Beckley & Area Community Benefit society Limited (BACBS)

The Abingdon Arms

The Abingdon Arms is thriving although we are entering a quietish period prior to the run-up to Christmas. There are new opening times, particularly on Sundays. (https://www.theabingdonarms.co.uk/opening-times).

Food opening times as follows:

As mentioned before, plans are in progress to create an accessible path for wheelchair users from the car-park down to the lower patio. Marlake Landscaping intend to start at the end of September. We have been awarded both a Lottery Community Fund grant and a grant from the Bruce Wake Charity, which will cover some of the costs.

BACBS

Annual Members’ Meeting

Hold the date - BACBS will be holding its Annual Members’ Meeting in Beckley Village Hall on Wednesday November 24th at 8pm, as well as receiving Officer’s Reports, a key task of this meeting will be to elect three new members to the BACBS Management Committee.

Call for new management committee members.

As per our Rules, three members of the BACBS Management Committee will be standing down at the end of their elected terms in the autumn, and so we are looking for new committee members as we do not want to let numbers fall.

If you’re interested in getting involved in the work of the committee in activities such as ensuring sound governance, property management, tenant liaison, social activities, and administrative tasks, please consider standing for election, the results of which will be announced at the AGM.

Committee meetings are held approximately monthly, together with some work between meetings to help with the key tasks of the Committee. If you’d like to find out more about what being on the committee involves, then please feel free to contact any of the current committee members. Contact can be made through personal approaches to John Stradling (chairman, 078931604811, john.r.stradling@gmail.com), Gabriel Brodetsky (secretary, 07770331977, gbrodetsky@gmail.com), any other committee members, or info@bacbs.org.

If you are willing to stand, please email a short biography (approx. 100 words) that outlines your interest and any relevant expertise to the Society's Secretary at info@bacbs.org by 24th October 2021.

The three committee members coming to the end of their elected terms are Adam Jeffrey, Nin Kelay and Lise Estcourt. Adam and Nin have indicated they intend to stand for re-election. Lise has decided to stand down due to pressure of work, but will remain as village representative for Noke.

Open Share Offer

BACBS will be launching an open community share offer in the near future. This will provide a way for new investors to become shareholders and members of the Society, and also for any existing shareholders who wish to make a further investment. Watch this space for further news on this.

BACBS is also producing some new internal guidelines on racism, conflicts of interest, and complaints.

More than a Pub Programme - https://bacbs.org/events

Monthly Community Walks

These usually take place on the third Sunday of the month. There have been two thoroughly enjoyable walks so far post lockdown. The next walk will be on Sunday October 19th, 2-4, location TBA, and then 21/11 & 12/12. Note the exceptional December walk date, both because of Christmas, and because an Otmoor bird walk is planned to coincide with Peter Barker’s talk the same evening.

Sunday evening upcoming talks

The Sunday evening talks started again in the pub in September with Nick Mynheer’s talk, The Art of Faith, which gave a fascinating insight into the way an amazing artist goes about creating stunning and innovative works of art in many different media. This first ‘hybrid’ talk was available via Zoom for those unhappy yet about mixing too much, or not able to come in person for other reasons. The hybrid formula worked well and permitted a large audience to attend.

Now it’s allowed, we strongly encourage you to support the coming events in person for the sake of the speakers, our social wellbeing, and of course because we want to support the pub in every way we can. For future Zoom access details to talks, please go to https://bacbs.org/events. If you would like to watch previous Sunday evening talks (including Nick Mynheer’s), please email Adrian Hampshire at info@bacbs.org with your request.

Sunday 17 October, 6.30pm. A talk by Tim Dixon on Carbon Capture and Storage as a climate change technology, and how it relates to other climate solutions, in the context of the COP26 conference in Glasgow in November. Tim lives in Horton cum Studley.

Sunday 28 November, 6.30pm. Plants, Magic and Medicine, a talk by Dr Sue Burge, retired consultant dermatologist and former Director of Clinical Studies at The University of Oxford. Sue lives in Horton cum Studley, where she is a keen gardener, regularly opening her garden to the public for the National Garden Scheme, and chairing its gardening club.

Sunday 12 December, 6.30 pm. Otmoor, the Changing Year, a talk by Peter Barker. Peter is a passionate advocate for Otmoor and its wildlife and for open wild spaces, and author of “The Birds of Otmoor” which will be published this autumn by the Oxford Ornithological Society. He is a volunteer bird surveyor for the RSPB, and convenor of the Otmoor Birding website - http://otmoorbirding.blogspot.com.

More Sunday talks are planned for next year.

Monthly pub quiz

These popular events take place in the pub at 7.30 pm on the first Wednesday of each month, hosted by Peter Burt. No need to book – just turn up.

Good Neighbour Scheme

This scheme is still running, although at a very low level. If you know of anyone who might need lifts, then please suggest they contact the service on 07514 791910 or BACBSgoodneighbour@gmail.com.