Category Archives: Events in and around Dorchester

Dorchester St. Birinus Primary School – March News

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As the spring term whizzes by, we continue to be proud of everything our children are achieving here in school. There has been so much going on. Our younger children have visited the Science department at Abingdon School where they took part in some exciting space workshops.
We took some of our older children into the Abbey to watch a brass band play and find out all about the different instruments.
We continue to send two groups out to Forest School every week and the children have experienced lighting fires and making and eating stick dough to try and stay warm!
We also celebrated World Book Day by sharing one book across the whole school. Each class completed work based on a beautiful story called ‘The Missing Piece’ written by Jordan Stephens and illustrated by Beth Suzanna. There is a colourful display in the corridor to celebrate some of the work inspired by the book.

As the weather improves we have much to look forward to as we have trips out planned to the Mosque in Oxford, the Living Rainforest and the lambing at Bishops Court Farm.
We would like to say a huge thank you to anyone who has already bought books for our school from our Amazon wish list. We are enjoying using the books to help us increase our knowledge and understanding of the world. We really appreciate your kindness. If you would like to buy a book for school our wish list can be found at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3EAI7Q6N5EB2E?ref_=wl_share

We run a breakfast club and an after-school club in addition to extra- curricular clubs such as a stories club, a science club, board games and gym. We have places available and if you would like to see what we could offer your child please give us a call to arrange a tour. You can find out more from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher

Dorchester’s Coronation Weekend : 7th/8th May

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Note: Any updates made will be to the event page on the website

The booking site for the Dorchester-on-Thames coronation party on Sunday 7th May is now open to take your orders for places at our long party table in Queen St. Your tickets also get you tea and cup cakes with the modest booking fee going to support youth groups in the village. Of course you can bring your own picnic and drinks but our booking site also offers sandwiches and more exotic cakes if you’d rather we did the hard work for you. And finally you can pre-book BBQ food and order your coronation mug (please note those lucky enough to be under 16 will be getting a free small mug from the Parish Council). So, everything you need for a grand day out. Click here to join the party:

www.ticketsource.co.uk/dorchesterabbey

 

Mark the coronation weekend in your diary and celebrate our community in Dorchester with a fun weekend of street party, village fundraising to help our young people and volunteering to improve our environment!

Sunday 7th May 3pm-8pm – The Big Dorchester street party in Queen St – Book your seats and also get your free tea and coronation cake. Add to it with your own picnic or tea to share with friends. Enjoy the pop up tea room, cake stall, bar, BBQ and live music. £2 per adult and £1 per child raising money for the local youth groups who are running fun activities in the school playground to entertain all ages.  Why not organise a group for your street to sit together?

BH Monday 8th May – ‘The Big Help Out’ – Volunteering in our community – Support a local group, contribute to our community and have fun by volunteering for just a few hours. Activities from cleaning to gardening will be on offer with something to suit any age or skill! More details in the next Dorchester News, on facebook and the village website. Simply sign up on the village website for something that works for you and your family.

Can you help? Thank you to those who have already put their names forward to help with set-up and/or on the day. Please do contact the event organisers Nick and Steph Forman, Mike and Jill Corran and Geoff Russell – via parishclerk@dorchesteronthames.co.uk

Street party and volunteer booking link: will be open by early March

 

Dorchester St. Birinus Primary School – February News

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All our children continue to work hard and shine their lights! We have enjoyed a variety of exciting experiences across this term including a visit from ‘Wheelpower’ a charity supporting wheelchair sports, an Open the Book assembly and a children’s disco.

Our Year 1 and 2 children enjoyed inviting their grandparents into school to share toys that they used to play with during their grandparents day. What a great experience for all involved!

We would like to say a huge thank you to our volunteer helpers who come in to hear children read. If you have time to spare or a skill to share, please do get in touch if you would like to come into school as a volunteer. We always need people to support with hearing children read.

As you will be aware, we are fundraising for new library books. Our PTA have organised an adult quiz night in school on Friday 24th March from 7pm. We would love to welcome our community in to take part. Teams can be from 1-6 people. Tickets cost £10 each. There will be a bar and you are welcome to bring your own snacks.

We would like to say a huge thank you to anyone who has already bought books for our school from our Amazon wish list. We are enjoying using the books to help us increase our knowledge and understanding of the world. We really appreciate your kindness. If you would like to buy a book for school our wish list can be found at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3EAI7Q6N5EB2E?ref_=wl_share

We run a breakfast club and an after-school club in addition to extra- curricular clubs such as a stories club, a science club, board games and gym. We have places available and if you would like to see what we could offer your child please give us a call to arrange a tour. You can find out more from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher

 

From the Chairman of the Parish Council

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2023 marks the end of our four-yearly Parish Council cycle. The election for our parish and district councillors takes place on 4 May so we will have a new council to look after our community. So now is a good time to appeal to all those with ideas, passion and energy to make Dorchester the best possible place to live to consider putting your name forward for election to your parish council.

Diversity of opinion on a council is vital to represent the range of experiences we have in our different lives and also to offer a voice on the range of topics that come our way. And I know from the comments many of you offer me on a variety of subjects that there are people who would make a valuable contribution to the management of our environment and the amenities we have in the parish. So why not put your name forward and give yourself a real voice. The Parish Council is not political, we just do our best to gel the various aspects of village life together, working with our colleagues at SODC, OCC and other stakeholders in the village and its surrounds.

We will publicise the process for putting your name forward in a few weeks’ time on the village website, Facebook and posters. (See below, Parish Council Vacancies), for on-line sessions to find out more about what being a Parish Councillor entails.

In my December update I said we would like to make the coronation weekend, 6-8 May, a chance to celebrate Dorchester as a community. Ideas are forming under the joint leadership of the Abbey and Parish Council with a street party for everyone, young and old, on the Bank Holiday Monday 8 May, as a likely centrepiece, with perhaps a live screening of coronation in the village hall. If you have ideas or would just like to help then please contact Geoff Russell, Mike Corran (mikecorran62@gmail.com), or Nick/Steph Forman (treasurer@dorchester-abbey.org.uk) and we’ll see how we can use your skills and energy to make the weekend even better. There is likely to be a get together of those who are interested in a few weeks’ time, please come along. And more to follow on the festivities as we head towards Spring but, in the meantime, mark the weekend in your diary if you haven’t already.

I received a lot of responses to my reminder before Christmas of where our defibrillators are situated, so we are looking to get some training organised in the village hall in March. Learning before the day you need to use one could save a life so I for one will be going along to make sure I know what to do. More info on social media and posters in due course.

Finally, Geoff Willis, who has been the Parish Council’s handyman for over 25 years, will be retiring in February. The Council would like to thank Geoff for his wonderful service over so many years. And we are working on finding someone to take on the oftenunseen role that Geoff performs to keep the village ticking along.

Mark Williams
Chairman DoT Parish Council

 

Parish Council Vacancies

Those people who are interested in offering themselves for election to the Council are encouraged to attend some of the forthcoming Council meetings and to view one of the on-line sessions which the Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils (OALC) has organised on 13 February from 10.00-11.00am and on 15 March from 2.00 – 3.00pm. (Zoom joining instructions are on the Village website and Facebook pages and available direct from the Clerk). The OALC website www.oalc.org.uk includes some useful pages which are open to the public

Parish Council Elections Thursday 4th May 2023

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Interested in becoming a Parish Councillor?

 

From the chairman

2023 marks the end of our four-yearly Parish Council cycle. The election for our parish and district councillors takes place on 4 May so we will have a new council to look after our community. So now is a good time to appeal to all those with ideas, passion and energy to make Dorchester the best possible place to live to consider putting your name forward for election to your parish council.

Diversity of opinion on a council is vital to represent the range of experiences we have in our different lives and also to offer a voice on the range of topics that come our way. And I know from the comments many of you offer me on a variety of subjects that there are people who would make a valuable contribution to the management of our environment and the amenities we have in the parish. So why not put your name forward and give yourself a real voice. The Parish Council is not political, we just do our best to gel the various aspects of village life together, working with our colleagues at SODC, OCC and other stakeholders in the village and its surrounds.

We will publicise the process for putting your name forward in a few weeks’ time on the village website, Facebook and posters. (See below, Parish Council Vacancies), for on-line sessions to find out more about what being a Parish Councillor entails.

 

The Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils ( www.oalc.org.uk ) has put together a one hour session which sets out the basics of being a councillor with the opportunity to ask questions as well. This will be invaluable information for anyone who is considering standing for election on Thursday 4th May.

 

The sessions are one hour long and there is no need to book, on:

    • 13th February 10-11am
    • 15th March 2-3pm

Zoom joining details:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87125012109?pwd=VzZkYzkwajlqTTJSWEdrcmVxTUs2QT09

Meeting ID: 871 2501 2109

Passcode: 386520

Dorchester-on-Thames Parish Council meets in the Village Hall every month on the second Wednesday of the month commencing at 7.30 p.m. Residents are always welcome to attend for the meeting or any part of it. The next three meetings are on 8th February, 8th March and 12th April.