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: February – March 2022

Editorial

If a popularity poll was ever carried out on the nation’s favourite month, it is a fair bet that February would be at or near the bottom of the pile – cold, damp, inhospitable etc..  The Christmas and New Year festivities and family reunions have long since been forgotten while the prospect of spring or summer weather with its attendant opportunities is a way over the horizon. 

So what is needed is a good read and that is exactly what you have in your hands.  Thanks to all our writers and the volunteers who put the magazine together, The Wychwood can now be your pleasure during a dark and dank time of year; sit back and enjoy.

The variety within these covers is endless.  For readers who enjoy reading about gentle pastimes, relax as David Betterton extols the relaxing spell cast by gardening, Christine Halliday tells a tale about the small world that we live in and David Astor recounts a meeting many years ago with the great writer, Raymond Chandler.  For lovers of the past, there are pages about a childhood in Fifield and the almost forgotten plane crash that happened outside Shipton in 1938.

But we can look outwards as well.  Paul Jackson describes the attractions of his new home town of Charlbury, in case readers only thought of it as a railway station, and for a dose of stimulation or horror, try David Knight’s travels on a mountain bike through a sea of mud.

There really is something here for everyone.

Bob Forster, Editor

List of articles

• Clarkson’s Farm
  In 1988 the BBC changed the name of its Sunday evening programme ‘Farming’ to ‘Countryfile’. In 1989 the name of the soap ‘Emmerdale Farm’ was ...
• Every organisation needs a good treasurer
  We are welcoming a new treasurer to The Wychwood, Jennie Trice, who tells us something about her background on this page, but before she does, ...
• I once met Raymond Chandler
  In the summer of 1958, I was fifteen years old and a voracious reader of crime fiction. My favourite read that year was Erskine Childer’s The ...
• A time for reflection
  After all the uncertainties of 2020, the last year has been one of major progress in the Wild Garden. This has been made possible by both ...
• A new artisan bakery in the Cotswolds
  I have always loved cooking and baking.  It’s been a part of everything I do. Raised by a mother who is a wonderful baker and ...
• Ascott parish council; always busy
  Perhaps you have an image in your mind; worthy people sitting around talking, the great and the good pontificating to hear the sound of their ...
• A year in the life of Milton parish council
  As usual, lots of small things have been going on behind the scenes but we started 2021 with the final stages of St Jude’s building ...
• Shipton PC, always on the go
  Shipton Parish Council is made up of seven volunteer Councillors ably assisted and kept in order by The Clerk. But, what do we actually do?  As ...
• Anthony Wood 1932-2021
  In October 2021, Ascott-under-Wychwood lost one of its most prominent and respected inhabitants.  Anthony Wood had lived in and loved the village for well over ...
• A grand day out: Crocodiles in the Cotswolds
  Did you know that the UK’s only Crocodile zoo is right here on your doorstep? This year, 2021, is a significant year in the life ...
• News from Fifield
  After the easing of COVID restrictions in mid-year, Fifield returned to its normal busy social life in September.  We began with another World Food Supper ...
• Wychwood Rainbows, Brownies and Guides
  Guiding wouldn’t be able to happen without our incredible volunteers. They’re not paid for what they do – they give their time because they are ...
• Wychwood Library
  Facebook page We are delighted to announce that we now have our own Wychwood Facebook page to publicise the library. Do follow us and take a ...
• It’s a small world
  Michael, a close friend who has lived all his life in Kent, recently attended an Old Boys` lunch at his senior school, Dartford Technical School ...
• Oxfordshire’s Five-Star Church
  In Simon Jenkins’ monumental tome, England’s Thousand Best Churches, the author identifies just thirteen five-star churches across the country. Only one of them is in Oxfordshire and it is barely ...
• Discover Charlbury … the best kept secret of the north Cotswolds
  Having recently moved from a very quiet Ascott under Wychwood, we have been surprised how much is actually going on in Charlbury – we just ...
• From the Wychwood Magazine’s early Archives
  The Wychwood Magazine has often discussed local public travel options. In the issue of April/May 1983, there was a story highlighting the bus services of ...
• Plane crash at Shipton
  Apart from a stick of bombs dropped across Ascott during the Second World War, it would seem, from the record, that you had more chance ...
• Joan Howard-Drake 1924-2022
  In Joan Howard Drake the Wychwoods have lost a strong and seemingly indefatigable member of our local community. Joan was born Joan Crook in Oxford. She ...
• Chipping Norton Music Festival
  ‘promoting confidence through performance’ – old and new! What is Chipping Norton Music Festival? It is a performing arts festival where performers of all ages take ...
• Spring beckons – inside and out
  Invited by our esteemed Chairperson to write the MUWAGA gardening column for this edition of The Wychwood, I approach the task with a huge dose ...
• The beauty of stained glass
  At St Mary’s in Shipton we are fortunate to have very good stained glass windows in our church designed by the finest artists of their ...
• Did you know?
  The Shaven Crown in Shipton is a 14th-century inn that claims to be among the ten oldest inns in England and thought to be the ...
• Spare room at The Day Centre
  The Wychwood Day Centre is a lively weekly social club for our elderly neighbours. It was started in 1998 by a group of caring residents ...
• ‘Oh what fun it is to ride’ … even in winter
  David Knight uncovers the joys of mountain biking on a cold Sunday morning.  “I think I’ll go for a ride tomorrow morning”, and with that short ...
• Wychwoods Repair Café
  Broken hoovers, bikes, toys, chairs, coats and even a faulty toy Father Christmas were amongst the household items that found their way to the Wychwoods’ ...
• “Are you ready? Quick, waddle!”
  As part of their topic ‘Where are the coldest places on Earth?’ the Foundation Stage children at Wychwood school have been learning about animals that ...
• From amateur gardener to global sensation
  Up until the summer of 2020, Gerald Stratford was a quietly retired gardening enthusiast, specialising in giant vegetables, but then his Twitter account went viral.  ...
• Welcome to the world of the Cotswold Wardens
  The Cotswolds are the third largest protected landscape in England after the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, covering some 790 square miles. This is ...
• William (Bill) McDougall 1940-2021
  Behind the gentle, quiet, and humble manner, there was a lot more to Bill McDougall than was immediately apparent. Firstly, however, if you were a ...
• A soldier who was known only to God
  In the August/September 2016 issue of The Wychwood, the finding of an unidentified body of an Oxfordshire and Buckingham Light Infantry Officer near Arras in ...
• The price is right
  The cover price of The Wychwood is being raised to £1 or £5 for the year (6 issues), starting in April.  It was just 50 pence, a price ...
• Made in Fifield
  My maiden name was Hilary Pritchard. Idbury School class photo 146/47 Mrs Fletcher on left and Miss Bachus on right Second left front is Hilary Pritchard (later Hilary ...
• The Rooflight Company supporting our local community
  As a local business, we do our best to support our local community. Our Managing Director, Steve Webber, is taking part in the Twin Town ...
• “Love, Love, Love!”
  Do you feel it in your fingers … (or) in your toes?* Love is all around us as we head into February and towards Valentines ...
• Readers to writers
  Our magazine is fortunate to benefit from a wide range of writers; just in this issue we have articles written by a baker, a gardener ...
• Bruern farmshop market
  February – March 2022
• Carol singing on Christmas Eve in Shipton
  February – March 2022

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