Extras that did not make it into the printed magazine for August 2019.
- Basingstoke Volunteer Action Voluntary Sector Forum
- Basingstoke Bridge Club
- Basingstoke Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
- Linguatastic Language Academy
- Basingstoke Lions Club – June 2019
- Probus hears about Cycling the World
- Basingstoke Rotary Club
- Sherfield Beer and Cider Festival
Basingstoke Volunteer Action Voluntary Sector Forum
Date: Wednesday 10th July 2019
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Venue: The Orchard, White Hart Lane, Basingstoke RG21 4AF
Meeting Theme: ‘Events, promotion and support’
Agenda
1. Welcome & Introductions: Mary Robinson – BVA
2. Presentation Connect to Support Services: Nigel Luke – Engagement Officer – HCC Adults Health and Care
3. Presentation Chrysalis – Gender Identity Issues: Andi Maratos
4. Community projects – Identifying local need: Tascha Shepherd – BVA
5. Autumn/Winter Events Planning – Information Exchange (what are you planning?/what do you need)
6. BVA Christmas – Foodbox discussion
7. Roundtable Updates
8. Future Meeting Topics
Dates for the Diary:
• 20th September – Basingstoke Voluntary Action’s AGM (12-2pm)
• 11th December – Voluntary Sector Forum (12-2pm)
If you’ve always thought you would like to learn to play bridge, but have just never got round to it; if you would like to try something new and challenging which opens up a wide new social circle for you and introduces you to a game that can be enjoyed at so many different levels; if you played a little years ago, but have forgotten most of what you ever learned; if you’ve never even played cards before, but would like to see what it is all about: why not come along to Basingstoke Bridge Club on Tuesday 3rd September at 7.00 pm? We have been running classes for beginners for many years now. Every year some class members go on to become members of the club and most become as addicted to the game as the rest of us.
Beginners’ classes take place on Tuesday evenings (7.00 to 10.00 pm). The course runs from September to July with various breaks for holidays. The cost is £60.00 for each of the three terms of ten lessons. The first of these evenings is entirely free. You will find yourself playing a mini version of bridge on the very first night. Each lesson comprises about 20-30 minutes teaching followed by lots of practice hands to play. You will receive notes and copies of the hands with commentary every week, together with some homework to keep you up to speed. The course is run by Chris and Helen Kinloch who can be contacted by e-mail: kinloch@btinternet.com or telephone 01264 333175.
Basingstoke Bridge Club is a very friendly club with more than 200 members. Visitors are always welcome. We have bridge every day from Monday to Friday. Our main evenings are Mondays and Fridays, and there is also bridge on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Thursday evenings are for less experienced players who do not feel ready to join the other sessions. Table money for visitors is £3.00, but the first Thursday you play you will not be charged. (To find out more about Thursdays, telephone George Collins on 01256 780940.)
The club address is Maydene, Sherborne Road, Basingstoke RG21 5TG.
For more information see our web site: www.basingstokebridgeclub.co.uk
Basingstoke Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
There were 52 members at the meeting held on Wednesday 3 July who were welcomed by the chairman, David Cowling. The secretary, Tony Brazier, gave details of the forthcoming trips, and the Welfare Officer, Christine Broadbent, gave an update on those members who had not been well.
The speaker this month was Ian Kennedy who gave a talk titled “The View from my Sitting Room” in which he described the view that Queen Victoria had from Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. He started by giving a background as to why the Queen wanted a non-castle residence which was because she remembered some happy times spent there as a girl on the island and wanted somewhere for her and her family away from the hustle and bustle of London and Windsor. Robert Peel suggested the estate at Osborne which was purchased in 1845 for £28.000 and Prince Albert then set to work employing Thomas Cubbit to knock down the old Queen Anne property and building a light, airy and sunny residence. The building was completed in 1851 and the Queen loved the place, especially the view down to the sea, and she also found solace there after Albert’s death in 1861. Some additions were made to the building over the years but on Victoria’s death in 1901 no members of the royal family wanted it so the King gave it to the nation in 1902. Today it is maintained by English Heritage and has over 300,000 visitors each year making it one of the top attractions on the island.
The group’s next outing is a Thames trip from Abingdon to Oxford, with lunch at the Duke of Monmouth, on Thursday 12 September. Then on Friday 11 October it is the Mystery Trip which includes elevenses, lunch and afternoon tea.
The next meeting is on 7 August when the speaker is Paul Whittle giving a talk about Florence Nightingale. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at Brookvale Village Hall from 10am to 12noon 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.
This is of course, the month when GCSE and A-level students get their exam results. We hope and expect our students to do very well in their language exams, but are aware of the debate currently surrounding school courses.
The British Council has been warning that languages in England are being seen as hard subjects in which to get a good grade. Indeed, some academics recently wrote to Ofqual asking it to look again at the marking of language exams.
And it doesn’t seem as though the uptake in languages is going to be increasing any time soon, since The British Council’s report on language trends describes a shift in attitude, with some parents saying languages are “little use” as the UK is due to leave the European Union. Such a “Brexit Effect” is sad to read about. Whether we are in the European Union or not, our neighbours are still other European countries, speaking other languages, with whom we’ll still be doing business and to where we’ll still be travelling.
The thing is, it can be hard to appreciate the value that languages bring until you have significant experience of using them. Sadly the lack of school exchanges now taking place means children are given fewer opportunities to make friendships in, and develop a passion for, other countries.
Although Linguatastic is not yet offering study tours abroad (we do occasionally offer them for international students coming to the UK), we do try to give children and adults a flavour of other countries and cultures and plant the seeds of curiosity.
Over the summer, we have our sessions for toddlers and in September we’ll be continuing our classes in a variety of languages for a variety of age groups. Please get in touch (e-mail: info@linguatastic.com or tel: 471474) for further information.
Basingstoke Lions Club – June 2019
The month started with half of our members going off to Tadley to support the Loddon Valley Lions Club’s Treacle Fair. It was a huge, entertaining event and very well supported as usual. Our putting game raised £125 and Lennie the Basingstoke Lion garnered another £25 which we made up to £200 and donated to St Michael’s Hospice.
Old Basing Carnival was the putting game’s next outing, but inclement weather conditions caused a bit of mayhem. The target and screens were blown over a couple of times and even the arrival of a local funeral director (always good for a laugh) failed to lighten the atmosphere. I’ve no idea how much we made because the collecting bucket was accidentally left in our lockup.
The next event was our annual twinning weekend with the Lions of the French Club – Alençon Cité. It was their turn to host. Normally, between 12 and 16 of us go over. But on this occasion we were whittled down to 7 by a series of untoward events like a broken arm, fractured wrist, fractured eye socket (fortunately not all to the same individual) and a contretemps with a deer on the Tunworth road. But those who went had a wonderful time. Our French friends are always very welcoming and we generally get by with the lingua franca known as Franglais. Their programme for the weekend included a visit to La Michauderie, a magnificent dray horse training and exhibition centre, a tour of Le Mans including a vintage car museum and a formal dinner where a new recruit was badged up (lucky them). The weekend ended with the annual BBQ and boules match. We lost. (This is not necessarily a bad thing as the beautiful pink marble trophy is the sort of artefact that tests your car’s rear suspension.)
Back at home Lennie went solo to the Winklebury Gala, but even that redoubtable soul was driven home in short order by the 34C heat. Imagine what that must have been like in a big furry suit!
Lastly we had our own Handover do at the Red Lion in Overton – lasagne, chips and desserts worked off with a hotly contested skittles match – great fun. Julian Bridges was voted Lion of the Year. Handover is supposed to be the occasion on which Club duties are handed over to the next incumbents. Normally it’s more of a stand by your beds exercise. But this year we have a new Treasurer, a new Welfare Chairperson, a new Fundraising Chairperson and a new Dinner Secretary. Exciting times!!!!!
Our next fundraiser is that group of true originals “The Moscow Drug Club”. So please do come along and get in the mood with some gypsy jazz at QMC on 20th July. Tickets are available from Maurice Hockley email: mauricehockley@hotmail.com or telephone 01256 421867, Toucan Travel at Chineham or direct from our website www.basingstokelions.org.uk This will also allow you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Our programme for the rest of the year is:-
21st September: Ali Mak Rhythm and Blues band at the Royal British Legion
9th November: Quiz Night at the Millenium Hall
16th November: Basingstoke’s very own Heritage Light Orchestra who are putting together a special performance for us entitled Music of the Orient Express. Should be good!
Probus hears about Cycling the World
Not one to sit at home and lose physical and mental resilience after being made redundant from the NHS Barbara Cummings from Old Basing decided to retire in 2012 and embarked on what has become a series of long distance cycle rides.
She gave an outline of her adventures in a talk to the Probus Club of Basingstoke. Her thinking was very simple – going north was up hill while going south was down hill. With that simple philosophy she decided that her first long distance ride was down the east coast of America as it had a “Greenway” path from north to the south. With a stop off in Iceland she saw a sculpture put up by an American benefactor which claimed to have a similar one in Florida. That became a target – to see the one near Key West in Florida. That trip was 2,500 miles but had not been too difficult.
After that her cycling adventures multiplied with one from the Russian border near St Petersburg which took two months, and another across France from the east coast to the Mediterranean. A four months trip in Australia and New Zealand was completed by visiting Fiji and Hawaii. India was next, followed by North Africa.
In a few months Barbara will be tackling the USA Pacific coast, and like all her trips she travels alone. Never being concerned about being a single woman on a camp site she has been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers who have given her soap powder, a luminous watch so that she could see the time at night in her tent, given her lifts to a country’s border and even taken her into their homes with overnight accommodation.
She has now cycled in 24 countries and during that time only suffered three punctures, and that was on her east coast trip in USA. She has cycled on every continent except Antarctica but even that is planned for 2021.
She self finances all her trips but gives talks about what she has seen as a means of raising funds for two charities, Headway, where she is a trustee, and Asthma UK.
What does Rotary do?
In Basingstoke there are 4 rotary clubs with over 100 members, every year we raise money to support local organisations and charities. We also supply support to other organisations & provide vital ‘manpower’ to assist in their fundraising. It all sounds very serious but we all have loads of fun getting involved with our local community
Our clubs are part of an international organisation of over 35,000 clubs in over 200 countries. A portion of the income from all clubs worldwide goes to Rotary Foundation, our international charity, it donates a over £1 million a week to Rotary’s major international projects. The other focus of our international funding is the eradication of Polio throughout the world, ‘END POLIO NOW’
Rotary’s part in ridding the world of Polio
In the early 20th century two diseases, Smallpox and Polio, killed large numbers of people around the world. After a long worldwide vaccination campaign smallpox was finally declared eradicated by the World Health Organisation in 1980
There is no cure for Polio and it was the one of the most feared and dreaded diseases in the first half of the 20th century. As late as 1947 it killed 688 people and affected a total of 7,650 in the UK. Many of those that survived were left with irreversible paralysis, sometimes mildly but for others it meant a life time in an Iron Lung (a breathing machine) because they were no longer able to breathe independently. There were other major outbreaks in 1950 and 1955. In later life people continue to be affected by Post-Polio Syndrome. By 1990 cases of polio in the UK were down to single figures. All children in the UK today are offered routine polio vaccinations in infancy and boosters later in childhood. This herd immunity has kept our population safe from the ravages of polio
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL is one of the core partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Along with our partners, we have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries. We have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and we won’t stop until we end the disease for good. For every £1 Rotary donates the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates £2. Unfortunately there are still cases of Polio in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria and the immunisation programme needs to continue to be funded until it is eradicated, without immunisation disease will take hold again. ROTARY proud to be part of irradicating Polio
Sherfield Beer and Cider Festival
Our annual Beer and Cider Festival will take place again this year on Saturday 7th September, with 40+ ales and ciders, plus Prosecco and craft lager, soft drinks, tea and coffee. This popular family event will once again feature music, delicious food and face-painting, as well as the opportunity to relax in our lovely countryside.
The charities we are supporting this year are Headway and the Village Hall.
This year’s live bands are:
Green Embers, Runaway Train, Blacksmith Band, Jungle Brew and Rosedale Band. Much more information about the bands and other details can be found on the website www.SherfieldBeerFestival.org.uk
We also provide a FREE minibus service to and from Sherfield Park and Bramley Train Station from 18:30 until 23:00.
The Beer Festival begins at 11:30 and will finish at 23:00.
Tickets cost £4 in advance, available from The Shop, the Four Horseshoes and the White Hart, or £5 on the day. This includes tasting notes and a pint beer glass (while stocks last).
However busy we are, if you are lucky enough to look under 21 you will be asked to prove that you are over 18 when you buy alcohol.
Today's Visits: 0