1

APRIL

2015

VOLUME EIGHTEEN

The success and appeal of our village does bring some challenges

and none more so than traffic and parking - the busyness of the

church, the success of the Village Picture House and many other

Bernard Hall events, our fantastic shop and hairdresser, not to

mention The Crown

and our country-

side, which attracts

so many walkers.

But perhaps most

significant in terms

of traffic impact is

the success and

popularity of our

school and its Infant

site here in

Cuddington. Twice

a day during term

time there is the school run and the school buses which bring in

(Continued on page 4)

The school buses waiting to pick up

children at the end of the school day.

You are invited to…

The Easter Monday Party in St Nicholas Church, Cuddington 10:30am

Monday 6th April

An Astro Panto depicting the story of Easter,

followed by a traditional Easter

Egg Hunt, and then…... home-

baked refreshments and Party

Games. Fancy dress optional:

star wars, aliens,

astronauts... The pantomime is written for

children aged 4 to 100, but all are

welcome!

It’s

FREE!!

���� Good Friday - An Hour at the Cross

Readings and music

reflecting Christ’s

Crucifixion.

���� Easter Day - A family communion service

celebrating Christ’s Resurrection.

���� Easter Monday

Pantomime - See below for details

2

Easter this year is the very first Sunday in April by which time there will be signs of new life all

around us, birds nesting, flowers blossoming and young lambs in the fields. A very powerful

sign of new life or of life that is returning to a dormant world around us.

Easter, in the Christian calendar is more important than Christmas. Hard to believe sometimes

when you see how people respond to Christmas but do not do so in the same way to Easter! For

while Christmas marks a very important event in the birth of Jesus, it is his dying and returning to life, his death and

resurrection and thereby his conquest of death that is fundamental to Christian faith, with its promise of eternal life.

So important is it, that we are granted two Bank Holidays, one on Good Friday to remember the death of Jesus and one

on Easter Monday to continue the celebration of his resurrection. Indeed, up until the 19th Century, celebrations would

continue for the whole of the week following Easter Sunday.

Thinking about Bank Holidays, it is interesting to note that each year we have eight Bank Holidays of which four are to

enable religious celebrations to take place. A clear sign of the influence of the church over generations on our way of

life. Secularism may well be rife but I wonder what the reaction would be if a government of ours were to decide that we

should not have these holidays as “they are an anachronism in a secular world”! I think any government would quickly

find that “God’s not dead” and nor are we who believe and trust in him.

This year we will be having a Maundy Thursday evening service at St Mary’s in Haddenham where we focus on the last

supper that Jesus shared with his disciples. On Good Friday afternoon we will have a reflection in St Nicholas where we

remember the death and passion of Jesus. On Easter day there will be a Family Service of Holy Communion at 10am

where we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and on Easter Monday morning there will be an Easter pantomime for the

enjoyment of all, whatever your age. All are welcome at any of our services and events and we look forward to sharing

in them with you.

Have not just a ‘Happy Easter’ but a ‘Blessed’ one!

Revd. Jonathan Hawkins

Thought for the Month

Village Voice is published by the Cuddington Parochial Church Council as a service to the community.

Editorial Team: Helen Keeping - 291635 or wichertcot@btinternet.com; Chris Blumer - 290647 or chrisblumer@blumer.co.uk ; Karen Clayton - 290404 or info@porkandginger.co.uk

For advertising, please contact: Karen Clayton as above

Please make a note that this year’s Christian Aid Week is during 10th - 16th May.

Details of events and collections will be given in next month’s Village Voice

There is a place in our village

where regularly every week, on aver-

age, 49 adults and 12 children go.

Regularly, it’s up to 60 adults and 30

children. On special occasions, it’s 80

to100 adults and over 20 children and

once a year it’s 200 adults and up to 20

children. Yes – it’s St Nicholas Church

in the heart of the village!

We are very friendly and welcoming

and have tea and coffee after the

service – you are bound to meet a

neighbour or friend there. Please come

and find out what’s happening!

Wychert Vale Benefice Away Morning

18th April 2015, 9.30am – 12.30 pm

Cuddington and Dinton C of E School

Junior Site, School Lane, Dinton

A second Away Morning will be held in Dinton, during which members of

Haddenham Benefice, including Cuddington, will be discussing the following:

�Administration �Communications �Finance

�Organising Sundays �Worship & Prayer �Pastoral Care �Community Engagement / Outreach

�Children & Young People’s Ministry & Schools Work We will also consider what we do best as separate churches and what we could do

better together. Everyone is welcome. For more information contact the church

wardens, Graham Carr (290000) and James Stonham (292221).

3

Turkey, as we all know, is the meeting place of Eastern and

Western civilisations, but it is also the meeting place of Eastern

and Western vegetation, from Mediterranean to sub-tropical to

alpine plants. In all, Turkey has a vast range of over 8,000 spe-

cies of flora, 35% of which are endemic, owing to the contrasts

in the terrain and climatic zones.

It was at the March meeting, that Gardening Club members were treated to some

wonderful photographs showing many of the wild “Flowers of Turkey”, growing

in their natural surroundings, given by Peter Sheasby, an amateur botanist, photog-

rapher and traveller. We discovered

that many of our garden plants and

bulbs, originated from Turkey, includ-

ing acanthus, grape hyacinths, tulips,

cyclamen, peonies, fritillaries and

primulas, just to mention a few. We

were shown stunning landscapes of

fields covered in poppies and scillas as

well as close-ups of the delicate mark-

ings on orchids and on the Middle

Eastern irises. In all, it was a very

illuminating talk.

The next meeting of the Gardening

Club takes place on Monday 13th April

at 7.30 pm I n the playing field clubhouse when the speaker will be Andrew

Mikolajski, a garden writer, who will be giving us “Topical Tips for the Season”

for example: plants to enjoy, jobs to do, gardens to visit, pruning (or not), likely

pests etc.

A Spring Garden Visit to Kingsbridge Farm, near Steeple Claydon has been

arranged for Thursday 30th April at 2.30 pm. Serena Aldous has kindly invited us to

enjoy the spring flowers, bulbs and blossom in her beautiful 6 acre garden. Tea and

cake will be served in the tea room.

The Gardening Club welcomes visitors; should you be interested in a particular

talk, do come along to our friendly meetings. For further information about

forthcoming events, please contact Elsie Frost on 01844 290768.

Easter Opening Hours

Good Friday - 8.30am - 12.30pm

Saturday - 8.00am - 5.30pm

Easter Sunday - 8.30am - 12.30pm

Bank Holiday

Monday - 8.30am - 12.30pm

The Sunshine Club

Spring Bazaar will be

held on Saturday 18th

April at 2.00pm at

The Bernard Hall

with lots of bargains

to be found. Stalls

will include homemade cakes and

produce, white elephant, bric-a-brac,

good second hand clothes, books, raffle,

tombola, teas, etc.

Admission 20p, children free.

We will be delighted to accept contribu-

tions at the Hall on the morning of

the18th or please phone 01844 299 150

for collection.

Recycling Appeal We continue to collect used ink cartridg-

es and old mobile phones for recycling

in aid of our funds. These can be

dropped off at Cuddington Post Office

(thank you John and Elaine).

The speaker for the meeting on

Tuesday, March 10th , was Mr. Dave

Maycock whose subject was brass

rubbing. Mr. Maycock first showed

us small replicas of brasses from all

over the country including one from

the Parish Church in Thame. These

brasses ranged from the earliest in the thirteenth

century to those from the sixteenth century. From

these replicas Mr. Maycock pointed out how, over the

years, the fashion in armour had changed as had the

style of ladies’ dresses.

A practical session followed: all those who wished to

participate (and most did) were given everything

necessary to make a small brass rubbing, which they found to be most enjoyable.

As expressed by Mary Turner in her vote of thanks Mr Maycock had provided a

most interesting and informative afternoon.

Tea with a variety of delicious cakes and attractive raffle prizes were a fitting

conclusion to our birthday meeting.

The Playing Field Association and Club

Committees would like to thank every-

one who attended the Race Night on

Saturday 14 February. Both committees

worked hard both before and during the

event to make it success and the support

of those who attended was much

appreciated. It was a fun evening which

was enjoyed by all participants.

Fund raisers such as these are vital to

ensure the playing field and clubhouse

are kept in good order and remain

available for the whole village to

enjoy.

Alpine campanulas, just one of many

plants mentioned by Peter Sheasby

4

children from the catchment area outside the village.

The fact that the buses carry some 25 children means in

theory that 25 fewer cars are coming into the village,

twice a day.

However, as many of you know only too well, some-

times the buses get stuck because of poorly parked vehi-

cles. This causes no end of disruption to other traffic,

damage to verges and sometimes other vehicles, frustra-

tion for the bus drivers, and not occasionally, distress

for the children on board.

We don’t have a complete log of who the owners of

these vehicles are but we suspect that more often than

not they are occasional visitors to the village, in other

words not residents or parents.

What can be done?

The issue had been discussed regularly and frequently

both within the school with parents, with its governors

and between the school and the Parish Council. Com-

ments like “do we need the buses?” and “can’t the

children be dropped off at the main road to walk

down?” have often been made by residents.

The buses provide a valuable service both to parents in

getting their children safely to and from school and in

keeping a large number of vehicles from needing to

come into the village twice a day. The costs and

logistics involved in organising staff to meet buses and

escort children down to school have been studied and

are simply not realistic. Also it sometimes seems that

the buses are over large with only a few children on

board; this is because the size has to be set to the maxi-

mum number of children eligible to use it and on some

days children are perhaps absent, attending an after

school club or their parents have elected to pick them up

on that particular day.

The main challenge is ensuring that the buses can get

through the narrow village roads without hindrance and

the main barrier is poor parking. We really do have to

stress that if a school bus cannot get through then

neither can the council refuse lorry or a fire engine; and

the police would consider either of those situations

tantamount to causing a blockage and therefore illegal

parking.

So please can you help us? On the right is a road map

of Cuddington which highlights the route which the

buses take and it is along all of this route that

difficulties have occurred at various times. If you

have visitors or perhaps see someone leaving their car

in such a place so that it might cause a problem please

could you politely inform the driver of the situation?

It is only by all of us taking note and responsibility that

we can alleviate the problem and avoid having to keep

calling out PCSO’s or maybe even having yellow lines

painted throughout the village.

Kim Price, Headteacher

Richard Winnicott, Chairman of Governors

Ken Birkby, Chairman of Cuddington Parish

Council

Parking and the School Buses (Continued from page 1)

Mr. Turner, the beautiful and untold

story of the great painter J.M.W.

Turner from acclaimed director Mike

Leigh, is our first film of the month on

2nd April. “Timothy Spall gives the

finest performance of his career to

date”, says The Daily Telegraph. On

16th April we have the next National

Theatre Live presentation: a new play

by acclaimed playwright Tom Stop-

pard called The Hard Problem. Hila-

ry, a young psychology researcher at a

brain science institute, is nursing a

private sorrow and a troubling ques-

tion at work, where psychology and

biology meet. If there is nothing but

matter, what is consciousness? “A

typically witty return for Tom Stop-

pard… intellectually charged… pulses

with interesting ideas” says The Even-

ing Standard.

In complete contrast, on 23rd April,

we’ll be showing Paddington, the hi-

larious misadventures of the marmalade-loving bear from Peru,

with a stellar cast including Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim

Broadbent, Peter Capaldi and Nicole Kidman. “A total delight…

enormously funny” says The Daily Telegraph. Then on 14th May,

National Theatre Live presents George Bernard Shaw’s witty, pro-

vocative play Man and Superman with Ralph Fiennes playing Jack

Tanner. On 21st May we screen The Theory of Everything starring

BAFTA and Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking

in the love story about the famous physicist and his first wife.

Looking further ahead, we’ll be showing Leviathan (a beautiful,

award-winning Russian film about a land ownership dispute) and

Interstellar (a team of explorers travel beyond our galaxy to dis-

cover whether mankind has a future among the stars). Visit the

web page for more details: www.cuddingtonvillage.com/cinema

5

CUDDINGTON ANNUAL VILLAGE

MEETING

Wednesday 22nd APRIL 2015. 7.30pm

THE BERNARD HALL

This is the meeting for all villagers to come together and

have a discussion about the topics that they feel are important for Cuddington and

its surroundings.

The meeting will have an ‘open forum’ format that has been used successfully for a

few years. The agenda is very flexible, with most of the time available to discuss

any topics that people want to raise. Among the things people have already

mentioned are:-

♦ What services are the County Council and District Council keen to devolve

to parishes? Whilst there is some funding available now, this will cease and

the parishes will then have to raise extra money from villagers

♦ Increased traffic and speeding through the village

♦ Mobile phone coverage, or lack of it, in the village

♦ Why is it so hard to get people to volunteer for things?

♦ Is there any solution to the perennial parking problem?

There will, inevitably, be much more that people want to discuss.

The outline agenda is being put together by Venetia Davies. If there are specific

things you would like included please contact her. venetia.davies@talktalk.net.

Tel 01844 201899.

The meeting is also a super opportunity for newer residents to meet other villagers.

Everyone is welcome to complimentary wine or soft drinks at the end of the meet-

ing, when discussions inevitably continue for some time!

Please come along and support our village.

ELECTIONS

It cannot have escaped anyone’s attention that

May 7th is election day!

To be able to vote you must be registered as an

elector. New applications for registration have to

be submitted by 20 April 2015.

Applications to vote by post have to be made by

5pm on 21 April 2015 and proxy vote applications

by 5pm on 28 April 2015.

Perhaps not quite as important as the General Election but the Parish Council

elections are on the same day! All of the seven places on our council need to be

filled. Let’s have a large number of candidates to choose from! Nomination forms

can be obtained from AVDC (Jo Sara, Senior Electoral Service Officer: 01296

585051).

All forms must be submitted by4pm on Thursday 9th April.

Overall, February

was a cold month at

3.7°C (39°F); the

normal is 4.6°C (40°

F). However, Febru-

ary 2013 was much

colder at 2.8°C (37°

F); this is in stark

contrast to the

exceptionally mild

February last year at 6.1°C (43°F).

Daytime maximum air temperatures in

averaged 6.8°C (44°F); the long term

average is 7.7°C (46°F). Night time air

minimum temperatures averaged 0.5°C

(33°F); the long term average is 1.5°C

(35°F).

The highest day time air maxima oc-

curred on the 25th (11.3°C, 52°F) and

the lowest on the 2nd (1.6°C, 35°F)).

The highest night time air minima

occurred on the 26 th (6.0°C, 43°F) and

the lowest on the 2nd (minus 3.8°C, 25°

F)). The lowest temperature just above

the grass occurred at this time (minus

9.5°C, 15°F)).

Sunshine for the month was a little

below average amounting to 67.73

hours of bright sunshine – the long

term average is 78.9 hours.

February’s precipitation total was 48.8

mm (1.92 in) which is a little above the

17 year average is 44.9 mm (1.77 in).

Snow covered the ground on the 3rd

with an average depth of 5.0 cm (1.97

in); partial snow cover was observed

for another two days. Cuddington’s

winter was notable for its lack of any

significant snowfall.

Overall it was a cold winter with an

average temperature of 4.1°C (39°F);

the long term average is 4.7°C (40°F).

By comparison the winter of 2014 was

quite balmy at 5.8°C (42°F).

Sean Clarke

The Aylesbury Choral Society are performing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Nanie

at St Mary’s Church, Aylesbury on Saturday May 2nd 2015 at 7.30pm - four villagers are

singing! Tickets £12 :under 18s £5. Tickets available from choir members including Alan

and Stella Marsh 292466 or marsh@rosetree40.plus.com

6

Following the success of the last event the

Playing Fields Association will be arrang-

ing another one this year!

So please make a note of Sunday 7th June

for this year’s event.

Full details will be given in next month’s

Village Voice.

Lorraine Ray

In 1903 Sarah and Arthur Horsler bought the shop opposite Munday Stores at the

top of Upper Church Street from Annie Jackman. Members of this family were to

run it for sixty years until 1964. The Horsler shop carried varied merchandise

including sweets, bread, cheese, cigarettes, coal and paraffin. It seems that the

two competing families were on relatively friendly terms, each specialising in

rather different services and commodities. The Mundays had the butchery while

the Horslers sold and delivered newspapers, had a small stock of drapery, a cycle

repair business and, above all, at this time managed the village Post Office. After

1971 the Horsler premises were converted into private houses, one of which is

named ‘The Old Post’. It is poignant that both families lost a son in 1917 in

World War 1.

In 1910 Polly Watson opened a shop in Vulcan House in Holly Tree Lane. She

sold sweets, some groceries and cigarettes. However, in 1917 the shop was

closed down largely because Polly’s husband George, the village thatcher,

complained that he was keeping the village in sweets and tobacco as too many

customers were putting the cost of their goods on the slate!

Meanwhile

from 1918 on-

wards Louisa

Oakley ran a

modest shop

from her home

in Swan House

on Aylesbury

Road. She sold

some groceries

but it was her

sweets that

attracted the

village chil-

dren. When

she ran out of

sweets, she

would cut jelly

blocks into cubes to sell – hence her nickname, “Jelly Oakley”. She was also

noted for her savage dog which was usually tethered to a table leg, and for

requesting customers to fetch water from the well as she was disabled.

There was little serious competition in the village to the Munday shop. The

family ran a highly competent and rewarding business and it seems that there

were sufficient customers in the village to allow the Horslers and Mundays to

make a living. Later, of course, increased car ownership and supermarkets

would create a much more competitive world for village shops.

Peter Wenham

Annie Jackman’s shop before it was bought by the Horslers

Please register your interests on the Village website -

www.cuddingtonvillage.com

Three of us from Cuddington recently

enjoyed the Investigation and Discovery

Day in Aylesbury. Some 200 people

learnt about current Cancer Research, the

history of the Web and where will it go in

the future, nanotechnology and Medical

Detection Dogs. The speakers were ex-

cellent, explaining highly complex and

technical material in a way we could easi-

ly understand.

Days, such as this are, organised by

BFWI are available to all W.I. members

and their friends. Cuddington W.I. wel-

comes new members, who can then take

part in many activities, whatever their

own interests.

Caroline Thompson

Have you ever wanted to see your name

in print, do you have an interesting tale

to tell? If so, ‘Village Voice’ would like

to hear from you.

We have a publication, offering a voice

to anyone from Cuddington.

Please contact Helen Keeping,

wichertcot@btinternet.com

As a result of the article in February’s

Village Voice a further 8 parishioners

have registered on the village web-

site—this is good news.

It’s easy to do, so if you haven’t done

so already don’t be missing out on

news and information!

7

….proud-pied April dressed in all his trim

Hath put a spirit of youth in everything. Sonnet 98—William Shakespeare

Just occasionally, when walk-

ing in the countryside in a bit

of a dark mood, I imagine

what wildlife will be left if we

treat the land simply as a fac-

tory and use any means to gain maxi-

mum efficiency as defined by

accountants and profit margins. I

imagine that we'd be left with crows,

rats, ants, the odd pigeon, nettles, bram-

bles and hogweed... Oh and Japanese

bindweed of course. I'm over-stating the

case, of course, but there is no doubt

that when we force nature in a quest for

agricultural efficiency, we tend to lose

the creatures and plants that we love

whilst the pests remain: just ask local

farmers about black grass.

In England, we have seen alarming

reductions in populations of the birds,

bees and butterflies which define the

beauty of the countryside in our minds

and bring glorious colour and song to a

May morning. We innovate with the best

of intentions, but we are beginning to

learn that manipulating nature

produces unintended consequences

which have a negative effect on the

overall ecology, and subsequently on

agricultural efficiency as well. For

instance, in the United States, because

natural populations of bees have been

decimated by pesticides, contractors are

moving huge populations of bees in

trucks around the country in order to

pollinate crops. One cause is

neonicatinoid pesticides, used to control

insects by killing them if they eat any

part of a plant. These accumulate and

even tiny amounts affect a bee's

nervous systems so that it can't get back

to its hive and dies. Thousands of hives

have been found empty in recent years

because of this.

Neonicotinoids are beginning to be

controlled much more carefully and are

in the process of being banned in

(Continued on page 8)

April

Thursday 2nd 7.30pm Mr Turner – The Village Picture House

Friday 3rd 2.00pm Good Friday Service – An Hour at the Cross

Sunday 5th 10.00am All-Age Easter Holy Communion

Monday 6th 10.30am The Easter Story, An Astro Panto in church

Friday 10th 2.00pm Children’s playtime, Playing Fields

Monday 13th Lighthouse registration for children opens.

Monday 13th 2.00pm Sunshine Club in the Playing Field Club

Monday 13th 7.30 pm Gardening Club, Andrew Mikolajski -

“Practical Seasonal Tips”

Thursday 16th 7.00pm The Hard Problem NTLive, The Village Picture House

Saturday 18th Benefice Away Morning - see item on page 2

Saturday 18th 2.00pm Sunshine Club Spring Bazaar, Bernard Hall

Wednesday 22nd 7.30pm ANNUAL VILLAGE MEETING, Bernard Hall

Thursday 23rd 8.00pm Paddington – The Village Picture House

Monday 27th 2.00pm Sunshine Club in the Playing Field Club

Thursday 30th 2.30 pm Gardening Club Spring Garden visit to Kingsbridge

Farm, Steeple Claydon

Thursday 30th 8.00pm The Imitation Game – The Village Picture House

May

Monday 11th 2.00pm Sunshine Club in the Playing Field Club

Monday 11th 7.00pm Christian Aid - Bring And Buy Coffee Evening and

Plant Sale at Wellfield House, Spurt Street

Thursday 14th 7.00pm Man and Superman NTLive –

The Village Picture House

Monday 18th 1.30pm High Society - Sunshine Club Matinee Cinema in

Bernard Hall

Monday 18th 7.30 pm Gardening Club, Talk “The Lindengate Project” at

Worlds End

Thursday 21st 8.00pm The Theory of Everything – The Village Picture House

present the Divine Musical Comedy

Sister Act

By Josef Weinberger Ltd. Wednesday 17th- Saturday 20th February 2016 Lord Williams's Upper School, Thame

Auditions to be held in April!

Friday evening April 24th at 7.30-9.30pm Sunday Afternoon April 26th at 2.30-4.30pm at Christchurch, Upper High Street, Thame

Almost 17 years have passed since the first ICP audi�ons for Godspell in St Mary's

church, Thame.

Once again we invite all to contribute their gi's and talents- singers, actors, danc-

ers, back stage, front of house or helping with refreshments. For further information see our website www.interchurchproductions.com. email: performingarts2000@hotmail.com or team-icp@outlook.com

01844 215733

8

Services at St. Nicholas (Churchwardens: Graham Carr 290000 and

James Stonham 292221)

April

5th 10.00 am HOLY COMMUNION

12th 10.00 am FAMILY SERVICE

19th 10.00 am HOLY COMMUNION 26th 10.00 am MORNING WORSHIP

11.15 am HOLY COMMUNION

Opportunities for praying together in church are each Thursday at 9 a.m. and

each Sunday at 9.10 a.m.

There is a service at 5.30 pm every Sunday evening at Cuddington Methodist Chapel.

The children in our school benefit hugely

from a wide range of extra curricular

activities and their enthusiasm and talent in

sports, music and dance has shone through

this month.

We have participated in cross country run-

ning, netball and football matches, a Dance festival organised by Haddenham St

Mary’s School and a fantastic concert at Wembley Arena where our choir sang with

over six thousand other children from schools around the country. Both World Book

Day and Red Nose Day saw creative dressing up outfits, funny faces and even a

“Boy in a Dress” football match between years

5 and 6 when the boys wore dresses and the

girls dressed as boys complete with moustach-

es. Such fun !

Left: just some of the children at Wembley

Arena proudly showing off their school

banner!

JOIN US ON FRIDAY 10th APRIL

from 2pm on the village playing fields

for…...

…...bouncy castle, face painting,

over-sized toys and outdoor games

plus refreshments in the clubhouse. Organised by TICTOC (your Friday afternoon village play group)

and funded jointly by the parish council and BUCKS County

Council

All ages welcome!! - We’ll See you there….

It’s

FREE!!

Europe, which is a contentious and

difficult measure. This creates a big

problem for farmers for whom these

are a boon as they very effectively

controlled insect pests that can destroy

entire crops. In development,

neonicotinoids looked very good as

they are applied to seeds rather than

sprayed, but as they are incorporated

into the entire plant as it grows they

are indiscriminate. As usual, we solved

one problem (the indiscriminate spray-

ing of vast quantities of poisonous

chemicals) only to find we've created

another.

Agriculture has become vastly more

efficient during the past 100 years and

although the human population has

more than doubled in that time, and

continues to grow, we produce enough

food to be able to afford to waste a

substantial proportion of it. So we have

succeeded in our aim to be more

productive and agrichemicals have

played a major role. But at the end of

the day, if we lose the birds and the

bees we will end up in the worst of all

worlds, because we will not only have

lost what is beautiful, but without the

pollinator insects that fertilise the crop

flowers many crop species will be lost

as well.

The birds, insects and wildflowers that

give the countryside its sound and

colour are not just nice-to-haves, but

essential components in the web of

nature, and therefore in our

agriculture. If we lose them, it won't

only be the romantics that complain,

but the accountants' bottom line will

suffer.

doug@doug-kennedy.com.

Greener Cuddington (Continued from page 7)

Lighthouse – Thame 27th – 31st July 2015

Lighthouse Thame is a holiday week for children and

young people, which takes place on the Thame

Showground during in the summer holidays.

It is run through a partnership of local churches and

supported by hundreds of experienced volunteers.

Lighthouse provides an opportunity for children and young people to learn more

about God’s amazing love for us all and understand what difference Jesus can make

to our lives. We aim to provide a safe, fun and enjoyable environment for everyone.

If anyone wishes to volunteer (as a helper, administrator, car park attendant, or in

lots of other ways – we always need lots of cakes!) please register NOW at

www.lighthousethame.org.uk; or if you wish to have more information first please

contact Helen Keeping at wichertcot@btinternet.com.

And the more people who register as helpers with the children, the more children

can be accommodated during the week. It is great fun for everyone.

Registration for children opens on Monday 13th March.