Look Local Magazine, Edition 100, March 2021 by Look Local Magazine

Mar 2021 Issue 100

issue Lets Get social www.look-localmagazine.co.uk |

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Local knowledge! local offices! In search to find you the perfect buyer or tenant! Chancellors are growing! one of the UK’s leading independent Estate Agents now has 16 branches across Oxfordshire.

CONTACT US TODAY TO DISCUSS OUR OPENING OFFERS CALL US: 01844 808864 EMAIL US: thame.sales@chancellors.co.uk | thame.lettings@chancellors.co.uk Find US: 2 Cornmarket, Thame, OX9 3DR, UK

March 2021

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we he d ouse n we in r ce rd.

we work hard to make

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e 25 ace?

CONTENTS LADDER 07. Home & Garden Loft Ladders you can trust LOFT! from Home County Loft

minium loft Ladders. boarding, fully& Garden 14. home from Look £355locally over the garden gate, by Lucie Ponsford of Mimosa Garden Design.

16. Get the Look Celebrating 30 years in Following COVID-19 business with Coulon Stone. Secure

0808 301 9558 20/21. News News from our region.

Guidelines

22/23. Sound of music Simon Markland talks us through this months music scene and upcoming events. 24..Business Chris Harris of Harris Consultancy offers his top tips for small businesses. 25. Childcare A time for reflection and applause for our little super heros. With Lara Chaplin of LaLa's House. 26. health & Wellbeing Andy Roscoe of Thame Therpy Clinic offers his advice for keeping well during the pandemic. BOOKING DEADLINE for April 2021 issue:

Friday 19th March 04

Hello Readers, Things are FINALLY looking brighter - March 20th marks the first day of spring, the evenings are getting lighter and lockdown restrictions are slowly beginning to be lifted with the first big step towards normality being the schools reopening on 8th March! I for one am so relieved about this one as my little girl needs to be back in an educational setting, as I’m sure thousands of other children do too. I just hope the transition back into school life isn’t too overwhelming for them as they’ve had to adapt to so much change over the last year. As adults we have felt the effects both physically and mentally but what about the effect its had on our little people.... this leads me nicely into our article from Child Behaviour Coach, Lara Chaplin. Turn to page 25 to read more. As spring has finally sprung we can now start to enjoy our outside space again, and Lucie Ponsford of Mimosa Garden Designs shares her pruning tips for a beautiful floral plume. As well as being green-fingered, Lucie is also a very talented artist and has recently launched a stunning selection of watercolour gift cards. Do check her out on Facebook and Instagram. As well as nature coming back to life, many businesses are too and we have seen an influx in advertisers this month so please do think local when you need assistance for any spring projects you’re thinking about starting. There’s also a fantastic local success story on page 16 from Coulon Stone as they celebrate 30 years. AND I’m only very proud to announce that this issue is my 100th publication! So thank you to all the businesses who have supported me over the years and I hope that my little magazine has brought much new business to you too. Thanks also to my deliverers and you lovely lot for reading it and using the services within it. Here’s to the next 100! And as always, stay safe and support local...

Love Emma x For Advertising contact 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk W: www.look-localmagazine.co.uk : Look Local Magazine : Look_Local_Mag 7,100 copies of Look Local Magazine are printed on a monthly basis and delivered to households in, Aston Rowant, Bledlow Ridge, Chalgrove, Chinnor, Crowell, Cuxham, Great Haseley, Great Milton, Henton, Kingston Blount, Kingston Stert, Lewknor, Little Milton, Milton Common, Postcombe, Sydenham, Tetsworth, Towersey and Watlington. In addition, the magazine can also be picked up from businesses in these areas and also Thame & Wheatley. All material appearing in this publication is reproduced as supplied. Although every care is taken to ensure accuracy, the publishers/printers cannot accept responsibility for the content of this publication. All artwork is accepted on the understanding that the description of goods and services are fair and accurate and permission has been given for use in this publication. Inclusion of advertisements does not imply endorsement by the publisher or printer. No part of this publication may be reproduced.

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March 2021

SPECIALISING IN LOW INSURANCE | LOW TAX LOW EMISSION CARS A small family run business with over 30 years’ experience in the motor trade, providing exceptionally good value and customer service. CURRENT VEHICLES FOR SALE: 2010 White Fiat 500 pop 1.2L 71000 miles, £2995 2011 Red Peugeot 107 urban 1L 5Dr 57000 miles, £2595 2009 Blue Ford KA Style 1.2L 75000 miles, £2495 2013 Blue Vauxhall Corsa 1L 50000 miles, £2995 2009 Red Fiat Lounge 1.2L 35000 miles, £3695

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Home & Garden

06 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

Editorial Feature

Home Counties Loft Ladders, Quality You Can Trust! These days most homeowners suffer from a lack of storage space. So many precious items that need to be kept – but where to store it all? That’s where Home Counties Loft Ladders come in.

watchwords are Quality, Integrity and Value. Quality in the materials that we use for all our installations and the fact that all our loft packages are fitted by time served tradesmen, so our customers are assured of the best job.

The company, based locally, offers homeowners the opportunity to maximise their storage space with a loft ladder, 50sqft of boarding and a light - all fully fitted in less than a day from just £355! But it’s not just the affordability of the package that makes Home Counties Loft Ladders stand out, as manager Jamie Oakley explains: ‘Our

Integrity in that we will turn up at the time we say and make sure the house is spotless when we leave, and value in that we offer our services at a price people can afford.

us by our existing customers - that simply wouldn’t happen if we didn’t adhere to our overriding principles. At the end of the day the old adage that happy customers lead to more happy customers is true and we work hard to make

that happen for every installation we carry out!’ So, if you want to make use of your loft space, call Jamie free on 0808 301 9558 and he’ll be happy to pop round and give you a no obligation quote so you too can make use of your loft!

Our business relies on referrals and we get a huge amount of our calls from people who have been referred to

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Home & Garden

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Home & Garden

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Home & Gardens

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Home & Garden

12 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

Home & Garden

Look locally over the garden gate with Lucie Giselle Ponsford

Hydrangeas have a certain pruning mystique surrounding them, every year I get questions about their pruning and the loss of subsequent flowers. I can show you how the plant gives you all the clues you need to understand and judge the treatment of it; The hydrangea bears flowers on the tips of it’s stems in early summer therefore their flower bud growth is this year’s growth. To prune late spring would remove the potential for flower buds to form and mature. So make sure you prune late winter or early spring. You could prune directly after flowering but you would lose the dried flower heads which stand happily over winter. Pruning as the year warms ensures that those tender new buds have protection from frosts for as long as possible. However you don’t have to prune hydrangeas. They will thicken up their stems and perform without pruning. You could just remove the spent flower heads to tidy up & take out a few stems to the base every year in order to keep the plant refreshed and vigorous. You can also prune low, if you do it now as you now know that the buds will form on current years growth, however this will produce long and leggy growth, which will, once burdened with a heavy flower droop to the floor. With this in mind a useful process for pruning any tip bearing plant: hydrangea, roses, budjela for instance is to remove a third in a dome like shape which will allow the plant to create a thickened base of old wood as a supportive structure. The spring regrowth will not be too vigorous and only send out short stems. Therefore your hydrangea will bear big, beautiful blooms comfortably and present a cushion of mop head flowers. This technique really comes into its own with Hydrangea arborescens annabelle or Hydrangea paniculata Vanille Fraise‘. So try this method or come to Mimosadesign and ask for support. Give this method a go, or ask for support and more top tips on planting on my Facebook page Mimosa Design, email me on info.mimosadesign@gmail.com or call 07737 286784.

With love, Lucie, Mimosa Design 14 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

Home & Garden

Celebrating 30 Years of Coulon Stone – A Local Business Success Stone masonry is one of the oldest crafts in history when humans began arranging rocks to create shelters in the Stone Age. Last month local stone masons Coulon Stone celebrated 30 years of trading and to mark such a wonderful achievement Managing Director, Simon Coulon speaks about how his career as a Stone Mason began, some of his favourite natural stone projects and some of the reasons he believes this local business are still here today. Simon started as an Apprentice Fixer in the early 1970s, one week after his 16th birthday. On his first day he found himself twelve floors up the side of a building dangling over the River Thames by Blackfriars Bridge. “It was a bit of a shock,” said Simon. It was his dad’s stone masonry business and they were predominately cladding the side of big buildings in London. After a few years Simon had saved enough money to travel the world. When he returned he bought a garage in Wendover, a £200 saw and took his first job as Coulon Stone, cutting granite for a building in the City. With no running water to run the saw Simon had to collect it from the nearby petrol station. The local newspaper caught wind of his work and published a piece titled “The Wendover Granite Grinder” and questioned whether a garage in a residential area was the best place to be cutting stone? It is after all a very noisy and very dusty business. Simon began looking for a more permanent place for Coulon Stone and found a spot on the Princes Risborough Industrial Estate where he began focusing on local work, in particular stone surfaces in people’s homes and businesses. Twelve years later Coulon Stone moved to Stokenchurch where they’ve built a state-of-the-art factory and a beautiful showroom allowing customers to walk through their project ideas with expert advice from Coulon Stone staff. Simon and his team particularly enjoy projects which involve “more skill and craftsmanship, and less humping around of heavy rock,” said Simon. Recently they created a cantilevered staircase in Ibstone, they replaced the floor of Holy Trinity Church in Bledlow, and have even carried out restoration work to Windsor Castle’s Henry VIII Gate. When asked what’s behind the success of Coulon Stone Simon said several things. He has always lived by a quote he heard from an Australian entrepreneur, “I’m a very lucky man. The harder I work, the luckier I am.” Simon explains he simply never gave up, despite several recessions, and a global pandemic, and continues to focus on the teams strengths and where their passion lies – working with natural stones. Over the last decade man-made stone has become a very popular material, particularly for kitchen worktops. Coulon Stone enjoy working with man-made stone and believe it works very well for busy households, however as skilled craftsmen Coulon Stone’s team feel huge amounts of pride working with natural stones like granite, marble, quartzite and

16 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

Home & Garden limestone, like the ancient mason’s before them would have. Natural stones involve more skill and study before working on them because the geological nature of how they were created means they can have natural fault lines and markings which need to be found before cutting in to them. The team also love hand-carving beautiful shapes in to natural stones, for example in fireplaces and memorials. Simon also reflects on the important role immigrants have played in the success of Coulon Stone, along with small businesses and skilled trades across the UK. Simon began his career working for his dad, a Spanish refugee, where his warmest memories from his apprenticeship are of the many Irish masons who taught him everything he knows. Today half the Coulon Stone team are from Europe and Simon speaks fondly of them, all of whom, including Factory Manager and mason Robert, and mason Stefan have worked for Coulon Stone for many years. Coulon Stone feel passionate about stone masonry as a skilled and ancient craft and want to train the next generation of mason’s, so they are looking for an Apprentice Mason to join the team. They need to be hardworking, willing to learn and reliable. If you’re interested please contact Jo, Coulon Stone’s wonderful Office Manager, on info@coulonstone.com with a copy of your CV. If you are thinking of adding a stone surface to your home and are interested in working with a local business with 30 years of experience please get in touch on 01494 484333, info@coulonstone.com or visit our website www.coulonstone.com. No project is too big or small. We are following all government guidelines regarding COVID and for the safety of staff and customers all visits to the showroom are by appointment only.

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Property Care, Home Improvements & **** Established Since 1981 Maintenance By Paul Costin

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18 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

Welcome to our farm shop where we stock Wild Bird Feed

Pet Food - brands include Burns, Natures Way, Chudleys Heygates Farm Animal Feed Animal Care including, Hay, Straw, Wood Shavings for Horses, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs Snowflake, Bliss and Bedmax Animal Bedding Bulldog Gardening Tools Garden Sundries & Seeds Erin Compost - Mix and Match offer across the whole Erin Range £5.99 each or 3 for £15.00 (50ltr)

Melcourt Farmyard Manure, Topsoil & Ornamental Barks Opening Hours: Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm Saturday, 9:00am - 4:00pm Tel No: 01865

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Address: Old London Road, Wheatley, OX33 1YW Website: www.wheatleyfarmshop.co.uk

NEWS & EVENTS

in our region

Save on your Electric Bill - halt Climate Change - build a Community Fund! ChinnorPlus* Solar Streets is a discounted Solar PV Scheme supported by Chinnor & Thame Friends of the Earth, Chinnor Parish Council, Greening Chinnor, and Mill Lane Community Garden. It is designed to bring affordable solar panels to your community so you can be instrumental in halting climate change and become carbon neutral by 2030. It also builds a Community Fund to be used for green issues by donating £50 to the fund for every Residential Installation and £100 for a Commercial Installation. Solar Streets started out in Frome in 2018 when the local Council declared a Climate Emergency and wanted to see if they could band their residents together to get a discounted solar scheme. IDDEA, a solar company operating since 2008, came up with the best scheme and added a community fund benefit. The Frome campaign was very successful and, as well as saving residents money and carbon, also paid for half of the cost of installing solar panels on the local Youth Club with the Community Fund. Since then, Solar Streets has grown and is currently running 13 schemes across the South of England, including Thame, WallingfordPlus, Marlow, Henley-on-Thames, with several other schemes coming on board in the next few months. Why is the scheme so successful? It’s simple really: people want to be greener; solar panels are cheaper and better; electricity prices increase every year and demand will skyrocket as we replace fossil fuels and change to electric cars; so it feels good to be a little more selfsufficient. The standard package price with Solar Streets is £4,000 for a fully installed 12-panel 4kWp black panel system that produces enough power for an average 3-4 bedroom house. Smaller and larger discounted systems are available as well as added extras like battery storage. For more information and to book on the Zoom Launch Presentation and Q&A on 22nd April, go to www.SolarStreets.co.uk/ChinnorPlus. *ChinnorPlus includes Henton, Sydenham, Emmington, Kingston Blount, Aston Rowant, Bledlow, Crowell, and Bledlow Ridge.

20 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

News & Events

Eco Warriors, Thame Wombles work alongside Bucks Recycling to collect 1.6 tonnes of waste from Thame and surrounding villages... A recent monumental effort saw Thame Wombles collect over 135* bags of rubbish containing everything from car parts (lots of them) and road signs, to a wooden palette, wooden blind, big plastic containers, buckets, cones, a bag of sand and more in between. Once the rubbish ramble was finished, Chessie Murray (& hubby and fellow Womblette) from Bucks Recycling all the litter, which totalled just over 1.6 tonnes, and discarded it at our Waste Transfer Station. It is now being sorted for recycling. If you’d like to be involved with helping to clear up our streets and countryside visit, the Thame Wombles Facebook Page. *Further rubbish collection from a Towersey Group was also added to this number.

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Sound of Music

elcome to our March music page. Here you will find information on local musical events, upcoming concerts and where to find the best music tuition in the area.

Thame has a variety of fantastic opportunities for budding musicians who wish to join together with other like-minded people. From bands to choirs to bell ringing! We also host a huge variety of annual musical events. We do need to share some sad news that unfortunately this year’s ‘Thame Music In The Park’, ‘Thame Carnival’ and ‘The Beacon Festival’ have sadly had to be cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. The organisers of all these events are focussed around the safety and wellbeing of all attendees and performers so the decision needed to be made in order to keep everyone safe at this time. However, all these events are looking forward to returning with a bang in 2022! We hope that some of the regular summer live music events will be taking place later in the year and we will keep you updated! Thame Music Academy Thame Music Academy pride themselves in offering professional, creative and fun tuition in a large variety of instruments for both children and adults alike! Based in the centre of Thame, in their purpose-built teaching premises, they have 3 large professional and well equipped

teaching rooms, a comfortable waiting area and the usual amenities. The Academy is within easy reach of the town centre with free parking directly across the road. You can find the academy at: 37 Upper High St, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 2DN. TMA provide lessons in; Guitar, Piano, Keyboard, Bass Guitar, Singing, Ukulele, Drums, Percussion, Strings, Woodwind and more! Their team of highly qualified tutors tailor their lessons to each individual to ensure the best musical education is given to all. Alongside this the academy also run regular group sessions, ensembles, baby & toddler groups and holiday workshops and courses. With the local community at the very heart of the academy’s values, they are also heavily involved in numerous local events and endeavour to provide performance opportunities for their students on a regular basis. During the current lockdown TMA has temporarily closed its teaching premises due to government guidance, however they are providing online lessons in all of the instruments the offer and with all of their fantastic tutors! Please use the contact details at the end of this article for more information. TMA also have plenty of plans for

Entertainment when they are able to re-open and the national restrictions are eased. This will include brand new workshops, group courses, ensembles, performances and regular live events run by the academy itself. They are very excited about the future and further details about all of this will be provided in due course. Please contact TMA for further details.

Thame Concert Band - Thame

Concert Band was formed in 1993 by a small group of local musicians. They pride themselves on being a community band and regularly, in normal times, take part in some of the biggest events in Thame, including Remembrance Sunday and Christmas Carols around the tree. They have a substantial and varied repertoire and perform several of their our own concerts each year alongside events in Thame. This includes the Last Night Of The Proms concert which is always popular! The band have grown considerably since their formation in 1993 and now boast around 30 regular members - although they are always keen to welcome new musicians! Currently, TCB are supporting Thame Day Centre, a local charity. The band has recently got back to rehearsing, in a safe and socially distanced environment, and are always on the look out for new members to join their fantastic team. For further information and also if you are interested in joining please visit: www.thameconcertband.com or search for ‘Thame Concert Band’ on Facebook.

egular local live music?

We are sure that 2021 will eventually bring back all the wonderful local and regular live

music events which we all really enjoy, but in the meantime don’t forget these brilliant online sessions so you can get your musical fix..! Oxford Coffee Concerts This excellent group are releasing brand new performances via their website and YouTube page every Sunday morning! If you would love to start off your relaxing Sunday with some wonderful live music whilst you enjoy a nice hot drink please visit their website for further details: www.coffeeconcerts.com Folk in Oxford! - This fantastic group have set up a website to promote live, recorded and of course online music which is coming up in December! For further information and to find out more please visit: www.folkinoxford.co.uk Garsington Opera at Home! This acclaimed Oxfordshire based company streams directly to your home. Enjoy full length operas, selected arias, virtual tours, informal music-making and more! For further information please visit: www.garsingtonopera.org/at-home Open Micsolate! is a must for any performer who is missing their local music scene. It is all totally free of course and you can join them by searching ‘Open Micsolate’ via Facebook! They are also now running ‘Open Micsolate Live!’ once a month, this gives performers the opportunity to sign up for an online slot and perform live in the comfort of their own homes! Along with appreciating a whole array of fantastic artists at the same time.

This feature is brought to you by Simon Markland of Thame Music Academy Tel: 07743 032292 Email: info@thamemusicacademy.com Web page: www.thamemusicacademy.com

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Business Support

My Top Tips....

For many starting a business during the pandemic has been about survival. For others an opportunity to start their dream venture due to consumer change of habit or lifestyle, there is no doubt the pandemic has changed our habits, the way we live and work. Spending more time with families, working from home, keeping the little ones entertained or becoming a maths teacher?! Perhaps we’ve got round to decorating the house or finally tidied up the garden! There has certainly been a lot on our agenda’s and balancing home life and trying to run a new start-up business or keeping up with an existing one can be challenging at any time – not mentioning during a pandemic!

Particularly with the regular and sudden changes of restrictions and adapting your business to those new requirements and changing regulations. Keeping on top of this can be really time consuming, mind consuming and stressful, with little time to switch off and relax. I’m in the fortunate position to be supporting new businesses grow, along with providing our web design and social media services, its rewarding to see significant client growth during such troubling times. So, for those of you whom can relate to this, trying to start a business, or run a business during these unprecedented times, over the next two editions I’m going to share with you my top tips! Drum roll please:

1. Personal and professional

Setting up a family run/small business gives the opportunity to really get to know your clients and customers. Unlike high street brands or enterprise retailers where the customer is a statistic, you can offer a relationship. That is warm and recognisable time and time again. Use this advantage to take the time to help your customers and surpass expectation.

2. Best bang for your buck

When searching for services or products for your business check the detail and asses the value of your purchase. Sometimes more beneficial to spend a bit more because the package or product gives you more value overall and saves you time or ways to work more efficiently.

3. Time is money

Focus on what you’re good at and automate (if you can) your routine administrative tasks and consider giving things you aren’t so good at to someone who specialises in that field. It is far better for you to focus on your strengths and delegate or automate your weaknesses to someone else or software that can help you.

4. Be a solution

Identify the problems your customers are facing, whether that is a product or service that is not available elsewhere or a unique selling point that sets you apart from your competitors, it’s really important that you show off what you can do that others can’t and fix or resolve the problem that your customer is facing. Ensure this is prominent on your website, backed up by reviews and have a marketing plan around this. Your product or service doesn’t have to be different but think about how you can do it differently or include an additional feature or benefit.

5. Tell your story

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, I think this is particularly important for small businesses and family run organisations. Profit is a result of that, but why does your organisation exist? What motivated you to get where you are and how is your experience and belief going to help me with the product or service you are offering me. Many businesses market themselves with what they are selling but never tell us why. Your customers will be more receptive to buying from you when they know your background and why you do what you do. M: 07799 282042 | E: hello@harris-consultancy.co.uk | W: www.harris-consultancy.co.uk

24 To advertise, call 07707 386034 or email info@look-localmagazine.co.uk

Editorial Feature

Welcome to LaLa’s House with Lara Chaplin,

Children’s Behaviour and Sleep Coach.

Reflection. Reflect on the year gone. As parents we have become teachers on top of all our usual roles. We feel exhausted, stressed, we are finally reaching a point where we “just can’t anymore”. Now, lets reflect on our children. In March last year, we collected our children from school one afternoon. Their day had been full of play, learning and fun. For many they were put to bed expecting to just do it all again the next day. Except when they woke up things were different. Lets put ourselves in the shoes of our primary school kids… the excitement of being home when they should be at school, getting to play at home rather than sitting in a classroom, spending extra time annoying their siblings. To our children they were on holiday! They were at home, just another school holiday, Right? But then the day came when our amazing teachers put their long, hard few months planning into practice and we all received those emails “Teams call scheduled for…” “For this weeks Literacy….”, “and Maths this week….”, “Don’t forget to keep reading to your parents”. The shock of now being at home, their safe place, where they can express all the feelings they need to, when they need to. They are now expected to behave as they would for their teachers during the “School Day”. Then, when the “School Day” is over, it’s mum and dads turn to work so its iPad/TV/Freeplay time. They can’t even go play with Billy over the road, because we aren’t allowed to see people. Change is one of the biggest triggers of difficult behaviours and sleep issues. Over this last year the changes in our children’s lives have come in droves. So likely, their behaviours and reactions have changed along side this. This is NOT a reflection on any of our parenting skills, methods or abilities. This is a reflection on the life we are forced to live. When we say, “I’ve just had enough now, I want to see my mum and dad” look at your children and ask them “If you woke up tomorrow and everything was ok, what would that look like?” We have taken the time to Thank and Clap for our NHS staff, carers, shop staff, teachers & parents. Kids are resilient, they are. But lets not forget how much they have had to adjust to these new expectations. These Superheroes have ZERO say in their new way of life and they are doing their very best to adjust everyday. A situation, that last March was supposed to have been Temporary we are still battling a year on. So put your hands together for our mini Superheroes. They are living this too.

With much Love, Lara x

Lalas House - Childminder/Children’s Sleep and Behaviour Coach W: www.lalashouse.com | M: 07787 823768 Insta: @lalashousesleep | Facebook: Lala’s House

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Health & Wellbeing

Staying Well in the Pandemic... By Andy Roscoe, Acupuncturist and Director at Thame Therapy Clinic

There is a lot of advice every week in the media about how to stay well in this pandemic.

Not surprisingly it is also part of the conversation I have with my patients when we discuss their state of health. I see my role here as someone neutral who listens without judgement but can also inject ideas and suggestions to help see things differently or unlock problems. Combining observations and suggestions with energetic rebalancing of the body and mind can help people connect to their purpose again in a meaningful way and can open the door to better health. Perhaps the best single advice I’ve read during this pandemic was about the husband and wife, both working at home, who would meet every lunchtime for a dance session to their favourite music to break up the long hours on the computer. But of course there is no single suggestion that will appeal to all, and in any case most peoples’ lives are more complex than this. As in non-pandemic times, the key is to find a daily routine that is sustainable. At the core of this are some basic requirements such as eating regular meals, getting enough sleep at the right times, and doing daily exercise of some sort. After these considerations the most important things are having work which has meaning or purpose whether paid or not, and maintaining social contact with the people who matter in our lives. None of these things are easy to find or sustain at the moment. For people in tough situations being driven to the edge of their tolerance, I try to keep spirits up and lift the energy. In my experience, people who stay open to the possibility of change are more likely to find their way out of difficult times.

Stay safe, Andy Roscoe

Thame Therapy Clinic High Quality Complementary Health Therapies from Experienced Practitioners

Therapies include • Physiotherapy • Reflexology • Osteopathy • Homeopathy • Acupuncture • Holistic Massage • Counselling • Naturopathic Nutritional Therapy and more... 01844 215555 / 261592 23 Upper High Street, Thame, OX9 3EX

www.thametherapyclinic.co.uk

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March 2021

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Voted the Best Antique Centre in the UK High Street, Tetsworth, Oxon, OX9 7AB

01844 281777 www.theswan.co.uk antiques@theswan.co.uk

WE ARE MAKING OUR VENDORS THOUSANDS OF POUNDS! We are now accepting consignments for our next auction which takes place on 8th April 2021. 18ct Gold, Diamond and Gem Set Cluster Ring ESTIMATE £2400 - £2600

Mr Doodle ‘Coffee Cuddle’ SOLD for £7,000 hammer

Pair of 18th Century Italian Commodes ESTIMATE £5000 - £8000 Large collection of porcelain and china including Clarice Cliff in our upcoming auction

Gorham Silver Canteen SOLD for £3,000 hammer

We are still open for valuations and virtual valuations, from a single item to a complete house clearance or specialist collections. For all enquiries T: 01844 281777 | E: antiques@theswan.co.uk