Appropriately, seven Sulgrave gardens were open to the public on the seventh occasion of the village contributing to the National Gardens Scheme raising money for charity. After a day of continuous rain on the Saturday prior to the event and another on the following day, we were blessed with a window of opportunity. Despite rival events in nearby villages, an impressive number of visitors seized this opportunity to view our beautiful gardens and enjoy the traditional refreshments.

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Former Parish Councillors discuss a planning application

As can be seen from the above photograph, Sulgrave has a long tradition of electing or co-opting Parish Councillors with a real interest in village affairs.

The present Parish Council writes as follows:

Your Parish Council is very keen to find villagers to become new councillors. As we are your first tier of local government we feel we are best placed to satisfy the wishes of our community. Should your Parish Council fail to exist through lack of support, decision making would pass out of our hands. We as a community would have our influence to affect local issues greatly reduced. Being a Parish Councillor is a satisfying role that benefits your community; no previous experience required.

If you are interested or need more information, please get in touch with the Clerk to the Parish Council Christine Coles – [email protected]

Click here to visit the Parish Council Page on this website, where you can find a list of the current councillors and details of the roles and responsibilities of Parish Councillors and the current “Good Councillors Guide”.

Visit the LATEST PARISH COUNCIL NEWS to find out what issues are currently under consideration.

The willow saplings used in Ben’s Den in the Pocket Park have now taken root and are in full leaf, creating a wonderful living memorial.

Click here for details of the project.

Eiffage Kier is the contractor carrying out the civil engineering works for the new HS2 line. As part of the early construction works they will be carrying out earthworks excavations using large construction machinery comprising excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks. These vehicles will be delivered to site under escort during mid-May and June 2019.

The delivery route for these vehicles will be from M40 Junction 11 at Banbury to the HS2 site near Boddington, as shown dotted in blue on the map below:

In total around twenty construction vehicles loaded on the back of low loaders will be transported slowly along the route under the control of an escort vehicle. The vehicles will be delivered in stages over a number of days.  No roads will be closed.

As reported on this website’s HS2 Information Page, the formal “notice to proceed” on the major construction works for the first phase of the project has been put back six months until December. The delivery of the construction vehicles is therefore part of the “enabling work”. As soon as information is available in respect of the commencement of construction works in the Sulgrave area it will be posted on this website.

In the meantime, villagers are reminded that construction vehicles in the vicinity of the village are to be restricted to the roads shown in blue dots on the map below.

If construction traffic is seen passing through the village please contact 24/7 Freephone 08081 434 434

SULGRAVE VILLAGE SHOP – JOB VACANCY

Shop Supervisor Part Time up to 30 hours per week We are a highly successful village shop and Post Office serving our community and run by our community for over 15 years. We are looking to increase the supervisory role(s) from June onwards and you would take a shared responsibility for the day to day running of the shop. Your primary role will be to provide a welcoming, well stocked, efficiently run shop which continues to be financially sustainable. Retail experience could be a benefit but training would be provided regarding operation of the till and Post Office requirements. You must be a team player as you will be interacting with joint supervisors, a bank of volunteers, the management committee and most of all our customers.

If this is of interest to you, please email your CV and covering letter to: [email protected] or drop it in/post it to the shop for the attention of Andrew Elliott Sulgrave Village Shop, Magpie Road, Sulgrave, OX17 2RT

Closing date May 31st 2019

See here for more about Sulgrave Village Shop

Castle Hill Preliminary Archaeological Excavations in 1961 as seen from the Church Tower  Photo: Colin Wootton

Chairman of the Castle Green Management Committee, Martin Sirot-Smith, reported to the Annual Parish Meeting on 4th April 2019 as follows:

“As you may have read, the Parish Council has purchased the Castle Hill site, thus bringing the whole of the Scheduled Ancient Monument into public ownership. It has been included into the Committee’s remit to manage it alongside Castle Green itself.

Our first task is to secure the fencing around the site. We will be getting in touch with all those whose properties border Castle Hill to ask for their co-operation. We will need to cut back all overhanging trees and branches, and then repair, or indeed, replace the post and rail fencing as necessary.

We will be looking at the trees on Castle Hill itself, removing all the elder and the small sycamore saplings, as well as raising the crown of the mature specimens.

We propose to continue the present system of grazing the pasture in season. We will have notices in place to inform visitors of their responsibilities when animals are present.

Once all the work has been completed we intend to hold a Celebratory Fair. This will probably take place in mid-Summer 2020. This will again, like the Michaelmas Fair did last year, involve many of the village organisations, and will enable us to showcase the value and importance of this historically important site.

May I take this opportunity to thank again those organisations and individuals who contributed to and supported our fund raising appeal last year. It is great credit to one and all that target was achieved so quickly.

We now have an amenity that not only enhances our village immensely, but ensures the proper management of this most important historical site.”

Martin Sirot-Smith, Chairman, Castle Green Management Committee

Sara Brown writes:

A memorial to Sulgrave resident Ben Brown, who sadly died in a car accident in 2018, has been erected in the pocket park. ‘Ben’s Den’ is a living willow structure designed and created by an internationally recognised willow weaving artist Tom Hare.  Tom has created exhibits all over the world and has designs in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and in a RHS gold medal winning garden, to name but a few.  Ben’s family hope that the children of the village will enjoy the den for years to come and would like to thank the villagers for their kind and generous help and support over the last 12 months.

Kind regards, Sara

Click here to visit Tom Hare’s website.

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