Children's Corner - Christmas Colouring Competition

Thank you to all the children who sent in their pictures for the Christmas Colouring competition - there were many superb colouring pictures!  You can view all entries in the window of the Stonewater flats Common Room, Bridges Close.

Christmas Quiz Winners

There were quite a few correct answers sent in for the adults Christmas Quiz from the December Newsletter ..... the winner is Daphne Stevens of Mill Road - well done!!  Daphne wins a small prize.

The answers to the quiz are:

1) Stocking, 2) Santa, 3) Tinsel, 4) Spruce, 5) Manger, 6) Noel, 7) Turkey, 8) Sleigh, 9) Reindeer, 10) Present, 11) Mistletoe, 12) Carol, 13) Star, 14) Angel, 15) Magi (Kings)

Children's Corner - Colouring Competition - Christmas 2015

There were many superb colouring pictures sent in for the children's colouring competition featured in the Christmas Newsletter - well done to all who submitted an entry - it was a tough decision to select 2 winners from such beautiful pictures!!  Our independent judge selected 2 winners for both categories, and the winners are Lois age 4 and Anna age 6, and the runner up is Izabel age 8, all from Tithe Farm.  The children received a book token each.  Well done!

You can view all the entires in the window of the Stonewater flats Common Room, Bridges Close.

Winner - Anna age 6

Winner - Lois age 4

Runner Up - Izabel age 6

Neighbourhood Watch - Christmas Theft

The Neighbourhood Watch reported that there had sadly been a theft of some exterior decorations from Medlicott Drive over Christmas - sometime between Monday evening 28th December and Tuesday morning 29th December.

He said that residents of the road had been suspicious of a large white transit-type van parked in the road on several occasions before the theft, although they don't know if the two events are linked.  He asks that if other residents see a van of this type, driving slowly or stopped in this area, that they note the registration number and let him know and he will pass it on to the local police.

Neighbourhood Watch number is 07753915437.

Update on the Drayton Road resurfacing

Following our blog post about the resurfacing of the Drayton Road back in September, here's the latest from Fix My Street website:

It has been reported that the Mill Road/Drayton Road roundabout leading into Abingdon is in a poor state with potholes and damaged road surface and that the KEEP CLEAR sign on the road has virtually gone causing difficulty for Tithe Farm residents turning right from the estate which is often blocked by cars queueing.  The roundabout markings have now been added to the OCC Lining Maintenance list for the year beginning April 2016.

Councillors News - New Recycling Services by Chris Palmer

Some new recycling services have been introduced by Vale of White Horse District Council.  From this week you can now recycle:

•  broken or unusable small electrical goods in grey bin week

•  tatty, torn and unusable old clothes and textiles in green bin week

Just put them in a tied carrier bag next to your bin on your normal collection day.

Small electrical items - taken to a specialist site in Newbury for sorting, storing and processing into new gadgets.

Textiles - taken to a sorting warehouse in East London - any cotton and polyester gets cut into industrial rags, and any wool is shredded and made into felt or new yarn.

See also: http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/recycling-rubbish-and-waste/new-recycling-services-now-available 

Also for those of you who have brown bins:

Extra, extra! Extra-large garden waste collections this autumn

Garden waste customers in the Vale of White Horse can put an extra-large collection out during the week of 19th October 2015.  You can put out one extra bins’ worth of garden waste in sacks or reusable bags (but not trade bags) on your usual collection day - you just need to make sure they’re open so the crew can see what’s in there.

See also:

http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/recycling-rubbish-and-waste/garden-waste

Gardening - The Garden in late Winter - 2015

Not a lot to do at this time of year really, except keep any weeds in check.  These can proliferate in mild wet weather.  If we get snow, it can lay on and break branches, so although it looks lovely, it's a good idea to brush heavy snow off any delicate branches.

Planning is a good thing - there are new seed packets in the garden centres now, so buy now while stocks last.  Also now is a good time to check any garden structures - supports for climbing plants, sheds, fences and greenhouses.  Repair them before new growth starts covering them. 

In late February, you can cut back buddleia hard, to a few inches from the ground, as it flowers on this year's new branches.  This also applies to dogwoods, to produce wonderful red stems.

Trim winter flowering heathers after they have flowered.  As snowdrops start to fade, lift them, split up the bunches, and replant them at the same depth.

Hellebores will start flowering soon - cut back old leaves to allow the new flowers to be seen.

Not a lot to do at this time of year really??  So I was wrong!!

Phone Scams - be Aware

Phone scams seem to be a modern day scourge, affecting most of us.  A new one came to light recently when I was phoned by someone with an Indian accent called 'Alex', claiming to be from Claims Advisory Group, working for the UK Government.  I was informed I was due a cheque for £3,000 for overpaid bank or building society fees and asked me to confirm my name, date of birth and my bank as they wanted to write out a cheque for me, so I gave a false name, birth date and bank name.  He said his Manager would phone me the next day.

True to form, the next day the 'Manager' phoned me, though I'm sure it was 'Alex' who'd spoken to me the day before.  He again asked me to confirm my details, and again I confirmed the false ones.  He said their representative, 'Mr Robinson', was in my area and would call round with my cheque, and though they don't charge for their services, the representative did as he was independent.  His charge would be 10% and as my cheque was now £3600 then I'd need to pay him £360 when he called.

It was then I said I thought it very strange as I'd never had to pay for money that was owing to me, but if they'd kindly like to take the fee off my monies owing to me to save time, they could then post my cheque for £3240 through my letterbox.

'Alex' said 'forget it' ..... and hung up.

People - please be aware of phone calls like this.  Always be aware and never give personal details over the phone.  Genuine callers would never ask for personal details.

Stay safe.

Street Corner Parking

When parking vehicles on road, do make sure you don't park on, or too near street corners (Highway Code does say not to park opposite or within 10 metres of a junction).  It makes crossing difficult for pedestrians, including our school children, plus it makes sight-lines very difficult for cars and cyclists when pulling out at junctions.  Let's keep all our folk safe.

AGM

We held a brief AGM - report below:

• Chair - Anita
• Vice-Chair - Maureen
• Treasurer Val
• Newsletter Editor - Kay

• Val reported that we currently have £911.79 in 2 accounts and some cash.

• When reviewing our year, we agreed that we were fortunate that Councillor Palmer was now joining us on a regular basis as both Councillor and resident.