For the first time since the Company started rehearsing for Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, cast members were able to visit Wytham last week, to check out their performance venue for midsummer weekend. Rehearsals are now taking place almost every day, while the technical side is being sorted out, including a light and sound rig to make the most of the magical setting.

Buy your tickets soon at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/midsummer-nights-dream-tickets-156143285771. There will be a bus shuttle from Wolvercote to Wytham Car Park for both shows, £3 return.

June 14 – 27 2021

5 Trees in Wytham Woods
The Barn
St John’s College
Oxford OX1 3JP

Since 2016, Blandy has been an Artist in
Residence in Wytham Woods. His studies of a
Beech, Hornbeam, Ash and two Oaks through the
seasons will be exhibited at The Barn on St Giles.

Download Poster

Your mission is to identify the twenty numbered locations of these images of entrances and gateways, all of which are accessible on foot via public rights of way or common land in Wolvercote and Wytham. Please observe the current lockdown rules as you explore.

A map can be found here on which you can mark the numbers of the images in the location you have chosen. All the locations can be found on this map

If you would like a further challenge you may answer a question associated with each image, which you can download here. The questions also appear under the photo when you click or tap the image.

The locations of the images and the answers to the questions or will be posted on the Festival Website later in the summer.

Good luck and enjoy exploring our villages on foot. Many thanks to Amanda Saville for putting this together on behalf of the Festival Committee.

Wolvercote Community Market operates every Sunday between 10am and 12 noon in the car park of the White Hart in Wolvercote.

The ethos of the market, run by volunteers, is to create a space focusing on local produce and sustainability, open to everyone – a community social hub. We’ve managed to keep going safely throughout the complications of the last year and are now trying to raise awareness of the market and encourage more participants to join us.

To that end, I’m writing to see if you might like to have a presence at the market. We’re offering free space up to once a month for community groups to have a table or space for sharing information about what they do, handing out leaflets, fund-raising, offering some training etc. The vision is to provide a friendly meeting place for local people where they can also find out more about what’s going on in their area.

If this might be of interest to you, please email our coordinator, Nina, on wolvercotesundaymarket@gmail.com to arrange a suitable date. We are looking at starting this after the planned opening of restrictions on Jun 21^st.

Saturday 19^th – 27^th June  2021

We are pleased to report that this year’s festival will be going ahead, and although some of our events may be in slightly different forms and venues to comply with government Covid-19 regulations, we are doing our best to ensure that there will be plenty on offer for all age groups. The theme is ‘Colour’

We are busy putting the pieces of the jigsaw together at the moment, but you can check out the programme so far here.

Don’t forget to enter the Colour Trail to brighten up our streets for the summer. You can enter by emailing colourtrail@wolvercote.org before1st June.

We are planning to turn Wolvercote, Wytham, Five Mile Drive, Linkside, Lakeside and Cutteslowe into a Blaze of Colour. We invite all residents and organisations to join the Colour Trail using our front gardens, hedges, fences, balconies, windows and boats for the duration of the Festival 18-27 June 2021. Decorate with flowers, craft and all your favourite things in a colour theme. We will produce a map to include all who sign up by June 1st by emailing colourtrail@wolvercote.org.

Then during the Festival, you can walk the trail with friends and family. If you need ideas how about some bunting, scarecrows, glass painting your front window, gnomes, kites, windsocks, chalk drawings on the pavement, lanterns, fairy or goblin gardens, pom-poms, yarn bombing, lego towers …let your imagination loose! Choose one colour or the whole rainbow! There will be lots more festival events to enjoy so keep your eye on the website at https://wolvercote.org/festival/ where you will find a summary of events.

Bring the children to the Village Hall on Saturdays through April to plant seeds. Bring an empty egg box and take home 2 sunflowers, 2 Nasturtiums, 2 beans. This event is free and is happening from 11 to noon each Saturday in April

Wolvercote Horticultural Society.

During the recent periods of lockdown and restricted travel, many of us have been getting better acquainted with our local landscapes, and some marvellous photographs have been produced. Drawing on this fund of creativity and talent, the Wolvercote Tree Group invite you to submit your favourite photographs of local trees focusing on those in the immediate area of Wolvercote and Wytham, with a view to producing a 2022 calendar featuring the best submissions.

To submit a photograph for consideration, upload an image to your Instagram account using #wolvercotetrees #month (e.g. #jan) and your name. If you don’t have an Instagram account, send the image to wolvercotetreegroup@gmail.com. We will upload it for you. Pictures will be selected by an invited panel for the 2022 calendar which will be sold to raise funds for the work of the Tree Group.

Please be aware that selected photographs must be high-resolution, and should be taken in a landscape format. To produce the calendar in good time for sale at the end of 2021, the deadline for submissions will be the end of October (TBC). So, if you have pictures from last November and December 2020 you would like to submit, please do so now!

We look forward to seeing your photographs celebrating the wonderful countryside we live in. Any questions or queries, please email wolvercotetreegroup@gmail.com

Every March, Oxford City Council organises Oxclean and supply all the necessary materials to hold a major litter pick. And every year the Wolvercote Tree Group and the Commoners join forces to give the village a good going over. This, for reasons we all know about, they will not be holding the event.

However, as we all now out having extra walks, it might be a good time to have a  go ourselves. The council are unable to supply the necessary equipment (litter pickers and plastic bags) however there will be 4 pickers available for collection at 39 Meadow Prospect (you’ll need your own plastic bags). So how about the next time you go on one of your walks popping along collection your pickers from Meadow Prospect and having a go at a bit of litter picking yourself? Although it’s normally only the village covered, how about having a go at Godstow Road between Wolvercote and Wytham as well, which is always a mess of lager cans and MacDonald’s remains.

WOLVERCOTE AND WYTHAM MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL

Annual General Meeting

Thursday 14^th January 2021

At 7.30pm via zoom. Open to all residents of Wolvercote and Wytham

At this meeting:

We will be looking back at the festival 2020 virtual events;

Looking forward to festival 2021 with hope for a real celebration;

Deciding a theme this new year and listening to your thoughts and ideas on events;

Being mindful of keeping safe and our carbon footprint;

Taking stock of our financial position;

Bidding a sad farewell to our present Chair and members standing down from the committee;

Electing a new Chair, committee officers and members who are up for renewal or replacement;

Welcoming new members to the committee;

Planning our next committee meeting

If you are interested in joining us at this meeting please contact John Winterbottom (jwinterbottom8@googlemail.com) who will send you a zoom link

We look forward to seeing you there!