29th July 2010: Patricia Wagstaff enjoyes tea with the Queen! Mrs Patricia (Trish) Wagstaff attended a Buckingham Palace Garden Party last week. Trish’s invitation was in recognition of her work in the Parish and the wider community of Oxfordshire. For many years involved with the Appleton's Evergreen Club, Trish has raised over £100,000 for Oxford’s Sobell House, an organisation she has been volunteering with for 22 years. Marie Curie Cancer Care and Age UK have also benefitted from Trish’s fund raising quests. Trish who was escorted to the Buckingham Palace Garden Party by her daughter Sheena, commented: “It was a splendid day I thoroughly enjoyed.”

13th July: Annie Blake "Thank you": "Thank you so much to everyone who came to the garden tea party on Saturday 10th July, and all those who helped out. Everyone was so generous and I'm thrilled that we raised over £550! My deadline for final fund raising is the 22nd July." See Annie Blake for the link to her fundraising website.

12th July 2010: Wood Fest success! See the Wood Fest Photos of the Wood Fest event held on Saturday 3rd July ... over 200 people attended this highly successful event!

8th July 2010: Nordic Course Westminster College grounds see Nordic Course see link.

8th July 2010 LPG User Group Interest: With a recent £0.055p increase per litre of LPG from Calor, a villager has researched and found alternative and less costly suppliers with Countrywide Farmers 25% cheaper. They have also indicated if a user group of more than 5 households would join a scheme, Countrywide Farmers say they would reduce the price per litre of LPG down a further 1p from 33p to 32p per litre, excluding VAT (and would be able to hold prices down for longer). It is understood people sign contracts for LPG, but when it comes up for renewal, or is past the mandatory date, is anyone interested in joining an Appleton LPG users group? Please Contact Web Editors and register your interest in an LPG Parish User scheme and they will advise the person who has done the research.

6th July 2010: Appleton Market to close in August and return in September. The next market will be on Sunday 11th July from 10 am to 1 pm. This will be the last market in the present format. There will be no market in August and we hope to see all our loyal supporters back in September when we hope to rise, like the Phoenix, in a new, improved format. WATCH THIS SPACE!

5th July 2010: Outbuilding Burglaries. Between 27/5/10& 17/6/10 a series of burglaries to outbuildings occurred in Appleford. A total of 7 of these burglaries occurred, of which the majority have been committed during weekend periods. Please make sure your sheds and outbuildings are secure and consider the following crime prevention tips:

• Use security screws for hinges and locking hasps (security screws cannot be unscrewed once fitted)
• Secure doors with close shackled padlocks
• Property mark valuable tools and equipment
• Consider installing a shed alarm, (which are inexpensive to buy)

There is a Thames Valley Crime Prevention Leaflet on security of outbuildings which can be sent to you on request. Please contact your local Crime Reduction Advisor on 08458 505 505.

1st July: Appleton School Fete - a great success. Niki Yerburgh reports: "The Fete was a great success once again and we raised a fantastic £2,000 for Appleton Primary School. Thanks to everyone who came along to support the event."

1st July 2010: Chief Scouts Bronze Awards. Hearty congratulations to Matthew Cox, Ben Wardell-Yerburgh, Thomas Lydford-Brace, and Archie Tyack who have been awarded the Chief Scouts Bronze Award. Angela Arnold commented: "This is the highest award that a Beaver can achieve and, in the 15 years we have had Beavers in the village, it has only been gained by 2 boys previously and one of those was on an earlier scheme when the syllabus was different". To gain the award the Beavers have to obtain every Beaver Challenge badge there is as well as a number of Activity badges, and join in with District, County events etc, so it is quite difficult to obtain. Fantastic achievement.

14th June 2010: Trish Wagstaff raises £9,000 amongst the sharks! I should like to thank all the generous people of Appleton, Eaton and Besselsleigh who so generously sponsored me for my "Dive with Sharks" in aid of the soon to be opened Drop In centre in Sobell House. I completed the dive on Saturday which was fun and very colourful with many tropical fish as well as some very large sharks and a huge stingray called Matilda - beautifully graceful beasties. One character I didn't take to tho' was a large mean-looking Moray eel and declined the offer to go right up to it! A young woman and myself were the only divers with three Instructers conducting us and helping to keep us upright - quite difficult at times as even in such a depth of water the cylinder of air and the lead weights tended to pull me to one side. My shoes were two sizes too big which made me feel like a rather drunken penguin! Gather I set a record at the Blue Planet Aquarium at Earlsmere Port for being the oldest Diver to have done the Shark dive. The end result was pleasing as I was able to hand over over £9,000 in cash and cheques to Sobell wirh perhaps another £2000 to be eventually sorted from Gift Aid.

4th June 2010: Dr Alastair MacLean dies: it is with great sadness we report the death of Dr Alastair MacLean on 4th June 2010. Doris and Alastair lived in Appleton from 1964 to 1988 in The Gables, Oaksmere and for many years he was the Chief Medical Officer at Pressed Steel in Cowley. His funeral took place at the Oxford Crematorium on Thursday 17th June 2010 with a packed chapel. Alastair had spent the last year of his life at Vale House - The Botley Alzheimers Home. He leaves a widow, Doris and Morag and Gordon.

3rd June 2010: Camera Obscura features in Oxford Exhibition: Viewers might recall Appletonian Roger Smith and his recent award of a Churchill Fellowship and that his subject of study was Camera Obscura. There is an Exhibition of "John Aubrey and the Development of Experimental Science" which is taking place in the Exhibition Room at the Bodleian Library between 28 May and 31 Oct, 2010 and a clip of the background to the Exhibition can be found at Camera Obscura and go to 1.26 minutes and mention of a Camera Obscura can be seen.