Textile and Small Electrical item Collections

You may have been wondering why your bags of textiles have been left on the verge after the normal rubbish collections have passed by.  The Vale / Biffa have had problems with their old vehicles, now replaced, but the most recent problems of uncollected textiles seem to be because they have changed the rules - again.

We are now told that textiles will be picked up at the same time as weekly food waste.  Textiles must be in clear or semi-clear bags, no bigger than a normal supermarket carrier bag.  These can be put out each week now but only one bag per household.  The same applies to small electrical items which must fit completely into the clear/semi-clear carrier bag and will be picked up by the refuse and recycling crews each week.

Happy recycling!!

Stonehill Community Gardens - Wildlife Event Wednesday 25th October

Wildlife Event - Wednesday 25th October 11am - 3pm

Beautiful UK butterflies - come along to our event tomorrow to learn how you can encourage butterflies and other wildlife into your garden.

⦁ Build a bug house and take home with you

⦁ Birdhouse building kits available

⦁ Animal print identification
⦁ Build a hedgehog house & take home with you
⦁ Plant lists for wildlife

⦁ Pond dipping

⦁ Why wildlife are needed in the garden

Everyone welcome - free to attend.  Garden produce will be on sale

Aviva Funding - please vote for us - We have submitted our Sensory Garden space project to Aviva and voting is now open!!  Please use this link to vote for use and share with your friends:

https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/17-3968

Everyone gets 10 votes and if we receive enough votes, we will get £1000 towards our sensory garden.  The space will include planting for all senses and a quiet space to sit and enjoy the surroundings - something we know a lot of our visitors will use.

Funding for groups to visit the garden for FREE - Thanks to the grant from Oxfordshire Community Foundation, we have funding for 20 groups to visit the garden for free.  If you know a group who may benefit from a relaxing or educational point of view please get in touch.  Feel free to pass this on to anyone in a local group.

Forest Garden Update - We have identified some exciting species to be planted in our Forect Garden, from almonds to medlars, to local apple variety 'Milton Wonder'.  Tree planting will be the the first step - dates coming soon.  Sign up here.

Winter opening hours newsletter coming to you soon.  There are many ways in which you can support us, both at the garden and away from.  Get in touch if you would like to be involved in a small or a big way.  Our honey, fruit and vegetables are sold by donation every Wednesday from the garden.  We're there on Wednesdays 10am - 4pm.

Halloween Trick or Treating ......

Police will be carrying out patrols on Halloween to make sure that people who are trick-or-treating are doing so in a friendly manner and not causing a nuisance.

For some people, this time of the year can be a bother as your evenings are interrupted with people knocking on your doors for treats.  Most of these children or teenagers are just getting involved in the Halloween celebrations and will be friendly.

If you feel unsafe:

⦁   Don’t open your door if you’re unsure who is there.  Use your spyhole, look out of a window and use your door chain if you do decide to open your door.

⦁   Have a contact number of a close relative or good neighbour to hand by your telephone, just in case you need to phone them.

⦁   If you are part of a Neighbourhood Watch scheme, let your coordinator know that you will be on your own at Halloween.  If you are a coordinator, please identity people in your scheme that may be vulnerable and offer them reassurance, you could also help by downloading the poster.

You can download the 'no trick or treat' poster at the bottom of this email to display on your door.  

Thames Valley Police will not tolerate any anti-social behaviour at any time of the year.  To report anti-social behaviour, call 101, the 24-hour Thames Valley Police non-emergency number.  If you feel threatened, if it’s an emergency, or if a crime is in progress, call 999.

Car Theft

Thames Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following the theft of a vehicle in Abingdon.

Between 11pm on Sunday (17/9) and 10am on Monday (18/9) a white Ford Transit was (index Y***NTX) was stolen from Francis Little Drive.

If you have any information relating to this message please call the Police via the 24 hour non-emergency telephone number 101. 

Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk.org.  No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.

Water Leaks - Sutton Wick Lane and Newman Lane, Drayton

A resident telephoned Thames Water on 4th October to find out about the leaks on the road to Drayton by Sutton Wick Lane and Newman Lane.  Apparently both have been inspected and work is due to begin on the Newman Lane junction on 16th to 18th October and there may be traffic control there.  The other one is awaiting permission from the council to do 'out of hours ' work to cause less disruption of traffic.

Get ready for Autumn with extra Garden Waste Collections

From South and Vale District Councils:

Residents across southern Oxfordshire who are signed up for brown bin collections can put out twice as much garden waste during one week this month.

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils are giving those who are part of the paid-for service the opportunity to put out the equivalent of one extra bin’s worth of garden waste (around three large bin bags) during:

⦁     week commencing 16th October - Vale of White Horse

⦁     week commencing 23rd October - South Oxfordshire

Residents should leave their extra garden waste out in bin liners or sacks beside their brown bins on their usual collection day during these weeks.  Trade waste bags cannot be accepted.

Cllr Tony Harbour, cabinet member for waste at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “The garden waste service is very popular and this is a little thank you to our residents for all their efforts with recycling.  We’d like to encourage everyone to make use of the larger collection.”

Cllr Charlotte Dickson, cabinet member for waste at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “With the autumn leaves falling, it’s a good time to give residents this extra service and we hope they find it helpful.  It’s a perfect opportunity to get their gardens ready for winter.”

Stonehill Community Gardens - September News

We would like to share our mixed fundraising news:

Our Crowdfunder wasn't as successful as we would like and didn't meet our target, although we did raise just over £300 and would like to give a massive thank you to all those who contributed.  If you missed out and would like to contribute, we still have our own Stonehill Fruit trees for sale at £20 each and honey available to buy each Wednesday at our garden sessions.  Order your Stonehill Fruit Tree now (Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Gage, Damson, Quince available).  We have however, received a small grant from Oxfordshire Community Foundation - thank you! ... as well as a grant from Awards for All Lottery funding.  These funds will enable us to complete many activities on site - see below.

Funding for Groups to visit the garden for FREE - Thanks to the grant from Oxfordshire Community Foundation, we have funding for 20 groups to visit the garden for free - if you know a group who may benefit from a relaxing or educational point of view, please get in touch.  Please feel free to pass this on to anyone in a local group.

Forest Garden designers in the making - Would you like to design a Forest Garden?  Do you know about Trees or edible shrubs and perennials?  We now have funding for the plants for our Forest Garden and need to get them ordered.  We would like to invite you to our tea and cake design sessions.  Below are some pictures from our recent Forest Garden Design course - the designs from which will be the start of our discussions.  Sign up here.

Polytunnel and Shelter - As part of our lottery funding, we will be constructing a large polytunnel for year round growing, and a shelter for our outdoor kitchen using natural materials.  We will be building a roundhouse timber frame and using innovative methods of building with natural materials for the walls.  Take part in our workshops.

Corporate Volunteering - A division of Amey joined us at the end of August and they worked like troopers!  Everyone pitched in with various tasks around the garden - including moving our self-watering polytunnel into place - pictures below.  If you're looking for something local and different for your corporate volunteering hours, we have the following activities available this Autumn, on a first come first served basis:

⦁     Polytunnel construction

⦁     Woodland walk creation

⦁     Raised bed construction

We need people power and you get to enjoy a day outdoors, within nature and learning new skills.    Contact us here to enquire.

Apple Pressing - Thank you to Abingdon Carbon Cutters for running an Apple pressing day at the garden recently!  Only 50 bottles available at £3 - buy on a Wednesday at the garden or contact us.  Grown and pressed at Stonehill.  We will be closing for some of this Winter whilst it is cold, and will be confirming dates in our next newsletter.  There are many ways in which you can support us, both at the garden and away from it, get in touch if you would like to be involved in a small or a big way.  Our Honey, Fruit and Vegetables are sold by donation every Wednesday from the garden 10am - 4pm.