Extras that did not make it into the printed magazine for April 2019.
- British Legion Survival Challenge 2019
- St. Michael’s Hospice Sunflower Celebration
- Basingstoke Gang Show 2020
- Basingstoke Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
- Basingstoke Discovery Centre Events In April
- Linguatastic Language Academy
- Basingstoke Male Voice Choir Open Evening
British Legion Childrens Survival Challenge 2019
The Royal British Legion Old Basing Branch have announced a children’s survival challenge. For details please click here.
St. Michael’s Hospice Sunflower Celebration
To mark the beginning of Summer, St. Michael’s Hospice invite their supporters to create a field of sunflowers in their Hospice gardens to celebrate happy memories with their loved ones. Throughout June, the beautiful wooden sunflowers will be displayed, each bearing the name of someone special for whom a dedication has been made.
On Sunday 9th June at 14:00, a blessing will be held within the Hospice grounds for all sunflowers on display. Following the service afternoon tea will be served and all guests are welcomed to collect their sunflower to take home and keep as a personal memento.
Laura Hughes, Events Manager at St. Michael’s Hospice said, “The Sunflower Celebration marks the culmination of our sunflower appeal and is a wonderful way for families to remember the life of their loved ones. We hope to see as many people as possible and look forward to welcoming them to this special day. By donating to the Hospice through making a sunflower dedication, our supporters help us to continue to provide our specialist care to patients and their families facing life limiting illness in North Hampshire.”
To remember a loved one by dedicating your sunflower, please visit:
www.stmichaelshospice.org.uk/events.
For further information about the day, please contact the St. Michael’s Hospice Events team at events@stmichaelshospice.org.uk or call 01256 848 848.
Follow St. Michael’s Hospice on Twitter @smhbasingstoke and look out for #Sunflower Celebration.
Basingstoke Cubs, Scouts, Guides and Explorers have ‘got talent’ and it is time to audition for Basingstoke Gang Show 2020!
If you like to laugh, sing, dance or entertain then come along to the auditions for Basingstoke Gang Show. You will have a fun day with loads of great people and you will see why Basingstoke Gang Show is the longest running and ‘bestselling amateur show in Basingstoke’.
We are gearing up for our 27th Show to be performed at The Haymarket. Audiences will be entertained by the talents of our local Cubs, Guides, Scouts, Explorer’s and Young Leaders as the cast of 70 take to the stage across 11 performances in February 2020.
The members of the Production team have been busy creating an array of numbers with wonderful choreography, sensational songs and hilarious sketches that make Basingstoke Gang Show, fresh, relevant, edgy and fun, ready for the rehearsals that start in September 2019.
Auditions for Basingstoke Gang Show 2020 will take place at: The Costello School, 10am – 4pm, on the following dates:
Surnames A-L: Sunday 12th May 2019
Surnames M-Z: Sunday 19th May 2019
Auditions are open to all Scouts and Guides who will be 10½ or over on 1st February 2020 and all Cubs who will be 8 or over on 1st February 2020.
Before you come to audition you will need to visit www.basingstokegangshow.com to ensure you have full details including location, what to wear and the ‘audition application form’ that you will need to bring. You can also look at Basingstoke Gang Show Facebook pages for more information.
If you have a talent and are interested in volunteering for Basingstoke Gang Show 2020 please get in touch! There’s a lot to do before we reach the theatre in February, from building scenery or making costumes.
Basingstoke Gang Show NEEDS YOU!
Producer: Kirsty: kirsty.ruffell@googlemail.com
Chairman: harryedders@yahoo.com
We look forward to welcoming you to the auditions!
Basingstoke Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
Forty-five members and 2 visitors attended the group’s meeting on Wednesday 6th March to hear Bejar from Coop Estate Planning give a talk on “Tax, Care and Toyboys”. The main emphasis of his presentation was to ensure that we knew how to do as much as possible to protect our assets and to make sure that on our death they were passed on to those we wanted to have them. Using different scenarios he illustrated the effects of not making a will; when making one having it done in the correct manner; the levels of inheritance tax which would apply and how planning in advance would lessen the burden on those left to administer an estate. He covered the different types of property ownership available – joint, tenants-in-common and, depending on individual circumstances, – the setting up of a trust, and he explained how these would affect who gained an inheritance. In finishing he spoke about Power of Attorney and how having a funeral plan could guard against future rising costs. Following a question and answer session he spent some time seeing people on a personal basis.
After this the Group held their AGM and the Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and commented on the help given to him by both the members of the committee and all the others who helped at the monthly meetings. This meant that the group had another successful year with a wide range of speakers and outings while still maintaining a steady membership and ensuring financial stability. The Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary and Welfare Officer all gave their reports and the officers and committee members for the coming year were appointed. A resolution was then unanimously passed to apply a subscription supplement to offset the rising cost of hall hire and speakers, and the fact that there was no further funding from Head Office.
Bookings are now being taken for the trips to the Bombay Sapphire Distillery and Hinton Ampner on Thursday 18th April and to Kew Palace and Garden on Wednesday 8th May.
The next meeting is on 3rd April when the speaker will be Steve Herra on “the Body Through the Porthole”. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at Brookvale Village Hall from 10 am to 12 noon and all retired Civil Servants, their relatives and friends are welcome. Further details about the group and information about our trips can be obtained by contacting csrfbasingstoke@gmail.com.
Basingstoke Discovery Centre Events In April
Please Note: Tickets should be booked in advance, available from the Discovery Centre, booking line 01256 478670 or online www.hants.gov.uk/shop/home.
Main Events
Hidden Basingstoke Walk: Basingstoke Churches
Tuesday 2 April: 10.30am/ £5
Back by popular demand, Phil Howe and John Hopkins from Hidden Britain Tours will lead you on a walk through the town to explore parts that are often overlooked. Basingstoke has a wealth of church architecture, ranging from battle scarred ancient churches with mysterious medieval graffiti to the peculiar the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion to tin tabernacles. This gentle town walk examines the towns places of worship and explains at least some of the stories behind the stones.
Meet at the Information Desk in Basingstoke Discovery Centre and please dress for the weather.
Raising the Roof on the Vyne. A talk by Wilf Hardy
Monday 29 April: 2pm/£4
Come and discover how the future of our local National Trust property, The Vyne, was secured by a £5.4m project to replace its roofs.
Children’s Events
Easter Holidays 8-22 April
Easter Treasure trail
8 – 22 April Ages 2-8 £1.50
Follow this treasure trail based on Peter Rabbit and some of his friends from the 23-original tales by Beatrix Potters.
The Egg and the Easter Bunny Interactive Storytelling Workshop
Monday 8 April: 1.30pm and 3pm/£3.75. Ages 2-6
Mrs ChitChat Chicken has asked the Easter Bunny to look after her egg, but when he falls asleep, the egg hatches and the new chick wanders off! Will the Easter Bunny find the chick before Mrs Chitchat Chicken returns?
Join Amanda from Merry-go-Round Storytelling for this fun Easter themed story full of music and movement and lots of make-believe! Parents/carers to remain with their child during the session.
Design and Shake your Maraca!
Tuesday 9 April: 10.30am – 12 noon/ £1.50
Come along for this fun drop in session. Decorate a small wooden maraca with a spring or Easter design, then take it home to create musical fun. Suitable for children age 3+.
Drama4all workshops.
Wednesday 10 April, 10.30-11am and 11.15-11.45am/ £3. Ages 4-8
These half hour workshops are led by an experienced actor/drama teacher appearing in the role as Peter Pan. Using drama, dance and singing the children will be trained up as ‘Mermaids and Pirates’ and be taken on a thrilling voyage to Neverland where they rescue the treasure from Captain Hook, all whilst meeting some of J M Barrie’s much-loved characters along the way. Parents/carers to remain with their child during the session.
Storytime for Under 5s and their parents/carers.
Friday 12 April: 10.30am – 11am/ Free
Come along for special Easter stories and colouring.
Quirks Animal Roadshow
Friday 12 April: 2pm/ £5
1-hour animal handling workshop. Come along to meet some quirky animals from around the world at the Quirks’ Animal Roadshows workshop. You’ll have the opportunity to stroke and hold the animals as well as discovering lots of interesting facts about where they come from, what they eat and what makes them unique.
For ages 4+
Children’s Craft Activity
Saturday 13 April 10am – 12 noon. Free
Easter Craft and colouring fun.
Animal Drawing Workshop – dynamic endangered animals in charcoal.
Monday 15 April: 2pm/ £5 – For ages 7+
A children’s workshop with local artist and teacher, Russell Bignold. Using charcoal, erasers and chalk to develop a high contrast drawing, you can expect to complete 2 sketches – an elephant and a tiger’s head and learn a technique to achieve life-like charcoal sketches that you can apply to your own sketches.
All materials provided.
Spring Crafts
Tuesday 16 April: 10am – 12 noon/Free
Spring themed craft session, creating beautiful flowers from a variety of paper/card materials. A drop-in session for children of all ages.
Learning in Libraries at Basingstoke Discovery Centre
Get More from your iPad – a one day course
Tuesday 2 April: 10am-4pm/ £30
This one-day course will help you get the most from your iPad, giving you a more in-depth knowledge of what you can do with it, including how to resolve problems.
Hampshire County Council
Basingstoke Discovery Centre
Festival Place Shopping Centre
Basingstoke
RG21 7LS
01256 478670
Once the UK leaves the EU, it will be illegal to speak English in any other European country, but the UK.
April Fool’s!
Ok, sorry, a bit risky to write an April Fool’s when it’s not guaranteed that you’ll be reading this on the morning of 1st April, but hopefully it drew your attention to this article!
This month, we’re talking April Fool’s Day and how it is celebrated in different countries.
In Ireland, it was once traditional to give a ‘very important’ letter to an unsuspecting victim. They are then asked to deliver it to a specific person. Upon reading the letter, this person sends the victim to deliver it to another person. After delivering the same letter to a number of different people, the victim usually becomes suspicious. Eventually they open the letter themselves, to find that it contains something along the lines of “Don’t laugh and don’t smile, send the fool another mile”. Doubtless the e-mail age will have put an end to this!
In France, Belgium and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, the April Fool’s tradition is known as “poisson d’avril” . In Italy, it is known as “pesce d’aprile” and in The Netherlands, it is known as “april vis”. These terms translated into English mean, “April fish” and the tradition is to sneakily stick a paper fish to someone’s back, which they will then unknowingly walk around wearing.
In Greece, there are several beliefs around April Fool’s, such as if you can trick someone, you’ll have good luck all year long/ a good year of crops. Another belief is that the water from rainfall on 1st April has healing abilities.
Anyway, whatever your April Fool’s Day beliefs are, make sure you’re not brandished a fool when visiting other countries and have a go at learning another language and customs! E-mail info@linguatastic.com.