2009-2012
| Court of Awards & Nikki's Queen's Guide
Evening 6.1.12 |
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| Christmas Dinner and
Sleepover 2011 |
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 Our annual Christmas Dinner Party and Sleepover was attended by almost everyone except our Affiliates this year, including a past member and a waiting to join Guide. As usual the newest members cooked the Turkey dinner, the right/left present giving game was played, followed by some silly party games (including eating a mars bar whilst wearing large gloves!!) with a lot of chat and laughter. No ice skating (it was thought to be too expensive), however an innovation this year was playing on the Wii. Most people slept well & shared a breakfast of cereals & croissants before cleaning, tidying up & leaving the following day. (Thanks Mim!!) |
| London Shopping &
Youth Hosteling & SSOX Challenge Preparation |
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 Picture left:
Cheryl & Holly took a few girls to St Paul's
Youth Hostel for a couple of days shopping in
London (Thanks Cheryl) Above: Preparing our display for
the Nuffield Hospital, whilst in the background
Rangers update our SSOX Challenge Ruby scrapbook.
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| November
Meetings and our County Challenge |
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 18.11.11 Collecting £42.45 for Children in Need and litter picking the Centre of Kidlington for our 2011 SSOX Challenge whilst dressed up as Pirates then working for the Pirate Badge. What an evening!! |
25.11.11 Our Ruby
Murray Night. We invited all the Units in the County
to join us, but Fridays aren't very popular and our
only guests were 2 Leaders from Aspire RGU. Ate
loads of different types of curry, naan, rice &
poppadoms and talked Cockney Rhyming Slang as much
as possible whilst Nikki completed part of her
Commonwealth Award. |
| Bonfire Night November
2011 |
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 Above - Sparklers and toffee apples, right - hot soup to stop us freezing to death added to building a guy and a Bonfire Night Quiz. Lucy arranged a really good evening for the Unit. |
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| October
2011 - Wicked in London with the Region & Go Ape
at Culham - just some of our activities |
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| Court of Awards September 2011 |
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 All uniformed Members who attended our AGM 2011 Nette was presented with a beautiful crystal vase and flowers wishing her luck on her forthcoming op. |
New Neckers were
distributed and worn at our 2011 AGM held on the
16th September, followed by our COA Ceremony where
Mim was presented with her Queen's Guide Award (see
our Achievements page) by our new County
Commissioner Andrea Oughton. Four members said their
good-byes, Katherine, Zoe, Louise & Flic were
all given Leaving gifts and wished well. Awards were presented to all Members featuring the FUDGE poem: Thanks for being just like FUDGE!! Fun and friendly Unique and understanding Diligent in delivering good programmes Generous and giving Entirely enthusiastic about Guiding Maisie & Emily won the Most Meetings Attended Award (35 out of 46) and Katherine was Nominated as the Most Influential Member. Nikki was presented with her 75 Nights Away & Cheryl with both her Senior Section Leader Qualification and her Senior Section Campers Licence. Well Done all of You!! |
| Windsurfing Summer meeting 2011 |
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Not many turned up for the Surfing evening in August but all who did not only enjoyed themselves. They all managed to stand up for a while!!!   |
| Summer
Camp 1-6th August 2011 Longridge, Marlow |
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| Eight members
attended Summer Camp this year supporting Mim taking
her Campers Licence. Longridge offered a deal where the girls got to have a go at sailing, kayaking and canadian canoeing. Unfortunately they had to cook on gas (they'd rather have used wood fires!!) but they did get the chance to have campfires with summores and a bar-b-cue one evening. They also explored Marlow, went swimming, had a fish & chip supper and spent a lot of time etching...    |
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| Cocktails & canapes
July 2011 for County SSOX Challenge -
designing our own ruby cocktail!! |
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| Leadership Skills Evening Summer
2011 |
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| Mim ran a Leadership
Skills Evening as part of her Leadership
Qualification for those who needed it for their
Chief Guide's Award. Activities included Icebreakers; the Skittles Game and Getting to Know You Catch. Teambuilders; Rescuing the Duck from a holed standing pipe, Undoing a Human Knot & Deadman's Swamp (getting your team from one end of the building to the other without standing on the ground). Finally, Barking Up The Wrong Tree (a self - discovery exercise) and a Promise Activity, Writing Your Promise on Your Hand. The evening went well & everyone had a go at some Leadership Tasters.  |
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| Jewellery
Making for SSOX Challenge Summer 2011 |
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| Sun Run July 2011 - ready to
party in the evening & playing during the day. |
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| Queen's Guide &
Gold DofE Celebrations June 24th 2011 |
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| Annual
Review
June 22nd 2011 |
Unit Court of Award
Ceremony June 24th 2011 |
 Held locally this year, Flic received her Chief Guide's Award, Cheryl, her Queen's Guide Award & Mim her Gold DofE Award. Nikki & Holly supported, Gemma kindly carried the flag and Nette's clutch went!! Two days later, we held a Unit Party for Mim & Cheryl, unfortunately Flic wads unable to attend. |
We hoped for a
bar-b-cue, but it poured so we were in the Centre.
What's more it was really badly attended, however
those who were there saw our special girls
presented with their Awards by the County
Commissioner and themselves had badges pinned to
ribbons tied around animal biros.
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| DofE June 2011 -
The Bronze Group at the start (left) and finish of
their Expedition (right). |
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| High Ropes at Youlbury June 2011 |
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 followed by
a campfire with summores!
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| DofE Practice May 2011
- in the local area |
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| Pagan Wedding May
2011 - Rangers were given a donation
to serve the food and generally help out. |
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| Dartmoor Gold DofE
Expedition April 2011 - Nikki, Lucy, Lucy,
Becca, Flic & Louise - Very well Done! |
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 above: All together. below: Camping at Nuns Cross.  |
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| April 2011 -- Cheryl |
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 Cheryl was invited
to the
House of Lords in April where she was presented with her Queen's Guide Award.  |
 Cheryl's Camp Licence was held at
Horley. 7 members of the Unit supported her for a
Seaside themed camp where they dug in the sandpit,
floated paper boats, had a visit from a puppet
theatre, ate fish 'n chips, swam, bar-b-cued, had a
go at painting both mugs & silk pictures and
generally had lots of Sea side fun.A great
time was had by all. Just the accounts to sort and
we'll have another Licence holder in the Unit.
Congratulations, we're so pleased!  |
| Aunt Sally Evening with
Witney Explorer Unit 25.3.11 + 18th
birthday celebrations |
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| Royal Wedding Badge |
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 Rangers made tiaras and cup cakes, learnt more about the Royal Family and posed for photos in order to gain the Royal Wedding Badge during one cold damp March evening. |
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| Celebrating Promises
made at Pax Lodge February 2011. |
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We managed to crack
open the non-alcoholic bubbly only a few weeks later
for George & Alexis but it was a few months
later that we got around to celebrating Gemma and
Lucy's...... Hey ho!! |
 Sharing their non-alcoholic bubbly with others... |
| London Challenge for
Thinking Day 2011 |
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 outside Buckingham Palace  in Westminster Abbey at Lord & Lady B-P's Memorial. |
 Half a dozen members of the Unit spent the weekend after Thinking Day celebrating by working for LASER's London Challenge. We ate lunch & shopped at CHQ, visited Downing Street, Lord & Lady B-P's memorial at Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, the Monument, the Maze at Crystal Palace and Covent Garden. We spent the night at Pax Lodge, ate Gourmet Burgers for supper and invested four new members: Alexis, George, Lucy and Gemma. Result!!  |
| Snowtubing on a Friday
evening |
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| Valentine's Day 2011 |
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 Delivering our Baby Basket to the JR Maternity Hospital just before Valentine's Day 2011. We'd been unable to deliver it at Christmas due to the snow!! |
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| Christmas 2010 |
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 As usual, our newer members cooked the meal, some christmas cakes were delivered, a few ex-members attended, awards were presented, the left right game was played with secret santa gifts and we followed it up with ice skating and a sleepover. Then when we got up on Saturday there was SNOW!! It took one member over six hours to get home!!! |
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| Halloween Party - at Beanwood 2010 | |
We haven't been to visit this Girlguiding Oxfordshire camp venue set in the beautiful surroundings of Wytham Woods for some time, but it does make a perfect setting for a spooky Halloween Party. There's no electricity or water laid on, nor any vehicular access - and the access there is wends its way through what appears to be encroaching woodland. A perfect meeting place for various witches, wizards and black cats!! |
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| Vision
20.10.2010 - remaking our Promise at 20.10 hours. |
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Our Division Vision
Event was held in Church Street, Kidlington. Over
400 members attended, socialised, painted jamjars,
sang around the fire and remade their promise to the
words streamed from Heythrop Park where Liz Burnley
were joined by Holly & Cheryl at the Women's
World Forum (photos on left). An Event to remember! Afterwards some of our newer members remade their Promises adding the 'Be of Service to the Community' part and celebrated with non alcoholic bottles of wine  |
| Unit Meetings - Autumn
2010 |
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  Autumn meetings included welcoming new members and saying farewell to old. We celebrated Zoe's Promise Ceremony, finished off Adventure 100, held a bin-bag fashion show, made (and decorated) Christmas cakes, and started Books of Inspiration. |
| Our Unit's own Ultimate
Adventure - Barcelona 23-28 August 2010 |
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| Oxfordshire County
Centenary Camp - Quest 2010 - scenes
from City II Subcamp - 6 Unit members there. |
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| Just a couple of scenes
from Fusion 4.8.10 - the street performers in
particular were superb!! |
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| Great Guide Getaway
August 2010 |
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Centenary Camp at Harewood House, Yorkshire We tried our hardest to persuade the Rangers either to apply for STARS (the Senior Section Subcamp Staff) or to come just for a day or two as part of the Great Guide Getaway, but in the end Holly and I went on our own and had a brilliant time, gaining not only a tent but the opportunity to explore and marvel at the workings of such a well run enormous undertaking. Here we are at breakfast with another Oxon Leader and Leaders from the States. |
| Adventure
100 Evening July 2010 |
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 Trying on 1910 clothing with hobble skirts, forming the figure 100 out of badges, tye dying cotton socks and uploading our photos onto Twitter for 'Catch the moment' and making a dish out of black ingredients occupied one rainy Ranger evening - nearly completed Adventure 100!! |
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| Punting
9.7.10 |
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| 2nd - 4th July 2010 Sun
Run |
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 It
was a football themed party on Friday night.
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 Lovely weather this
year!!
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| 28th
May 2010 Court of Awards Barbie
- awards were pinned to ribbons hanging from
Centenary balloons |
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 Maria & Ali at the barbie |
 Maria cutting her Gold DofE Award Celebration cake |
Other recent meetings included taking photos of our ducks  and participating in the 'End Malaria Campaign'  |
| 15th May
2010 Oxfordshire's Centenary Party at the Palace - running
the Outdoor Cooking Base at Blenheim |
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 Toasting marshmallows on brazil nuts |
 Frying chappatis on buddy burners |
 Making cakes to bake in cardboard box ovens |
 Cooking dampers on sticks |
 Sausages on sticks |
 Pancakes on tin cans |
| 17th
April 2010 County Centenary Service for Adults at
Dorchester Abbey |
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We were honoured to have 3 Chief Guide's Award Certificates presented!  We carried the County Standard. It was a lovely day!  |
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| Gold Practice Brecon
Beacons April
2010
below left: Just off! & below right:
Relax, we're all FINISHED!! |
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| Recruitment 2010 |
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Recruitment games evening last night, in an effort to attract new members. Unfortunately none of the expected Guides came but a Young Leader from a local village joined us, as did our two new girls from last term. So a good turn out and a successful evening with a variety of games interspersed with programme planning, our chocolate fountain and bouncing on the space hoppers for one of our Adventure 100 Challenges. |
| Oxford Gang Show March
2010 |
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Five Unit members in the Oxford Gang Show this year and three of them were in the Dance team as well. That's Sunday mornings as well as the ordinary rehearsals on Monday evenings. Dedication!!   |
| Christmas Good Turn
& Centenary Recruitment |
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We made individual Christmas cakes in baked bean tins & planted hyacinth bulbs for the 16 inhabitants of Helen House Hospice (our Changing the World Charity), then took them over just before Christmas. Below: just about
to hand them over.
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To celebrate the
Centenary we made up a baby basket filled with
goodies such as nappies, talc, creams, bibs,
babygrows and other related products all wrapped in
cellophane, loaded with Girlguiding PR material
& tied with pink ribbons. We handed this over to
a Staff member at the JR Maternity Hospital to be
given to the first girl born in 2010. |
| Christmas
2009
No ice rink visit this year, but usual meal,
party and sleepover. |
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| Remembrance Parade 2009 |
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Not a massive turnout and Nette suffering with sciatica so not marching but once again we were at the Kidlington Remembrance Parade which this year we combined with a narrowboat trip. As usual loads of Brownies and Cubs at the Parade - not as many Guides and Scouts. The Charitable Trust that runs the Venturer is run by an ex-Scouter who is known to a lot of us through his connections with the Gang Show. This means he gives us a very reasonable rate for the use of the boat. We were out for three/four hours and cooked & munched pizzas as we motored along the canal, then back along the Thames. The start of our Adventure 100 Challenge!!  |
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| Court of Award Ceremony
November 2009 |
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 Above: our Chief Guide's, & below: Promise Ceremony.  |
14.11.09 was a special occasion for Horizon with our County Commissioner, Carol Dunne, presenting five Chief Guide's Award Certificates. A member of the Unit made her promise and various badges and other awards were presented stapled to bags of gold coins. These reminded all the girls they were all worth their weight in gold!!  |
| Silver DofE Expedition
October 2009 |
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One member who completed her Silver Practice in the New Forest ages ago, two who came with us to the Peaks in July and one member from another Unit who completed her Practice in the New Forest in May of this year called for a completely new route and different campsites for this highly successful October Expedition. |
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| Summer Camp Italy 2009 |
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 We threw coins into the Trevi Fountain.....  To ensure we all go back sometime!! |
Our aim is to go abroad every three years & though we originally talked about Cyprus, and the numbers weren't very good we ended up in Italy this year. Six days camping at B-P Park near Bassano Romano, including a Fiesta called 'White Night', spending time with Italian Scouts, paddling in Lago di Bracciano, eating at a traditional restaurant and visiting Viterbo. Then onto 4 days in Rome staying at Roma 60, a Scout House in the suburbs. There we visited the Coloseum & Palatine, saw the Pantheon, had an audience with the Pope at Castelgandalfo, threw coins in the Trevi Fountain, visited St Peter's (where we experienced a mutiny), Vatican City & museums, the Spanish Steps, lots of pizzerias & restaurants and participated in an open top bus tour. Loads of shopping & pasta, temperatures in the 40's. BRILL!!  
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| Friday meetings Summer
2009 |
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We try to get out as
much as possible during the summer, and this year
we're participating in activities such as barbies,
hikes, crazy golf, gardening, playing Aunt Sally
& punting as well as our
usual kayaking.  |
| Silver DofE Practice July 2009 |
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A couple of our members joined up with girls from LASER region on a Practice Expedition in the Peak District in July. Based at Glenbrook Guide Association Training Centre the expedition was organised by our one time Assistant Guider, Helen, who is now a DofE Adviser in London. |
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| Sun Run July 2009 |
Below left:
Members of the Unit dressing up in neon for the Toga
Party at Sun Run 2009. Below: the
Group. |
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| Court of Award June
2009 |
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We try and hold a Court of Award Ceremony 3 times a year, at Christmas, in the summer and at our Unit AGM in September. A few years ago we climbed Brill Hill for one of our mountain top moments and in June 2009 we decided to go again. This time we invited our Division Commissioner, Sue Moss, to present the awards & badges, which were pinned to ribbons tied around pinwheels. Unfortunately the windmill on the top of the hill was under refurbishment, with the sails down and the area surrounded by security fencing. However we took a picnic supper with us and sat and watched the sun-set whilst eating. Then the Awards were presented, including 3 hard won Silver DofE Certificates.  |
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| District Fete June 2009 |
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Unit members manning our stall at the District Fete in Church Street in June 2009. Nearly £1,000.00 was raised for our Guide Centre Rebuilding Fund. |
| Silver DofE Expedition
May 2009 |
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Horizon were joined by a couple of Rangers from a new Unit in Oxford run by Mim's Mum & ex-Ranger Maria (LINK Chair). Georgia and Lucy joined our Louise, Nikki, Becca and Lucy in the New Forest for the three day two night 24 mile Expeditin. They were really lucky with the weather and completed on time walking perfectly (apart from one slight mishap) to their route cards. Brilliant... |
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| Gold DofE Expedition
April 2009 |
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The Gold D. of E. Award group April 2009, having just completed their expedition on Dartmoor. Their Assessor, Jamie, seemed impressed. He certainly gave them glowing reports. Just the Residential to sort for most of them, then they're done!! Well Done!! |
| SSOX Challenge February 2009 |
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Sadly, our presentation for the
SSOX Challenge was a complete disaster, due to
technology issues, but we still had a great laugh
and took some of the funniest photos known to
Ranger kind. One day
perhaps we can show the video documenting our
entire journey around the world/Oxford!! |
| Cheryl's Chief Guide's
Evening 3.1.09 |
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On the 3rd January 2009, Cheryl was presented with her Chief Guide's Award by the County Commissioner Carol Dunne. Various other awards such as Cheryl's Senior Section Camp Permit, Becci's Commonwealth Award and various kayaking and Bronze DofE were also presented. A very pleasant evening. |
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