On the day of the Neighbourhood Plan Referendum, New Road will be closed for roadworks just north of Great Mead and direct access by car to the Pavilion will not be possible for those houses on New Road to the north of Great Mead including Bishop’s Orchard, The Crescent and Little Langlands.

If you would find it difficult to get to the polling station, you can apply for a postal or proxy vote.

You will need to complete an application form and send it to the Electoral Registration Officer to arrive by 5pm on Wednesday 27 February 2019 at Electoral Services, South Oxfordshire District Council, 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, OX14 4SB or email to elections@southandvale.gov.uk .

Postal vote application forms are available here.

Alternatively, you can call the SODC helpline on 01235 422528 or email elections@southandvale.gov.uk to request one.

The referendum will take place on Thursday 14 March 2019.

The Polling Station is at East Hagbourne Pavilion.

Voting hours are from 7am until 10pm.

The next HAMS production will be Our Town by Thornton Wilder on 20th, 22nd and 23rd of March 2019.

Following the independent examination of the East Hagbourne neighbourhood plan, South Oxfordshire District Council has agreed that the plan should now proceed to referendum.

The referendum will take place on Thursday 14 March 2019. The Polling Station is at East Hagbourne Pavilion and voting hours are from 7am until 10pm.

To vote you must be registered to vote in local elections by Tuesday 26 February 2019 and live in the referendum area, i.e. East Hagbourne parish. Make sure you Register to Vote if you haven’t already.

The Referendum will ask:

“Do you want South Oxfordshire District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for East Hagbourne Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”

The Neighbourhood Plan contains policies covering the following topics:

• Sustainable Development
• Village Character
• Housing
• Infrastructure and Community Facilities
• Transport and Access
• Green Space and Environment

Full details can be found on the SODC website here.

A paper copy of the report is available to view in St Andrew’s Church.

The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group

The Shop supports Fairtrade Fortnight by having a special display of products grown by farmers and workers in developing countries. In fact it’s perhaps surprising how many of our regular items come into the Fairtrade category. Please show your support for this campaign by buying Fairtrade during this special event. Mary’s really tasty marmalade sold for another good cause (Christian Aid) is made with Seville oranges and Fairtrade sugar. This is available throughout the year and it makes a great gift.

LOCATION: West Hagbourne, Main Street-L/A Horse & Harrow Public House

REASON: To facilitate Three new water mains connections

DURATION: Starting on 28 January 2019

The anticipated completion date is 1 February 2019

ACCESS: Limited access will be maintained for emergency service vehicles and for frontages within the closed section of road, subject to the progress of the works

SUGGESTED ALTERNATIVE ROUTE:

London Road-Harwell Link Road-B4493-Park Road-Brook Lane-Main Street and vice versa

Fun Activities for Primary School children

Saturday 16th March 10am-4pm

£5 per child

Please find below dates of waste tours for the year:

The food waste is sent to the anaerobic digestion facility based in Wallingford, the tour will show you how your food waste is turned into electricity and a liquid fertilizer.

All tours start at 10am and last around 1.5 hours.

• June 6th
• August 7th
• October 3rd
• November 19th 

The black bin waste is sent to an energy from waste plant based in Ardley. Here the waste is incinerated to generate electricity. The tour will start with a presentation and then you will enjoy a guided tour around the plant.

Tours start at 10am and last around 2.5 hours.

• February 25^th
• April 11^th
• July 8^th
• October 31^st

Please let me know at: waste.team@southandvale.gov.uk if you are interested in attending any of the dates and I can reserve you spaces and send you more information about the day. Tours spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Best Wishes,
Ellie

Nearly 50% of all chimney fires happen during January, February and March. If you enjoy cosying up in front of a log fire, make sure the sparks don’t fly at home this winter by taking a look at Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Services top tips https://bit.ly/2SS9RbD #chimney #fires

There is a free bus service to Tesco Store on Tuesdays from West Hagbourne: 9.50 – Bus Shelter, Main Street, East Hagbourne: 9.53 – School, 9.56 – New Road Bus Shelter and returning from Tesco at 12.00 midday. This information is for guidance only and is subject to change without notice. Operated by Tappins Coaches.

There is the Community Bus to Wallingford on Friday’s too!  Starting from Windsor Crescent, East Hagbourne at 10.15am and returning from Wallingford at 1.15pm from the Market Square, by the Corn Exchange. You will need to register to use this service an obtain tickets, £2 each way, from our Post Office before you travel. This service has been commissioned by the Downland Villages Transport Group.

The 2018 St.Andrew’s Hagbourne Christmas Tree Festival is officially over for another year (although most trees will remain on view) and the vote counting is done.

As announced at the Ring and Sing on the last night of the festival, the three trees that were the favourites of the most people were . . .

1st The Knitwits (photo)

2nd Cat’s Whiskers (a first time sponsor)

3rd Hagbourne Pre-School

Well done to them, and to all of the talented groups and businesses that sponsored a tree this year.

More news to follow regarding the donation totals.

Happy Christmas from the Christmas Tree Festival and all at St. Andrew’s church.

Community Bus Service to Wallingford takes place on Fridays starting from Windsor Crescent, East Hagbourne at 10.15am and returning from Wallingford at 1.15pm from the Market Square, by the Corn Exchange. You will need to register to use this service an obtain tickets, £2 each way, from our Post Office before you travel. This service has been commissioned by the Downland Villages Transport Group.

Thirty beautiful Christmas Trees are festively decorated by local businesses, clubs and community groups for the duration of the festival. Visitors are invited to come along, enjoy the trees, have a home-made cake and refreshment and vote for their favourite.

Every year a wonderful programme of entertainment is put together to run alongside the festival so you can enjoy carols, music, bell ringing, concerts, plays, poetry and much, much more all in the surroundings of the trees. A full programme of events is shown below.

All proceeds go to the church and a local charity that is nominated each year.

For 2018, our charity is Be Free YC, the South Oxfordshire charity who do great work with youngsters who also have to care for relatives who are disabled, unwell or have other difficulties. Such young carers can become invisible in our communities, and they can miss much of the fun and friendship this is an important part of growing up. You can read more about Be Free YC at https://befreeyc.org.uk and we hope you can join us in supporting them.

Our festival is enabled by our generous patrons . . .

If you’d like to be involved either as a festival patron, a tree sponsor or an entertainer, please do not hesitate to get in touch.