Launton Village Players Update on Events

ChristmasCarols2023...

...attheHummingbird

WearethrilledtobeinvitedbacktoprovidesomefreefamilyChristmas entertainmentattheHummingbirdCentre’s“LighttheLight”eventon Sunday9Decemberat3pm.ComealongandseetheLVPelves,witha specialguestortwo!

...attheSchool

WehavealsobeenaskedtosingcarolsattheLauntonSchoolChristmas CaféandfaironSaturday16Decemberbetween2pmand4pm.

...roundthevillage

OnFriday15DecemberwewillbesingingcarolsaroundLauntonvillage, raisingmoneyforAlzheimer’sUK.Wewillaimtobeatthefollowing locations(seethemaponpage47):

6.45pmWestEndClose

7.15pmSherwoodClose

7.45pmYewTreeClose

8.15pmMulberryHomes/LauntonMews

8.45pmTheBullInn

Pleasedopopoutandlisten-orjoinin-andgivetothisgoodcause.

TheRaceNightatTheBull

AhugethankyoutoKarenandBrandonatTheBullforhostingus,and toallwhoorganisedandcametothisevent.Itwasagreateveningand helpedLVPraise£665towardsournewstageblocks.Thankyoutoall whosupportedus.AndseephotoofKarencollectingherwinningson page40,opposite.

YoucanfindoutmoreaboutLVPbygettingintouchviaemailon info@launtonvillageplayers.org.uk,onFacebook,oratourwebsite www.launtonvillageplayers.org.uk.

Welookforwardtohearingfromyou!

MerryChristmaseveryone!

TheLVPteam

Memories of an ex-Launton Boy

This month the ex-Launton Boy is musing on Remembrance Day. Every year he remembers three personal friends who lost their lives when he was serving in the Royal Engineers, but this year he had to spend Remembrance Sunday away from his veteran pals in the Garrison Church as he was struck down by a “really nasty sickness bug”. This experience took him back to his Launton childhood: when he was just two he had whooping cough that stripped him of most of his body mass, followed by all the regular childhood illnesses as well as annual checking for TB but the real bugbear of his youth was tonsillitis. Every time he had a bout he had to miss school, and so had to play catch up once he was back. In his early teens he was caught up in the Wales smallpox “epidemic” of 1962, had the vaccination and joined a bell-ringing trip to the principality.

For the very first time in forty years, I did not attend the Remembrance Sunday service at church. My attendances have been carried out solemnly throughout those years, including those when I had turned my back on the church, to pay my respects to those who gave their lives in two World Wars and the many conflicts since.

It should be remembered that not all lost military lives during the last century, or indeed this, were as a consequence of war or combat engagement. People often forget that when not on combat missions, the armed forces are continually training, on military exercises, NATO manoeuvres, being deployed as peace-keeping forces under the banner of the UN, and of course, during what was known as the Cold War, a great many of us served much our time in what was then known as Western Germany as part of BAOR(British Army Of the Rhine). I served four and a half years in Germany, during which time, from my own Engineers Regiment, we lost eighteen of our boys. Other units would have had their fair share of losses also, whether from RTA’sor during training exercises or victims of acts of terrorism.

Over that time I lost three personal friends with whom I served, and I remember them particularly on both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, and indeed, every single time I hear Last Post being sounded at a veteran’sfuneral. I did so again on this last Remembrance Sunday occasion, but sadly not where I wanted to, at the Garrison Church along with my veteran pals. And all because of some really nasty sickness bug that suddenly took hold of me and hit me for six. I won’tgo into detail but suffice it to say that I lost five pounds in weight over just three days.

This sickness / ailment, call it what you like, took me back to my childhood when growing up in Launton. I wasn’texactly a sickly child, but like most of the kids in the village back then, I think we went through most of the childhood ailments one by one. Mine began with whooping cough at just about two years of age. Until then I had been the usual slightly tubby but healthy bouncy baby, but when hit with whooping cough, the weight just fell away from me, and though as I grew, I used to eat more and more like a horse, yet I seemed not able to put weight back on. There was a greater amount of fat to be found on a greasy chip than on me. When I joined the army just three months short of my eighteenth birthday, I had a twenty-four-inch waist and weighed just eight and a half stone. Nonetheless, for my weight I was remarkably strong physically, due partly I am sure to my mental determination not to ‘fail’. (a typical Capricorn!)

Following on from the whooping cough, I suffered as did most kids in the village with the likes of mumps; chicken pox (and again as an adult); measles, had to be checked annually for TB as dad had suffered with it and was very poorly, having to spend considerable time as a patient at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford. But the real bugbear for me was tonsillitis.

I know I have written of this before as some of you may remember; the fact that I loved school, with a constant thirst for learning. The only times I missed school was when I had severe bouts of tonsillitis, which meant I was often having to play ‘catch-up’, which fortunately never fazed me, but was nonetheless a bit of an inconvenience. I have always hated missing things of what I consider to be of importance to me because of illness.

Again, going back to my very early teens, there was almost a case of me missing a particularly important annual event, during the time of the outbreak of smallpox. Many of you may remember this, when there were pockets of higher instances of smallpox in various parts of the nation whilst at the same time a massive shortage of smallpox vaccine. The decision was taken to vaccinate only those who were likely to be at greater risk of catching it by virtue of their location. Wales was a particular hot-spot, and it just so happened that this was at a time when I was a member of the Launton Handbell Ringers. Back then we used to undertake an annual trip to South Wales to give handbell recitals at St. David’sCathedral in Pembrokeshire, often staying at what was the CobourgHotel in Tenbyor at Frederick Sharpe’ssister-in-law’s(Auntie Gwen’s) place in Cardigan. I therefore considered it prudent to visit my GP, DrForbes, and ask if under the circumstances I might be vaccinated. He very kindly obliged and instructed me to return to him in a couple of days to check that it had taken, which I did, and it hadn’t.So he gave me a further vaccination (scratching rather than injecting) and instructed me further to return in a couple of days for the same purpose. Again, it had not taken, upon which he advised me that I could carry the smallpox virus and spread it whilst at the same time being immune to its effects myself. And so a missed-out trip avoided, and I travelled to South Wales with confidence.

Strangely however, when some four years later at the end of my army basic training, prior to being posted overseas, I had to have a smallpox vaccination, carried out in exactly the same way as four years earlier, but this time, my arm came up like a balloon. Work that one out if you will!

I only wish I could have had something to prevent this awful bout of severe sickness I experienced over the Armistice weekend. I trust the good people of Launton did the village proud in paying collective thanks and respect for the village fallen. We didn’thave the village War Memorial when I was growing up in the village, although as I recall, we had plaques in St. Mary’schurch. I also remember the late TaffyBates and AlecAustin among others whom I believe belonged to the Ancient Order of Buffalos (or something similar) performing a collective act of remembrance in front of the rood screen on Remembrance Sundays. Very solemn indeed and greatly respected.

AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, AND IN THE MORNING, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

Keep healthy and stay SAFE!

Diary Dates: December 2023

Inthecurrentsituation,itcanstillbedifficulttobespecificaboutvillageevents.Listedarethosewe knowareplanned-butcheckwithorganisersnearerthedateifyouplantoattend.

December 2023

Saturday2BCOSConcertChoralJazz,StEdburg'sChurch,Bicester,7.30pm

Sunday3StMary'sChurch,HolyCommunion(BCP),8am;ChristingleFamilyService,11am| WeeklyQuizatTheBull,8pm

Monday4WatercolourArtClass,ParishHall,2pm-4pm|StMary'sChurchFellowshipGroupMeeting intheChurch,2.30pm

Tuesday5RubbishCollection:recyclingandgardenbins|CommunityCafé,ParishHall:9am-11am; 2.30pm-4.30pm|RockChorus,ParishHall,7.30pm

Wednesday6Over60sClubChristmasLunch,SportsandSocialHall,doorsopenat12.30andbar opens,endsabout3.30pm

Thursday7ParishCouncilMeeting,PublicSession7.15pm,CouncilMeeting7.30pm.ParishHall

Friday8SCOTSMeeting,TheBull,from5.30pm

Saturday9HummingbirdCentreLighttheLightevent;GrangeCourtyard,StationRoad,12noon4.30pm|LauntonCommunityChoirChristmasConcertJinglealltheWay,StMary's Church,5pm.TicketsatCostcutterandTheBull

Sunday10StMary'sChurch,Evensong,6pm|WeeklyQuizatTheBull,8pm

Monday11WatercolourArtClass,ParishHall,2pm-4pm

Tuesday12RubbishCollection:garbagebin|CommunityCafé,ParishHall:9am-11am;2.30pm4.30pm|IslandPondWoodWorkingParty,10am|RockChorus,ParishHall,7.30pm

Thursday14WIChristmasMeetingwithmealandavisitfromagentlemanfromtheNorthPole,Parish Hall,7.30pm

Friday15VillagePlayersCarolSingingroundthevillagefrom6.45pm-seepage47(opposite)for timesandlocations

Saturday16

FINALDATEFORCOPYFORTHEJANUARY2024ISSUEOFLAUNTONLINES: SUBMITTOlauntonlines@launton.org|LauntonSchoolChristmasCaféandFairin theSchool,2.00pm-4.00pm

Sunday17StMary'sChurch,ServiceofNineLessonsandCarols,6pm|WeeklyQuizatTheBull, 8pm

Monday18WatercolourArtClass,ParishHall,2pm-4pm

Tuesday19RubbishCollection:recyclingandgardenbins|Lastdayofschoolforchildrenfor ChristmasHoliday.BacktoschoolonMonday8January2024|NoCommunityCafé, reopenson9January2024|RockChorus,ParishHall,7.30pm

Sunday24ChristmasEve|StMary'sChurch,InteractiveCribService,3.00pm;MidnightCommunion, 11.30pm|ChristmasRaffleDraw(9.00pm)atTheBull,forTheHummingbirdCentre, featuringSantaClausandhisbrother,andmanyprizes.

Monday25ChristmasDay|StMary'sChurch,HolyCommunion,11.00am

Tuesday26BoxingDay|RubbishCollection:Garbagebinrescheduledtonextday|NoCommunity Café,reopenson9January2024

Wednesday27RubbishCollection:Garbagebinrescheduledtotoday

Sunday31StMary'sChurch,TeamEveningServiceatStEdburg'sBicester,6.00pm