Club Corner

We are fortunate in having Clare De Carle, Chair of Bucks Gardens, who will speak about Maud Grieve, a herbalist who lived in Bucks and who had a large herb garden. With WW1 she expanded it into a plant nursery, supplying the herbs which were badly needed as medicines at the front, using the potential benefits of plants such as Henbane, Foxglove and Deadly Nightshade which would have also grown wild. We will learn a lot. Visitors are welcome at our meeting at 2.30pm on 3 February at St Anne’s Hall, price £3.00.

Neville Morton

Wendover Voices relaunch for the new year. We rehearse weekly at Trinity Community Centre, Tring Road.

We are a community choir set up by a group of local mums. We share a love of singing and hope to bring others together for music, new friendships and a cuppa (or a glass of wine!)

All female voices are welcome - no experience necessary and you don’t even need to be able to read music. We rehearse every Thursday in term time but we know work and family can get in the way so there is no expectation to make every single practice!

Music-wise we are fairly contemporary and have sung lots of well known modern songs (Eva Cassidy, Radiohead and Nick Cave in the mix!) plus Christmas carols and some spiritual music.

We ask for a small termly contribution to cover the cost of music but anyone can come and give us a try for free. There’s no pressure and we promise to make everyone really welcome!

www.facebook.com/groups/1636815949989213/

Annalise Smith

The group runs a programme of social events for any NT members living in the Aylesbury Vale, with several members coming from Wendover and Weston Turville. Events include coach outings to National Trust and other properties (last year we visited Mottisfont Abbey, amongst other venues for instance), self-drive outings to more local venues such as Dorney Court, walks, and coffee mornings. Up to 100 members and visitors join us for the monthly programme of talks held at Broughton Junior School, Broughton Avenue

HP20 1NQ on a Thursday evening. For further information about membership of the Aylesbury Centre NT, please contact the Hon Secretary by email to aylesburycentrent@gmail.com, or by phoning or messaging 07399 540626.

We are the Wendover Library Reading Group, a friendly group of local people that meet in the library meeting room from 7 to 8pm on the first Thursday of each month. The library provides us with a monthly set of books, so at each month's meeting we discuss the books we have just read, pick up our new read and then just chat about other books that group members have been reading or had recommended. Any new members that would like to join can just turn up at a meeting and would be made very welcome!

Penny Miles

Winter is a great time to visit any of our five local reserves. Most are open all the time but in winter College Lake (HP23 5QG) with its visitor centre, shop and cafe is open from 10am to 3pm from Wednesday to Sunday. The hard surface paths here are good for winter walking and hundreds

of ducks will congregate on the lakes. The reserve will also be hosting Nature Tots sessions for preschoolchildren on Wed 9 and Thu 10 February from 10.15am. Or on Tue 22 come and enjoy a family event 'Brilliant Birds and where to find them' starting at 10.30am and including some indoor craft and quiz sessions. Book online as early as you can please at www.bbowt.org.uk/ events. Please use the same system to book a connection to this month's Chilterns Group Zoom talk on 'Rewilding Knepp Estate' by Knepp guide and ecologist Laurie Jackson. This is on Tuesday 15 February at 7.45pm - all welcome at £5 per screen. For more events and Zoom talks please keep an eye on the BBOWT website events pages.

Richard Birch, BBOWT Chilterns Group

The Girls Section started in 2021 and is continuing this year with an enhanced programme (of its own, but not signing up to the ECB Dynamos) – indoors from late February and outside from late April, both on Sunday mornings. We will also be offering some hard ball training on Fridays and teams have been entered into both soft and hard ball competitions. New recruits are welcome in school years 4 to 7.

We also seek people to help at and/or lead the girls sessions/groups, with cricketing knowledge an advantage; for the right people, we will pay or subsidise their attendance at coach training courses. The club has a history of helping young people fulfil their volunteering hours for their DoE awards, usually by helping with junior training. Any recruits and/or volunteers should contact Jonathan Seabrook on 07767-148 119 or jseabrook@talktalk.net.

A full programme of indoor training for all ages (male/female) is now under way. More info, contacts and news are available at www.pitchero. com/clubs/wendovercricketclub.

The next indoor meeting is on Monday 21 February when Mike Wallen, the local county bird recorder, talks about “Skomer Island” that is known for its puffins and other amazing birds and wildlife. Held at the Prebendal Hall Community Centre, Aylesbury HP19 7QW, starting at 7.30 pm. More info at www.rspb.org.uk/groups/aylesbury.

Jonathan Seabrook (WCC & RSPB)