Chieveley People

Continuing his series of articles, Will Hooper catches up with some of the people who play a prominent role in our community. This month Will meets Mike Taylor of Oare - potter, sculptor and councillor.

Mike Taylor

Mike Taylor Mike is the fifth generation Taylor to live in Oare. Growing up in Oare Farmhouse, he had intentions of following his ancestors into farming, but life took a very different course and he decided to go into teaching, choosing pottery and art as his specialist subjects at training college.

Both Mike and his wife Mary taught in local schools. Mike first taught in junior schools and then moved to teach pottery at Kennet School in Thatcham for the next 20 years; Mary taught at a number of primary schools. He retired from teaching in 1985. "I got back to school one September, before my 50th birthday and there was a letter on the notice-board offering early retirement from aged 50. It was too good to be true! Pottery had been a wonderful subject to teach and I had enjoyed it enormously, but thirteen years as Head of House, had been very demanding, so the decision was not too difficult".

Mike Taylor sculpture Since retiring, he has worked from home as a potter, making both functional pots and sculptures, mostly of birds and marine mammals. He was a founder member of the Newbury Open Studios Scheme, serving on the organising committee for its first ten years. For the past five years, since having some of his bird sculptures cast in bronze, he has been exhibiting with the Society of Wildlife Artists at the Mall Galleries in London.

"I have had a particular fascination for whales since a young lad. We have been on whale-watching trips to Australia and New Zealand and seen Humpback, Southern Right and Sperm Whales, as well as various species of dolphin. We went on a sailing trip around the Canaries in a lovely old wooden sailing ketch and watched pilot whales and dolphins there." Sailing has been another of Mike's long time interests and he greatly enjoyed teaching the skills to both children and adults.

He has been an active member of Greenpeace since the 1970's. "When I retired I became much more involved in it. I ran a local group in Newbury, organising the annual sponsored walks in the area, street collections and leafleting."

Mike is a parish councillor, having represented the people of Oare for the past 25 years. "Chieveley Parish has been quite a fraught one in many ways, with all the development that has taken place around Junction 13, the showground, sand extraction, landfill and sewerage treatment. We seem to have kept our patch in reasonable balance, but it has not been easy. There has been a good mix of people on the Parish Council with a range of skills and interests. We have also been blessed with some excellent clerks - a job that is no mean task to take on."

Mike has also been active in drafting the parish plan, more particularly with environmental and sustainability issues. Having attended a meeting recently in our neighbouring parish of Cold Ash, where they are launching a Greening Campaign, he is hopeful that something similar can be taken up by Chieveley Parish in the new year.

Mike and Mary live simply and show quiet conviction for the things that they believe in. The village is a more caring and sympathetic place for their presence.

Clive and Julie Lewis

Clive and Julie Lewis There can be few mechanics who share their accommodation with a herd of cattle and a flock of sheep. They may be separated by a dividing wall from Dodge Rams and Bull Bars, but the frequent conversation from the manger and interjections from Ole the collie-dog confirmed that this is no ordinary mechanic or garage. Clive seems to get on well with the neighbours, helping several of the yews to lamb this spring. "The view is superb" extols Julie, gesturing to the wheeling rooks and ponies beyond the threshold.

"Clive Lewis Motor Repairs" operates from a barn opposite Orchard End, off the Oxford Road to the North of the parish. Clive started out working for a Thatcham dealership, working there for 20 years before receiving notice of redundancy on Christmas Eve 1985. "I sat down on the worst Christmas we could have had and thought, what else can I do?" Fortunately, the answer came quickly. The employer let all the staff go bar Clive. "We started with a good customer base. We knew we were going to be made redundant, but did not know when. My employer did not tell any of the customers what was happening. They would come in and ask for a job to be done, we had to refuse, as most of the staff had left. That was really where we got going. We started in Bucklebury in 1986, moving the business to Chieveley in 1992."

Clive's family has a long tradition of playing football. He was standing behind the goal in the 1966 World Cup Final when England scored the famous "They think it's all over" goal against Germany. He played and supported keenly until in his 40's he was forced to give up because of a knee problem. "I should have gone in for a cartilage operation, but I broke my leg playing football, so did not bother. I always wanted to run a marathon, so thought I would give it one last go. I started training and the knee behaved itself, and ended up in Amsterdam doing a marathon. I only really wanted to do one."

He has now done nineteen marathons, his best time being 3:34 in Dublin. "One month before a marathon I used to cut out coffee, would knock the beer on the head and watch my diet. But that Dublin trip, I went to the pub the day before the race, had steak and chips and a couple of Guinness and that was the best run I ever had!"

In his youth he combined work and pleasure, stock-car racing. "I started as a mechanic for the foreman in the garage where I worked. He left. I thought I would give it a go myself; went into it thinking it would be easy, and got smashed to pulp a few times. I got to the top level, stayed there for a long time. Then we got married, we sold everything to buy our home. Then after four years, I went along again of a Thursday night for a look. The bug bit me again." Julie was less keen "I was absolutely terrified that he would get injured. We used to travel all the time, even once to Northern Ireland."

Clive and his son, Alan, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 1999. On returning he found that none of their summit photos had come out, so they decided to do it again. Julie came along this time for the millennium. Two others died on the mountain that night. "One had a heart attack. You would not believe the ambulance they have up there! It was a one wheeled barrow. By God did they move with it." To celebrate his 50th birthday, they climbed Mount Kenya. Julie described "We were trekking through cloud, and all of a sudden the clouds parted and the summit appeared before us. The view was astonishing. We were stunned! Crossing the equator in the snows was surreal."

Back in Chieveley, the garage is a welcoming place. "Lots of people just drop in for a cup of tea and a chat" explains Julie. The villagers of Chieveley have taken this Thatcham couple into their hearts. During a planning application to move the garage across the road, from where "Orchard End" is now, there was a tremendous campaign supporting the move. Julie related "Brian Burgess of C&B haulage applied. The Council thought that it would end up with lorries on the site, so our councillor, Hilary Cole, suggested that Clive should apply. Hilary and David Leonard of Beedon guided it through. We had the support of both parishes. We had so many letters. The support was tremendous."

This quiet corner of the village is a kind and gentle place. Long may it continue.

Emma-Jayne Bailey

Emma-Jayne Bailey is an active woman. She now makes a living as a personal trainer, and keeps herself fit by running three times a week, twice of these at six o'clock in the morning. "If I hear the children rousing, I run out of the house faster."
Emma-Jayne and family have now been living in the village for 5 years in October, but her roots go far deeper. Her great-great grandparents lie in the churchyard. "I remember coming to Chieveley on Christmas Eve as a child. The village seemed a lot smaller then. Bonfire night was always a big occasion. My grandfather used to help park the cars, wearing a white coat."

Two years ago, she joined the tennis club in an attempt to get back into it. "It was not a great success. The first day on the court I ruptured my Achilles tendon." So now she sticks to running. "This is wonderful country to get out and about in. We ran the Compton off-road 20 mile challenge two weekends ago. Twenty miles flew by. I did get lost in Aldworth. I could not see the signs, eventually a marshal, waving frantically shouted ‘That way!'".

At the end of March, Charlie the cat starred in the Newbury Weekly News. Having been missing for five days, he was found down the well behind Middle Farm House. It was Sunday afternoon when they called out the RSPCA and fire-brigade, both of whom were brilliant, and delighted to celebrate a good-news story.

Within the village, she has devoted her energies to the Oil Club, and recently, to the pre-school. The Oil Club is a cooperative venture to save money by collective buying "Initially, not everyone realised that it was a voluntary venture. Now we have 165 members and they are incredibly appreciative. A month ago someone had spent £80 more on an oil order than he did with us for the same quantity. The companies know me now, and compete quite hard for our business. "

But there can be rough waters. "Neighbours had a delivery at 7.30 one morning. I was hiding under the duvet saying to myself ‘the delivery time is nothing to do with me!' I feared they would come and get me."

Two years ago, the pre-school closed for a while. Now it is once more thriving. Emma-Jayne has been responsible for admissions since March. "It is a real asset to the village, the kids love it. It is good for the parents too."

Overall, she finds Chieveley to be a place with much to offer those who get involved. "There is the tennis club, the fete, the church. Last year I was the first aider at the fete, which was a bit scary, but fortunately I did not have to do anything. Sometimes you take on too much and then think ‘where am I, what am I doing today?'"

When asked what she would change about the village, one thing came quickly to mind "Middle Farm House, where we lost our cat down their well. It is a horrible eye-saw, full of broken glass. Children could get inside. It is criminal that beautiful house has been left to decay. I think that more responsibility needs to be taken to keep it secure."

For Emma-Jayne, life is active. If much is given, more is received. She is proof that survival of the fittest need not be a battle, but can be fun too.