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 2022

Editorial

The great outdoors is a wonderful place to be!  You will find this issue of The Wychwood is stuffed full with articles and news items about outdoor activities starting, of course, with the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in each of our communities.  These celebratory activities range from parties to teas to barbecues and even to a special bonfire evening.  Such events are put into perspective by contributions from a range of writers who share their memories of the Queen’s coronation nearly seventy years ago.

But there is so much more to the great outdoors in this issue.  We have a listing of open-air drama productions, there is an open gardens event to raise funds for our amazing Wild Garden and, at the other end of the scale, why not visit the heart-warming Bridewell Gardens which do a terrific job in support of those with learning difficulties?

This issue of your magazine is, to say the least, wide ranging.  We range back in time to the days of Shipton’s tillyards and to the attraction of Charlbury museum, then forward to current concerns including Ukraine and the challenges facing farmers and, just when you perhaps thought that we could not go far wider, we have articles on niche interests like yoga and Cotswold Radio.  And on the off-beat side of life, do you know how the squirrel crossed the road?

Indoors or out, past or present, familiar or strange, there is something for everyone in your magazine; we hope you enjoy reading it.

Bob Forster, Editor

List of articles

• Local Jubilee celebrations
  Wychwoods events celebrating the Queen’s 70th anniversary in June 2022. Milton  Friday 3 June – Family fun day on the village green 2.00-5.00 Saturday 4 June – Full ...
• Thank you Ray
  For many members of the Wychwood communities, Ray Derkacz was a quiet and cheerful dog walker; twice a day, Ruben, his handsome German Shepherd, prowled ...
• A show with le zest!
  Do You Hear the People Sing? Burford School celebrates its 450th anniversary this year and the Music Department was tasked to stage a production that was ...
• Go wild – you know you want to (well, a bit!)
  With pestilence, war and raging price rises I certainly feel pretty constrained and more than a little worried. We all need a release, perhaps go ...
• Enjoy entertainment in the great outdoors this summer
  One of the positives of the pandemic was the outdoor theatre spaces that popped up last summer. Who will ever forget the mesmerising Wychwood Player’s ...
• Messy Church
  Sounds interesting? “Church” and “Messy” aren’t the sort of words you would usually think of together! But come and join us for some fun. A ...
• Shipton Parish Council news
  There have been some recent changes to the line-up on Shipton Parish Council. With this being election year on the PC, three councillors have decided ...
• The Wychwood weather quiz
  Test your memory of weather in the Wychwoods then check those memories with John Miskin’s explanatory answers below. When was the lowest temperature recorded since 1960 ...
• Congratulations!
  On 7 May, Rebecca Gidman celebrated her marriage to Jose Ignacio Barrera in Milton church.  The vicar’s many years of living in Uruguay came in ...
• Wychwood primary school – where education is enjoyed!
  Big Science This term, children from Year 1-6 have been taking part in the Big Science Competition, which is run by Science Oxford for schools across ...
• Saving the environment one shop at a time
  More and more of us are now searching for clever ways to do our bit to help save the planet. Even though sometimes the pace ...
• 500 miles to help dementia
  Dementia is a global crisis. There are estimated to be 944,000 people living with dementia in the UK, with this set to reach one million ...
• There’s never a better time…
  A cold but thankfully dry Saturday in early April saw a considerable assortment of willing volunteers gather with a collection of barrows full of hundreds ...
• Wychwoods’ Ukrainian appeal update
  After sending out clothing, bedding, food, medicines etc. as written in the April/May edition, Irene of www.oursupport4ukraine.com asked us to collect medicines and food for ...
• Fifield on display
  The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations got off to a very successful start in Fifield with the exhibition of ‘Fifield Memories’ which took place in the ...
• A necessity of life
  Warning: this article may contain political point scoring. There have been anxious times for all of us over the last two years. For farmers the pandemic ...
• New Café coming to Milton
  Rise and Flour Café is relocating to the old house at the front of the Groves Industrial Estate.  Planning to open this summer, Tuesday – ...
• Jeremy Clarkson: the farmers’ hero?
  The National Farmers’ Union recently gave an award to Jeremy Clarkson; David Astor gives us the background. Clarkson is an interesting man.  He came to fame ...
• A Shipton wartime wedding
  A lady called Jo Lewis wrote recently to the Wychwoods History Society to say that her mother in Law, who died last December aged 100, ...
• Shipton Church plant and cake sale
  Some scenes from the plant and cake sale at St Mary’s Church, Shipton which raised over £600. A group from the Biker Bellringers visited from all ...
• Local History Society – 40yo
  Some scenes from the the Anniversary exhibition at Milton Village Hall celebrating 40 years of the Wychwoods Local History Society. June – July 2022
• Coronation memories
  Memories fade.  Even the memories of the best of times.  Before they disappear altogether, the Wychwood Magazine was invited to chat with a few residents ...
• A day to remember: Tuesday 2nd June 1953
  I have vivid memories of the day that Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. I was just six years old but I recall that we had ...
• Monarchical musings
  Apparently only ten per cent of our population can remember what life was like under a different crowned head. Many seem recently to have been ...
• Guiting Music Festival
  Celebrating its 51st year, the Guiting Music Festival hosts over 10 days of jazz, folk, classical and blues concerts with award winning international artists from ...
• Learning, growing and fun at Ascott Pre-school this summer
  We are looking forward to a busy summer term at Pre-school. We have some hens’ eggs incubating, and are eagerly awaiting the first chicks hatching. ...
• Have you heard about Cotswolds Radio?
  With a wide variety of programmes covering everything from wine to women’s interests and presenters aged 7 to 70, Cotswolds Radio was established two years ...
• Relax with Yoga
  The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, so why not get out into the garden to do some… no! Not gardening! (too ...
• Shipton Open Gardens: Sunday 3 July 2.00-5.00p.m.
  A rare opportunity to view four delightful gardens surrounding Shipton Court followed by the opportunity to buy tea in the conservatory at Hunters Lodge and ...
• Neil smiled
  Every now and then, something happens in a community which raises the spirits, affirming all that is best in its streets and among its families. ...
• Wychwood Library Bulletin
  Book Donations & Book Stall We would love to receive donations of second-hand books in good condition throughout June ready for the fete on Saturday 2nd ...
• Ascott Martyrs: the full story
  Next year is the 150th anniversary of the controversial imprisonment of 16 women and two babies from Ascott under Wychwood, which had a profound change on ...
• Take a trip to Nowhere
  You can once again, after more than two years, enjoy a day out at Nowhere. Nowhere is actually Kelmscott Manor, three miles from Lechlade and ...
• Charlbury museum
  Continuing our tour of local museums, in this issue we visit the Charlbury Museum, which has been described as ‘one of the finest small museums ...
• How did the squirrel cross the road?
  Out in the countryside, road kill is a fact of life.  Back in the day, the usual victims were hedgehogs, their passing marked by a ...
• Raw sewage pollution in the river Evenlode
  Water utility companies routinely discharge untreated sewage into our rivers with devastating consequences. Privatised water companies have invested little in improving outdated sewerage systems.  As ...
• Shipton’s drum and fife band
  Our archive feature in this issue is taken from The Wychwood Magazine of October/November 1983. It was submitted anonymously by “One who knows them all ...
• Social media in the Wychwoods
  Recently, a friend of mine asked me, what is the big deal about social media? For many of us, we were raised with social media, ...
• Working at the till yard
  There are not many people around now who remember working in the Wychwood till industry – after farming and Groves, this was the best source ...
• Wychwood Magazine: online subscriptions
  In our last edition we announced our intention to move to online payment for the subscriptions to the magazine. Unfortunately this will not be possible ...
• Pain relief
  My name is Sue Frewin and I am a SMART BOWEN Therapist working in the Cotswolds and living in Upper Rissington. I have an equestrian ...
• Smile or groan
  In Iran there is a fear of spiders but in Iraq no phobia. You know when old age is approaching: whenever you bend down to tie ...
• New life
  Easter reminded us of the promise of new life and there are signs of hope all around us. New lambs in the fields, birds nesting, ...

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