Seed & Plant Swap - This Saturday

Following on from last year's successful Seed & Plant Swap, we are pleased to let you know we will be having a stall at the FoE Green Fayre on Saturday 14th May at the Village Hall, Church Lane, Chinnor, Oxon, OX39 4PQ (view map) from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Do you have packets of seeds you don’t want, half a packet left over or sown too much? This is where you can exchange seeds and plants, Bring your excess seeds and seedlings to our swap stall and swap with someone else. Herbs, vegetables, flowers, anything goes. Please label any plants and seeds clearly. It doesn't matter if you don't have anything to swap, everyone is welcome to take a plant (maximum of 3, whilst stocks last). Alan has been busy growing some of the seeds that were left over from last year as part of this year’s Swap.

We are pleased to say that we have received 30 packets of wild flower seeds from The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew as part of the 'Grow Wild' campaign they are running to inspire people across the UK to come together to transform local spaces by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.

As last year, there will be a children's competition and giving away free plants to the first 30 children. This year we're giving away beans and come the end of August we will want to see who has grown the tallest and who has grown the longest bean. We will also be having a children's draw for DIY Bee houses.

This is a chance for newbies to have a go at growing some vegetables or flowers, or for 'older' hands to exchange seeds and plants that you have too many of, or just to pick up a plant for free to have a go at “GROW YOUR OWN”.

This year we will also have a plant pot swap as well and will accept all pots that are in good order. Please ensure that all plant brought for swapping are clearly labeled. So bring along seeds, plants or pots to swap or just take a plant to try.

Public Meeting - Growth at all Costs?

You are invited to a Public Meeting in the Upper Chamber at Thame Town Hall on Wednesday 11^th May, 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm.

The growth strategy for Oxfordshire proposes 100,000 new houses by 2031, equivalent to two new cities the size of Oxford; plus 85,000 new jobs, and at least 200,000 more people, roughly a 30% increase in our population.

Many local groups are fighting hard against inappropriate development in their particular community. Yet the current economic strategy for the county, produced without any public consultation, sets out such aggressive growth figures that more and more battles are likely to be coming our way.

Need Not Greed Oxon is a campaign dedicated to protecting Oxfordshire’s rural environment run by a coalition of local organisations and individuals. CPRE Oxfordshire is providing the Secretariat for the coalition. 

Need not Greed Oxon has been invited by Thame Town Parish to give a presentation on the campaign, its origins and objectives, and their work around the OxLEP public consultation on the Strategic Economic Plan.

Speakers include Helen Marshall, Director, CPRE Oxfordshire, John Gordon, South Oxfordshire Sustainability (SOS) and Professor Richard Harding, Chairman, CPRE Wallingford District.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

The group is campaigning against a “growth at all costs” policy that they believe has led to a county plan that envisages building at virtually double any previous rate, and threatens to overwhelm the county's infrastructure, services, landscape and communities. 

Need not Greed wants local people to have a voice in the debate on the future of Oxfordshire and to comment on the Strategic Economic Plan produced by Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

The group invites everyone to attend the presentation to find out more. You can also find out further information about the campaign by visiting the Need not Greed website.

If you cannot make this meeting, there is an opportunity to see it at Wallingford Town Hall on Tuesday 17th May at 7:30 pm. 

Spring Community Litter Pick & Clean for the Queen

We had an excellent turnout for our spring community clean up and it was good to see our regulars together with some new faces.

We split into groups and covered; White's Field, the Driftway from Chinnor to the Kingston Stert Road, Keens Lane, part of the Ridgeway to Wainhill, Springfield Gardens, Top Recreation ground, Conigre Playing Fields, Emmington Churchyard and part of the Thame Road. 

Once again, the weather was with us albeit a bit chilly. This didn't stop our volunteers and 12 bags of rubbish was collected.

Litter pick volunteers

Some of the rubbish collected

Thank you once again to our lovely volunteers who do a brilliant job to help keep Chinnor and its environs a beautiful place to live.