LINK Nov 2023 : simplebooklet.com

4 THE HIGH STREET Pipers and Hawes Bakery Picture 1 (above) might be familiar from a previous article in The Link on Datchet’s Lost Pubs. It shows part of the Manor Hotel, on the left, during its updat-ing in the 1870s. One section has a new brick façade while the other, right on the corner, is still white-washed. Then there’s another whitewashed old build-ing, which is actually on the other side of the High Street from the Manor Hotel. It’s yet another lost pub but it appears in this article because it became, and still is, a shop. As an alehouse called Pipers, and later the White Hart, it was mentioned in the records of the Manor of Datchet from 1565. The rst name probably referred to its tenant or landlord, although for long periods this pub was run by the same landlord as the Manor Hotel opposite. Pipers was clearly catering for work-ing men as it had a bowling alley at its rear, while the Manor Hotel was aimed at those higher up the social scale. In describing the building’s location, the records said it was ‘at the end of Pillers Bridge’. This top corner of the High Street was where the bridge across the stream in the middle of the village would have risen. So that phrase from the 1560s, at the end of Pillers Bridge, gives us the rst evidence of the bridge’s existence and ties in very well with the early history of Datchet’s Bridge House Trust, which funded its maintenance. Its name at the time, Pillers Bridge, suggests that the village’s pillory was nearby, where wrongdoers could be pun-ished in full public view. A much later account recalls the pillory as being near the Manor Hotel, a location which was also not far from the end of that bridge. In picture 1, the old Pipers alehouse looked very neglected indeed and it was not long before it was almost completely rebuilt. From 1880 Lord Montagu, Lord of the Manor of Datchet, was reconsidering his property in the village, includ-ing the development of Buccleuch Road on land which had previously been the village pound where stray cattle were held. This site on the High Street corner was also his. He had the building enlarged and remodelled as a shop, seen in picture 2 as Hawes Bakery, its lease dating from 1882. Architecturally, it ts in well with the remodelling of the Manor Houses a decade earlier and its scale sits comfortably among the buildings around it. Although so different, Hawes Bakery occupied the same site as Pipers, tting tightly into the The rst part of Datchet’s Oldest Shops, in the previous edition of The Link, focused on those around the Greens in the centre of the village. That was where the earliest shops developed from about 1820 to around 1900. Part two rstly describes the old High Street shops, none of which is so early as those in the centre. Several which date from the 1880s and 1890s are examples of ambitious and fashionable shopfronts, now protected as Listed Buildings and also within the Conservation Area. Then the focus moves eastwards along Horton Road to the old Common area, which was developing as an almost separate community from the middle of the village. With its own range of shops, (including a Post Ofce), it had become self-reliant in many ways. As its population grew, so did the demand for housing, and plenty of work was available for the numerous builders living here. Picture 1 Corner of Green into High Street, Pipers or The White Hart old pub, photo 1870s Picture 2 Hawes Bakery, High Street, top corner west side

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5 St Austin’s As so often was the case, the present-day Lily’s Nails and LA Clinic building had not begun its life as shops, but as two dwellings under one roof. The whole house was built by the Lord of the Manor in the second half of the 18th century. It replaced a derelict house whose tenant had thereby forfeited its ownership; the present house is known to have existed by 1781. In 1896 the Montagu family’s auction catalogue described this property as a ‘Comfortable Freehold Residence called St Austin’s’. Number 6, on the right in picture 5, was let to Mr Stokes at £45 per annum, and number 8, on the left, was let to Mr Copeland, a butcher, on 21-year lease at £35 per annum. Since the rst years of the 20th century, these two dwellings have also been landmark shops in the village. Number 8 was into its second century as a corner and with a particular feature worth notic-ing here; looking back at Pipers, although the photo is so small, its entrance door can just be seen as placed diagonally across the sharp angle of the corner. In the 1880s-rebuilt Hawes Bakery shop, that diagonal doorway was retained, as was the raised threshold with steps to enter the build-ing. The entrance to Pipers alehouse had almost exactly the same high threshold and access steps, which can be seen in a larger version of picture 1. It was probably an original ood defence on that corner which was very vulnerable in major oods. The modern shop in picture 3 is the third building on the High Street’s top corner site, a remodelling of the previous 1880s’ shop rather than a com-pletely new build. Most noticeably, its height was raised by another storey which extends further west under gabled roofs. It is a much more inva-sive feature in the middle of the village than its predecessor was, due to its scale plus the black and white mock-timbering applied to the upper wall surfaces. Its architect had taken on board the idea that mock-timbering was a local style which would be acceptable to local planning ofcers in a Conservation Area, but it seems overwhelming for its location. In contrast, the previous Hawes shop feels more human and comfortable, both in scale and in its various locally appropriate brick and tile wall surfaces. Datchet Food and Wine’s building relies on this one design idea which actually em-phasises its size and bulk within a protected area of the village. Much the same could perhaps be said about the Manor Hotel, although both build-ings might be the inevitable result of a modern commercial need for more space and size than ever before. As local shoppers will have found, one feature here hasn’t changed for several centuries; that entrance which is still cut diagonally into the building’s cor-ner with steps up to the threshold, making it dif-cult to enter for some customers. However, grab railings have been installed on the walls each side of the door to help ensure safe access. (Perhaps the raised shop oor might prove useful in some far-off future ood?) Picture 3 Datchet Food and Wine, late 20th century Picture 4 View down the High Street, late 1800s. Beyond the two tall gables of Hawes Bakery are numbers 6 and 8 High Street, with awnings over their shop windows. Also, far left, just before the level crossing, is a partial view of the original Baptist Chapel with its tall windows. Picture 5 Numbers 8 (left) and 6 (right) High Street

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6 butcher’s and number 6 survived as a dairy to about 1970. The butcher’s shopfront had been added to the residential property number 8 in 1891 and that of the dairy to number 6 soon afterwards. Previously, number 6 had been occupied by the Corden family of painters to Queen Victoria, who also painted views of St Mary’s church and the village during the 1870s. Both buildings and shopfronts are now protected as Listed Buildings and are within Datchet’s Conservation Area. Butcher’s Shop, 8 High Street The forerunner of Datchet’s much-missed butcher’s shop was Copeland’s, between 1891 and 1896. The 1896 auction catalogue described Mr Copeland’s house plus butcher’s shop in detail: “Ornamental modern eleva-tion with Porch entrance and Balcony; Top oor: Front Sitting Room & 2 Back Bedrooms. 1st oor: Large Front Sitting Room, 2 Back Bedrooms, W.C.. Ground Floor: Front Shop with Mosaic Floor and Plate Glass Shop Front, Marble Slabs, Scullery, Wash House and Cellar.” As well as plate-glass windows, shop ttings such as a mosaic oor and marble slabs would not only have been expensive but at the height of modernity and of food-handling hygiene. The shop deeds show that the business passed to Checkley in 1908 and then to Augustus Harris in 1914. In 1937 it became Reeves & Son of Staines. Since then, and for nearly 30 years until 2009, it was successfully run by Graham Russell (picture 6), who will still be re-membered by many local people. Graham Russell told a Windsor & Eton Express reporter: “I’ve owned the place for the past 30 years and in that time, I’ve managed to build up a group of loyal cus-tomers who have been with me since the start. Unfor-tunately, it’s a dying trade and with the rent being so high and the economic situation in the last year, it’s become impossible to keep going. I’ve been able to ght off Tesco and the like, thanks to loyal customers, but it’s the sky-high rent and the landlords collecting their money regardless, that has caught up with the business in the end.” Dairy Shop, 6 High Street Number 6 is fondly remembered in the village as the Stevens family’s dairy and tea shop, supplied from their farm at Sumptermead, near the end of Buccleuch Road. That rst appears in Kelly’s street directories from the mid-1930s, but previously, since the early 1900s, it had been the dairy shop of the Kinross family who were based at Riding Court and Ditton Park farms (picture 7). This exceptional shopfront was built for the Kinross business in what had been the small front garden of the private resi-dence ‘St Austin’s’ according to the 1896 sale plans. Above its shop windows, with owers cascading over, was the name ‘Riding Court Park Dairy’. Light refreshments were also adver-tised. The shopfront windows here are quite exceptional, too, being delicately engraved with decorations to illustrate its ownership by John Kinross of Scotland. In 1894 John Kinross had leased Riding Court Farm from the Manor of Datchet and in 1912 he Picture 6 Butcher Graham Russell; the End of an Era (Windsor & Eton Express photo) Picture 7 Kinross milk delivery vehicles outside Riding Court Park Dairy Picture 8, portrait of John Kinross, date unknown

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7 bought the estate outright. He was one of many farmers from Scotland who injected new expertise and enthusiasm into English farms which had suf-fered during the agricultural depression of previous decades. A powerful personality, John (or ‘Jock’) Kin-ross became known to villagers as ‘Squire’ and be-haved as though he was their leader. His farm’s crops and produce won many prizes and he was much respected throughout Buckinghamshire, Berk-shire and beyond. In one of the windows (picture 9) is an engraving of an unknown monument, although it has been sug-gested as representing Datchet’s 1897 Jubilee Cross. However, that would not explain the word ‘SICCAR’ which is above the image in the window. Recent research shows that the image is of a monument in the town of Kinross and also the main feature of its Borough Coat of Arms (picture 10). The word ‘SICCAR’, as the town’s motto set in a scroll over the cross, is Scot-tish, meaning certain, sure or secure. It derived from the Latin ‘securus’, free from danger or without care. A perfect way for John Kinross to mark his place of origin in the village where he was so powerful. The Hat Shop, 20 High Street, This complex building (picture 11) has a clear trace-able history back to the 1590s, although parts of an even older house remain at its core. From the early 1600s it was an alehouse or tavern, at rst called the Rose and then the Duke of Northumberland’s Head. By about 1750 it had become a butcher’s premises, as it still was into the 1970s. It was one of the earliest butcher’s shops in the village and seems to be the rst one in the records. In 1975 the property was sold to Charles and Jane Toller who were antique dealers. They stripped out the interior cladding of the big 1600s’ barn and as-sumed they had discovered a medieval open hall house with one main room or hall open to the roof rafters. Number 20 is still sometimes known as the Hall House but this is very misleading. More recently, under John and Margaret Parting-ton’s ownership as Elegant Hats for Hire, the shop had been a landmark in the High Street and a mag-net for all those near and far who needed hats for glamorous occasions. Sadly, the hat business was sold some years ago. Margaret had stripped back the inside of the building again, removing many of the Tollers’ additions and adding her own interpre-tations in the style of the 1600s, in particular a ‘minstrels’ gallery’. Previously, from the 1750s, 20 High Street had been a butcher’s. J.W. Gillett was the last of a long line of butchers to occupy the site (picture 13, p8). He had added a small wooden shed-like entrance to the front of his house, but without the plate-glass window displays which had become popular in other village shops. The whole meat-processing business took place within the property: starting from the meadow behind the buildings where cattle grazed, to the huge old barn in the centre where slaughtering took place. Moving through the house to the main front block, meat would then have been sold directly to customers. Local people still remembered these processes when the shop closed in 1975, particularly the slaughtering on site. By that time it must surely have been at least out of date, if not actually against farming and food regulations of the time. Picture 9, detail from Riding Court Park Dairy shopfront window Picture 10, Kinross Borough Coat of Arms Picture 11, 20 High Street, The Hat Shop Picture 12, Mrs Margaret Partington owned Elegant Hats for Hire until recent years

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8 HORTON ROAD EAST Considerably less is known about early shops at the old Datchet Common area than in the village centre. This is partly due to rebuilding and later development of housing but also to fewer photo-graphs being taken here in the late 1800s and early 20th century. The approach taken in this sec-tion is a virtual walk eastwards from the Ditton Road junction, noting shops on the north and south of Horton Road which still survive or of which there are photos. Gable End Stores Gable End Stores, an imposing house at the Ditton Road corner (picture 14), existed before 1899 as it is shown on the map of that date. Later, by the 1960s, a separate single-storey general shop was built closer to the pavement. Those premises are now in business as the Drunken Fish (picture 15). William Hill & Son, grocery shop This very up to date 1930s shopfront, with its plate-glass window displays (picture 16), was near the corner of New Road on the left (northern) side of Horton Road. It is now home to Ocean Blue sh and chip shop (picture 17). General shop and draper’s, Woodland Villas This attractive terraced row called Woodland Villas (picture 18) has a stone plaque on the wall in its cen-tral section, giving the date as 1890. The last two units in the row, on the corner of Penn Road and op-posite the Rising Sun, appear to have been added sometime later as shops to the original end houses. Picture 13 Gillett’s shopfront, photo about 1970 Picture 14, Gable End Stores, 1960s Picture 15, the Drunken Fish Picture 16, the Hill family’s Grocery shop, photo 1930s Picture 17, the Hills’ grocery shop has been replaced by Ocean Blue Picture 18, A draper’s and a general shop were at the far end of Woodland Villas in Horton Road

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9 The Post Ofce Further east down Horton Road, just past the Holmlea Road corner, was Datchet Common’s own Post Ofce. It was located in the building on the right of picture 20, with ground oor windows painted white. There is a Post Ofce sign above the entrance but it’s illegible in this small image. In the 1940s Kelly’s directory lists “Meadows, Jn. Chas., grocer and provision, and post ofce; bread and cakes, greengrocery, & stationery, Horton Road. Tel Datchet 27.” On the opposite pavement there is al-so a bus stop – what excellent services the resi-dents used to enjoy here! Picture 19 shows two shops. On the left, with windows painted white, is the draper’s, run by R & J Ives, (Ralph and Miss Jessie), which was listed in Kelly’s street directories from 1932 until at least 1950. The corner shop, with its angled entrance door, has W. Powley over the shop window. William Powley is also in the 1932 and 1947 Kelly’s as a grocer and general stores. The painted advertising on the shop’s wall (picture 19) lists the following goods for sale in this extremely useful forerunner of a B&Q or Homebase store: hardware, paints, oils, leather, garden tools, roong felt, nails, wire netting etc, groceries and provisions. Picture 19, Penn Road corner and Woodland Villa shops during the 1947 ood Picture 20, the Post Oce, near Holmlea Road corner, Horton Road, photo 1940s

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10 ble and could concentrate on learning. “Recent academic research shows us that children don’t learn well when they are bombarded with sound, colours, light and all sorts of unwelcome distractions so we decided to back to the drawing board. With help from a team of child psycholo-gists from TPC Therapy, we have worked hard on this new layout to create an environment that will allow children to thrive and grow in a space where they feel relaxed and able to do their best. All of our teachers have had training sessions on using the new space most effectively and they are very much on board with the changes we have made and looking forward to teaching in the new spaces.” And teachers are already seeing the benets: “The calm classrooms are proving to be excellent envi-ronments to teach in. The children are more fo-cused and I like the way that the new layout has been designed so that the children are able to take control of how they learn. The space is exi-ble so they can work on the large tables which encourage collaboration, on the small round ta-bles for group work, or on the low tables or oor cushions for independent work and quiet reading. This empowers the children to take ownership of their learning and choose the place that suits them the best for that particular lesson. The exible seating means that the room feels much more spacious and the neutral colour palette is calming. No displays means no distractions. It feels like a home from home and is a calm environment for them.” We are now ending the school year with celebra-tions including our Summer Fair, sports days, Prize Giving events and swimming galas – we are always delighted with the progress our children make but surprised by how quickly time really does y when you’re having fun! Abby Forster, Registrar The summer term has been in full swing at Eton End with the wonder and excitement of playing outside in the sunshine to numerous Bank Holiday celebration and school events for pupils, parents and our wider community with and Open Satur-day Afternoon, our seasonal Stay & Plays in the Nursery coupled with some exciting trips across the year groups out and about. Eton End has now become one of the rst schools in the UK to unveil a radical new whole school re-design of their classroom layout which puts children’s needs rmly at the heart of the learning experience. Our new ‘calm classrooms’ are a complete change from traditional school class-rooms and have been designed and created by a team of professional child therapists, based on research which shows that children learn best in a calm, comfortable environment where they are not surrounded by noise, bright colours and harsh lighting. The emphasis of the new design is on neutral colours, comfortable seating, ambient lighting and a feeling of space. Rachael Cox, Head of Eton End said: “Since I joined the school back in September I have been conducting a listening exercise involving children, parents and staff, looking at how we can improve the school environment and helping me to under-stand what they liked and what frustrated them about the school. When I spoke to the children about their learning environment, the thing they wanted to change most of all was the chairs. It sounds like small thing but it was obviously a big thing for them. It made me go back and completely re-think how we organise our class-rooms and learning spaces. I wanted to create an environment where our children were comforta-. Rachel Cox, Head of Eton End

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14 Nestled within our local village is the family friendly dental practice, Village Dental. This practice has been serving the local community for over 45 years and has recently come under new ownership. It's now literally a family affair, as its run by a husband and wife team who call this village their home. INTRODUCING DR. MAJID KHOKHAR AND DR. TANZEELA SHARIF Majid and Tanzeela first met when Majid was teaching Tanzeela root canal treatment in practice for her final dental exams! (How roman-tic!). They are passionate parents of 3 children, they are neighbours, and friends within the local community. With a shared dream of de-livering top-notch dental care right here in the heart of our beloved village. This dynamic duo is breathing fresh life into the local dentistry scene. A LOCAL LEGACY OF DENTAL CARE Dr. Majid Khokhar qualified in 2001 from Barts and The London, and Dr Tanzeela Sharif from Kings College Hospital in 2008. Majid has over 22 years of experience and has worked in Knightsbridge and Earls court in high end private practices specialising in general and cosmetic den-tistry. He has also worked in Wimbledon and Reading in more family-based settings, giving him a well-rounded skill set and the highest level of patient care. He has attended multiple dental courses throughout his career to enhance his dentistry, including; aesthetics/cosmetics and restorative dentistry. He is also a provider of Invisalign for almost 18 years and restores complex restorative and implant cases and has up to date techniques on Composite Bonding and Veneers. Tanzeela covers all aspects of family dentistry, from fillings, extractions, to dentures. She is naturally good with children and takes the extra time and care that they need to feel comfortable and calm. Tanzeela also offers Botox and dermal fillers as part of her aesthetic armamentarium. A PERSONAL TOUCH AND A FRIENDLY SMILE What sets this practice apart is the personalized care and at-tention to detail that you'll receive. Majid, Tanzeela together with their staff Janette, Asma, Anna, Huma, Zahra and Trina will take the time to get to know each patient, building trust and ensuring your dental experience is as comfortable as possi-ble. They believe in treating every patient like friends and family, because in Datchet, that's exactly what they are. A HOME AWAY FROM HOME Not only do they work here, but they have lived in Datchet for over 10 years with their children; Eesa 9, Ayoub 8 and Maryam 4. They enjoy living in this friendly village sur-rounded by locals who are kind and courteous to each other. They un-derstand the values and needs of our tight-knit community and are deeply committed to giving back. You're not just a patient; you're a part of their extended village fam-ily. YOUR SMILE IS THEIR PRIORITY Whether you need a routine check-up, dental cleaning, or more spe-cialized treatment, Majid and Tan-zeela, together with their team are here to make sure your smile is healthy and happy. They believe that good oral health is a corner-stone of a happy life. GET TO KNOW YOUR LOCAL DENTIST DUO Are you due for a dental check-up, have any discomfort you would like seen to, or just want to discuss improving your smile? Looking for a welcoming, friendly and professional dental expe-rience? Majid and Tanzeela invite you to visit their cozy practice! MENTION ''THE LINK'' WHEN BOOKING AND GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST CHECK-UP fee (£32.50, normally £65!) if you are a new patient! Location: 2 Temple Cottages, The Green, SL2 9BJ Phone: 01753 548 416 Email: hello@villagedental.uk Website: www.villagedental.uk www.villagedental.uk

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15 If children live with criticism – they learn to ght If children live with fear, - they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with hostility - they learn to condemn If children live with pity,- they learn to feel sorry for self If children live with ridicule– they learn to be shy If children live with jealousy - they learn to feel envy If children live with shame - they learn to feel guilty If children live with acceptance - they learn to love. If children live with tolerance, - they learn to be patient .If children live with recognition, - they learn it is good to have a goal If children live with encourage-ment,- they learn condence. If children live with sharing,- they learn generosity If children live with praise ,- they learn to appreciate. If children live with honesty - they learn truthfulness If children live with fairness- they learn justice. If children live with kindness and consideration, - they learn respect. If children live with security,- they learn to have faith. If children live with approval,- they learn to like themselves . If children live with acceptance and friendship They learn to nd peace and love in the world.

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16 www.rbwm.gov.uk/here-to-help or call 01628 683800. Also remember our Datchet library offers a safe, warm place where the community can access advice, public access to computers and support from the library team. Again, if you wish to know a little about what Datchet Parish Council does. Some of you may be aware that in 2021 the Datchet library was due to be closed by the previous leader-ship at RBWM but Datchet Parish Council stepped in financial-ly for residents and kept the doors open. This facility is now an important part of the cost-of-living crisis scheme “Here-to-help” which you will see more information on in coming months and during the cost of living crisis. There is always confusion on what the Parish Council’s responsibilities are or what powers they have. This is further complicated in Datchet as we have a Borough wide Unitary Council that is The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maiden-head that has overall responsibility on most matters, that af-fect our day to day lives. So, I would like to add a link here to the Datchet Parish Council website that shows our responsi-bilities and duties in detail. I hope you take the time to read what the responsibilities of the Parish Council are and how it can support your needs: https://www.datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk/Roles__and__Responsibilities_1735.aspx The responsibilities and duties of the Parish Council can be broken down simply as: • Give views, on behalf of the community, on planning applications and other proposals that affect the parish. • Alert relevant authorities to problems that arise or work that needs to be undertaken in Datchet. • Help the other tiers of local government keep in touch with their local communities. We hope you are seeing the value of the Parish Council in Datchet grow in the village as we have seen public meetings in previous years on large developments or community con-cerns on the future of The Manor Hotel in Datchet. The Datchet Parish council facilitated the gathering of residents to discuss and debate these and many important issues that may concern them at Parish Council meetings where the public are welcome. Recently we have seen the approval of the controversial development known as AL39 the land at the rear of London Road Datchet consisting of 80 dwellings to be built in the future. Again Datchet Parish Council called an extraordinary meeting for residents to debate this application in 2022 and again recently in September 2023. On behalf of Datchet Winter is fast approaching, and it has been a wet year for Datchet so far and appears to be continuing to be wet into the winter months. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for no flooding but with decades of no flood defence maintenance or improvement unfortunately it is a finger’s crossed mo-ment for all residents this year. Please keep an eye on all the flood defence meetings and feel free to contact the Datchet Parish office to find out what events or information is available if such a flood event should occur this year. Datchet Parish Council is still seeking additional residents who would be prepared to co-opt onto the Parish Council to contribute to the community. If you would like to join the hardworking members of the Datchet Parish Council and add value to your community please contact the Clerk on Clerk@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk or call 01753 773499. We see the cost-of-living crisis affect us in many ways from people downsizing and moving away from the area, to hav-ing multiple family members having to work longer or go back to meet the higher costs of mortgages (rents), food, childcare and energy. This may continue for a longer period than any of us wish to see and have life changing affects to many families. So now is the time again that the great resi-dents of Datchet, need to pull together to meet these de-mands. We showed this through the pandemic and now we need to look out for our neighbours, friends and family members who may struggle both financially and emotionally over the years to come, again. I am confident we will show the same resolve and commitment as we did in 2020/21 and support our community out of this crisis. We will see the Borough Council bring in new initiatives to help and support children, families and the residents of Datchet who may need some financial support until inflation drops and the economy sees growth for higher paid jobs for all. If you see or hear of anyone struggling, please contact CLERK TO COUNCIL Mrs Sonia Masikito DPC ADDRESS Contact :-  Tel: 01753 773499  Mob. 07862 013161 e-mail: clerk@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Datchet Parish Office 1 Allen Way Datchet Berkshire SL3 9HR DPC Website 8 : https://datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk THERE IS A PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON 13th November 2023 Parish Councils are generally on the second Monday of each month (Check Datchet Parish Council website for updates) – We hope to see you there, all are welcome!

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18 I remember years before during Christmas a child gave me a simple present. It was nothing but a small Christmas card. There was not an address on the enve-lope. It was given by a ve year old girl. She liked me a lot as her assistant parish priest. I opened it. It was a small, tiny card written to me with the some happy emojis with her name. I asked her why she wanted to give that card to me. She said, Father, you come from India and your parents are away. You can’t join them for this Christmas. So, I thought of giving my happy emojis to you. That was a thought for me. I smiled at her. St. John's Gospel chapter 3 verse 16 says For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. This passage of the gospel is said to be the core of the gospels. It contains everything about the birth, life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we may not have enough answers for our life, but God has an answer. Because God came to this world as a human being, and he experienced everything just as we are today, and he understands us better. God lived like a man. Christmas is inviting us to make our lives as a gift to many people. This is the real meaning of Christmas. During Christmas time we usually give gift to our friends. But how many of us know that Jesus is the real gift of Christmas. Sometimes we forget the reality that Jesus is the real gift that God the father has given us. If we really understand this meaning of Christmas, all our celebration changes during this season. Sometimes we celebrate Christmas without Jesus! Today we are too busy in our daily life. We have no time to stop, we have no time to think, we have no time to care! Human has become a machine these days. This mechanical life sometimes may cause us to do many things without any thoughts. But God is not like that. He really loves us. He cares for us. He sent his only son for us

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19 - the greatest gift from God that the human being can own. So, during Christmas when we send a card or gift to a person it reminds us that we care for that particular person. We are sharing our joy and happiness with that person. Yes, that is the true meaning of Christmas. Love and care have a lot of meaning during Christmas. In today's world there are a lot of people feeling loneliness due to war and violence across the world. Many are suffering out of nancial crisis. Many people in the world live without any basic facilities. Christmas is inviting each one of us to become a gift to all these people those who are in need. In many ways we can be a gift to others. Many funding agen-cies are working these days to reach to the needy for us. Why don't we think about a different Christmas celebration this year! You may be sending a gift or card regularly to one of your friends or relatives for many years. Why don't you save that money this year and save it to send a donation to one of the needy around the world. That may stop few drops of tears from few people. That may stop spreading their hands for collecting a loaf of bread that is being thrown from the helicopter. Yes, there are lot of people without any to addresses in the world today deserving our Christmas gifts. Be a gift to them. Let the Christmas this year be a different experience for you and for the person who receives your gift. Have a blessed Christmas and New Year2024! Fr. Shyju Chacko, Parish Priest St. Augustine, Datchet

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20 ST AUGUSTINE S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 70 ETON ROAD, DATCHET Christmas Eve 24th Sunday 8:00pm Children’s Christmas Play with Carol Singing 8:30pm Christmas Mass Christmas Day 25th Monday 11:00am Christmas Day Mass OUR LADY OF SORROWS ETON HIGH STREET Christmas Day 25th Monday 9:00am Carols 9:30am Christmas Day Mass DATCHET BAPTIST CHURCH Sunday 3rd Dec 10:30am Advent Service led by John Livingstone Sunday 10th Dec 10:30am All Age Christmas Celebration Service led by Nick Wells Monday 11th Dec 8:00pm Carols @ The Stag—meet at our local to sing popular carols Sunday 17th Dec 3:30pm Christmas Messy Church—Children’s fun activity, story & celebration time , with a meal Christmas Eve 24th Dec Sunday 10:30am Christmas Eve Morning Service led by Rev Richard Wallace Christmas Day 25th Monday 10:00am Christmas Day Service led by Richard Knight New Year’s eve 31st Sunday 10:30am Year end thanksgiving & Communion Service led by Rev Richard Wallace Sunday 10th Dec 6:30pm Churches Together in Datchet Carol Service Saturday 16th Dec 2pm—4pm Messy Christmas—fun activities, story & celebrations with a meal Sunday 17th Dec 5pm Christingle Service Christmas Eve 24th Sunday 9:30am Sung eucharist 4:00pm Crib Service 11:30pm Midnight Mass Christmas Day 25th Monday 9:30am Sung Eucharist ST MARY’S CHURCH

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21 residents the Parish council has voted to take legal advice to review the current application and we hope to see the appr-oval revisited to change or stop the development as it has serious breaches in the application process. This is an ongoing legal dispute with RBWM on behalf of Datchet residents and we hope to update you in the future months with a view to successfully win our action for the residents of Datchet. The Datchet Parish Council are responsible for the lovely grounds on the recreational area, the memorial greens, the cemetery, and the Riverside. We have seen an extension of the hanging baskets this year, which brings a beautiful addi-tion to village life, and we hope to see these extended further in coming years, so you can see them from any point, as you enter the village. We continue to see the improvements and ongoing maintenance to the number of buildings that the Parish Council own and maintain on behalf of the community. From the library, the cemetery, the village hall centre, the Bridge café to the Doctors surgery and several other proper-ties, all maintained by the Parish Council on your behalf. We hope residents will look to co-opt onto the parish council and support the community as listed above and to help guide the village with its positive future. A reminder is set out below of the serving Parish Councillors that have been voted into Lead member positions at the Coun-cil, to support the community throughout 2023. Contact details of Parish Councillors can be found on the Par-ish Council website here: https://www.datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk/Your_Councillors_1733.aspx Or you can call the Parish Office on 01753 773499 We have seen the progression of one officer Mrs Sonia Masikito to Parish Clerk with training committed to a level of Parish Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) and we thank Sonia on making this commitment to the Parish Council and the residents of Datchet. Sonia is progressing very well and taking on more responsibilities allowing the locum sup-port to reduce in hours making savings for the residents. Datchet Parish Council web-site address:  www.datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk This is one of the key responsibilities of the Parish Council to maintain all the Parish Buildings and assets. This is one of the largest expenditures of the Parish Council and the Lead member for Properties will continue to keep an eye on the quality and maintenance of all the Parish properties throughout the financial year within budgets and safety requirements. A monthly report is sent to the Council with recommenda-tions and updates on all work carried out or to be carried out by the Properties team. This is posted onto the Parish website each month for public review or comment and presented to the Council to debate. In the past year we have seen a requirement for mainte-nance on the village library roof which was finished in 2023. We have seen repairs to the village hall roof and continued maintenance of all buildings. There has been and continues to be plans to see improvements made in the cemetery during 2023. Hopefully residents will see the benefits of these buildings being maintained on an ongoing basis. We are fortunate to have some lovely buildings in Datchet and the Parish Council maintains its assets to add to that portfolio that makes our historic village what it is today We continue to see stress from heavy goods vehicles and increased traffic being placed onto properties throughout the village and this is no different for Parish maintained properties. We see a continuation of indirect repairs caused by the high number of heavy vehicle movements throughout the village as well as increased maintenance costs. This adds stress to the Parish Council budgets an-nually and causes unrecoverable damage to our many listed buildings over time. We hope to support initiatives to protect our village life, reduce traffic and pollution to improve the longevity of our properties and these will require support from the residents once a strategy is established. This continues to be the largest area of work that the Parish Council are charged with, and the ongoing projects are very large and time consuming. We continue to make progress to progress and complete the projects to main-tain and improve our village. The ongoing inflationary pressures are being worked around by the Lead Member for Grounds to make the best use of residents and public money. Some projects are being reviewed to reduce expenditure at these difficult times but as always mainte-nance of our beautiful village does not stop. We have seen reduced projects being completed due to covid restrictions and now inflationary issues; this continues as inflationary pressures continue. The Lead member contin-ues to balance these on a day-to-day basis to supply Datchet residents with a strong historic landscape, open green spaces and continuous maintenance so residents can continue to enjoy its assets. The planning team continue to see lots of activity in the applications for development of existing and new proper-ties in the Parish of Datchet and work to support residents on local knowledge and weighted recommendations to the RBWM planning team. Through the years there is a GROUNDS a) FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION: Finance Committee started in October 2023 b) PROPERTIES Lead Cllr. Denny Loveridge and Deputy Leader- Dissolved c) GROUNDS Lead Cllr. Ian Thompson and Deputy Leader - Dissolved d) PLANNING Lead Cllr. David Buckley and Deputy Lead - dissolved e) HIGHWAYS AND GENERAL PURPOSES Dissolved f) FLOODING AND DRAINAGE Lead Cllr Ian Thompson and Deputy Lead - Dissolved g) EVENTS Lead Cllr Andrew Clemens and Deputy Lead - Dissolved h) CHAIRMAN - Cllr David Buckley i) DEPUTY CHAIRMAN - Cllr Ewan Larcombe

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22 alerts or information on what to do if your home is threat-ened by flood water or what to do when a flood hits the vil-lage. In particular if you are a new resident to the village, it may be worth you getting, in touch with the Parish Council Office to find out what to do in a flood event. You can follow this link as useful guide in the meantime: https://www.datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk/Flooding_1592.aspx Christmas is coming around quickly and we look forward to events like Christmas on the Green and the Christmas lights being switched on by the Mayor of RBWM on the 2nd Decem-ber 2023. We hope to see many residents there as we did last year. We also have the Remembrance Sunday event on the memorial green fast approach-ing in November so please look out for in-formation from local community and faith groups plus the Parish council. We hope that many, if not all Datchet residents get to attend these events, where we can all come together and celebrate the great community, we have in Datchet. We would like to encourage the community to contribute on an ongoing basis as to your needs in the village by coming to our monthly Parish meetings, to engage and have input with the Councillors to discuss where you feel improvements can be made or what further positive steps could be taken to benefit the whole community. However, you can also contact or engage with your Parish Councillors at all times should you feel the need, have a constructive idea how to improve the village and improve the quality of lives of the community. We look forward to looking after your needs in the future. Can I say thank you to all Datchet residents on behalf of the Datchet Parish Council for your ongoing support and input throughout 2022/3 and we hope we can all continue to pull together this next year. reduced weight given to Parish local planning recommend-ations due to the National Planning Framework and the Borough Local Plan, which have made more of the applica-tions we see fall into Permitted Planning or to release building plots on Green Belt/Flood zones. We continue to add local input on behalf of the residents and bring your concerns forward to add more weight to guide RBWM plan-ning officers’ decisions towards local needs. Additionally, we have seen the successful adoption of the Datchet Design Guide and the Datchet Neighbourhood Plan completing a referendum in May 2023 to adopt the Datchet Neigh-bourhood Plan, which has been years in the making. Once adopted, both, these two documents will add weight to any Parish recommendations and help protect the Historic and design of Datchet village for years to come. Planning can concern many residents and we hope to get a closer and stronger working relationship with officers at RBWM with the support of the 3 Independent Borough Councillors who wish to support the Parish Council and the residents as a priority. We hope that soon, more emphasis and weight will be given to local planning recommendations from the Parish Council on behalf of residents and the community to help maintain our traditions and quality of life in a rural village. We must remember that good planning is also good for the community, but poor planning decisions affect our community and us all. We are seeing an increase in the need to engage planning enforcement as some developers and opportunists try to take advantage of the lapse in planning resources at RBWM and Datchet Parish Council have raised or supported a much larger number of planning enforcement matters in the past year. This is an ongoing pattern as our Local Authority RBWM struggles to maintain an effective planning team to oversee Borough wide requirements. We will continue to fight the good fight on behalf of residents to maintain, improve and put Datchet first. As we come into the winter season we have seen another year pass with no maintenance of our flood defences and still a fight to see our only suitable flood defence River Thames Channel One being deferred but as we all know it is not IF, but WHEN we get another flood season, with climate change and the lack of maintenance to our waterways (no maintenance for over 10 years). RTS Channel One would support ongoing insurance and residents’ property values, at a time when a large flood event becomes all more likely. The Lead member for flooding has reported recently that he is working with other Parishes that are affected by flooding to re-introduce the local flood defence groups who work tirelessly to get the funding in place for RTS Channel One. Please support our efforts to get protection for your homes and families not just from the physical effects of flooding but the financial impacts on insurance, safety, home values and disruption to local businesses, residents, and commut-ers. We need your support to safeguard residents, our prop-erty values (flood re is due to end in 2035) and the pros-perity of Datchet is at risk. Please take the time to find out where you can get flood FLOODING Cllr David Buckley Chairman Datchet Parish Council Email: chairman@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Email: dbuckley@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Email: clerk@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk

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26 Dear Readers As ever, we want to thank you for your ongoing sup-port for Slough Foodbank. One in seven people in the UK face hunger because they don’t have enough money to live on. That’s not the kind of society we want to live in, and we won’t stand by and let this continue. Every year we are see-ing more and more people needing support from Slough Foodbank, and that is just not right. More people are being referred to the food bank because they don’t have enough money coming in to cover essential living costs. Your support really does make a difference. We rely on donations of food which are sorted and stored in our warehouse before being packed into food parcels and given to clients at our distribution centres. Last year we gave out 9,322 food parcels. For the rst 9 months of 2023, we have seen a 27% in-crease in the number of food parcels distributed ver-sus the same period in 2023. It’s a stark reality that year on year the increase in demand for Slough Food-bank continues – it’s not a trend that’s acceptable. We need the government to make changes that last like making sure that the basic rate of Universal Update from Slough Foodbank: Newsletter for The Winter LINK 2023 Credit is at least enough to afford the essen-tials we all need, such as food, household bills and travel costs. This winter we are expecting demand to be higher than ever so if you would like to help others by making a food donation, we are in need of the following: If you, or someone you know, would benet from help from Slough Foodbank please visit: https://slough.foodbank.org.uk/get-help/foodbank-vouchers/ Long-life items Fruit Juice Sponge Puddings Toiletries Soap Deodorant Shaving Foam/Gel Toothbrushes Toothpaste Tinned Items : Tuna Carrots Spaghetti Fruit Rice Pudding Sundries : Tea & coffee (small Sizes) Nappies Toilet Rolls Washing Up Liquid

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28 After a hectic Coronation celebration on the recreation ground we shared a meal when everyone brought a dish which included roast chicken from Judith, potato salad from Helen, tomato salad from Pam and rice pudding from Parveen. Then we held a special Coronation bingo when everyone who took part wore a crown. There were 18 adults and six children of all ages including a young man visiting from North Carolina. It took a bit longer to work out the Coronation bit as there were pictures not numbers to deal with. Below are some of our guests and their prizes.Anyway the prize table rapidly decreased and the sh and chips supper was greatly enjoyed by all which was hot and delicious. Judith and Stella did us proud by bringing their relatives to join us once again. This month we had two outings – the rst to Pam’s garden for coee and cake but we had to re-tire inside as it started to rain. Saturday 19th August there was a special talk at St Lawrence’s Church, Slough about the installation of two plaques on the last remaining residence of William Herschel at 74 Upton Road, Slough, as seen below. The speaker was from the Institute of Physics who are trying to encourage young people to consider his subject for a career. He told us about Her-schel’s son John who is was brought up being surrounded by astronomy and is buried in Westmin-ster Abbey near to Sir Isaac Newton! As you can We see the refresh-ments were plentiful and varied. We chatted to various members of the audience including the Deputy Mayor.

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30 along with the Manor Houses, the Manor Cottages, and all the other land and property which make up Datchet Manor. BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES To understand England’s manorial system, and the lords who owned these manors, we need to look back a very long way, to before and after William the Conqueror’s invasion in 1066. From before the Norman Conquest in 1066 the structure of society, including the system of manors, was all about ownership of land: all the land in this country. It had also developed In Europe and other parts of the world but persisted longer in England than elsewhere. Below is an outline of how the system worked, though there could be local variations: THE KING There was one central point on which the whole manorial system depended: the King himself owned all the land. THE BARONS Since the King could not manage all the land himself, he divided it up between the powerful barons who had supported him. In return, the barons pledged their loyalty to the King and had to provide soldiers to ght on his side if war broke out. Barons gave land to lords to manage as manors. THE LORDS The lords organised their own manors and could be called into battle at any moment by their overlord, the baron. The lords owned everything on their land including the peas-ants, the crops they grew, and the village. The Manor of Datchet is not, and never was, the Manor Hotel in the middle of the village (picture 1). However, it is easy to see how, in talking about staying, meeting or eating at the Manor Hotel, we might refer to it as ‘The Manor’. Unfortunately, the hotel's own website appears to interpret any historic mention of the Manor of Datchet to mean the Manor Hotel. This is a very serious misunderstanding and a total distortion of historical facts. The building was not even known as The Manor Hotel until Victorian times. Its rst pub name, in1753, was The Half Moon; then from 1767 it was The Horse and Groom; only from 1877 was it called The Manor Hotel. The lords of Datchet Manor did, in fact, own this pub or hotel, Picture 1: The Manor Hotel in the centre of Datchet, 2022 Picture 2: Pyramid diagram structure of society in the English Middle Ages, re-drawn by C R Kennish from https://thehistoryjar.com

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31 Lords held absolute power over their manors, organising law courts and deciding punishments for crimes. THE KNIGHTS The knights provided protection and military service for their lords or for the barons and even the King’s army in time of war. THE PEASANTS Around 90 per cent of people living in the Middle Ages were peasants. Some peasants were considered free and could own their own businesses, such as carpenters, bakers, and blacksmiths. Others were more like slaves. They owned almost nothing and were pledged to serve their local lord. They worked long days growing food on the land and often hardly had enough food themselves to survive. A MANOR was a unit of land and property held by a landlord who was himself the tenant of a baron, so that through a chain of power and dependence, all land was owned by the King. Under the Feudal (or landholding) system in the Middle Ages the centre of life for most people was the manor they lived in, run by its local lord. He lived in a large house or castle where people would gather for celebra-tions or for protection if they were attacked. A village would develop around the castle, including the local church, and farms would spread out from there which would be worked by the peasants. A manor often came to be much the same in area and population size as its village or church parish would be after the Middle Ages. The great landowners held manors in different parts of England, from where they could call up for military service all those men who owed them allegiance. In later times, this ghting service was replaced by payment of money or a supply of food, so that possession of a manor was a nancial asset as well as a power base. A manor could be inherited or sold just like any other property but could also be forfeited back to the King if its lord had seriously displeased him. The diagram in Picture 2 shows how levels of society depended on and supported each other within the manorial structure. THE DOMESDAY BOOK AND THE MANOR OF DATCHET In common with almost all other English villages, it is the Domesday Book which gives us the rst account of Datchet Manor. This survey, conducted in 1085 to 1086, was drawn up as an inventory and valuation of land for tax assessment and to estab-lish rightful ownership in case of future disputes. It was also a record of its owners after King William the Conqueror, had distributed possessions of the old Anglo-Saxon nobility to the conquering Normans. These new owners took over the land and its organisation much as it had been structured before the Conquest. The fundamental unit of local landholding administration was already the manor, and it was England’s manors which were recorded in the Domesday Book. Entries were handwritten, mostly in Latin, by a scribe. In the case of Datchet the size and shape of the later church parish and village probably correspond fairly closely to the original Manor of Datchet, or Daceta in Latin. It’s quite easy to nd the word DACETA, with a red line through it, in the 3rd line down in Picture 3. So what did The Domesday Book actually say about the Manor of Datchet? Here’s a line-by-line transla-tion: • Lines 1 & 2: Giles brother of Ansculf holds Datchet (Daceta) for 13½ hides • Line 3: Land for 12 ploughs, in Lordship 5 hides, 1 plough, 4 ploughs possible • Line 4: 16 villagers with 16 smallholders have 7 ploughs, 3 slaves • Line 5: Meadow for 5 ploughs, woodland for 300 pigs, 2 sheries, 2,000 eels • Line 6: the total value is and was £6, before 1066 £12 • Lines 7 & 8: Saewulf, Earl Leofwin’s man, held 6 hides & 3 virgates of this manor as one manor, his brother Siward, Earl Harold’s man, also held 6 hides and 3 virgates. Unfortunately, this means almost nothing to us in 2023. All we can see is that the inventory is based entirely on agriculture and the number of working people available. Luckily, here is an expert’s helpful interpretation of what might actually have been going on at the time: • Lines 1 & 2: Giles, brother of Ansculf, was one of William the Conqueror’s great land-owners. Giles was related to the even more powerful William FitzAnsculf who, in 1086, had a castle at Dudley as well as 30 manors in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. (These included Stoke Poges and Ditton, whose future history was to be closely intertwined with that of Datchet.) A hide was the amount of land that could be ploughed by one ox team in a year, perhaps about 120 acres and enough to support a household. • Line 3: The 5 hides ‘in Lordship’ was land farmed by the lord himself or his tenant, known as the demesne (pronounced ‘demeen’) of the manor. • Line 4: Villagers were the peasants who held most land, the smallholders held less. All were ‘tied’ to the land and were obliged to plough the lord’s land as well as their own. Slaves at rst worked entirely for the lord but later merged with the other peasant classes. The numbers given were heads of households or families so the population probably consisted of about 22 families. • Line 5: Datchet was rich in meadowland alongside the river Thames on south and west, and to streams on the north. The woodland where pigs foraged for food was, curiously, in Fulmer which then belonged to the Manor of Datchet. The two eel sheries were at modern Black Potts in the north and Southlea in the south, where they were still operating into the 20th century. • Line 6: The value of the manor was an estimate of the total income its lord would receive each year in money and in produce from his peasants. Not all values were higher after the 1066 conquest, perhaps due to the disruption of the conquest itself. • Lines 7, 8: Saewulf and Siward were both nobles under the defeated King Harold and Picture 3: A facsimile (exact copy) of the rst section of Datchet Manor’s entry in the Domesday Book

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32 still held parts of Datchet Manor as sub-tenants, which was not unusual. A virgate was a quarter of a hide. THE DE PINKNEY FAMILY AND THE TWO (BAD!) HUGH LE DESPENSERS Giles, brother of Ansculf, was one of the Conqueror’s great landowners, based at Weedon in Northamptonshire but owning 15 other manors. His Norman family name was de Pinkney from Picquigny on the Somme. (They owned the original Manor of Pinkney’s Court in the parish of Cookham from the 12th to the 15th century.) At the time of the Domesday Book Giles de Pinkney owned the Manor of Datchet which remained in that family’s ownership for another 250 years, until the 1330s, but not without difculties. England was in an almost constant state of conict among King and nobles; property was frequently conscated as punishment and redistributed as a reward. During the rebellion against King John in 1216, Robert de Pinkney’s estates were seized but returned to him when he was pardoned by the next king, Henry III. This family’s name is still remembered in the village of Pinkneys Green and in the pub called The Pinkneys Arms (Picture 4), both near Maidenhead. From that time onward, Datchet changed hands several times, becoming a pawn in the quarrels between King Edward II and those who opposed him. Sometime before 1300, and without royal permission, Henry de Pinkney granted Datchet to the powerful although disreputable character called Hugh le Despenser the Elder. Both he and his son, Hugh le Despenser the Younger (Picture 5), were royal ofcials and Hugh the Younger was reputed to be King Edward II’s lover. Both the Despensers were fabulously wealthy, partly due to criminal land dealings, and they presented an unacceptable challenge to the King’s authority. In 1326, both were executed for conspiracy and high treason. The Despensers’ lands were then forfeited to the King but Datchet Manor was returned in 1331 to Edward de Pinkney, who unfortunately died a year later in 1332. (Spoiler Alert! Matters improved greatly in the following centuries as Datchet became a Royal Manor. Find out more in the next edition of The Link!) Picture 4: The modern Pinkney’s Arms pub. Picture 5: Hugh le Despenser the Younger, 1268-1326

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34 Wild About Datchet was started in 2019 by three dynamic students who have since moved on to other great environ-mental and sustainability projects around the UK. Their original plan was to embrace the benefits of nature for the local community and now, through Wild About Datchet’s re-generation, we are broadening this scope to also look at all the things which affect our environment. After all, it doesn’t make sense to restore and assist nature with one hand, while all around us the developing world is destroying it with the other. The Wild About Datchet Team has organised this event to bring together the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maiden-head, Datchet Parish Council, Eco and ‘Wilds’ Groups, and residents from Datchet and beyond, all under one roof. It’s important that we all work together so that we’re heading in the same direction towards the same goals, to protect our environment. So, where do we begin? This event isn’t intended to make you feel guilty about the planet’s current condition. It’s not to insist you must drasti-cally change your current way of life, but rather, it’s to en-courage subtle, manageable changes, so together we can improve our world’s sustainability. What do we mean by sustainability? The United Nations defines it as: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. So how do we do this? How do we help to avoid our legacy being detrimental to future generations? Wild About Datchet hosted its first-ever Environment Event at Churchmead School on 19 October 2023. About 90 people turned up to listen to speakers from the Royal Borough, Datchet Parish Council and Eco-Hub talking about what our councils are doing to protect our environment and what we can do, too. There were 20 stalls providing information about ways to get involved in local projects and selling eco-friendly products. The W.I. served refreshments and a group of Churchmead’s students sold cakes to raise funds for their Green Flag Award through the Eco School project. When we consider the bigger picture, it starts to appear overwhelming. There’s an average of 9000 aircraft flying across the world’s skies at any single moment; every mi-nute, of every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each plane is pumping out fossil fuel gases into Earth’s fragile high-altitude atmosphere, constantly. There are over 50,000 ships criss-crossing the oceans every minute, of every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, each burning fossil fuels and discharging operational waste into the oceans. You don’t think 50,000 ships sounds much? How about the 1 billion tons of sewage annually discharged into the oceans from them? There are currently over 1.4 billion cars on the roads around the world. To give you an idea of the scale of 1.4 billion, if you calculate this in seconds, it totals well over 44 years. And those are just three examples of how we’re polluting and damaging our world. There are plenty more; facto-ries, fires, wars, mining, manufacture and so on, where there’s lots more carbon being emitted into the atmos-phere. Then there are the trees we cut down, the animals or habitats we destroy, the food we waste, and the con-sumer goods we build, buy, break, then bin. The list goes on. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and wonder “where do we begin?”. So, here at Wild About Datchet, we think it’s time for a re-think, particularly because so many of us think we can’t make a difference to these big numbers. Wild About Datchet committee chairman, Allen Corcoran, opened the evening with the following words.

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35 We can all do a little bit, all the time and every day, which is exactly the way we have been destroying our planet up to now. Collectively, our past actions have contributed to getting us to where we are, so what if, collectively, we started to make changes? I personally know I could reduce my own consumption and alter some habits to reduce my carbon footprint. I suspect many of you are of a similar mind, but perhaps we’re not being influenced or encouraged enough to change. The changes we can make seem like a drop in the ocean. But what if we work together? Here’s my thinking… My own bad habits come from leaving myself on ‘autopilot’, that is, for example, using electricity because it’s there all the time and we don’t often think about where it comes from or what the cost to nature is to produce it. Things like leaving a light on, keeping electrical machines on standby, having water hotter than I need, heating rooms I don’t use. You get the picture. There are other things too, like using a plastic bag when I don’t need to, maybe letting food go to waste, hopping in the car when I could walk. I don’t really think I’m the only one who works on autopilot. I came across an old Greater London A-Z the other day so I thought, for people like me who run on autopilot — let’s say, one person, in one house, in one street — then what would the difference be if we all turned off our autopilot? So I counted how many streets there are in Greater London. There are over 66,000. Imagine what would happen if one person in one house in one street, in each one of those 66,000 streets, made a small change by turning off their autopilot. Then what if just one person in one house, in one street, in every village, every town, every city, every Borough, every county, every country, turned their autopilot off? What felt like a drop in the ocean starts to become a stream, to become a river, to become the ocean. So, by doing a little bit, all the time and every day, we can make a difference, if we do it together. What if my whole street joined me, and we did that across the village, and across the borough? We could start to make a massive difference. We won’t see it overnight, not tomor-row or even next week, but we will make a difference and probably one the next generation will notice. This event is to welcome you to a new way of thinking. We want to show you some fresh alternatives. We want to en-courage living in harmony with nature without destroying it. We want to help you find ways to live more sustainably. We need to put nature at the heart of every decision we make and encourage the people and organisations around us to do the same. We can all do a little bit, all the time, and every day. Let’s start here in our own beautiful village of Datchet. We can start by working alongside the Borough and Parish councils, and in coordination with the many inspirational ‘Wilds’ and Eco-groups. Together we’d like to show you how you can make a difference. On a very local level, a simple first step is to join the Wild About Datchet Facebook page where we can share infor-mation and relay messages, and where you can look for groups and projects to become involved with, whether a lit-ter-pick, bat survey, planting project, air and water quality studies, ways to make your own green spaces more eco-friendly, maybe start your own project, and so much more. To help this happen, Wild About Datchet is looking for new recruits to join us, to assist with coordinating projects, with research and surveys, promotion and administration, and we’re looking for one-off volunteers for single projects. If there is one thing I ask you to take away from this event, it’s to please turn off your autopilot, and remember the ef-fect we have on nature through everything we do. Please get involved, and help create rewarding change. PLEASE COMPLETE OUR SURVEY We’d like to find out which projects you think Wild About Datchet should pursue. You can click through to the survey on our website or use the following link. It only takes two minutes. https://forms.gle/p6YGNRR62eG9HMPR8 Thank you. More information: To find out more about Wild About Datchet, please join the Facebook group or visit the website: www.facebook.com/groups/WildAboutDatchet; www.wildaboutdatchet.com

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36 We have had a very busy and happy year so far at The Bridge with a great many people coming to enjoy our low cost refreshments and meet up with their friends. There is also lots of passing trade with tourists, cyclists and people in the area for work. We get many compliments for what we are achieving at The Bridge and visitors often say they wish they had a resource like this in their community. The Bridge does enhance the village in that it provides an open house meeting place on six days a week and, sometimes, it feels like an all day party! with the lovely ow of fellowship and chat among both customers and volunteers. One of the highlights of the year is our summer party for the volunteers. Back in August we had a terric evening with 45 people here enjoying drinks and food with lots of chat and laughter. It seems a high number but we need a lot of volunteers, some very regular and some occasional, in order to keep the coffee shop staffed six days a week. Fortunately, it was a ne evening and we were able to be in the garden. As well as the volunteers we had some trustees and clergy here which was really lovely. It was particularly good to be able to welcome and meet the new priest at St Augustines, Father Shyju. It continues to be a great blessing to have volunteers who are currently accommodated at The Manor Hotel. They are a huge help and always ready to assist us however they can. As the team is mostly retired ladies, some strong young men come in very useful for jobs such as carrying the supplies on the shopping trips to Bookers. It is very sad when they get moved on but, hopefully they have benetted from their time with us and they go with warm wishes from the volunteers who have enjoyed getting to know them and working with them. Of course, it is equally sad when we lose a much loved customer. Peter Ashford died this October and he is greatly missed coming into the coffee shop for his morning coffee. He was a very regular visitor at The Bridge and extremely popular with all the volunteers. It can be a challenge to staff the coffee shop six days a week even though we have a lot of volunteers because they all have busy lives, holidays, appointments and many commit-ments have to be tted in. If you would like to join our team of volunteers, either on a regular or occasional basis, please call in at The Bridge and leave your name and contact details. Alternatively, do send me an email expressing your interest. carolineatrosecottage@btinternet.com It is a great help to have the support of our Parish Council who take an interest and help us in various ways. Denny Loveridge is the councillor in charge of looking after The Bridge and he is doing a superb job. Our very ancient building throws up regular challenges so we are extremely grateful for the swift response we get when an issue arises. It seems to be well recognised that The Bridge provides a great service to the village as a place which can enrich the lives of all those who volunteer or visit. Please support The Bridge by coming as a customer or volunteering because, although we are not for prot, we need to generate sufcient income to cover all our costs

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37 The group is ecumenical with members from the different churches. We currently have members from St. Thomas’s Colnbrook, Datchet Baptist Church, St. Augustine’s and St. Mary’s. We currently have 7 members of our Bible study group. In April five of us went to Lee Abbey in Devon for a ‘Renew, Refresh, Resource’ weekend . Lee Abbey is a Christian Community situated right on the North Devon coast near Lynmouth. The week-end was very worthwhile with inspiring teaching and a fabulous location for walks. A visit there is highly recommended. Back in the summer we finished a study using ‘Reflections on the Psalms’ by C.S. Lewis. The book was a little unexpected in that each chapter included a lot of interesting reflections that are not necessarily related directly to the Psalms. C.S. Lewis’s thoughts led us into many worthwhile NUMBER 4 BIBLE STUDY CAROLINE COLE discussions and, I think, we have learned about the Bible in ways we did not expect! This course of study has high-lighted, for me, the importance of engaging in Bible study with other Christians as the Bible is an amazing collection of writings which cannot be grasped by just hearing the lesson read in church or even reading the Bible on one’s own. Our current topic is a study on the Book of Acts using ‘Acts for Everyone’ by Tom Wright. The meetings are led by Richard Knight and Caroline Cole. Reverend Canon Janet Binns and Reverend Samson Kuponiyi attend some meetings which is always a welcome bonus. We meet at 4 Leigh Park on alternate Wednesday evenings at 7.45pm. the evening involves Bible reading, discussion, prayer and Christian fellowship. Mix and Match, an ecumenical house-group started around forty years ago, recom-menced its’ meetings again during Lent of this year, and completed a study based on Jesus’ last prayers as he approached his trial and execution. We have now started on a study of ‘Acts’, a book written by Luke to tell the story of the early Christian Church as it grew and spread around the Mediterranean after the crucifix-ion and resurrection of Jesus two thousand years ago. Firstly the story of how the close followers of Jesus came to a sudden under-standing of the fact that Jesus had been given new life by God, and then the story of how the Apostle Paul was converted to Christianity and then went on to found new churches around the Roman Empire. Paul’s teaching has come down to us through a number of the letters he wrote to those churches which have been copied and handed down to us. Our study is one produced by Tom Wright, an Anglican Priest who was until recently the Bishop of Durham, and who is regarded as a leading theologian. We have now completed the first three studies, and are finding them stimulating as well as extremely challenging. The group now has nine members but we would be very happy to accept one or two more – from all of our local churches. Please contact either myself or Stella Ayiku if you would like further information. Robert Spicer. Mobile 0771 542 4740 MIX AND MATCH HOUSE GROU P ROBERT SPICER

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38 DECEMBER Saturday 2nd 12:00-3:00pm 4:00pm (TBC) St Nicholas Christmas Fair in St Mary’s Church DPC Christmas on The Green Sunday Advent 1 3rd 9:30am Sung Eucharist Wednesday 6th 11:00am Holy Communion Thursday 7th 7:30pm Churches Together in Datchet meeting in The Bridge Sunday Advent 2 10th 9:30am 6:30pm Sung eucharist Churches Together in Datchet Carol Service , in St Mary’s Tuesday 12th 10:00am 11:20am Churchmead School Christmas Services in St Mary’s Church Friday 15th 1:30pm Term ENDS at both St Mary’s Academy and Churchmead School Saturday 16th Times tbc Messy Christmas - crafts, fun and food for children of all ages in St Mary’s Church Community Centre Sunday Advent 3 17th 11:00am 5:00pm Lay Led Service Christingle Service Sunday Christmas Eve 24th 9:30am 4:00pm 11:30pm Sung Eucharist Crib Service and Nativity Midnight Mass Monday Christmas Day 25th 9:30am Sung Eucharist The Saviour is Born ! Thursday 28th 11:00am Eton House Service—TBC Sunday Christmas 1 New Year’s Eve 31st 11:00am Joint Sung Eucharist at St Thomas’ Colnbrook HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!! JANUARY Wednesday 3rd 11:00AM NO Holy Communion Term STARTS at Churchmead Thursday 4th Term STARTS at Datchet St Mary’s Academy Sunday Baptism of Christ 7th 9:30am Sung eucharist Sunday Epiphany 2 14th 9:30am Sung Eucharist Monday 15th 8:00pm St Mary’s PCC Meet in the Church Community Centre Sunday Epiphany 3 21st 11:00am Lay Led Service Thursday 25th 11:00am Eton House Service Sunday Presentation of Christ in the Temple 28th 9:30am 6:30pm Sung eucharist Choral Evensong with refreshments after

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39 FEBRUARY 2023 Thursday 1st 7:30pm Churches together in Datchet meet in The Bridge Sunday 2 Before Lent 4th 9:30am Sung Eucharist Wednesday 7th 11:00am Holy Communion Friday 9th Term ENDS at both Churchmead School and Datchet St Mary’s Primary Academy Sunday Next before Lent 11th 9:30am Sung Eucharist Wednesday Ash Wednesday 14th 7:30pm Ash Wednesday Holy Communion , joint service with St Thomas’ Colnbrook Sunday Lent 1 18th 11:00am Lay Led Service Monday 19th Term BEGINS at both Churchmead School and Datchet St Mary’s Primary academy Sunday Lent 2 25th 9:30am 6:30pm Sung Eucharist Choral Evensong Thursday 29th 11:00am Eton House Service Advanced dates for March 2023 Friday 1st 2pm (TBC) World Day of Prayer Sunday Lent 3 3rd 9:30am Sung Eucharist USEFUL CONTACT DETAILS Editor Sally-Anne Jarvis  0771 126 9545 Sa_j2@btinternet.com Advertising & Treasurer Justine Elmore  0771 034 7484 justineelmore@yahoo.co.uk Distribution Sally-Anne Jarvis  he Editor Sa_j2@btinternet.com please contact :Area Dean: Revd Canon Janet Binns  01753 681335  07917 565626revjanetbinns@gmail.com @ StMarysDatchetChurch Parish Administrator Wednesdays & Fridays Fiona Norton  0175 358 0467 office@stmarysdarchet.org.uk Churchwarden Elaine Eastham  0796 085 9697 ladypink_11@hotmail.com Churchwarden Sally-Anne Jarvis  0771 126 9545 Sa_j2@btinternet.com Treasurer Via Office  0175 358 0467 office@stmarysdatchet.org.uk Datchet Parish Council Clerk : all enquiries Sonia Masikito  0175 377 3499  clerk@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk

LINK Nov 2023

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