Parish Jottings

Spring is Here

It is now officially spring once again, and this is confirmed by the primroses and celandines in the millennium garden. Any keen gardener could usefully spend an hour or so tidying up the garden after its winter battering by the elements. Any volunteers?

Churchyard Trees

The target of £3,000 for the Churchyard Tree Fund has been reached thanks to many generous donations. Quotations have been obtained from tree surgeons for the work. As the churchyard is in a designated Conservation Area, the South Oxfordshire District Council requires that before any tree work is carried out, including pruning, to trees with a stem diameter greater than 75mm, a Notice of Intent must be submitted to them for approval, in order to prevent undesirable changes being made to the character of the conservation area.

Should there be any balance left in the tree fund, donors will be asked if the church could use the money to cover the cost of repairing pot holes in the churchyard paths which are starting to become a hazard.

Baptism Service Sheets

You may have noticed that the well-worn old yellow Baptism service cards have been replaced by brand new laminated ones which are more durable. Our thanks go to Peter Williams for printing and laminating the new service sheets and presenting them to the church.

Church Mice

Our thanks also go to Graham Fulcher for all his work in ridding the church of the elusive mice which had taken up residence in the organ loft. Mice were first suspected of being present when, during a marriage ceremony last year, the organist found that the organ was playing some wrong notes. This caused much embarrassment for the organist who ended up having to use the church piano. It was later found that the mice had gnawed through some of the leather seals to the reed pipes together with some electrical cabling, causing much damage. The organ has now been repaired.

The rodents were identified to be not native common field mice apodemus sylvaticus as expected, but a black-coloured species named apodemus carnivorus, newcomers from continental Europe. These black-furred foreign invaders can be quite vicious and are capable of giving you a nasty bite if confronted. Hopefully they will not return, but to be on the safe side, do take care when in church.

Holy Trinity church, dominated by encroaching trees