Rare albino pheasant spotted in Fairford

IF you don't want to or can’t go out to the larger shops; or are fed up with the giant online mail order companies and would like to shop local for Christmas, then support our local shops/suppliers by getting some suggestions.

For example, buy from our many local pubs, cafés, restaurants or hotels, our local chemist, garden centre, hairdresser, beauty therapist, butcher, grocery store or gift shop.

Here are just a few suggestions with links to the many, many businesses in and around our local area: bit.ly/2JozIIy.

HILARY Cottage Surgery has been selected by the University of Bristol to promote the following research.

Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, has endorsed this project as a national Urgent Public Health Research (UPHR) priority and it is supported by the Royal College of General Practice (RCGP).

If you are aged 16 and over and registered as a patient at Hilary Cottage Surgery and wish to take part in this research, please click on this link: bit.ly/3g0XQgj.

If the link does not open when you click on it, please copy and paste it into your web browser.

If you have signed up to receive text messages, the practice will also send you the link via text.

If you have any questions about the project, please visit bit.ly/3mslTXU to read the frequently asked questions (FAQs) for patients.

FAIRFORD’S Festive Market, scheduled for December 4, will not be going ahead this year due the Covid-19 pandemic.

THERE will be a Crafty Boaters Christmas Market held on Saturday and Sunday December 5 and 6 in the garden of the New Inn, Lechlade from 10am-3pm.

Social distancing rules will apply.

This date has been confirmed and, if it is successful, the market may be repeated on the next two weekends.

The market is being organised by Crafty Boaters (Martin and Sarah Lee) and No.1 Deer Jewellery (Dan and Ella Gough).

There will be a mixture of handmade crafts, gifts, and Christmas decorations for sale.

FAIRFORD United Church is hoping to spread the Christmas story across the whole of Fairford this year.

Last year, businesses in Fairford were asked if they would display a character from the Christmas story in their windows and children then had to find where the characters were displayed.

A little story book was given to all who completed the challenge.

Obviously, this is not possible this year, but the Rev’d Barbara Bridges is asking if children could put Christmas story pictures in their own windows as we did with rainbows earlier this year for the NHS.

Each week Barbara will be posting two pictures to download, colour and display with the pictures building up to tell the whole story of the birth of Jesus and the people who visited him.

A RARE albino pheasant was spotted last week in a field near Rhymes Lane, Fairford.

Apparently the white version of a common or garden pheasant is ‘rarer than hen’s teeth’!

Earlier this year, an albino pheasant was spotted in the Cotswolds for the first time in 75 years by an ardent bird-watcher.