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.
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| 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.
