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Photos courtesy of M.R.& S-A Jarvis. Riverside : A Crampin

2 Well here we are again, back into lockdown. It feels so strange to be writing this again. Last year, when this all started there was such hope it would be over soon, but sadly these things continue to drag on. Lockdown 1 saw people get very creative, our was sold out as everyone began baking, people were busy clapping for the NHS and there was as sense of hold fast it’ll be done soon. We then have been through the gentle easing of summer, eat-out to help-out before diving back into Lockdown 2, Tier 4 for a couple of days before Lockdown 3. There’s no escaping the hardship we have endured, from those of us who have been shielding, those who have been bouncing in and out of school, from online learning to being in class and back again. Being unable to see anyone, to limited numbers and back again. It can feel like a whirlwind at times. But there has been one constant which has been with us through out, and I’m not talking about Joe Wicks’ morn-ing PE sessions. The constant with us has always been with us, even before COVID but has so often been overlooked, ignored and even abused to the point of no return. I am of course talking about nature. The natural world is something God given, in our evening prayer recently we read the beginning of the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis. In Genesis we read about how God created all things, I’m not sure I would take this quite literally however there is the charge made to Adam which always resonates with me. In chapter 1, verse 26 God gives us dominion over all of the wonders that He has created. Dominion, a funny word, to dominate can be heard as to control, to bend to one’s will as in to dominate. But to have dominion also means to govern, to look after, to be responsible for. We have a responsibility to care for nature and to look after that which God has made. We have the ability to damage and destroy but we also have the ability to build and bolster. One of the things I have been watching has been the birds at breakfast. Just outside the kitchen window I have set up a bird feeding station, there on the hang-ers are seed holders, as well as fat ball cages. In the morning as I enjoy my coee I watch as the blue tits, coal tits, great tits, sparrows, wood pigeons, black birds, dunnocks, robins, green parakeets, and many others come in dierent stages. There is an unspoken cooperation which exists between these birds. The smaller birds come and eat the seeds from the stand, but they are fussy so throw onto the ground those seeds they don’t want in order to reach those they do, the larger birds, who can’t land on the narrow ledge, come to the grass beneath the feeder and enjoy those seeds discarded by the smaller birds. The squirrels also join the feeding and enjoy the seeds on the ground. This to me is very much what it means to have dominion over the birds of the air, by providing the birds with food they are able to ourish, (all the fruits of the trees have already been consumed) the birds in their turn help each other and all can eat their ll. We have a duty, to help and protect nature, we have a God given charge to be good stewards of creation. We have never been called to destroy what God has made. Whilst watching I have been thinking on how we look after our planet. Are we treating it with the care that is needed? with the respect that it deserves? Are we going to leave the planet in a better state than we found it? There is an oft’ quoted phrase which is used when going out on hikes, or any other outdoor activity: ‘take only photographs, leave only footprints’. The meaning is simple, leave nature alone and don’t damage it. This sounds easy whilst being unable to go out into the proper outdoors but is far harder to do in practice. But this ethos should not only apply to our outdoor activities but all aspects of our lives. Is the food we buy harmfully produced? Flown halfway around the world? Is our energy supplier green or contributing to the greenhouse gas build-up? Are we driving when we could walk or cycle? There are many ways in which we can care for this planet, they range from the small shifts to major ones. We don’t have a backup planet or a plan B, this is the only planet we have. We must care for it. It has existed form billions of years old and has supported life for millions of years, yet we humans have in such a short time had such a profoundly detrimental impact. So as we begin to see the end of this pandemic, as we are allowed back out into the outdoors, lets not return to that path which has been so damaging, let us look for a greener, kinder path. A path which recognises that we are part of the planet and we are part of nature, not it’s destroyer.

3 DYNAMIC PRINTMEDIA ARE THE PRINTERS FOR THE LINK Welcome to 2021! Yes it is still a year to look forward to , despite the gloomy and frustrating start to the year. When we produced the March 2020 edition there was no indication we would become part of a global pandemic, plans and events were optimistic and we thought the virus would not be anything worse than perhaps, Swine ‘flu or similar, but certainly not horrendous enough to stop us in our tracks of daily living! Yet, a year on and as this edition of The LINK goes to press, we have received news of the Government’s Road Plan to helping us get back to ‘normal living’ , whatever that means for you. Hope is beginning to seep into the darker days and the death toll is dropping. 2021 is now showing signs of new life and resurrection — very appropriate for the Spring equinox and the run up to Easter. Both focus on renewal and rebirth, regeneration from old and creation of new: this year that is exactly what the world is doing, slowly recovering from the impact and effects of the pandemic, and daring to look to a new beginning , at least in some part. This is reflected here in Datchet too. But how has the past year impacted on us as individu-als, groups and community ? Are there signs of regeneration and new growth here? - Yes ! It may be slow, it may be hard to see sometimes, as we (especially those of us who have had to shield for almost the whole time) emerge from lockdown myopically blinking eyes like metaphorical moles coming up into the light again. There are clues to evidence regeneration, hope and positivity in the pages of this edition of The LINK. We have stories of ‘Life in Lockdown’ and how the person has benefited or found positives, read about the Parable of the Lost engagement Ring ( p 7), or how Trees have renewed a passion (p24/25). If you are a music lover—then read about how music has helped heal and uplift in ‘Why I miss singing Hymns’ (p12,13) Spring arriving is always uplifting with the birds nesting, and the sudden appearance of bud on trees and brave flowers like snowdrops and daffodils, bring radiance, energy and uplifting reminding of lighter days and warmer climes. There is always the beauty of nature to remind us of the potential for new growth after dark and baren winters, hope for the future that the cycle of life continues — Wild About Datchet helps us get connected on pages 10 & 11 The schools have had a lot to contend with in 2020 teaching, and new routines have developed in 2021 as children return to in class teaching. Read about how Eton End made understanding well-being fun and practical too on page 6. Datchet St Mary’s are looking for new governors - a rewarding role and a support for the school. For details see page 17 The Parish Council have been undertaking work despite the challenges and have some important information about the future of Datchet Library and how you can help - see pages 20 & 21 for more …. They are also asking for your help to complete an environmental survey - found on pages 26 & 27 . Datchet Neighbourhood Plan have been busy through the winter too, their update and report can be found p 8 /9 . There are interesting details about other things within the pages—The WI for instance, reveal the fascinating history of their existence as well as other fun information which will be added to in future editions as we welcome them to our regular contributors’ list. Their article can be found p 4 & 5 Berkshire Vision also introduce us to their services which can be found on p33. There is an absorbing piece about the history of the Datchet United Charities , by Janet Kennish which reveals the generosity of people in Datchet and how this is still serving our children in particular, albeit in ways beyond the original donors’ imagination ! Find our on pages 14-17 There are all the usuals like The Bridge (p 29) Thoughts from Fr Darcy, Thoughts & Prayers, Trading Standards, Matthew’s Object with Tales ( p 31) and much more . But we can’t forget that we are still dealing with being in lockdown and there are people working hard to help out — Datchet Corona Volunteers provide valuable support and advice— read their News on pages 22 /23. Fr Darcy also writes about Volunteers & working at the Vaccination Centre p 32 There are changes too within the LINK Team , sadly we are having to say farewell to Gary Higton who has been our distribution coordinator for over four years , he has done an amazing job and we are extremely grateful to him - even more so as he is not a resident of Datchet . We wish him success in his future adventures and ventures—Thank you Gary! Also, we must thank ALL the people who deliver the LINK as well as the advertisers, for whom this unique past year has been particularly hard, and the contributors—without whom there would be no LINK at all! So as we head into Easter, then June and beyond, hopefully meeting, holding events and more , cautious still but buoyed up by Hope. May the road rise to greet you and your path be easy . May we also continue to nurture the awakening new respect for Nature , the world and others…. CAN’T ATTEND FOR ANY REASON? IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US FOR SERVICES THEY ARE ON FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE AT 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday And 9 : 3 0 a m on Sundays (11am on 3rd Sunday of Month) https://www.facebook.com/DatchetStMarysChurch YouTube channel: St Marys Datchet and St Thomas Colnbrook https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOL0Nkc5vHN6OoXSRA_xUXw/featured?view_as=subscriber

4 Jerusalem ‘Jerusalem’ was composed by Hubert Parry in 1916 as an anthem ‘to brace the spirit of the nation’ in the depths of the First World War. When Millicent Fawcett who founded the Suffragettes heard it, she asked Parry if the women’s suffrage movement might use it. Parry agreed, and ‘Jerusalem’ was first sung by massed women at the Royal Albert Hall at a suffrage rally in 1918. Grace Hadow, one of the founders of the UK Women’s Institute; was also a suffragist and a keen musician. After holding a nationwide competition for a WI anthem in the early 1920s, she had the idea of transferring ‘Jerusalem’ from the suffrage movement to that other great women’s movement, the Women’s Institute. So from 1924, ‘Jerusalem’ and the WI have been inextricably linked. "When people think of the WI today they think of the war years, when the WI indeed was in pinnies making jam from dawn to dusk, but that image is completely out of date now. Since then the organisation's aims have broadened and the WI is now the largest voluntary women's organisation in the UK. Then, as now, it is non-party-political, non-religious and open to women of all ages. But the most notable part about being in the WI is the campaigns ones from history including the 1943 call for equal pay and the 1954 Keep Britain Tidy campaign, which targeted littering in the countryside and ultimately led to the 1958 Litter Act. Current campaigns include everything from reducing the amount of microplastic fibres entering our oceans, ending states that membership is only open to women. When This is the first article written on behalf of Datchet Women’s Institute, and we would like to thank the Editors of the Link for our invitation. Whilst our group is based in Datchet, our membership extends out to Slough, Langley, Colnbrook and Wraysbury. Datchet WI has been in existence since 1948, and in a future edition, we will share our history with you. We thought you might be interested to read how Women’s Institutes originated. Like many organisations, we came from across the ocean, in our case – from Canada. The first meeting is recorded as being in Ontario in 1897, when Adelaide Hoodless addressed a meeting of the wives of members of the Farmers Institutes. By 1905, there were 130 groups in Ontario. The first meeting of a Women's Institute in the United Kingdom took place in Anglesey in September 1915. There were two clear aims: to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. It did not immediately conquer the shires: indeed, one vicar operated a curfew forbidding female parishioners to go out after dark; another man thought that enlightening women was like attempting "to improve the condition of the beasts of the field": a woman taught her power might no longer be "so profuse of her treasures to a hapless infant". WI husbands called the institute "the curse of a married man's life" since a wife outside the home would not have supper ready on time. “Jam! and Jerusalem” That’s what many people would reply if asked which words the Women’s Institute first brought to mind, and there are good historical reasons for that. Jam During the First World War, jam-making was a serious business, as was the bottling and pickling of all sorts of Food shortages were a real danger, and the WI harnessed the skills their members in producing and preserving food.

5 we’re allowed to hold our monthly meet-ings, we do welcome men as visiting guests. As one of our members said recently "It's meeting people. We get very inter-esting talks. We go out when we think of somewhere nice to go. It's supposed to be educational, and it is, but it's about friendship and support as much as any-thing else." Despite lockdown, Datchet WI has come up to the challenge and we will share with you soon what we’ve been doing. If you’re interested in finding out more and getting involved with Datchet WI, you are welcome to contact us via the details shown below. Kate and Beverley Joint Presidents Datchet WI SOME CONTACTS IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED SUPPORT OR SOMEONE TO TALK TO: Datchet Corona Volunteers : 01753 905247 Samaritans :  116 123— free from any phone or 0330 094 5717 (local charges apply )  E-mail jo@samaritans.org SANEline,  leave a message on 07984 967 708 with 1st name and contact no. or  e-mail :- support@sane.org.uk DASH Charity:  01753 549865 open Mon -Wed 9:30- 2:30pm Thu– Fri 9:30- 4pm or 24 hr National Helpline 0808 2000247. CONTACT DETAILS  Email: datchetwi@berkshirewi.co.uk  Kate Rayner – 01753 543487  Beverley Edwards - 01753 711543

6 As I write this article, we are preparing once again to welcome the children back into school following Lockdown 3.0. I believe returning to school this time is going to be more emotionally challenging for children than the last return and, as a school, we are going to be ensuring staff and pupil wellbeing is at the forefront of our plans. This term, to coincide with National Children’s Mental Health Week, we held our own virtual Wellbeing Week through E ton E n d @ H o m e. Following the National theme of ‘Express Yourself’, the children participated in a wide variety of activities, including creating heathy food recipes, extra workouts from the Head of Sport and some mindful music sessions from the Head of Music. The week focused on Eton End’s Sunny Selves, with the activities designated for the children and, in some cases, the whole family could participate in. We celebrated two special days within the week. In the middle of the week, we participated in ‘Inside Out Day’, where we encouraged children and staff to wear an item of clothing inside out to highlight the difference between looking all right on the outside and feeling all right on the inside. We want the Eton End children to develop their emotio nal i ntelligenc e and understand when others may need their support. We also ‘Dressed to Express’, using colour to express our ideas, feelings and thoughts. Children were encouraged to explore the different creative ways in which they can share feelings, thoughts and ideas and the array of photos showing their creativity was delightful. You may already know that there are five areas you can focus on to improve your mental wellbeing. They are ‘connecting with others’, ‘staying active’, ‘learning new skills’, ‘giving to others’ and ‘being present in the moment’. As a school, we have based our Sunny Selves programme on these five steps. If you would like to find out more about how you can look after your own wellbeing please visit this NHS website https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/improve-mental-wellbeing/ How to start a conversation with a cat in six different countries :- 6. Psp psp psp (England) 5. Kiss kiss kiss (Finland) 4. Pish Pish Pish (Iran) 3. Minou minou minou ( France) 2. Ming ming ming ( Phillipines) 1 what’s new pussycat whoa oh whoa (Wales )

7 I’ve noticed in recent weeks that people are quite rightly getting frustrated with the seemingly never ending “Covid Rules” and are becoming increasingly disgruntled and dare I say it, more selfish and inconsiderate. Where has the “Dunkirk spirit” gone we all felt at the beginning of the first Lockdown, when everyone tried to do their bit to help, and there were so many stories of spontaneous acts of kindness and friendship towards even complete strangers, often the next door neighbour!! We’re all so focused on the instructions to “Stay at Home” and “Keep your distance” that we’ve forgotten how to reach out to other people. Well that’s what I was beginning to think until something happened to me a few weeks ago. I got a frantic text from my neighbour one Saturday morning :- Did we have a Metal Detector she could borrow? A quick mental check of the loft, garage, shed ,gloomy cubby hole under the stairs confirmed my suspicions that we didn’t have one. Mental note to self. “Put a Metal Detector on my next Christmas List”. You never know when you might need one. My neighbour’s sister had been gardening the previous day, and had just realised that she had dropped her engagement ring in the back garden. I went through my phone contacts and sent a message to everyone I knew who was in my “Useful person to contact in a crisis” category. You know who you are! I felt confident that one of them must have a Metal Detector. In desperation I almost phoned Eddie Grundy. (You have to be a fan of “The Archers” Radio programme to understand my panic-stricken logic there). Then an extraordinary thing happened. I was besieged by people phoning, emailing or texting with suggestions. Someone suggested phoning the local Hire Shop, another person emailed me the contact details for all the Metal Detector Groups in the area. It must have taken her ages to compile the list. I never even knew such groups existed. Yet another friend was busy routing all her teenage nephews out of bed to see if they or any of their sleeping mates had a metal detector. So now we know what teenagers get up to in their waking hours. A member of my choir texted to say that she was praying every hour for a happy resolution of the situation. So it went on. It was interesting to see how lateral thinking works when a group of people are presented with a problem. All afternoon, people kept contacting us for updates. It was very humbling to see how much people genuinely cared about the distress of a complete stranger, and wanted to help. In the late afternoon, the longed for phone call came. The engagement ring had been found. Her husband and 3 teenage sons had been on their hands and knees in the garden all afternoon searching for it. So all was well. The engagement ring has gone to the jewellers to be resized. That night there was a drop in the tempera-ture, and we all woke up to 3 inches of snow covering every surface. The moral is that ladies should either take off their jewellery when gardening or wear gloves. I have realised that people are still caring about others during this awful and ongoing Pandemic, and are willing to reach out to help complete strangers. I find that very comforting and reassuring in the scary and strange times that we are living in. I hope you do too.

8 Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the recent DNP survey, ‘What’s important to you?’. The questions were quite wide-ranging as the DNP team was looking to consolidate the evidence we have gathered to date. We asked you about Datchet’s most important green spaces, our most treasured buildings, what types of new play areas are needed, which grass verges need improving, and what down-sizers are looking for. Here’s a run-down of what you told us. Local Green Spaces With your help, we identified five key sites which, we believe, meet the criteria for designation as Local Green Spaces (LGS). If designated, they will have the same protection from development as the Green Belt. To meet the requirements of national planning policy, LGS must be demonstrably special to the community for their beauty, history, recreational value, tranquillity or wildlife. They must be local in character, reasonably close to the community they serve; and not an extensive tract of land. Respondents to the survey indicated overwhelming support for the proposed sites: 97% supported designation for the Recreation Ground; 95% the public riverside garden; 92% the Village Greens and The Cut; 84% Willowfields; and 80% the Sabatini Land between Horton Road and the Rec ditch. We also asked why these places were special to you and your feedback will be included in the supporting evidence. Local heritage assets We asked which local heritage assets you would like to preserve for future generations. Datchet has around 40 buildings and structures which are already Grade II Listed. These buildings are of national importance but a Neighbourhood Plan provides the opportunity to create a list of heritage assets of local importance. These are also known, in planning-speak, as Non-Designated Heritage Assets (NDHAs). Your survey responses didn’t disap-point; thank you. You gave us a list of some 40 buildings which you think are locally important. Now the hard work begins. Creating a Local List requires detailed evidence to demonstrate that these buildings and structures are of value to this and future generations because of their heritage significance. This might be for architectural, historic, archaeological, or artistic reasons, for their association with important people or past events, or because they contribute positively to the character and appearance of the area. This process will take several months so our intention, currently, is to cover some NDHAs in the Datchet Neighbourhood Plan and continue to add to a Local List with RBWM support. The List will then be assessed by an independent panel to ensure that the nominations meet the required criteria and that there has been conformity in the decision-making process. Once a Local List is adopted by RBWM, the value to the community of these heritage assets will be taken into account, helping to inform planning decisions in a way that conserves and enhances local character and identity. Designation does not change permitted development rights but it raises the profile of an asset to developers and councils when planning applications are submitted, particularly for demolition. The Local List will also be submitted to Berkshire Archaeology which manages the Historic Environment Register and keeps a record of important local buildings. Play areas Our survey asked whether Datchet needs more play areas and, if so, what sort. Your input is important because if the development of a new housing site AL39 (formerly

9 HA42, between London Road and the M4) is allowed to go ahead, there is a planning requirement to provide a public play area, and allotments on the Grade 1 agricultural land. Both this survey and last year’s Open Spaces survey highlight a demand for a separate play area for toddlers and very young children, to complement the provision at the Recreation Ground and to promote early-years development and learning. There was also support for a garden of some sort, such as a communi-ty garden or allotments for growing food, or a sensory/flower/wildlife garden with seating areas, as well as support for en-hancing and expanding leisure and exercise facilities both indoor and outdoor, for the health and wellbeing of all age groups, at the Recreation Ground or other suitable sites in the village. Verges Generous grass verges are a key characteristic of Datchet. A Neighbourhood Plan can request that new development includes roadside verges and that these are designed to discourage park-ing on them. From the DNP Character Assessment walks with residents and the recent survey, we have been able to identify several verges in need of improvements. Downsizing Our evidence-gathering highlighted a potential need for more downsizing properties. Datchet has a sizable proportion of single people and couples living in large family houses. Some would like to move somewhere smaller, or ‘downsize’, but struggle to find anywhere suitable. If such properties were available, it might free up family houses which are most in demand. Your feedback in the survey and contributions to an online focus group have helped the DNP team to understand more about the types of property which downsizers are looking for. If there is supporting evidence, the DNP can request the provision of housing suitable for downsizing in new, large-scale development in the village, such as at AL39. Datche t Desi gn Guide By the time you read this, the Datchet Design Guide should have gone before RBWM’s full council. We hope it will have been adopted. It was prepared by the DNP team working alongside a professional town planner and RBWM’s planning officers to help ensure that any new development in Datchet is visually attrac-tive and sympathetic to local character and history, and main-tains a strong sense of place. Feedback to last year’s consulta-tion was generally very positive and your comments helped to improve it further. Further information The results of this and other DNP surveys are published at There are also Character Assessments which cover the whole of Datchet. If you have anything to add to these assessments, please let us know:

10 Wild ABOUT DATCHET the evening after sunset. Their beady eyes mean they can see well in low light so they remain on guard for rivals in-vading their territory. Great tits - another loud call for a little bird. Although they have a range of different calls, their most distinctive is a clear repetitive 'tea-cher, tea-cher, tea-cher'. The best way to learn bird songs is to pick one or two to focus on when out and about and once you've learnt those, keep adding a new song to learn. There are many good websites to hear example audios including the Woodland Trust and RSPB. On the topic of birds, it was the Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of January and our fellow team member, Peter, shares his account with us here: First of all, Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had a lovely Christmas season and good start to 2021. We know 2020 has been a hard year for everyone, and that the start of 2021 didn't bring the happiest news, so we have put together our reflections from 2020 and thought about what we have to look forward to in 2021! We hope to lift your spirits with the wonders of wildlife you have to look forward to this year. You may think there is not much wildlife around during the winter months, but actually, this is the perfect time of year to start learning bird songs! Certain birds sing throughout win-ter, and become particularly clear at this time of year in order to maintain their territory ready for mating in the spring. Birds to listen out for: Robins - these mighty little birds are a classic winter sight in the garden and can often be heard early in the morning or in The Big Brish Garden Birdwatch, by Peter Firth It’s 9:00 on 31st January and I’ve just completed my Big Garden Birdwatch 2021. The RSPB has been organising this event for 42 years on the final weekend in January. They ask you to spend one hour any time during this period to note the birds that visit your garden. It is a vital opportunity to keep tabs on the population of British birds, identify-ing those in decline and those which are thriving. Nearly 9 million hours have been spent watching garden birds since the it began in 1979 with more than 137 million birds counted, helping provide the Charity with valuable insights into the health of our bird population. I had prepared the garden well with a well-stocked larder of treats on my feeding sta-tion. This included seeds, peanuts, black sunflower seeds, mealworms, fat balls and some scraps of meat on the ground to attract carrion birds. Over the months I’ve no-ticed different birds have particular favourites. Great tits love the black sunflower seeds which they break open for the fatty inside, coal tits like peanuts, starlings love mealworms and robins like seeds. I also scattered an array of titbits on the flowerbed as some birds, particularly blackbirds, like to forage on the ground. It was a frosty but sunny morning and I felt excited about what the next hour would unfold. I sat in the living room with a hot cup of tea, binoculars and camera at the ready, eagerly awaiting my first visitor. I didn’t have long to wait. On the ground underneath the feeding station, I spotted a female blackbird. I scanned the garden and soon spot-ted a male, so assumed they were a breeding pair. You can tell which is which because despite its name the female is brown and looks a bit like a large thrush whereas the male has that distinctive yellow beak and black plumage. It had been raining previously and the ground was wet so they spent their time flicking up dead leaves, searching for the tasty invertebrates that might be hiding under them. One of them even showed a passing interest in my part-completed pond, splashing briefly in the water! My next visitor was a coaltit which briefly perched on a tree, swooped down, pecked at the peanuts then

11 noticing them more because I've taken the time to do so. Our lives are often hectic, people rush from one place to another without looking for the little things. I think covid-restrictions have allowed many of our ways of life to slow down, letting us reflect on what is around us and notice the wildlife that is on our doorsteps. I hope this continues in 2021 as life slowly returns back to normal. Let's adopt the positives from 2020 and carry them forward. quickly flew back to the safety of the tree. Small birds mostly flit back and forth from the feeder to the safety of the trees where they can consume their goodies in peace, away from the more aggressive larger birds. Similarly, several great tits shot backwards and forwards onto the tray of sunflower seeds, cracking the shells and flying off with the tasty insides. After a short while I was delighted to see a pair of robins. They were definitely a breed-ing pair as there is no way in the world indi-vidual robins would share the same patch! They are very territorial and almost the only resident bird to sing outside the breeding season; they do this to mark their territory rather than attract mates. They hung around for a good three minutes with one sampling the seeds and fat balls whilst the other foraged on the ground. After a lull in proceedings a magpie appeared. It stayed on the lawn for a short while then made a beeline for the dish of raw meat. It picked a few pieces and flew off. I have to admit they aren’t my favourite bird because as they’ve be-come urbanised, they are known to raid the nests of smaller birds and feed on the eggs. Then came the starlings. Not enough for a mur-muration but there was at least half a dozen! Between them they hogged the feeders for a good seven minutes. It was hilarious watching them squawking at each other and fighting over the mealworms and seeds until they finally flew off. All in all, it was an enjoyable time spent observing the wildlife in my garden - an hour of tranquillity and peace away from any worries and anxiety. I would recommend taking part next year to anyone who wants to help with the preservation of our bird population, or if you just want a peaceful break from the troubles of the world. The Big Garden Bird Watch may be over for this year but there is still much more to look forward to in 2021. As the days get longer and the warmth of spring is on the horizon there is lots to be looking out for over the next few months. As the flowers start to bloom look out for daffodils, primroses and cowslips. Why not take a walk along the Thames and see if you can spot a heron, and if you're patient and quiet enough you may even see a kingfisher! It is truly a sign of spring when the migrating birds return. One of the first to arrive back in the UK are chiffchaffs - another good bird call to learn if you're just starting out. As their name suggests, they make a distinctive 'chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff'. As April approaches the house martins, cuckoos and swallows will start to return. See if you can notice their arrival as the months go passed. Lockdown has definitely made me spend more time in my garden and appreciate all the wildlife that visits. During my daily exercise I've noticed more birds chirping. Is this because they've ventured out more due to the quiet streets, or am I just As always, we love to hear what you've been up to and what's been visiting your garden through our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages (@wildaboutdatchet). Alternatively, feel free to email us at: wildaboutdatchet@gmail.com

12 left church that day. Then in Datchet we have our own special hymn-singing traditions. On Ascension Day, Andrew, our won-derful organist, always slows down the pace for the line “Now above the sky he’s King” in the hymn “Jesus Christ is risen today” (EH 110), so that we can really enjoy the soaring feeling of the Resurrection. Also when we sing “Guide me O thou great Redeemer” (EH 368) he allows us to take a bit of extra time on the penultimate “I will ever give to thee”, just to enjoy that fabulous Welsh harmony. We have a lot of fun in choir, some of it slightly on the delinquent side, including catching each other’s eyes over certain hymn lines. A particular soprano and I always exchange a wink or a glance over the line “My hope to follow duly” in the hymn “O Jesus I have promised” (EH 420). Childish I know, but honestly, we’ve been doing it for decades. (If you can’t figure out why that line is funny, it’s because it sounds a bit like ‘My hope to follow Julie’. I know, daft beyond words!). I remember catching a certain tenor’s eye when we came to the phrase “heavenly effluent” in a florid Victorian hymn (I can’t track this one down either), and us both having great trouble maintaining reverent singing mode. In the winter of 2019/20 I had to have both my hips replaced. I know that I have at least two hip-sisters in the congregation at church who have also had replacements because we have compared notes and supported each other. There might be some hip-brothers too but I haven’t met them yet! If you have your hip or hips replaced you have to learn to walk again. Your physio-therapist becomes your hero at this point, because they know how to help you get mobile. (I remember one physio saying to me “you will feel a bit like Bambi at first”. I felt more like Bambi after several double gins actually). And once you get going you have to walk, a lot, starting with tiny distances and gradually building up. I found that a good way of keeping myself going while I was laboriously doing circuits of Datchet was to sing hymns to myself. I even found that particular hymns were good for particular parts of the walk. When you need to get yourself warmed up and get your heart rate up at the start of the walk, you can pick something with a good brisk pace such as “He who would valiant be ‘gainst all disaster” (EH 372) or “Hills of the North, rejoice” (EH 7). Of course, I don’t know all the words of all the hymns, so there’s an awful lot of “something, something, something, la, la, la” going on in my mind. Interestingly, this demonstrates different levels of memory. I started singing hymns aged five at school where we learned the words off the blackboard and sang them off by heart, and I still 2020 brought us many challenges. One of them is not being allowed to sing in church anymore. It wasn’t till it stopped that I realised how very much I loved singing hymns together in church. Thank goodness, for people who want to sing, lots of ingenious people have created online choirs: – Gareth Malone’s Great British Home Chorus, the Rock Choir, the Self Isolation Choir, to mention but a few. Because of the time delay online you can’t actually sing together, but you can have the extraordinary experience of singing your choral line, to the accompaniment of a broadcast performance, knowing that thousands of other people are also singing the same piece in their own houses. Many online choirs also have an arrangement whereby you can record yourself singing your choral line and send it in, and they will create a wonderful virtual perfor-mance making a choral patchwork with the magic of technology. Non-choral people are sometimes amazed that we want to sit alone in our rooms singing to our iPads! But I promise you, it’s a very rewarding experience. An aside – the extraordinarily accomplished Self Isolation Choir is run by Mark Strachan, who is the husband of the cousin of our own Isabel Gill. It’s a small world. But an online choir, however lovely, is not the same as coming together to sing in real life. When I started to think about it, I realised that I love everything about singing hymns, from the sublime to the ridiculous. When I was in St Mary’s choir, I remember one wedding where the congregation had been preparing for the service in The Stag for an hour or two. They came in full of enthusiasm, and sang “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (English Hymnal number 264) exactly like a rugby song, complete with marvellous long swoops upwards to the word “all”. Very energising! At the other extreme I cannot remember feeling more peaceful than the many times we have finished choral Evensong with “The day thou gave gavest Lord has ended” (EH 252). Sometimes a hymn speaks directly to your current circumstances in a way that feels surprisingly specific. I remember at the end of one service singing a hymn that ends something like “you stay in heaven, I’ve got to go back to the plain”. (I can’t find it, in spite of leafing back-wards and forwards through the hymnal. You might know which one it is). I felt very tearful, because I felt exactly as if I had to go back onto the battle plain once I

13 know all the words of those ones. Hymns that I learned more recently and from the hymn book, have lots more gaps in them when I try to sing them while I’m out walking. I sing in my head by the way, I know we can’t sing out loud while we are out and about right now. Anyway, back to the walking, once you have got going you can ease down a bit. “The Lord’s my Shepherd” (EH 459) to the tune Crimond is a good one for the middle part of your walk when you are going at a comfortable steady pace, also “Immortal, invisible, God only wise” (EH 377) has a kind of broad, steady feel to it. Then there comes a moment when you realise you’ve walked a little bit too far, and it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to get yourself back home. Then it’s useful to pick a hymn that is very inspiring or very consoling like “Praise my Soul the King of Heaven” (EH 436) or, at this time of year, just about any carol will get you home, my favourite being “Three Kings from Persian lands afar” (that one isn’t in the English Hymnal, I remember learning it in my senior school choir and be-ing completely astonished at how the descant worked). So, if you have a hymn book at home, I really recommend you just pick it up and read it sometimes. The words of many hymns are inspiring, and, in these difficult times, grounding as well. You may even, like me doing my strength-building walks, find that you can use the words of hymns to get you through challenging stuff you have to do. I really can’t wait until we can sing hymns together again. Until we do, let me leave you with the deeply reassuring first and last verses of hymn 459, the Lord’s my Shepherd: .

14 But what is Datchet United Charities (or DUC), and where does their money come from? We don’t see collecting boxes as we do for most charities, so how could they afford to buy all these tablets for children who needed them during lock-down? We have to go back a long way, to the 1700s, when there was no NHS for the sick, or pensions for the elderly, or Child Benets to help parents raise their children There was a Parish Poor Rate, charged on the value of people’s houses, rather as all householders now have to pay the local rates. Before Datchet Parish Council was formed in 1894, the vicar and churchwardens of each Parish Church received the Poor Rate money and shared it out among poor and needy families. There was also a long tradition among the richest people to show their kindness, or charity, to the poor. When they were writing their wills, to say what their relatives and friends should be given, they often left bequests of money for the poor, to be distributed by the vicar and churchwardens. Usually, instead of giving people the actual money, the writer of the will said what the amount should be spent on, most often bread or coal. The poor were so extremely poor that they could not even afford to buy these things for themselves. Bread was the most essential food and without a coal re they could not keep warm or cook. All the people in this article were real and used to live in Datchet. Their wills are still kept safely in archives. Mrs Mary Arnold wrote her will in 1767, before dying in 1770. She and her husband Christopher were very wealthy indeed because he was a London goldsmith. Goldsmiths were involved in the very rst banks that existed, and Christopher Arnold was one of the original Lloyds B a n k e r s . H e and his wife had houses in London as well as living in Datchet. Their wills made many donations to schools, hospitals and other organisa-tions in London, but it was only Mary who gave £100 to the Poor of Datchet at Christmas, to be invested and the interest to be distributed yearly to poor Housekeepers of the Parish by the Vicar and Churchwardens. Francis and Rosamund Marshall Christopher and Mary Arnold had no surviving children, so their wills left wealth and property to nieces and nephews. These included Francis Marshall and his wife Rosamund who inherited the house in Datchet where they probably lived. Francis wrote his will in 1772, and Rosamund wrote hers in 1785. They both left the same amounts to the poor of Datchet as Mary Arnold had previously done: £100 to be invested and the prots to be distributed by the vicar and churchwardens. They set slightly dif-ferent conditions though, requiring that the money be distributed to such poor Housekeepers who do not receive Alms. (Alms was the money collected for the poor at church services.) This suggests that Francis and Rosamund Marshall wanted to help those who were trying to stand on their own feet instead of needing the ‘poor money’ to live on. Datchet’s vicar, Fr. Darcy Chesterfield-Terry, wrote in The Link recently:: Datchet United Charities, which exists to offer help to those who are in need within Datchet, was contacted regarding the needs of those local pupils who are having to work from home but don’t have access to proper computer equipment. Working with the head teachers of Datchet St Mary’s C of E Primary Academy, Nicola Green, and Churchmead C of E schools, Chris Tomes; 27 local families were identified, and the Charity sprang into action. The tablet computers have been delivered to both schools and will be soon sent out to the pupils. Chris Tomes, Headteacher of Churchmead School said: ‘I am delighted that Datchet United Charities have been able to offer their help to our local school com-munity. This will make a huge difference for students to access their lessons from home.’ datchethistory.org.uk datchetvillagesociety.org.uk Here is a detail from the agreement made in 1732, by which Christopher Arnold and the Hoare family became partners in setting up Hoare’s Bank. Samuel Pepys knew Christopher and Mary Arnold because he kept his money in Hoare and Arnold’s Bank. This photo is of their Datchet house now, but it has been almost completely rebuilt since the Arnolds’ time.

15 James Randall, a very unusual character, wrote his will in 1823. When the church was being rebuilt in about 1860, the vicar wanted to know more about Randall because there was a wall memorial to him. Since nobody knew anything about who he was, Rev J Thompson wrote to the previous vicar, Isaac Gosset, to ask what he might remember. This is what Isaac Gossett wrote in his reply to Rev Thompson in 1859: “James Randall was found abandoned as a baby and never knew who his parents were. The parish arranged for him to be fostered until he was about eleven or twelve years of age when he was taken into the service of Colonel Drew of Datchet. After the Colonel’s death he remained on with his widow and when she died he stayed in service with their daughter and never left her till he became unable from age and infirmity any longer to discharge the duties of a servant. When we first went to Datchet in 1814 he filled the situation of Footman to Mrs Drew, took care of a horse and open carriage and drove Miss Drew out nearly daily. He was a small, dark, shrunken-looking man, very peculiar, and was considered to be rich for a servant. His wages were low so he must have begun saving money when he first started to work. He died aged 72 in 1823 after an unusually long service with just one family. I hope his gifts to the Parish will be contained in the New Church, as certainly it owes him much, and it was such a source of happiness and pride to the old man that his name would live for ever in Datchet.” The rst of James Randall’s gifts to the church was the building of a vestry at his own expense in 1818. It was a small room, with replace and chimney, added on to the western end of the old church, but demolished when the church was rebuilt. Then in 1822 he loaned £200 of his own money for the parish church to buy a clock for the church tower. This gift wasn’t a clock face, but the essential clockwork mechanism by which the clock worked. The photo shows it still working in the new tower since being trans-ferred from the old one, alt-hough the present four clock faces date from the 1960s. The wall memorial to James Randall, originally placed in the old church, was tted onto the vestry wall in the new building, though it cannot usually be seen. The stone said: James Randall’s will was as unusual as his whole life had been. He was not a rich person leaving money for the poor; he was a poorly-paid servant who saved up all his earnings, and his friends must have been many of the other servants working in the village. By his will he left numerous small amounts, of shillings or pennies, to a long list of named To contact Janet :-  janetkennish123@gmail.com  07778 455706 people rather than just ‘to the poor’ as in most wills made by the rich. It must have given him so much satisfaction to be able to help people that he knew, and to whom these tiny sums of money would make a real difference. But unfortunately this did not happen. All wills have to say who will be the ‘executor’ after the person has died; that is someone who will make sure that what was written in the will is properly carried out during the next few weeks or months. Rather unfortu-nately, James chose John Goodwin as his executor, and also one of the churchwardens. Goodwin was so used to managing money left to the poor by rich people, together with the vicar and the other churchwarden, that he did something actually illegal. He seems to have ignored the Randall will and placed the total of all those little personal donations into a sum to be distributed among the poor as usual. This became the Randall Charity and was treated just like all the others. (The original will has been kept in the National Archives where it can still be read by researchers.) It has to be hoped that James didn’t tell all those friends that they could expect a gift when he died, but he doesn’t sound like the sort of person to do that. Revd Isaac Gossett Isaac Gosset, vicar of Datchet from 1814 and founder of the village school, continued the charitable tradition by his will in 1847. His bequest was of £100, to be invested as usual, but he directed that the income should be added to the Coal Club Fund of the parish. More specifically should go to those on the ‘Vicar’s Coal List’, which unfortunately has not survived. This suggests that during the time he was responsible there was never enough money to supply the need of all families on his list. Bread was probably easier or cheaper to obtain and distribute than coal was at the time. Thomas Hancock This donor, who gave £50 to be invested in 1853, is the only one of all these charitable benefactors about whom nothing further is known. There was an extended Hancock family in Datchet at this time but they were quite poor labourers, this Thomas has not currently been identied. The fact that he gave £50 rather than £100 suggests that he was not in the top range of wealthy inhabitants in Datchet. THIS STONE IS ERECTED GRATEFULLY TO RECORD TWO OF THE BENEFACTIONS OF JAMES RANDALL, WHO IN 1818 BUILT THE VESTRY, AND IN 1822 ENABLED THE PARISH TO PURCHASE THE CHURCH CLOCK BY LENDING THEM £200, RESERVING TO HIMSELF ONLY A SMALL PENSION FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, AS HE WAS THEN MORE THAN 70 YEARS OF AGE AND CONTINUING STILL IN SERVICE.

16 Edward Mason In 1863 when Edward Mason made his will he was living at Riverside House on the corner of Queens Road. He lived with his two unmarried sisters, but they were not resident in Datchet for more than a few years. Mason, who was a retired coal and corn merchant, left £150 with instructions to: Purchase good household bread to distribute among such poor and deserving inhabitants as the Vicar and Churchwardens shall think expedient. This is an example of the distinction between deserving and undeserving poor which was frequently made in the Victorian period. Daniel Marsh and John Fleetwood Marsh Daniel Marsh’s will in 1786 set up a charity in a different way from those discussed so far. His executors were to set aside a sum of £2 each year from the rent prots of his land to provide bread on the rst Sunday in January. Bread was com-monly ‘doled out’ on certain Sundays in parish churches, which is why we still speak of unemploy-ment support as ‘being on the dole’. In St Mary’s Church at Langley the bread-shelf still exists, quite high on the wall just inside the entrance to the church. The Marsh family had long been powerful yeomen farmers, owning several houses and farmsteads with a great deal of land, as well as tenant-farming several major estates owned by absentee landlords, but by the 1780s they were divided by religion. Daniel’s son, John Fleetwood Marsh, inher-ited his father’s property but emigrated to America in 1792. He went in search of tolerance for his extreme Protestant beliefs while his father was rmly in favour of the Church of England. Before he left for America, John Fleetwood Marsh sold the family estates which he inherited from his father. By his own will written in 1828, he gave an enormous endowment of £1000 to the support of the minister of Datchet’s Baptist community. He also left the American Bible Society a legacy of $10,000, equivalent to one third of his personal wealth and property. This will was apparently torn up by one of his family here, and a long trans- atlantic legal wrangle followed as his relations here tried to establish their own claims. Datchet’s Baptists still benet from their share of the Marsh wealth, as the rest of the village does from all the other benefactors. Above :First Baptist Chapel in the High Street, with tall church - style windows. In the 1950s the Baptists were able to build their new London Road chapel. Below: The old building is still there. Its tall windows were removed and an upper oor was inserted, , creating shops below and ats above. The Poor’s Land From medieval times, there was one other main source of support for the poor: the original Datchet Common, where they had the right to graze animals, take rewood or turf and any other materials to help their subsistence. But in 1810, under Datchet’s Enclosure Act, harsh decisions were made that affected the poor. The whole common was divided up into small plots and distributed permanently among other landowners who were not poor. To help compensate for the loss of the common, two plots of land elsewhere in Datchet were designated as Poor’s Land, in Slough Road and Southlea Road. There were no more practical ‘rights of com-mon’ for poor people, as these two plots were to be rented out as grazing. That rental prot was used to distribute among the needy families, although there was still resentment about the loss of their ancient rights. When civil parish councils were created in 1894 they took over many of the func-tions previously managed by parish church councils, including support of the poor. From then each of the charities had their own appointed trustees, with the vicar heading them all, and each made donations to the poor as far as possible following the original donor’s wishes. The list of charities was by then: Mary Arnold’s, Francis & Rosamund Marshall’s, James Randall’s, Isaac Gosset’s, Hancock’s, Mason’s and Daniel Marsh’s. It was the Poor’s Land which proved most signicant for the future. From 1898 the charities’ trustees were looking for ways to increase their funds and began to consider selling land for build-ing development as it was so much in demand. The Charity Commissioners

17 gave permission to sell the Poor’s Land in Slough Road, and an agreement for the lease of building land was accepted, to build this terrace of four houses by 1903, the Swallow-eld houses in Slough Road. Much later, the land at Southlea Road was sold when building land was in great demand and selling at a high price. Careful manage-ment by the Trustees and Parish Councillors has ensured that the two plots of Poors’ Land increased in value, as did the original amounts of money from wills of the rich that were wisely invested for so many years. Later Histories of the Charities and the DUC Also from 1894, the various separate charities were registered with the Charity Commission, and in 1939 a new Scheme brought them all under the name of Datchet United Charities (or DUC). Then in 1964 all the resources were pooled together and administered by one body of Trustees, as they still are, under the guid-ance of the present Vicar of Datchet. It seems amazing that the funds donated by individuals from so long ago, mainly to provide simple bread and coal for poor families, can now support people who need help with paying bills, supplying essential household items and responding to requests for help. As DUC has just done by providing computer tablets to school children. What would all those donors from the past 200 years think about their charitable gifts being used to buy such very peculiar modern items? To contact Janet :-  janetkennish123@gmail.com  07778 455706

18 Have you got your census letter? The census is coming, and it’s about you. Without the information you share, it’d be more difficult to understand your community’s needs and to plan and fund public services. By taking part you will help inform decisions about the services you and your community need, like doctors’ surgeries and new schools. Census day is on March 21, but households will now be receiving letters with online codes explaining how they can complete their forms. If you don’t get one in the next couple of weeks, please get in touch with the census contact centre. You can also request a paper questionnaire if you’d prefer to complete your census that way. There is lots of support available such as a help area on the census website and a contact centre that can give you help over the phone and guidance in a range of languages and accessible formats, including paper questionnaires and large print. You can also use your postcode to find local census support centres on the census website. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) runs the census in England and Wales and is independent from the government. All information is held secure-ly for 100 years. Statistics are only compiled based on anonymised data and personal information is not shared with any organisation and is never sold. For more information, and to find out how to get help, visit census.gov.uk or call the contact centre on 0800 141 2021. The Easter 2021 holiday dates and bank holidays are as follows: March 26th Term ENDS Eton End April 1 Term ENDS DSM & Churchmead April 2 Good Friday (Bank Holiday) April 3 Holy Saturday April 4 Easter Sunday April 5 Easter Monday (Bank Holiday) April 19th Term STARTS DSM & Churchmead April 20th Term starts Eton End May 3rd (Bank Holiday) May 28th Monday 7th June - Half Term DSM and Churchmead

19 Easter Garden The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus came to pray before he was betrayed with a kiss. At Datchet St. Mary’s we have always had the children make an Easter Garden at the back of the church which reminds us all of Jesus’s crucifixion and his rising to be with God in Heaven. This year it is all different – but hey why don’t you make your own Easter Garden - draw or paint a picture, use recyclable materials – egg boxes, paper, food cartons, plasticine, playdoh, Lego bricks or a patch in your garden if you have one, and send a picture of it to Father Darcy who would love to see what you have done and may display it in the church. vicar@colnbrookanddatchet.co.uk Let’s celebrate this Easter Jesus’s life and his dying on the cross to save us from sin. His message to all of us is to love one another. Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fails. Love is eternal (1 Corinthians v. 13). With Jesus in our lives we have faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love. What more could we want?

20 For those who are not able, for whatever reason, to deal with online forms, hard copies are avail-able at the Parish Office on the days when it is open. So .we ask that you Please make sure that you reply to the consultation by 30th April! Break in at Parish Yard - Towards the end of February there was a break in at the Parish Yard and the four-wheel power mower trailer including protection boards and vehicle loading ramps was stolen. Some smaller items such as brooms were taken as well. Fortunately a couple of local residents managed to get some video footage which we hope will help to find who was responsible for this. The Police are now involved and our Clerk has made contact with our insurance company to start making a claim. This theft was obviously well planned in advance – two sections of steel fencing were cut through and removed so that the trailer, which is quite bulky, could be removed into another vehicle and taken away. As soon as the theft was noticed Cllr Denny Loveridge came and fixed the damaged fences temporarily to keep things more secure until a permanent repair can be done. Obviously while carrying out repairs we will take the opportunity to review security of the Yard as a whole, including the addition of further CCTV cover for that area next to the surgery. We have started to review how all of our grounds are managed. Although this sounds fairly straightforward there are many aspects involved that are not really noticed until they are not done. As well as cutting the grass, this includes flowers in the village centre and other places further out, maintenance and cleaning of In these strange times, it seems that the only consistent factor in our lives is rapid and unexpected change which may not always be welcome, such as this one below . . . . I’m sure that some of you will have heard of the plan by the Royal Borough (RBWM) to close our Library. This has arisen because our Borough has built up a significant overspend which must be cleared before the end of this financial year. One of the many cuts they are making is to reduce the Library service across the Borough, which involved completely closing four of the local libraries, one of which is Datchet. Obviously, we then contacted the head of Library Services and a short meeting was arranged with them to see what could be changed. For now, what is needed is for as many people as possible to respond to the consultation on the Borough website to say that we do not want to lose our Library altogether. Link for the consultation is :- Library consultations | Royal Borough of Windsor and Maid-enhead (rbwm.gov.uk) All of our Ward councillors, Cllrs David Cannon and Gary Muir and Cllr Larcombe, are supporting us in this to find a solution whereby the Library remains, even with a bit less space than at present. A borough-wide consultation has been set up, a meeting has taken place with the head of the Library service and we are working to save at least some Library service for our village.  Datchet Parish Office 1 Allen Way Datchet, Berkshire SL3 9HR  Tel. 01753 773499  www.datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk CLERK TO THE COUNCIL: Katy Jones  Tel: 01753 773499 Mob. 07819 750924 e-mail: clerk@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Datchet Library A need for Action ! Datchet Parish Council web-site address:  www.datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Grounds Management of Grounds

21 Post Office update: The outreach Post Office service for the village had to close due to the lockdown, but since the government has now published the proposed ‘Route out of lockdown’ we have a tentative date to reopen this for Tuesday 13th April 2021. However, I think we should be aware that this could change at very short notice if the numbers change. As with the Post Office, we are hoping that other events can now be considered, that plans can be made to make them happen and to find out which extra precautions are needed to be taken to keep everyone safe. Provisional plans are already being discussed. Be assured that when this happens we will let everyone know! For Datchet and our neighbours in nearby villages, we will always need to be aware of the risks associated with flooding and drainage. At this time of the year, when the ground is likely to be very wet, it will not take much rain to cause problems. Over several years a scheme has been developed to protect all settlements from Datchet downstream to Teddington against further risk of flooding from the Thames. The River Thames Scheme (RTS) has been divided into three separate channels and is obviously going to cost a vast amount of cash. And that is where problems start to arise! Central government are not able to pay for all of this and stated that relevant local authorities should contribute to some of this cost. Several years ago our borough pledged to give £54m for the scheme, but it was not until 2019 that they finally disclosed that no money was available for this. However, central government has recently said that money was going to be released for flood risk protection in England and Wales. So we wait and see how much can come our way! Looking forward, for those who are not quite sure where and with whom we are allowed to go in the ‘roadmap’, you will find details taken from Gov.uk about this which have been put on our parish website for all to see. And now all that remains to be said is – enjoy the coming Spring weather, keep washing your hands and keep well. Linda O’Flynn Chairman of Datchet Parish Council posts by the greens, care of the cemetery – keeping paths clear so that people can easily get to the graves they wish to visit. etc, etc, etc. I’m certain that I have not included everything! This is a good opportunity to look at all the Grounds’ activities needed to keep our village a pleasant place to live. The arrangements with our present contractors will continue for the next six months, so that permanent contracts can be arranged. Cemetery Lodge Work to the windows still cannot begin here as the tenants, understandably, are not happy to have anyone in the house because of Covid risks. Negotiations are in progress with the tenants to find a way to get this job done while keeping everyone safe from infection. Routine annual services to gas boilers in the Village Hall and the Library building have been successfully carried out and new heaters fitted in the Library building. 8 Horton Road (Library building) There have been a few issues with roofs of some of our older buildings and the Library is one of these. Following recent stormy weather a small number of loose tiles have been secured to prevent this from happening again. This is only a temporary measure, and so Cllr Davies, our Lead for Properties, has started to gather estimates and quotations for a more secure and long term solution that should last for many years. This will be very expensive to pay for now, but will protect the building for future years and will be cost effective in the long run. Traffic in the Village The amount of traffic in the village is increasing now, and when all the children are back at school and more people are going back at work our village will be very busy again, especially during rush hours. This is made worse by the extra delays resulting from the longer trains which prevent the gates from opening more quickly with every London bound train. Although the extra time involved is only a few minutes, the build up of traffic can occur in no time at all. Discussions are still in progress with Network Rail to try and solve this problem. However, other things have become more urgent right now, so please don’t expect a rapid result on this! While still on the subject of railways and road traffic, I would like to remind all drivers of motorised vehicles to switch off their engines whilst waiting for the gates to open. If everyone does this the quality of air will be much improved. Some months ago a few council members and others monitored the amount of harmful substances in the air next to the railway gates and also by the pedestrian crossing outside The Bridge. The results were far higher than acceptable – especially when there are pedestrians, possibly with small children, waiting at the bus stop next to The Bridge or even just for the gates to open. Events Other Matters Flooding & Drainage issues Linda O’Flynn Chairman, Datchet Parish Council e-mail: linda.oflynn@btinternet.com or chairman@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Properties Highways & General Purposes

22 Can you believe this, we are 12 months into this pandemic? Many of us have experienced totally new emotions during this past year and continue to have some level of stress or needing support during this next phase. We want to reassure our community that there is support for you, through the volunteer group. Just call our support telephone number on 01753 905247 should you need non-medical, urgent supplies, shopping, postal services or just a chat (Please remember this is NOT a medical support facility and any medical ques-tions or concerns should be directed through the NHS) while you are self-isolating or shielding. We have recently seen the Government extend the shielding lists and should you find yourself affected by this change please take care and follow the advice. We would like to let you know DCV’s are here to keep you safe and support you until we get back to normal life, so please just give us a call if you need any of the services we offer. During the past 12 months we have received donations and grants from various community charities and in particular a few local residents who have gone out of their way to raise funds to support the services that the volunteers supply. This is humbling that so many of our neighbours have all pulled together to support one another. I know the local donators would prefer not to be named but I would like to say a personal thank you to one and all. VACCINE PROGRAMME: Recently we were asked to support the vaccine programme within the Borough and as always, the community of Datchet stepped up to the plate. Some of our volunteers supported the vaccine program that has been so successful throughout the country. We contin-ue to use our network to offer support to all the agencies involved in protecting and supporting us as we look forward to the relaxing of the restrictions through 2021. WELL DONE EVERYONE. MEALS ON WHEELS AND BEFRIENDING SERVICE: - AGE CONCERN: Recently there have been some new services being launched in Datchet in 2021 through Age Concern. The volunteer network will support these services and for people looking for Befriending or Meals on Wheels, they can either E-mail info@ageconcernwindsor.org.uk or ring 01754 680685 Tuesday to Friday 9:00-15:30 to get access to these services 2021: As we change our behaviour to live with the pandemic our resident’s needs change. We continue to offer support to those who need it. We would ask residents to use the volunteers to carry out essential services as this will limit the number of

23 Contact details for Datchet Corona Volunteers: Support line: 01753 905247 Email: datchetcoronavolunteers@gmail.com Windsor Foodshare drop off points can be found around the village but here is a link to https://www.windsorfoodshare.org.uk/food-donations/ where you can get a map to show where to make your donations. exposures and help reduce the spread in the community. We only supply a non-contact service, so it goes a long way to stop the virus, so please use the volunteers who are your neighbours and friends too. With so much division nowadays during these testing times it is lovely to see our community pull together to offer support to one another, so please let’s all continue to work together to reduce the spread of the virus. Remember we continue to have committed volunteers who maintain the support line. If you need any support, non-medical, urgent shopping, postal services or just a chat, give us a call, we are here to support you. Call the Support line: 01753 905247. Physiotherapy Jon Cooke MCSP SRP AACPChartered & State Registered PhysiotherapistHealth Professions Council registeredQualified AcupuncturistAppointments available locally within: Thames Valley Athletics Centre Pococks LaneEton Recognised by most major healthcare insurers077 3333 57046 yrs+ experience in Elite Sports Injury Treatment and RehabilitationAll Conditions Treated Evening and weekend appointments available. Please call:

24 I find that trees have become increasingly significant and important for me through lockdown. I have always loved and appreciated trees but since our lives have become transformed by Covid 19 restrictions and I have moved to a house with a bigger garden their place has shifted. Looking at art and colours in life are things I have always taken for granted. Activities such as going to The Tate Galleries and The Royal Academy, the theatre, concerts, Windsor Festival events and having a busy social life, have all disappeared. I also miss seeing the colours of others; watching dramas such as ‘Bridgerton’ is fun but nothing compares to meeting up with friends. Volunteering at The Bridge has many advantages but, recently, bumping into a colleague from there on one of my village promenades and seeing her looking so brightly and tastefully turned out made me remember how nice it was to see people for both their inner qualities and their external colours. The only social life we have had for months is a walk with a friend, for which I am extremely thankful, but there is no choosing what to wear and the lipsticks and perfume bottles gather dust. Of course these things have very, very little importance especially when I think of all the dreadful suf-fering that has been present for so many people since March 2020. However, at the same time as feeling the bigger issues with all their anxiety and pain a loss is a loss however great, small or trivial and as each of us spend time reflecting on where we are it is helpful to acknowledge it. Perhaps partly because life has slowed down for me there is more time to stop, think, look and reflect. I have frequently found myself looking to the trees and enjoy-ing them more than ever before. Walking in Windsor Great Park is a joy that has not been taken from us and the beauty of the trees there provide enough living art to endlessly inspire and thrill. Living in a country which has seasons has never before been so significant for me. The trees in Winter have their own beauty and the constant changes with weather and the gradually evolving season moving from Winter to signs of Spring are uplifting. They also carry a message of hope as, with the advent of Spring, perhaps the daily reports of illness and death will change and life can begin to be restored. Children and young people can resume their education, businesses can come to life again, we can see our families and friends, plans can once again unfold for all of us. To quote Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘Nothing is so beautiful as Spring’. – Trees, one hopes, will always be there for us to appre-ciate and care for. Our wonderful oak tree on The Green is a splendid symbol of life and the passing of time through history and into the future. How blessed we are in Datchet to be surrounded by so many riches in the form of trees and safe places to walk. I went to the school opposite Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, just about the most amazing environment of trees one can imagine! The school grounds were very richly endowed with trees, including many amazing specimens such as the Giant Redwood, but the only time I went to the famous arboretum was when it poured with rain. I was in the lacrosse team and we were out practising every afternoon in almost all weather but real, lashing rain or heavy snow did result in a notice being given out saying ‘wet games’. In that event we donned wellington boots and raincoats and walked over to the Arbore-tum. Even in the rain the trees did not fail to impress me, I had never seen an Acer and the glorious colours and pretty foliage were what I always enjoyed most when we walked there. When I visited the Arboretum after leaving school, on a beautiful, sunny Autumn day it was a revelation! The fabulous Acers were even more spectacular in the Autumn sun. When we moved to our new house in August 2020 the garden was very overgrown and rather a wilderness but there were lots of treasures to be found. I couldn’t believe it when I realised there was an Acer, a very weedy, sickly one, right in the corner of the garden but unmistakably the tree I had loved so much as a child. Needless to say, I am nurturing it and hoping it will flourish as Spring and Summer come and new growth appears. Two more trees I particularly desired were a Damson tree and a Laburnham; those two are Acer in back garden of new house

25 planted and we will soon be planting a Gleditsia Triacanthos Sunburst. When my husband and I went to the nursery to select it we had a fascinating visit; walking among seventeen acres of trees and shrubs and hearing about how trees communicate through fungi; yes trees really do talk to each other! Tending the trees and the other plants in the garden is a wonderful escape from Covid news and incapsu-lates the hope of change and new growth we long for. I already love my trees but I must confess my top tree is still the Handkerchief tree in Valley Gardens, Windsor Great Park. It is situated beside the coffee van and really is the most awe inspiring specimen. I long to see it this May and am hoping it will be heralding happier times for all as it stands flowering in all its beauty. I think my walk there in May 2021 will be different to other years, perhaps more of a pilgrimage as it will feel more important than ever before whatever the season brings. Just as I was finishing this article Father Darcy put the Ash Wednesday and Lent materials through the letter-box. How wonderful to find the theme of an activity was ‘Finding God In Nature’ and week one was focussed on trees. The leaflet commences with a perfect quotation from Isaiah chapter 55:12 ‘You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!’. Handkerchief Tree in Valley Gardens - Inset—close up of bloom showing draping of ‘handkerchief’

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28                                                                                                                           We Cannot fall beneath the arms of God However low we fall They are always beneath us William Penn (1644-1718) right now. – We don’t have to wait until we feel good or spiritual enough to pray, but meet God as a friend to share our life the way it is, not using fancy words or “correct” phrases………… Just as I am…. without one plea Prayer has been referred to as “the breath of the soul” In breathing we perform a life- giving function to the body. In praying we perform a life –giving function to the Soul. We make ourselves available to God when we give our time in prayer – however brief. It enables us to give, and receive, to and from Him. The “me –as –I –am” ,

29 Our treasurer is currently preparing for The Bridge AGM which will probably have to be a Zoom meeting. We recently had a Zoom tea party for our volunteers; it was lovely to connect with people and catch up with a bit of news but we are all longing for real company and lots of chats with our friends. Our cleaner is leaving due to being appointed as a social media host, which is a shame for us as she did an excellent job. However, it is good for her and she goes with very best wishes and thanks from the Management Group. It leaves a vacancy, the only paid job at The Bridge. All the other workers at The Bridge are volun-teers; we run the coffee shop and provide a village help point. Cleaner Required: (paid) It involves :- cleaning for half and hour before The Bridge opens up at : 9.00am on Monday to Saturday. If you would like to join our brilliant team please get in touch. Either for this position or as a volunteer , please get in touch Contact: Carolineatrosecottage@btinternet.com 07957188401 The Bridge has been closed since the 18th December. At the time of writing this report we have no idea when our village hub and coffee shop will be able to reopen. During the period of closure the office shelves and display unit for the coffee shop have been installed and are currently being painted. It is thanks to The Barker Bridge Trust that we have been able to do this work; the Management Group is very grateful for such generous support. There is so much we are missing through the weeks of lockdown; things one took for granted now seem enormously special and privileged. Just to be able to walk into The Bridge for some good company and refreshments will be such a great blessing when that time comes. Along with many other businesses we have had months of no income and will need all our loyal customers and more to help us thrive again. Fortunately The Bridge has received a Covid grant and we also have strong support from the Parish Council and RBWM. The value of The Bridge is well recognised and it will be particularly important as a community resource when people can come out and begin to bounce back after so much isolation.

30 Evidence has been found that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers. Unfortunately, all the Swiss league records were destroyed in a fire , ...and so we'll never know for whom the Tells bowled.

31 that scientists found. Gyroscopes based on other operating principles also exist, such as the microchip packaged MEMS gyroscope (now in most tablets, mobile phones, digital/tness watches and virtual reality headsets). Gyroscopes are used within inertial navigation systems that you would nd within the Hubble telescope, ballistic missiles or submarines. In space gyroscopes are used in different devices to provide stabilization or a reference direction, and to measure angular velocity and acceleration. An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses a com-puter, motion sensors (accelerometers) and rotation sensors (gyroscopes) to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (direction and speed of movement) of a moving object without the need for external references. Gyro-scopes can be used to construct gyro-compasses, which compliment or replace magnetic compasses (in ships, aircraft, spacecraft, etc.) They are also used to accurately maintain tunnel direction whilst mining using gyro theodolites. Finally, a bit of fun…do you want your children to learn how to ride a bike without extra stabilizer wheels? Then look here at a gyrobike: https://www.popsci.com/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-09/video-future-training-wheels/ (Though perhaps you already have a self-balancing (gyro) electric unicycle - see below!) A gimbal is a contrivance (usually of rings and pivots) for keeping instruments such as a compass and chronometer horizontal at sea, in the air, etc. Here is an illustration of a gimballed light tting for a yacht. It is worth pointing out that most boats in our digital age would use a GPS navigation method, reference to an old-fashioned binnacle would be a last resort. Stabilisation within more expensive cameras e.g. DSLRs, increase the ability of photographers to take steady shots at slower speeds, without having to worry as much about the camera holder’s vibra-tions or having to depend on using a tripod, but its stabilisation has limits. There is even a mechanical tripod ‘gimbal head’ which can help to smooth movement a bit. However, isolating a camera from movement whilst taking a movie needs a Video Gimbal. After development for commercial lming or live reportage, today a Gimbal can be bought for about £100+ for vloggers taking movies / transmit-ting on their mobile phones, and rather more for heavier cameras. (Always check the Gimbal is suitable for the intended mobile or camera…and check the reviews!). A Video Gimbal is powered by a re-chargeable Lithium battery. Three axis gim-bal stabilizers counteract pan (side to side), tilt (up and down) and roll (back and forth) movements. Sensors detect movement and can eliminate it or smooth it out by sending compensating instruc-tions to each of the motorised joints, according to which operation mode has been selected. A gyroscope is a wheel or disc mounted (imagine a spinning top within a gimbal, like picture 1) so that it can spin rapidly about an axis which itself can rotate about either of two other axes per-pendicular to it and to each other, because the spin maintains the same direction due to the conservation of angular momentum property

32 Before Christmas a request for volunteers went out to various voluntary organisations asking for people to help with vaccination effort against COVID-19, in my case I heard about it from the Datchet Corona Volun-teers. I contacted the group of GP surgeries who were organising it and offered to help. I offered for many reasons, I felt it was the right thing to do, I felt it was something that I could usefully do to help stop this pandemic, and I felt I had the residual skills from previous jobs to be of some use. So I was invited to come along to the Windsor race course to have an induction and to see what was needed. I have driven passed the race-course many times in the past but this was the first time I would be going down the long drive to the grandstand which has been turned over to a vaccination clinic. Inside the ground floor of the grandstand are 2 bars and 2 betting kiosks. The bars have been emptied and the betting areas have been stripped out of their terminals. Around the room there are many fold out tables with screens dividing them. When the clinic first setup there were six stations, there are now eight. At each station sits a member of the nursing team from one of the GP’s surgeries and a volunteer administrator (mostly from the local Lowlands Search and Rescue group). There are also many chairs arranged in waiting areas and post injection waiting areas. When the inoculations began in mid-December the people coming to receive them were in the most vulnerable and oldest age ranges. There were many who had mobility issues as well as other health and age-related conditions. It has been lovely seeing the average age reduce and the health improve of those who are been called to receive their vaccine. I have been most struck by two things. Firstly, it has been the positive buzz and energy which inhabits that place. Those who are coming to receive their injection, for most, this is the first time they have been out of the house since March last year, they are seeing people there has been much gayety and good humour. The staff are happy in their work and the volunteers are keen to get stuck in as well as to ensure that everyone is treated with kindness, compassion and respect. It is the volunteers who have struck me most. They have come from all over the area, some from as far as Reading and Bracknell, they are members of the Lions Rotary club, of Eton College, of the local rugby club, from the Palace staff, they are families who are turning out to help. There is so much love of others and that willingness to give, not for any reward, not for any self-interest, not for any reason other than they want to do the right thing and they want to help. It has been so heart-warming to see and to be a part of this team. This pandemic has put a lot of strain on us, it has separated us from friends, from families, and from love ones. It has stolen so many lives from us, yet it has not broken our spirit, nor our resolve. I thank God for all those who are working so hard to roll out the vaccine, I thank God for the gifts and skills He has given to all those involved, from the scientists to design the vaccine, to the vaccine trial volunteers, to the medial staff administering the vaccine, to the volunteers who are enabling it to happen. We will get through this pandemic. We will come together to mourn those we have lost and we must never forget that when we come together as a common humanity we can overcome anything. God bless you. Fr. Darcy.

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34 Rose Spicer The Executors of the Estate of Anne Thomas, a former member of St Mary’s Church, kindly decided to donate her paintings and several holiday mementos, plus two painting easels, one full size and one small size, to Datchet Mothers’ Union with the intention that they might be sold to raise funds for the local Branch. To date, £40 has been raised. All the paintings are framed and are of Holiday scenes, flowers and plants, and portraits of friends and family. If you would like to make a modest donation for any of these items, please ring or text 07715514737. Thank you Rose Spicer USEFUL CONTACT DETAILS Editor Assistant Editor Sally-Anne Jarvis Matthew Jarvis  0175 358 7403  0771 126 9545  Sa_j2@btinternet.com Children’s Editor Jane Simpson  0175 354 0948  jane.simpson10@sky.com Advertising & Treasurer Justine Elmore  0771 034 7484  justineelmore@yahoo.co.uk Distribution Contact Editor   VICAR: Revd. Darcy Chesterfield – Terry Vicar of Joint Benefice Colnbrook and Datchet  0175 358 0467 0744 219 773 vicar@colnbrookanddatchet.co.uk @ StMarysDatchetChurch Parish Administrator Fiona Norton  0175 358 0467  office@stmarysdarchet.org.uk Churchwardens Elaine Eastham  0796 085 9697  ladypink_11@hotmail.com Treasurer  0175 358 0467  office@stmarysdatchet.org.uk Via Office Datchet Parish Council Clerk : all enquiries Katy Jones  0175 377 3499  0781 975 0924  clerk@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk Celebration of Marriage Sylvie-Marie Crittenden & Naylor Ball And we remember those who have recently departed this life John & Ann Penfold Gordon Murray Sylvia Rooney Peggy Springford Pat Peirson

35 One positive, but temporary, outcome of this pandemic had been a fall in the number of scam and nuisance calls. With the initial lockdown, the restrictions to halt the spread of the virus meant that call centres were suddenly closed. For many this would have been a period of relief, knowing that when the phone rang it would instead be a genuine caller, a family member or a friend. However the scammers are back with a vengeance. As before they continue to predominately target people over the age of 70 and whilst they still cover some of the usual subjects – insurance, switching telephone providers and impersonation caller (NHS, BT, Banks, Amazon even the Police) – they have now found new opportu-nities to target people such as charging fees for non-existent Covid-19 test-ing and vaccinations. For those people who receive regular, possibly daily, scam and nuisance calls, this can cause uncertainty and distress. If the calls have resulted in financial loss then this can cause a loss of confidence and anxiety and have a detrimental effect on their emotional and physical wellbeing. Early in 2020 a call blocker programme funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport meant that RBWM Trading Standards Service were able to acquire and fit 25 trueCall units for local residents who had been the victim of a scam or were deemed to be vulnerable and at risk of being susceptible to one. The units filter out the unwanted scam and nuisance calls and stop them from getting through altogether. The devices have different settings and can be set up to the highest level of security which is only to allow calls from a “trusted caller list” of friends, family members, doctors and any other known contacts. The results have been very positive. On average, each of these units prevented 23 scam and nuisance calls every month (the general population is thought to receive an average of 7 scam or nuisance calls per month). The residents have all enjoyed being back in control of their own phone, feeling safer and more relaxed knowing that when the phone rings it will be a call from a friend or person that they know. They are highly recommended by our Service and the details can be found here: www.truecall.org.uk It is also worth enquiring with your own landline provider (BT, Sky…) as they are likely to have a call protection service which can be put on the line, in some cases this is a free add-on. As well as funding the call blocker programme, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is running a Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign - www.letstalkloneliness.co.uk which provides advice and support to encourage people to talk more openly about the impact of loneliness on people’s lives, and encourage everyone to take simple actions to help them feel more connected. Loneliness is a prominent feature in scams, as criminals will often try to befriend their victims, especially if they’re isolated. People are being urged to keep in contact with family members regularly and inform them of the most prolific scams and the possible dangers to them. If you or someone you know has been a targeted by a scam you should report it to the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133. Also, forewarned is forearmed so take a few minutes to protect yourself and your friends and neighbours against scams by joining Friends Against Scams. The initiative provides free online training to empower people to take a stand against scams.:- If you require further information regarding scams in general RBWM can provide a general scams advice pack with a door sticker. Trading.standards@rbwm.gov.uk 01628 683500 Empowering People to Take a Stand against Scams www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk

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