The Out of the Blue concert was a huge success and a fitting tribute to Alec Jones the initiator. The concert not only included a song specifically for Alec, but also Alec’s favourite interlude – the raffle. Combined with donations at the bar, the whole event raised £750 for Helen & Douglas House, helping terminally ill children.

Many thanks to all who contributed.

The next event will be more energetic – by popular demand the village Ceilidh dancing and fish & chips returns on Saturday 13th June starting at 5.30pm.

This year the dancing will be inside an airy marquee to guarantee performances whatever the weather! Entertainment, refreshments and fish & chips (with condiments) are a steal at just £15 per person payable on the evening. However, to guarantee your order of fish & chips do please email the BBVA on bbvacommittee@gmail.com by Sunday 7th June to be sure you get your fish & chips!!

The lively Ceilidh band will get us stomping whatever your ability or inclination – so let off some steam with your fellow villagers and relax with fine refreshments!

Do try and make it for the Benefice service involving all 3 parishes at St Mary’s this Sunday 31st at 10.30am.

The next communion service on Sunday 14th June will be taken by Mark Thomas.

The Benefice service will include a celebration of retiring PCC members …

… and in that vein, our resident author and poet has penned a tribute to all those volunteers:

The Faithful Servant

You have been one of the faithful who, over the centuries, laboured to keep this small rural church functioning. Not for fame, fortune, thanks or self-promotion, but as volunteers who loved the ancient building and gave of their time, effort, skills – indeed of themselves – to ensure that others who came here, be it to pray or sightsee, would find a place that was welcoming, cared for, loved.

Unsung, and oft-times unnoticed, the work was done; you rallied round whenever help was needed, shivered through evening PCC meetings, turned out in all weathers, undertook endless efforts to fund ever-multiplying expenses; baked and flower arranged, stitched and crafted, cleaned and dusted – battled cobwebs; removed leaves from gutters and gullies, kept graves tidy and picked up litter….not to mention climbing ladders, painting walls, repairing rusting radiators, replacing light bulbs (some dangerously high in the nave) and a whole litany of physical work needing to be done by somebody. Daily the church was opened and shut.

All this to ensure that the life of the church, its services, baptisms, weddings and funerals, could continue – which entailed an immense amount of admin, not just paperwork, but also dedication, time, effort and stress. “The preacher or organist – or both – can’t come, get replacements. Two notes on the organ are sticking and there’s a loose pipe at the back, get the tuner! There’s another leak in the roof, buckets needed please; the electricity has failed, borrow gas heaters; a bough on that big tree looks dangerous, action needed urgently; there are bats roosting in the nave again, emergency cleaning required; the vestry key has gone missing, any ideas, anyone?; there’s someone locked inside the church by mistake – somebody go to the rescue!”

And always, somehow, someone was found to help – another faithful servant.

The church looks picturesque in the snow; in spring with snowdrops, celandines and crocuses, the trees fresh with newly green leaves. Lovely in summer when the great chestnuts give shade and form their conkers to fall in autumn as the leaves change to a different glory, clad now in orange and bronze. Then winter when the bare branches are silhouetted against the sky. All so beautiful.

The little church still stands there quiet and calm, watching over the land and her faithful Servants. She has kept faith with them; they have kept faith with her.

April 2026

June Events

BBGC NGS Open Garden Visit to Mill House Garden,
Uffington, nr Faringdon, Sunday 7^th June – 2pm to 5pm

Wonderful setting overlooking the Uffington White Horse with wide views of the Downs. 1 acre garden divided into seasonal rooms connecting around the Mill House. Features include a walled garden, box-edged beds, vegetable and rose garden, a wild bank and a rill along the course of the old mill race.

The cost of admission will be FREE for members. Non-members welcome but will need to pay the £5 admission fee

Light refreshments incl tea, lemonade and cakes will be available to buy, and we are happy to coordinate lifts.

Events in May

Village Coffee Morning May 9th 10 – 12 in St Mary’s Church.

Open to everyone and offers of help with either supplying a cake or tray bake or with setting up and serving on the day gratefully received.

Speaker Evening May 12th 7pm St Mary’s Church

Our speaker this month is Katherine Woods aka ‘The Tea Break Gardener’.

Katherine will be speaking on Planting in Shadier Places.

Katherine is a lecturer in gardening and garden history, her gardening blog The Teabreak Gardener contains weekly diaries, plant profiles and how-to-guides. Her experience comes from her own garden and her Web site is worth a read. The line that resonated with me is “I love my garden warts, weeds and all.”

Hopefully the recent dose of sunshine has sparked your enthusiasm for the Great Outdoors, including all things gardening. These speaker events are open to all for just £5 on the door or Free if you are a Gardening club member. Membership is available at just £15 for the year and includes all members of your household. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

Don’t forget that members enjoy 10% discount on garden plants from Burford Garden Centre, 10% off all products in the garden dept at Timms in Brize Norton (great for gardening tools, compost and seeds) and 10% off plants, bulbs and seeds at Cassington Nurseries.

Please check out the updated Calendar of Events on our web page. In particular please note the change of dates and venue for the Garden Club visit in June. Please let us know either by email or at the May events, if you would like to join us for that June garden visit.

From Lene Bussell.

Apart from the fact that May spoils us with two bank holidays, it is also the month when we celebrate the anniversary of the Coronation of King Charles 111 on 6th May 2023, the 40th monarch to be crowned in Westminster Abbey since 1066. It’s hard to believe that three years have passed already since that momentous occasion. When the late Queen was crowned in 1953 I was a small child and not having a television, we listened to the proceedings on the radio, imagining the horse drawn carriages parading through the streets of London with all the Royal family decked out in their fine clothes and jewellery. It was all very different this time with wall to wall TV coverage of every detail from every angle and all in gorgeous colour on our big screens.  Being able to see the whole spectacle and listen to the wonderful music filling the Abbey was certainly a day to remember so I hope we can all raise a glass on 6th May and say ‘God Save the King’.

We have three services in May, the normal Communion on the 10th and Evensong on the 24th plus a Benefice service on the 31st at 10.30 a.m. As usual our friends from our sister churches will be joining us in communion and fellowship afterwards with coffee and cake for all. It’s a warm friendly service so please try and join us.

All good things must come to an end I am told, and so it just leaves me to tell you that I have stepped down as churchwarden after twelve years in the job. During the last ten years the PCC has reroofed the chancel, the nave and the south porch, repointed some of the masonry bee damage to the walls, replaced the heating system, installed a kitchen and toilet, maintained the big trees in the churchyard and refurbished the church path and parking area. And let’s not forget the refurbishment of the bells after a silence of nearly 60 years! This is all a huge achievement for such a small village of 200 souls and I give sincere thanks to all those who made it happen.

Our good friends Jeremy Lane, Richard Betteridge and Jane Jones have also stepped down as PCC members, so for the moment there are only two members still standing, Simon and Lawrence, along with Lyndsay Baker and Rev Barry. As there is no-one to take on the role of churchwarden the future is an open book. It may well be that we merge with St John’s for the day to day running of St Mary’s, but once Rev Barry has had discussions with the Area Dean and  Bishop Gavin I am sure things will become clearer. So this is my last offering of church news for you all  – hopefully next month the baton will be taken up by Rev Barry.  But before I sign off I must thank all of you in this lovely village whether churchgoers or not, who have given me such a lot of support over the years. I couldn’t have done it without you – God Bless you all.

Lene B.

Alec Jones – A Life Lived for Others

April Events

Saturday 11th April Village Coffee Morning 10am – 12pm
This month we will have a small selection of plants and garden pots for sale.  It’s an ideal time for planting so do come and join us.  ALL welcome.

Tuesday 14th April 7.00 – 8.30pm Gardening Club Speaker and card sale
Mandy Bradshaw, aka The Chatty Gardener will present her Guide to Cotswold Gardens in a talk entitled ‘Beyond the Garden Gate’. The talk is free to Gardening Club Members or £5 on the door for non members incl light refreshments.

Mandy Bradshaw is an award winning, Cotswold based garden journalist, photographer and public speaker. She is a regular contributor to national publications including Homes & Interiors, Garden News and to Cotswold Life.  A member of the Professional Garden Photographers Association, so we can expect some colourful slides, she will also have some cards with her featuring her pictures and these will be available for cash sale so please bring cash if you can.

In March we enjoyed a lively and engaging talk from horticultural expert Ray Broughton.  As well as giving us lots of suggestions for herbaceous perennials suitable for our gardens he also gave us some useful tips.  One such tip was to use tomato sauce to clean garden shears, coat the blades and leave for 2-3 days then rinse off. A couple of us have tried it and can confirm it works!!

Don’t forget that members enjoy 10% discount on garden plants from Burford Garden Centre, 10% off all products in the garden dept at Timms in Brize Norton (great for gardening tools, compost and seeds) and 10% off plants, bulbs and seeds at Cassington Nurseries.  Just take your membership card along. What better way to take advantage of Ray’s planting suggestions!

The updated calendar of events

I started last month’s newsletter with a synopsis of St David and St Patrick whose feast days were in March, so it would be remiss of me this month not to mention our very own patron saint, George, whose feast day is April 23rd. He is best known for his legendary battle against the dragon, symbolising the triumph of good over evil. His story became popular in medieval Europe, particularly during the crusades when he and his soldiers wore his emblem of a red cross on a white cloth across their chests so that they could be recognised as Christians. This emblem became our national flag and George was officially declared our patron saint in 1348 by King Edward 111.

Hopefully you will read this in time to come to our Palm Sunday service in church at 6 p.m on Sunday 29th March. This day starts Holy Week which represents the last 8 days of Jesus’ life with Palm Sunday marking his arrival into Jerusalem.  Spy Wednesday is so called because it is the day Judas agreed to betray Jesus and Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper and the washing of the disciples feet. Good Friday is a mournful day remembering Jesus’ passion, crucifixion and burial and Holy Saturday is the final day of waiting, commemorating Jesus resting in the tomb.  Finally, what we have all been leading up to – Easter Day and the celebration of the Resurrection marking the end of Holy week.  During Holy Week there will be compline every evening at 6 p.m. from Monday to Thursday (a quiet 15 minute contemplation with prayers at the eve of the day) and on Good Friday the story of St Matthews Passion in words and music, led by Jeremy Lane at 2 p.m. Do please join us – this is a most uplifting and moving experience and not to be missed.

At the end of April, on the 26th, we will be holding an evensong service as usual at 6 p.m. followed by St Mary’s APCM, so all those on the electoral roll and wider church community are invited to attend and hear about the work of the church since last April.

Nothing heralds spring better than the cheerful sight of daffodils coming into bloom in our gardens and along the verges.  As our gardens spring back into life so too does the Village Gardening Club. Our coffee mornings and speaker programme both start again in March.  We have some interesting speakers lined up to come so please do join us.  Talks are free to members (£15 per household/year) or £5 on the night including refreshments.

Tuesday 17^th March Talk 7 – 8.30pm St Mary’s Church

Planning Herbaceous Borders a talk by Ray Broughton

Ray trained at RHS Wisley and has been teaching and speaking on a wide range of horticultural subjects for over two decades. Awarded a fellowship by the Chartered Institute of Horticulture for his service to horticulture, Ray was a Senior Lecturer at Sparsholt College. Talks are Free to members or £5 on the night including refreshments.

Our first village coffee morning will be on Saturday 14^th March from 10 – 12 in St Mary’s Church.

Our village coffee mornings will continue through to the summer, usually on the second Saturday of each month.  They are for all to come along to and enjoy a hot drink and a piece of cake whilst meeting and catching up with others from our village and the local area. Run by the Gardening Club with the support of both the BBVA and St Mary’s, we are dependant on a small number of volunteers to run them so appreciate all offers of help with setting up, serving refreshments or providing cakes and biscuits.  It’s a great way to meet others in the village!

GARDENING CLUB EVENTS MARCH – MAY

As a member of the Black Bourton Gardening Club don’t forget you enjoy 10% discount at some of our local gardening centres, just take your membership cards along and show them at the checkout before you pay.:

• Bampton Garden Centre (full priced plants only),
• Timms Garden Department, Brize Norton (all products in the department)
• Cassington Garden Centre (plants only).

We also now have 20% discount for purchases from Thompson & Morgan, email blackbourtongardeningclub@gmail.com for further information.

If you would like to join our WhatsApp group where members are starting to share requests for cuttings and seedlings and offers of pots please email us or send text or WhatsApp message to 07720805265′