About Deddington OnLine

 

Deddington OnLine (DOL) was the creation of Colin Robinson and Charles Newey. In 1997, fortified by a pint or two of Hook Norton Best Bitter in the pub one night, they thought that it would be a good project to mark the Millennium in Deddington. Sadly, both Colin and Charles have since died but this website is their lasting legacy.

With the assistance of a team of volunteers, it has grown steadily to cover all aspects of the Parish of Deddington. Since May 2015 the Deddington News (DN) has been a linked ‘sister’ site. Deddington History (DH) is also a linked site where a large amount of parish history is recorded.

DN is an operating division of Deddington Media Community Interest Company (DMCIC), a company limited by guarantee with profits dedicated to community projects (Company no. 8141239, registered office the Windmill Community Centre). DMCIC’s annual report and accounts are prepared by an independent firm of accountants licensed as member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (and are available for review from Companies House and on request to the Company or Editors of DN).

In 2023 DMCIC’s directors are:

The Aims of the Website

  • To publicise the many community services the parish has to offer

  • To give clubs and societies space to publicise and report on their activities
  • To provide an archive for historical, geographical and environmental information about the parish

  • To provide a visual record of the parish since the advent of photography

How the Site is Run
The site is run by volunteers. We try to give as much public exposure as possible to what we do on the DOL home page and in Deddington News. Overall management of the site, annual review of material, checking compliance with our own code of conduct (see below), etc. is done by the editor.

In 2023 Mary Robinson is editor of DOL,with help from Veena De Souza. Jill Cheeseman and Catherine Desmond are joint editors of DN, and Rob Forsyth is editor of History.

Volunteers are always welcome. If you would like to join us, please email the editor.

Contents

Deddington News
A hard copy of the latest issue is printed and delivered to every household in Deddington, Clifton and Hempton. A digital copy is also posted every month on DOL, where you will also find back numbers from 47 years of publication.

  • Directory
    Any club, society or community organisation and a limited number of businesses (accommodation and places to eat) within the parish may have an entry in the Directory.
  • Entries may include the name and position of the main contact, postal address, current email and web addresses, and telephone number (mobile or landline).
  • Instructions on updating or changing an entry are on the Directory home page.
  • The Directory is checked and updated annually and is the only place where contact details are stored on DOL.

Club, Society and Community Organisations
Many clubs and societies now have their own websites, so we can link directly to your website from the Clubs & Societies or Community pages. Alternatively, if you have no website of your own, you may have a presence on DOL, the contents of which may contain text and images, and contain links to external websites by agreement with the DOL editor.

No Directory-type information may be placed on these pages; instead the words ‘For contact information please refer to DIRECTORY’ will link to the relevant entry in the Directory database.

Each page or set of pages should have a representative who is responsible for site maintenance. If no one is nominated then DOL retains the right to edit or remove the website.

Gallery
The Gallery holds over 3000 pictures of the parish of Deddington from the mid-19th century to the present day. We are happy to provide electronic files for reproduction of any that are not under copyright. Additions to the Gallery are always welcome – contact the Gallery editor, Mary Robinson. The Gallery will shortly be indexed on the British Library’s UK Web Archive.

Code of Conduct
A public website needs a code of conduct. The following are our key guidelines:

  • Nothing of a personal nature is published without consent unless it is already in the public domain. Even then we normally check.
  • All material is proofread to check that it is not scurrilous or otherwise unacceptable to the public. The editor reserves the right to refuse any material on this basis.
  • All material must be attributable, with a contactable name appearing in the Directory of Contacts. We do not accept anonymous entries.
  • The content of entries is that of the author(s) and does not necessarily coincide with the view of the DOL editors. We add a disclaimer to this effect.
  • We always seek copyright permission where appropriate and possible.
  • DOL conforms to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation. The editor makes every reasonable attempt to ensure that material placed on the site is accurate and up-to-date (material is reviewed annually). Please see the Disclaimer which we are obliged to include for good legal reasons. You may wish to read our Privacy Policy.

Financing DOL
The website was initially set up with a grant from Deddington Parish Council which is gratefully acknowledged. Work carried out by members of the CIC is entirely voluntary.

In 2008 the site software was upgraded to a Content Management System (CMS). The money to do this was raised by individual and public subscription and the generosity of the webhost, Granary Publications.

In 2012 DOL and DN became operating divisions of DMCIC; the two operating divisions co-operate at many levels with DOL carrying online editions of DN. Some small costs are incurred from time to time for which we occasionally seek donations. Any funds that DOL gathers, along with DN advertising revenue, are wound into Deddington Media CIC.

In 2019 the site changed platform again to WordPress, and we are grateful to ComputerPro of Heyford Park, Oxfordshire, for managing the migration for us; and to Deddington Parish Council for funding the migration.

Between 2021 and 2023, funding for the Deddington History website was provided by Deddington Parish Archive, courtesy of a grant from Deddington Farmers’ Market.