Season Greetings

Wishing all a safe and Happy Christmas & 2021

Since the spring, like so many organisations, we have had our activities seriously curtailed by the Coronavirus pandemic. However we have been able to carry out several “socially distanced” working parties in the Donkey Lane Community Orchard.

We are delighted to report that this year there was an outstanding crop of apples and we hope that our fellow villagers have made full use of them. Thank you to all who have given us feedback on how delicious the apples were in apple crumbles and pies!

Our work in the orchard since the various lock downs and restrictions has mainly involved keeping the nettles and brambles under control whilst having regular litter picking forays. We would like to thank everybody who has joined us and also any public spirited walkers who have also picked up any rubbish.

We are planning to start a regular schedule of working parties (Covid secure of course) once the Christmas festivities are out of the way. These will be published and we look forward to seeing some new faces as well as greeting old friends. We will also be planning our 2021 orchard activities (government guidelines permitting) and plan to carry out a range of wild life surveys in the orchard. Watch this space!

Why not have a look at the latest photos of the orchard in the The Donkey Lane Photo Albums. This is a collection of photographs taken by one of our intrepid volunteers, Keith Webley, who has been documenting the evolution of the orchard since we started. 

Photo credit:  Keith Webley

During the year there has been some extensive financial support given to the parish by Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment (TOE), Oxfordshire County Council and Chinnor Parish Council to fund some much needed improvements for our rapidly deteriorating local footpath stiles. We have the funds, we have the gates and once restrictions are eased the South Chiltern's Path Maintenance Volunteers (an offshoot of the Chiltern Society) will get to work. The intention is to replace rotting stiles with nice metal gates which will be particularly advantageous for those walking with our canine friends.

The Station Road Community Garden planters are being settled in for winter before being seasonally replanted in the spring. We hope that we can resume our village litter picking in the spring.

Unfortunately we are still in the hands of the authorities regarding the viability of Repair Cafes and hope to recommence in late Spring.

Our last thoughts are to wish you all the very best for the festive season and our hope that we are all coming to the end of one of the momentous periods in our history.

Not a Donkey Lane Community Orchard Blossom Day!

This weekend would have seen our second Blossom Open Day at the orchard. Unfortunately due to the current restrictions, we are unable to go ahead with the event.

To help brighten up the day and to show the amazing transformation of the orchard since the renovation started in January 2019, we are publishing The Donkey Lane Photo Albums. This is a collection of photographs taken by one of our intrepid volunteers, Keith Webley, who has been documenting the evolution of the orchard since we started. The albums can be viewed in any order but I would suggest that you start in chronological order and just see the amazing work of our volunteers and the transformation of the orchard into a lovely, tranquil space.

To find our gallery click here

Covid 19

Due to the ongoing COVID19 situation we are postponing ALL Greening Chinnor activities until further notice.

We will keep the Government's guidelines and the general situation under review and will hopefully reschedule events as soon as the situation changes.

Thank you all for your support and hopefully see you soon.

All the best and stay safe.

Linda Brawn
Greening Chinnor

Email: greeningchinnor@gmail.com | website: www.greeningchinnor.blogspot.co.uk

Spring Community Litter Pick - CANCELLED

Repair Cafe 15th February 2020 & Big Fix 2020 Results

On Feb 15th we joined 65 other Repair Cafes across the country in the Big Fix 2020. This event was organised by Recycle Devon and as well as making this event Britain's Biggest Repair Cafe it aimed to raise awareness of the work carried out at Repair Cafe's.

First a piece about our Repair Cafe followed by the amazing results from the Big Fix 2020.

Well we were really amazed as to how popular our February Repair Cafe was. It was our biggest yet! We had so many people turning up with things that needed repair that at one time we were worried we’d have to close the doors.

Photo: Keith Webley

This time in addition to our lovely regular fixers, we had leather work and tool sharpening for the first time. This proved extremely useful for our group of seamstresses who were absolutely delighted to have their scissors sharpened and reset. In total we had:

Photo: Keith Webley

• 12 Fixers, 6 Facilitators/Helpers
• 76 items brought in for repair which kept our team of fixers busy for the whole session
• 87% items were either fixed or advice given (69 kg)
• 10 items failed to be fixed (27 kg)

Some of the more interesting and unusual items that were brought back to life included an extremely vintage sewing machine foot pedal (good stuff Ted), a couple of electric trains and some much loved Christmas lights. A huge thank you and well done to everybody who took part.We can only run these cafes with the support  of our Fixers and Helpers.

Photo: Keith Webley

Photo: Keith Webley

Big Fix 2020 Results

As you know our Repair Cafe was being run in conjunction with the Big Fix 2020 organised by Recycle Devon in and attempt to have the biggest Repair Cafe ever. Well we've fed our stats to the Big Fix and preliminary results of the day are:

• Number of participating Repair Cafés: 66
• Total fixes: 2253
• Total number of items brought : 2981
• 75.5% of total items able to be fixed
• 918 volunteers, fueled by 1748 cups of tea and coffee and 931 slices of cake
• 1974 attendees who brought items to be fixed

Breakdown by category

• Tool sharpening 14%
• Bikes 2%
• Other 19%
• Textiles 18%
• Electronic 8%
• Electrical 32%

Items that needed a part to be fixed 397
Items not fixed at the event 516

Estimated over £100,000 of consumer spending avoided
Estimated 45,000 – 55,000 kg of carbon avoided

A huge thank you to Catherine Causley for making this amazing event possible and to all 66 Repair Cafes around the UK.

Big Fix 2020 - Greening Chinnor Repair Cafe

We're really pleased to be taking part in the The Big Fix 2020. Chinnor will be 1 of 75 repair cafes that are happening across the country on the same day! Never has there been a repair event attempted on this scale before. The goal is to fix as many broken, worn and once loved possessions in a single morning.

The national event is being coordinated by Devon County Council in partnership with all participating repair cafes and follows the success of The Big Fix in Exeter last year when volunteers broke the record for the number of items repaired at a single repair café. You can find out more about the Big Fix 2020 here.  This is a lovely video from the Malvern Hills Repair Cafe which explains what a repair café is, what happens when you get there and what the rational behind them is. https://www.facebook.com/MalvernHillsRepairCafe/videos/895130800650253/

So, when and where:

Chinnor Village Hall, Chinnor, OX39 4PG. Doors open at 10:00 am last item accepted 12:30.

You can bring any household goods that you can carry and that needs repairing. No white goods please.

We have a team of sewing repairers, electrical and mechanical repairers and *STOP PRESS* for the first time ever we can offer sharpening skills too. Plus, our every popular 'Glue' table.

Please note that we can’t promise to repair. We will do our best and to advise on alternatives. Help us to help you! Please bring all parts that would help us test the repair such as: power cords, mains adaptors, CDs, remote controls, etc. If you would like to pre-register your broken item you can do so on our Registration Form.

So can you come along even if you don't have anything to repair? Yes!

We want to raise awareness of repairing and reusing instead of ‘throwing away’, so please come and watch volunteers perform the repairs and learn from them and help support us by having a cup of tea and cake. So come along and be part of history!

Next Orchard Working Party

The next Donkey Lane Community Orchard working party will be on Saturday 8th February 2020 1:00 pm - 16:00 pm. It is quite wet and muddy in the lane so please make sure you wear suitable footwear. Bring some tools if you have them and a cup for refreshments.

This month we will be putting together plans for each of the apple trees and carrying on with clearing the ivy.

New volunteers and visitors are always welcome, please pop in and find out what we're doing.

Big Fix 2020 - Chinnor Repair Cafe

Programme Planning Meeting

28th January 2020 7:30 pm

Council Chambers, Community Pavilion, 

Station Road, Chinnor, OX39 4PU

Why not come along and find out what we've been up to and our plans for the next few months.

Some of the things we will be discussing are:

• Chinnor Repair Café
• Donkey Lane Community Orchard
• Community Litter Pick – once again we’ll be joining the Great
• British Spring Clean Up
• Seed & Plant Swap
• Station Road Community Garden & Pavilion Planter
• Tree Planting

Hope to see you there.

Email Linda at greeningchinnor@gmail.com or call 01844 352753 for more details.

Repair Cafe Meeting

22nd January 2020 7:30 pm at The Village Centre, High Street, Chinnor, OX39 4DH

Are you interested in finding out about Repair Cafés and how you can get involved? Why not come along to our Repair Café meeting and meet up with like-minded people and help plan our next Repair Café for the 15th February. We are always looking for fixers and volunteers of all kinds and this is your opportunity to find out about it!

Our Repair Cafés are not a big commitment; our events are just 3 hours long, with some set-up and take-down on either end. It’s not expected that you come to every repair session, although some of our volunteers do – and why not, as it’s really fun! Come along on Wednesday and find out more.

Big Fix 2020 day of repair events

On Saturday 15th February, we are joining hundreds of volunteers at the 75 repair cafes that will be taking part in this world first. Never has there been a repair event attempted on this scale before.

To find out more about The Big Fix 2020, check out this video https://www.facebook.com/RecycleDevon/videos/3170000679694270/

So...

• Do you like to fix and tinker with things?
• Would you like to have a go at fixing broken household goods that folk bring into the repair café and teach them the art of repair?
• Specialist and all-round skills welcome in fixing household items such as clothing/textiles, jewellery, books, shoes, bikes, small furniture, computers, mobiles, electronics, small appliances and more!

Why not volunteer as one of our Fixers?

We would also love it if you could run a workshop on basic repair and maintenance skills. We reckon it would be great to teach people how to look after their stuff before things break or wear out.

Help Host a Repair Session

We are also looking for volunteers to provide general support at our events or behind the scene.

Tasks to help with include event planning and set-up, visitor registration, refreshments (e.g. offering coffee or baked goods around to folk), promotion/communications, photography/video, etc.

Are you a keen social media user? We’d love your assistance in promoting us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, we would like to hear from you.

Email Linda at greeningchinnor@gmail.com to register your interest.

Big Fix 2020 Greening Chinnor Repair Cafe

Save the date! 

Repair Cafes across the UK are uniting for Britain's Biggest Repair Cafe and Greening Chinnor will be part of it!!!!

On Saturday 15th February, we are joining hundreds of volunteers at Repair Cafes across the country as part of a nationwide day of repair events.

Run by the community, for the community, our Repair Cafe not only reduces waste but creates a place for people in Chinnor and the surrounding villages to come together to enjoy a cup of tea and share new skills that may otherwise be lost.

We are hosting a very special Repair Cafe on Saturday 15th at the Village Hall, Church Road, Chinnor OX39 4PQ from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm (last item accepted 12:30).

This will be our 5th Repair Cafe so please come and show your support and bring along your broken household items to be fixed! Save on expensive repair costs or if you're just not sure what’s wrong with it. We will have a look everything from electricals, lamps, vacuum cleaners, laptops, toys, sewing repairs! We can't guarantee we can fix it ... but we'll try.

#TheBigFix2020 - Join the Repair Revolution.

Wassail 2020

We loved being a part of the Wassail at Donkey Lane Community Orchard on Saturday 11th January 2020 as our first event of the year... tad bit cold and blustery but that didn’t dampen anyone spirits!

‘King and Queen’ tree decorated and blessed on behalf of the orchard, noisy procession around the orchard, drinking mulled cider and apple juice, eating cake … what isn’t there to like!

Thanks to everyone who braved the elements to share this traditional ceremony, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Huge thanks to Claire from Midshires Orchard Group for leading the Wassail, we are always thankful for her help and to Village Voices Community Choir Towersey for helping put some ‘tune’ into our Wassail song and for the additional Wassail songs enjoyed by all.

Our First Wassail at the Orchard

Happy New Year

We are planning, in conjunction with the Mid-Shires Orchard Group, to hold our first Wassail on Saturday 11th January 2020 at 2:00 pm at the orchard. Come and join us. Bring your wellies (the track is very muddy), your family and something to make a noise with such as musical instruments, pots and spoons etc.

The 'wassail' is a very old tradition practiced in the apple orchards of southern England during the winter to bless the fruit trees to 'encourage' them produce a good harvest for the year. The tradition is to make a 'lot' of noise to ward off bad luck and mischievous spirits, so they stay away and don't steal the fruit!

Different villages hold slightly different ceremonies which usually involve bonfires, singing, dancing and drinking mulled cider. Our wassail will have all the elements apart from the bonfire.

So come along and have a bit of fun and enjoy this lovely new space.

Our next Orchard meeting is on the 8th January 2020, 7:30 pm at White's Field Community Hall.