Welcome to The Wychwood On-Line

This is the site for The Wychwood Magazine, serving the communities of
The Wychwoods in the Cotswolds since 1980!
The magazine is published every two months, by the community for the community and our friends, with 68 pages, packed with features, articles, news and short stories
about life in the Wychwoods.

Latest issue: June – July 2021

Editorial

Hope is a thing like a bird on the wing; so goes a line in a children’s chorus and, at last, hope, as the saying goes, springs eternal.  After a year that most readers would count as one of the worst in their lives, a year of restrictions, of fear and of remembering to keep a mask in every pocket for all eventualities, hope is returning, and your magazine is full of hope for this issue.

There has been much focus on the relief of being able to get outdoors and the magazine reflects that feeling.  There is a family bike ride around the Evenlode valley, Ascott Pre-School get down and grubby in the woods, Dan Smith shares his pleasure upon playing tennis again and Mike Hartley reassures us that Covid has not done substantial damage to farming in the Wychwoods.

Then there are the topical items.  Beryl Brown, following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, recounts the pleasure of meeting him and the queen many years ago.  There is the celebration of one of the community’s first large social events with an immensely enjoyable Milton Fair on May Day and there is a wonderfully smiley article about the Wychwoods’ latest superstar.

Hope is stirring; it is like a bird on the wing, so come and join the flight with us.

Bob Forster, Editor

List of articles

• The Easter Walks
  This year, over the Easter weekend, there were two walks setting out from Milton church. On Good Friday we set out walking to Idbury and, ...
• Shipton Cricket Club: Project Century
  This year we celebrate our centenary at the current ground. It should have been last year, but the pandemic made that impossible. 101 not out ...
• Move to St Jude’s Meadow
  Last December, Roger and I moved to our new house on the St Jude’s Meadow estate in Milton under Wychwood. We had talked vaguely for ...
• Ian Carrington 1936 -2020
  Ian was born in Rainhill, Merseyside (place of the Rocket Trials) in 1936 to Eva, a teacher and Joe a foreman toolmaker. He attended Longview ...
• What we were reading in The Wychwood forty years ago
  Getting to Know your Neighbours – The Townsends From the Wychwood  April/May 1981 Arthur Gee in his cottage in Fifield early 1900s Leslie and Winifred Townsend celebrated their ...
• Chipping Norton Theatre revival
  The hospitality and leisure industries have been horribly hamstrung by the pandemic.  Venues have been closed and staff either put on furlough or made redundant.  ...
• Farming in the time of Covid
  It has been a year like no other, in all our lives. Few of us escaped unscathed: some suffered personal tragedies; for most of us ...
• A royal audience
  Following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh in April, Brian and Beryl Brown recall an enjoyable meeting with the royal couple in 1965. Brian and ...
• Gardening is the answer – what was that question again?
  Even as the Covid situation improves, life can still seem uncertain. Covid has put a dent in any confidence we have. That is where I ...
• What’s in a name?
  It appears to be a long-held thought that the field behind Milton’s allotments belongs to the Parish Council. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. In the 1846 Enclosure ...
• Looking towards a greener Fifield
  Following recent discussion about how Fifield can help combat the climate crisis including the possibility of tree planting in the village, an action group has ...
• Introducing Clare Armstrong
  Our new production manager I was born and brought up in a little village, Hemingford Grey, in what was then Huntingdonshire and was subsumed into Cambridgeshire ...
• Wychwood School: all is calm, all is bright
  8th March saw all the children return back to school and although one or two may have been a bit nervous they all settled back ...
• A family ride in the Evenlode valley
  Cycling has never been so popular.  The surge in interest began in the spring of 2020 when the first Covid lockdown coincided with one of ...
• Ivan Puschnik 1940 – February 2021
  My dad was an amazing man; he epitomised all that is best in the human spirit and character. He moved to Milton in 1960 with ...
• Books for free!
  The library finally reopened on 12th April and we have been delighted to welcome back our customers. We have plenty of new stock and all ...
• Shipton Council news
  At the time of writing, the pandemic is receding but unfortunately, due to uncertainties around COVID rules and protocols, it has been decided to cancel ...
• Milton market
  It would have been difficult for locals not to have noticed we have a new venture, rooted right here in Milton.  Did you see the ...
• Unlocking potential – inspiring futures
  Do you remember your days at secondary school?  In this article, Milton’s Lily Faulkner looks back over her years at Burford School, indicating some of ...
• Back on court!
  Covid lockdown started just as the tennis season was beginning in 2020. As juniors, we were getting ready for school matches, the Road to Wimbledon ...
• Stardom arrives in Milton
  Gerald is a gardener.  Nothing suits him better than being outside in his corner plot behind an old folk’s bungalow, tucked away behind Milton’s main ...
• Looking forward to a fun summer at Ascott Preschool
  We feel very lucky to have stayed open throughout the entire lockdown thanks to careful  adaptation. We have spent a lot of time playing outside, ...
• Did you know?
  Benches are placed across the country, often in commemoration of a specific event like the coronation or in memory of a loved one; something like ...
• My first time in the Wychwoods
  It all started with a cat hunt… My first encounter with the Wychwoods was entirely accidental. At the time I was living in Oxford, sandwiched between ...
• Readers as writers
  The article here about the ‘The first time …’ is one of a series we have been running with this title.  We still have two ...
• Funding the improvements and restoration at Shipton Church
  It is hoped that by the time you are reading this, the scaffolding will be gone and the restoration of the nave roof and the ...
• Who cares?
  Foster families do an amazing job!  These foster parents, some of whom live here in the Wychwoods, often look after their own children in addition ...
• SWAG
  Sustainable Wychwoods Action Group (SWAG) is a local community group that aims to support and encourage sustainable living in the Wychwoods. We started out as a ...
• Witney’s Tiny Forest
  The Wychwood Forest was one of the great royal forests of England. By the reign of Henry ll in the early 13th century, it covered ...
• On your toes
  Life in a fairly remote part of North Yorkshire seems an unlikely place for a little girl to start what turned out to be a ...
• Scouts – a huge thank you to our community!
  Like everyone else, scouting in the Wychwoods has twisted and turned to cope with lockdowns, social distancing, staying outdoors and keeping everyone safe. And through ...
• Freedom to vote
  In this country, we are able to elect which party we support, both locally and nationally, and perhaps we do not realise how important a ...
• Definitions
  Ivy   Roman for four Inviolate   Dressed in purple Fixate   To sabotage a rowing crew The Bronze Age   A time of exceptional weather which gave everyone a very decent ...
• I can’t wait until I can ……… again!
  What are you longing to be able to do again? One of the things I and others at Wychwood Baptist have missed is singing.  Even when ...
• Remnants of the Past
  Around the Wychwood villages there are bits of buildings and metal work left over from the past. It is easy to miss them but here ...

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