Category Archives: Villagers

Horley has a New ‘Knit and Stitch’ Group

knit-and-stitch[1]Do you enjoy knitting or sewing? Would you like to get started or want to finish a project you began a while ago ?

Then bring it along to Horley’s new relaxed and friendly group ‘Knit & Stitch’. Starting Thursday 10th March at 7pm in the Old School Room and continuing every 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. Please bring £1.  Coffee & Biscuits provided. Knitting, Crochet, Tapestry, Embroidery etc. (no machines).

Any questions, please contact Alison Carr  Tel. 01295 730102.

Mike Patching Receives His High Sherriff’s Community Award

Mike PatchingThis week Mike was recognised for his outstanding contributions by receiving The High Sherriff’s Community Award, here is what Mike has to say:

I feel very privileged in writing this and being able to say a sincere ‘thank you’ to the Horley Parish Council for nominating me for the High Sherriff’s Community award. I consider it a great honour, and when your peers, who are also good friends and neighbours, initiate it, it is something extra special. I am pleased to have been in a position to be involved in and able to assist with, the various community activities mentioned in the citation, and with which I will continue to be associated.

For just about the whole of my life I have lived in small villages in Oxfordshire, and believe strongly that to fully appreciate what that brings to the quality of life, then you need to involve yourself with what is going on around you, and where possible encourage and support local, traditional and long standing institutions, particularly where they involve young people, by applying the lessons and skills that make up the fabric of life, which if shared can bring great pleasure to yourself and help and support to others.

At the centre of most of what I do and probably that of which I am most proud, is the Michael Hardinge Trust. My involvement in which is near 40 years and has enabled me to have sight of much of what goes on in this busy village, and thereby present opportunities to help and get involved, which I’ve enjoyed (most of the time!) My aim has been to make The Trust, which is near 400 years old, relevant to the age, inclusive and of benefit to the whole village whilst retaining the spirit of Michael Hardinge in the original deed of trust. In about eight years time The Trust will date back 400 years and my aim has been to make sure it is in shape for a long time in the future. Although the MHT occupies what sometimes is an unacceptable amount of my private time, I have managed to punctuate it with some light hearted and relaxing stuff like mowing the cricket field on a warm afternoon, or involving myself with the various stage productions, either on the stage or behind the scenes! Also writing bits for the local newspaper is very relaxing (except when I have overlooked the deadline). The Trust has sailed some fraught and stormy waters most of which the rest of the village would not have been aware but like any ship, that is down to the crew and I have got and had over the years an excellent crew who have been a huge help to me and their input has no doubt lead me to this point for which I thank them sincerely. I would encourage the young people of the village to get involved it’s fun, enjoyable and has a positive effect on the village.

I also enjoy interacting with the children that come to Horley for field trips, or going to their schools to assist with their Forest projects or help with cycle proficiency. To hear their happy chatter and listen to their little stories is very satisfying, although some of them have the most heart rending circumstances in which they live and look at coming to Horley as a holiday even if only for a day. With the cuts and economies in the education budget I fear that these trips might slowly tail off. I hope not.

There are many good, talented and philanthropic people in this village any one of which would have merited this award, all of whom I have worked with and who have helped and supported me, to them I say a sincere ‘Thank you’, particularly to my wife Sue who has helped tremendously throughout and borne the brunt of my reactions to the many frustrations I have encountered along the way. It is through collective effort and the support of the village at large and the beautiful, surrounding countryside, that Horley is such a pleasant and sought after place to live. Thank you to all the people who have sent me cards, emails, Facebook posts, telephone calls and greetings in the street, all capped by a memorable ceremony at Christchurch College last night.

Sincere thanks and best wishes. Mike

Mike award 

See more about this nomination Mike Patching – High Sheriff Award

Cricket Field – 24th February

The field is beautiful this morning, the kind of beauty that you can’t photograph, only feel. The sun is rising in a cloudless blue sky, and making brilliant every frosted blade of grass, evening …. Wednesday 24th February

I’ve reached the low wall of the pavilion now, and I press my finger into a frozen  fairy-cushion of silvery moss. The ice melts instantly, and the cushion turns green. I press my finger against my cheek, to test the coldness.

It’s fine for me to be afraid, but it’s really not okay for that fear to make me a coward. I take a deep, cold-air breath, tip my face to the pale  winter sun. This morning, I’ve seen and understood something of myself that I can’t ever pretend I hadn’t. I am frightened of old people because of what they are, what they were. Once as strong-armed, straight-backed, as shrill-voiced and energetic, as I am now. I will be like them one day, and it’s that thought that frightens me, not the people themselves.

Source: Wednesday 24th February

Horley Blacksmith & Horse Lover Combines Her Passions

Horley Horse made loving by Horley Blacksmith

Julia Naysmith has combined her passion for horses with her artistic talents to produce this amazing  sculpture.  Using only scrap metals Julia has lovingly forged and welded together this life size horse.

Julia Naysmith horse close Julia Naysmith horse looking side Julia Naysmith horse looking Julia Naysmith horse

 

 

 

 

 

Julia Naysmith workshop

Julia Naysmith works with her father at Oxford Ironstone Company based near Horley. In this horse she has combined her passion for horses, her work as a blacksmith, her artistist talents and recycled scrap into a work of art.  Julia said:

“I’ve always wanted to make a full horse and finally its taking it first steps out side the workshop . All the late nights of welding and forging have hopefully paid off. A full sized horse made of scrap, I love my job !!”

Julia we love your work, with your talent it won’t be long before you are doing this type of “work” full time if that’s what you want. Horley is very proud of you as I’m sure so are your family and all your friends.

Julia Naysmith horse workshop

Julia Naysmith horse head workshopJulia Naysmith horse front workshopJulia Naysmith horse front side workshop

Debra Fox

Over the Cricket – February

The wickets were mown, late last week, and are a lighter square against the dark green of the out-field. An orange rope, the one they use sometimes as a boundary rope, is suspended around the square’s perimeter. It is a grubby white in places, where the orange has frayed free, and reminds me of crumbed ham……

 

Source: Monday 8th February

Sunday 31st January- The Year of The Cricket

…… The hedge bordering Banbury lane is covered by mildewed netting. It bulges and sags, like a pair of old-lady knickers.

We reach the corner by the nets and turn up hill, towards the pavilion with its shuttered winter-face, its empty flagpole. The flag pole makes an impatient, metallic ticking sound when the wind blows, some cleat beating another………….Sunday 31st January

Mike Patching – High Sheriff Award

Mike Patching is recognised for his outstanding contributions to the local community

Untitled_21038740314_lMike is to be awarded Oxfordshire’s High Sheriff Award in recognition of his significant and lasting contribution to community life in Horley and with schools in the local area.

The High Sheriff of Oxfordshire issues awards each year to people who have made a difference  to their community over many years, and whose contribution has not been recognised in some other formal way.

The Parish Council put Mike’s name forward for this award for his valuable work over the years. Some of the many activities and projects includes:

  • Chairing the Michael Hardinge Trust , and the overall management of the Old School with all the fund raising and community efforts that this Horley Charity provides under Mike’s stewardship. These included the Summer BBQ with live music, the Children’s Concert, Summer Games, nature competitions and many more child centred events and activities.
  • Working with local schools to provide educational visits and trips about nature and the countryside for children both in  school and around Horley. Also assisting in cycling proficiency testing amongst other things.
  • Supporting Horley Footlights, where Mike has helped on and off stage in all aspects on putting on a production.
  • Support for the Cricket Club keeping the pitch in peak condition for summer matches and maintaining their mowing equipment and organising the annual Children’s Games there.
  • Providing regular updates in the Horley Views magazine  on the Michael Hardinge Trust and a features on nature and the countryside every season.
  • Contributions to the team that created the Horley Circular Walk.
  • Support for the Church and Ladies Guild in organising the Summer Fetes and Christmas Markets, Chamber Music Festivals and Barn Dances, as well involvement in special projects such as the Bells Restoration and other community efforts to ensure the use of our very special Grade 1 listed church St Etheldredas.

The office of High Sheriff is a ceremonial role involving a mix of charitable and community functions. It is the oldest secular office in the country outside of the monarchy but without the extensive powers it used to have. It is unfunded, voluntary and non political. The current High Sheriff 2015/16 is Tom Birch Reynardson. There will be a formal award ceremony in Oxford on 29 February which Mike will attend.

Congratulations Mike, very well deserved and thank you for all your efforts over the years;  it is very much appreciated. We hope you will share your pictures of the ceremony and what this award means to you and Sue.

Monday 25th January – Walking in the Pink

The sky almost couldn’t be more beautiful, more ecstatic, and I know that it heralds rain and greyness to come, but I don’t care. I stand and stretch, pulling in the pink air around me.

Sometimes it’s worth the bad bits, in order to revel in the good.

Dawn is breaking as Pants and I come back from morning walk; great cracks of crimson and violet splitting the dome of the sky. We’ve been to the orchard field, and we go down to the cricket so I can walk clean my boots.

I know my cheeks must be flushed pink, and my hair is wild. I feel vitally, wonderfully alive; the wind is soft against my face, and the air smells of green-things and earth, of new life and living…….

Source: Monday 25th January  http://thecountryhousewife.com/

The Year of The Cricket

It acts as my barometer; my Nature calendar and a place in which to be gloriously mindless, or earnestly mindful. I’ve walked it wearing ski-gear in minus 6, and I’ve streaked across it at dawn, wearing nothing but wellies and granny-pants, after a fox……: The Year of The Cricket

The Year of The Cricket

hcc grounds

Every day, every single day, I walk around the cricket field. It’s where I go when I’m happy or miserable, when I’m in a tearing hurry, or whether I’ve got hours. Every dog walk ends or begins with the Field, and I’ll go alone, or with the daughters, or S, or with friends. I walk it clockwise, anticlockwise, traverse as if tacking a dinghy, diagonally or all over randomly, like a big ant.

This year, I’m going to write about my circles of the Field and how it enriches my life. Walking in general has always been a sort of catharsis for me – a way of balancing soaring highs and gut-wrenching lows – but it’s the Field that has become my centre. My children have grown up playing in it, my dogs have chased a million balls in it, and I’ve watched a hundred cricketers smack sixes from it. I’ve had some brilliant nights in it and made life-long friends in it.

It acts as my barometer; my Nature calendar and a place in which to be gloriously mindless, or earnestly mindful. I’ve walked it wearing ski-gear in minus 6, and I’ve streaked across it at dawn, wearing nothing but wellies and granny-pants, after a fox.

I’m not going to write about any cricket gossip, nor village gossip for that matter, because I can’t bear it when people ask me (repeatedly) when they’re going to be in the blog, or add ‘don’t write about this, will you?’ on the end of every sentence. Yes, because you’re so fascinating, I must record your verbosity for posterity. I don’t promise not to satirise any of the more silly comments, but if I do, it won’t be here.

Whenever I walk, regardless of weather, mood, footwear (often unsuitable), company or time, I never stop being grateful for the fact I can. Thank you to Horley Cricket Club for the privilege, and for keeping the field in exactly the perfect way they do.