UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE 
Problems resolved - delivery now under way!

Here is the What's On page for this month.

• Saturday 17th October - Chiltern Big Sing salutes World Singing Day Stokenchurch Primary School - 10:30 - 16:30 - Lego Saturday Chinnor Library - 11:00 - 12:30
• Wednesday 21st October - 19:00 - 20:00 - Prayer Vigil  'Climate Change - water' At the Methodist Church, Station Road.
• Thursday 22nd October - 16:30 - Children's Book Club - Chinnor Library
• Thursday 22nd to Saturday 24th October - Chinnor Players Present: “Par for the course” a hilarious comedy by Peter Gordon
• Saturday 24th October Chinnor Community Church.10.00 a.m.to 2 p.m. - MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY.Sale of crafts and homemade food. 
• Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th October - Archaeological Digs at Donkey Lane Community Orchard: 10 am - 3:30 pm. Wear old clothes and stout shoes. Free event
• 26th to 30th October (except 27th) - 14:30 to 16:30 - Sphere Robot Cars Week!13th, 20th and 27th November, 11:30-13:30 - Marvellous Me! Now I'm 3-4 and Ready for School! - Chinnor Library - This is run with the health visiting team over three sessions, book via www.redkitefamilycentre.org/events
• Tuesday 27th October - 3:30pm - Friends of St Andrew's Church : Talk by Dom Blyth on the English Civil War and Chinnor followed by a short AGM : St Andrew's Church

The following letter arrived a bit too late for inclusion in the October issue of the pump, so I felt it deserved to be printed here: Chas.

Dear Editor,

May I, through the columns of The Chinnor Pump, on behalf of The Friends of St. Andrews Church, thank everyone who attended the Quiz Night on the 25^th September 2026. The amount raised was a magnificent £477 towards the care and maintenance of St Andrew’s Church.

The results are as follows:

Nice but Dim 89.1% (1*); Nearly not all there 83.6% (1); Upper Chinnor Bakers +1 75.5%; Les Quizerables 69.6%; Back to Basics 69.1%; Just Five 65%; Crafty Crafters 63.6%; The Wild Ones 56.8%; Ladies that Lunch 54.5%; Silver Spoons 47.3%. Figures in brackets record the number of perfect rounds; * indicates a perfect round with the Joker in play.

Due to an oversight on my part, the answers to the Warm Up Quiz were not given. To correct this oversight, the Warm Up Quiz and answers follow:

1. In the Christian Calander, what name is given to the Sunday before Easter and the feast that commemorates Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Palm Sunday
2. Which 97-mile river enters the North Sea at Berwick, Northumberland? Tweed
3. The National Wallace Monument is located just outside which Scottish city? Stirling
4. Which quiz board game involves the collection of coloured wedges? Trivial Pursuits
5. Founded in 1123, which hospital in Smithfield, London is the oldest hospital in Britain? St Bartholomew’s Hospital
6. What hereditary metabolic disorder, characterised by recurrent acute attacks of severe inflammation in the joints, is caused by the disposition of salts of uric acid? Gout
7. Which winter sport can Nordic or Alpine? Skiing
8. Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head; Walk on by and What the world needs now is love are among the countless hits by which prolific songwriting duo? Bert Bacharach and Hal David
9. In mechanics, what is the name given to the maximum speed that an object can reach while falling? Terminal Velocity
10. Which author of financial biographies has written works including Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, a profile of convicted cryptocurrency Fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried? Michael Lewis

Once again, thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the Quiz Night 2027.

Yours Faithfully,

David Watson

The "Chinnor Pump" began life back in 1970, created by Brian Jackson (Glynswood Print) and was called "Chinnor Chronicle", later to become the "Chinnor Roundabout", setting out its stall as a means to air people’s views and by doing so stimulate interest in local affaires. It promised to advertise to a wide section of the community and maintain public interest. The first issue started with an opinion column explaining the rationale for the newspaper and its value to a growing community and provision for more coverage of local affaires than was currently available in the other local papers. This was followed by a debate about the village water status, local GP Dr. Hood saying his children would not drink the tap water. Apparently testing was carried out regularly but a letter of complaint would be sent to the water board.

Good news! A Lloyds Bank was to be opened in the High Street bad news the Rura District Council has apparently refused to provide a public convenience on the playing fields and the state of Chinnor sewage was reported to be not fit for purpose. It was hoped that improvements would be made to the Henton sewage works before more houses were built. News of the completion of the new primary school in Mill Lane with the keys having been handed to the headmaster Mr. Geoffrey Manser. This was on the 6th July the scheduled date of completion being 14th September. Information about the new temporary hutted building in Station Road heralded the news of work towards a new centre for the village youth. Members of the Chinnor rifle club and the RAOB have joined forces to run the donkey derby on Saturday 29th August. The CPC approved a request from the Allotments Committee for a water supply to be installed on the allotments. Other topics covered included: school swimming awards and a contribution by Chinnor Clairvoyant who predicted a great future for the Chronicle.

Among the advertisements was ‘A 1964 sunbeam rapier series iv price £325’. The edition finished with a selection of properties for sale. Advertisement rates for the Chronicle classified 3d. per word box 5/- single column inch 18/- The edition concluded with a joke too painfully awful to retell. 

You can view a PDF of the first edition of the Chronicle on the Chinnor Heritage website HERE. I'm not sure how long it lasted in this format. Some years later, the Parish Council/Councillors thought it would be a good idea to resurrect it as a village magazine/paper. A group of 7/8 Councillors investigated this and with sponsorship from the Parish Council, The Chinnor Parish Pump arrived.  Each person had a job to do i.e Adverts, counting/distributions, accounts, setting for print, printing etc.  The adverts were so popular that the Council only sponsored the first couple of editions and then the Pump went completely independent and has remained that way ever since.  

It was agreed by the management team that the Pump would be printed and delivered free with revenue from adverts.  Young people were recruited and paid to deliver to Chinnor and surrounding villages. They decided it was best to make Chinnor Parish Pump a limited company and it still is. Over the years, some Councillors left the village and some resigned leaving left just 2/3 people. Linda Cameron, one of the remaining councillors from that time, helped where she could and eventually became a director.  They paid someone to set it for printing and Alan John printed it.

Eventually Linda continued alone with a couple of people being paid to do some of the work.  Alan left the village and they looked to other printers. Over time, the advertising dwindled with only the occasional new one, this is only to be expected, because if companies are struggling it’s one of the first expenses to go. Linda spoke to the Parish Council explaining the situation, and they felt strongly that the Pump should remain independent but agreed to help monthly by paying for their insert, just like any other company paying for their advert. This helped for a time. As was mentioned in the September 2025 edition, that in 2021, fourteen pages of of the pump contained adverts, but by 2025 it was down to just six pages.  This makes a big difference when it comes to income. Costs to produce the Pump are not just printing and distribution, the limited company administration needs funding too, accountancy fees, corporation tax and other sundry expenses need to be met. Linda continued as best she could but after more than twenty years, decided it was time to give it a rest.

I joined Linda's team in late 2024, mainly to help with the Desktop Publishing part of compiling and formatting the pump ready to be sent to the printers. I worked with Joni Cameron initially and then took over the role completely, also helping organise the distribution until physical issues prevented me from doing that part. When Linda made the decision to close the pump down in the autumn of 2025, I offered to take over the business as I see it as a valuable community asset, especially for those unable or unwilling to use the internet. I have achieved this by setting up a whole new Ltd Company "New Chinnor Pump Ltd" to continue to produce, print and distribute the pump on the same monthly basis. I also set up this website to provide a digital version of the pump with archive copies also available. I have managed to keep some advertisers on the books and bring in new ones, plus some sponsorship and donations.

Well that's our story so far, if you know of any further history of the Pump, Roundabout or Chronicle, I'd love to hear from you and include it above. Maybe you might have an older copy stored away that perhaps I could borrow, scan and present it as part of the archives.

Here's to the future of "The Chinnor Pump".

Chas Large
September 2025

Thanks to Dr Fiona Mantle for her contribution to this history.

Welcome to the ON-LINE version of "The Chinnor Pump", the monthly parish magazine for the village of Chinnor in Oxfordshire. 

The PAPER version of the Chinnor Pump continues as before and is delivered to all Chinnor residents at the beginning of the month.

The deadline for inclusion in the pump is the Penultimate Wednesday of the month. 

The current PDF version of the pump can be viewed HERE.

You can view archive issues in PDF form HERE.

We're in the process of updating the website to display the current issue within the site window. Watch this space.