RAMBLINGS - MARLOW - SL7 - NOVEMBER 2008
Remember, remember
the 5th November,
Gunpowder, treason
and plot
I see no reason
why gunpowder treason
Should ever be
forgot!
Our thoughts
are currently on bonfire night and which best firework display to visit. There’s plenty around to choose from. Longridge do the biggest and most popular
one in Marlow.
Guy Fawkes. I decided to do some research on Guy
Fawkes – just to give our celebration of his activities some historical substance.
The historians,
and more educated amongst us will probably know this, but for those who don’t
it’s an interesting piece of our history.
Guy Fawkes was just one member of the group planning to blow up parliament
on
Here we are careering
towards Christmas at a rate of knots. Where
did the year go? Suddenly it’s dark
again in the evening and it’s cold all the time.
The shops are full of trinkets and delightful gifts that are placed tantalisingly
onto the shelves for this time of year to entice us into buying gifts and ‘useful
storage items’ and ‘Christmas branded domestic items’ that we don’t really need,
but as they’re there we may as well…
There are lots
of Christmas fairs in this issue. As
you know, we’re keen to keep it local and Christmas fairs fit the bill! We’ll start with them as Christmas shopping
will be the key focus of most people’s attention for the next six weeks or so.
Burnham Grammar,
Hogfair Lane, Burnham is hosting an Art and Craft Fair on 8 & 9 November,
Schools seem
to be the place to hold craft fairs and exhibitions.
The Beaconsfield School, Wattleton Road is holding a renowned sale of
creative works ranging from paintings, mosaics, sculptures, jewellery and much
more on 22 November,
Another school
shopping event, Sir William Ramsay School, Rose Avenue, Hazlemere is holding
a shopping evening – saves all that dashing around on a Saturday!
Friday 21 November, 7.30pm to
For those willing
to travel further afield and to a very beautiful location, Blenheim Palace is
holding the ‘Living Crafts for Christmas’ fair from 21 – 23 November.
This is a massive event, which will attract around 12,000 visitors and
will be opened by Sarah Raven, celebrity gardener and chef.
Not quite your church hall bring and buy!
However, not
to decry those sales held in halls of some description, after all they are promoting
the local craftsman and this is where we should all be purchasing – avoid mass
produced, I say!
The Bix 6 is
holding a sale of Christmas goods, jewellery, pottery and wooden items, again
I’m naming only a few, all by local artists at the Bix Village Hall on 29 and
30 November,
Take a deep breath
– there’s more. Help the Aged is
launching a range of exclusively designed Christmas cards and gifts with proceeds
going to the charity that helps older people stave off poverty, isolation and
neglect. There are 360 Help the
Aged shops around the UK or, for a more stress free shopping experience, you
can shop on line www.helptheaged.org.uk Best get shopping to secure your future. Apparently, over 50% of the UK population
will be over 50 by the year 2020. That
is a huge number of older people in our society!
There you have
it, the definitive guide to buying your Christmas presents and decorations locally. If you don’t find something at one event,
you should find it at another!
Staying with
Christmas, but moving on to floral decorations, the Caversham and Chiltern Flower
Club is holding an open evening on
12 November at the Salvation Army Citadel, Anstey Road, Reading.
There will be floral demonstrations – sure to inspire something for the
Christmas table! Doors open at 6.30pm
in order to enjoy refreshments and the Christmas sales table before the demonstration
starts at 7.30pm. Further details
- Jane Haas tel 0118 967 8899.
One of our society’s
latest obsessions is healthy eating; in particular the not so healthy eating
habits of children. There are a
number of reasons for why certain children won’t eat certain foods, but a growing
(excuse the pun!) campaign by the Royal Horticultural Society to encourage gardening
in schools called the Campaign for School Gardening, is aiming to help with
this. There are now 20 schools across
the UK celebrating the campaign’s first birthday.
The children involved have learnt about gardening, have eaten what they
grow, because it makes sense to them, and the garden has been used in some schools
to teach core subjects such as mathematics (don’t know how – counting cabbages,
maybe?). If you know of a school
that you think would benefit from such a scheme, further details can be found
www.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening
Not quite eating
what you’ve grown, but the next best thing is the Amersham Country Market. All produce sold is hand made, home
grown or baked within 10 miles of Amersham.
The market is held every Friday morning, 8.30am to 11.30am at the Amersham
Free Church Hall, Sycamore Corner, Woodside Road.
Christmas orders are now being taken for your food requirements. Let some one else make the cake and
mince pies this year. You can concentrate
on the mulled wine!
An item of minority
interest has been brought to our attention this month and by minority I mean
ladies, so please, all men look away – we don’t want you cringing, although
I’m cringing myself as I write this. Apparently,
1 in 4 women experience bladder weakness and 1 in 5 are unaware of the location
of their pelvic floor muscles. I
think anyone who’s had a baby does not fall into the latter category!
However, should any of you ladies out there relate to any of this, help
is at hand in the form of ‘Kari’s Pelvicore Technique’ which is available free
by joining CoreWellness at www.corewellness.co.uk
or tel 0845 3006466. Over to you! Just one final piece of advice from
a leading specialist, apparently all us women need to be ‘squeezing regularly’. I’m saying no more on the matter!
We in Britain
are renowned throughout the world for our interest in the weather.
It’s a constant source of conversation to us and, let’s face it, there’s
enough to say on the subject! In
the summer we need a raincoat and sunglasses and in the winter wellies, a fleece
and a waterproof coat should cover off all unpredictable weather conditions.
There is no doubt
that the weather is becoming more extreme and the Vale of White Horse District
Council is responding to this by engaging the services of amateur meteorologists
and those with a general interest in the weather – just about most of the population
- should get a good response! They
would like to hear from anyone who’s monitored the weather and would like to
share their data and for any anecdotal information from residents.
They are putting together a profile of the weather over a five-year period
in order to understand climate change so that appropriate measures can be put
into place to respond to extreme weather threats.
Further details and to be involved email mark.kowal@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Another group
of weather enthusiasts must be Marlow Camera Club.
You need the right light to take a good picture, after all.
The club meets every Tuesday at Methodist Church Hall 7.45 for
Sticking with
the weather, after all it’s the English way, there’s some flooding news for
the Marlow residents living alongside the river, in particular those living
in the Gossmore Park and Pound Lane areas.
The Environment Agency has been designing a scheme to reduce the risk
of flooding in the above-mentioned areas.
However, a flaw has been discovered in the plans, which will delay actual
implementation of the flood alleviation scheme.
It seems that in order to alleviate flooding in one area, it is important
not to increase the risk of flooding up and downstream (makes sense).
This requires a flood storage area to compensate for the loss of storage
in the flood plain. It would appear
that these storage areas need to be bigger than the plans originally allowed
for. Further details www.environment-agency.gov.uk
If you’ve had
enough of shopping and discussing the weather, how about a change of scene with
some music and theatrical events ranging from the sit-back-and-enjoy to full
on participation. Starting with
the latter, Readifolk have their usual packed agenda, but don’t turn up at the
usual venue as they’ve moved to Queen’s Arms, Gt Knollys Street, Reading. Same time, Sundays
Highdown School,
Emmer Green is the venue for the Henley Symphony Orchestra who is delighted
to welcome a principal bassoonist (careful not to mistype that!) to perform
a solo for its opening concert on 9 November at 3.30pm.
Tickets available from orchestra members or tel 0118 940 3936.
St John’s Church,
Gosbrook Road, Caversham is celebrating the 120th anniversary of its dedication
on 15 November at 7.30pm. Collection
in aid of Helen House, Oxford, which provides hospice care for children and
young adults. Further details www.acny.org.uk/caversham-st-john-the-baptist
The Marlow Players
are performing ‘The Constant Wife’ from 20 to 22 November at the Shelley Theatre,
Court Garden, Pound Lane, Marlow. Performances
start at
There’s an Oxford
Welsh Male Voice Choir concert at Oxford Town Hall on 29 November.
The compere for the evening is Hannah Shelswell, presenter of ITV’s Thames
Valley. Further details tel 01865
552629.
If you’re willing
to travel slightly further afield, Beaconsfield’s second celebrity recital this
season will be held on 29 November and features the international pianist, Freddy
Kempf. Beaconsfield High School
is the venue at 7.45pm. Tickets
available 01494 678595.
Taking us into
December and full on Christmas spirit is the Cranford Choral Society’s performance
of Handel’s Messiah at Dorchester Abbey on 6 December at 7.30pm with some wonderful
soloists. Tickets tel 01865 305305
or www.ticketsoxford.com
Music and history
sit together comfortably and to start we have the Bucks Family History Society
talking about ‘The workhouse and Poorhouse’, which sounds interesting even to
a non-historian such as myself. Dr
Colin Chapman is giving the talk on 11 November at the Community Centre, Wakeman
Road, Bourne End. 7.30pm for 7.45pm
start.
The REME museum
of technology, Newton Road, Arborfield, Berks is holding a ‘Blitz Day’ on 23
November offering the opportunity for the whole family to experience what life
was really like during World War 2. The
re-enactors will be dressed in 1940’s attire.
Sounds like a good trip if any of your children are studying WW2. Further details 0118 976 3375 or www.rememuseum.org.uk
There has been
a lot of mention in the media recently celebrating the importance of the older
generation, with some schools inviting pupils’ grandparents into the school
to talk to classes about their experiences as young people, or during the war
or any other event, which brings their history alive to the younger generation. Maybe something Help the Aged could
offer support to? As Christmas is
coming and grandchildren will be spending time with their grandparents, now
would be the perfect time to talk to them about their lives as young people
and to support this, there is a website – www.findtree.co.uk
which allows children to go on line and gain direction on how to create their
own family tree. It involves questioning
family members - a perfect icebreaker to include granny in the conversation
over Christmas!
Swapping history
for the future, Parents and Children Together is an adoption and fostering agency
that is holding an open evening in Oxford on 16 December at 7.30pm where prospective
parents can learn about the process of fostering and adoption.
Further details on venue and to book tel 0118 938 7600 or www.pactcharity.org
The Four Seasons
Club is as busy as usual with a trip to see ‘Far from the Madding crown’ at
the Richmond Theatre, a Christmas shopping trip and a talk by Alan Copeland
entitled ‘New Zealand part 2’. Further
details Norma Bowles tel 01628 483794.
That’s all for
this month, hopefully there’s something for everyone and remember our campaign
to keep that shopping local!