HENLEY & WATLINGTON - RG9 - APRIL 2010HENLEY & WATLINGTON - RG9 - APRIL 2010
Lovely! April again. And the wife’s Wedding Anniversary! By the time you read this she’ll have carried me off to foreign shores for a few days to prove what a good choice she made. I shall wear my lifebelt throughout the crossing! We will then celebrate in suitable style and probably launch a few oysters with a suitable magnum of Pop! April’s also the month when St George was foisted onto the English by the French, although I’ve yet to see a red rose on the 23rd. Saint George is the also the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia. Come back St Edmund I say. Reclaim your English heritage.
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One lot who always celebrates St George’s Day. Watlingtonians! They’ll be in festive mood all week, with flags flying and shops offering special promotions and even tastings of everything English. On Wednesday 21st, camera crews will be at Watcombe Manor Salerooms, filming the Auction Sale for ‘Flog It’ and the rousing finale starts at 11.30 on Saturday 24th with the Towersey Morris Men dancing through the streets accompanied by accordion music. Warm up with coffee and homemade biscuits at No 5 High Street, where John and Sally Rawstron will be open from 10 to 12.30 in aid of Sue Ryder Care, or for something more substantial, Calnan Bros. will be lighting their barbecue and offering “very English beef burgers, hotdogs and steak rolls”. Hah! ‘Very English’? Burgers and frankfurters? With pallid French mustard? Never mind! It’s always a jolly day!
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Gipsies also consider St George to be their Patron Saint. Perhaps that’s why the Posh Trout is parking up her caravan the next day. Exhausted with organising week-long Gypsy jazz tours she’ll be running a one-night only gig at Goring Heath Parish Hall in aid of Goring Heath Scouts on Saturday 24th April. Oops! Nearly forgot! St George is the Patron Saint of Scouts as well. The show will feature the Nils Solberg Trio. Nils has played with many of the Gypsy Jazz greats, including the legendary Johnny Van Derrick and Coleridge Goode, who played bass with Django Reinhardt. Strewth! Ruth, you’ve obviously danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales! The trio comprises one of the country's leading Hot Club violinists, Mike Piggott, and the unmissable Peter Morgan, known in Woodcote as the 'LMOB' - Lovely Man on Bass. Not sure what he’s like on Guinness though! Tickets cost £14 and include a light supper. Goring Heath is an intimate venue with fewer than 60 seats so you’ll have to book early. Telephone Ruth Hubbard on 01491 681 391. I was going to say ‘drop her line’ but I thought better of it.
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And it’s time to get out on the water! Goring Thames Sailing Club is holding their annual Open Day on Saturday the 24th between 11 and 3:30. The club has a number of boats available for members’ use, including RS Visions, an RS Feva, RS Q’bas and Optimists and you can have sail in one of them. And, in the event of ‘Man Overboard’ there are changing facilities, including hot showers and a licensed bar to keep the damp at bay. Come prepared though, and bring spare clothes and a towel. Perhaps an umbrella would be useful too! Refreshments will be on sale all day, including a BBQ at lunch-time and tea and cake during the afternoon. See www.goringthamessc.org.uk for more information.
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"Too short and too old." This was the universal response from insurance companies when John Halsall wanted cover to sail from the UK to the West Indies and back. Perhaps 28ft and 40 years old isn't the recognised norm, but John and Emily did it nonetheless. Oh! It’s the boat you’re talking about! John will be at the Badgemore Golf Club with the Henley Offshore Group to tell them about his 9000 miles adventure, which was mostly with the family, but includes an initial gale ridden passage from Norway with friends, and a solo trans-Atlantic return. If you fancy a touch of the ‘Hullo Sailors’ it’ll have to be next season, as they’ve now got their ditty bags ready for the summer. Get in touch with
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Six lead rein-type ponies are looking for new homes where they can help little children learn to ride. The Blue Cross equine welfare centre at Burford takes in horses and ponies that are no longer wanted and finds them loving new homes on a monitored loan basis. The ponies range in size from 10hh to 12.2hh and a couple even have the looks and the paces for the show ring. Good lead rein ponies give small children their all-important first experience of riding and these are all proven to be gentle and considerate with children. Twyford Mallow, a pretty little Welsh pony, is one of the charity’s many lead rein success stories. She was re-homed two years ago to Nikki Berry from Henley for her young daughters, nine-year-old Louise and five-year-old Christina. Not only has Mallow given both girls confidence in the saddle but she has also notched up an impressive collection of wins at local and county shows. She even competed at the Royal Windsor Horse Show last year. If you have the knowledge and the facilities to take on a pony and give it a second chance in life The Blue Cross would love to hear from you. Visit www.bluecross.org.uk/horses or phone 01993 822 454.
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‘LETS’, a ‘Local Exchange Trading Scheme’, is an international organisation concerned with the conservation of labour, materials and the social interaction in our society. That may sound ‘high falutin’ but they trade without money and use their own skills and labour. For example, how much does it cost to have your broken chair fixed? One of the members could fix it. Going on holiday? Another could drive you to the airport! There are also have social ‘do’s’ like walking amongst the bluebells, with a pub lunch of course, a fun murder mystery evening with supper, but most of all they help one another. Should you be interested telephone Val Woodings on 01491 834 519 and she’ll send you a pack explaining the scheme in detail.
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Ivor the Engine does a Bunk! No! Panic ye not! He’ll be on the Wallingford and Cholsey Railway over Easter, the 3rd, 4th and 5th, and as usual, he’ll be hauling the 1950’s coaches. The donkeys from Island Farm who will be there on Sunday and Monday. In case Ivor has a break down I suppose! And there’s a free bouncy castle for fare paying kids while you seek restoration in the Caff. Trains start from Wallingford at 11.05 and run hourly until 16.05. Find out more on www.cholsey-wallingford-railway.com.
If you want to do it twice, but take your refreshments in the Brake Coach Bar, turn up on the 23rd for the St George’s Day Specials and enjoy a slurp of locally produced ale as you bounce over the points. Although where you’ll leave the old lance and charger I’ve no idea. Donkey Sanctuary possibly!
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Ah! Now I know summer’s on the way. Friends of Ewelme School teas are starting up again. If you haven’t been, you should go. The school was founded in 1337 by Alice Chaucer, the granddaughter of the poet, making it the oldest continuously functioning school building in the country. Geoffrey Chaucer’s son Thomas and his wife Matilda are buried in St Mary’s Church nearby and their daughter Alice, who married the Earl of Salisbury and then the Duke of Suffolk, has a tomb there. This is one of only two monuments showing a woman wearing the Order of the Garter. Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men in a Boat, is relegated to the churchyard. Then after a rumble around the village, water cress beds and the olde Almshouses and schoole, you can partake of the convivial dish of tay on Sundays, April 25th, May 16th, June 13th, July 11th and September 19th.
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And another hardy annual, Love! The Bucks Fizz Women’s Doubles Charity Tennis Tournament run by Blewbury Tennis Club. It will take place in Blewbury, Upton and the Astons on Wednesday May 12th from 9.15 to 2.30. Then after running around all morning, you can enjoy a handsome lunch with bubbles and feel no guilt. Everyone will stay to watch the Final and in the meantime walk off lunch in two of Blewbury’s Yellow Book gardens. This year’s profits go to the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust; see www.cwmt.org. Entry £20 each. Application forms from
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or 01235 850 275. And be quick! The tournament’s been oversubscribed for the last three years.
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Charity Explorers is recruiting teams of two for a charity trip across India to raise vital funds for the Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy. The trip takes place from 4th - 24th September from Trivandrum in Kerala on the southern tip of India to Amritsar in the Northern Punjab. To find out more click on www.charityexplorers.com or call 01256 301 903.
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Ryder Cheshire Volunteers is a little known charity that helps physically disabled people to take part in leisure and learning activities that increase confidence, self-esteem and zest for life. The South Oxfordshire Ryder Cheshire Volunteers are urgently in need of people who could give an hour a week, fortnight or month to help – anything from chatting about sport, painting, photography to helping with computer problems. The greatest needs at the moment are in Henley, Bernisfield, Warborough, Wallingford and Didcot. Contact Miss Penny Hurtley on 01235 817 800 or see: www.rcv.org.uk?
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Hambleden Valley Garden Club is holding its annual Bring and Buy Plant Sale on Saturday 24th April in Skirmett Village Hall between 10.30 and 12.30. Bring any spares in for redistribution and pick up some little bonuses for yourself. And coffee and homemade cakes. Early worms catch the thingy and all that! For more details contact organiser on 01491 638 691.
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Ridgeway U3A members will be welcoming John Woolley to talk about the Great Train Robbery on April 20th. This had to be cancelled at short notice last year so, if you thought you had missed it, come along to the Sports Pavilion, Watlington Recreation Ground for 2.30. Retired and semi-retired guests welcome £2.50. For more information on joining, contact Jacky Wagstaff, 01491 613 175 or
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I once knew a PC who told me that he was the village bobby on whose patch the robbery took place. I asked him why he had transferred to a police force around 200 miles away from the scene of crime. He replied that he was fed up of having to do the follow up crime reports every month.
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The 2009 Wooburn Festival included everything from chamber concerts to Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. It ended with an orchestral by the City of London Sinfonia. This year’s Festival scheduled from September 21st to October 24th promises the world renowned Heath String Quartet, Eleanor Bron with Counterpoise, a fully staged performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, together with a Jazz supper and a Folk Supper and the Visual Arts week. This year’s Festival will also include a performance of Julian Fellowes’ new film ‘From Time to Time’ followed by a Q and A session with Julian Fellowes and Quentin Falk. For more details of the festival’s plans for 2010 see www.wooburn.com.
For music lovers there are possibly two opportunities to join the festival committee, so if you’re of a musical bent, contact Paul Moore on 01628 527 797 or by email at
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Now that’s interesting! A survey carried out by road safety organisation GEM Motoring Assist reveals that half of UK drivers have had a crash or a near miss whilst swerving to avoid a pothole! However, despite the high percentage of drivers affected by potholes, almost 70% of those surveyed had never reported a pothole in their area to the local council and only 5% have made a claim against the local council for the damage. Potholes are not simply just a nuisance they are a massive road safety issue and local councils need to take swift action in alleviating this nationwide problem. In response to the survey findings, GEM has set up a page on its website to offer advice on how to claim for pothole damage. Visit www.motoringassist.com for more information.
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John Mann the popular Theatre Organist Entertainer will be at Henley Town Hall at 3pm. on Sunday 11th April in aid of The Oxfordshire Air Ambulance. During the summer months you will find him entertaining holiday makers at venues like Eastbourne and Worthing and in the winter he carries out major concert tours at Theatres and Concert Halls around the Country. Over the last 25 years he has proved one of the most popular organists to appear in Henley.
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Henley Philatelic Society is at home to the Pinner Philatelic Society who will be displaying on the 14th at Bix Village Hall. Sounds a bit like an avian courting ritual! Then serious business on the 24th with a Competition and ‘Silent Auction’ open to all members. Postal History, Stamps, and Thematics – 9 pages for each class. Meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at Bix Village Hall at 7.45pm .Details 01491 681739 or www.henleyphilatelic.co.uk
And an early call for Wednesday 26th May. That’s the Henley Open Auction. All collectors welcome. The catalogue will go on the website this month.
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The Henley Concert Singers invite you to a Spring Concert at 7.30 on Saturday 24th at Greys Village Hall. The proceeds go to Age Concern - Bluebells - Day Centre in Henley. Tickets at £8 from 01491 574 891 or at the door on the night.
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The Sainsbury Singers brings Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to the stage for the first time ever in May. Adapted directly from Walt Disney’s feature animation the story is focused on a young prince who is transformed into an ugly beast… Well you know the story, and the Sainsbury Singers are delighted to perform one of the most moving and enchanting love stories ever told at The Hexagon from Wednesday 26th May to Saturday 29th May. A matinee and evening performance is available on Saturday 29th May. Contact the ‘Ticket Officer’ on 0118 988 2510 or Hexagon Box Office: 0118 960 6060. See www.sainsburysingers.org.uk.
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Ticket Officer? I thought that was an over zealous policeman.
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Four lovely Henley ladies have entered themselves for the 3 peaks challenge. They have to climb the 3 highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours. They are Sca Fell (978m), Ben Nevis (1344m) and Snowdon (1085m). Caroline Barefield, Alison Oswald, Sharon Jones and Nicola Taylor will be raising money for Helen and Douglas House in Oxford and each need £750 for starters. So, to raise the necessary, they’ve organised a children's walk on Sunday 25th April at Bix Village Hall. Little ones will be able to complete the common walk and the more energetic will be walking through the Nettlebed woods and down into Bix Bottom before trudging back to the Village Hall for refreshments, fun and games. Phew! If they’ve any puff left. Registration on the day at 9.30 for the long walk which sets off at 10am. More information on
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What will the parents be doing while said offspring are off to the woods? Being ever so grateful and sitting in the car with the peace to read the Sunday papers.
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Now in the matter of disjointed ramblings, how’d you like to try a free Nordic Walking taster class in Stoke Row on Wednesday the 21st April? No experience, fitness or special clothing necessary. Go on! There must be a catch somewhere! Ah! Apparently Nordic walking burns 20% more calories than ordinary walking - but only if it's done right! In the meantime, while you’re learning to put one foot in front of the other it’s lovely way to enjoy the countryside, have some fun, and doing your body lots of good. Call Jo on 01491 680 499 to book a place.
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And catching ‘em young, the NSPCC is calling on nurseries in Oxfordshire to join them in their annual Pedal Push. It’s a sponsored ride around a fun course and so easy to organise it can be held at any time of the year. Register to receive your special Pedal Push pack, including lots of activities and top tips to download via 0800 101 996 or www.nspcc.org.uk/pedalpush,
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Emmer Green Townswomen's Guild continues to meet every month at 7.30 at St. Barnabas' Church Hall and on Tuesday 13th, Christine Brewster will expound on the art of ‘Basket making’.
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Goodoh! The new ‘Kids Go Free’ initiative is part of the drive to introduce a younger and more diverse audience to rugby at Twickenham giving them a fun, affordable day out during the summer holidays. And perhaps convince them that the last Six Nations season was only a bad dream. Apart from the French, of course. Now, Now, Peter! Don’t be uncharitable! The Middlesex Sevens tournament on August 14th is always an exciting knock-out tournament. Sixteen of the top rugby teams including England, Scotland and Wales, Guinness Premiership clubs and invitation sides plus exhibition matches! Many of the players on the pitch will have an eye on the chance of a place in GB's future Olympic Sevens team. Middlesex Charity Sevens. Ticket prices from £20 and further details on Free Kids tickets from Adam Kemp, Head of Marketing and Promotions, Tel: 0208 740 5000
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Have you ever unearthed a treasure and wondered what it was? Well, take it along to Wallingford Museum and find out on the 10th. Experts will be hand between 10am and 1pm to work out what you’ve found. You can combine this with a Castle history walk with local historian Judy Dewey at 11am followed by a Town history walk at 2.30pm. Both walks, lasting about 2 hours, start at the Museum with a charge of £3 each. Not suitable for dogs.
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The guest speaker at the Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society meeting at the Town Hall on the 9th is Dr Simon Townley. The Editor of the Oxfordshire Victoria County History and a well-known lecturer, his talk will cover the history of Henley as an inland port from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Visitors £2.
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Dig out your treasures to raise money for charity! Come along for a valuation with the Bonhams experts in Henley Town Hall on Friday 23rd between 10 and 3. Entry is £5 and includes two items. All proceeds to Parkinson’s UK, which is totally dependent on donations. There are 120,000 people with Parkinson’s in the UK suffering from restrictions in walking, talking and writing. There is currently no cure! For further details about Parkinson’s, visit www.parkinsons.org.uk.
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Are you fit enough for a 5-mile run around Blenheim Palace grounds on April 18th? If the answer's ‘Yes’ you may like to sign up for the OX5RUN - The Oxford Mail's Organised Run raising money for The Oxford Children's Hospital. It's only 5-miles and anyone from 16 upwards can do it. Even Jason Donovan, who’ll get the runners on their way and be socialising on the way around. Each year 65,000 youngsters receive vital treatment at the Children’s Hospital, and last year’s run in which David Cameron took part helped raise £57,000 to buy equipment including a special pod to transport very sick babies between the hospitals and theatres. Register on 01865 743 444, or online at www.oxfordradcliffe.nhs.uk/getinvolved/charitablefunds/events/ox5run.aspx
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