Photograph by S.W.A.Newton, reproduced by permission of Historic England Archive

Colin Wootton writes:

Victorian photographer S.W.A.Newton, of Leicester, made a comprehensive photographic record of the construction of the Great Central Railway between 1896 and 1900. The railway has long gone but fortunately his photographic record remains. Travelling by train and bicycle he also visited and photographed street scenes in villages near to the new railway. The glass plate negatives he produced would have required a large camera and a sturdy tripod and the plates would have needed careful transportation back to his father’s photographic business in Leicester for processing. He produced almost 1000 photographs and the whole undertaking must have indeed been a labour of love! A high resolution digital scan of one of these photographs, of Manor Road, Sulgrave, has now been acquired and reveals the then street scene in quite astonishing detail. From this scan it has been possible to make some very interesting enlargements of people and objects in Manor Road, which can be seen on the next page.

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Notice from the Parish Council:

Repurposing the Village Public Telephone Box

The Parish Council wants to hear your ideas for repurposing the village’s public telephone box.

BT is removing a number of telephone boxes across South Northamptonshire and has decided to remove the telephone box in the village – next to the village shop – because of the low number of calls made from it (only 1 call was made in the past 12 months).

While BT will still remove the telephone, the Parish Council has decided to adopt the telephone box and repurpose it into something that will benefit the village.

There are many ways in which the telephone box could be given a new life: public art gallery, notice board, village guide, housing for a defibrillator or library. These are just a few ideas. The Parish Council wants to hear yours.

If you have an idea for how the telephone box could be repurposed, you can share it with the Parish Council through:

• Email: send it to [email protected]
• Twitter: tweet your idea to @SulgraveVillage using the hashtag #mysulgrave
• Facebook: Like the Sulgrave Village Facebook page and leave a comment after the kiosk repurposing post.
• In person at the Village Shop: leave your idea in the ‘Ideas Book’ located in the village shop.
• Telling your Parish Councillors

You have until 31^st of December to share your ideas for repurposing the telephone box.

The Parish Council will consider the ideas at its January meeting and decide on the one it feels will be best for the village. The outcome will then be published in the February edition of Sulgrave News.

The Parish Council looks forward to hearing your ideas, so get your thinking caps on!

Kate Miles writes:

We will be holding our annual Christingle service on Sunday 4th December in the Church. This is a beautiful service, with Christingle oranges, and a Christmas play involving children from the village which makes a wonderful start to Christmas and raises much needed money for the Children’s Society….Do join us if you can! 

Kate Miles, Box Secretary, Children’s Society

See photographs from previous Christingle Services

2006    2007    2008    2009    2010    2011    2015

Ex-serviceman Donald Taylor is doing his usual rounds of the village on behalf of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal 2016. If you miss him, poppies can also be obtained at the Village Shop.

The Annual Remembrance service will be held in the Church at 6.00 pm on Sunday 13th November.

See here for the stories of those from the village who lost their lives in two world wars and are commemorated on the memorial in the Church.

Richard Fonge writes:

“Another Aunt Sally season is over, not overly successful in terms of results as can be seen from the league table published below but still very enjoyable, with good company and team spirit within the Star Team and some good opponents and nice pubs visited during the summer. Fifteen players played for the team over the season.

Once again Claire Sadler and Charlotte Cherry fought out the final of the leagues Ladies single final at The General Foods Club, with Charlotte retaining her title by two legs to one. Congratulations to them both and to Claire for being the most improved player in the Star Team this year.

The great success of the year was the challenge so readily accepted by S.W.A.G. to organise an afternoon of Aunt Sally and a barbecue in June. The response, with over fifty people from children, to those of us more senior, was most rewarding especially as it included many families. A village community event that will be repeated next year.

Finally, congratulations and our very best wishes to Tom and Chris as they become Landlords of the Star. They are both stalwarts of our team, so our future as a pub team looks secure, but just as importantly, The Star as a village meeting place.”

Third Division Table 2016

Lampit Arms Tadmarton 48 pts

Banbury Cricket Club 41 pts

The Fox Middle Barton 35 pts

Coach and Horses, Adderbury 26 pts

The Reindeer Banbury 25 pts

Horse and Groom Milcombe 24 pts

White Lion B Fewcote 24 pts

The Star Sulgrave 18 pts

Elephant and Castle Bloxham 16 pts

The Griffin Chipping Warden 13 pts

On a glorious autumn Sunday the mellifluous tones of the commentator could once more be heard amongst the pastures to the north of the village, announcing winners, losers and “dnfs” taking part in the annual Grafton Team Chase event. On a day of excellent going, villagers and those from further afield were well entertained by riders of all classes, with plenty of opportunities for refreshment. The ever present ambulance crews were fortunately not needed but the travelling blacksmith plied a busy trade. As can be seen in many of the pictures on the next page, dogs of all shapes and sizes were also everywhere to be seen.

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This photograph is just one of a number of images of the village and its residents taken by Chris Behan during the last year or so. Those who were present in the Church Hall for Chris’ talk “Exploring Midsomer – A Publishing Adventure” will be aware of his achievements as a writer, photographer and speaker. Chris is also no stranger to this website. His contributions “The sound of steam in the Sulgrave Landscape“, “Sulgrave Embankment – A Victorian High Speed Train Route” and “Where have all the Sulgrave butterflies gone?” attracted widespread attention. Chris is often to be seen in the village with his camera and he has kindly agreed to provide occasional photographs for a regular page entitled “Village Views“. This can be seen on the right hand side of the website Home Page, just under the Weather Report and the monthly diary of events.

Note: Villagers are reminded that the website is theirs and all contributions and photographs will be gratefully received. 

Colin Wootton