February 2017

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The Five Parishes News

Serving the villages of Catthorpe, Misterton/Walcote, Shawell,

Stanford-on-Avon, and Swinford

The copy deadline for the March issue is Thursday 9th February

Please send news items, by the copy date, to: news@avonswift.org.uk

Copies of the current and previous newsletters are also available to view online at: www.avonswift.org.uk

‘POST-TRUTH’ …?

Generally at the start of a New Year, I have a sense of anticipation about emerging possibilities. This New Year, my mood has been coloured by the recent experience of two examples where electorates have been treated with

complete disdain and contempt, where emotional manipulation has deliberately been used to play on fear and

prejudice and thereby win votes. It is hardly surprising that in opinion polls politicians are now rated low in trust,

following the disgraceful performance of some of them in both the Brexit referendum and the US presidential election.

Commentators, trying to make sense of these two ‘shock results’, speak of our culture now embracing a ‘Post-Truth’ world-view…where media and other opinion-formers deliberately and consciously play on fears and pre-

conceptions and compose a narrative which corresponds not to ‘facts’ but to prejudice. Drip-feeding notions that

benefit fraud is the cause of our ills while ignoring the massive tax-avoidance industry, that all asylum-seekers are

benefit scroungers and potential terrorists/rapists etc. etc. has a corrosive effect not only on social cohesion but on our ability to trust those parts of the media that are responsible for these outrages. A YouGov poll published in

January 2013 found that, on average, people estimate that 27% of social security is claimed fraudulently, as op-

posed to the true figure of 0.7%...where does that misconception come from and who feeds it?

So, do we now live in ‘a post-truth society’, where we are drip-fed with media-generated stereotypes and narra-

tives? In such a world, debate becomes the airing of feelings, fears and prejudices, with less and less room for calm and reasoned exploration of empirical evidence. The person who holds a contrary ‘view’ to ours, in such a

world, will be ‘othered’, a trendy and polite synonym of ‘demonised’. Increased racist attacks since Brexit, pro-

vide just one example.

Whatever one’s views on Brexit or Donald Trump or anxieties about the forthcoming French presidential election,

is there even an awareness of this momentum towards a populist surge, and what can be done by way of resistance

to the notion that we have to capitulate to a post-truth worldview?

How does the Christian community live with integrity its con-

viction that ‘Truth’ is ultimately personal… rooted in the very nature of God…a Truth which calls us constantly in every gen-

eration and context to live as signs of contradiction, at individ-

ual and communal level, with the dehumanising values around

us? The one who preaches the values of the Kingdom, expressed in the Beatitudes, extolling poverty, simplicity, passion for jus-

tice and lays down His life as a sign of His commitment to that

programme, is described by St. John in his Gospel, as ‘The Way, the Truth and the Life.’

Canon Chris Oxley

What’s On - February

5th Auditions: Captain Pouch’s Dream,

Cotesbach

9th Swinford Skirts

18th-

19th

Snowdrop Weekend,

Ashby Magna

25th Soup and Pud Lunch, Swinford

28th Lutterworth Writers’ Group

28th Closing Date for Windfarm Grant

Applications

February 2017

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EXCELLENT EXTRAVAGANZA & CRACKING CHRISTMAS AT

CATTHORPE!

Catthorpe village held a very special event in early December

– a weekend extravaganza including; a Christmas Tree Festi-

val and a table top sale at the church, an open day at the Farm

Shop and a food and handcraft fair at The Manor.

It was a cold day but the sun did shine and the event was a

great success, attracting lots of visitors, many of whom com-

mented on how much they enjoyed it! During the event, we

raised a fantastic £633.40 for our church tower fund! A big

thank you to everyone who helped to organise the event, manned tables, provided sustenance and of course, those who

came along to visit – a great success for all involved!

And the community spirit continued…

Our Nine Lessons and Carols service saw the church packed

with locals and even some visitors from the extravaganza! We

had a lovely service which started off with some mulled wine

and mince pies to get everyone in the mood. The readings

were well-delivered and the singing very harmonious with the

benefit of some live music. During the service, a collection was taken in aid of Jasmine’s Special Appeal which raised

£215 – thank you to everyone who contributed.

And speaking of our church, we’re delighted to confirm that

our new tiled roof has been fitted and we are now weather-

tight!

Finally, we rounded off the year with a Christmas hamper

raffle which was full of goodies including; food, drink, toilet-

ries and games. Second and third place prizes were some deli-

cious chocolates. Thanks to some sterling ticket selling by The Cherry Tree and the Farm Shop, we managed to raise

over £200 for the church tower fund! Congratulations to the

three lucky winners; Stuart, Scott and Barbara!

Alex Leslie

SOUP AND PUD LUNCHES

The February soup and pud lunch, at a cost of £6 per person,

will be held on the 25th in Swinford Village Hall.

February 2017

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WINDFARM GRANTS FOR WALCOTE

Once again Misterton with Walcote Parish Council is seeking

applications for grants to be awarded from the Eight Parishes

CIC (windfarm) in 2017. Anyone can apply for money to

fund schemes which will improve life in the Parish. Applica-

tions must be on the official forms (which can be found on the

Parish or the Eight Parishes CIC websites). To have the great-

est chance of being successful, the scheme should fall into

one of the following categories: education, local need, sports

leisure and social activities, infrastructure, environmentally

friendly living or local economic opportunities. Please ensure

the clerk receives all applications by 28th February 2017. The Parish Council will decide which applications are successful

by 31st May 2017 (please note this is one month later than in

previous years).

WALCOTE WORD – A VILLAGE NEWSLETTER

For some time the Parish Council has hoped to produce a

newsletter to ensure everyone in the parish knows what is

happening locally. However, not wanting to add to the piles of

papers which tumble through the letterbox, the plan is to fo-

cus on electronic distribution. In order for this to work, we need to create a mailing list. If you would like to receive

regular information about events in Misterton with Walcote,

please send your email address to the Parish Clerk

(clerk@mistertonwithwalcote.org.uk) and you will be added

to the mailing list. The first edition is planned to be distrib-

uted the spring.

February 2017

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SWINFORD SKIRTS

Skirts had a very successful planning. So many ideas not

enough months in the year! So to kick off on February 9th we

are going to see ’Muddy Cows’ at Rugby theatre. Please con-

tact Helen on 01788 869140 if you would like to join us and

haven't already got a ticket.

In March Catherine is organising tickets to go to the ’Murder

Mystery’ evening at Catthorpe Manor.

During April we are visiting The Two Birds gin distillery at

Market Harborough as well as taking part in the LOROS Twi-light Walk raising funds for the LOROS Hospice.

Other meetings planned include Life Drawing, jam and pickle

making, bike ride, trip to Kilworth House Theatre, a ghost

walk in Leicester, women's personal safety (by kind invitation

of Swinford WI), a wandering feast and not forgetting a

SNOWDROP WEEKEND at ASHBY MAGNA

18th and 19th February

at

St Mary's Church

Come and see the beautiful display of snowdrops in the churchyard, enjoy a bowl of soup or tea and cake. There will

also be stalls of local products and artwork. The church will

be open between 9.30am and 4.30pm on both days with a

special All-age service at 9.30am on Sunday.

February 2017

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Christmas party! If you’re free to join us on a Thursday eve-ning please do. We welcome new faces ! Watch this space for

details of future meetings.

Julie Morris 07765 148335 and

Aimi Sewell 01788 860568

February 2017

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Avon-Swift Group Services

every week…..

Tuesdays at 12 noon quiet reflective Midday Prayer (15 mins) at North Kilworth

Wednesdays at 9am simple said Eucharist (approx. half an hour) at South Kilworth Thursdays at 5pm quiet said Evening Prayer (20 mins) at Gilmorton

Sunday 5th February 4th Sunday before Lent [Green]

Isaiah 58: 1-12; 1 Cor. 2; Matt. 5: 13-20 8.30 am North Kilworth Holy Communion (BCP) Canon Chris Oxley

9.30 am Kimcote Holy Communion (CW) The Rev’d Emma Davies

9.30 am Stanford on Avon Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley 11.00 am Misterton Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

11.00 am Gilmorton Family Service The Rev’d Emma Davies

4.00 pm Peatling Parva Songs of Praise The Rev’d Emma Davies

4.00 pm Swinford Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

Sunday 12th February 3rd Sunday before Lent [Green]

Deut. 30: 15-end; 1 Cor. 3; 1-9; Matt. 5: 21-37 8.30 am Kimcote Holy Communion (BCP) The Rev’d Emma Davies

9.30 am Ashby Magna Holy Communion (CW) The Rev’d Alison Iliffe

9.30 am Swinford All-age service Canon Chris Oxley 9.30 am South Kilworth Family Service Beth Rogers

11.00 am Gilmorton Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

4.00 pm Misterton All-age worship Canon Chris Oxley

Sunday 19th February 2nd Sunday before Lent [Green]

Gen. 1:1 - 2:3; Rom. 8: 18-25; Matt 6: 25-end.

8.30 am Gilmorton Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley 9.30 am North Kilworth Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

9.30 am Ashby Magna Snowdrop Service The Rev’d Alison Iliffe

9.45 am South Kilworth Holy Communion (BCP) The Rev’d Paula Oxley 11.00 am Catthorpe Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

11.00 am Peatling Parva Holy Communion (BCP) The Rev’d Alison Iliffe

4.00 pm Shawell All-Age Holy Communion (CW) Canon Brian Davis

4.00 pm Swinford Evening Prayer (BCP) Canon Chris Oxley

Sunday 26th February Sunday next before Lent [Green]

Exod. 24; 12-end; 2 Peter 1: 16-end; Matt. 17: 1-9 10.30 am North Kilworth Group Service The Clergy Team with

Holy Communion (CW) Special Guest Preacher:

(Food Bank Collection) The Rev’d Dr. Tom Wilson,

Director of the St. Philip’s Centre in Leicester

Wednesday 1st March Ash Wednesday

Isaiah 58: 1-12; 2 Cor. 5: 20b – 6:10; Matt. 6: 1-6, 16-21 7.30 pm Gilmorton Holy Communion with Ashing The Clergy Team

Sunday 5th March 1st Sunday of Lent [Purple] Gen. 2: 15-17, 3: 1-7; Rom. 5: 12-19 Matt. 4: 1-11

8.30 am North Kilworth Holy Communion (BCP) The Rev’d Alison Iliffe

9.30 am Kimcote Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

9.30 am Stanford on Avon Holy Communion (CW) The Rev’d Emma Davies

February 2017

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11.00 am Misterton Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

11.00 am Gilmorton Family Service The Rev’d Alison Iliffe

4.00 pm Peatling Parva Songs of Praise The Rev’d Alison Iliffe 4.00 pm Swinford Holy Communion (CW) Canon Chris Oxley

BCP = Book of Common Prayer (1662) - traditional language

CW = Common Worship (2000) - contemporary language

All enquiries regarding Church matters should be directed to:-

The Revd Canon Chris Oxley, The Rectory, Kilworth Road, Swinford.

Telephone: 01788 860445; email chrisandpaula@canonoxley.co.uk

The Revd Emma Davies, The Vicarage, 5 Church Lane, Gilmorton.

Telephone: 01455 556573; email emma.davies1@sky.com

The Revd Jane Kennedy, 17 Cromwell Close, Walcote.

Telephone: 01455 554065; email jane@kennedy47.orangehome.co.uk

The Rev’d Alison Iliffe, The Rectory, Dag lane, North Kilworth.

Telephone: 01858 881248; email ajiliffe@gmail.com

For Shawell:

The Revd Canon Brian Davis, Telephone: 01858 431843; email Revbdavis@aol.com

From the Parish Registers

Baptisms—we welcome into God’s family: Alannah Mae Litchfield North Kilworth 18th December

Henry John Oscar Bray Kimcote 8th January

Weddings—we wish every blessing on their marriage:

Thomas Vesty and Philippa Shinner Gilmorton 17th December

Funerals - we say farewell and commit to Almighty God: Brian Hickman aged 81 Kimcote 15th December

Mary Fletcher aged 70 South Kilworth 21st December

Jenny Lee aged 68 Swinford 21st December Helen Underhill aged 70 Swinford 22nd December

Keith Powell aged 81 Peatling Parva 10th January

Angela Rhodes aged 80 Misterton 12th January

LENT COURSE IN WALTON

Walton Baptist Chapel will again host this year’s 5-week

course for Lent entitled ‘Receiving Christ in five different ways’. This ecumenical discussion course will be led jointly

by leaders from the Baptist Chapel and members of the Avon

Swift Clergy team. Five sessions will run on Tuesday morn-

ings in March and April. (Details next month)

Each session begins with coffee at 10am and will end at

11am. Everyone will be made very welcome to this friendly

group – no experience or particular expertise necessary!

More information from:

Gordon Herbert on 01858 880492 or

Rev’d Emma Davies on 01455 556573.

February 2017

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February 2017

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JONATHAN BATEMAN, WARD COUNCILLOR

Firstly may I introduce myself, I am Jonathan Bateman, the

recently elected Ward Councillor for the Misterton Ward of

Harborough District Council.

If I can be of any assistance at any time with regards to an

issue you feel I may be able to assist with then please get in

touch, I look forward to hearing from you. My contact details

are below.

Jonathan Bateman

District Councillor for Misterton Ward Harborough District Council

Telephone: - 07866 372512

Email:- j.bateman@harborough.gov.uk

Harborough District Council

The Symington Building

Adam and Eve Street

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7AG

NEWS FROM SWINFORD SCHOOL

The children have made a great start to the new term, all

happy and refreshed.

A school choir made up of twenty nine children in years 5 and

6 had a great time at the Genting Arena in Birmingham on

Thursday 26th January, participating in a ‘Young Voices’ con-

cert. This national event takes place in various locations up

and down the country, giving primary school aged children

the chance to perform in front of a large audience (including

many of the children’s parents/carers). It’s something we look forward to being a part of every year!

The year 1 children enjoyed learning about food hygiene,

preparing ingredients and how to make a pizza during a visit

to Pizza Express in Market Harborough.

Our year 3/4 class went to the Caterpillar site in Desford to

learn about manufacturing and engineering. They saw many

of the areas of the factory to see how a variety of machines

are made.

Many of our children will be representing our school in the

coming weeks by taking part in cross country races, netball

and football matches – we wish them all the best of luck!

‘Jasmine’s Special Appeal’ update: We are delighted to let

you all know that Jasmine has had her operation and as you

read this, Jasmine should hopefully be in America now for a

long course of proton beam therapy, accompanied by her fam-

ily. Jasmine’s parents, Richard and Aimee, have asked me to

pass on their thanks to all of you, saying, ‘You have all been

amazing and we can’t thank you enough.’ The support and

generosity from the school and wider community has been overwhelming with the fundraising far exceeding our initial

expectations. The funds raised have removed the financial

February 2017

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pressure that Jasmine’s parents were under because of her treatment and they will cover any additional expenses associ-

ated with caring for her over the coming months. To everyone

who gave money and time to ‘Jasmine’s Special Appeal’ –

thank you so very much, you have been fantastic!

Admissions applications for Autumn 2017 had to be submit-

ted by Sunday 15th January 2017 and it looks like there will

be a few places available to families in and out of our catch-

ment area next year in some of our year groups. To help us to

plan ahead, if you know a child who is due to start at Swin-

ford School over the next few years, please send us their de-

tails (contact information as shown below). As ever, if you would like to come and visit us, we would love to meet you

and show you our school.

Mr Edy O’Connor (Head Teacher)

Tel: 01788 860404

Email: admin@swinford.leics.sch.uk

Website: www.swinford.leics.sch.uk

SWINFORD PARISH COUNCIL

CIC WINDFARM GRANTS 2017

The Parish Council has so far received the following applica-

tions for CIC Windfarm grants for 2017. The total fund avail-

able is approximately £16,000.

• Swinford Church of England Primary School. £2500 for

audio equipment

• Swinford Operatic and Drama Society (SODS) £6336 for

portable staging

• Rowland Cricket Club/with Swinford Chequers Football

Club £1000 for grounds and facilities maintenance

• Swinford Parish Council £3000 for completion of the

Neighbourhood Plan

• Swinford Parish Council £2000 for landscaping and planting on Stanford Road corner

• Swinford 2000 £1200 maintenance for community bus

It was apparent at the Parish Council meeting on January 10th that there are other potential bids that would be of interest and

benefit to the community. Although the deadline for submis-

sion has now passed this is an administrative deadline which

helps the PC to manage its role in the distribution of the fund.

So that the community does not miss out on potentially excit-

ing and worthwhile projects it will be proposed at the next PC

meeting in February that the deadline should be extended to

February 28th. A complete list of applications will be pub-

lished on the PC website after that date. Please send any com-

ments about the applications to

swinfordparishclerk@gmail.com or

clerk@swinfordparishcouncil.gov.uk

THANK YOU!

WOW, WHAT A WEEKEND!

Thanks to the many people who turned up to help us celebrate

our 30th Anniversary Party night at The Chequers. We

couldn’t have squeezed many more in and it was great to see

so many familiar faces.

The following morning over a 150 people (some with hang-

overs!), supported our charity barrel roll to Catthorpe and back. Thanks to those that pushed and thank you to Phil and

Sue at The Cherry Tree for their kind welcome when the

masses invaded their pub.

We haven’t totalled everything up just yet but we think that

we are somewhere in the region of £2,000 raised for Diabetes

UK. We will announce the final total shortly and are planning

a cheque presentation to Diabetes UK to take place soon.

We hope those of you who managed to get your hands on one

of the Chequers anniversary t-shirts and jumpers get a lot of

wear out of them and thank you once again for you support.

Brian Priest

February 2017

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CALLING ALL ACTORS! (NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY)

CAPTAIN POUCH’S DREAM

Captain Pouch’s Dream is a play written by local author Len

Holden, based on real historical events which took place in

Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1607

when a series of riots, affecting many local villages such as

Cotesbach, led by John Reynolds (known as ‘Captain

Pouch’), exploded across three counties. The cause was the

enclosure of land which resulted in many people being

evicted from their homes and losing their land and animals.

‘Pouch’ was a charismatic and strange figure who inspired the

angry peasants to take things into their own hands by digging up the hedges and throwing down the fences which the new

landowners had erected.

We are looking for actors, both men and women to take part

in the performance of ‘Captain Pouch’s Dream’. The play is

to be performed as a reading, so there will be no need to learn

lines. There is no need for acting experience - enthusiastic

amateurs welcome!

Key dates

Auditions - Sunday 5th February, 2pm at Cotesbach School-house; Performances - 9th, 10th & 17th June; Rehearsals TBC

For more details, contact Sophy Newton Tel: 07720 761285

Email: sophy@cotesbach.net

Len Holden Tel: 01858 446067

Email: leonard.holden@ntlworld.com

February 2017

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