News and Events

January 2006

Wine - we are really delighted that our first vintage has won an award and received favourable reviews from wine experts. In September 2005 it was awarded a Bronze in the Thames & Chilterns Vineyard Association Wine Challenge and recently Susy Atkins, Wine Editor of Delicious magazine said ‘I thought it was delicious – dry, aromatic, crisp and elegant but also fruity and juicy. Just the kind of light aperitif wine I enjoy or perhaps in the summer a good match for simple white fish or seafood dishes

Our wine is only available from the village shop in Finstock (Tel. 01993 869096) and costs £8.50 per bottle.

2005 was not a brilliant year for some UK vineyards and we had mixed results. The Phoenix vines flowered when the weather was cold and dry and the fruit produced was disappointing. The Orion vines flowered a little later and produced a much better crop. In total we produced about the same volume as 2004 but because the mix of the grapes will be different, we are expecting a slightly different flavoured wine this year, perhaps not so aromatic.

Awards - 2005 was certainly an award-winning year for Bridewell. In April we were ‘Highly Commended’ in the Impact Awards, a national competition sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, for small organisations that have made a significant contribution to community healthcare over the last three years. The award placed us in the top twenty out of 350 organisations across the UK. In August we won the ‘Special Needs’ category of the Oxford Times’ Garden of the Year competition and in September we were awarded a Care Workers Award by the Oxfordshire Carers Forum.

In the Impact Awards competing organisations are assessed against key criteria (Innovation, Management, Partnership, Achievement, Community Focus and Targeting Need) by an independent team of experts from the King’s Fund, a major charitable foundation that campaigns for better healthcare.

In addition to the award, we were given really helpful feedback to help with our future development by the King’s Fund.

To win this award is a tribute to everyone at Bridewell and something of which we are very proud.

Open Day 2006 - Our Open Day this year will be held on 25th June between 1.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m.