Thoughts from a Cotswold Village – May 2025
The sun is shinning (again!) and the allotment holders and local farm workers are all complaining about the lack of rain. Even out walking the dog we had to stop half way around the village block to sit in the shade in front of the Memorial Hall. (Note we have a Memorial Hall not a Town Hall as depicted in certain areas of the media).
Anyway the view from the bench is over the fields to the Wychwood forest that sits on the other side of the valley. Rumour has it that the trees from the Wychwood were used to build many of the ships that fought at the battle of Trafalgar. It must have been quite a journey to get the felled trees down to the Portsmouth and Bucklers Hard dockyards. Especially, when you think that neither the Newbury bypass nor the Twyford Down cuttings had yet been built!
The Memorial Hall has acted at the focal point for village events for many years, but like many such institutions around the country our is suffering from the duel threats of an aging volunteer committee and the increase in running costs. Although the hall is well used through the week with many regular groups and topped up with birthday parties and also unfortunately an increase in wakes.
The big debate at the moment is around the pricing structure. Do we look to increase the hire cost to truly reflect the running costs of the hall, or is it more important to give the village and the surrounding area an affordable space where people can come together for activities and celebration? This is a question that will be familiar to many people who are involved in the community sector in whatever capacity.
As I said the sun is shinning so I think it is time for a cup of tea and maybe some toast, sitting in the shade with the dog flaked out by me and count my blessing rather than fret and worry about what is going on in the world. Maybe also do a bit of digging on the Internet to see how exactly they moved the trees from the Wychwood forest to the south coast. Now that is a problem worth thinking about.
