactory season regarding fishing and financial. We undertook the task of fixing the otter fencing around the whole perimeter of the lake and this is now completed. The river received a further stocking of fish this season from the environment agency which was much appreciated. Our fund raising evening was the most successful yet, raising over £2000 on the evening. Membership for seniors and senior citizens remains on par with previous seasons, but glad to say we have had an increase in juniors which is very encouraging. With this in view we are doing a teach in at the lake for juniors in July.

Pre-School

Ascott Pre-school has had a busy year with high numbers of new children and currently 45 children on roll. We continue to have a strong management committee run by parents who help to ensure the smooth running of the Pre-school.

The government has introduced a new 30 hour funding for children whose parents both work. Unlike the usual 15 hour funding which is for all children the new funding is means tested. Many families have been eligible and the take up has been higher than we expected. We have extended our opening hours to accommodate this and increased our staffing levels. We continue to work in partnership with Leafield Pre-school, sharing staff when needed.

The children have experienced a wide range of activities during the year including trips out in the community, local farms, village shop, the allotments and walks down the lane. In the autumn term, having watched an interesting programme on Channel 4 we began a link with the Day Centre in Shipton and have been visiting there with small groups of children. We take resources such as playdough, lego and books with us and the children and people at the day centre have enjoyed these visits very much.

There is always a lot of chat and laughter. Forest School continues to run every week though the year and we have visited a variety of different venues as well as our own approved site in Bruern Woods, kindly allowed by the Astor family who are the landowners.

We continue to run our other extra clubs – Little Dancers and cooking. Children cook many different savoury and sweet dishes. We encourage discussion around healthy eating and examine many types of vegetables and fruit. They learn how to use peelers, graters and knives under close supervision.

We have had the usual fundraising events during the last year including our very successful annual Sports Day and BQ at the Playing Field.

Tiddy Hall

A brief verbal report was given by Simon Gidman.

Parochial Church Council

No Report received.

Ascott Grapevine

The team of the Ascott Grapevine would like to thank all our contributors, -advertisers and all those who have supported us through this past year. We would not be able to produce the magazine without you and we always welcome any new articles etc. so please keep them coming.

We are especially thankful for the donations we have received as we rely entirely on these to be able to produce the magazine and to deliver it free of charge around the village, enabling us to keep the villagers informed of events and happenings as well as including articles etc. which we hope are of interest generally.

Leafield C of E School

No report received

The Village Shop

We have the AGM of our shareholders on 13 June in the Swan and I hope to begin serious discussions at that time, inviting comment from those most concerned with our future.

I want to invite comment, on a personal basis, from all our volunteers as well. If you have a point to make, I am open to any suggestions regarding shop services, stock, opening hours and the way we provide this vital facility to the village.

Today, though the shadow of the development plans hangs darkly over us, several things have changed already, concerning the future survival of the Village Shop and I want to address these other issues now.

1. The number of people who have walked into the shop so far, this year is 25% fewer than in 2012.

2. The Shop’s gross annual income has fallen by 20% since 2006.

3. The margin for staying in the black on sales against costs (ignoring sudden and essential costs) is now less than 2%.

4. Our cash reserves have fallen by 10% in the last year because of the cost of maintenance (largely for major items, and see para 3 above, bought over 10 years ago) and the replacement of essential equipment.

5. Our volunteers are wonderful, caring, people who all want to provide a service and an essential facility to the Village. But there are too few of us to keep the seven day a week service going indefinitely.

6. Only about 25% of villagers support the Shop – yet many dash to use us on the few occasions there is a snow-drift.

The main threat seems to be the enormous increase in on-line shopping but we are too small to provide a delivery service. Any ideas?

Please, if you want the Shop to continue, help us by turning up and using the shop. It needs your support, mainly as a customer – £3.00 per week from each house would keep us viable – and exceptionally as a volunteer.

The Village Charity

No report received

The Wychwood Day Centre

The Day Centre is now in its twenty first year since incorporation and continues to provide much needed day care for the elderly of the area, where they can enjoy a chance to socialise, friendship of others, a varied range of activities and a hot home-made meal in happy and secure surroundings. It provides the opportunity for up to twenty two people from the Wychwoods to meet once a week in Beaconsfield Hall, Shipton and has been run for many years by our Ascott based coordinator, Katherine Gidman. Its operation continues to be entirely dependent on the support of a team of around 50 helpers, cooks and drivers who volunteer their time to help it run smoothly.

In addition, for the past five years a monthly meeting has been arranged of a larger group called Good Companions which meets in Milton Parish Hall and provides an afternoon of entertainment, including tea for around forty people, including carers.

Since late 2015, we have had the threat hanging over us of Oxfordshire County Council withdrawing its funding. As it represents half our costs and it cannot be replaced that easily, the Trustees have been working hard to find a solution.

Oxfordshire CC originally indicated we were likely to lose our contract in March 2016. Our contract was eventually terminated by them last August, so we have had funding for 17 months longer than originally planned.

Following on, we have been granted some one-off transition funds for the balance of last year and we have just been awarded a further sum, about half the old level, for this coming year. We also have to thank so many people and organisations locally for recognising the value of our service with generous donations. Together with the additional County Council monies it has allowed us to build up our reserves to give us time to put a plan in place.

The Council are not committed to providing any further monies, so we must assume that from next year it will cease completely.

To ensure the way ahead, the Board has now approved a 5 year Financial Business Plan which over the period replaces the lost Council grant and achieves sustainability without it. Currently the actions planned are forecast to be phased in over the period. It indicates that we are likely to have a deficit once the grant has ceased which eats into our reserves, before turning to a surplus in the later years. It obviously includes some risk, particularly generating the required level of grants and donations, so we will be continuing to seek them from as many sources as possible. The Board of Directors would again like to thank Ascott Parish Council for being so supportive of the Day Centre over the last year with an annual grant of £500 and the joint award of the Carols around the Tree collection. The year ahead will be a challenging one for the Day Centre, particularly maintaining its pool of volunteers to ensure its effective operation and is considered a greater near term risk to its survival. New offers of help to drive, cook or assist during the day would be much appreciated from Ascott residents

Ascott Football Club

Mike Ody reported that the club had had its ups and downs this season with regards to the pitches. He reported that the club had 3 teams ranging from Division 1 and Division 4. The club also trained the Ascott Rangers and the ages varied from 16 to 18 years. He reported that the Youth Policy was going well and that training continued on a Wednesday night and that the Pitch is now brilliant.

With the Playing Field project complete and the return of Ascott FC and Windrush Valley School as regular users we plan this year to re-build a full committee to run the Sports Club independently from the Parish Council. Laurence Mellor has stepped down from being Chairman and we thank him for all the time and effort that he has put in since Roger Shepherd and John Cull retired and handed over the reins to the Parish Council. Philippa Carter is currently Interim Chairman as well as remaining Secretary and Bookings
Secretary. Nick Carter has agreed to take over as Treasurer. Mary Barnes continues to clean the Pavilion and keep a watchful eye out for any problems.

Shane Barnes is our dedicated groundsman and Simon Gidman has agreed to join the team. From the very beginning of the Drainage Project, Simon has been supporting us with his thoughtful and good humoured approach to all the challenges we have had regarding the Drainage project. He will be able to advise us on how to maintain the standard but in a practical and cost effective way which suits the size of our budget. There will always be a representative of Ascott FC and a Parish Councillor so that the link is maintained (as is the case with the Village Charity). We hope very much that residents from the High St will join the team as they are so well placed to keep an eye on the area. Most meetings are informally arranged to discuss specific issues with certain members of the team. There is normally just 1 formal meeting, which is the AGM in June.

Cllr Carter thanked everybody for attending and for their continued support. The meeting was then declared closed.

Cllr Philippa Carter: Chairman
Dated: 29 April 2019

Councillors Present

• Philippa Carter (Chairman)
• Mark Tribe
• Peter Rance
• Tom Simcox (District Councillor)
• Responsible Financial Officer: Stuart Fox

Parish Clerk

• Angela Barnes

Members of the public

• Don Barnes
• Chris George
• Mark Dawbarn
• John Cull
• Simon Gidman

1. APOLOGIES

Apologies received from CCllr Rodney Rose and Cllr Sandy Timms.

2. MINUTES

The recorded Minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 25 April 2016 were agreed, dated, signed and filed.

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Two issues which have dominated our time this year this year have been Planning and the Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) budget cuts which have led to responsibilities and costs for some services being devolved down to Parish level. The decisions taken so far are that we will not accept responsibility for cutting the grass on our Parish rural verges but will probably continue to cut the verges within the 30mph limit once we have negotiated the new contract. All subsidised non-statutory bus services were withdrawn in June 2016 and so we agreed to share the cost of the volunteer-operated Villager service with other Parishes in proportion to the number of Ascott residents using the service. It is a minimal service and has proved a popular and important lifeline. We also contribute to the costs of the Wychwood Library in proportion to the number of users per village. Both these subsidies will be regularly reviewed. The Wychwood Day Centre has been informed that OCC will withdraw all subsidy this year and so we are waiting to hear how the trustees decide to go forward.

At this stage we have not been made aware of any other responsibilities that may be devolved down and so Ascott Parish Council has felt able to set the precept for 2017/18 at a lower level than last year. We hope that next year our costs will become much more stable but it is still a time for upheaval in local government with discussions on a Unitary Council ongoing and a new or renewed Central Government imminent.

Major planning issues for us have been the WODC draft Local Plan and the application to develop the garage site at Maple Way. In both cases residents and the Parish Council worked together as a strong force. 2 large sites proposed for inclusion in the revised Local Plan were not selected and the new draft is now with the Inspector.

The first Maple Way application was rejected by the Planning Committee and the second drawn up in consultation with Ascott PC and residents, ATP Architects and Cottsway Housing.

This application is now available for public comments until 18 May.

2 grant funded projects were undertaken this year and our thanks must go to the many people and organisations who supported the Parish Council and Sports Club. Practical completion of the playing field drainage was signed off in October and now there is a period of making good to make sure that the field is completely flat and the grass is growing well in the drainage lines. The re-building of the East wall of the Pound was finished in August and we buried time capsules in the centre just before the capping stones were put on. They contained Elaine Byles’ excellent ‘Potted History of Ascott-under-Wychwood’ and current news items. What a lot happened between March and August last year!

We recently attended a most productive meeting with Shipton and Milton PCs at the Paddocks and everyone agreed that a meeting twice a year would be worthwhile. We have many concerns in common and so it is very useful to share ideas and experiences. We have shared our respective Community Emergency Plans with details of our refuge centres. All Plans have recently been updated.

We have now developed a thorough Risk Assessment Schedule for all the village land and assets that the Parish Council is responsible for on behalf of Parishoners. This is reviewed every 6 months and is an integral part of our audit. Our aim has been to bring these assets up to a state of good and safe repair within the life span of this Council.

Residents regularly complain to us about the state of the roads. This is one of our most time-consuming and frustrating tasks as the Highways Dept can be extremely unresponsive and obstructive. We have once again approached OCC about serious safety concerns at the 3 entry points to the village and offered suggestions as to how to improve matters.

Joint Councillors’ surgeries continue every alternate month and the next one will be this coming Saturday 29th April, 11.30-12.30 in the Pavilion. We hope that the June surgery will return to the Swan Inn which is due to re-open on 1 May. We were very pleased to welcome our new MP, Mr Robert Courts, to the last surgery and the Parishioners who attended took part in a very lively debate with Mr Courts and all Local Councillors.

We have taken the unusual step of writing to the whole village to ask if anyone is willing to join the Parish Council. Personal approaches have not been successful. People may have been put off by the workload that we have had recently but we do believe that much of our recent work will not have to be repeated for many years. More Parish Councillors would mean that the workload would be reduced for everybody and we would not struggle to muster a quorum of 3 for making decisions. What a shame if Parish Council work should pass to WODC and ‘on-the-spot’ local representation be lost. This current PC has 1 more year of its term to run.

I would just like to close by thanking our whole team for all their time and hard work this year. My Vice-Chairman, Sandy Timms, Parish Councillors Mark Tribe and Peter Rance, our Clerk Angela Barnes, our Grounds Maintenance contractor, Shane Barnes and our Responsible Financial Officer, Stuart Fox. I know that they all have many other jobs and responsibilities and I really have appreciated their support.

4. PARISH FINANCIAL REPORT

The Council’s total income for the year ended 31st March 2017 was £107,824 (including internal transfers of £8,150); this was considerably up of last year’s total of £34,109. The increase related to grants and donations of £67,134 towards the playing field drainage scheme and £819 grants and donations towards the cost of rebuilding the village pound wall.

We held the precept at the same level as the previous year as we were still unsure about additional costs that we might have to take on from the County Council.
Expenditure for the year was 94,842 (again including internal transfers to our various funds of £8150) compared with £16,438 last year. The bulk of the increase was the costs of the playing field drainage scheme £69,353. We also spent £2,020 renewing the sport’s pavilion boiler, £748 rebuilding the pound wall, £600 subsidising the village bus service and £525 supporting Wychwood Library.

Our regular costs have all shown small increases, with a 1% pay raise for our hard-working clerk, insurance costs rising by £99 as a result of increases in insurance premium tax and some additional cover and the playing field and grounds contract being renegotiated to include additional work in the Parish.

Overall the Parish had a surplus of income over expenditure of £12,983, bringing our total up to £54,069 of which £50,304 is held as bank deposits an increase of £9.936 over last year.

Our parish reserves are made up as follows; snow clearance funds £4,162, railway station planting fund £617, playground maintenance fund £1,669, tree maintenance fund £500 and the playing field drainage maintenance fund £3,432. This leaves the Parish general funds with a balance of £43,689.
The council considers that our current level of funding is sufficient for the future needs and in setting our budget for 2017/18 decided to reduce the precept from £31,000 to £25,000. If all of our budgeted projects and costs occur in 2017/18 we will see a reduction in our overall reserves by the end of the current financial year ending on 31st March 2018.

5. COMMUNITY EMERGENCY PLAN

Our Community Emergency Plan has been reviewed and updated. The winter resilience equipment has been temporarily housed beside the Sports Pavilion while the sale of Crown Farm was being completed. We have been in touch with the new owners and a decision about the new permanent home will be taken by the autumn. Thanks to Laurence Mellor for continuing to supervise this part of the Emergency Plan and for remaining on the Emergency Team which is otherwise made up of Parish Councillors.

We are sharing our Emergency Planning with the other 2 Wychwood Parish Councils as well as other common issues such as crime and speeding. We recently attended a most productive meeting with Shipton and Milton PCs at the Paddocks and everyone thought that a meeting twice a year in future would be very helpful.

6. MEMORIAL PLAYING FIELD

Practical completion of the Playing Field Drainage Scheme was signed off in October and now there will be a period of making good until the ground is completely flat and well seeded. We sincerely hope that the new drainage scheme will help to rejuvenate team sports, as well as the Sports Club organisation based at the Pavilion. We must thank all our contributors. In order of the size of the grants:-

Sport England
Ascott Parish Council
Windrush Valley School
Playing Field Legacy Fund
Ascott-u-W Sports Club
Ascott Village Charity
Ascott Football Club
Juliet Heseltine’s Art Talk
Private personal donations

There was a shortfall of £489.41 as we were obliged to conduct a second set of searches when Sport England agreed to increase their original offer. Thank you to Richard Smith of Pennington Manches for helping us with all the legal work.

All snagging is planned to be signed off in October when the contractors will hand all responsibility back to the Parish Council. Particular thanks must be given to Laurence Mellor who spent a huge amount of time liaising with Sport England, TGMS Consultants and the Contractors, Agripower.

7. ALLOTMENTS

There are 14 allotment plots available and we currently have 11 tenants who are actively working on their plot. The vacant plots will be advertised.

8. HELPERS OF ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD

The ‘Helpers’ is a volunteer organisation started by the previous Parish Council but always meant to be self-sufficient. Consequently, it takes on work that is not exclusively the responsibility of the Parish Council but is still to the benefit of the wider Village community. We either work individually, in small ad hoc groups or in large group sessions depending on the task and people’s availability. Some people have expert knowledge and skills – others, like me, are just willing labourers!

We have held extremely successful large group sessions for the annual litter pick, trimming the low growth on the Church lime trees and cutting back the ivy on the Playing Field and Church perimeter walls. Smaller groups have tended to the station gardens, keeping the area around the pavilion clear and will soon be painting the inside of the pavilion in stages throughout this summer. Individuals sometimes work alone making repairs or doing smaller maintenance jobs. There have been some wonderful individual contributions towards the landscaping of the garden opposite the Signal Box this year, making it safer and the soil more stable. No parish money is ever spent on the station gardens – small grants come from Network Rail and GWR.

Thank you to every member of our special band but especially to:

• Brian Mitchell for working every single week with the Wychwood Project volunteers on re-building the East Pound wall.
• Pete Moss for the gate, Rob Lane for the steps and Phil Pratley for the iron work at the garden opposite the signal box.
• Sandy Timms for organising the Litter Pick at such short notice when I had to disappear due to the imminent arrival of our second grand-daughter!
• And finally to my long suffering right-hand man – Mr Nick Carter, every home should have one!

9. TRANSPORT (Trains)

Regrettably, First GW (now the “GWR” franchise) service operators continue to give no signs of increasing our minimal one train each way on weekdays only service. The Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG) have concluded that no possible change will occur at least before the December 2018 publication of a new timetable, and with so many issues arising from the delayed main line electrification programme, even that timetable is an unpredictable entity.

On a positive note however, the popularity of the special pre-Christmas Saturday services which were reintroduced in 2015, were successfully repeated in 2016, and we will press for their continuation in 2017. Also, since mid April this year, our morning train to Oxford, no longer terminates there but now travels non-stop to Didcot Parkway for connecting trains to Reading and London.

A very recent further initiative suggested by CLPG, was a PC led resident enquiry of their level of support for a trial, weekday “Group Saver fare” extra stop of an existing mid-morning train to Oxford and beyond, and mid-afternoon return. A substantial response was gained from our resident and Shipton PC have resident interest in a Shipton stop too. As the new GWR timetable begins in May, we have asked CLPG to approach the GWR Cotswold Line Manager with a formal request for this initiative for any Tuesday in June.

We can but hope that the trial will run, prove successful for residents and GWR, and just perhaps, show GWR that their current stance denies them valuable custom.

10. COUNTY COUNCILLOR RODNEY ROSE

Work in the Charlbury and Wychwood Division – I attend Parish Council meetings across the Division as often as I can, and assist with dealings with OCC as needed, whether from these meetings, or by email and phone requests. Local surgeries are open to parishioners on the last Saturday of the month, alternating between Ascott and Shipton.

County Budget

The County Council set its budget for 2017/18 on Tuesday 14th February. Ahead of the meeting, it was announced the Council had £1,957,000 extra, over and above the position reported to the Cabinet in January, as a result of better than expected business rate collections, council tax collection fund surpluses and a higher than expected grant.

The Council voted to hold £926,000 of this until the 2018/19 financial year, to deal with future pressures. The rest of the money was allocated in the following ways:

• £170,000 to be spent on additional grass-cutting work on highway verges. This is an area of spend that has been reduced in recent years.
• £250,000 one-off funding initially for a pilot Communities Fund for parishes and towns to bid for matched funding schemes following changes/reductions for funding for services.
• £600,000 additional funding for children’s social care – a part of the council that has been exempted from cuts since 2010 but has continued to experience significant rising demand on services in common with children’s social care departments across England.
• £11,000 increase on the Council’s Flood Defence Levy

The additional funding for Adult Social care announced in the recent budget is welcome news however we are waiting for guidance as to what and where the funds can be spent. It is thought that the funds have to be spent on new projects for further integration with Health care rather than replacing services.

Unitary Local Government

Along with South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, the County council has submitted a proposal to central government for a new single authority in Oxfordshire. Throughout the process we have been kept all other councils, including WODC informed; there is an open invitation to join us to discuss the issues that matter to their residents. One council would be responsible for all the environmental services such as street cleaning and road maintenance. Joining up social services, housing and benefits improves support for people who need extra help. One website, one phone number, one contact for all your council services; no duplication one council costs less to run than six, with fewer councillors and senior managers. One council saves at least £20m each year, which can be used to deliver better services and protect them from future cuts. However, I very much doubt Whitehall will look at any of this with very much urgency – Brexit negotiations were already using all capacity in Departments in Westminster, and the sudden need to explore all ramifications of any new manifesto, following the surprise General Election will totally overburden the system for many months to come

FIX MY STREET

If you notice a problem or defect on the road you can report it easily on line 24 hours a day. Recently OCC has been working hard to make Fix My Street work more effective with the launch of a new service. It will improve the quality and consistency of public reports, as well as OCC internal processes for closing down reports, making it easier to reliably see what’s going on in a given area. Members of the public who consistently give good information can be rewarded with ‘trusted reporter’ status, meaning OCC will fast track future reports to the contractor, resulting in quicker resolution for the resident and reduced effort for the inspectors. Added to this will be an extra “Dragon Patcher” [as seen in Shipton some months ago], which will help speed up small repairs

RAIL NEWS

My Strategic Rail portfolio takes up a fair bit of my time. As Chairman of the EastWestRail Delivery Board, I was very pleased to be part of the opening of the Oxford to Oxford Parkway link, with onward connection to Marylebone – a useful alternative to the Paddington line. I am currently working with GWR who are working up plans to increase the size of the car park at Charlbury Station. I have found the current car park to be inadequate by 8am during the working week on numerous occasions, so I am sure some enlargement is definitely needed. Currently, we are looking to increase parking by an extra 270 spaces.

COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS

On May 4th, all Divisions of the County stand for election. I have represented the Wychwood Division [and more latterly, the Charlbury & Wychwood Division] for the last 20 years, and would like to thank all for allowing me the honour of doing this. I will be standing for re-election again on May 4th.

11. DISTRICT COUNCILLOR TOM SIMCOX

Last year I reported on the status of the draft Local Plan for future housing supply for West Oxfordshire. We had been turned away to add more housing and also to take into account the unmet housing need of Oxford City. The assessment of the additional houses that West Oxfordshire should take on behalf of Oxford was carried out last summer, and new sites were sought to take the increased numbers, two of which were in Ascott-Under-Wychwood. Fortunately, both sites were not deemed suitable. The plan was resubmitted with increased numbers across the district and the inclusion of a new Garden Village to the north of Eynsham which will comprise of 2,200 new houses. The plan was submitted and is now in front of the inspector, for the hearing next month. We are confident that we have addressed the concerns voiced last year and that we should see the local plan in place later this year. Although the large population centres will feel the changes the most, having the plan in place will enable communities like Ascott to live without the spectre of opportunistic housing developments. In fact, the Burford to Charlbury sub-area in which Ascott resides already has about 70% of its housing allocation for the next 14 years.

West Oxfordshire County council have been continuing with our 2020 Vision for shared services. This has so far saved around 15% of our annual budget, without cutting public services. The big change in 2016/7 was the formation of Ubico a local authority company owned by Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Boroughs, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Stroud and West Oxfordshire Districts and Gloucestershire County Council. Ubico is capable of and does provide services such as:

• Household waste and recycling collections
• Commercial waste and recycling collections
• Household recycling centre management
  Buildings and public toilet cleaning
• Street cleaning
• Grounds and cemetery maintenance
  Fleet management and maintenance
• MOT and taxi testing
• Winter maintenance (gritting)

West Oxfordshire has selected Ubico as it new provider of Waste collection which has come into action recently.
We have continued to run our joint councillor surgeries every other month in Ascott, on the last occasion we were joined by our new MP Robert Courts, it was our most successful surgery in terms of attendance, but even if they are not queuing out the door it provides a good opportunity to spend an hour discussing issues and topics in the village.

Our next surgery is this Saturday at the Sports Pavillion at 11.30.

12. ORGANISATIONS REPORT

Chipping Norton Police

There was 1 reported crime in the Ascott Under Wychwood area. 0 of which are non-crime incidents for example Adult Protection, Child Protection and Domestic Incidents

Bank card and cheque fraud Bank card and cheque fraud happens when criminals steal your cards or chequebook and gain access to funds in your account.

Criminals steal your bank cards or cheque book; or they obtain your card or account details, allowing them to take money from your account or run up credit in your name. You’ll usually notice this by seeing unfamiliar transactions on your statements, or suddenly finding that you’ve exceeded your overdraft limit or credit limit and your card is refused when you try to make a purchase. Here are some of the ways a fraudster could steal money from you:
ATM (cash machine) fraud A fraudster uses a device to capture your card information as you are withdrawing money from an ATM. The fraudster then uses this information to take money from your account in a shop, online or from an ATM.
Counterfeit cards A fraudster counterfeits your bank card by using a device to capture the card and account information embedded in your card’s magnetic strip. This is often known as ‘skimming’. The fraudster then uses this information to carry out fraudulent transactions in countries where chip and PIN technology is not supported. The fraudster may also use this information in transactions where the card doesn’t have to be physically seen by the retailer or merchant. For example, when shopping online; buying goods by telephone or mail order; or using cardholder activated terminals, such as ticket machines.
Lost or stolen card fraud In this case, fraudsters use your card before you are able to report it as lost or stolen. A new or replacement card may also be stolen before you receive it. For example, if you have moved address recently and not had your mail redirected; or if your mail is delivered to a communal mailbox.

Identity fraud A fraudster may have stolen enough information about your identity and financial affairs to take over your account or to impersonate you. The fraudster will gain access to your account after getting through security online, at a bank branch or call centre, or by teaming up with someone inside the organisation that holds your account. If the fraudster can impersonate you, he or she will open accounts in your name and then defraud them.
What should you do if you’ve been a victim of bank card or cheque fraud?
• Immediately report lost or stolen cards or suspected fraudulent use of your card to your card company. You should also report lost or stolen cheque books or any missing cheques. Banks and companies have 24-hour emergency numbers printed on account statements.
• Report the offence to the relevant bank or card company, which will then be responsible for reporting the matter to the police. If the theft of your cards or cheques involved another crime – for example, if your bag was also stolen – you should make sure it is reported to the police.
• If a fraudulent account has been set up in your name and you don’t have a relationship with that bank or card company, you can report the fraud directly to Action Fraud.
• Remember to keep a record of all communications.
• Get a copy of your personal credit report from one of the credit reference agencies:
o Callcredit
o Equifax
o Experian
• Consider contacting CIFAS – the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service to apply for protective registration. Once you have registered, CIFAS members will carry out extra checks whenever anyone applies for a financial service using your name and address.

Protect yourself against bank card and cheque fraud Secure your PIN:
• memorise your PIN and destroy any paper notification as soon as you receive it
• ensure that you’re the only person that knows your PIN. Never write it down or record it. Your bank or the police will never phone you and ask you to disclose your PIN
• when entering your PIN, use your free hand and your body to shield the number from prying eyes or hidden cameras. If you think someone has seen your PIN or if you want to change it to something more memorable, you can change it at a cash machine (ATM) or by contacting your bank.
Take care when using cash machines:
• put your personal safety first. If someone makes you feel uncomfortable, cancel the transaction and use a different machine
• if you spot anything unusual about the cash machine, or if there are signs of tampering, don’t use it. Report it to the bank concerned immediately
• be alert. If someone is crowding or watching you, cancel the transaction and go to another machine. Don’t accept help from seemingly well-meaning strangers and never allow yourself to be distracted
• once you’ve completed a transaction, put your money and card away before leaving the cash machine. If the cash machine doesn’t return your card, report its loss immediately to your card company. Destroy or preferably shred your cash machine receipt, mini-statement or balance enquiry when you dispose of them.
When banking online:
• make sure your computer has up-to-date anti-virus software and a firewall installed. Think about using anti-spyware software. Download the latest security updates, known as patches, for your browser and for your operating system
o before you bank online, ensure that the locked padlock or unbroken key symbol is showing in your browser. When a connection is secure, the beginning of your bank’s internet address should change from ‘http’ to https’
• be wary of unsolicited emails – known as phishing emails – asking for personal financial information. Your bank or the police would never contact you to ask you to disclose your PIN

• ensure your browser is set to the highest level of security notification and monitoring. The safety options are not always activated by default when you install your computer.
• always access internet banking sites by typing the bank’s address into your web browser. Never go to a website from a link in an email and then enter your personal details.
When shopping online:
sign up to Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode whenever you’re given the option while shopping online. This involves you registering a password with your card company
only shop on secure sites. Before submitting your card details, ensure the locked padlock or unbroken key symbol is showing in your browser. The retailer’s internet address will change from ‘http’ to ‘https’ when a connection is secure
never send your PIN over the internet
print out your order and keep copies of the retailer’s terms and conditions, returns policy, delivery conditions, postal address (not a post office box) and phone number (not a mobile number).

Cold Stone Angling

The Club has had quite a successful season, with a rise in membership, a very good fund raising evening which again was well attended and the Club recorded a record profit for the evening. On competitions the Club won the Inter Club completion with teams of 10 from Charlbury, Chipping Norton and ourselves with one point between 1st and 2nd in Coldstone Angling Club’s favour. The club’s competions overall for a small club were well attended with matches on the River Thames, the canal fishing very well, whilst the River Evenlode remains very patchy. Preditation still remains a big problem with the club having to purchase bigger fishe to stop commorants from eating them, also we are trapping crayfish on a regular basis. Last, but not least, with otters becoming more numerous we are hoping to install otter fencing around the lake.

Pre-School

No repot received.

Tiddy Hall

This year has been a relatively quiet year for the Hall in terms of improvements and upgrades After all the works to the Hall over the past 4/5 years, I did promise this to the committee at last years’ Tiddy AGM and I have stuck to my manifesto obligations !
The one main improvement to the Hall has been the upgrading of the stage area. In July of last year we spent a not inconsiderable sum to have stage and backdrop curtains installed to give the stage area more impact, and certainly from those that have used the stage the response has been very encouraging.

We may look to upgrade the ladies toilets this year and there is some general housekeeping to be undertaken during the summer but otherwise large scale changes may be kept to a minimum.

All the committee went on a village bus trip to Levantie in northern France to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Reginald Tiddy, our patron, on August 10th 1916 and the anniverary 2016 are very important dates for Tiddy Hall and as part of the commemoration process Fools Gambit and the Oxford Morris men put on a memorable show at Tiddy on August 6th. It is perhaps worth remembering that Fools Gambit had come from all over the country to perform here as part of their tour to commemorate the deaths not only of Reginald Tiddy but also Cecil Sharp and George Butterworth, who all died at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
We are hoping to set up a display cabinet in the committee room very soon which will hold all the various historical documents we have and in fact a Boosey and Co bugle dated 1916 which was used at the battle of the Somme has already been kindly donated to the Hall to add to our collection.

The Hall continues to be well used by the community and despite all the various financial outgoings we have managed to maintain our cash reserve at about £ 15,000.00. The pre-school remain our biggest user and we are very grateful to them for their support as we are to the Wychwood Folk Club who have provided us with so many outstanding performers. In fact the Folk Club use the hall on an even more frequent basis because of the temporary closure of the Swan pub. In addition the hall is regularly used by the Roseneath School of music, ,Quigong evenings, the race night, Flix in the Stix ,Circuits, Badminton and The Wychwood school. New users of the hall are the Pilates Club, the Fit Club and Tea dancing club, so at the moment I’m pleased to say that the Hall is being well used.

Our aim continues for rental income from the Hall to cover all day-to-day running expenses – utilities, cleaning, insurance, taxes etc. with improvements, repairs and capital expenditure being financed from fund-raising activities.

Parochial Church Council

The Parish of Holy Trinity Ascott-under-Wychwood is part of the Chase Benefice which also includes the parishes of Chadlington, Enstone and Spelsbury. The Benefice is served by two clergy members, the Reverend Mark Abrey, Rector, and the Reverend Marian Needham, Associate Priest. The PCC consisted of 5 members, one of whom has been the Deanery Synod representative, plus the two clergy members and has support from the Secretary.
For the benefit of the community as a whole this historic Church is kept open daily during daylight hours and the Churchyard provides an amenity for all comers and for those passing through.

As at 13th March 2016 there were 40 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll. The average number of persons from Ascott-under-Wychwood attending regular weekly services was 12, and this number was substantially increased at festivals.

A range of regular services is held within the Benefice and this provides for a service to be held each week within one of the Churches of the Benefice. Inter-generational services are held within the Benefice each month and services are held at Harvest, Remembrance, Christmas and Easter. Additionally there were three confirmations, two baptisms and five funerals held in the Church during the year. A non-denominational mid-month Meditation is held on the third Tuesday of each month.
During the year the Church has continued its membership of Inclusive Church. It participated in December in a special service to mark the longest night of the year. It arranged Lent and Advent supper/lectures. The Clergy have given support to the sick, the bereaved and the housebound and special home services have been arranged for those who are unable to attend Church. A visiting group is being arranged for the Benefice. A Mission Action Plan is being prepared at Benefice level for adoption by the parishes.

There has been involvement by parishioners and the local community in services and other activities including flower arranging, bell ringing, and cleaning and Church and Churchyard maintenance. The Parish magazine Grapevine is distributed quarterly and work is under way on further development of the Benefice website.
The maintenance of the fabric of the Church and upkeep of the Churchyard are important to parishioners and of much value to the wider community. As a result of prudent husbandry in the past, it was only necessary in 2016 to carry out routine maintenance to the Church building, which nevertheless is a charge on the Church’s finances. It became necessary during the year to install an alarm system to deter the theft of lead from the roof and also to arrange expensive insurance against such theft. The cost of this installation and insurance was borne by generous donations and an available grant, but was also a charge on the Church’s reserves and income.
Necessary work was carried out during the year on the avenue of lime trees with financial help from the Parish Council, the Ascott Village Charity and from many donors who responded to the appeal. Invaluable practical help was also received from the Parish Council and its volunteers as well as from volunteers from the congregation. Continuing work on the epicormic growth on the lower parts of the trees will be required for some time and work on the improvement of the Churchyard pathways is scheduled for 2017.

Extensive work is to be carried out on the bells in the near future and applications for grants will be made, and appeals for donations. Various fund raising activities are planned in 2017.

Finance.

The Church has no external source of income and has to support itself from parishioners’ and other donations and occasional grants towards specific projects.

Receipts for the year on unrestricted funds were approximately £17000, of which approximately £9000 was planned voluntary donations including Gift Aid. The outcome for the year on unrestricted funds was a deficit of £3,629, one of the largest deficits suffered by the Church in recent years, a situation which the PCC view as serious. Total expenditure for the year was £25,375. The major items of essential expenditure were the Parish Share (which goes to meet diocesan and wider Church expenses), insurance and the Parish’s share of Benefice costs, all of which totaled £18,431.

Ascott Grapevine

The editors of the Grape Vine magazine appreciate and give thanks for the annual financial support that we receive from the Parish Council. This covers 25% of the cost of printing the magazine each year and together with donations we receive from private individuals, the village pantomime and advertising revenue allow us to produce and deliver the Grape Vine to every house in the village plus the surrounding farms.

We also thank all our contributors who provide many interesting and varied contributions to the magazine, but we take this opportunity to invite all clubs, groups and individuals within Ascott to support our village magazine by providing articles, photographs and news.

Leafield C of E School

No report received

The Village Shop

Five members of the Shop Management Committee were elected by the shareholders at the AGM, held on 21 June 2016. The Shop Manager is a sixth, ex-officio member of the Committee. The Committee meets every three months and Minutes are made available to shareholders. Every adult resident can become a shareholder for a one-off payment of £10 for a single non-refundable share. All shareholders have the right to attend and vote at the AGM.The shop continues to operate on a not-for-profit basis and is very largely run by village volunteers. The shop’s aim remains “to be owned by the village, run by the village and there for the village”.The accounts for 2016 have been prepared and were approved by the Committee in March. They are now with the Independent Accountant for his scrutiny and will be presented to the AGM, which is to be held at The Swan on 21 June 2017 at 7.30pm.The shop was broken into on the night of 28/29 January 2017. A stock check later showed that nothing was stolen but the damage to the shop cost £340 in repairs and an approximate loss of £43 in sales during the police investigation. The thief, James Whittaker, was caught, charged and pleaded guilty. He was committed to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, at Banbury Magistrates’ court on 12 April. The shop made a small operating profit of £1,272 during 2016, with sales totalling £132,949. The number of village customers appears to be static at around 75 people regularly using the shop. We have begun a process of replacing some of our, now aged, equipment – freezers, oven, and chillers. This will create a strain on our finances but we have some reserves, which make this essential course of action viable.

The Village Charity

This charity was originally set up for the relief of poverty in the village and to provide financial assistance to its young people towards their education. Its predecessors were known as the Poor’s Estate and as the Lower Green Charity.

The Trustees of the Charity meet regularly under the chairmanship of John Cull and throughout the period covered by the Report the Trustees were John Cull, the Revd Mark Abrey, Elaine Byles, Stuart Fox (Treasurer), Keith Ravenhill, Pauline Marshall, Sandy Timms (a member of the Parish Council) and Mark Dawbarn (also Secretary to the Trustees). The Constitution of the Charity states that there must be at least five Trustees of whom at least one should be a member of the Parish Council.

The Charity owns the freehold of the field known as Lower Green, which is near to the bridge over the river Evenlode on the Chipping Norton road. The field continues to be held under a lease to local residents for a 25-year term for grazing purposes, expiring on 1st January 2030.

In their educational activities, The Trustees have continued to hold funds available in connection with their scheme for assisting residents with grants towards the purchase of books or equipment for the purposes of their studies. They made three such grants during the year and continue to advertise the scheme in order that all eligible residents are encouraged to apply. The Trustees would be glad to hear of any cases where residents of the village may be eligible for a grant.

A Charity Run in October 2017 is being planned. The Trustees are considering an award of any surplus towards the necessary repairs to the bells at Holy Trinity Church.

The Trustees have powers in appropriate cases to make monetary grants to individuals resident in the village who suffer financial hardship and they have dealt with applications under this heading. They continue to be prepared to look sympathetically and in confidence at any cases of hardship or misfortune where a grant from the Charity might help to relieve a difficult situation.

A booklet describing the village and its history and amenities was produced in November/December 2016 by trustee Elaine Byles on behalf of the Charity and has been widely distributed for the information of residents and visitors.

The Trustees are open in a general way to suggestion as to how their activities can be made known to the local community, as to ways in which funds to pay for the causes they support can be raised and as to local causes whom they might benefit with a financial grant.

The Charity has received generous financial support from residents of the village, including customers of the village shop who have put money in the Charity box.

The Trustees consider that the financial position of the Charity remains sound and they have three sources of funds, namely the General Fund, the Poor’s Fund and the Flood Relief Fund from which they can make grants to local causes. The amount available for expenditure by the Trustees as at 31st December 2016 was approximately £4,000 in the General Fund and £4000 in the Poor’s Fund.

The Wychwood Day Centre

The Day Centre celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year since its original formation as The Wychwoods Day Centre Association. It continues to provide an invaluable facility for the elderly of the local villages, where they can get out of the house, socialise with friends, enjoy a varied range of activities and a hot lunch with morning/afternoon refreshments in happy and secure surroundings.

It provides the opportunity for up to twenty two people to meet once a week in Beaconsfield Hall, Shipton. Its operation continues to be entirely dependent on the support of a team of around 50 helpers, cooks and drivers who volunteer their time to help it run smoothly and is wonderfully run by our Ascott based Coordinator, Katherine Gidman. Over the past year, over thirty nine individuals have benefitted from the facilities provided.

There is a waiting list for places which is indicative of the need for the service and as soon as a place becomes available it is filled. As far as Ascott residents are concerned, six members attended the Day Centre through most of the year, with a further four on the reserve list waiting to take a full place when available.

In addition, for the past four years a monthly meeting has been arranged of a larger group called Good Companions which meets in Milton Parish Hall and provides an afternoon of entertainment, including tea for around forty people, including carers.

Relieving the loneliness and isolation felt by some cannot be calculated, but both activities enable their members to benefit from being out of the home in the company of others, in total terms, for around seven and a half thousand hours annually.

Oxfordshire County Council has now announced the cessation of grants to daytime support voluntary sector services from August 2017, although some transition/sustainability funding is available for the next two years.

Since Councillor Rose forewarned the Trustees in 2015 of the threat to withdraw the grant, the Day Centre has accelerated its fundraising efforts and built up its reserves, but has still not found a solution which ensures a sustainable operation, as the grant represents half of its costs. The last two years have resulted in a record level of donations being generated, assisted by strong local community support.

Following the award of some transition funding through to March 2018, it is now in the process of re evaluating the options available to ensure ongoing viability when the funding ceases. This review will be completed by end September 2017.

The year ahead will be another challenging one for the Day Centre in trying to agree a plan which provides sustainability, but also maintaining its pool of volunteers to ensure its effective operation. This is considered a greater near term risk. New offers of help to drive, cook or assist during the day would be much appreciated from Ascott residents as well as enquiries from anyone who might be interested in becoming a Trustee.

The Trustees would like to thank Ascott Parish Council for again being so supportive of the Day Centre in the last year with the awarding of the Carols around the Tree collection which raised £320 and its annual grant of £500.

Cllr Carter thanked everybody for attending and for their continued support. The meeting was then declared closed.

Chairman Cllr Philippa Carter
Dated 30 April 2018

Councillors Present:

• Philippa Carter (Chairman)
• Sandie Timms (Vice)
• Laurence Mellor
• Mark Tribe
• Peter Rance
• Rodney Rose (County Councillor)
• Tom Simcox (District Councillor)

Responsible Financial Officer:

• Stuart Fox

Parish Clerk:

• Angela Barnes

Members of the public:

• Rob Morgan
• John Cull,
• Wendy and Jim Pearse
• Pete Moss
• Sally Walker
• Kirstyn Tyrer
• Elaine Byles
• Nick Carter
• Mehmet Genc.

1. APOLOGIES

Christian McGuinness Leafield School.

2. MINUTES

The recorded Minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 23 June 2014 were agreed, dated, signed and filed.

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

This has been an excellent year for achieving results through team work and partnerships. Firstly I must praise our team of Parish Councillors, two of whom were not only new to the concept of Parish Council Management but also very new to the village. We have taken a lot of time to collectively get to grips with Parish Council responsibilities, which have increased and become much more formalised in recent years. This has led to long meetings and I am grateful to my colleagues for their patience and good humour. As always, we are all indebted to Angela Barnes, our essential source of information and advice, and to Stuart Fox for his advice and hard work on all matters financial.

We have welcomed our new District Councillor, Tom Simcox, to many of our meetings. One difficult issue this year had to be handled through a multi-agency approach and we are grateful that Tom has helped to open doors. His experience on the Planning Committee will also prove very helpful. Rodney Rose is even busier at County Council these days and we thank him for his voice of experience and the regular financial support he has given to our various projects. Tom and Rodney have set up a new venture holding joint Councillor surgeries in the Wychwoods, and an Ascott Parish Councillor will attend the surgeries held in Ascott. Details will be advertised.

The 3 Wychwood Parishes are liaising more often these days. The Parish Councils met together last year and they plan to do the same again in June. County Council has reduced its funding to the Wychwood Library and so all 3 Wychwood Parish Councils were asked to contribute funds and volunteers, so that it can remain open as before.

This arrangement is working well and Sandy Timms attends biennial management meetings to monitor progress on Ascott’s behalf.

A Mini Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) has been in existence in Milton for a while. Meetings are attended by our PCSO and Sandy has started to attend on behalf of Ascott. Common issues include anti-social behaviour, dog-fouling, parking outside schools and vandalism. We are considering whether Ascott should have a Neighbourhood Watch.

Partnership has been key to the successful completion of several projects. The Parish Council has led on Project SafePlay and the defibrillator installation and contributed to the new Tiddy Hall kitchen. During the coming year we hope to help the Parochial Church Council complete the pollarding of the lime trees in the churchyard and possibly the renovation of the path. We are very grateful for the support of our regular partners – County and District Councils, the Ascott Village Charity, the Ascott Songsters, Cottsway and to all our residents, young and old. Special thanks must be given to Richard and Michiel at the Swan who bent over backwards to find a suitable location for the defibrillator. They also freely accommodated two training sessions for residents, held gratis by the Ambulance Service.

The Helpers team has worked hard this year and a short report follows later. Another well-drilled team organised a very jolly ‘Carols round the Tree’, which raised over £300 for the Wychwood Day Centre. More voices than ever sang heartily but the piece de resistance was our visiting brass band organised by Elaine Byles and Mark Pidgeon. Thank you so much for their contribution and we do hope they will come again.

There have been no major planning issues in Ascott-u-W this year. There was an exploratory approach from the Cornbury Estate about replacing Yew Tree Barns with a small number of properties. We are not aware of further developments.

Some Ascott residents are concerned about further development in the village. We have been advised that Ascott is regarded by the District Planning Dept as a Rural Community in Open Countryside with limited amenities. WODC has given the village an A rating which only allows extremely limited development. The WODC draft Local Plan is currently open for consultation until Friday 8 May. It can be viewed online. WODC has identified sites for some development within the Burford-Charlbury sub-area, none in Ascott. It has yet to identify sites for 400 more houses to be built over the next 15 years. We have been advised that there are other communities better equipped to accommodate these numbers.

Two footbridges over the Evenlode have needed repair – one is complete but County Council has yet to repair the footings of Ascott Mill footbridge. A well-trodden footpath on the Chilson side of this bridge has been closed by the landowner. The PC was informed by County Council that this was never an official right of way but had been opened by the previous landowner under a scheme which expired over 10 years ago.

It is possible to apply to have a footpath designated as an official right of way but the procedure is currently taking 8-10 years in Oxfordshire. We were advised to approach the landowner privately; this option is being seriously considered, especially as the path forms part of the Charity Annual Cross-Country route.

A longstanding weakness in the village infrastructure is the sewer and the section from Gypsy Lane to Shipton-under-Wychwood has burst at least once a year for the past few years. Thames Water has now confirmed that this section will be replaced starting in July 2015. Their land agents have made early contact and hope to keep the community well informed regarding disruptions and timings.

In the autumn it was made abundantly clear by both Oxford County Council and West Oxfordshire District Council that more services to the parishes will be reduced and that Ascott Parish Council would have to take on extra costs where services were important to the village. Not knowing exactly what the future will bring, we felt obliged to raise the precept this year to maintain a sensible reserve. Whether other improvements to Ascott’s infrastructure and services are needed is a great source of debate and the Parish Council are considering developing a Parish Plan to address these questions. Mark Tribe will outline this later and Peter Rance will report on the vaguaries of our bus and rail services.

We are very sad to be losing a valuable member of our team, Cllr Laurence Mellor. He generously stayed on this past year to train Mark and Peter in his many responsibilities and to keep working up the project which we hope will result in better drainage for the playing field. Laurence’s long experience in the police force has been a tremendous help to the Parish Council and his determination not to be beaten by any DIY job is so legendary that he has won our nickname of Mr Screwfix. Because of his love of sport and his belief that it is essential to the health of the community, he has agreed to remain as Chairman of the Sports Club. As you can see, the Parish Council and the Village have much to thank Laurence for and we wish him a happy and relaxing retirement.

As yet no one has come forward to complete our team and we would be grateful for any help in finding a fifth Parish Councillor. If anyone wants a challenge this is the job to go for – we never know what we have to deal with next!

It remains for me to thank all residents for their support. Feedback, advice, criticism and information are always welcome and create the vibrant community for which we all strive.

4. PARISH FINANCIAL REPORT

The Parish Council started the year with funds of £27,034, the bulk of which (26,731) was held as cash in the bank. The bulk of these funds represented money set aside and grants received for specific purposes namely: snow clearance £3,007, railway station improvements £696 and playground improvements £21,009, leaving just £2,322 for general Parish funds. The council considered that the level of general parish funds was far too low. Therefore the precept for 2014/15 was set at a level that would rebuild the general Parish funds.
During 2014/15 the Parish income was £39,419 and included the precept £26,250, further grants for the playground equipment £6,633, grants towards the cost of drainage surveys on the playing field £3,286, grants towards the cost of a defibrillator £1,499, a grant from OCC towards the cost of pollarding the Lime trees £500, grass cutting fees £1,055 and miscellaneous income of £196.

Our costs in 2014/15 were £43,039, creating a deficit on the year of £3,620.

Our costs are shown on the second page of the accounts, but the main items are; administration and salary £3,947, playing field drainage surveys £3,136, Insurance £1,421, new playground equipment £23,349, work on the existing play area £3,052, maintenance of the playing field and village verges £3,559, support given to the Grape Vine magazine £400, the purchase of a defibrillator £1,499 and contributions to the Wychwood library. These last two items are shown under S137 costs on the accounts.
At the end of the financial year parish funds had reduced to £23,414 of which £11,414 was represented by cash in the bank and debtors of £13,424 less creditors of £1,424. The three large items included in sundry debtors are; the final grant for playground equipment £5,433 (paid in mid- april), our annual VAT refund £6,382 and a drainage grant claim of £886.
At the end of our financial year the analysis of our Parish funds had changed substantially and showed the general parish funds were now £18,691 (a more reasonable level), Snow clearance £2,657, railway station improvements £661, Playground improvements £753, lime tree pollarding £500 and playing field drainage grant £151.

5. PARISH CONTINGENCY PLAN

It has been a dry year and therefore there was only one occasion in the winter when we had impassable flooding on the Chipping Norton Rd. Thank you to Mark Tribe for taking responsibility for Flood Warning signs and liaising with County Council in my absence. Network Rail have recently been unhelpful regarding storing and erecting Flood signs and so Alan Field, our new First Great Western station manager, has agreed to help me negotiate with the right contact.

County Council ‘Snow Guides’ were distributed in December and information was published in the Grapevine about Extra Care Registers and help in finding home insurance. The Community Emergency Plan has been updated and re-registered with Oxfordshire County Council, which liaises with the Emergency Services. Our new team of councillors has been briefed on the Plan and Emergency Equipment and I plan to post the Plan on the village website.

A quiet winter with very little snow but some ice. Footpaths in the village were cleared and salted on 2 occasions. Our volunteer group remains active and keen to get involved using the snow clearing equipment. We have a stockpile of salt and grit should it be needed and Chris Badger continues to provide invaluable support with the storage of grit, snow plough and road gritter. Chris supplements this by providing drivers and a tractor when needed.

6. PROJECT SAFEPLAY

After extensive consultation the SafePlay team and Parish Council decided in the autumn of 2013 that a Multi-Use Games Area would best suit the wishes of the community and address some of the difficulties of the site. We successfully obtained a WODC grant of 21% of the total cost of our MUGA and other successful bids followed.

However, Ascott did not qualify for a valuable grant available from the recycling companies as it is no longer within the statutory 10 mile radius of a facility and in April 2014 we heard that our Sport England bid was unsuccessful. We had not achieved enough grant funding for our MUGA.

In May 2014 we then had to decide whether to give back all the other grants or re-plan and negotiate another facility. Work had to start by late October to qualify for the WODC grant. We decided to try and re-create the spirit of our planned MUGA by adding in playground equipment which appealed to a much wider range of ages and by installing permanent or semi-permanent recreational sports facilities which offered the sports requested by residents in our consultation. Improving access in the playground was to be addressed by a new path and different play surfaces which reduced bogginess and were low maintenance.

Without the benefit of the MUGA’s all-weather surface the next best thing was to try and improve the drainage all over the recreation ground. We successfully won a Lottery grant for pitch drainage and at that point our responsibilities were split – mine to playground and Laurence Mellor to drainage and he will report about progress on that later. By then Rob Morgan had retired from the Parish Council.

Our remaining grantfunders did agree to the new plan in July 2014 – the amounts remaining the same apart from WODC which calculates its grant as a percentage of the total cost of the project. After going out to tender we chose a local contractor for good value for money but also because he had built many successful local playgrounds, such as Shipton-u-W and Cogges. Work on the playground is now complete and the recreational sports equipment will soon be in position. All grants are in and the fund shows a small surplus which may help to buy new picnic benches as two were completely smashed by vandals last autumn.

No project is without its detractors and this is no exception. But the response has been overwhelmingly positive and from many unexpected corners. The playground has been well used so far and I hope that it will remain so for a long time to come. My greatest reward was a thankyou note from a young resident who said that he now enjoyed inviting his friends to his village to play.

I must give thanks to many people for keeping the faith and giving so much moral support – too many to mention everyone by name – but especially Laurence Mellor, Rodney Rose, Hilary Biles, Tara at WODC Sport and Leisure, Nicole at OPFA, my husband, Mary Barnes and all the ladies who organised the Jubilee lunch, the Village Charity Trustees and last but not least, Gill Stedeford who delights in seeing the playground active again!

7. ASCOTT-UNER-WYCHWOOD SPORTS CLUB

The football team has enjoyed a successful season, although it looks as if they will just miss out on promotion. Their best result so far was an emphatic 5-2 win over table leaders Eynsham.

A junior team drawn from surrounding villages has been training on a weekly basis and may become a permanent feature next year. With player numbers increasing there is the prospect of a second adult team joining the league next year.

Mike Ody, Manager puts in a great deal of effort to facilitate matches and training sessions and is to be congratulated on all his hard work.

The end of last season saw renewed interest in cricket leading to a very competitive Dads versus Kids challenge match. The game was declared an honourable draw and much enjoyed by all. In anticipation of further games this season we have invested in new nets and bowling mat for practise sessions and the pitch has been cut and rolled several times already.

One obstacle to the development of sport within the village has been the very poor drainage of the field which often leads to waterlogged and unplayable conditions. In recognition of this a grant application was made to Sport England Protecting Playing Fields for funding to improve drainage.

This was successful and we have been awarded £43,000 to fund a scheme with the aim of improving drainage. Following surveys carried out by specialist advisers a scheme has been developed which will focus on a series of perimeter catch water drains, combined with soak aways and an outfall connected to the Highways Drainage system.

I am pleased to report that following lengthy consultations with the Highways Dept they have given their approval for the scheme to go ahead. A detailed specification will now be prepared and a tender circulated.

8. ALLOTMENTS

With the sad loss of Bill Prewett earlier this year his immaculate allotment plot was nurtured by other allotment holders and the vegetables distributed around the village. Fortunately another resident has now taken on Bill old plot which leaves us one vacant plot at present. This vacancy will be notified in next edition of the Grapevine. Rents have been collected for this year with only one plot holder yet undecided as to whether to continue for another year.

9. PARISH PLAN

The parish council sought advice on the preparation of a Parish Plan from both Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC) and West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC). Following these discussions it became apparent that could develop two differed types of plans, namely a Neighbourhood Plan and a Community Led Plan. Both plans are distinctly differed and serve different purposes.

Neighbourhood Plan

This deals specifically with new construction or developments being considered for the village. It is an extensive document that would clearly identify all the potential development sites in the village and detailing what would be considered as suitable and sustainable development. This would be a statutory document and sit alongside the WODC Local Plan (currently in its final stage of review). Following discussions with WODC’s Community Planning Officer is was agreed that the preparation of a Neighbourhood Plan for A-u-W was unnecessary as the village was not a target for new housing under the Local Plan. In fact many of the sites for the additional 400 housed in the Burford/Charlbury area had already been allocated.

Community Led Plan

This is a plan we are taking forward as it will engage the residents in their vision for the future of the village. The process will be kicked off with a questionnaire to all residents outlining potential improvements to village life by asking what is good, what is bad and what is missing? This would then be followed up with a community meeting to discuss the feedback from the questionnaire and formulate a plan that has the support of the villagers. We anticipate this process will be concluded early next year.

10. HELPERS OF ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD

The ‘Helpers’ have focused most of their time around the station this year and in particular opposite the Signal Box. The aim there is to create an attractive entrance to the village which is a low-maintenance space with year- round interest for wildlife. It is also important to maintain a clear culvert to ease flash-flooding on the road, a clear footpath for pedestrians and clear sightlines for motorists around the junction of Shipton Rd and London Lane.

In that confined space it has been easier to work in small groups on an ad hoc basis. Planting and landscaping will take 12 months as it is not an easy space to work but we have had many words of encouragement and thanks, many donations of plants, manure and landscaping materials.

I would like to thank everyone involved for their time and generosity. I must stress that not a penny has been or will be taken from the Parish Council General Fund – there is still money in the Plant Fund and we continue to negotiate with First Great Western and Network Rail for donations.

Elsewhere, Cornbury Estate cut back the ivy and brambles opposite Station Place, Crown Farm cut down the trees bordering their field on London Lane and the Helpers held a clear- up session in the Pound. The annual Litter Pick was attended by record numbers this year including 3 children. It was a happy band of workers on a beautiful morning – we managed to clear further afield than usual and even wash road signs, courtesy of Mark Tribe (photos in the Grapevine). My sincere thanks to everyone.

11. TRANSPORT

Buses

The sudden withdrawal of the X10 Go-Ride Bus service from 30th November 2014 (itself only introduced on 1st June 2014) came as a shock to councillors since only weeks before the Go-Ride representative had met Councillor Rance to enthuse about improving services and to place an article on this in the Grapevine Journal. It was perhaps a blessing in disguise however as Oxford CC quickly appointed Pulhams to extend their existing contract and to provide a replacement service which proved reliable and popular with villagers.
However, all the Oxford CC sponsored service contracts (including Pulhams) were due for review and competitive tendering for revised services starting 1st June 2015. OCC asked the PC to seek villager’s views on their preferences should service cuts prove financially unavoidable and our response was supplied.
Only in w/c 20th April were OCC able to formally advise the following:-

Service X10 (by Pulhams) will continue except that the mid day Burford 12:15 round trip via AuW is withdrawn, as is the final evening Burford 1835 to AuW service.
Whilst notice is still awaited on the other services, the Villager V12 & V19 were not intended to be withdrawn, leaving only V24 (Thursdays) as yet to be advised.

Trains

The one train to and from Oxford each weekday, with none at weekends, is the very minimal service that could be offered baring none at all. It bears poor comparison to that of Shipton.

Unless villagers make strong and credible representations to First GW or via the Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG), this will not change.

On 27th April 2015, Councillors Carter and Rance met for the first time, Alan Field, the First GW Station Manager for the North Cotswold Line. He was also surprised that so little is made of the heavy investment of AuW station and is exploring viable service changes to existing trains that could call additionally at AuW. Even if he can offer potential service improvements that First GW agree to trial, they will not survive unless villagers respond very positively in using them to provide a convincing business case. An example being the pre Christmas shopper’s trains.

12. COUNTY COUNCILLOR RODNEY ROSE

REPORT TO ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD ANNUAL PARISH MEETING FROM YOUR COUNTY COUNCILLOR RODNEY ROSE APRIL 2015

In September last year the Leader of the Council decided on a Cabinet reshuffle, which meant my role as Deputy Leader expanded somewhat! When we both fronted up the photograph (below), I should have been given a clue that some more things might come my way.

As well as having responsibilities for Flooding, Internal Management, HR and Strategic rail (for which I am the Chairman of the East West Rail Delivery Board) I now also hold responsibilities for Fire and Rescue, Policy Co-ordination, Trading Standards, Communities and Localities, all of which I’m sure will keep me even busier than usual, if that’s possible! I am also a Board Member for the Joint Fire Control Room with Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes which went live on Friday 24th April and has so far taken 347 calls so far.

I will obviously be keeping a local oversight in all these areas. I have also recently been asked to head up a group to reorganise the top management of the Council, including losing the role of CEO.

Ascott Issues

I was very happy to give Ascott-under-Wychwood Lime Tree Renovation a grant from my Community Budget. A payment of £500 was made in December 2014.
I, with Cllr Tom Simcox and a Parish Councillor have recently started to attend monthly surgeries, alternating between Ascott and Shipton between 11.00am and 12 noon at the Swan & Wychwood Inn.

New Tri-County Council Alliance

The County Council is exploring ways in which further powers can be devolved to local authorities.

On 16th December, the Leaders of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, Ian Hudspeth, Martin Tett and Jim Harker OBE, jointly signed a bold offer to Government to unlock further economic growth and significantly build on the £45 billion value of goods and services that the area already generates.

In the offer, called ‘A shared approach to driving prosperity’, the three councils call on the Government to work with them to develop a brand new ‘combined authority’ alliance focused on their common economies of innovation, science, technology and creative industries.

Please note that it is NOT about a super Unitary authority, as each council will have its own sovereignty and will make the final decision regarding any proposals. There is no intention of merging councils, however if this is successful then we may look at other common areas to work together to be more efficient.

Unitary

Following Oxford City bid some months ago, Oxfordshire County Council commissioned Ernst & Young to look at the financial aspects which showed a possible £33M /pa savings from 1 Unitary for the County of Oxfordshire.

Budget

The Council budget was decided on 17th February at Full Council. In line with the Government’s plans to reduce public spending to cut the national deficit, the County Council has made savings totalling £265 million. With £20 million of additional pressures coming from Adult and Children’s Services the level of savings from 2010 to 2018 totals £285 million.

The capping limit on council tax increase for this year has been set at 1.99%. Although the government would prefer a freeze or 0% increase I strongly support a 1.99% increase in the County Council part of council tax as this represents a £3.1 million increase to our revenue budget, which we either use for alleviating some of the cuts or to keep balances at a sensible level.

Honours

Oxfordshire’s Chief Fire Officer and the person responsible for managing the Olympic Torch route through the County was named in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list.

David Etheridge, who joined Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service 28 years ago, has been made an OBE while County Network Co-ordinator Katherine Powley has been awarded the MBE.

13. DISTRICT COUNCILLOR TOM SIMCOX

No Report received

14. ORGANISATIONS REPORT

Chipping Norton Police

There were 29 reported crimes in the Ascott Under Wychwood area. 15 of which are CRI.

CRI include incidents such as Domestic Incidents, where no criminal offences occurred but details of those spoken to/see are recorded in case of future problems. Adult and Child protection CRIs, nuisance messages are also included. This is we are informed of vulnerable members of the community we create a CRI and then pass on the details to partner agencies (social services etc).

Criminal Damage 5
Harassment 1
Thefts 3
Assaults 1
Public Order Offences 1
Road Traffic Offences 1
Burglaries 2

How to protect yourself from unexpected callers

Never open your door to someone you don’t know or are not expecting. Always put your door chain on before opening the door and use your door viewer to see who is there.
Most people who call at your home will be genuine, but it’s important to be on your guard and remember there are some callers who will turn up unannounced and have the intention of tricking their way into your property to steal.
These people often work in pairs. While one person distracts the homeowner, the other gains entry to your home to steal. Typical scenarios include stories of an emergency gas or water leak.
Distraction burglars may try to trick their way into your home by saying:

• “I’m from the water board.”
• “I’m here to check the pipes.”
• “I need to check the water/turn the water off (I’m laying pipes up the road).”
• “The water is unfit for drinking.”
• “I need to check for damp.”
• “I’ve lost my football/kite/puppy/rabbit.”
• “Can I use your toilet?”
• “My car has broken down. Can I use your phone to call the recovery service?”
• “Can I have a glass of water?”
•  “My mother’s sick and I need money for a taxi.”
•  “I’ve run out of petrol and have left my wallet at home. Can I borrow some money?”
•  “Can I borrow a pen/a piece of paper to write a note?”
•  “I’m interested in buying books or antiques.”
•  “You’ve won a prize in a raffle – can I measure up the prizes/write down your details?”
•  “I’m from Age Concern – can I take down the number of your pension book?”

Identification

Always be sure the caller is who they say they are before letting them in. All genuine callers will have identification and won’t mind you asking to see it.
Representatives from water, gas and electric companies are unlikely to call at your home without an appointment and police are likely to be present if there is a real emergency.

Not sure, Don’t open the door. Genuine visitiors will not mind you telling them to return when you have a relative, or friend with you.

Follow the below advice and inform elderly relatives, neighbours and friends to protect them.

• Don’t be frightened to ask for identification and always check it carefully. If you’re not sure, don’t open the door. Ask them to return another day.
• Install a door chain and use it. Keep the door on the chain until you’ve seen identification.
• If you need your glasses to read the identification, close the door before going to find them. Don’t leave the door open and unattended.
• Remember to lock the back door before opening the front.
• Don’t be pressured into letting someone into your home if you have suspicions.
• Don’t keep large amounts of cash in the house.
• Don’t believe scare stories. Not all callers are genuine.

Lock Make sure that your door is locked when you’re at home. Don’t unlock it until you’re sure who is on the other side. Be extra careful who you answer your door to – if you’re unsure, don’t open your door.

Make sure that your back door is closed and locked before answering your front door – thieves sometimes work in pairs, with one entering through the back door while the other knocks on the front door.

Stop If someone appears at your door and you’re not expecting any visitors, check that all the doors are locked. Look through the spy-hole viewer or one of your windows to see who it is.
Install an outside light above your door. When someone calls at your door, turn the light on to get a good look at them. Position the light so that it lights up the caller’s face.

Chain If you decide to open the door, put the door chain or bar on first. Keep the bar or chain on while you are talking.

Normally, when the door is shut and locked, leave the bar or chain off, in case you need to get out in an emergency – such as a fire, or if someone wanted to enter your property if you needed help.

If you need glasses to read the caller’s ID card, close and lock your door before going to get your glasses. Never leave the door open and unattended.

Check Ask for, and double check, the caller’s identity card. Keep your door chain on while you do this. And, if you’re still not sure, ask for a number that you can ring to confirm their identity. If they can’t show you any identification, don’t let them in.

All crime prevention advice has been taken from the Thames Valley Police Website. Link is below please use it for Parish Magazines if you would like to give out some Crime Prevention Advice. http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/

Cold Stone Angling

Once again the club has had a very successful season, first of all we had a rise in membership which was very encouraging after having stayed stagnant for several reasons. On the financial front we had our best ever season thanks mainly to our fund raising race night which was extremely well attended. With regards to fishing the lake fished quite well overall and on our competition we have now decided to leave some of the weed in areas due to the predatory comorants which are still a problem. This season we removed well over 1,000 signal crayfish from the lake and the Environment Agency stocked 400 Crucian Carp into the lake. The Club stocked with 200 Tench, 300 Perch, 100 Carp and 2000 Bream.

This coming season the club are proposing to run some tuition lessons due to the interest that has been shown in the Village – this will of course be subject to the club passing the relevant checks. At the Club’s AGM an engraved watch was presented to a committee member for their 23 years service to the Club.

Pre-School

Ascott Pre-school has had busy year with high numbers of new children. We continue to have a strong management committee run by parents who help to ensure the smooth running of Pre-school.

We have had a change in staffing with2 new members of staff joining our team. Links with Leafield have continued -sharing staff, knowledge and resources and we have also formed a link with Kingfishers Pre-school in Kingham.

The children have experienced a wide range of themes during the year including trips out in the community, local farms, village shop, the new playground, the allotments and walks down the lane.

We have a website and a blog is published each week to inform parents of the previous week’s activities. It is also helpful for posting rotas and dates for events.

Forest School has run fortnightly through the year and we have visited a variety of different venues this year as well as our own approved site in Bruern woods, kindly allowed by the Astor family who are the landowners. We hire a minibus from the Ace Centre in Chipping Norton which is fitted with suitable belts and is used by other settings for the same purpose so a bit of mud is not a problem.

Cookery Club runs weekly for groups of 4 children and have cooked a variety of things during the last year including pasta bake, fish pie, pizza, apple crumble, bread, banana toffee pudding, muffins, pizza biscuits, Victoria sandwich, chicken salad and hot cross buns.

Little Dancers also runs weekly and is led by Dancing Sally. A lively music and dance session with a different theme each week.

We have had various fundraising events during the last year including Crown Farm cake sales, Autumn craft morning, train trip to Moreton in Marsh, Easter Egg hunt day, Christmas concert, summer barbeque and sports day. The money raised has enabled us to update resources.

Tiddy Hall

No Report received.

Parochial Church Council

No Report received.

Ascott Grapevine

The Grapevine team are pleased that the magazine appears to be enjoyed by many of the villagers and also by members of the public from many of the surrounding villages
The survey which we conducted last year was very positive and we hope that we may continue to entertain you all in to the future.

We are always grateful for contributions to the magazine and we cover a wide range of subjects as well as the news and events directly concerned with Ascott. Please feel free to approach any member of the team with articles or thoughts about articles which you feel would be of interest to our readers. We shall certainly listen.

Leafield C of E School

No Report apologies received.

The Village Shop

We maintained our sales at £150,000, but by improving our gross margin by 1% to 23.4% and reducing our overheads by £500 we improved our net profit from £1,100 to £2,737. In addition we received a grant of £500 towards the purchase of equipment achieving an overall surplus of £3,237.

We still maintain a strong balance sheet with £26,296 cash in the bank, fixed assets of £81,047 and stock for resale £12.480.

The Village Charity

This charity was originally set up for the relief of poverty in the village and to provide financial assistance to its young people towards their education. Its predecessors were known as the Poor’s Estate and as the Lower Green Charity.

The Trustees of the Charity meet regularly under the chairmanship of John Cull and throughout period covered by the Report the Trustees were John Cull, the Revd Mark Abrey, Elaine Byles, Stuart Fox (Treasurer), Keith Ravenhill, Pauline Marshall, Sandy Timms (a member during the year of the Parish Council) and Mark Dawbarn (also Secretary to the Trustees). The Constitution of the Charity states that there must be at least five Trustees of whom at least one should be a member of the Parish Council.

The Charity owns the field known as Lower Green, which is near to the bridge over the river Evenlode on the Chipping Norton road. The field continues to be held under a lease to local residents for a 25-year term for grazing purposes, expiring on 1st January 2030. No noteworthy matters relating to Lower Green have arisen during the period under review.

In their educational activities, The Trustees have continued to hold funds available in connection with their scheme for assisting young residents with grants towards the purchase of books or equipment for the purposes of their studies. They made one such grant during the year and continue to advertise the scheme in order that all eligible residents are encouraged to apply.

The marquee purchased in 2008 for the benefit of the village and which was available for local charities and fund-raising causes free of charge, continued during the period under review to be used occasionally for these purposes. However the marquee has now reached the end of its useful life and there are no plans to replace it.

The Charity organised a Charity Run in October 2014, raising a net £1349.05. From this an award of £1000 was made to Tiddy Hall towards the cost of the new chairs now in use.

The Charity has paid out £120.16, which had been contributed in connection with the scheme for Planting Round the Village.

The Trustees made a payment of £398.95 towards the cost of a defibrillator for the village. The equipment has now been installed ready for use at a po0sition outside the Swan Inn.

The Trustees made a payment of £1200 towards the equipment at the Play Area located at the Sports Field. A plaque has been attached to the seesaw in the Play Area indicating the Charity’s contribution.

The Trustees remain open to suggestion as to how their activities can be made known to the local community, as to ways in which funds to pay for the causes they support can be raised and as to local causes whom they might benefit with a financial grant.

The Charity has received generous financial support from various customers of the village shop who have put money in the Charity box.

The Trustees consider that the financial position of the Charity remains sound and they have three sources of funds, namely the General Fund, the Poor’s Fund and the Flood Relief Fund from which they can make grants to local causes. The amount available for expenditure by the Trustees as at 31st December 2014 was £3700.41 and there were additional ring-fenced investments held by the Trustees.

The Swan Public House

No report received.

Cllr Carter thanked everybody for attending and for their continued support. The meeting was then declared closed.

Cllr Philippa Carter Dated
Chairman 25 April 2016

Councillors Present

• Philippa Carter (newly elected Chairman)
• Rob Morgan (Past Chairman)
• Sandie Timms
• Peter Rance
• Rodney Rose (County Councillor)

Responsible Financial Officer

• Stuart Fox

Parish Clerk

• Angela Barnes

Members of the public

• Simon Gidman
• Pete Moss
• Chris George
• Elaine Byles,
• Kirstyn Tyrer & Phil Wood (Thames Valley Police).

1. APOLOGIES

Apologies received from

• Cllr Mellor and Cllr Tribe
• Pauline Plant (Ascott Pre-School)
• Mark Dawbarn (Parochial Church Council)
• (Leafield Primary School)
• Richard Squires (Village Shop)
• Richard Haddon & Michiel Verkoren (The Swan Public House)

2. MINUTES

The recorded Minutes from the Annual Parish Meeting held on 22 April 2013 were agreed, dated, signed and filed.

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

This is my fourth and final report as Chairman of the Parish Council. This year the Parish Council has met twelve times during the year due to the timing of the European elections. The Parish Council has also prepared the necessary Risk Assessments.

One notable success during the year was the construction of concrete aprons by OCC in the channel alongside Lower Green and the replacement of the existing culvert across the road at Manor Farm entrance by five larger pipes. Whilst these measures have not eliminated the possibility of the road flooding both the extent and duration of the flooding have been greatly reduced. The channel constructed by Network Rail opposite Sunset House has been kept clear by the Helpers of Ascott and this has also reduced the amount of standing water on the road.

Five planning applications have been considered this year all of which have been granted.

The Carols around the Christmas Tree was a continuing success and the addition of the crib and the Three Wise Men met with universal approval. I would like to add my personal thanks to all those who contributed to their production.

During the last year we were fortunate in that whilst at times the weather was very cold we did not have any snow, therefore the ‘snow patrol’ was not called out. However all the equipment was properly maintained and is ready for action should we get snow in the summer.

The annual litter pick took place on 15 March this year and was ably supported by volunteers. Judging by the large amount of litter collected I would suggest that the Waste Collection service generally has an easy time in Ascott. Dog mess is a continuing problem in Ascott and is the one problem which is most visible. Please encourage dog owners to pick it up.

Bus stops and timetables have again been adjusted this year but I have not heard any complaints about the current situation.

The Parish Council received a complaint of vehicles driving at excessive speed along Shipton Road. This was investigated by the police who reported that there were a few vehicles who exceeded the speed limit but that the speed was not excessive. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the police are required to erect signs warning of speed checks before they can check the speed.

I would like to record my thanks to my fellow councillors, our Parish Clerk and our Responsible Finance Officer for the support they have given me over the last four years. I would also like to welcome Mark Tribe and Peter Rance who have been co-opted as Parish Councillors and wish them success in the future. My thanks are also extended to County Councillor Rodney Rose and District Councillor Mrs Hilary Hibbert-Biles who have attended most of the Parish Council meetings and who have helped to get things done at County and District level respectively.

Finally I would like to thank the villagers for their co-operation, their assistance in pointing out that things needed doing and for their patience when it has taken longer to do than they would wish.

4. PARISH FINANCIAL REPORT

Responsible Financial Officer, Stuart Fox reported that; at first sight, the Parish accounts seem to be in a very healthy position with £26,731 in the bank. However, the bulk of this money is ring-fenced for specific projects:

£21,009 is money received in grants for upgrading the play area, £696 is money received, but not spent on improving the appearance of the railway station and finally £3,007 remains unspent in the snow clearance fund, thanks to a very mild, but wet winter.

Unfortunately, the general parish funds are at a historically low level of £2,322 and this has meant that we have had to increase the 2014/15 Precept in order to rebuild our reserves. Why are the reserves so low? First, we have transferred £10,000 to the playground improvement fund, secondly we made a £3,000 grant to the Tiddy Hall to help towards the costs of upgrading their Kitchen and finally we made a £1,695 grant to the snow clearance fund.

Apart from these transactions, our other costs were £1,184 lower than the previous year, with the main reduction being a saving in the costs of maintaining the playing field by £907, from £4,287 in 2012/13 to £3,380 in 2013/14.

5. PARISH CONTINGENCY PLAN

Delighted to say very little snow and no real problems this winter. Chris Badger continues to support us with the use of his tractor, drivers and with the storage of our bulk grit and salt. All of which is greatly appreciated.

Volunteers continue to come forward to operate the pedestrianised snow plough and pavement salt spreader. For those who have not yet been called to arms, refresher training will be provided during November. It has also been possible to source a finer grade of salt which should prevent our machines from clogging up and make the operation easier.

We remain the envy of surrounding villages and are often held up by local authorities as a fine example of self help. Thank you to all of you.

6. ASCOTT- UNDER- WYCHWOOD SPORTS CLUB

I am sure my colleague Councillor Carter will provide a full report and that you will be impressed with what has or soon will be achieved with the Playground and the Playing Field. I have to say that much of the credit must to go Philippa who has worked long and hard to achieve outstanding results with funding grants.

The value of her work can been seen not only in monetary terms but in the renewed interest in active play and sport by all sections of the village. The football team seems destined for greater success with the advent of a second eleven which will act as a development squad particularly for youth players. Well done to the manager Mike Ody for his hard work and enthusiasm.

In addition to this recently there has been a surge of interest in cricket with the very real prospect of at least two fun family games this summer. We are now setting about restoring the cricket wicket, providing nets and an all weather bowling surface.

We are very hopeful that a recent grant from Sport England will do much to improve drainage across the playing field and make both football and cricket a reality once again.

7. ALLOTMENTS

There has been an increased level of interest from residents with only one allotments currently available. It has been pleasing to see that allotments holders are taking more pride in their patch and many are highly productive. Well done to all of you

8. HELPERS OF ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD

 

9. MR RODNEY ROSE – COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT

The budget was decided at the Full Council meeting on 18 February. A council tax increase of 1.99% was agreed and whilst any increase should be avoided, this small increase of 46p per week for a Band D property means that some valued services can be retained. There were some difficult decisions to take, however money was reinvested into the priority areas as opposed to reducing spending and the Council’s overall new savings figure remains at £64m, with £31m of savings having already been planned. The Council is on track to have made £170m of savings from 2010 2014. Between 2010 and 2018, savings totaling £265 million will have been achieved by sharing services with other councils and reducing costs, including cutting the number of Directors by 50%.

Despite all of the savings and reductions there were some positive announcements:

• An additional investment of £800,000 to end 15 minute personal care visits by extending the time of visits.
• An extra £350,000 will be available for the setting up of a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub in Oxfordshire
• There will be £1m extra for general highway maintenance to be spent across the county – with priorities for this spend to be determined during coming months
• A total of £400,000 will be set aside as a contingency to deal with issues stemming from flooding and other winter weather issues – the exact nature of how this money will be spent will be determined once full assessments have been mdade when waters have subsided
• A total of £315,000 will be invested in community budgets.
• The budget proposals were fully supported by the Conservative-led Alliance whilst opposition members voted against the proposals, including those listed above. The three largest parties all proposed a 1.99% increase in council tax (with the Green Party planning a 4.5% increase triggering a costly referendum). It has been a challenging budget and now we have to make sure we deliver the savings.

FLOODING

The rain still continued to fall during February, adding to the existing high river levels and water table. The County Council’s Fire and Rescue service worked 24/7 alongside the Highways team to deal with incidents as they occurred; to try to keep residents safe and Oxfordshire moving during the month. There was some innovative work on the Botley Road that meant it remained open during the bad weather as opposed to having to be closed the previous month.

HOUSING

The County Council is not responsible for the planning of houses and developments that is down to the City and District Councils. However, we do have a major part to play as we are responsible for the key infrastructure such as education and roads. Currently there is a Strategic Housing Market Assessment taking place across the county to determine what growth will happen over the next 20 years. This will then feed into the Local Development Frameworks of the City and District Councils as to where the final allocated sites will be. Already the Vale of White Horse DC has announced a substantial increase in their housing numbers. The County Council will be assisting in this process to ensure that they are in sustainable locations with the required infrastructure.

DRAFT MINERALS & WASTE PLAN

Oxfordshire County Council has a statutory duty to prepare a new Minerals and Waste Plan for Oxfordshire. The plan sets out planning policies and proposals for the mineral extraction and waste management facilities that will be needed in the county over the next 15 years, and where they should be located.

EDUCATING STUDENTS ON DRINK & DRUG DRIVING

The Fire & Rescue Service and Thames Valley Police have organised a hard-hitting demonstration of a mocked-up car crash to show Year 11 pupils the consequences of driving after consuming alcohol or other drugs.

It is part of the Fire & Rescue Service’s Choices and Consequences road safety campaign, an initiative offered free of charge to secondary schools and a strand of 365alive, a scheme aimed at creating a safer county through preventative and educational work

RIGHTS OF WAY CONSULTATION

The Council is consulting on their draft Rights of Way Management Plan to make sure that it reflects public expectations and balances this with the limited resources available.

10. MR TOM SIMCOX – DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORT

No report, apologies received.

11. ORGANISATIONS REPORT

Chipping Norton Police

There were 15 reported crimes in the Ascott-under-Wychwood area, 5 of which are non crime incidents for example Adult Protection, Child Protection and Domestic Incidents.

• Assault without injury – 1
• Burglary other than in a dwelling – 2
• Criminal Damage – 2
• Thefts (including theft from vehicle) – 3

Now the weather is brightening up and the sun is shining, it is all too tempting to become complacent when it comes to our home security.

The most common cases of opportunist summer burglary involve offenders that:

• enter an insecure front door while residents are in the back garden
• enter doors that are closed but unlocked at night while residents are asleep
• reach through windows to take valuable items

In around 25 percent of break-ins that take place in the spring and summer months, entry is gained through insecure windows and doors, especially at the rear of the property.

• Ensure that windows and doors are closed and locked when you are out. Don’t leave small windows open believing them to be safe.
• If you want to leave windows open while you sleep, fit window restrictors so they cannot be fully opened, or make sure they are not large enough to allow access to a burglar.
• When out in your garden ensure that windows and doors to the front of the house are secure. It only takes a second for someone to get into your home and take things without you noticing.
• Do not leave valuables on display in front of windows or in reach of open windows or doors.
• Ensure that all barbecue and garden equipment and tools are securely locked up in a shed and out of sight. Tools can be used by the potential offender to break in to your home.
• Consider fitting outside security lighting or a visible alarm to help deter burglars. Even using pea shingle or gravel on a driveway and spiky plants in garden beds can help.
• Don’t leave any keys near entry points where they can be ‘fished’ or ‘hooked’ out through the window, letter box or cat flap.
• Ensure any internal handle operated locks on UPVC doors are fully secured with a key.

Sheds – Easy pickings?

Offenders see sheds as easy pickings because they are unprotected and lack basic security measures. The buildings often contain property that can be sold on or implements that can be used to force entry into the owner’s home.

Many sheds whilst being of good construction fall short on basic security.

• It is easy to unscrew the ironmongery, steal contents and in some cases replace the screws to make it look as if the shed has not been tampered with.
• By using tamper proof screws or coach bolts together with a good quality pad bar or hasp and staple and close shackled padlock, the shed owner will make it harder for the would-be thief.
• It is also a good idea to bond any window glass in, with mastic to prevent easy removal.
• Ensure all tools and equipment is locked away when not in use.
• High-quality locks should be used on doors. Windows can be fitted with a grille or, as a cheaper alternative, chicken wire, to slow a thief down.
• A shed alarm can also be installed.
• Post-coding or indelibly marking all property such as lawnmowers, bikes, and tools using ultra-violet pens, forensic marking such as Selecta DNA or Smartwater or engravers.
• Installing security lighting as a deterrent, and plants such as thorny shrubs to act as a barrier at potential access points.
• If building a shed, putting it where it is most visible to you and neighbours.

Going on holiday?

• Make your home look occupied.
• If you’re out or going away, ask a trusted neighbour to open and close your curtains for you.
• Ask a neighbour if they don’t mind parking their car on your driveway and trimming your garden to make your home look occupied.
• Cut the front and back lawns before you go away and trim any plants that burglars could hide behind.
• Cancel milk and newspaper deliveries.
• Before your holiday, don’t advertise that you are going away on Facebook, Twitter etc.
• Register for the Royal Mail ‘Keepsafe’ service. (Please Google underlined)
• Leave important documents and valuable personal items with other family members or a bank.
• Double-check that you’ve locked all outside windows and doors.
• Set your burglar alarm.

Cold Stone Angling

This season once again has been very good for the club financially. With regards to competitions, the really bad downfall was the persistent rain through the winter, swelling the river and resulting in the clubs competitions on the river being reduced to two – this being the worst recorded since the clubs existence. Membership has remained on par with the previous season and a successful Race Night enabled £1000 to be raised, which in turn has helped to keep our subscriptions to a very competitive level. The competitions were well attended for a small club and they retained the Three C’s Challenge trophy fishing against Chipping Norton A.C., Charlbury A.C., and Coldstones.

The lake now seems to be quite popular with quite a lot of people walking around it or just sitting and with this in mind the Club hired a vibrating roller to try to improve the surface of the walkway around the lake to make it more even for people. Unfortunately I am sad to have to report that there has been some vandalism at the lake with the newly installed seat being smashed and thrown in to the lake. Lastly the Environment Agency carried out a survey for the Club to give some idea as to what fish were in the lake, this was done by electro fishing and netting. A good number of fish were caught and a good variety of species showing the water to be healthy.The Environment Agency also introduced 400 crucian carp which were most appreciated.

Pre-School

Ascott Pre-school has had quieter year with numbers lower than usual which is due to a smaller number of births in the autumn term. We have had several new children over the last few weeks and numbers are back up again for this term. We continue to have a strong management committee run by parents who help to ensure the smooth running of Pre-school.

Staffing has remained the same – 7 contracted staff and 2 supply with additional back up from Leafield Pre-school when needed. Links with Leafield have continued -sharing staff, knowledge and resources and we have also formed a link with Kingfishers Pre-school in Kingham. One member of staff is leaving at the end of this term and we will aim to replace her in the New Year as numbers of children are generally lower in the autumn term.

The children have experienced a wide range of themes during the year including a very exciting science week where various experiments were performed!

We now have a working website and a blog is published each week to inform parents of the previous week’s activities. It is also helpful for posting rotas and dates for events.

Forest School has run fortnightly through the year and we have visited a variety of different venues this year as well as our own approved site in Bruern woods, kindly allowed by the Astor family who are the landowners. We hire a minibus from the Ace Centre in Chipping Norton which is fitted with suitable belts and is used by other settigns for the same purpose so a bit of mud is not a problem. The weather was milder but wetter during the winter and we had several weeks of very soggy, muddy children returning in the afternoons.

We have also had many walking trips from Tiddy Hall around the village, to nearby farms, the village shop, the playing fields, the allotments and across the fields to Shipton. You may have seen us in the high viz jackets!

Cookery Club runs weekly for groups of 4 children and have cooked a variety of things during the last year including pasta bake, fish pie, pizza, apple crumble, bread, banana toffee pudding, muffins and chicken nuggets.

Little Dancers also runs weekly and is led by Dancing Sally. A lively music and dance session with a different theme each week.

We have had various fundraising events during the last year including a Film night, Autumn craft morning, train trip to Moreton in Marsh, Easter activity day, Christmas concert, summer barbecue and sports day. The money raised has enabled us to update resources.

The toddler group has been less successful this year as we have struggled to cover costs and find a person to run the group. It was decided to temporary close the group from January with a view to starting it up again at some point this year.

Tiddy Hall

Last year I reported to the Parish meeting as acting chairman, in Roger Shepherd’s absence, but following our own AGM I was elected as Chairman. It was also agreed that we invite Roger to stay on in a new capacity as our President, a post which he duly accepted. One of our primary aims of this year was to install a new kitchen. Financially, to undertake this project required a combination of formal grants and our own fundraising. For reasons beyond our control we could not apply for the monies from our major source, the Big Lottery, until January of this year. We applied for the grant and in April were awarded the full amount we asked for. It meant however that, whilst we had hoped to undertake the renovation work this April, the slight delay in the final funding meant that the installation had to be delayed until July of this year. This final grant will allow us to undertake all the work we had hoped for which will include a new cooker, a new fridge ,an industrial dishwasher and a Heatrae boiling water system,plus new cutlery and crockery. The work will be undertaken by Joe Gomm and will take approx. 2 weeks.

The committee have also undertaken a number of housekeeping formalities. For example, as part of the grant from the WODC we needed to establish that Mr Tiddy had indeed given beneficial ownership of the Hall to the Trustees. This we needed to do formally through a Statutory Declaration and Richard Smith, acting as our solicitor, was extremely helpful in establishing this for us. We have also reorganised the Licencing agreement with the Local Authority. Whereas before we were limited to 12 licences per year and each one needed a lot of paper work we now have unlimited licences, which for regular events like the Folk Club are extremely helpful. We have also rewritten the Booking form to bring this up to date.

Financially our income has remained fairly consistent. Overall the receipts for this year have been about £ 12,500 and our costs about £11,000.00. Our income from hiring of the hall has gone down slightly this year and though we have supplemented this with fund raising we have decided to make a slight increase to our hiring charges, as these have not been increased for some time. The hall has continued to be hired for a number of events varying from puppy training, yoga, children’s parties, dinner dances and of course the preschool and more recently as the venue for the Wychwood Folk Club. We have had four Folk events at the hall so far, two more to come later this year, and whilst it is exciting that the folk traditions of Tiddy Hall have been continued, these events also provide a very useful source of funding for the hall. We have to thank Mark Pidgeon and Elaine Byles for all their hard work in not only establishing the Folk Club but also for getting so many great folk musicians performing at the Hall.

When the works to the kitchen are completed the committee will be working on a new Website, the purchase of new chairs and possibly works to the stage area. Tony Gillings and Carol Squires have stood down from the committee and to date Graham Bell has agreed to join us and we are still trying to get somebody to take Carol Squires’ position.

Parochial Church Council

The Parochial Church Council has met 9 times during 2013, including 4 joint meetings of the PCCs of the Benefice meeting in Chadlington School.

During 2013, The Council continued with the experiment reported upon last year of holding regular meetings in association with all the other PCCs of the Chase Benefice. The idea behind this was to give a chance for all PCCs to engage with the mission of the Church within the Benefice and how we might work together to further common aims and objectives. Business specific to the parish was dealt with at other separate meetings. There were also meetings on four occasions to deal specifically with Ascott-under-Wychwood parish affairs.

Much time was spent in considering the state of the Church’s finances and in particular how we might begin to address the persistent deficit between income and expenditure. An appeal for money to support the Church went out in May, in which the by then serious state of the Parish finances was explained. Although the appeal met with some success, it is not possible to say that the Parish is yet “out of the wood”.

In place of the monthly Coffee Mornings, a series of 8 monthly Teas was held during the year. This has been continued in 2014 and has become a significant fund raiser for the Church. These events provided an important opportunity for people to gather and enjoy conversation with each other.

During the year the PCC has reviewed the Safeguarding policy and are confident that the all the necessary procedures are in place to protect children and vulnerable adults within our Church. Julie Benson of Chadlington is the Child Protection Officer for the Benefice.

There was no change during the year in the Benefice programme of regular Sunday services: a 10 o’clock Communion Service (Common Worship) was held in Holy Trinity Church on the second Sunday of each month and an 8 o’clock Communion Service (BCP) on the fourth Sunday. We also celebrated major festivals, including our Patronal Festival on Trinity Sunday as well as services at Easter and Christmas.

Members of the PCC and congregation attended a series of Lent Suppers in Spelsbury Memorial Hall, and a series of Advent talks. Occasional Services in 2012 were 4 baptisms and 2 funerals. We are pleased that The Windrush Valley School continue to use the Church for their weekly assemblies and also the Ascott Pre-School for occasional visits.

The fabric of the Church is considered to be in a satisfactory condition. On-going work has taken place to maintain that position, including safety work on the gas heating system, necessary electrical and re-pointing work as well as some more serious work to deal with subsidence to the North wall.

There has been consideration at Deanery level of the future of the Church as part of the Chase benefice. However it is not thought by the Rector that a change is desirable or necessary. It is considered that 2013 was a better year in the life of the Church with energy and a good spirit being shown in its activities.

Ascott Grapevine

The Grapevine continues to be well received and we are grateful to all our contributors and always welcome new copy. The Grapevine team are happy to talk to anyone who can produce an entertaining and interesting article or to receive reports on village events, past or in the pipeline. The magazine is produced for the village, so please feel free to take advantage of its accessibility even if you just want to say thank you for some kind and appreciated deed.

Maggie Lyon our popular and industrious editor left the village in April but the last few copies have been edited very capably and thoroughly by Keith Ravenhill who has followed successfully in Maggie’s footsteps. We hope that you enjoy the magazine and we look forward to accessing the results of the survey which was placed in the May issue

Leafield C of E School

It has been another busy year at Leafield Primary School.

We are currently part of a Comenius Project that is funded by the British Council. The project lasts for 2 years and there are 5 schools involved, including schools in Turkey, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria. Over the 2 years, 4 visits to partner schools will take place providing opportunities to plan projects between the 5 schools.

The focus of this project is Art – there is a Partnership Website: http://arts-ahappyadventure.com where the work by all 5 schools is displayed.

In October three members of staff visited our Turkish partners and spent 4 days in their school, enjoying performances, observing lessons and planning for the next phase of the project. We also visited some historic sites and museums.

Recently all classes took part in making a mosaic of our Comenius Project logo. The finished mosaic is going to be displayed outside the entrance to school and should be ready for a ‘grand unveiling’ after the Easter Holidays.

Our next Comenius visit is taking place during the last week of this term, when we will be visiting our partner school in Bassano Del Grappa, in the north of Italy. Whilst in Italy we will be attending workshops to learn some traditional Italian artist techniques; watching performances led by the children at the Italian school; visiting some historic places within the local vicinity and planning the next stage of the project for our schools.

At Leafield, the children will be enjoying an ‘International Week’, with many exciting opportunities over the four days that the visit takes place, including a Chinese Dance workshop and workshops with a visiting French teacher and Spanish teacher.

We have enjoyed another Easter Service with pupils and staff from Finstock School and were pleased to see many parents and friends at the service.

Our FOLS (Friends of Leafield School) have been busy this year, organising cakes sales, a quiz, a fancy dress disco and Christmas and Easter raffles to raise money to support the school. The children at Leafield have also supported Children in Need and, more recently, Sports Relief, when they took part in a sponsored run. We are looking forward to our Cycle Leafield Event in May, which is supported by Caterham and provides a really good opportunity to work with our local Pre-Schools in Leafield and Ascott-under-Wychwood.

The Village Shop

Last year, the Committee decided to conduct a full business review to establish a new strategy. Subsequently, a new Mission Statement was developed, headlining: “SUSTAINING A VITAL COMMUNITY ASSET …FOR ALL” and including a plan of how we conduct our business. Cost management has recently allowed the appointment of a Shop Manager to co-ordinate day to day activities of our large team.

We are very lucky. There are over 40 volunteers and now 3 paid staff, very much still the heart and soul of the shop. A number of new volunteers have joined this year, enabling a redress of the paid staff/volunteer balance, helping fund the Shop Manager. The 10 year celebrations, held in Tiddy Hall last November, were a great success and raised the shop’s profile. The shop’s facilities have been maintained and improved where possible.

In 2013 there was a return to profitability, and this has continued and improved into 2014 An increase in average spend and improved sales margins, coupled with reduced overheads have been the main factors. Reserves are healthy and the bank loan has been paid off early. Overall sales are up 3% this year but attracting new customers remains a key objective.

A number of new lines have been added to the shop, COOK, Tom’s pies and of course the very popular value wine range. Our efforts to have newspapers on general sale has proved a challenge but continues. Recently we have compared our prices for a basket of Ascott essentials with the local COOP and found we do well, publicising this fact to the village is another target.

With profitability restored, the shop can continue to be a success and to remain at the heart of the village. Due to an increase in other commitments, I am standing down from the Management Committee this month. The shop now has a Manager, it has returned to profitability and the trading trends are positive, the rest of the Committee are remaining and will be supplemented by a couple of new faces. I am confident the shop will continue to develop its important role in our community.

The Village Charity

This charity was originally set up for the relief of poverty in the village and to provide financial assistance to its young people towards their education. Its predecessors were known as the Poor’s Estate and as the Lower Green Charity.

The Trustees of the Charity meet regularly under the chairmanship of John Cull and throughout 2013 the Trustees were John Cull, the Revd Mark Abrey, Elaine Byles, Stuart Fox, Keith Ravenhill, Pauline Marshall, Sandy Timms (a member during the year of the Parish Council and appointed as a Trustee in October 2013) and Mark Dawbarn (also Secretary to the Trustees). The Constitution of the Charity states that there must be at least five Trustees of whom at least one should be a member of the Parish Council.

The Charity owns the field known as Lower Green, which is near to the bridge over the river Evenlode on the Chipping Norton road. The field continues to be let to local residents on a 25-year lease for grazing purposes, expiring on 1st January 2030. In times of severe wet weather, Lower Green and the adjacent area including the road leading out of the village towards Chipping Norton are prone to flooding as water runs off from the village towards the River Evenlode. During 2012 at the request and expense of Oxfordshire County Council, work was carried out to link the ditch in the field with the drainage ditch on the other side of the road by means of pipe work which passes under the road and then into the ditch. Secondly they installed a number of concrete channels from the highway into the field in order to improve the drainage off the road. These works were designed to carry large quantities of water flowing from the village more smoothly into the river.

In their educational activities The Trustees have continued to hold funds available in connection with their scheme for assisting young residents with grants towards the purchase of books or equipment for the purposes of their studies. They made one such grant during the year and continue to advertise the scheme in order that all eligible residents are encouraged to apply.

The marquee purchased in 2008 for the benefit of the village and which is available for local charities and fund-raising causes free of charge has continued to be used occasionally for these purposes.

The Charity organised a Charity Run in October 2013, raising £1130 (against a target of £1000), which was awarded to the Tiddy Hall. Of the amount raised £650 came from sponsors with local associations, which was greatly appreciated by the Trustees.

The Charity has paid out money which had been contributed in connection with the scheme for Planting Round the Village.

The Trustees have made an award of £200 to the Oxfordshire Air Ambulance Service. They are considering making a contribution to the cost of a defibrillator for the village. They had set aside funds to contribute to the Playing Field improvement scheme, which they understand will now only proceed on a much smaller scale.

The Trustees have continued to seek to find ways in which their activities could be made widely known in the village that the Charity is set up to serve. Notices have been placed on village notice boards and an article written for the Ascott Grapevine. They would welcome suggestions on any other ways of achieving publicity for their activities and availability and would like to involve the community as far as possible in their work.

The Charity has received generous financial support from The Ascott Songsters, from the Swan at Ascott and from various customers of the village shop who have put money in the Charity box.

The Trustees consider that the financial position of the Charity remains sound and they have three sources of funds, namely the General Fund, the Poor’s Fund and the Flood Relief Fund from which they can make grants to local causes. The amount available for expenditure by the Trustees as at 31st December 2013 was £7527 and there were additional ring-fenced investments held by the Trustees.

12. CONCLUSION

The Chairman addressed the meeting and thanked everyone for attending the Village Meeting and asked if there was any other business. The meeting was concluded and closed at 8.30pm.

Cllr Philippa Carter, Chairman

Dated: April 2015

D R A F T
(to be approved at the Annual Parish Meeting Monday 28 April 2014)

Councillors Present:

• Rob Morgan (Chairman)
• Bridgette Crundwell (Vice Chairman)
• Laurence Mellor
• Philippa Carter
• Sandie Timms
• Rodney Rose (County Councillor)

Responsible Financial Officer:

• Stuart Fox

Parish Clerk:

• Angela Barnes

Members of the public:

• Simon Gidman (Tiddy Hall)
• Richard Squires (Village Shop)
• Keith Ravenhill, Elaine Byles
• Mark Pidgeon
• Sally Walker (Pre-school)

1. APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from DCllr Hilary Hibbert-Biles.

2. MINUTES

The minutes of the Annual Meeting held on Monday 30 April 2012 were agreed, dated, signed and filed.

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

This is my third annual report as Chairman of the Parish Council. The Parish Council has met eleven times during the year and has prepared the necessary Risk Assessments.

There have been a couple of notable successes during the year. The drainage problem on London Lane has been solved and the footway snow clearance has worked well. The plaque at the entrance to the sports ground was refurbished prior to the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Work on the Network Rail land opposite Sunset House is continuing. I am sure that you will have fuller information on the snow clearance and the Helpers of Ascott later during the evening.

We have considered fourteen Planning Applications during the year and only one of them has gone to appeal. All the others have been granted.
As agreed last year the lights on the Christmas tree were left on permanently during the Christmas period. The Carols round the Christmas tree were cancelled and I apologise once again for the short notice of the cancellation.

The annual litter pick which should have taken place in January was cancelled due to bad weather and was re-scheduled for 16 March. Despite bad weather on this day the litter pick went ahead with a few hardy volunteers and a surprisingly large volume of litter was collected.

One problem which is on-going within the village is the amount of dog mess which is being deposited. It is my impression that there is an increase in the dog population of Ascott but the amount of dog mess being left is still disproportionately large. I must remind villagers that it is an offence not to remove any dog mess and put it in the bins provided. It is always the few who spoil it for the many.

Bus services serving the village came in to question with complaints about erratic services and buses driving around The Green and Church View causing damage to the verges. A meeting was held with the County Council Bus Services Manager and since then the service has improved. If villagers spot any buses travelling along The Green or Church View I would be grateful if you could bring it the matter to our attention so that we can nip the problem in the bud.

The Parish Council has received a complaint about vehicles travelling at excessive speed along Shipton Road and this is being pursued with the police.

I would like to record my thanks to Councillor Pauline Marshall for her work on the Parish Council and for representing the Parish Council on the Ascott Village Charity committee. Councillor Marshall resigned in March due to other commitments.

My thanks are also extended to my fellow councillors, our Parish Clerk and our Responsible Finance Officer. I would also like to thank the villagers for their co-operation, assistance in pointing out things that needed doing and for their patience when it has taken longer to do than they would wish. My thanks are also extended to County Councillor Rodney Rose and District Councillor Mrs Hilary Hibbert-Biles who have attended most of the Parish Council meetings and who have helped to get things done at County and District level respectively.

4. PARISH FINANCIAL REPORT

The accounts for the Parish have been prepare in a slightly different format this year in order to reflect the various projects for which grants have been received or are expected in the future and to show how that money has been spent or carried forward to meet future Parish plans.

The four major divisions are:

The snow clearance fund. A grant totalling £8,625 was received in the previous financial year and of this £4,100 was unspent at the start of the current year. The Parish added a further £3,000 from its general funds and spent £5,195 on further equipment, tools, a store shed and the costs of maintaining and operating the snow clearing equipment.

There is a balance of £1,979 left at the end of the year which will be carried forward to deal with future snow clearance cost and equipment maintenance.

The railway station fund. We have received a total of £3,000 in grants. £2,000 last year and £1,000 in the current year, to be used to improve the environment of the station and its surroundings. At the start of the current financial year we brought forward £337 that had not been spent and during the year spent a further £147. After adding this year’s grant this leaves a balance of £1,190 to be carried forward to allow for further work to be completed.

The playground fund. Within this fund the Council are building up a reserve, which will be added to by holding events and seeking external grants, in order to improve or add to the range of play equipment in the recreation ground. The income this year totalled £3,529 and comprised of external grants £2,000, the Jubilee lunch £1,404 and a donation of £125. There was no expenditure. We are carrying forward £3,764 towards future expenditure.

The general fund. This includes the remainder of the Parish’s normal business, including the clerk’s salary, expenses and office costs (£3,390), maintaining the playing field and grass verges and buying picnic benches (£4,287), repairing and replacing equipment (£171) and various donations and a grant to the Ascott Grape Vine. Donations made include the Wychwood Day Centre £286 and printing costs for the Jubilee programme £333. The main sources of income were the precept £14,550, fees from OCC for maintaining the verges £1,030 and allotment rents £165. This year’s precept increased from £10,875 to £14,550 and this provided sufficient funds to allow the £3,000 transfer to the snow fund. The general fund had a surplus of £1,733 this year and a cumulative surplus of £9,277 carried forward. Cash in the bank increased from £10,560 at the last year end to £14,607 at the close of the current financial year.

5. PARISH CONTINGENCY PLAN

Cllr Carter reported – the past 12 months have been exceptionally wet. Despite this, the river Evenlode burst its banks on very few occasions given the amount of rainfall and the saturation levels of the ground.

Our Community Emergency Plan was set in motion on 4 occasions – these gave us the opportunity to test and improve our systems and equipment. Sandbags were filled by many willing volunteers and residents vulnerable to river flooding were checked on regularly. No property was flooded by river water. All existing Emergency Plans were surveyed by OCC in the Autumn.

An ongoing concern is traffic driving around the Z-bend at Ascott Earl when the road is flooded. Even the slowest of vehicles causes a bow wave which threatens the front door of cottages on the bend. We strongly request all drivers to take note of the FLOOD signs and use an alternative route. This would be much appreciated by the residents.

The sandbin in Tiddy Hall car park is a padlocked WODC facility available for use by all local communities. It is promptly re-supplied when stocks are reported low by Parish Councillors. To access the contents contact a Parish Councillor at any time or the Pre-School leaders at Tiddy Hall during weekday mornings. The Parish Council owns a water pump which has been in use and serviced this year. It is available for use by residents for any flooding issue, large or small.

Parishioners concerned about river flooding are often registered with the Environment Agency to receive warnings. These warnings often bear no resemblance to what we actually see and the information which is much more useful is the river level readings which are posted on the EA website. With readings at Evenlode and Shipton it is possible to understand how the river is rising and falling and this stops residents worrying every time the EA sends out a Flood Warning for the general area.

The EA have re-modelled their Flood Plan and this was posted on their website in November 2012. Anyone wishing to receive a detailed report for their individual property should request a document called a ‘Product 4’. Discussions with the EA and landowners about keeping the channel clear resulted in an EA team cutting vegetation down in the autumn. The Fisheries department have been negotiating with the resident of Langley Mill to improve access for fish swimming between Shipton and Ascott.

A small residual amount of flood funds is being held by the Village Charity and we would like this to remain until an issue arises which cannot be tackled and paid for by the relevant organisation, landowner or volunteers.

The past year has been a real test. There will always be maintenance issues and improvements needed for the drainage systems in the village and the Parish Council work continually to monitor and negotiate these. However, we do feel that a substantial improvement has been made since 2008.

Cllr Mellor reported that following our successful bid to the Big Society Fund, the Parish Council has further enhanced our ability to respond to severe winter weather by purchasing several items of equipment. This includes a motorised pedestrian operated snow plough which also has an interchangeable brush attachment for snow clearing. Not surprisingly this has proved very popular with our volunteers who have been eager to show off their driving skills.

We also have 2 walk along grit spreaders for use on pavements following on from the snow plough. There has been some teething problems caused in the main by these machines not being able to cope with wet or lumpy grit. In readiness for next winter a source of pre-packed granular salt has been identified and this will be used in future. Although slightly more expensive this will ensure the machines are more easily operated and help to reduce long term maintenance costs. Other purchases include a store shed, security items, snow clearing shovels and various items of personal protective equipment.
The village plan includes daily notification from OCC’s Severe Weather Manager Mr Paul Wilson via email to Rob Morgan and myself which sets out predicted weather patterns and indicates action to be taken by OCC i.e. snow plough deployment or salt spreading. We are grateful to Paul Wilson and his team for their help and support.

The Parish Council is especially grateful to Chris Badger, Crown Farm for his continued support in providing a tractor for snow clearing, storage of bulk equipment and for providing back up drivers when needed. Once again David Cooke and Robin Walker have also been available for driving duties and our volunteer group never fail to make themselves available.

6. ASCOTT- UNDER- WYCHWOOD SPORTS CLUB

The main focus of the Sports Club continues to be its football team who play in the Witney and District League under the banner of Wychwood Foresters. So far this season they have won 11 of their 20 fixtures and look set for a mid table finish. Sadly, only 2 of their players live in the village and it would be good to see more support for them both on and off the pitch.

This summer we will once again be providing a Volley Ball net and hope through better marketing to see players of all abilities making use of the option. Pitch marking and the availability of suitable balls on site is something we hope to provide.

Following a Fire Safety Inspection we have continued to address areas of concern. Emergency exit provision has been significantly enhanced by the provision of a concrete ramp outside the rear emergency exit through the kitchen door. Over hanging trees and rampant nettles have been cut back to further enhance access should it be necessary.

Finally, my thanks to Cllr Philippa Carter for all her hard work dealing with accounts and bookings and to Mary Barnes for not only cleaning the pavilion but doing so much more as well.

7. ALLOTMENTS

These continue to prove popular with all available plots occupied and a waiting list should there be a vacancy.

8. HELPERS OF ASCOTT-UNDER-WYCHWOOD

The Helpers have been concentrating their efforts on improvements at the Station, in the Playground and around the Pavilion. Many volunteers have given their time during organised sessions as well as at other times and I would like to formally show our immense appreciation for all their very hard work.

Users of the playground, recreation ground and pavilion have greatly appreciated the maintenance work undertaken there and, as most people are aware, the Parish Council are planning more improvements. These would be outside the re-mit of the Helpers and would require funds through events and grant funding.

Permanent planting at the station did not take place in the spring as hoped because of delay to funding from Network Rail for the retaining wall. Shrubs and perennials are being planted now and these are paid for by funds raised by the Gardens Open weekend in summer 2011. Yvette Keauffling organised this event and requested that the funds be used for planting schemes around the village. Many thanks must be recorded to Tyacks for their donation of topsoil and Louise Woods for her donation of manure.

The Parish Council holds further funding for Station Enhancement given by First Great Western and the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. This will support the installation and planting of troughs in front of the station walls, improvements to the bank opposite the Signal Box and planting of tubs on the platforms.

9. MR RODNEY ROSE – COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT

I have been honoured over the last year to have been the Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, while still retaining the Highways and Transport Portfolio. I have also been responsible for flooding, including the Oxfordshire Member on the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. Some aspects of OCC property, HR relations and internal management of the Council have also been in my portfolio, plus deputising for the Leader when required. Strategic transport has also been part of my wider role. The Cogges Link Road was not favoured by the DfT Inspector, and this prevented any land acquisition to allow building the road. It was, therefore, cancelled. We have since put in place a plan for Witney to solve some of the problems. This will start in the very near future with an improved Ducklington Lane/Station Lane junction, soon to be followed by a Downs Road link to the A40. Shores Green and Bridge St improvements will then follow. This plan is backed by the District Council. I guess I should mention road maintenance, and I am sure we all have some knowledge of the state of our roads – an extra £3.55M has just been added to our spend , and we are having a real look at how else we can deal with this problem. Finally on County matters, you will probably be aware that the County Council portion of your local tax has gone up by 1.99%, which equates to about £23 at band D. We did oppose the requested “Cameron” freeze” increase, as it left local things such as subsidies to bus routes and local libraries at risk. We have not closed any libraries, and do not intend to do so. I would also not wish to see any cuts in our bus provision.

Over the year, however, I hope I have not neglected the local Divisional responsibilities that are expected of a local Member. Flooding and Highways issues have always been at the forefront, and I have done what I could to help. London Lane has had some improvement, and investigations started today for some drainage improvements to the Green during the summer.

Work will also be done on drainage between the railway and the river bridge. With a local Member budget, it has been possible to grant aid £2000 to your playground, and I have also given £1000 to the Wychwood Day Centre, grants which should both be of local benefit. Some improvements will be happening to local flood improvement measures over the coming months, and more will be fought for from the regional pot of money.

I would finish by congratulating your Parish Council on the work that they do. The snow clearance I am now quoting to many other Parishes as an example of how it should be done, and OCC does not get an easy ride if things should be done in your village.

10. MRS HILARY HIBBERT-BILES DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORT

No report , apologies received.

11. ORGANISATIONS REPORT

Chipping Norton Police

No report received

Cold Stone Angling

Pete Moss reported that this season for the club has been once again very successful both on the fishing front and fund raising, considering the amount of rain we have witnessed the fishing has been very good apart from the river which we have only fished twice.

The club’s lake has been very good with good weights on competitions, also the other still waters and canal have fished very well, this season we recorded two club records, first the heaviest weight of fish weighed in on a competition was recorded at Clattercote reservoir (near Banbury) with a weight of 144lbs of carp and the second record was a chub of 6lbs 8oz caught at Radcot on the River Thames.

On fundraising we held our annual race night which was once again very well attended and the Club made a an excellent profit of £1,393.00.

The membership showed a small increase last season which was good to see, some items of work were undertaken with a new bridge being put across the stream into the lake field. We installed a lifebelt at the lake and had to purchase a new strimmer/brush cutter mainly for work at the lake.

Lastly the Club won the Inter Club competition fished by ten members from each side, with teams representing Charlbury Angling Club, Chipping Norton Angling Club and Coldstone.

Pre-School

Ascott Pre-school has had another busy year with numbers continuing to be high, children coming from Ascott and surrounding villages giving a total of 46 children on roll. We aim to give priority to those in the village itself and those who have had siblings in Pre-school. We have a strong management committee run by parents who help to ensure the smooth running of Pre-school.

Staffing has remained the same – 7 contracted staff and 2 supply with additional back up from Leafield Pre-school when needed. Links with Leafield have continued -sharing staff, knowledge and resources.

The children have experienced a wide range of themes during the year including people who help us, traditional stories and rhymes, colours, animals and their babies, festivals, seasons, harvest, holidays, music, lifecycles, transport and around the world in a week.

Forest School continues to flourish and we currently have 2 groups of our older children carrying various activities at Bruern Woods by kind permission of the Astor family. The children have been out in all weathers and come back extremely muddy. This winter has been particularly cold but we have managed to continue every week with a few more layers of clothes and some extra hot chocolate.

Cookery Club runs weekly for groups of 4 children and have cooked a variety of things during the last year including pasta bake, fish pie, pizza, apple crumble, bread, banana toffee pudding, muffins and chicken nuggets.

Little Dancers also runs weekly and is led by Dancing Sally. A lively music and dance session with a different theme each week.

We have had various fundraising events during the last year including a Frock Swap, Film night, Autumn craft morning, Come and Sing at Shipton Church, train trip to Moreton in Marsh, Easter activity day, Christmas concert, summer barbeque and sports day. Much money has been raised and together with a lottery grant of £9999 we have been able to refurbish the play area and have a new safety surface laid which was opened by David Cameron in the Easter holidays.

The toddler group continues to run in the cricket pavilion and has changed to a Monday morning and has had the recent addition of mums who are trying to improve attendance by having extra activities such as face painting, drama and crafts. We hope this will prevent us from having to close a very poorly attended but much needed group.

Tiddy Hall

As you may know I have taken over temporary chairmanship of the Tiddy Hall committee in Roger Shepherd’s absence and it was about this time last year that the main celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the founding of Tiddy Hall began. It has been a very busy year – to say the least- and most of the fund raising that has taken place over the past 12 months has been directed at the future upgrading of the kitchen.
In many ways the festivities started with our weekend on June 1st and 2nd with two consecutive days of entertainment. Day one ,the Friday, was a celebration of the many activities that would have been enjoyed by Reginald Tiddy himself ; with Morris Dancers from the Eynsham and Charlbury sides dancing and singing in their own inimitable styles, a Mummers play performed by some of the dancers from the Charlbury side, and local singers joining in . It was marvellous to see a very old tradition and something that is historically part of Ascott under Wychwood being performed again in the village hall. We were also very lucky to have Mr Nick Salaman – who came all the way up from London to speak so eloquently about Reginald Tiddy.

The second day was slightly more conventional but no less enjoyable with the band Brio performing a Ceilidh. It would take a long time to express thanks to all those that helped over that weekend though I would like to put on record the committee’s thanks to Roger and Ros Shepherd and Daphne Abe for putting on such a great couple of days .

We have continued with our Flix in the Stix programme and had a sell out for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last year and on Friday we are showing Les Miserables, which we hope will be equally well supported. Again we have had good support in the various activities of the hall, the folk nights organised by Lyn and Tony Collins, Elaine Byles, Mark Pidgeon and Dave Henday, the table top sale organised by Ingrid Ridley,life drawing classes and of course the magical pantomime at Christmas time. I suppose the only minor disappointment of the year has been the cancellation of the Quiz night.

We are also very grateful to the regular users of the hall ,the Ascott under Wychwood preschool, Roseneath School of music, Windrush Valley School, Circuit training, the post office and the regular annual events such as the Race night, the Anniversary dinner/ dance, Robin Martin Oliver’s music workshops and yoga, which will be starting up again for the summer holidays.

We have also had a number of cultural events ; a memorable piano concert given by David Ridley, we heard Will Bujega singing beautifully last Sunday and some wonderful solo and duet performers at the Ascott Songsters recent concert.

One of the final acts of last years celebrations was the erection of a Blue Plaque in honour of Reginald Tiddy outside the hall on Saturday Sept. 8th . We had the chancellor of Trinity College and Mike Heaney here and it was a fitting tribute that the inscription of the plaque reads “Reginald Tiddy .Collector of plays ,Benefactor and Resident of this village”. This seemed a most appropriate conclusion to our celebrations.

Finally I mentioned at the outset that the aim of this years festivities -in terms of fund raising – was the proposed upgrading of our kitchen and I would just like to put on record the thanks of the Tiddy Hall committee to the Parish Council for their grant support ; without this support we would not be able to obtain grants from other bodies and the kitchen would not be upgraded as we would like . Most of the grant applications are now in and if things go according to plan we hope to be able to unveil a new kitchen later this summer .

Parochial Church Council

The Parochial Church Council has met 9 times during 2012, including 4 joint meetings of the PCCs of the Benefice meeting in Chadlington School.

During 2012, over half of the meetings of the Parochial Church Council were held in association with Joint Meetings of all PCCs of the Chase Benefice on an experimental basis. The idea behind this was to give a chance for all PCCs to engage with the mission of the Church within the Benefice and how we might work together to further common aims and objectives. Business specific to the parish was dealt with after the Joint Meetings. There were also meetings on four occasions to deal specifically with Ascott-under-Wychwood parish affairs.

Much time was spent in considering the state of the Church’s finances and in particular how we might begin to address the persistent deficit between income and expenditure.

The monthly Coffee Mornings continued throughout the year organised and run by Anne Braithwaite and June Holmes. These events provided an important opportunity for people to gather and enjoy conversation over coffee. Together with a Christmas Bazaar these events raised over £1,230 and the PCC records its thanks for the commitment and hard work put in to making these events possible.

2012 was the first year for many that there was not a Church Fete held in the Village. In its place, a group of volunteers organised a very successful and enjoyable Open Garden event at Wychwood Manor, by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Wilmott-Stitwell, combining it with the first ‘Great Ascott Bake-off’ Competition. Despite extremely wet conditions a large number of people supported this event bringing a total of £2,500 into the Church funds. Again, we are grateful for all those who organised this enjoyable event.

Another new venture in 2012 was ‘The Trinity Arms’ when the Church was transformed into a Pub for two evenings – the first in July and the second in October. As with the Coffee Mornings it was hoped that these events would provide occasions to build community and get people ‘over the door’. Those who attended deemed both evenings a great success and the first evening attracted over 100 visitors! However, it has to be recorded that some in the village and indeed on the PCC were not as supportive. Although not conceived as a fundraising activity these evenings made £250 towards Church funds.

During the year the PCC has reviewed the Safeguarding policy and are confident that the all the necessary procedures are in place to protect children and vulnerable adults within our Church. Julie Benson of Chadlington is the Child Protection Officer for the Benefice.

There was a special Benefice Service of Thanksgiving in Chadlington on 3rd June 2012 to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. As regards regular Sunday services, there was no change in the Benefice programme during 2012: a 10 o’clock Communion Service (Common Worship) was held in Holy Trinity Church on the second Sunday of each month and an 8 o’clock Communion Service (BCP) on the fourth Sunday. We also celebrated major festivals, including our Patronal Festival on Trinity Sunday as well as services at Easter and Christmas.

Members of the PCC and congregation attended a series of Lent Suppers in Spelsbury Memorial Hall, and in Advent a series of four talks by distinguished speakers from Oxford.

Occasional Services in 2012 totalled 4: 2 funerals and 2 wedding. We are pleased that The Windrush Valley School continue to use the Church for their weekly assemblies and also the Ascott Pre-School for occasional visits.

The PCC very much appreciated the extremely valuable work of Fred Russell, Tim Lyon and others in maintaining the churchyard in good order, the providers of flowers in the Church organised by Debra Cull, and the helpers and stallholders at the Open Garden, coffee mornings and other Church events. The PCC would also like to thank the bell-ringers, led by Stuart Fox, the organist, Rosamund Campbell; our reserve organist, Roland Stedeford; Mary Fieth and Joan Pratley for their work as sacristans and Mary Barnes who cleans the church.

In closing, it is important to acknowledge that 2012 was not an easy year in the life of the PCC. There was also considerable energy given to how we might work more effectively as a PCC. Sadly, in December two members of the PCC resigned – our Secretary Clive Fieth, and June Holmes – as did our Churchwarden Anne Braithwaite. We wish to record our thanks for all that they have given to our common life: especially Anne Braithwaite who has worked tirelessly for many years and who is sorely missed.

Ascott Grapevine

Thanks were extended to the Parish Council for their continued financial support of £400. This helps with the publishing and delivery of the Ascott Grapevine to the Village free of charge. Thanks were recorded to Maggie Lyon for her hard work and who is retiring. Fortunately a replacement has been found – Keith Ravenhill. Finally there was a request to everybody to keep the articles coming.

Leafield C of E School

No report received

The Village Shop

After recent good years 2012 has seen sales fall ~5% £151k. Although average spend increased this was more than offset by a reduced footfall, the key issue to address. The profit on sales increased slightly, a result of product selection, good price and waste control. Overheads increased mainly due to higher staffing costs; replacement of back-office volunteer with paid staff, and employed cleaner. Overall a loss of £1.8k.

Our truly wonderful staff, a mix of c50 volunteers and 5 paid staff, are the linchpin of the shop, always offering a warm welcome and an enjoyable shopping experience for customers. 2012 proved a challenge to fill volunteer till shifts, repeated leaflets and Grapevine articles to attract more volunteers, had little success. The Committee very reluctantly decided to reduce trading hours from 4 March 2013, a combination of this lack of volunteers, trading patterns and to reduce costs. The whole shop team were consulted and a subsequent poster and flyer campaign, plus a Grapevine article, have brought forth several new volunteers. We have a small committee now only 4, Nigel Wild moved to France, efforts continue to increase this with a target of 6 post our June AGM.

At our 9th anniversary in November, we held a food and wine tasting, from which we introduced both new food and new wine items. During the year, La Parisienne became our bakery supplier. Their products are well liked and their patisserie is everything you would expect of a French bakery. We have also added a high quality takeaway hot drinks service. The bean to cup machine grinds fresh beans for each cup and also offers tea, hot chocolate and a delicious coffee/chocolate mix.

We are very fortunate to have such an attractive, purpose-built shop. Most community shops are located in village halls or similar. Over the past year, improvements have been carried out in the storeroom – new sink, water heater, separate handbasin, new work-surfaces, cupboards and a tough floor paint. Extra racking and a rail for dry cleaning have also been installed. We have contracts for all the refrigeration/cooling items, but breakdowns have proved expensive.

The shop continues to be a success and to be at the heart of the village, but we do need to improve trading and return to profitability. We are now half way through our tenth year and are planning anniversary celebrations to mark this milestone in our history. Trade is almost entirely with residents, supplemented by tradesmen working locally. We have to endeavour to increase our customer base within the village.

The Village Charity

This charity was originally set up for the relief of poverty in the village and to provide financial assistance to its young people towards their education. Its predecessors were known as the Poor’s Estate and as the Lower Green Charity.

The Trustees of the Charity meet regularly under the chairmanship of John Cull and throughout 2012 the Trustees were John Cull, the Revd Mark Abrey, Elaine Byles, Stuart Fox, Keith Ravenhill, Pauline Marshall (a member during the year of the Parish Council) and Mark Dawbarn (also Secretary to the Trustees). The Constitution of the Charity states that there must be at least five Trustees of whom at least one should be a member of the Parish Council.

The Charity owns the field known as Lower Green, which is near to the bridge over the river Evenlode on the Chipping Norton road. The field continues to be let to local residents on a 25-year lease for grazing purposes, expiring on 1st January 2030.

The purposes of the Charity include environmental projects, and works on restoring damage caused by local floods are seen as part of the Charity’s remit. The Trustees still have a limited amount of funds in hand that could be used for amenity purposes, including money raised for the purpose of flood prevention or for relief in appropriate cases.

In their educational activities The Trustees have continued to hold funds available in connection with their scheme for assisting young residents with grants towards the purchase of books or equipment for the purposes of their studies. They would like to find ways of ensuring that all eligible residents are aware of the Scheme and encouraged to apply.

The marquee purchased in 2008 for the benefit of the village use and which is available for local charities and fund-raising causes free of charge has continued to be used occasionally for these purposes. The Charity organised a Fun Run in October, raising £1203 (against a target of £1000), which was awarded to the Tiddy Hall. Of the amount raised £975 came from sponsors with local associations, which was greatly appreciated by the Trustees.

The Charity has paid out money which had been contributed in connection with the scheme for Planting Round the Village.

The Trustees have continued to seek to find ways in which their activities could be made widely known in the village that the Charity is set up to serve. Notices have been placed on village notice boards and an article written for the Ascott Grapevine. They would welcome suggestions on any other ways of achieving publicity for their activities and availability and would like to involve the community as far as possible in their work. To make the Charity more recognisable in the community the Trustees have developed a logo and strapline, as shown at the foot of this Report for use in notices and published items. The Trustees are grateful to Jonathan Woods for the consultancy services he has provided in the development of this item.

The Trustees are also grateful to Keith Ravenhill for his work in organising the village pantomime, which raised £162 for the Charity.

The Trustees consider that the financial position of the Charity remains sound and they have three sources of funds, namely the General Fund, the Poor’s Fund and the Flood Relief Fund from which they can make grants to local causes. The amount available for expenditure by the Trustees as at 31st December 2012 was £4,600 and there were additional ring-fenced investments held by the Trustees.

9. CONCLUSION
The Chairman addressed the meeting and thanked everyone for attending the Village Meeting and asked if there was any other business. The meeting was concluded and closed at 8.30pm.