CLUB CORNER

The Wendover Horticultural Society’s monthly meeting at St Anne's Hall, Aylesbury Road, is on Thursday 4 November at 2.30pm. We are delighted that Sandy Primrose, a biologist and passionate gardener, has agreed to speak. His subject is to be “A tale of two poppies”, specifically the role of opium poppies and field poppies in medicine and in war. He is well-known, his interesting talks have been enjoyed by many of us. Visitors welcome, admission £3.00.

Neville Morton

In the western world, in centuries past, it was common practice to mark the end of a time of plague with a mass of thanksgiving to God and to commemorate those who had died. It is in this spirit, that Wendover Choral Society marks a return to concert-giving after two years’ silence enforced by the pandemic.

The choir will perform Fauré’s exquisite and haunting Requiem which he composed for his own father and, which we hope will allow listeners to reflect and process our shared experience and sense of loss of the last two years.

By way of contrast is the joy, celebration and hope of the coming of Christ, as expressed in three very different choral pieces by Berlioz – L’Adieu des Bergers; Saint-Saëns – Choeur: Oratorio de Noel; Tavener – God is With Us and Dupré - Variations sur un Noel for organ.

This feast of music is conducted by Peter Bassano and features three young soloists from the Royal Academy of music and renowned organist, Tim Byram-Wigfield, formerly of St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

We look forward to welcoming you. See advert page 4.

Wendover Choral Committee

As frost and wind remove the leaves, we can see our beautiful Chiltern trees with new clarity on any of our reserves but particularly at Dancersend. This reserve will be the topic for a talk by the warden, Mick Jones, on Tuesday 16 November at Gt Missenden Memorial Centre, HP16 9AE, at 7.45pm, admission £5. In 'Dancersend, cradle of nature conservation, and how it has grown up,' Mick will celebrate the birth of the reserve eighty years ago, thanks to the generosity of the Rothschilds, and its influence on the evolution of conservation over the years since those early days.

For younger supporters, the Nature Tots sessions for pre-school children will run at College Lake in the mornings of 16 and 18 November and must be booked early on bbowt.org.uk/events. The reserve, shop and cafe are open every day except Mondays from 10am. Parking is free and a small donation is requested for the upkeep of the site.

Thursday 18 November brings the launch of a new Trust initiative called Team Wilder. This is BBOWT's vision for community involvement in the spirit of the times aiming at more nature everywhere. You can tune into the online launch by searching 'BBOWT Team Wilder' and getting a free link. Please have a look and see if you would like to get active for nature round Wendover!

richardbirch60@yahoo.com

Founded in 1982, u3a is a UK-wide movement of locally-run interest groups that provide a wide range of opportunities to come together to learn for fun. Members explore new ideas, skills and activities together. Throughout the country there are 1,057 u3as with over 450,000 members. There is one in Wendover. Membership of Wendover u3a costs £15 per year and is open to everyone who is no longer in full-time work. Wendover u3a is now back in action after a period of restricted activity due to Covid.

We have a main meeting in St Mary’s Church at 10.00 am on the first Wednesday of each month where we would normally have a speaker and time for a coffee and chat to other members. As well as the main meeting there are over 60 different groups which meet throughout the month at a range of locations, sometimes in a church hall, sometimes in a member’s home depending on the numbers in the group. The groups range from Art Appreciation to Gardening to Table Tennis. There is a group for everybody. more information and to register your interest in joining. We would love to see you.

Geoff Lodge

The Wendover Singers are back “raising the rafters” again and have begun rehearsing at the John Colet’s newly refurbished smaller theatre. They look forward to many more rehearsals and getting back to normal as soon as possible.

The Wendover Singers are currently returning to rehearsals in a phased order: 1.Members who are happy to return but not exceeding 50% of the capacity of the theatre. 2.Members who would like to return a little later and still not exceeding half the hall’s capacity. 3.New members from our ever-growing waiting list. We are considering when and whether we can go to 75% capacity, however, we will follow the Government’s and the school’s Covid rules at all times.

We are very excited that the Wendover Singers (Wendover’s Community Choir) is at last singing together again and that we are seeing our original singers return.

A big thank you to all members and many others, who have helped with the return and made this possible.

Find out more about Wendover Singers at www.wendoversingers.com or email us at info@wendoversingers.com.

Sue Thornton

The Annual Battle between the Wendover Warriors, Widgets and Wanderers, is known in the club as WWW3 or World War 3. Play came to a soggy halt at half time, after a morning of playing in torrential rain! Following our lunch time cup of tea, the thought of another two or three hours of relentless rain did not appeal. The decision was made to invoke an Armistice until the Spring, when hostilities will resume.

Fortunately the weather changed completely on the following day for the final match of the outdoor season between the Chairman’s and Captain’s teams, which was played in beautiful sunshine, such are the vagaries of our English weather! The outcome was a win for the Chairman.

That evening, after a lovely meal, the trophies were presented to the winners of the various competitions that had been played for during the summer. The next morning, more than thirty members turned up to put the green to bed and prepare the clubhouse for the winter indoor season. A few days later we had our first match against Chinnor, who beat us. In our defence, Chinnor have been playing indoors all summer and most of our players have hardly bowled a single wood indoors for over a year, due to the fact that our last indoor season was lost because of the Pandemic. Things can only get better. We are all looking forward to a full social scene this season, kicking off with a Quiz and Supper evening!

Don Knight

September 2020 saw WJFC host their first training session exclusively for girls. The aim? To provide girls with the opportunity to learn and enjoy playing football in a safe and fun environment, no matter what experience, ability or background. Despite restrictions being imposed by COVID, the turnout has remained high and we have enjoyed a hugely successful year with significant progress made across the ages. We even played in a friendly match against Haddenham!

As we head into the 2021 season, we look to build on our progress so far; not least, moving onto the newly installed 3G pitch at the John Colet School. In addition, we hope to be in a position next year to enter teams into the local leagues, for those girls who wish to play more competitively.

Want to join? Training takes place each Tuesday from 6.15-7.15pm, and is now open to girls of all abilities from school years 3-8 inclusive. Each session involves a warm up, practice drills and the chance to play in short matches. Our objective above all else is for the girls to have fun!

For more information please contact wjfc-girls@outlook.com. We look forward to seeing you!

WJFC Committee