The Nature Sketchbook: March

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Artist Helen Grimbleby shares her love of the natural world through her work in a monthly series of observations

March many weathers is here. Although, the first month of meteorological spring, March is such an unresolved month, sometimes clinging on to freezing conditions and snow, unsure whether or when to allow the slow warm fingers of spring to get a hold.

It is nevertheless a joyful month with spring flowers ignoring the meteorological hesitancy, harnessing the sunshine to bring us verges of yellow primroses, cowslips, celandines, dandelions and narcissi/daffodils.

Where there are flowers, there are usually butterflies. In March we begin to see them emerge and arrive. Red admiral butterflies typically migrated from North Africa and were seen from spring onwards. In 2023, there was a 400% increase in their UK population. Experts suggest this may be due to the species now overwintering here rather than migrating due to warmer temperatures resulting from climate change.

Many of our early spring flowers are yellow as early pollinators, mainly insects, are attracted to the colour which appears as ultra-violet blue to them.

And it is attraction which brings us to the final association with March, and idiomatic mad hares. I have seen hares in West Berkshire but not engaged in the boxing behaviour which inspired the phrase. This is a tale of unrequited ardour with male buck hares pursuing female doe hares in the hope of mating and then, it seems, taking it too far. The unimpressed doe will demonstrate her lack of interest in dramatic fashion by turning on the buck and thumping him, initiating the boxing when fur may fly!

Helen Grimbleby is a West Berks/North Hants based artist who is inspired by the natural world’s changing seasons. After exploring outside, she enjoys writing and illustrating her Nature Sketchbook and painting larger landscapes at her home studio (@burbleartstudios).

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The magic of Pratchett

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Marc Burrows is bringing his celebration of Terry Pratchett to Norden Farm

Author, comedian and Terry Pratchett fan, Marc Burrows invites audiences to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the landmark comic fantasy Discworld series with his beautiful tribute.

In 2020, Marc penned the first ever biography of Sir Terry. The book received critical acclaim, won a Locus Award and was embraced by fans. This new, live multimedia show, based on the book, was then created with the full endorsement and support of Narrativia, the company founded to protect and promote the late author’s work in association with his estate.

The Magic of Terry Pratchett is a comic lecture in which Burrows explores Pratchett’s influences, his rise to fame, impact, and unique life, becoming one of the most beloved storytellers of all time. From the national treasure’s days as a school librarian, his time as a trainee journalist to his untimely death in 2015 and in keeping with Pratchett’s own style, the show is a gently comic celebration and exploration of his work. It will also seriously examine his death, and the activism he was involved with toward the end of his life surrounding dementia treatment and the right-to-die; an important part of his story and legacy.

In addition to using the framework of the The Magic of Terry Pratchett book, the show incorporates additional elements of Rob Wilkins’ official biography, Terry Pratchett: A Life in Footnotes, (A Sunday Times Bestseller) as well as licensed media.

Sir Terry Pratchett OBE is one of the world’s most widely read authors. Conventions dedicated to his work are held globally every year. His works have been translated into 40 different languages, sold 100 million copies and have been performed on stage on seven continents. John Lloyd was right when he said “of all of the dead authors in the world, Terry Pratchett is the most alive”. Pratchett’s short story The Abominable Snow Baby was adapted by Channel 4 as a Christmas Day animation in 2021. Sky released a feature film adaptation of his Carnegie Award winning book The Amazing Maurice in cinemas in 2022, and Good Omens, a TV series based on the book Pratchett wrote with Neil Gaiman, will have a second Amazon Prime season in the autumn.

Marc Burrows often writes on culture and social issues for The Guardian, New Statesman, Big Issue and Independent and his Edinburgh Fringe shows include The Ten Best Songs of All Time and Mind Your Head. Marc’s second book, The London Boys: David Bowie, Marc Bolan and the 60s Teenage Dream was published to considerable acclaim in 2022 and is in the early stages of adaptation into a feature-length documentary. Outside of writing and comedy, Marc plays in the cult punk band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, regularly performing at the Download, Glastonbury, Bestival and Latitude festivals and touring the UK and US.

The Magic of Terry Pratchett is at Norden Farm on 28th March.
Tickets are available here.

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Marlborough LitFest celebrates its 15th year

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The first announcement for the 2024 line-up is LitFest Patron, Sir Simon Russell Beale

Marlborough LitFest is set for its 15th year and runs from 26th-29th September and the festival programme is currently being put together to provide an exciting mix of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s authors and free family activities over the festival weekend. Sir Simon Russell Beale will be talking about his memoir, A Piece of Work, on the evening of Sunday 29th September.

Sir Simon Russell Beale has had a longstanding and stellar career both on stage and screen. The critically acclaimed actor was knighted in October 2019 and won a Tony Award for his role in The Lehman Trilogy in 2022. He now lives in Marlborough, becoming LitFest’s first Patron in 2020. Russell Beale’s first book, A Piece of Work, is due to be published on 5th September, recounting his acting career with a focus on playing Shakespearean characters.

Russell Beale will be interviewed at LitFest by Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford, who has published and lectured widely on William Shakespeare. She has written on Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623) and is interested in the cultural impact of the playwright over four centuries. She is an associate scholar with the Royal Shakespeare Company, has contributed to radio and TV programmes and written extensively for newspapers and magazines, as well as being a published author. Her recent book, This Is Shakespeare: How to read the world’s greatest playwright, was a Sunday Times bestseller and Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers was shortlisted for the Wolfson Prize in 2023.

Genevieve Clarke, Festival Chair, said: “This feels like a very fitting event for our 15th festival – our patron in conversation with a top Shakespeare scholar and book enthusiast.  Meanwhile we’re working hard to bring a raft of authors to Marlborough in September to appeal to all ages and interests.”

Friends of Marlborough LitFest benefit from priority booking for festival events and a brochure in the post. The full programme will be announced in July when tickets go on sale. For more information and regular 2024 festival programme updates click here.

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Meet Crosfields’ Head of Early Years

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We are pleased to introduce you to Miss Hannah Saunders, the dedicated Head of Early Years at Crosfields School

Miss Saunders commitment to ensuring a transformative educational experience for children makes her a beacon in early childhood education.

What is your philosophy on early childhood education?

‘’Our philosophy on Early Years at Crosfields School is to deliver the richest early educational experiences for our children, ensuring that we are keeping up to date with the evolving changes, latest research, and any recommendations about Early Years Development, in order to offer a high level of quality learning.’’

How do you ensure the well-being and safety of the children in your care?

‘’Children’s well-being and safety is fundamentally one of the most important aspects. In the school day we ensure we have a good level of structure and regular routines; we ensure children have a good understanding about healthy eating, and ensure children are exposed to a balanced diet.  Alongside the EYFS statutory guidelines, we also give children the knowledge, understanding and opportunity to be able to grow, develop, and take appropriate risks through physical play.’’

Can you describe your approach to fostering a supportive and inclusive learning environment?

‘’In every classroom we create opportunities to ensure every child has a voice. Every teacher is aware of specific needs of each individual child. We understand that children have different learning styles and, through effective planning, we ensure we are meeting every child’s need.’’

How do you engage with parents and families to create a strong partnership in the child’s early development?

‘’Parents are their child’s first and more enduring educators so, as an Early Years department, we ensure we create strong relationships with parents.

“We work together to support parents with their child’s learning by offering parents’ evenings as well as inviting parents into Crosfields for presentations and events throughout the year. We also have an open door policy and parents can talk to their child’s teacher every day. We use an online platform where both parents and teachers can upload important milestones and share a child’s interest, which enables the adults to engage on these topics with the child and offer similar experiences which will help further a child’s development.’’

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Placebo join Southampton Summer Sessions

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Rock legends join Tom Jones and Madness for this Summer’s hottest shows

Alternative Rock legends Placebo are the latest headliner to be announced for the somewhat long-named TK Maxx presents Southampton Summer Sessions. Guildhall Square is well known as the Cultural Quarter of the City. Proud to be the hub of live music venues, museums, galleries, bars, cafes, and restaurants. This summer will see the square transformed into a buzzing live music hub, welcoming artists from across the globe for this series of Southampton Summer Sessions. That’s far too much sibilance for any festival.

Placebo bought a touch of gothic androgyny and a smart edge to a scene that, in the aftermath of the Grunge explosion, was primarily obsessed with Blur and Oasis. The band are now a duo and still going strong after 8 albums. So, whether it’s Nancy Boy or Every You Or Every Me that floats your boat, Placebo should have the songs to deal with any residual teenage angst that might be knocking about.

Support comes from Friedberg – a four-piece led by Anna Friedberg. Friedberg is also known as Anna F, who was a successful pop star in her native Austria. Now fronting a band comprised of her friends, they specialise in making quirky pop anthems – as evidenced on their latest release Hello or the frantic Midi 8. Definitely worth checking them out live.

These latest names join the already announced Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Tom Jones, Madness, Paloma Faith, and Kaiser Chiefs on the growing lineup of incredible acts taking over Guildhall Square for Southampton Summer Sessions from 15 to 30 June.

Tickets for the latest show go on general sale on Friday 08 March at 10 am via smmrsessions.com / ticketmaster.co.uk. Fans can follow @smmrsessions for the latest news and updates.

 Placebo headline the festival on Wednesday 26 June

 For ticket information and further updates, music fans should follow @smmrsessions and visit smmrsessions.com

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Varvara Neiman Exhibition and Event

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Elgiva Theatre hosts an exhibition and a “meet the artist” event in March

A solo exhibition featuring local artist Varvara Neiman began at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham on Saturday and will run until the 1st April.  Power Of Colour In Light is open to the public from 10.30 am – 3.00 pm daily, except Sundays. There is no cost to enter during these times.

Varvara obtained her MA in Fine Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg in 1996. Subsequently she worked in several local theatres specialising costume and set design.

Following a move to the UK in 1999 Varvara concentrated on her career as a professional artist, staging exhibitions in Suffolk, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and London. She now has a studio in Beaconsfield and is a member of both the Bucks Art Society and “HP9”, a group of local artists.

Varvara is also an art educator and teaches for artsmart School of Art and Buckinghamshire Adult Learning. She is currently teaching Life Drawing and her key subjects also include Portraiture, Water Colour, Oils and Acrylics.

At this solo exhibition Varvara is showing two of her favourite subjects, Portraiture and Landscape.

“I have always drawn people from a very early age and am passionate about creating a character either from life or from photos when undertaking commissions,” she says. “These can be celebratory surprises or simply commemorative. My favourite portrait artist is Rembrandt from whom I am always learning that a portrait of a person is all about their eyes which are a mirror of their soul.”

Varvara is very enthusiastic about painting en Plein Air and passionate about Cezanne’s famous quote: “Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensation…”

“For me whether it is a watercolour technique or painting in oils or acrylics it is about the power of light reflecting in a prism of a kaleidoscope of colours,” she says.

Varvara will also be showcasing her watercolour technique on Saturday 16th March when the is a chance to meet the artist at the Elgiva. The event starts at 1pm, and will explore Varvara’s artistic journey and inspiration and she will discuss her work in depth.

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Give something back…volunteer!

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Find your perfect volunteering opportunity at OCVA’s Volunteer Recruitment Fair at the Westgate Oxford Shopping Centre on 20th March 2024

Oxfordshire residents are invited to pop into the Westgate Shopping Centre on 20th March (10am-2pm) to find out more about the huge range of volunteering opportunities on offer across the county.

Oxfordshire Community & Voluntary Action (OCVA) has been supporting the voluntary and community sector to flourish in Oxfordshire for 90 years and their Volunteer Recruitment Fair will bring together more than 20 different groups, including charities working in health and wellbeing, education, the environment and more. They are all keen to chat with potential volunteers.

With recent research from the National Lottery Community Fund finding that half of UK adults intend to take part in local volunteering activities in 2024 – and one in ten (14%) planning to volunteer for the first time – this is a fantastic opportunity to find the perfect role to suit you.

Jenny Bowley, Volunteer Development Officer for OCVA, said: “OCVA is delighted to be working with Westgate Oxford to raise the profile of volunteering in Oxfordshire. We know volunteering is a lot of fun, can help you to use existing skills and to learn new ones, and is great for health and wellbeing, so we hope this fair will link more people with some of the amazing charities working across the county.”

Brendan Hattam, Centre Director at Westgate Oxford, said, “By hosting the OVCA’s Volunteer Recruitment Fair, we hope that our guests will learn about the missions of an array of fantastic regional and national charities, and the tangible impact they have on their communities, whilst also encouraging them to get involved in volunteering.” 

If you’re interested in volunteering, why not visit OCVA’s website or the Oxon Volunteers website?

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Raffle to support Berkshire Music Trust

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Help to raise the necessary funds to continue their work and maybe win some great prizes

“Making music for everyone” is at the heart of what Berkshire Music Trust do as a registered music charity with the aim of providing musical opportunities for all. They run various activities across Berkshire including lessons, ensembles, early years classes and adult opportunities including singing cafes for people with Dementia and Parkinson’s across Berkshire community. They also have music centres in Reading, Newbury, Windsor, Bracknell, Wokingham and Caversham, and they also teach in Berkshire schools.

The Music Trust are running an online fundraising raffle and the money raised from this raffle will help to raise the necessary funds to continue their work.

There are over 45 prizes currently all from organisations across Berkshire, and tickets are only £2! (Winners drawn on 19th March) Follow this link to join the raffle, you’ll also find displays of the prizes.

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A virtual shaggy dog story

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Grand Theft Auto and AI help Surrey team turn dog pics into 3D models

Photographs of dogs could soon be used to help generate 3D models more accurately than ever before – thanks to an award-winning study from the University of Surrey and the famous video game, Grand Theft Auto.  

The researchers taught an artificial intelligence (AI) system to predict the 3D pose from a 2D image of a dog – which they trained on images they created using Grand Theft Auto V.  

Moira Shooter, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Surrey, said:  

“Our model was trained on CGI dogs – but we were able to use it to make 3D skeletal models from photographs of real animals. That could let conservationists spot injured wildlife, or help artists create more realistic animals in the metaverse.” 

One way to teach AI to get 3D information from 2D images is to show it photos while giving it information about 3D ‘ground truth’ – where the objects actually are in 3D space. For humans, that means wearing motion capture suits.  

Even on their best behaviour, getting dozens of dogs to wear motion capture suits can prove challenging.   

Instead, researchers created a myriad of virtual dogs to study.  

They altered the code of Grand Theft Auto, switching the main character for one of eight kinds of dog – a process known as “modding”. They generated 118 videos of the dogs sitting, walking, barking and running in a range of different weather and lighting conditions.  

The team called their new database ‘DigiDogs’ – made up of 27,900 frames. They will now fine-tune it using Meta’s DINOv2 model to make sure it can predict a 3D pose just as well from real dog pictures.  

Moira added, “3D poses contain so much more information than 2D photographs. From ecology to animation – this neat solution has so many possible uses.”  

Here comes the science bit…

The research won the prize for Best Paper at the IEEE/CVF’s Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision.

It helps promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 15 (life on land). 

All images were produced by Moira Shooter of the University of Surrey, using the engine of GTA 5 (Rockstar Games). 

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Who ate all the pies?

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Turns out we did…

It’s British Pie Week soon! 4th to 10th March to be precise. It’s an annual event to celebrate a popular icon of British cuisine. That said, when you learn that Brits are estimated to eat £1billion worth of pies each year, it would appear that every week is British pie week. That figure doesn’t even counting those that are home-made, which is a somewhat incredible fact.

To celebrate British Pie week, the good folks at Denby have shared some mouth-watering pie recipes with us. They’re a bit different to the traditional pies you might be used to, but we still think you might be tempted!

Crunchy Topped Leek and Broccoli Fish Pie – Serves 4 -6

Ingredients

  • 200g fresh sourdough breadcrumbs
  • A good handful of fresh tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
  • 150g unsalted butter, melted
  • Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
  • 2 leeks, white part only, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 300g broccoli, cut into small florets
  • A splash of extra virgin olive oil
  • 800g firm white fish (we used cod) cut into medium sized pieces
  • 1 tablespoon of plain flour
  • 2 x 300g tubs of sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
  • 250ml warm water
  • Lemon zest, to serve

Method

  • Heat the oven to 400°F / 200°C and prepare a shallow casserole dish with a splash of olive oil.
  • Place the breadcrumbs, half the melted butter, half the chopped tarragon, salt and pepper into a large bowl and mix to combine. Set to one side.
  • Heat the remaining butter in the shallow casserole on a low to medium heat on the hob. Add the leeks, garlic and broccoli florets and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until softened.
  • On a small plate, season the flour with salt and pepper and coat the fish pieces. Place them in the shallow casserole dish.
  • In a small bowl, add the sour cream, tarragon, mustard and water, mixing well.
  • Pour over the ingredients in the casserole dish and stir gently to combine. Top with the breadcrumbs and cook in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
  • Serve the fish pie into bowls with seasonal greens such as kale or Swiss chard. Enjoy!

Apple Pie with Blackberries & Clementine – Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 250g plain flour
  • 110g cold, cubed butter
  • 4 apples
  • 150g blackberries
  • Zest & juice of 1 clementine
  • 1.5 tsp cinnamon
  • 1.5 tsp ground ginger
  • Handful of brown sugar

Method

  • Pre heat your oven to 170c. Rub the butter into the flour until a crumb has formed then add 3-5 tbsp water until you have a moist dough but still with a bit of crumble. Cut in half and roll one half out to 0.5cm thick. Place into an over proof medium size dish or small oven proof ramekins if you’re making individual portions.
  • Trim the edges of the pastry, prick all over with a fork and blind bake for 7 minutes. Whilst that’s cooking peel and chop your apples into small cubes. Add to a bowl with the blackberries, clementine, sugar and spices. Mix well.
  • Fill your pie crust to the brim and cover with the other half of your pastry. Roll out the off-cuts and decorate as you like! It looks stylish to plait around the edge or have fun making leaves.
  • Egg wash and bake for 15-20 minutes until the pie is a rich golden brown.
  • Serve with double cream, vanilla custard or caramel ice cream to elevate the flavours. 

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