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 see "What's On" or contact us now for further details, including contact names and phone numbers. You may also have had a leaflet posted through your door or seen a poster with more details. Please do get in touch.
"What's On" is online-only again this month and is available here, please do sign up now to get your copy delivered to your email inbox.
The rules and advice are changing daily, please keep up with the latest via national and local news outlets.
Many if not all events in the village have unfortunately been cancelled as a result of the outbreak and subsequent social distancing measures. 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 - 6pm Saturday: 9am - 1pm Sunday: 9am - 12 Noon Change of hours notice: In order to deal with an increasing number of orders, pick ups and deliveries efficiently, we will now be closed weekdays as from 3pm. Weekend hours remain the same. |
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 Flower and Vegetable Show is held in July and a Village Show 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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Bisley-Eastcombe-Oakridge
Climate Action Group 
Help develop our local response to the climate and environmental emergency …
… home insulation, community energy, car share, re-use and repair, swap and trade, safer cycling, nature recovery, grow your own, healthier wildlife, healthier lives … ... and your ideas! Be creative! Join us for a Zoom meeting in early 2021 Please contact: Martin Brown 01452 770878 or Lesley Greene 01452 770018 or Roger Budgeon 01452 770272 or e-mail bisleyeastcombeoakridgecan@gmail.com Butchers Arms Valentines Specials!
Valentines dinner server on Sat 13 Feb - Three courses is just £55 for two people including a bottle of red or white wine!
Make it special with a little help for the Butchers Arms... Call 01285 760 390 to book a time slot! Please see our facebook page and new website for the latest opening hours, or call for the latest menu. 
Tree Planting?
Gill Wimperis has suggested that Oakridge should have a community tree planting project but where, what trees, how to go about it and why?
Where? To grow a number of trees within the village is problematical with shading, blocking views etc. Ideas received include planting an avenue starting from near the bus shelter and carrying on the road to Waterlane. Alternatively, plant them (say 80 trees in all) along the four roads radiating from the crossroads, so each road has 10 trees on each side of each road. What trees? Wide spreading or columner? Small or large? Ornamental or forest? Ideas have included Rowan (Mountain Ash), Whitebeam, Acers (Maples), types of Oak. How? As a community project funding would be needed from grants, village organisations and individual donations. Highways and adjoining landowners would need to be consulted. Why? This would be a positive village memorial to this terrible year and our small contribution towards combating climate change. It would enhance what can be a bleak part of our landscape and would, hopefully, be a project to look forward to. Please give us your opinions, comments and ideas. Phone Gill on 01285 760528 or Bizzie on 01285 760729 or email 19biz45@gmail.com Stop Press! Alex Davies has spoken to The Woodland Trust who will provide us with the trees free of charge if we choose from silver birch, rowan, wild cherry, common oak or crab apple. Impact of Lockdown on School Life
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 4th January that we were entering another lockdown, Oakridge School closed for all but children of key workers. Teachers and staff have since been working hard to get to grips with Google Classroom, a remote learning platform where children can access their lessons. These are currently approached in a variety of ways and include a good mix of livestreaming and video recordings of teachers supporting the children to access their learning. Although a new and different approach to learning, this is proving very successful, with a high number of children engaged thanks to the dedicated support of parents at home (which is no mean feat!) Teachers are in regular contact with families to clarify any concerns or questions. We will continue to deliver remote learning until we are able to welcome all of the children back to school, which is something we very much hope we will be able to do soon.
An example of the sort of things the children are doing is as follows: Class 2 are entering their third week of remote learning through their crosscurricular topic Pole to Pole linked to the fabulous text Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill. Last week we wrote letters to Ernest Shackleton persuading him that we should be employed as a crew member for his ship. Children joined online English lessons to contribute ideas. This week we are preparing for our journey; children will create a leaflet on how to survive Antarctica researching the physical features in geography and watching David Attenborough’s One Planet Antarctica to help them with their leaflet. In the coming weeks we will investigate global warming’s impact on Antarctica again hearing the latest facts from David Attenborough and make our own presentation using Google Slides to our class. Jonathan Preston Executive Headteacher |
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. Ready, Steady, Census!
The decennial census is almost upon us.
Households across Bisley-with-Lypiatt Parish will soon be asked to take part in the nationwide survey of housing and the population. It has been carried out every decade since 1801, with the exception of 1941. Information from the digital-first census will help decide how services are planned and funded in your local area. This could mean things like doctors’ surgeries, housing or new bus routes. Households will receive a letter with a unique access code in the post, allowing them to complete their questionnaire online. Paper questionnaires will be available on request. Census day is 21st March 2021. For more information, visit: www.census.gov.uk 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. |
"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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