Deddington OnLine (DOL) was the creation of Colin Robinson and Charles Newey. In 1997, fortified by a pint or two of Hook Norton 'Best' in the pub one night, they thought that this would be a good project with which to mark the Millennium in Deddington. With the assistance of a team of volunteers, it has grown steadily to cover all aspects of the Parish of Deddington and is now one of the leading village websites in the country. DOL complements The Deddington News (DN) with which there are close ties.

The aims of the website

  • To place Deddington firmly on the tourist map
  • To provide links with regional, commercial, educational and other community websites
  • To provide another form of communication, the Forum, for discussing important parish issues
  • To bring our local businesses to the attention of anyone seeking services in the area
  • To give clubs and societies space in which to publicise and report on their activities
  • To provide an archive for historical, geographical and environmental information about the parish

How the site is run

Although the site is run by a group of self appointed volunteers, we try and give as much public exposure as possible to what we do by taking a regular slot in the Deddington News and holding quarterly meetings in the Unicorn pub to which you are welcome (dates and times in the DN and on the Forum or editor@deddington.org.uk).

Overall management of the site, review of material, checking compliance with our own code of conduct (see below), etc, is done by a Web Editorial Group (WEG). Present members are: Don Anderson, Elizabeth Burak, Celia Clark, Colin Cohen, Paul Drawmer, Alison Day, Rob Forsyth, Martin Ince, Martin Reed and Colin Robinson.

Using a Content Management System (CMS), a number of sub-editors keep an eye on sections of DOL, and clubs and societies may look after their own pages on the site. There is also a group of interested people who do a lot of the leg work in finding and preparing new material for the site. They include: Jo Eames, Maureen Forsyth, Buffy Heywood, Mary Robinson and Sylvie Spenceley.

Additional volunteers are always welcome. Please email editor@deddington.org.uk for details.

What goes onto the site

Any social or business enterprise within the parish is entitled to an entry on DOL

  • Clubs, societies and groups can have and maintain pages, with illustrations, to explain what they are about, as well as entries in the index of businesses, clubs and societies (DOLdex); the index includes postal, live email and URL addresses, telephone & fax numbers.
  • Businesses are limited to 25 words in DOLdex - excluding postal, email and URL addresses, telephone and fax numbers. Separate and expanded web page(s) can be linked to this entry provided the cost of generation of the page(s) is borne by the business. The WEG can provide a list of suitable compilers and advice for those who are unfamiliar with creating websites.
  • A wide variety of articles reflect the multi-facets of Deddington parish life: local history, parish council reports, church and chapel, village walks, natural history, diary of events, and our wide-ranging community services (Library, Fire Service, etc). Links provide immediate access to websites generated by other parish institutions such as the school, health centre, Parish church.

Code of Conduct

A public website such as ours clearly needs a code of conduct. The following are the key guidelines we observe:

  • Nothing of a personal nature is published without that persons consent unless they have already clearly placed it in the public domain. Even then we normally check with them.
  • All material is proof read to check that it is not scurrilous, libellous or otherwise unacceptable to the public at large. The WEG reserves the right to refuse any material on this basis.
  • We always seek copyright permission where appropriate.
  • DOL is registered under the Data Protection Act and conforms to the provisions of the Act. Every reasonable attempt is made by the WEG to ensure that material placed on the site is accurate and up to date - we undertake a massive annual review. Please see the Disclaimer which we are obliged to include for good legal reasons.

Financing DOL

The web site was initially set up with a grant from Deddington Parish Council which is gratefully acknowledged.  Deddington Parish Council is not responsible for any of the contents of this site beyond that which it may have directly provided.

The work carried out by members of the WEG is entirely voluntary.

Some small costs are incurred from time to time such as web hosting, for which the WEG occasionally seeks donations.

 

2008 - Software Update Project

By 2008 the growing size and popularity of DOL imposed a heavy load on the webhosts (Granary Publications) who were our only html skilled  authors and, as they worked on a voluntary basis, they were obviously time constrained as to how much and when they could prepare and upload new material. After careful consideration it was decided to upgrade the site software to a Content Management System (CMS) which would broaden the scope for additional sub editors to self train to become responsible for their own areas of interest. The system chosen for this was MySource Matrix developed by Squiz of Australia and UK (squiz.co.uk).


It would have been unfair to invite Granary to undertake the transposition to CMS in their own time so we decided to make a public appeal within the Parish for the funds required to pay Granary to take on the update task as an in house project at cost, rather than whenever they could spare time voluntarily. The size and speed of the response was amazing; the money was raised within a few months and six months later the work was complete.

We would like to acknowledge the generosity of our our donors - who are listed below - and say a very big thankyou to them all.


Map group £300
Festival Committee  £250
Deddington & District History Society  £200
Crown & Tuns Public House  £100
Parish Council  £100
Church of St Peter & St Paul £100
The Unicorn Hotel £100
Hamptons International (formerly Hayward & White) £100
Philip Allan Updates £100
Richard Spencer Builders £100
Peach Pub Co Ltd  £100
Bengal Spice  £100
PA Franklin Builders & Decorators £100
Market management group £50
Dr O'Donnell  £50
The Ashcroft Clinic £50
Mr & Mrs D Anderson £50
Town Football Club  £50
Deddington Royal British Legion Club Ltd  £50
Plum Garden Design  £50
Hair Razers  £40
Deddington Felt Roofing  £30
Wesleyan Reform Church £25
Antique centre £25
Colts Football Club £25
Congregational Church  £25
Viva £25
Health Centre  £25
Craft Group  £20
Friends of Hempton Church  £20
The Old Post House  £20
NFU Ltd  £20
Otmoors  £20
Tees 'n China  £20
Castle Antiques  £20
The Red Lion Bar and Bistro £20
Earls Farm B & B  £20
May Fu II  £20
Friendship Club  £15
Friends of Daeda's Wood  £10
Cyclogical Shop £10
Womens Institute £10
Beeches Bowls Club  £10
Tennis Club  £10
Holly Tree Club £10
Windmill Community Centre  £10
Windmill Thursday Club  £10
Deddington Original Golf Society  £10
Nick Westbury & Co Ltd  £10
Little Princes & Princesses  £10
Organ Grinders  £5