Extras that did not make it into the printed magazine for October 2019.
- Basingstoke And District Railway Society
- Update from Chineham Medical Practice Patient Participation Group September 2019
- Basingstoke Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
- Greetings From Old Basing D of E Open Award Centre
- Linguatastic Language Academy
- Basingstoke Lions Club
- Chineham and Old Basing National Women’s Register
Basingstoke And District Railway Society
Our apologies to anyone who was hoping to hear Ian Bull’s talk about the Royal Arsenal Railway on 11 September. Ian was indisposed at fairly short notice and we are grateful to Rev. Alastair Wood who stepped in to present Something Old, New, Borrowed and Blue.
October’s presentations will both take a look at minor railways in Britain. At 7.45pm on Wednesday 9 October Doug Lindsay will examine The Kent and East Sussex Railway Then and Now. Doug will describe the history of the KESR from opening through the independent days and British Railways’ operation to closure and subsequent preservation and restoration.
At the following meeting at 7.45pm on Wednesday 23 October Colin Brading returns to present Tracks in the Mist. Colin’s talk will range far and wide but will include the Swansea and Mumbles Tramway, the Wantage Tramway and the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway.
Our meetings are held at The Wote Street Club in New Road in Basingstoke town centre. We welcome new members to the Society and are always pleased to see non-members at our meetings at a cost of just £3. For more information about the Society, membership and our programme of meetings in 2019 and 2020 take a look at our website at www.bdrs70d.com or telephone 01256 331002.
Update from Chineham Medical Practice Patient Participation Group September 2019
The GPs recognise the access issues relating to the current premises on Reading Road and are actively working towards a solution with the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Back in November 2018 Tellon Capital submitted a planning application that will enhance Chineham District Centre to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council that includes a “health and wellbeing” facility that may provide a solution. In the meantime the practice is grateful for your patience whilst they work towards this For further information on the centre redevelopment you can visit http://www.chinehamshopping.co.uk/ and click the Enhancement Proposals link.
Manage your care and wellbeing, stay independent and connect to your community! Connect to Support Hampshire is a website for adults in Hampshire. Its aim is to help you access information to stay independent and to manage your own care. You can find local groups, activities and services within your community as well as formal care services. Visit the website for more information https://www.connecttosupporthampshire.org.uk/
Remember, as one of the 13,946 registered patients you can always speak to a medical professional when the surgery is closed and it’s not an emergency by telephoning 111. The service is available from 6:30pm to 08.00 am weekdays, throughout weekends and on bank holidays. Hospital A&E departments should only be used with genuine life threatening emergencies. For more information from the NHS, please visit https://111.nhs.uk
Chineham Medical Practice has formed a primary care network (PCN), called Whitewater Loddon, with Whitewater Health (Hook and Hartley Wintney) and The Clift Surgery (Bramley), sharing expertise and resources over a wider population. By working together they are able to offer all registered patients a wider range of services and more efficient access to the right care and support. For more on NHS Primary Care Networks, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/primary-care-networks/
If you are interested in finding out more about joining the groups please contact: Karen Nicholls Tel: 01256 479244
Basingstoke Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
There were 53 members at the meeting held on Wednesday 4 September who were welcomed by the chairman, David Cowling. The secretary, Tony Brazier, gave details of the forthcoming trips and reminded those going on the River Trip, the Mystery Trip and the Christmas Lunch to return their menu choices as soon as possible. The Welfare Officer, Christine Broadbent, then gave her update on members who had not been well.
The speaker this month was Alan Copeland who gave the second part of his fascinating presentation on “Eccentric London”. This time, backed up by a series of excellent photographs, he took us on a tour of Greater London seeking out those places that the majority of us would never think to look for. Of the 24 places he visited some of the highlights were the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Neasden, Crystal Palace with it’s remnants and the Prehistoric Monster Trail, the unusual tomb of Sir Richard Burton the 19th Century explorer in Mortlake, the David Hartley monument in Putney, the Carreras Cigarette Factory in Camden and the many decorative shop fronts in Camden Town. He finished with the modern history of the late John Gladden’s house in Norbury with its infamous additions such as a tank and his many altercations with Croydon Council.
The group’s next outing is a on Friday 11 October which is the Mystery Trip and includes elevenses, lunch and afternoon tea as well as a tour of the English countryside.
The next meeting is on 2 October when the speaker is Mel Rees on “My Family and other Meerkats – Part 2”. 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.
Greetings From Old Basing D of E Open Award Centre.
“Bonjour” from sunny France! Well it was a few weeks ago when we ventured further afield. More of this later.
It’s been far too long since my last update, partially due to major changes in how the Award operates and uncertainty in our being allowed to continue as an open award centre. Thankfully, the “powers to be” allowed Open Centres to continue under the control of Hampshire County Council although schools now have to apply for and pay for their own licences. How this will affect our numbers long term we have to wait and see and much will depend on local young people signing up with us rather than going through a school. Our plan is to still deliver the award as we have for the past 14-15 years and keeping the two day practice in place rather than opting to cut this short, after all, the camping is generally the best bit”. We also have the advantage of being able to see a participant all the way through their D of E adventure, from Bronze to Gold.
So, what’s been happening? This year saw three bronze teams undertake a practice walk in the New Forest followed by their assessed expedition in a new area for us, the Cotswolds. Both expeditions went smoothly and not only did we not lose anyone, all passed with flying colours. In-between, we had a gold team of 6 complete wild country training and their practise in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District over Whitsun bank holiday week with their assessed in the Brecon Beacons at the beginning of August. Again a successful outcome for all.
What about Silver you ask, well that’s where France comes in. Last year we had a bronze team of lads who studied as their “aim”, the effects of WW2 on the New Forest, a subject which attracted a lot of interest. During the teams presentation, it was suggested they continue the theme and someone suggested the Normandy Landings and could we take them to France. This has been something Jackie and I have been considering for a few years and at the time, being unsure we would be able to continue as a centre, we thought what a great way to go out “if” we had to pack up. After much planning and permissions granted, two teams, one boys and one boys and girls had to be merged into one due at the very last minute due to one of the lads being ill and we sailed from Portsmouth to Caen on the 18th July, visiting Pegasus Bridge on route to the overnight camp. Three days expedition followed with the teams walking back over the bridge and the Horsa glider landing area down to Sword, Juno & Gold beaches as well as exploring sites inland, Arromanches and finishing at the battery at “Longues sur Mer”, some 70km in total. After an evening BBQ and packing up camp, we all visited the Bayeux tapestry before sailing home.
It was a tiring but fantastic expedition and experience, the only disappointment being that one of the highlights the teams wanted to see was the newly unveiled 75th anniversary statue made in the local Morris Singer Factory near Basingstoke which had been shown during the commemorations then packed away again pending being moved to a different final site.
Nonetheless this expedition will be remembered by all of us who travelled over to this most significant and historic area, which brings us back to our next season.
Anyone wishing to take on the challenge can contact us on 01256 470583 or email oldbasingoac@aol.com. You need to be aged 14-24 to take part. We are taking names for the next school year now.
We will also be having an enrollment evening at the Beddington Centre, Riley Lane on Monday 14th October at 8.00pm.
On the 6th of this month, it’s Dictionary Day which honours Noah Webster, the man considered to have fathered the American Dictionary. It was in 1806, that he published his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. The following year, Webster began compiling an expanded and fully comprehensive dictionary. This took twenty-seven years to complete. To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), German, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Arabic and Sanskrit.
Now don’t worry, we are not going to suggest you learn that number of languages (although there is of course no harm in doing so)! Neither are we going to suggest you read a dictionary (Webster’s book contained 70,000 words)! In fact, we would like to share a little language learning tip with you…
Research shows that the 100 most common English words make up over half of just about every sentence – it’s roughly the same in many other languages. So, to help you get by when travelling abroad or meeting speakers of other languages, why not consider picking up a dictionary and learning those 100 words in your target language? You should then get some kind of understanding of at least half of every sentence you read and some of the rest will hopefully come from context.
To get you started, to follow are the 10 most commonly printed words in English. Maybe you already know some (or all) of them in the language you wish to learn?
1. the
2. be
3. and
4. of
5. a
6. in
7. to
8. have
9. it
10. I
Of course, if you’d like to have a more rounded knowledge of the language, you could always consider joining one of Linguatastic’s classes. E-mail: info@linguatastic.com or telephone: 471474.
This month we thought about “The Future”. This is a perfectly sensible thing to do, particularly when you’re convinced (against all evidence to the contrary) that you are immortal. The particular aspect of the future that we have been considering is our concerts programme. It has been successful for many years and funded much of our charity work. Alas, even though we have tried to bring in fresh acts, costs have risen, audiences have shrunk and we are now barely operating at breakeven point. That cannot continue. So our “little grey cells” are being given a work out as we look for an alternative approach to this aspect of our fundraising. Of course a few new members with new ideas would be very welcome. Attendance at one of our business meetings is a good start. They’re like a sip of ambrosia in an otherwise humdrum life. Just use the “contact us” button on our website www.basingstokelions.org.uk to begin your trip upon our magic sailing ship (name that song!!!).
Ali Mac’s Rhythm and Blues band appear for us on 5th October at the Royal British Legion Club in Old Basing. These guys have got a pretty good pedigree. Tickets are available from Tony Bamberger, tony.bamberger@hotmail.co.uk telephone 01256 850254, Maurice Hockley email: mauricehockley@hotmail.com or telephone 01256 421867, Toucan Travel at Chineham or direct from our website www.basingstokelions.org.uk .
Quiz Night at the Cliddesden Millenium Hall is on 9th November. Another set of 110 excruciating questions for you to grapple with. If you fancy your chances email philipjhwilson@btinternet.com .You need a team of 3 or 4 and a short pithy team name. Visit our website www.basingstokelions.org.uk to see the full format of the evening.
A week later, on 16th November, the Heritage Light Orchestra will play a concert of music associated with places on the route of the Orient Express for us at QMC. These concerts are specially designed for us and feature local musicians and singers. They’re well worth supporting.
Organisation to celebrate World Sight Day in the Malls is well advanced. Remember this is your annual opportunity to speak to someone who may be able to advise you or point you towards the right people to approach on sight related matters, and to donate your unwanted spectacles for recycling to the 3rd world. Lennie the Basingstoke Lion will be scaring the unsuspecting public as usual.
On the Welfare front the most interesting case to come to our attention was a “smelly” washing machine. Dennis “the Hitman” Crouch has been despatched with 2 boxes of calgon to sort it out. Sic transit Gloria Mundi!!!!!!!!!! And no, that wasn’t the lady’s name.
Remember you too can journey happily into total insanity by joining us via www.basingstokelions.org.uk
Chineham and Old Basing National Women’s Register
National Women’s Register (NWR) was formed nearly 60 years ago. The annual membership fee in 1960 was 1 shilling. This year it is £25 with 6533 members in 391 groups. The aims of NWR have remained the same since its inception: to offer women the opportunity to participate in informal discussion of a wide range of topics (other than those of domestic interest); to promote friendship and self-confidence; to enable members to make contacts when moving to a new area and to provide the opportunity for continuing education and self-improvement.
Chineham and Old Basing NWR is a small and friendly group. We meet at 2pm on the first Monday of the month in the relaxed atmosphere of someone’s home. We also meet at other times for lunch and ad hoc trips, as well as having a Reading Group meeting in the evening every 4th Thursday. The last book was In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
In September our topic was Inspiring Women from the last 50 years. Each of us researched someone and said why they were inspirational. We learnt more about Greta Thumberg; Victoria Wood; Liz Johnson: Musala Yousafzai; Michele Obama; Rita Levi-Montalcini, Maya Angelou and Edna Adan Ishmail . In October the discussion topic is Poland.
Come along and try us – we could just be what you are looking for. More information can be found at www.nwr.org.uk. For specific information about our Local Group please contact Sandie (sandra.tapping@gmail.com) or Karen (01256 328488).
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