June 2011 Field Trip Collage
For some years now, CRES has hosted annual summer field trips to which we extend invitations to all those from the JRI and CRuC communities. The field trips move around the country, and are organised by different people each year. John Reader and John Neal organised this trip (18th June 2011) to the rural area west of Banbury in Oxfordshire. We are often pleased to welcome back some of our former students, and this was the case again this year. About 20 of us gathered in the morning at Hornton Methodist Church where we had tea, coffee and cake whilst looking at some of the displays of local history. After brief introductions we then set off on a guided tour of Hornton village. It is evidently a community that has seen many changes, but it has a vibrancy sparked by the fruitful collaboration between the Church of England and Methodist churches. On our return to the Methodist Church we had a talk about the Ironstone Benefice from John Reader who is the vicar of this group of eight rural churches. We discussed how to bring spiritual life to rural benefices, and John described some recent research he and colleagues had conducted on the roles of church wardens in such situations. There were several rural vicars there to compare experiences with! We also discussed the recent development of a Facebook group on Multi Parish Benefices.
We then left Horton and drove the short distance to John Neal’s farm at Warmington. We had a wonderful lunch there provided by John’s wife, Sue. After lunch we had a short talk by John Neal on the history of his farm. Then we set off on a walk around the farm, particularly looking at the environmental schemes. In 1988 the land entered a voluntary scheme, and this was followed by a 20 year EU funded Habitat Scheme, which still has three years to run. During this time a one acre woodland has naturally regenerated as have the trees and bushes along the Sor Brook. A nine acre traditional hay field is developing. One small patch of orchids have sprung up. John told us that on sunny days his meadows had many butterflies. Unfortunately, we had some heavy rain showers, so the butterflies were in hiding! But what will happen after the scheme ends in 2014?? Then tea and cake back at the farmhouse before we departed.
Many thanks to John Reader and John Neal who masterminded the day, and to all those who helped them. Now where will we go next year?
Martin Hodson