Upper Brailes, Lower Brailes & Surrounding Community - One Village.

Hire The Brailes Village Hall, for Clubs & Events, see Diary & bookings.

Thinking of booking?

The Village Hall diary & how to hire & more info

To book call/email Lisa Bryan Tel: 01608 685 437 mobile: 07800 771368 email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Our website Team would like to wish

everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous

2012.

"GARDENING TIPS AND ADVICE"

For well over a year now we have been fortunate enough to have Stuart and Mick Cummings, sending in "monthly" updates on Gardening and Allotment advice. There is an abundance of information on what to plant when, soil tips, even info on poisonous plants in the garden.

So all you keen Gardeners out there, as well as people who just want to grow a few veg at the bottom of the garden, this is a section for you.

Dont forget to check it out and Thank you to Stuart and Mick for keeping our section going so well .

TRADITIONS

PLOUGH MONDAY THE DAY ON WHICH WORK STARTED

AGAIN AFTER TWELFTH NIGHT WAS KNOWN TO COUNTRY

FOLK AS * PLOUGH MONDAY * THE DAY ON WHICH

LABOURERS HAD TO RETURN TO THE FIELDS.

See Micks tips for now or the month ahead

MUSIC

Hello just want to share with you this opportunity for a fun Sunday afternoon listening to some great music.

Sunday 19th February at Townsend Hall, Shipston on Stour

2.30pm

"The Ralph Allin Quartet" From Bach to Brubeck & more!

Tea Interval and raffle.

Admission £10. available from R Clarke. Proceeds to St Edmund's Church Funds

Brailes Show – Applications for Funds

The Brailes Show Committee invites village organisations to apply for a donation from the 2011 Brailes Show profits.

Please send your applications to the show Secretary Mrs Vanessa Boyce, 1 Bakery Cottages, Lower Brailes, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX15 5HW. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by January 31st 2012

Parish Plan Surveys 2011

Thank you to everybody in the village who has completed and returned the Parish Plan Survey Questionnaires. So far 84% have been returned or collected which is an outstanding repines. We are aware there are a few still outstanding so don't panic if you still have one. Somebody should be round to collect. Analysis has already started and we expect to have a revised Parish Plan available in Spring 2012.

For more information on the Parish Plan contact Duncan Bailey on 685471

Two coaches travelled from Warwick to Windsor in aid of 'Help for Heroes' and stopped at the George in Brailes for refreshments last Thursday morning at about 11.30. Quite a few locals turned out to see them.

by John Harding see the other photos, click here

Brailes Cider Press Restored, read on.........

A dusty barn in Brailes was the scene of much merriment this week as a piece of history was brought to life thanks to the dedication of villagers who were determined to restore their two hundred year old cider press which had lain rotting away in a hedge. The Brailes Press had been used for generations by families around the village who brought their apples to be crushed for cider but in the late 1970’s the press had started to fall into disrepair and was eventually left in a field.

But the local garage owner, Ian Haycock was determined to rescue the machine and put it back to good use. Now he’s hoping this will be the start of the revival of the traditional November Cider Fortnight “People used to bring their apples to be crushed for next year’s cider and they’d also bring a bit of last year’s cider for tasting it was very sociable and not without a bit of rivalry, we’d love to bring that back to Brailes.”



It’s taken four years of hard work to get the old press and the scratting machine, which pulps the apples, back to full working order and it’s been done by Ian, his sons and friends around the village including 16 year old Sam Inns who worked with his father to get replace the rotting base of the press and its engine. Although officially, he’s too young to drink it, Sam is vital in keeping that tradition of cider making going. “It’s just important, people should remember how things are made and that you don’t just have to buy it in a supermarket. You can make it.”



One man who knows that is Will Spencer from Preston on Stour who filled two forty gallon barrels in his trailer with the apples from his orchard. “It really is wonderful, my family farmed here so I know that my great, great grandfather used this very press and it’s incredible that now I can use it for the purpose it was made for.” It’s been a couple of years of trial and error getting the recipe right as his friends, Clifford Lane and David Thompkinson from Preston pointed out. “Well the first years cider wasn’t too good we called it Preston old Squitter but it’s getting better.” “Yes the next one was The Sleeper, that’s because we kept finding him in the field and you could tell it was good because the donations box was full of IOU’s.”



For this season’s cider, everyone took turns to twist the levers that press the weights onto the mats filled with apple pulp and the juice flooded out. In the past, hunks of meat were put into cider barrels to get the fermentation going but now most prefer to just add a bit of sugar and leave the rest to fate. The cider won’t be ready for drinking until next spring and traditionally you open the barrel when you hear the first cuckoo but for Ian Haycock the most important thing is keeping the skills our forefathers had and passing them on to our children. “It’s so easy to lose something like this, parts of our heritage disappear every day but I know that that this press can keep on going. I’d like to see it being used by my grandchildren and their children and then their grandchildren too, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t.”

The Brailes Cider Press is open to the public this Sunday 30th October between 2-4pm at Manor Farm, Castle Hill, Upper Brailes. People can bring their own apples to crush and need to bring containers for the juice.

Refuse Collection over Christmas & New Year....... click here

STOUR VALLEY WILDLIFE ACTION GROUP
WEBSITE www.stourvalleywildlifeactiongroup.org

+++UPDATED+++UPDATED+++UPDATED+++UPDATED+++UPDATED+++

Brailes Show AGM

Click here for Chaimans Report

Click here for Competition Results & Horse show

Monthly winter ordering is back in progress. The September order totalled 38000 litres, resulting in a rate of BELOW 54p per litre! Can you beat that?

Last winter the Brailes Oil Syndicate saved its members collectively over £17000!
With average savings of over 2p per litre don't miss out!
Join now and start saving. Tell your friends & neighbours, the more people we have join ...the bigger the orders ...the bigger the savings!

Did I mention it's FREE to join?

Click here for details on how to join the Syndicate. Also have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Regular orders start again this month so join today.
email orders to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it / phone orders taken by Margaret Pogmore (685260).

If you need someone to walk your dog, or even have the time to help walk dogs in the village, please send us in your contact details .

Check out Pet Walkers

"DITCH THE WORKOUT AND JOIN THE PARTY"

ZUMBA CLASSES

START TUESDAY 31st MAY 2011
11am IN BRAILES VILLAGE HALL
FOR DETAILS CONTACT RACHEL TAME ON 01608 664424

Link to Shipston Safer Neighbouhood Team

Brailes History Group

Were you a member? Do you know anyone who was a member?
Follow this link to see what's being organised by the

Warwickshire Local History Society

Fostering

The W C C Young People and Families Directorate are constantly trying new ways to recruit foster carers in order to meet the needs of children and young people who require support at different times in their lives.
If you feel you could help and want to know more telephone 01926 746956

Happenings at The Gate

Click here for more details

Hi Jane,

I attach some photos my mum took when we lived in the Gate Inn, Upper
Brailes, in the early sixties, where she worked for a Mrs Cardiff looking
after her horses with a friend Gwen Vickers. My mum knew Richard and Bernard
Smith (chef in the navy) who came from Brailes. I know that Richard died
about 5-6 years ago as I passed through in 2006 and asked about him in the
George. I also enquired about Bernard but no-one seemed to know about him
and still wonder if he is about ( must be in his mid-late seventies now. I
know Richard had a daughter called Rachel (not sure if she still lives in
the village), but not sure if she is still in the village

I have a few other photos but they are of me in the yard of the Gate Inn

Regards Chris Steedman

Thanks you for finding and sending in these wonderful images of Brailes

Please send your images to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or old photos in person to Jane Bennett to be copied/scanned & returned. For us all to enjoy Brailes & its past. Look at all our old pictures can you help us find more to add to this site? Brailes Old Photos

Lower Brailes, Upper Brailes, Winderton, Sutton under Brailes, Shutford, Cherrington, Stourton, Aylesmore

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