More information regarding Water Stratford HERE
News from Water Stratford Parish Meeting
On 28th February we dusted off the dark winter nights and held our first pub evening of the year. It was lovely to see our neighbours again after what seemed like an inordinately long time since the Christmas celebrations and to catch up on local news. We were very pleased to welcome new residents and hope that they will enjoy living in our beautiful village. As always, kind donations ensured that we were able to enjoy a drink or two (or more...) accompanied by Rob’s ‘interesting’ music selection. Please keep a lookout for our next get together and do come along, we have quite a lot of donated wine to finish off!
Church news
After our Annual Parochial Church Meeting in April, the churchwarden and PCC are unchanged. As we write, our annual Rogation Service and Walk is due in the afternoon of Sunday 18th May, in what promises to be ideal weather. We are grateful to Chris for preparing this, so that we can keep alive in Water Stratford an ancient tradition which reminds us of the importance of farming and the countryside – in these times of pressures on both. It also reminds us how lucky we are to live in such wonderful surroundings! We now look forward to a midsummer celebration of Pimms & Hymns at noon on June 15th, when we hope for good weather again so that we can enjoy being outdoors in our lovely churchyard. For our final service of the summer, we will be joined by our other benefice churches for Family Communion (with choir) celebrating Lammas, thus keeping to the original meaning of the word 'Loaf Mass = the Mass of the First Loaf (Anglo-Saxon hlaf)': in olden times a loaf made from the first of the wheat harvest would be used as Communion bread. We are pleased to take advantage of our ancient and rural setting and traditions!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goodbye
On a sad note, March saw the deaths of two major figures in Water Stratford:
Gerald Harris: 11/11/1936 – 27/3/2025
Gerald was born in Yew Tree Cottage, Water Stratford, and lived in the village all his life, attending first the Village School, and later the County Secondary School in Buckingham. He worked at Town Farm for the Hilsdon family for nearly twenty years before becoming a Storeman at Midland Shires Farmers Ltd., an agricultural co-operative at Finmere Aerodrome. Gerald was a keen gardener and an accomplished sportsman, playing football and cricket for the local teams of Finmere, Tingewick and Buckingham. He planted the original Millennium Oak in the Old School Garden in 2000. Always a cheerful character, Gerald will be remembered with affection by many in the village and the local farming community. He leaves behind his widow, Judy, and daughter, Tracey. Rest in Peace.
Christopher Willis: 25/6/1953 – 6/3/2025
The funeral service and celebration of the life of Christopher Willis took place at St Giles in March, the congregation spilling out into the churchyard. Water Stratford was fortunate that Chris and Sarah came to live here, raise their family and create a beautiful home, which they generously shared with the village on many occasions. They have contributed hugely to community life, Chris serving for some time as Parish Meeting chairman, where his expertise was invaluable – one lasting legacy being the installation of a loo in The Old School. The church also has benefitted from their support, especially during our restoration project. Chris could always be relied on for a thoughtful and interesting conversation, and will be greatly missed. Our sympathy goes to Sarah and their family.
