Cotswold Link (North Cotswolds) September October 2020

CotswoldLink

North Cotswolds

Your

www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

|

Bi-Monthly Royal Mail distribution: 16,400 homes & businesses

September / October 2020

Support us to help us to continue to support you To advertise call Christine on: 01609 777401

2

Your CotswoldLink

Please mention Your CotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

3

inside

Your CotswoldLink

Tentative steps to the ‘new normal’

take a look at several Cotswold Taste businesses how adapted to 08 We survive the effects of Covid-19

Sewing at home!

update from West End 06 An Sewing

12

Helping Hospitality

app launched to help 08 Athenew Cotswold hospitality sector

14

02 Are trees our saviour? advertorial: 06 Sewing at Home Boom! local news: 08 A new app to help businesses local news: 08 Cotswold Taste business updates advertorial

FEATURED

FEATURED FEATURED

10

10 How to find the planets education 10 When did education start? garden view: 12 Dazzling Dahlias! local news: 16 CDC launches annual canvas astronomy: FEATURED

FEATURED

FEATURED

Welcome to the September - October issue Welcome back everyone, what a difficult few months we have all been living through and I hope everyone is safe and well and staying alert. It doesn’t seem possible that it is September already but, in this most mellow of months, let us take a moment to enjoy the beautiful sunsets of autumn, and the stunning colours of the dazzling dahlias in our gardens, whilst we all adapt to this new normal.

01609 777401 cotswoldlink.co.uk

I hope you all enjoy this issue and I’ll see you again in early November.

Best wishes,

Christine Campbell | Editor

Cotswold Link Magazine is published in good faith and the editors cannot be held responsible in any way for inaccuracies in reports or advertis-

in reports or advertising that appear in this publication and the views of the contributors may not be the those of the editors. Adverts and Your Cotswold LinkLink Magazine carry no implied recommendation from the magazine or the publishers. All rights reserved. appearing in Cotswold 4ingadvertisers Please YourforCanyotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers All information is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of going to press. Cotswold Link Magazine cannotmention be held responsible errors or omissions.

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

5

Sewing At Home Boom West End Sewing Centre in Henrietta

Machine repairs or servicing can normally be

Sewing Centre is the main dealer in the area

Street, Cheltenham, has been Derek Cox’s

achieved within two weeks and customers may

for Janome and Bernina but sells several other

business for almost thirty years.

briefly park directly across from the shop in

brands too. If you are unable to visit the shop in

order to deliver or collect a machine.

person, there is a selection of sewing machines

and overlockers available to purchase online at

Derek has a vast wealth of sewing machine

www.westendsewing.co.uk.

Following the recent call for home sewers to make scrubs sets and face masks, the increase in demand for sewing machine repairs and servicing meant that Derek was able to continue in business. Derek takes this opportunity to again thank all those sewers who brought new custom to him during the Covid 19 lockdown and hopes they will continue to do so.

The shop is fully open once again from 9.30am until 5pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and measures are in place to ensure the safety of customers and staff with regard to Covid 19.

6

Your CotswoldLink

expertise and is happy to answer any queries you may have. If you are unable to visit the shop

Due to current social distancing legislation and

in person you can call 01242 244025 or email

the limited space available above the shop, all

info@westendsewing.co.uk If you are interest-

group workshops and Bernina Club meetings

ed in buying a new or re-conditioned machine,

have been cancelled until further notice. Jane

seeing a demonstration and or having a test run

Brogan is scheduled to host a two day Janome

of any machine in stock, this can be arranged

open house on 16th and 17th October although

(without the obligation to buy). If it’s an over-

that may change.

locker you’re after, there are several of those in stock too. Machine essentials such as thread, presser feet, and needles are kept in stock as well as general sewing accessories. West End

Please mention Your CotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

7

‘FreeMyMenu’ app a valuable key to helping Cotswold hospitality sector recover Not Just Code Ltd, working in has made the decision to make the ‘FreeMyMenu’ app free for businesses in the hospitality sector.

‘FreeMyMenu’ is an innovative seamlessly update their website and printed menus. Jered Bolton of Not Just Code Ltd discussed the app and how businesses around the Cotswolds are able to benefit on Cotswold District Council’s latest CDC LIVE broadcast from the BARN Theatre, Cirencester, at youtube.com/ watch?v=HFaV6ZAJ5I4

Cotswold District Council, said: “I would like to thank Not Just Code and Cotswold Taste for their incredible work to support businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only are they working with food businesses across the Cotswolds to bring them online and assist with digital and contactless services.

They are now enabling even

Jered said: “I’m very happy to an-

more businesses by offering the

nounce that we are providing the

FreeMyMenu app free of charge.

FreeMyApp service to businesses

Really excellent work, thank you

in the Cotswolds free of complete-

so much!”

ly free for the foreseeable future.

Even before lockdown, the ways people searched for restaurants were changing. When consumers search for a restaurant on their phones, the number one thing they want to see is an up-to-date menu. As the lockdown eases, it’s never been more important to have up-to-date menus on your website.

Not Just Code is a long-standing member of Cotswold Taste, the region’s leading food and drink quality marque.

Jered stressed the value of supporting local networks and connections, adding: “By all working together, we can make the connections that allow us to help each other now – and digital is part of that process.

“The app we’ve created, ‘Free-

“It’s vital for businesses to think

MyMenu’, enables restaurants to

about their digital presence,

update their website even before

particularly with shopping habits

the printed menus have left the

changing as a result of the pan-

printer! Customers can further

demic. If you don’t have a website

benefit from being able to filter

you should certainly be thinking

menus according to their allergen

about developing one or at least

or dietary needs.

starting a social media presence

“Lockdowns are beginning to ease and many customers are venturing back out to support local businesses and enjoy a good meal. By using our app, businesses can save paper and remove a point of contact between customers and front of house staff by letting customers know they can view exactly the same menu on their phones.”

Cllr Tony Dale, Cabinet Member

Food and drink businesses are taking a fresh look at the way they trade as lockdown restrictions are lifted.

Several members of Cotswold Taste were forced to act quickly to find new markets for their products after the UK was told to ‘stay at home’. Now they’re adjusting their activities as a new period of uncertainty rolls out.

partnership with Cotswold Taste,

app that enables restaurants to

Tentative Steps to the New Normal

Among them is Stroud Brewery, which found itself with a storeroom of cask and keg beer and no pubs to take it after 23 March. Owner Greg Pilley’s response was to package his real ales into ‘bags in boxes’ and work with local drivers hit by the lockdown to offer free delivery to customers ordering over the internet.

At the same time, the number of village stores and other independent shops looking to stock cans and bottles increased.

‘We’re just grateful people have kept drinking our beer’ While the re-opening of pubs and Stroud Brewery’s own bar is generally seen as a positive step, Greg says he remains cautious as the country works to restore some semblance of normality.

‘We’re just grateful that people have kept drinking our beer.

“Immediately after lockdown we were facing the loss of between 75 and 80% of our usual sales, the biggest of which came from our own bar,” explains Greg, whose company moved from its original site to purpose-built premises in Brimscombe at the beginning of 2019.

“Then everybody was panic-buying, which included beer, so we found ourselves really busy: last April we sold just over £2,000 worth of products through our web shop; this year it was £25,000.

“Since lockdown all the contract canning and bottling companies have been fully booked up with a two rather than one-month lead in time, which presents us with an additional challenge in terms of knowing how much of our products to send to them.

“Pubs are now reopening but it’s clear a lot of people remain cautious and aren’t venturing out at present. Fortunately with our own bar we have a lot of space, and we’ve put in place measures such as table service and hand sanitisers.

so customers can easily find you.

If you already have a website and social media, you should be undertaking a ‘Health Check’ of your website right now.”

To learn more about FreeMyMenu, visit: www.freemymenu. com For more information about Cotswold Taste, please visit: www.cotswoldtaste.co.uk

for the Economy and Skills at

8

Your CotswoldLink

Please mention Your CotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers

“We welcome the return of orders from pubs, but deliveries have been smaller, resulting in lost potential in efficiencies, and we’re well aware that we’re one of a great number of breweries, each of which is looking to sell their beer to a smaller market.

“The hardest thing is being able to forecast what will happen and produce beer accordingly.”

The furlough scheme, which has enabled the brewery team to be split and brought in to work on a three-weekly basis, along with measures such as rate relief from Stroud District Council, have gone a long way to help Stroud Brewery stay in business, says Greg, and he believes the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ intervention will also help both his own bar and others serving food, although he fears for those pubs that rely largely on wet sales.

I hope people realise how critical British food is’ Over on the other side of Stroud, cheesemaker Liz Godsell has seen sales of cheese to hospitality customers wiped out, but gained in business from six new farm shops and increased orders from existing retailers. These include Midcounties Coop, which started listing Godsell’s Cheese just after Christmas; Gloucester Services, which has been stocking the family’s products on its forecourts, and Stroud Farmers’ Market’s pre-order scheme.

Orders for mozzarella for takeaway pizzas made at The Priory in Tetbury have also been a positive, but these gains have been tempered by the fall in the price paid for liquid milk produced at Church Farm in Leonard Stanley.

“I hope the silver lining from this awful Coronavirus business is that people will realise how critical British food is,” says Liz. “A lot of people have been nervous about going into supermarkets and I think the farm shops have provided a service almost on a par with the NHS: British farmers are producing food to keep people healthy.

“The increased cheese orders have given us a real boost, but we only use 15% of our milk for cheese and the fall in milk price has been really difficult because it doesn’t cover our production costs and comes after one of the wettest winters on record and a most unusual spring.”

Both Greg and Liz are hopeful that the lockdown period will have encouraged many people to reflect on their lives and issues such as the environment, communities and supporting local businesses.

Bourton & District U3A As a result of the continuing Coronavirus pandemic, our annual Enrolment day will take place on Wednesday 23rd September, but the exact form of the day will be notified to you individually.

We hope that our annual AGM will take place on Wednesday 28th October but confirmation will again be made individually.

Group meetings are also cancelled, although some groups keep in touch on-line and small groups have met outside.

Full details are on our website www.u3asites.org.uk/bourton, where you will find a weekly quiz and stories from members, as well as latest news regarding Coronavirus.

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

9

The

Where did Education begin?

Cotswold Sky How to find the planets

Welcome back to the Cotswold Link. No one knows what lies ahead in these disturbing times.

However, we can try and relax for a few minutes each evening by stepping out of the door and looking upwards to the sky and enjoy the serene night sky. You may say the sky is often cloudy or that you live where streetlights abound giving off light pollution. Yes, light pollution can make observing the planets more difficult, but they are still visible and there are a number of digital applications available to help you search for the position of the planets.

One of the most popular is Stellarium (www.stellarium.org).

Stellarium is free and can be downloaded on to your computer, tablet and mobile. There may be a small charge to pay if downloading on to your mobile dependent on which application you choose.

There are also other free applications available such as Cartes du Ceil, Celestia, Sky Safari and Sky View Lite to name but a few.

Search your internet for the best suggestions.

View of Saturn and Jupiter looking due South 20th September at 20.00 hours (image taken from Stellarium)

Diary Autumn Equinox – Tuesday 22nd September 14.31 hours. This is when the Sun passes over the Equator on its journey south.

10

Your CotswoldLink

Along with the Spring equinox in March this is also when theoretically most places on Earth have equal amounts of day and light.

The precise term for when equal hours of daylight and darkness occurs is referred to as an equilux.

The precise date of an equilux occurs according to the latitude of the place in question.

Greenwich Mean Time Clocks go back one hour at 02.00 hours Sunday 25th October.

Planets Mercury – Mercury is not visible to observe during the months of September and October.

Venus – Observable in the east during the hours of 03.00 and 05.30.

Mars – Excellent for observation.

By mid-September Mars rises in the East at around 20.30 hours and can be observed making its way across the sky through to the early hours of the mornings.

During October Mars will rise early evening in the East and by the end of the month can be observed due South, high in the sky at 22.30 hours.

Saturn and Jupiter – Saturn follows Jupiter across the sky for the 2 months. Saturn being to the left of Jupiter. Easy to observe from 21.00 hours at the beginning of September look towards South East, the pair cannot be missed.

This procession continues throughout October by which time they are seen to be making their way westwards so that by the end of the month Jupiter sets by 22.00 hours in the South West followed

by Saturn.

John Harris

The obvious answer is at home when our ancestors taught their children how to feed and fend for themselves. This would have extended between families and communities as they would pass on ideas and assistance in their fight for survival. ArWestwoods Grammar School, Northchaeologists have found evidence leach. One of the oldest schools in the country destroyed by fire in 1988 of tools and weapons plus; incredibly; coloured paintings in caves like those in Lascaux, France dating back 15,000 to 17,000 years. Knowledge would have passed from each generation with improvements being implemented with time, but this was done in an informal way.

Initial Formal Education No one knows for certain when formal education commenced.

Conceivably we can start with the formation of writing c3,500BC by various ancient civilisations. There is evidence of the Babylonians (c1,800BC) having knowledge of fractions, algebra, quadratic and cubic equations (I recall solving quadratic equations in Babylonian cuneiform figures as part of my degree). The Greek civilisation had within it schools including one run by Pythagoras c570-c495BC (parents do you remember him?) it is not inconceivable that it was the students who worked out the Pythagoras theorem and not Pythagoras himself. However, I will leave that debate to the academics of this world. We must also make mention of formulised learning in Egypt, Arabia, India, and China. From this we can conclude that group schooling became a natural means of learning.

Formal Education in Europe AD500 – AD150 The first schools in the UK commenced in the 6th century originating in monasteries and centred on the teaching of Latin, writing and philosophy. These monastic schools became our first universities some 600 years later.

Out of interest the oldest existing and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859AD in Fez, Morocco. The University of Bologna, Italy founded in 1088 is the oldest university in Europe.

Oxford University is the oldest university in the English-speaking world there is no clear date of foundation , but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.

The oldest schools in the Cotswolds The oldest school in England is The King’s School Canterbury (founded 597AD) but in 54th place is Chipping Campden (founded 1440AD) not far behind and certainly in the top 200 would have been Westwoods Grammar School, Northleach (founded 1589) which tragically burnt down in 1988 one year short of its 400th Anniversary. Westwoods was then amalgamated with Bourton Vale School at Bourton on the Water to become The Cotswold School.

Of the schools on the other side of the border in Oxfordshire the oldest in is Abingdon which is possibly as old as 1100 AD followed

by Magdalen College, Oxford in 1480 then Burford School which was founded in 1571. Henry Box in Witney was founded in 1660.

JOHN HARRIS

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_oldest_schools_in_the_ United_Kingdom

Please mention Your CotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

11

GARDEN VIEW

Dazzling Dahlias Over the past few years, I’ve fallen in love with dahlias for their ability to provide autumn colour. I think Dahlias are like the glamorous friend who arrives late to the party, fresh and full of life, outshining all the other guests who are a bit tired and past their best...or maybe that’s just me being fanciful.

Either way the vibrant colours, tactile textures and stunning petal formations make the Dahlia queen of the September garden for me.

The dahlia originates from Mexico and there are 30 species and around 20,000 cultivars! Don’t let its exotic past fool you; it hails from high mountain regions so is happy in cool, wet, and windy conditions. It doesn’t matter what size your garden is there is a dahlia for you, from dwarf varieties to giants. There is even one variety (Imperialis) that can reach 6m (20 feet) in the wild in its native South America.

If your garden is on the exposed side, or you live in the north then look for the pompom varieties as the colourful globes are very hardy, standing up to the worst of the British weather.

Dahlia bulbs are comprised of tubers. In order to sprout the tuber must have an ‘eye’. If you live in a very cold area, you can dig up the tubers at the end of the season and plant them out again the following year. My garden is quite sheltered, so I simply cut them down and mulch them. I learned the hard way that mulched dahlias survive and thrive much better than unmulched plants. Dahlia tubers are hungry beasts and don’t take kindly to being undernourished. The first year I planted them I didn’t mulch and the second year the flowers were sparse and undersized. On the advice of a neighbour I fed them, mulched them, and watered them through

12

Your CotswoldLink

the hot season, and they returned in full vigour the following year.

Dahlias come in the most amazing array of colours.

‘Lubega Power Yellow-Orange’ sounds like a toilet cleaner but is in fact a gloriously tropical dwarf bedding dahlia which produces masses of double flowers well into autumn if you deadhead it regularly. At 30cm you can plant it at the front of the border or in window boxes to brighten the dullest of days.

Dahlia ‘Cornel Brons’ produces wonderful round copper-coloured architectural flowers. They are long-lasting and make spectacular cut flowers. They look good in the middle of a border because they grow to 90cm.

For gardeners who prefer a more subtle or unusual colour palette: Dahlia ‘Cafe aux Lait produces enormous exquisite blooms in a soft apricot-pink colour, which fade to vintage cream. It’s the perfect dahlia for creating a focal point toward the back of the border as it grows to 120cm.

Dahlia ‘Creme de Cassis’ has stunning two-tone petals on water lily-shaped flowers. It grows to 90cm so is good for the middle of a border and also looks fabulous in a big pot.

By Rachael Leverton

Please mention Your CotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

13

There are thousands of reasons to advertise with us...

Next issues

West Oxfordshire Nov / Dec Dist: w/c 2nd Nov Copy: 7th Oct

Aston Magna Blockley Bourton-on-the-Hill

Moretonin-Marsh

Little Compton Evenlode

Longborough Condicote

Oddington Broadwell

Winchcombe

Stow-onthe-Wold

Great Rollright

Heythrop

Lidstone

KinghamChurchill Dean Sarsden Naunton Chadlington Wyck Bledington Taston Lower Slaughter Whittington Rissington Church Greenend Spelsbury Westcote Shorthampton Nether Westcote Notgrove Shipton-underIdbury Little Dowdeswell Andoversford Wychwood Chilson Rissington Fifield Shipton Milton-under- Ascott-underClapton-on-the-Hill Great Fawler Wychwood Wychwood Turkdean Rissington Compton Finstock Abdale Langley Ramsden Great Withington Leafield Barrington Fulbrook Taynton Hailey Asthall Windrush Little Leigh Eastington Swinbrook Barrington Crawley Chedworth Asthall Minster Lovell Coln St Dennis Witney Bradwell Village Aldsworth Upper Slaughter

Icomb

Bourton-onthe-Water

North Cotswolds

Charlbury

Northleach

West Oxfordshire

18,800 homes & businesses

Burford

16,400

Dist: w/c 2nd Nov Copy: 7th Oct

Christine 01609 777401 07742 595747 christine@jkanorth.com

Little Rollright Over Norton

Chipping Norton Cornwell

North Cotswolds Nov / Dec

Shilton

Brize Norton

Carterton

homes & businesses

1/8 Page

1/4 Page

£70!

£110!

from only

from only

Cotswold District Council launches Annual Canvass 2020 Don’t lose your voice - residents in the Cotswolds urged to look out for their voter registration details from Cotswold District Council.

they respond where they need to.

We want to make sure that every eligible resident in the District has the right to vote.

Local residents are being warned not to lose their voice on decisions that affect them by making sure their electoral registration details are up to date. With Police and Crime Commissioner, County Council and some Parish Council elections taking place on 6 May 2021, this is an important opportunity for residents to make sure they can take part.

“If you’re not currently registered, your name will not appear in the messages we send. If you want to register, the easiest way is online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote, or we’ll send you information explaining how to do this in the post.”

The annual canvass ensures that the Council can keep the electoral register up to date, identifying any residents who are not registered so that they can be encouraged to do so.

Sarah Dalby, Electoral Services Manager at Cotswold District Council, said: “We’ll be sending out communications to all households in the district in the coming weeks.

This will begin with emails to residents and letters will be delivered beginning in early August. It’s vital for residents to make sure their details are accurate, and to ensure

14

Your CotswoldLink

“This year’s canvass, which we have to carry out by law, is taking place during a challenging public health situation. We are working to ensure that we take account of public health guidelines, including the continued importance of social distancing.”

than sixteen years will be registered, compared to 36% of people who have lived at an address for less than one year. Melanie Davidson, Head of Support and Improvement at the Electoral Commission, said: “It’s really important that everyone who is entitled to vote is able to do so. Making sure you provide the necessary information to your local authority when it is needed will ensure the process runs smoothly. This is particularly helpful in the current public health situation, as it will help avoid the need for home visits from canvassers.

“There’s lots of helpful information about registering to vote on our website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter.”

Any residents who have any questions can contact their local registration team at 01285 623002 or email elections@cotswold.gov.uk Find out more about the annual canvass here: https://www. cotswold.gov.uk/about-the-council/ elections-and-voting/annualcanvas/

People who have moved recently are particularly encouraged to look out for the voter registration messages from the Council and check the details. Research by the Electoral Commission indicates that recent home movers are far less likely to be registered than those who have lived at the same address for a long time. Across Great Britain, 92% of people who have been at their property for more

Please mention Your CotswoldLink when contacting any of our advertisers

Advertising - contact Christine: 01609 777401 | www.cotswoldlink.co.uk

Your CotswoldLink

15

www.cotswoldlink.co.uk