June 2025 update

Featuring in this update

Events

Quaker Wood opening, Repair café, Apple juicing, New Trustee appointed, Visit to Ardley Waste-to-energy Plant, Oxfordshire’s Great Big Green Week

Quaker Wood Opening and Picnic, Sun 22 June, 12 noon to 3pm

Come along to this special event to celebrate our new community wood. It’s the same day as the school fete and families and friends can enjoy both by following a trail between the two sites. Bring your own picnic (and rug) for lunch from 12 pm. BVS are providing a marquee in one of the glades where a special beer and drinks will be on sale. The local history group are coming to show the history of the site. There will be a short opening speech at 2pm when we will thank the donors, volunteers and others who made the wood possible. Activities for children include bug identification. If you know a child at the Primary School, bring them to show you the tree they planted last December! - John Ogden

Sketch by G Guiver, www.ginetteguiver.com

Quaker Wood update

Many thanks to all the volunteers who came and helped at Quaker Wood in May. They did a great job in piling up the brash alongside the Mill Brook and removing the vegetation growing alongside our new hedge. They also started to remove weeds growing within the tree shields. We are having another volunteering morning on Sat 21 June from 9.30 am to noon. Turn up with your own protective gloves and a drink as well as clothes suitable for tacking nettles. Some people have been asking why we have mowed the grass in the wood when it was ‘no mow May’ which allows wildflowers to grow, benefiting insects like bees and butterflies? Our emphasis in the first few years in Quaker Wood is to establish the trees well. This involves managing the vegetation, which is a problem under the trees if left uncut. We did the first cut in May because the height of grass would have become unmanageable with the equipment available. The aim from now on is to keep the grass within the planted areas longer than the pathways, except immediately around the trees themselves. These will be kept clear of plants to reduce competition for the trees during their establishment. Come and volunteer to help! Anthony Stiff

Repair café, Sun 6 July, 2 to 4pm, Village Hall

Why not bring your bike for a check over? Our two bike experts are very skilled and fixed over 10 bikes last time. And what about some clothes you’ve been putting off mending? Bring those too. We will try to mend your household items including clothing, electrical, and gardening articles, sharpen tools, and fix bikes for free. We may also have an expert who can help you with any software issues on your phone or tablet. Refreshments available. Donations welcome to cover costs. Thanks to all our volunteers who come to do the repairs.

Jo Lakeland

Apple juicing

Sustainable Blewbury offers a service in apple juicing each year. This means that your fallen apples can be put to good use by juicing and preserving them. Our sessions will take place at the Manor, Berry Lane on 27 July, 10 and 31 August, 21 September, 5 and 24 October from 2 to 4pm. 3 Bring washed apples (bad bits removed but not cores) and your own clean bottles or containers. Arrive by 3pm if you want to pasteurise your juice (which will need glass screw top bottles). Costs: £1.50 to press a large bucket or basket of apples plus 30p per bottle to pasteurize. You can also freeze unpasteurised juice (in plastic containers). We do not supply bottles or containers. If you have a large quantity of apples, you can hire our equipment for a charge of £15 per day if you live in the village or Upton, £20 if you live elsewhere. For further information email Andy: andy3210123@gmail.com Many thanks to our volunteers who help with running the apple press and pasteuriser. If you’d like to volunteer to help too, please contact me. The more the merrier! Andy Evason

Community Orchard at Ticker’s Folly

After a prolific flowering in April, most of the trees have set fruit. So much, in fact, that we have had to remove all but a few dozen fruits per tree, in order not to over-burden them. If all goes well, there will be ripe fruit later, except the cherries, that are harvested by the blackbirds before they are ripe! Please feel free to pick fruit, later in summer, taking care not to damage the branches in the process and leaving some for others. The medlars rarely get picked. Is anyone out there who would like to harvest them?

Sean Morris

New Trustee appointed

We are pleased to announce that Sarah Bennie has volunteered to be a Trustee of Sustainable Blewbury and was unanimously appointed in the June meeting of Trustees. Sarah moved to Blewbury seven years ago, having spent her adult life in London. The move was transformational. She says: “I love living closer to nature -so much to see, hear, smell, taste and touch. But with the wonder comes fear – that we have, or soon will, reach a tipping point. Reversing climate change is the necessary end goal, but not one I feel I can directly influence. I can however put some effort into helping to protect and improve our local environment. I admire the practical tangible achievements made by Sustainable Blewbury to our community. So much has been achieved in the short time I have lived here.” Sarah’s background is in Human Resources at the BBC, with expertise in Learning and Development and is willing to help where most needed. She has been a regular volunteer at the Nature Reserve and recently was ‘stuck in’ at Quaker Wood (see photo). Jane Kinniburgh

Visit to Ardley Waste-to-energy Plant, 7 Nov

Have you ever wondered what happens to the waste that you put out for collection in your black bin every fortnight? This is your chance to find out. We have booked a tour round Oxfordshire’s Waste-to-energy Plant at Ardley (between Bicester and Banbury) at 10am on 7 November. It is owned and run by Viridor. We can take up to 15 people and will be taken round the plant on a tour lasting about 1.5 hours. It is an industrial site so they will provide us with PPE and to come, you must be able to walk half a mile (including several flights of steps). Book your free place with me at secretary@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk. There will be more information in the Autumn. We will organise car sharing and a venue for lunch afterwards. Jane Kinniburgh

Oxfordshire’s Great Big Green Week

7 to 15 June. Check out CAG’s Oxfordshire Calendar for dozens of events and activities happening: https://www.cagoxfordshire.org.uk/great-big-green-week