Half Term Activities at Cogges Farm in Witney

Plenty to see and do at Cogges Farm in Witney over half term, May 23 – May 31

• May 23, 24 & 25: Our Daily Bread Weekend – See the bread oven in action, See hand milking and butter making demonstrations. Meet local bakers, make a virtual sandwich and on BH Monday take part in a Guinness World Record Picnic * Please contact the museum for further details


• May 26: Recycling activity – make stick people or peg dolls


• May 27: Children’s baking sessions and story telling


• May 28: Farm fun, animal handling and craft activity


• May 29: Family craft drop-in, make an animal bookmark


• May 30 & 31: Poultry Weekend – Meet the Cotswold Poultry Club members and their chickens!
  
  Church Lane, Witney, Oxon OX28 3LA. Tel: 01993 772602
  or visit http://www.cogges.org/ Official site

The Lampton Worm comes to Cogges

Saturday 2 May at Cogges Manor Farm Museum, Witney in the Wheat Barn - Times: 2.30pm and 4.30pm

Little does young John Lampton know as he sits, dreamily fishing in the sunshine before the tale unfolds. A play told through light and shadow, music and puppetry. Written for children and all lovers of theatre, this will be Theatrix’s first visit to Cogges Manor Farm Museum and a chance for visitors to see a taste of what may help set the stage at Cogges from 2010. A fast-paced telling of this traditional tale adapted, designed, directed and told by Theatrix, with puppeteering from students at AWC, this community arts show is just thirty enchanting minutes.

There will be an opportunity for the audience to come and meet the puppets and learn how they were made and move at 3pm. Through this event Theatrix would like to inspire future participation in the company’s projects by the community for when it hopes to move into the Barley Barn at Cogges Manor Farm Museum in April 2010.

For anyone over five, the story has been specially adapted by the director and designer Paul Batten from the Northumberland folk tale The Lambton Worm. The highly visual show is suitable for those with a hearing impairment and the soundscape, narration and music also means that those with a visual impairment could enjoy the story to the full.

The puppets have been made by Theatre Production students at Abingdon and Witney College, who will be operating them and helping to run the show. Paul Batten is also lecturer of the Performing Arts Production course at Abingdon and Witney College. He finds huge educational benefit for his students who are hoping to find careers in technical theatre, when he is able to create opportunities for them to work on events outside of their normal college setting. This show has been written specifically with this aim in mind, and the production standards are set very high for the students to make and operate shadow and rod puppets and run the lights and the sound.

Theatrix Community Arts is one of the Cogges Community Enterprise Group partners and is based in Cogges. Theatrix is currently working with Oxfordshire County Council as part of the CCE steering group to assist in the handover of management of the Cogges site.

This performance has been kindly supported by Oxfordshire County Council and the Cogges Agricultural Heritage Museum Trust.

For further information contact Olivia Thornton, Development Director, Theatrix Community Arts T: 078 559 84624, E: olivia5thornton@yahoo.co.uk

W: http://www.paulbattenproduction.wetpaint.com/

A Night in the Museum

Cogges Manor Farm Museum will be overtaken by ghosts and ghouls during a special evening packed full of spooky activities.

The working farm museum in Witney hosts A Night in the Museum on Saturday, May 16, which includes guided tours around the venue's Manor House, a buffet and music from Oxford-based band The Skeleton Crew.

There will also be spine-tingling tales at the Oxfordshire County Council-run museum from actor Bill Spectre, well-known for his ghost trails around Oxford . The Manor House tour will involve parts of the building that are not normally open to the public.

Tickets for the evening, which runs from 7.30pm to 10pm, at £10 are available on 01993 772602.

Enjoy music from The Skeleton Crew as you tuck in to a buffet followed by ghost tales from the amazing Bill Spectre http://www.ghosttrails.org/

16th May 7.30pm – 10pm

Thatchers and badgers at Cogges Farm

A badger's tunnel appeared recently in the middle of the riverside walk path at Cogges Farm. Investigation by The Oxfordshire Badger Group proved it to be a 'trial trench' (not a newly occupied set) and staff have been able to backfill the hole and thus re-open the path to visitors for this coming season! A watching brief will be kept on the area.

Work is due to start on the roof of the farmyard shelter shed at the beginning of April. The thatchers (Rumpelstiltsk) will re-thatch the 'bundle thatched' roof, which is expected to take two months to complete. Visitors will be able to see work in progress and the craftsmen are only too happy to explain their work and have, in fact, attended Cogges several times over the past few years to demonstrate thatching techniques.

The farm re-opens to the public on Tuesday 7th April.

Witney blankets of snow at Cogges Farm

Witney may be world famous for its woolen blankets, but during the first week of February 2009 it was a blanket of snow that covered the Victorian farm museum.

The award-winning attraction re-opens to the public on Tuesday 7th April and we'll keep you updated about what's happening and what's in store, so keepcoming back.

Cogges Farm - still an uncertain future

In spite of record visitor numbers in 2008 and a tourism award, Cogges farm has faced an uncertain future. In November the Cabinet of Oxfordshire County Council agreed several recommendations from the Cogges Project Board. In theory these plans will secure the future for this historic site in Witney, but the reality is less assured.

The County Council will continue to run Cogges Farm during 2009, but on a reduced subsidy (cut from £250 to £160k), so it will only be open to the public from 7th April to 31st August. Make the most of it! Season ticket prices were dramatically reduced last year and will be held for 2009, which is pretty good value as the seaon ticket price is equivalent to paying for three individual visits.

During this time a new charitable trust will be created, to take over day-to-day running of the museum from the council in 2010. This is a major step forwards, because the trust will have to freedom to attract sponsors and outside funding that is not open to council-run attractions. In addition the Council is committed to continuing a subsidy of £160k per year and to offer match funding of £150k for any necessary capital work (i.e. building improvements).

That's the good news. However, even when fully subsidised (£250k per year) Cogges was run on a shoestring and utterly reliant on the goodwill of staff and volunteers putting in many hours of hard graft. The barns, which could be a huge asset if converted to a high enough standard to hold weddings and conferences, need substantial investment. In other words the new trust will need to raise a huge amount of money to top up the Council subsidy before it takes over running Cogges Farm in 2010.

There's still a long way to go ....

Record year for Cogges Farm

Visitor numbers have been confirmed for this year at a whopping 32,621 - a 25% increase on the previous year (an additional 8476 people), which is an incredible achievement with such a small team and such limited budgets. School visits were up even more, by over 30%. These figures don't include Advent weekend in early December, so we're looking at something close to 35,000.

Season tickets have been amazingly popular, with over 650 sold, and 6780 season ticket uses recorded. So on average season ticket holders each visited Cogges 10 times.

Cogges re-opens for the 2009 season on 7th April 2008. This gem in the middle of a fast-growing town will need all the support it can get, so put that date in your diary and let's hope it's sunny!