Kirtlington

Kirtlington in the heart of Oxfordshire

Front Page Post

Mysterious leaflet circulating in the village

Kirtlington Parish Council, in response to the recent leafleting of the village, wishes to make clear that the Parish Council is not currently making any proposals for development in the parish.  In particular, the Parish Council would like to reassure villagers that that the leaflet is misleading in highlighting the green area on the map, as this area has not been proposed for development.  We understand the leaflet has been distributed by a land agent who has an active interest in developing a piece of land around the village. 

The Parish Council is participating in a review of the Mid-Cherwell Neighbourhood Plan (MCNP), of which it has been a member parish since 2015.  The MCNP is now being reviewed in the light of Cherwell District Council’s emerging Local Plan up to 2040, which is due to be published in September.  Neighbourhood Plans were introduced in 2011 enabling parishes to make locally-specific policies alongside the District Council’s local plan.

Kirtlington Parish Council proposes to hold a public meeting for villagers in the autumn to discuss the MCNP, providing scope for the community to express its views.  No policy decisions will be taken this year.

Jean Conway, Chair of Kirtlington Parish Council

KIRTLINGTON’S CALENDAR

WEEKLY CLUBS AND CLASSES

(Village Hall unless specified)

April  
4TuesdayYouth Club Community Café 7.00-9.00pm at the Village Hall
5WednesdayKWACS AGM and talk on Small Mammals 7.30pm at the Church
13ThursdayReaching Out Coffee Morning, Oxford Arms 10.30am
13ThursdayMonthly W.I. meeting 7.30pm Village Hall
15SaturdayFilm Club at the Village Hall 7.00pm for 7.30pm Honeyland
21FridayVillage Quiz, 7.00pm for 7.45pm start, Village Hall
26WednesdayVillage Lunch Club at the Golf Club (See Kirtlington Village News Noticeboard)
29SaturdayGarden Club, Big Plant Sale 2.00pm
May  
4ThursdayDistrict Elections
5FridayCoronation Eve Reception, St Mary’s Church, 7 – 10pm (See Kirtlington Village News Noticeboard)
6SaturdayCoronation of King Charles
11ThursdayReaching Out Coffee Morning, 10.30am Oxford Arms
11ThursdayMonthly W.I. meeting 7.30pm Village Hall
20SaturdayFarmer’s Market, 10am – 1pm, Village Hall
31WednesdayVillage Lunch Club at the Golf Club (See Kirtlington Village News Noticeboard)
   

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
Triple WhammyOver 65’s ExerciseRise and Shine CaféArt classKirtlingtonBazza’s
body conditioningwith Bazza(church) 9.15-10.45amAdultsBusy BeesBootcamp
with Bazza9.30 -10.30amPilates/Yoga Fusion9.30– 12.30pm9.00-11.00am9.00–10.00am
6.30 -7.30pmbarry@primeenergy.org9.30-10.30am Beginnersinfo@lisajayne.uk.com barry@primeenergy.org
barry@primeenergy.org 10.45-11.30am   
  Beginners / Improvers   
  gemma.c.queralt@gmail.com   
Bell Ringing Art Class Yoga 
(church)[kids] 4.45-6.15 pm(church)
7.30 – 9.00pm[adults] 6.30–8.30 pm10.30-11.30am
kirtlingtonbells@gmail.cominfo@lisajayne.uk.comwww.torkingyoga.net
 Youth Club (termtime) 7.00 – 9.00pm Morris 8.00 – 9.30pm bagman@kirtlington- morris.org.ukTai Chi
6.00-7.00pm
Spencer.dimitrina@gmail.com
Badminton
8.00-10.00pm
01869 350819		Art class
Adults
1.00– 3.30pm
info@lisajayne.uk.com
 		  

This Calendar is kindly provided by the Kirtlington Village News team

Questionnaires about the proposed community shop and café

The Steering Group is committed to observing all the principles of the GDPR. It will only hold information which is strictly required for the purposes of preparing for the creation of a Community Business Society and making preliminary plans to establish a shop/cafe. It will therefore only hold and keep personal information relating to those who have provided their information to help as advisers, volunteers, potential shareholders and suppliers. Any other data provided by members of the community whether by survey, oral or written communication, will be anonymised and destroyed. 

Community Shop. What If?

– you could walk down the road to buy that bottle of milk you suddenly need? Or some of those special little extras for when friends come round? Or home-made cakes and biscuits and other local produce?

– you could meet your friends for a coffee while your children played on the field behind the Village Hall? 

– you could showcase and sell your work in a local venue?

– you could contribute to village life by being part of a project to set up a community-owned shop and café?

All these things could be possible if enough people are   willing to commit to making them happen. Several villages near us have successful community shops: Islip, Tackley and Wootton are three examples. They use existing buildings but you can see from these pictures what the villagers of Wigginton, near Tring, achieved when they created a new purpose-built shop/café beside their playing field. 

We could do something like that here.

You may have your doubts about such a project – after all, the Bletchingdon Co-op is very close. But you may not want to be obliged to get in your car for every small errand, especially if you are elderly or have small children it’s easier just to put in a buggy. You may want to be able to meet others close to home and hear the latest news in an informal setting …

 In addition to being a real hub of village life, such a venue could grow into a destination for walkers and visitors from outside the village to come and enjoy the exceptional surroundings of Kirtlington Park, the sports field, playground and church. There is no doubt that such an asset would not only contribute to the quality of our daily community life but it would also enhance the value of our properties.

There will be a public meeting to discuss this possibility in March in the Village Hall and a flyer will be sent out with more details nearer the time.

Meanwhile, if you would like to be involved or ask questions, please contact:

* indicates required field

Kirtlington Hedgehog Street

Kirtlington Hedgehog Street is connecting gardens in the village to give hedgehogs enough space to breed and to help keep them off the roads. This is part of the national Hedgehog Street campaign. To learn more see this article that was published in the national press.

  • 60 properties in the village are connected
  • c. 16 acres of gardens are included
  • The village pub, school and church are all connected.

The national Hedgehog Street organisation has told KWACS that Kirtlington has one of the biggest volunteer-run Hedgehog Streets in the country!  See the map in green.  To join, please make sure hedgehogs can pass from your garden to your neighbours’ gardens.  All it needs is a CD sized hole in your fence or wall.

In Spring 2020, there was a rapid and significant decline in Kirtlington’s hedgehog population.  We have written up the evidence for the decline which is very clear and the possible reasons for it.  Click here for that article and here for another article by Professor Patrick Doncaster who researched into hedgehogs in Kirtlington Park in 1992. Click here for coverage of the loss of our hedgehogs on local BBC news.

KWACS is delighted, whenever possible, to support other communities who would like to set up their own hedgehog street.  In particular, click here if you are interested in receiving a lecture about what we have done in Kirtlington.  This is given either in person (when Covid allows) or via Zoom by the brother of the KWACS committee member who leads our hedgehog work.  He is a wildlife photographer, film maker and public speaker.  In addition, visitors are welcome to come to Kirtlington (when Covid allows) to see in person what we have done.

DONATIONS

If you would like to support our work, please click on DONATIONS above.  That will take you to our on-line giving page for the KWACS Hedge Fund.

All donations will go directly to enlarging Kirtlington Hedgehog Street or supporting other communities start their own hedgehog street.



As hedgehogs have yet to evolve the ability to fly, where there is a ground difference between gardens we have to resort to innovative structures like this stone staircase and oak ramp:

As part of the project, we use foot print recording tunnels and camera traps to check on the presence of hedgehogs. A camera trap video of a hedgehog on the ramp posted to KWACS’ twitter feed went viral with over 33,000 views!

KWACS Talk: The History and Wildlife of RSPB Otmoor – 4th October

The History and Wildlife of RSPB Otmoor, presented by Gary Smith
Wednesday 4th October at 7.45pm
St Mary’s Church, Kirtlington

We hope this message finds you well after a fun-filled summer and now that the nights are drawing in, the leaves are falling off the trees and our hedgehogs are curling up into tight little balls we welcome you to KWACS 2017 – 2018 winter lecture programme.

Otmoor is a truly special place for wildlife and particularly birds with nearly 200 different species recorded this century, including the spectacular starling murmurations, but Otmoor has a varied and very interesting history from a huge expanse of marshland that villagers used as common land in the 1300s to the SSSI classified nature reserve we know today.

The talk will be followed up with a visit to the RSPB reserve on Sunday 19th November at 1pm to hopefully experience the starling’s breathtaking ballet of the sky.

We look forward to seeing you soon.