The cache is NOT on church property.
The Northway estate, built by Oxford City Council began in 1951. Dominating the skyline is Plowman Tower, a block of flats on 15 levels. It was the first of Oxford’s tower blocks, named after Harry Plowman who was the city’s Town Clerk from 1940 to 1965.
The only church on the estate, Northway Evangelical began following some activities for children in the 1950s. The building dates from 1961. Services are every Sunday morning, and the building is used by the church and the wider community throughout the week. The church website describes itself as a friendly and welcoming Christian church in Oxford with a congregation from different backgrounds. Their range of activities allows people of all ages to meet with each other and to learn more together about the relevance of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The cache owner has links with the church, and the estate. He and his wife got to know a worshipper with physical disabilities through Break-Through, the charitable organisation they ran for 13 years in the Oxford area that supported homeless and vulnerable people. This person died suddenly in 2003, in his early 40’s. With no family and few friends, his two cats had no-where to go. At the time, Tammy was 20 and Ginny 10 years. So we received them into our home. Tammy lived a further 4 years with us, and Ginny another 12 years.
Through Break-Through, links were made with the Emmaus Oxford Furniture Store which was next to the church. The charity which provides a wide range of household goods for people on low incomes at low cost, is now located the other side of the city in Cowley. Also on the Northway estate is Viking House, a Barnardo’s property for children with physical and learning disabilities needing short respite breaks. Three members of the cache owner’s extended family regularly had short stays there between 2014 and 2018.
The cache is a magnetic nano that should be reachable by most people with physical disabilities. Nimble fingers would be an advantage. Alternatively a small screwdriver or similar may help. Please bring your own writing means.
Geocaching Etiquette. geocaching.com states under 'Help Center' in Paragraph 1.7: 'We like to keep things fun for everyone, so we have a few rules we encourage everyone to follow. Sign both the logbook and log your find online to get your smiley. Geocache owners love reading about your experience'. There are more rules, but this is the first one. This cache owner requests that if on the rare occasion geocachers are unable to sign, an explanation is given in their log. A photo of the cache, if possible should then be sent through the messaging system.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here: http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html