Coronavirus - COVID-19
Need help or support? There are many in the village who have offered their services and are more than happy to help. Please contact us now for further details.
"What's On" is back in paper copy and is also available here, please do sign up now to get your copy delivered to your email inbox.
Events in the village have finally cautiously recommenced following the latest government guidelines. Find the very latest information on the calendar here.
Ollie's Shop & P.O.
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Visit the newly launched "Cotswold Room" at Ollie's Shop for a fantastic range of lovingly made local products and unique gifts from the Cotswolds such as scrumptious smoked fish from reknown Severn and Wye smokery, award winning jams and sauces, curious meats and Cotswold chorizos, Stroud handmade candles and Cotswold lavender lotions and much, much more!"
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Oakridge Village Shop and Post Office carries an extensive range of products from household essentials to award-winning organic foods and the very best local delicacies from all over the Cotswolds. Off road parking and a weekly order service and delivery are also available. Open 7 days a week.
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For more details click here
Email : olliesoakridge@gmail.com Tel : 01285 760239 Facebook : Ollie'sShop@OakridgeLynch Instagram: @ollies.oakridge |
Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday: 9am - 3pm Saturday: 9am - 1pm Sunday: 9am - 12 Noon |
Oakridge Community Website
The Oakridge Community consists of five villages with a combined population of about five hundred and is situated on the edge of the Cotswolds, overlooking the magnificent Golden Valley; six miles from Stroud and seven miles from Cirencester.
The five villages form the ecclesiastical parish of Oakridge, within the Civic Parish of Bisley-with-Lipyatt. The Oakridge Parish Church, part of the Bisley Benefice, is dedicated to St Bartholomew and was built in 1837 with funds raised by Thomas Keble, the then vicar of Bisley.
Oakridge is a thriving and very active community with many groups and societies and extensive amenities, including a Village Shop & Post Office, Primary School, Pub, Recreation / Cricket Ground, Tennis Court, Allotments, Childrens Playground and Village Hall.
A Village Show is held annually on the first Saturday in September. The School holds an annual May Revels on the village green.
Do You Offer Services to Oakridge Residents?
Do you live locally and offer services to Oakridge Residents - such as Plumbing, Decorating, Gardening, Odd Jobs, Dog Walking, Photography, Electrician, Walling, Bookkeeping etc. etc.
If you do we have added a new page 'Local Services' where you can advertise for free! Just contact me via the Contact Page with details of what you offer and how to contact you.
Latest!
For more detailed information on many of these items and much more, download the current edition of What's On
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Oakridge Events Survey
Survey fatigue may be kicking in but the pandemic has made us all re-assess what's important in life, and events in the village are no exception! A few concerned villagers have been wondering how we could add to the current offering and this is your chance to have your say and influence our thinking. Please do head over to our surveys page and air your views now! Closing date 31 October. Paper copies of the survey available in What's On.
Oakridge Show is a GO - THIS WEEKEND!
STOP PRESS - It happened! Thanks very much to all who organised, helped, entered and attended!
It’s back! The Oakridge Show WILL return on Saturday 4th September from 1.00 pm at the Village Hall. Your Show Schedule is here so get ready to enter all your flowers/vegetables/bakes and more, and make this a show to celebrate the end of lockdown. This year will be a little different, as we’re aiming to ‘keep it local’, to reduce numbers due to the continuing Covid-19 situation, and to bring villagers (old and new) together once again. There will be hand sanitiser available, and numbers in the Hall to view exhibits may be limited with a one-way system of entry. Although mask wearing is no longer mandatory, if possible, please give consideration to wearing one to give confidence to members of the community. Depending on the situation nearer the time, the Show may need to be cancelled at short notice, but hopefully this won’t be necessary. At the time of writing, the finer details are still to be arranged, but you can look forward to a return of some classic cars (by invitation only); some great food and drink; books; plants; the popular WI jams and cakes stall; and of course, the dog show and agility, plus more. Donations for the various stalls would be appreciated, eg Cakes, Bottle Tombola, Raffle. Musicians/bands/DJs also wanted! Also, if anyone is able to offer assistance with setting up on Friday 3rd, taking down on the day, or in any other way, please contact a member of the Committee: Mark Barnett mbarnett104@gmail.com; John Loosley johnloosley40@gmail.com; Caroline Priestley carolinesianpriestley@hotmail.com; Victoria Beard vbeard51@gmail.com New Choir!
A new choir is starting! It will be held in Oakridge Village Hall 11am-12.30pm every Monday. We will be singing uplifting songs in every genre from folk, jazz, pop and world music. No previous experience is required, no auditions or note reading skills needed. Whether you are a confident singer or a shower-only warbler – come and try it out! Men and women of all ages welcome. The emphasis for this choir is on fun and feeling good. The first session is free and then £7 per week after that. No need to book – just come along and see for yourself!
MONDAYS STARTING 13TH SEPTEMBER 11AM-12.30 OAKRIDGE VILLAGE HALL
Contact Biddy on 07814 652735 or via email: amberleycc@gmail.com Oakridge Village Hall Fully Open
and.... Free Community Use Offer! The hall is now fully open but the NHS QR poster for track and trace is still in place, and it is recommended that hall hirers keep a list of those attending events. We are providing hand sanitizers and disinfectant cleaning material.
For details of a brand new offer for free community use, and our NEW hall availability calendar, see the village hall page. Booking enquiries: email johnloosley40@gmail.com Fancy some TaiChi?
The Butchers Arms
Please see our facebook page and new website for the latest opening hours, or call for the latest menu.
Impact of Lockdown on School Life
After many weeks of being in lockdown it has been so lovely for staff and children at Oakridge to be back in school and see each other (rather than on Zoom) and enjoy some normality. Both classes have quickly immersed themselves in learning with lots of outdoors activities wherever possible.
Class 1 have made visits to the allotment and have started growing such delights as tomatoes and sweetcorn. Being outside is good for our emotional well-being. Fridays are forest school afternoons where both classes come together; we are currently in the middle of making dream catchers (on the theme of hope) using available natural materials from the environment. They are looking amazing! Class 1 have enjoyed learning about and making fantastic volcanoes (in a creative way) as part of their geography and learning about Mary Anning, an English fossil collector, as part of their English and Rocks and Soils topic in science. Class 2 have just started Evolution and Inheritance in science and were palaeontologists for an afternoon collecting and studying fossils which they found locally. We have been reading two fantastic texts in class: Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke and Darwin’s On the origins of Species by Sabina Radeva. Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke is a fabulous book about dragons having to leave their valley and search for the Rim of Heaven in the Himalayas because humans are threatening their existence. We combined art and writing using charcoal and mark making to create large-scale beasts (outdoor art) in two’s and three’s which we then used as our villain in our writing. They were terribly scary! We are now preparing for Easter and will be making hot cross buns before breaking up for our holiday. Jonathan Preston Executive Headteacher |
Ollie's Shop - Curry Night!
Another recent addition to our product offering, Curry Night, has proven very successful and it will be back by popular demand, on the last Friday of August. That would be a bit after our annual holiday which will be from Saturday July 31st until Monday August 16th, when the shop will be closed. We will reopen on Tuesday August 17th.
Please keep your eyes and ears peeled for more details about the menu and exact date. Madhu has done her best to accommodate every request and as always, your feedback will be gratefully received. Oscar and Laura Check out our new Village Gallery!
With thanks to Beth Hughes for this fabulous collection of local photographs, head over to the gallery....
Church Survey
The Church community has concerns about the future of the Church in Oakridge and is looking for ways to engage with the village community so that we can continue to provide friendship, love and support to all those in the village and to meet their needs.
So we are asking for your help. We are asking the entire community to take a few minutes out of their day to answer our short questionnaire; ‘Tell us how you’d like your church?’ You don’t need to be a ‘church goer’, we would like everyone’s thoughts about what having a church in the village means to them and how we can appeal to the wider community. You can complete the survey by filling in the page in What’s On, cutting it out and returning it to either: St Bartholomews Church, Oakridge. Ollie’s shop, Oakridge. Kim Barber at Silver Birches, Waterlane. Or why not complete online at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PLK6YS6 Please complete the survey by 30th September 2021. Many thanks for your support! Sapperton Railway Tunnel
It is interesting to speculate on the effect the construction of the railway tunnel had on the local community. In 1837 Charles Richardson, Brunel’s engineer, began surveying the line of the proposed tunnel by sinking trial shafts and erecting large staffs to assist the surveying on the surface. It was on the 27 April that the people became fully aware of the surveying activity as a large staff was raised. This is described in Richardson’s journal.
“Got hauling pegs &c driven – got large sheer legs up and had some difficulty to get the hauling parts in the right place. The Staff had a violent shake when first lifted off the props. Raised it easily, steadily and without the slightest accident – large crowd of spectators many of whom lent a hand. Tried several ways of getting up the Staff but was forced to climb up by the main hauling rope. Tightened cross tree gyes and plumbed the head of the Staff thereby. Cast hauling tackle adrift and was lowered down. Tightened the gyes but was forced to put a sheepshank, about a yard long, in each.” The construction of the tunnel commenced in 1838 and was completed in 1845. A series of shafts were excavated, and miners were lowered down these shafts to dig out the tunnel and the spoil was hauled up these shafts. These railway miners came from all over the country and the 1841 census records many lodging at Sapperton, Frampton Mansell, Daneway, Far Oakridge and Oakridge Lynch. There was a total of 48 recorded and some miners had families with them, and they rented cottages. This activity must have brought in welcome business to the area where there was high unemployment due to the collapse of the woollen cloth industry in Chalford. Although, no doubt, many locals obtained casual labouring jobs, few were employed as miners but Amnon Bishop of The Frith the son of a local weaver is described in the census as a miner and brothers James and Henry Hayden of Oakridge became tunnel miners later working in many parts of England and Scotland. Following the opening of the railway many Oakridge men went to work on the railway both on track maintenance and on the trains. This of course was not the first time that “foreign” miners had come to the area as in 1784 work commenced on the Sapperton canal tunnel which was completed in 1789. Most of these miners were accommodated at Daneway and, according to Norman Jewson, in barracks on the road from Sapperton to Frampton Mansell. Head on over to the Oakridge History Website for more... Start here for more on transport services... John Loosley Dame Margaret Weston
Dame Margaret Weston, born in Oakridge in 1926, the daughter of Mr Weston, headteacher at Oakridge School in the 1940s (and remembered in several of the recent ‘Memories’ articles), has recently passed away at the age of 94. Following education at Stroud High School and Birmingham Municipal Technical School, she was one of only 3 women alongside 300 men, selected for a student apprenticeship at The General Electric Company, where she became a Chartered Electrical Engineer. Following qualification, she joined the Science Museum in London in 1955, rising to become the first female director of a national museum in 1973. Her aim there was to make the Science Museum more fun, more accessible to children, and more various in its contents, including making its galleries more interactive. She was also instrumental in creating a network of museums extending outside London, the nationwide Science Museum Group.
Appointed a Dame in 1979, she retired in 1986 and spent her last years back in Stroud, where she helped set up the Museum in the Park, and was a patron of the Stroudwater Textile Trust and Cotswold Canal Trust. Bisley-With-Lypiatt Parish Council
Please see the Parish Council website for Ward information and minutes of Council meetings. www.bisley-with-lypiatt.gov.uk.
The Parish Council (PC) is busy with the project to develop a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) as an addition to Stroud District Council’s Local Plan to plan how the area will progress over the next 10 years. Consultations are under way with Village Hall meetings in the 3 constituent Wards to canvas opinion with ALL residents – so any ideas you have on the way YOU want YOUR area to develop would be happily received. Feel free to contact us if you want to share ideas about our future in Oakridge Ward. Ward Councillors - Tony Martin (brx44@ymail.com – 07710 800290), Mike Bell, Roger Budgeon, Dennis Robbins Clerk - Debbie Meredith 01452 771089 admin@bisley-withlypiatt.gov.uk From The Ground
Oakridge Parochial School Allotment Project
Read The February/March
Update Here ... OAT (Oakridge Allotment Team) Tel: 07983 65414 Email: info@fromtheground.co.uk |
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Did You Know? Siccaridge Wood
Siccaridge Wood is one of the few places in the Cotswolds in which the hazel dormouse makes its home, numbers of which are closely monitored as part of a national scheme, while wood ant nests can be found on the ground and silver washed fritillary and comma butterflies flit around the open rides. The Arts and Crafts Movement Oakridge was a hub of the Arts and Crafts Movement and famous painters, furniture makers, poets and other interesting people have lived here. Find out more at our Oakridge History Archive. Daneway Banks Just beyond Siccaridge Wood lies Daneway Banks, where the steep sides have almost lunar like bumps made by generations of yellow meadow ants. A classic example of limestone grassland, it is also home to the large blue butterfly which has been recently re-introduced after being extinct in the UK for several decades. |
Hire Our Village Hall Why not hire our Village hall?
Garden Club - Local Links Download the Gloucestershire Federation of Gardening Societies Spring Newsletter.
Visit the Generous Gardener Website for news of Gardening Lecture Days, Masterclasses and Specialist Plant Sales at The Coach House Garden, Ampney Crucis. Find out about the new Cafe and what's on at Miserden Nursery. |
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Oakridge Events Diary If you would you like us to add an event - please get in touch through the Contact Us page. Full calendar and "What's On" available here. Village Hall Bookings Calendar Please see here for a guide to availability
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"What's On" Newsletter We protect your information and privacy strictly in accordance with all legal requirements and we do not share your personal information with any third party.
What's On Editors: Victoria Beard Tel: 01285 760339 Email: vbeard51@gmail.com and Gill Davis Tel: 01285 760354 Email: gillaquarius@aol.com
Regulars
Out and About Chalford Sports & Social Club
From time to time events and courses at the Chalford Sports & Social Club are included in 'Whats On' which you can download above or visit their website at chalford-ssc.co.uk Bisley "Well Dressing"
Bisley's famous "Well Dressing" custom, dating from 1863, is held every Ascention day - Find out more. Useful Links |
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Artists and Artisans In Residence Find out about the Artists and Artisans who live and work in Oakridge, Including:
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Country and Wildlife |
From the Archive
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Delve into the Archive at oakridgearchives.omeka.net
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And buy the Book! 
You can buy this beautiful 175 page fully illustrated hardback 'Oakridge a History' for just £12 from Ollie's Shop or by mail from John Loosely, Email :
johnloosley40@gmail.com |
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While every effort has been made to maintain accuracy, no responsibility is accepted for any errors in content.
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