Community Centre News

• Please note that the Community Centre will be closed for Christmas from 24 to 29 December.
• We are looking for a new name for the Community Centre. Do you have any ideas?
• BFOBRCA are looking for a new trustee to join them.
• Chat-Tea Café are looking forward to when they can invite you all back for coffee, tea, a slice of cake and lots of chat!
• Badger Farm Art Group has been working hard, despite not being able to meet face to face. If you would like to join in with the online classes, email Sarah at snippycards@hotmail.co.uk.
• The Stoma Support Group tell us of their successful return to the Community Centre between the two lockdowns.

Parish and Government News

• Badger Farm Parish Council have vacancies for Parish Councillors. The council will be announcing a photograph competition over the next few weeks. A new garden waste service starts in February next year. You can order your new collection bin now. Keep an eye on the two new noticeboards at Davis and Central playgrounds for local notices and important information.
• Hampshire County Council point us to the latest Covid-19 statistics. They share useful contacts for surface water drainage and flooding in the local area. The County Council is supportive of the Green Belt for South Hampshire to include Oliver’s Battery, South Winchester Golf Club and land further south to the east of the A3090 towards Hursley. Grant funding is now available to community groups, small businesses, schools, charities and Parish Councils to fund projects to help reduce waste, reuse or repair items.
• Winchester City Council reveal their Green Economic Recovery Plan. Eight projects in Winchester district have been given the a funding boost through the Community Infrastructure Levy. These include the kitchen upgrade at the Community Centre. A former goods shed in Winchester set to offer small business accommodation. Two popular sites in Winchester will have significant biodiversity enhancements thanks to the Durngate Flood Alleviation Scheme. Christmas is such a special time in Winchester but this year it may be a little different with the cancellation of the annual Christmas market.
• Winchester City Council Natural Environment and Recreation Team give us an update on Whiteshute Ridge, reporting on sightings of reptiles, butterflies and bats and the return of the Wildlife Trust’s British White cattle.
• Our MP, Steve Brine, reminds us that the NHS (locally and nationally) remains his priority. Hampshire Hospitals’ Hampshire Together programme has produced a series of options on the future of hospital services in the area upon which it plans to formally consult early next year. We should be clear that will pose some very difficult questions.
• Oliver’s Battery Parish Council‘s Scarecrow Competition held in September was very successful with over 30 entries. The Oliver’s Battery Community Group continues to be available to residents who need help. The council is in discussions with Winchester City Council regarding Tree Preservation Orders for the Scots Pines in Oliver’s Battery Road South. They have recently made submissions to the Government on the proposed ‘Changes to the current planning system’ and the ‘Planning for the Future’ consultations. Residents are reminded to ensure that they are considerate of others when exercising dogs or riding horses on local footpaths and bridleways. Please report any vandalism to the Police on 101 and WCC Neighbourhood Services – Anti Social Behaviour on 01962 840222.

News from our Local Schools

• Oliver’s Battery Primary School are raising money for a Yurt to offer pupils a unique learning environment where children can learn, play and enjoy being in the outdoors whatever the weather. It is also hoped that it can be used by the community for events such as birthday parties and community meetings. A huge thank you to everyone that has already donated and is making this possible.
• For St Peter’s Primary, Harvest is a time of celebration, thanking God for all he has given us. They share with us how they celebrated Harvest in a Covid-safe way.
• Although Stanmore Primary are not able to enjoy many of their usual planned Stanmore events, they are finding alternative ways to maintain the school traditions where they can. Some of the highlights of their work include: building a river on the school field, creating exploding volcanoes, art work in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, designing and making felt puppets. Inspired by a Year 6 visit to Stubbington, children in Oak and Elm class have been building dens.
• Oliver’s Battery Preschool has settled into their new home in Oliver’s Battery Primary School. The children have been enjoying autumn walks in the woods on the school grounds. This has allowed them to explore nature: finding different minibeasts and plants, listening to the birds and discovering shadows.
• Badger Farm Pre-school welcome back the children after lockdown and the summer holidays!

News from Local Organisations and Clubs

• Oliver’s Battery WI let us know that they have all ‘been adapting to social distancing (two cow lengths apart or both outstretched arms), HOW (home office working, not the native American Indian welcome!) and Zoom (not the colourful ice lollies from the 1960s!) WI groups have been maintaining its aim to support the community as well as its members with friendship and education.’ The WI is open for new members.

• Neighbourhood Watch share, courtesy of Derby County Council, 12 Days to a Safer Christmas.
• Winchester Horticultural Society‘s during the first quarter of 2021 will take place on Wednesday 13th January, Wednesday 10th February and Wednesday 10th March.
• Citizens Advice answer the question ‘I’ve recently signed up to Universal Credit after I was made redundant. I’m looking for a new job but is there more I need to do to ensure I keep getting Universal Credit?’
• Keith Bunker of the North Hampshire Prostate Cancer Support Group encourages any person with suspected cancer to immediately make contact with their GP,

• The Winchester Local Group of the Hampshire & IOW Wildlife Trust is unable to resume the programme of talks in the Community Centre this winter. Despite the pandemic the Trust has been very busy undertaking an ambitious plan for nature’s recovery. You can find out just what they have been up to by visiting the website at hiwwt.org.uk/events or following the work of the Trust on Twitter (@HantsIWWildlife) or Facebook (@HampshireandIsleofWightWildlifeTrust).
• Winchester Radio are helping us keep connected during these difficult times.

The song playing on the radio will be different each day, but you may wake up at the moment with a sense of déjà vu or feeling like it is ‘Groundhog Day’ every day. With a second national lockdown in England meaning adjustments to our usual daily routines and interactions with others, it is more important than ever we keep socially connected, and not cut-off or snowed-under – because there are going to be sunnier days ahead.

• In Nature Notes, Norma Goodwin reveals that the Bearded Tit is not a tit but the only member of the Asiatic Babbler family in Europe. We have good tit populations in our local gardens all year round including the Long Tailed, Blue, Great and Coal. ‘In the 1950s when milk was delivered to most doorsteps I remember taking in the glass bottles with holes pecked through the foil tops by Blue Tits.’

General Articles

• In A Walk on the Bright Side, Simon Lever toasts the winter season around Winchester.
• Clare Shorter follows up on Winchester Green Week. About 25 organisations put on over 60 events ranging from free chocolate in return for doing a ‘green’ task to a conference about sustainability. ‘Act now for a wilder future’ was the message from Hants and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in Green Week and Clare has suggestions on how we can all encourage wildlife in our own spaces.
• Local nutritionist Amanda Turner tells us about the importance of Vitamin D in maintaining a healthy immune system, which is even more important in these times of Covid.
• Brian Shorter encourages us to think about the food we waste. The production, transport and storage of the UK’s wasted food give rise to some 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. Unbelievably, this is close to 25% of total emissions due to cars on our roads.
• Christmas is a time for giving. It’s also a chance to have fun with the family. Now you can do both with Freerice. Freerice is a game developed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize ‘for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict’. In Tech Talk, Ann explains how this works.