The Hook Norton Village Newsletter
April 2002 Series 27 No 2

Arts and Entertainment


HOOK NORTON CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION

Present An Informal Evening of

WINE TASTING & PRIZE COMPETITIONS

Friday 12th April 2002
The Sun Inn
7.45 for 8.00pm start
Tickets £7.50
Telephone: Jane Orchard





We are organising a Golden Jubilee Funday for Sunday 2nd June. This will include a children's party .The Sports and Social Club have kindly donated their venue for this occasion, which will enable us to have the use of the club house, a marquee and the sports field. We are hoping to have a fun packed day and would like to involve as many organisations in the village as possible. If you are interested in holding a stall/mini event for your charity, help on the day or would like to make a donation, please fill in the form (see links below) and return to the box provided at the post office. All the money you raise on the day will go to your cause.
Thank you.

Colette Warner and Kerrie Fisher

Next meeting – 25th April - Study Centre - 8pm


Download the form here in MS Word format , or here as a text file .
(Right click and choose "Save Link As..." (Netscape), or "Save Target As..." (Internet Explorer).



Book and Plant Sale
at
Hook Norton Library
10am - 12 noon
Saturday 27th April
for
Friends Of Hook Norton Community Library

Don't forget to visit the usual
Morning Cake Stall at St Peter's next door




Hook Norton & North West Cherwell Millennium Sports & Recreation Project



SATURDAY 27TH APRIL 2002
7.30p.m. for 8p.m. start

SPORTS & SOCIAL CLUB
HOOK NORTON

LICENSED BAR
ENTRY BY PROGRAMME, £1 EACH
DRAW FOR A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE

To purchase a programme or further details please contact Rebecca Watts




Folk in a Field 6

Saturday 6th July 2002
Ferris Hill Farm, Hook Norton
Tickets available from the Village Pubs & Hook Norton Mace Store
Shirts available from all Village Pubs
Full information at
www.folkinafield.co.uk



When was the last time you had the opportunity to enjoy a high quality concert of outstanding music making without travelling to London or Oxford? No need to travel, all this is available in Hook Norton. The North Cotswold Chamber Choir will be making a welcome return to St. Peter's church on Saturday 20th April with an authentic baroque performance of Bach's B Minor Mass.
One of the great choral masterpieces, this work displays dazzling virtuoso solo, chorus and orchestral music making. This concert marks the return to Hook Norton for the choir for the first time since their performance of Bach's St. John Passion in 2000, considered by many to be one of the local musical highlights of recent years. This promises to be a performance of similar stature with internationally renowned soloists including Catherine Bott, Carys Lane and Peter Savidge and featuring some of the best baroque orchestral players in the UK.
This is the first major concert to be staged at St. Peter's since the completion of the Tower Project, which will benefit from a retiring collection. The church now represents a far more comfortable venue with toilets and improved disabled access. The performance starts at 7.30pm and lasts a little over two hours including interval, refreshments will be available. Tickets (£12 and £10 concessions/restricted view) are available now from Simon and Jenny Mead, Hicks Lodge, Sibford Road or email tickets@nc3.org.uk. See posters and flyers for more details.


Through all the Changing Scenes of Life

by “The Madding Crowd”


St. Peter's Church, Hook Norton
Saturday 13th April 7:30pm
A Fund Raising Event for the Church Tower Fund and the Millennium Sports and Recreation Project
Mulled wine & refreshments
Tickets £10 each - Family ticket £20
A fun-filled event for all the family, "Through all the Changing Scenes" paints a light-hearted picture of early 19th Century village life.

Music, words and dance linked together with an amusing commentary will all be performed in period costume to bring to life a one year cycle of events in a village at around 1820.
In Hardy's Wessex, and many other villages, the band was a focal point for community life. In the same way the music will provide a focus to the evening of merriment! The roots of the music itself, using period instruments like the Serpent, are based to a large extent in folk traditions, being designed to appeal to musically unsophisticated performers and audience – ideally suited, some would say, to Hook Norton!
Much of the music tended to be loud, vigorous and boisterous to display dancing and marching themes. Some, by contrast, was unashamedly emotional and contemplative. All of it manages to have an appeal to 21st century listeners.
We hope very much to see you there!


FILM SOCIETY
Hook Norton film buffs continue to be very well served. We have had a varied menu; from the scary to the jolly and from the calm to the turbulent.
On Saturday 13th April we will be screening “Black Narcissus”, a sumptuous drama from the forties, with stunning views of the Himalayas unveiling the suppressed sex drives of nuns in a convent. On 4th May we will be showing the Indian classic “ Panther Panchali”; director Satyajit Ray's hymn to childhood and old age. Finally, to round off what has been a most exciting international season, on 18th May we have “Blackboards”, a film from the Iranian director, Samira Makhmalbaf, whose previous films have been a big hit with our audiences. This will also be our “pot luck supper night” when members bring along their own food to produce a "help yourself" banquet.
Remember, the Film Society is open to members and guests only. If possible, please book by the previous Thursday evening on 737411 or 730407.
Mike Terry


FOHNCL
What is FOHNCL? It is not just a trendy acronym but represents a group of Hook Norton villagers who care strongly about supporting their village library.
The Group came into being during the threatening days when closure of the library was a strong possibility. That danger has receded for the time being but the need to support our library remains. We should not be complacent and assume that all will remain as positive as it is now. It is important to keep in being a strong and active Friends Group.
Do you know that the reference computer in the village was provided by FOHNCL, together with CD-ROMS to suit all ages and needs? Do you now that you can find vital information to help you construct your Family Tree? Young people are also served well in this respect with many educational CD-ROMS. All this was before the government embarked on its plans to supply all libraries with computers.
Neither do we forget that libraries are for books. In the years when the book budget was slashed FOHNCL helped to counteract this by buying books. We have also purchased certain books in response to readers' wishes.
Story telling is an integral part of enjoying the written word and we have provided book readings for young and old. For children, these take place in the Library during school holidays and the Day Care Centre has been an enthusiastic venue on a number of Mondays. We are optimistic that the proposed changes in the Youth Centre building will give us an opportunity, in conjunction with the County Library Service, to enhance the facilities for library users. This could be an exciting time, but to ensure that we reflect the wishes of such folk it is vital that they become Friends of the Library. The modest subscriptions will enable us to offer financial help towards the improvements and demonstrate that Hook Norton is proud of its library. So join now but also look out for the date of our next AGM in September and come along. These are entertaining affairs as well as business - last year we had a “Meet the Authors” evening.
John Wheatley Chairman


HOOK NORTON BRASS BAND
The first event of the year for the band was on 19th January, when a coach party of members, friends and relatives travelled to Warwick Arts Centre to hear the famous and wonderful Grimethorpe Colliery Band. The concert was spellbinding, with a programme of music from the pens of the great masters, brilliantly played under the baton of resident conductor, Gary Cutt. It was hard to believe that brass instruments could emit such pure and perfect sounds, and the huge audience was entranced by the sheer and utter musical magic. Listeners were transported to the realms of musical genius, the power contrasting with the sweetness, as this committed virtuoso brass band gave their all.
A date that was firmly imprinted on the minds of the band was 17th March, not because it is St. Patrick's day, but because they took part in the London and Southern Counties Regional Brass Band Contest that day. Practising for this event from the beginning of the year, the band have been put through their paces by the Musical Director, who has worked tirelessly to obtain the maximum effort from each player in order to present the band in the best possible light on this all important occasion.
By the time you read this, Hook Norton Band will have competed against twenty nine bands in their particular section, playing a piece entitled "Suite in Bb", by Gordon Jacob. Setting off very early on the day to travel by coach to the Arts and Leisure Centre in Stevenage, the band was one of eighty-five bands competing over the weekend. By the time this is read the nail biting anticipation will all be over and the results known but at the time of writing, we just hope to keep our nerve and remember to put all our training and preparation into giving our best performance on this all important occasion.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our " Friends" Concert on 19th May in St. Peter's Church, Hook Norton, at 7.00pm.
Jenny Glynn (Publicity Officer)


HOOK NORTON REMEMBERED
One morning Mr Goddard, the Headmaster, brought to my room and introduced to me, Dr. Dagmar Wilson, who explained that she was a research doctor from the Research Department of Oxford University and was asking for my help.
Since the beginning of the National Health Service in 1948 it had been noted that many of the people of Hook Norton were at risk of two health hazards: namely, serious tooth decay at an early age and goitre. Dr Wilson had been directed to investigate the causes and wished to use the School as a base.
Preliminary research had shown that there were several similarly afflicted settlements in the world and two of them were in England. One was Hook Norton and the other a village in Derbyshire where the goitre was known as "Derbyshire Neck." As there was no piped water supply in either village, the deep well water of Hook Norton was the first suspect. Geological investigation showed that the stratum of rock from which Hook Norton drew its water also outcropped in the Derbyshire village whose water supply came from surface springs. Samples of water from both villages were analysed and were found to be identical.
Dr Wilson asked me to fill a clear glass lemonade bottle with water direct from the well before chlorine was added. She sealed it, wrapped it in brown paper and asked me to keep it in a dark cupboard until she returned from a trip to India where she was to visit another similarly afflicted village. Some three months later on her return, she opened the bottle and poured the contents away. At my protest she showed me the bottle which was now frosted over on the inside. She then explained that analysis had shown that the water contained large amounts of fluorine, a chemical used commercially in hydrofluoric acid to etch patterns on glass – as shown by the effect on the lemonade bottle. She had proved in her research that it had a similar effect on the enamel of teeth, which caused our village children to have badly discoloured teeth and to lose them at an early age. It was also discovered that fluorine in the body displaced the iodine so essential for the proper functioning of the thyroid gland. In these circumstances the thyroid gland would try to compensate by getting bigger and so would create the swollen gland, which is known as goitre.
When her report was received by Banbury Rural District Council things began to happen as if by magic. 2000-gallon water tanks were placed at strategic points in the village and were topped up frequently with fluorine-free water imported from other areas. Leaflets were distributed advising people to use only water from the tanks for drinking, cooking, cleaning teeth, washing cutlery crockery and kitchen utensils while using local well water only for bathing, personal washing, laundry, and general household cleaning. Villagers were advised to use only iodised table salt which Village shops were asked to stock.
In addition the village received a piped water supply in a very short time, followed soon after by the installation of a sewage disposal system.
The results were phenomenal. In a year or two, goitre virtually disappeared, and Hook Norton children could smile as brightly as any from Epwell, Swalcliffe or Rollright.
All this was owed to the researches of Dr Dagmar Wilson and the relentless endeavours of Tom Williams our hard-working Rural District Councillor.
Geoff Walton ggwyork@messages.co.uk