November 2025 update

Repair café, Sun 23 Nov, 2 to 4pm, Village Hall

Why not bring your bike for a check over? Or, some clothes you’ve been putting off mending? We will try to mend your household items including electrical and gardening articles, sharpen tools, and fix bikes for free. Come and see what we do. Refreshments available. Donations welcome to cover costs. Thanks to all our volunteers who come to do the repairs.

We want to thank Jo Lakeland for initiating repair cafes in Blewbury over six years ago and for organizing the volunteers for so many years. Jo is continuing to help with refreshments but is no longer going to co-ordinate them. SB’s secretary is holding the fort until another champion comes forward. Could you help? The role involves booking the hall, liaising with the volunteers who do the repairs and advertising the dates. We are also looking for more volunteers to help with the repairs.

The dates for the next two repair cafes are 1 March 2026 and 14 June 2026, less frequent than in 2025 due to the lack of a co-ordinator. Please consider helping us in this way and helping the village to live more sustainably.

Contact the secretary for a chat to find out more.

Nature reserve volunteering, 13 Dec 2025, 10 Jan and 14 Feb 2026

We meet at the Nature Reserve monthly to do whatever maintenance tasks are needed. These range from planting new hedging plants, weeding around the existing hedging plants, strimming the paths, and scything and raking specific areas. It’s a good way to meet other people from the village and to enjoy this quiet and peaceful spot. There are jobs for every level of fitness and everyone is welcome to come for a taster.

In the winter, we will start at 10am and finish about noon. Bring your own protective gloves and a drink. Email the secretary to join our volunteers mailing list. Many thanks to the 25 or so volunteers who have helped already this year. It’s been very rewarding!

Talk on Woodland Creation by Mark Nathanson, Mon 26 Jan, 8pm, Melland room

Mark Nathanson, a Forester of Nicholsons, the contractors who helped us to design Quaker

Wood, will inspire us about woodland creation through the lens of our very own Quaker Wood.

He will talk about what we can expect in the first five years of growing trees. He will tell us what species were selected and why and how woods help to mitigate climate change. He will refer to other woods that he has planted in Oxfordshire. Mark is doing a trial on the beech trees at Quaker Wood; he will explain this. Tickets on the door, which opens at 7.45pm, cost £8 including a drink.

Sarah Bennie

Apple juicing

Sustainable Blewbury owns an apple press, chopper and three pasteurisers. We run public

juicing sessions at the Manor during the fruiting season. These were very popular this year,

reflecting the vast number of apples, pears and quinces locally, with many examples of

branches breaking under the weight of fruit. Apart from the first session in August, all the

public juicing sessions were very well attended and there were a record numbers of private

bookings of the equipment.

As well as making use of excess fruit, the sessions have been a

good way for newcomers to meet other people from the village and for people to share ideas,

for example, juicing apples and quince together. Thank you to everyone who came and

helped us.

Andy Evason

Mend the Gap: The Mill Brook consultation

In our last newsletter, we reported that many of our members had attended a consultation event in May about the Mill Brook (from source to the Thames), the perceived issues and what could be done to improve the catchment. The event was organised by Mend the Gap with Thames 21 and the Environment Agency amongst others. A report of the consultation can be found here: https://mendthegap.uk/enhancement-projects/projects-we-have-supported/the-mill-brook-community-consultation/

The report is very succinct and an interesting read. Most of the projects are towards Wallingford and South Moreton but it does show a potential project around the Blewbury Cleve as a wetland. We await to hear more from the organisers and any funding available to help with this.

Jane Kinniburgh

Why is the pond at the Nature Reserve still dry?

In a ‘normal’ hydrological year, one would expect groundwater levels to start to rise during

October and for ephemeral water bodies (such as the pond) to become wet again. So I’ve been wondering why the pond is still dry at the Nature Reserve? The Environment Agency’s

hydrological report for October for the Southeast gives some answers. It says:

“During October, two named storms crossed the Southeast of England. These storms accounted for 15% and 23% of the monthly total rainfall respectively. In total, the Southeast of England received 108% of the long-term average (LTA) rainfall for October.”

So, rainfall was above average for October but:

“The soil moisture deficits (SMD) started the month significantly greater than the LTA, dropped slightly after Storm Amy, then rose up to a peak on 18 October. By the end of the month, the SMDs in some places were still below the LTA.  There was about a third of the LTA recharge during the month”. I understand this to say that basically, the impacts of the summer drought are still being seen in the ‘wetness’ of our soils, which will affect the amount of water in the pond.

The Agency continues to say: “The steady decline of groundwater levels continued during the

month for most of the indicator sites although half of the groundwater indicator sites were in the normal category at the end of the month.”

I’m writing this as Storm Claudia lashes at the window. Maybe there will be water in our pond

again soon!

Jane Kinniburgh