Round & About, Author at Round & About Magazine • Page 75 of 137

This year, Chilton Garden Centre will be the central hub for fundraising activity, as it hosts the fifth Garden Re-Leaf Sponsored Walk and Cycle Challenge.

Members of the gardening sector and hopefully local residents will trek across the Chiltern Hills to raise money for the children’s hospice garden charity, Greenfingers Charity.

Gardeners young and old are invited to take part in fundraising events – either a gentle 10-mile stroll or complete a more challenging 20-mile route through the Chiltern hills. There will also be a Garden Re-Leaf Cycle Challenge for bike enthusiasts. With a 25km route through the Oxfordshire countryside entrants are invited to complete as many rotations around the course as they can throughout the day.

Garden Re-Leaf Day is to celebrate the start of the garden year with fundraising events to raise money for Greenfingers, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children in hospices through the creation of magical gardens.

In total, 58 Greenfingers gardens have been built since the charity’s creation in 1998 with many being funded by monies from Garden Re-Leaf Day.

In 2017, a new Oxfordshire based garden was opened at Helen & Douglas House, enabling children who call this hospice ‘home’ to find a moment of calm away from the hustle and bustle of daily hospice life. The Kaleidoscope Garden, designed by Oxford garden designer Nicola Wakefield and built by local landscapers GreenArt Garden Design and landscaping, features a colourful and protected garden pavilion that is now being enjoyed by patients, their families, friends, carers and hard-working hospice staff.

Last year in 2019, the charity’s 20th anniversary, four sensory and therapeutic gardens were built in London, The Wirral, Sunderland and St Austell, offering children and families the perfect out door space in which to make memories.

More gardens are in the pipeline to be built this year and this is where Garden Re-Leaf Day comes into its own, raising much–needed funds.

Linda Petrons, director of fundraising & communications at Greenfingers said: “Each year, Garden Re-Leaf Day helps over 350 life-limited children to enjoy a quiet place of relaxation and contemplation away from the hustle and bustle of hospice life, something that is so incredibly important for them and their families.

“Being able to do offer this for seriously sick children and their families is only possible due to the fundraising activities that our supporters undertake.

“Garden Re-Leaf Day offers a great opportunity to get involved – it’s just one day of the year where you can help make a difference. Whether you raise £10 or £10,000, every single penny counts. We hope that the people of Oxfordshire will get involved on March 13th!”

More info

To find out more about Garden Re-Leaf Day and the work that the Greenfingers charity undertakes visit

Website

World Book Day

Round & About

February 28, 2020

Thursday is the annual worldwide celebration of books and reading that is World Book Day.

The registered charity is on a mission to give every child and young person a book and champions authors, illustrators and books generally.

This is the 23rd year of World Book Day which promotes a love of books and reading and gives children the opportunity to have a book of their own. Book tokens are sent to schools along with age-ranged World Book Day resource packs full of ideas and activities for book-related fun.

Children just take their tokens to a bookshop and can use it for one of the new and completely free books or to get £1 off any book or audio book over £2.99.

Among the £1 books you can choose from this year are Meet Amelia Fang, the tale of a young vampire by Laura Ellen Anderson; Evie in the Jungle by Matt Haig – meet Evie who can hear what animals are thinking; Chris Smith and Greg James’s Kid Normal and the Loudest Library; a murder most unladylike mini mystery The Case of the Drowned Pearl by Robin Stevens; teen super spy Alex Rider returns in Anthony Horowitz’s Undercover: Four Secret Files and Beth Reekles’s story of young love in The Kissing Booth – Road Trip among others for all ages.

More info

To find out more visit

Website

British Pie Week

Round & About

February 28, 2020February 28, 2020

Never has the saying ‘nice as pie’ been so apt – who doesn’t love a tasty pastry pie and what better time to indulge than in British Pie Week.

With so many great recipes to choose from all you need to do is decide whether it’s savoury, sweet, crumble or pasty – why not make a different one every day this week and get all members of the family involved in the cooking too?

According to the most common internet search results, here’s our top 10, love them or loathe them:-

1: Cottage Pie

2: Fish Pie

3: Shepherd’s Pie

4: Chicken & Leek Pie

5: Chicken and Mushroom Pie

6: Steak and Ale Pie

7: Meat and Potato Pie

8: Pork Pie

9: Steak and Kidney Pie

10: Corned Beef Pie

We asked our star baker Christine Wallace to share a pie recipe with us so why not put this on the menu this week?

Left over turkey, leek and mushroom pie

• You will need an 8” (20cm) Pie dish.
• 500gm block of butter puff pastry.
• 1 large leek – cut into large chunks
• 120g button mushrooms
• 300g cooked turkey meat
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tblsp oil
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 1 pint milk
• ½ tsp onion salt
• White pepper
• Beaten egg for glaze

Method

• Place the oil and butter in a pan and add the leek, gently sweat for 5 minutes but do not brown.

• Add the mushrooms and thyme, cook for a minute.

• Stir in the flour and gently cook for a minute.

• Slowly add the milk until you have a nice thick sauce, add the turkey meat and cook for a couple of minutes.

• Add the onion salt and a little pepper then pour into your pie dish

• Roll out the pastry and cover the pie, sealing well and fluting the edges.

• Brush with beaten egg and cook for 30 minutes or until the pastry is well risen and golden brown.

N.B. If you are making the pie to freeze, do NOT add the turkey meat until the leek and mushroom sauce is completely cold. Use fresh puff pastry if you are freezing, not frozen!

Hockney’s way

Round & About

February 26, 2020February 26, 2020

Spanning six decades of work, David Hockney: Ways of Working takes an in-depth look at the artist’s genius and shows there’s much more to him than just swimming pools.

Hockney has explored a variety of media – painting techniques, printmaking skills, photography and designs for the stage as well as embracing the iPad and Photoshop among other technologies.

The exhibition at The Lightbox in Woking which runs until 19^th April will delve deeper into his work and will include photos of Hockney seen working in his studio creating paintings, drawings and prints. Visitors will also be able to see a 14-page letter never seen before which describes his processes in his own words.

Hockney is probably best known for his series of Californian swimming pools but one of the largest sections of the exhibition is devoted to his methods of printmaking. Also on display are drawings in watercolour, chalks, pencil and ink as well as digital illustrations on the iPad, merging drawing with his fascination with new technology.

Throughout the exhibition there will be hands-on learning activity in the Main Gallery, enabling children and families to engage with the artwork. As part of Hockney week, during half-term, children will be invited to contribute to a large mosaic-style artwork, reflecting the artist’s processes.

The exhibition will also feature a selection of talks, tours and creative workshops.

More info..

For more information about these and the exhibition David Hockney: Ways of Working

The Lightbox

Food, friends and fun

Round & About

February 24, 2020

Host a supper club on 7^th March and raise funds for Eva’s Friends

If you enjoy food, friends and fun while raising money to change children’s lives then Eva’s Friends Supper Club is the event for you.

It couldn’t be easier to get involved – just invite some friends round for dinner on Saturday, 7^th March and ask them to donate to Eva’s Friends what they would have paid if they’d gone out to eat and if you don’t fancy cooking, drinks and nibbles works as well.

Last year more than 40 supper clubs were run in aid of the Oxfordshire-based charity and they’re hoping for more this year which will also feature an online auction and competitions too. Chefs Tom Kerridge and Richard Bertinet donated raffle prizes last year.

Eva’s Friends works to fund research into rare neurological conditions in children and is currently helping to fund a gene therapy project to find a cure for Rett Syndrome which affects thousands of children, almost exclusively girls, leaving them unable to walk, talk or use their hands.

There is no known cure and it is thought to affect about 1 in 12,000 girls born each year such as Eva after whom the charity is named.

If you can’t make the main Supper Club event on the 7^th, why not arrange another foodie treat in the week beginning 2^nd March, how about brunch with friends, afternoon tea, cakes at work – whatever you fancy.

Simply register by emailing info@evasfriends.uk to receive a fundraising pack and get cooking!

More info..

To find out more about the charity and how you can support their work visit

Website

Journey of discovery

Round & About

February 24, 2020January 26, 2021

Fi Harding tells us more about Chiltern Arts Festival 2020 which takes place at various venues between Friday 28th February and Saturday 7th March

As the world celebrates 250 years since Beethoven’s birth, Chiltern Arts is celebrating overcoming adversity in the arts, with its usual array of venues including those in Henley, Marlow, Wallingford and, for the first time, Princes Risborough.

‘It’s a busy year for Chiltern Arts,” says founder and creative director Naomi Taylor, “and an exciting one! I’m particularly excited to have a theme linking all events for the first time and I hope people will get on board and follow the festival as a bit of a journey of discovery. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved as well as sitting back and enjoying; a Come and Sing day, poetry competition and Youth Music and Art Day… come and join us for what we think will be a brilliant week!”

Chiltern Arts offers an array of concerts for all musical tastes: Septura Brass Septet celebrate the music of female composers; the Come and Sing Company invite you to explore Tippett’s Five Spirituals alongside Tippett’s biographer Oliver Soden; the Marian Consort uncover the Catholic music kept under wraps in Elizabethan England; the Phoenix Piano Trio present piano trios from Beethoven and Fauré, both of whom suffered hearing loss; pianist Danny Driver presents Beethoven and the loss of Vital Senses with music from Gabriela Lena Frank and Rodrigo partnering Beethoven’s impressive Hammerklavier; and the City of London Sinfonia close with Beethoven’s famous Septet.

One of the highlights is undoubtedly a mini-residency from eminent solo percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, performing with Trio HLK a piece called Extra Sensory Perception; and we’re thrilled to be commissioning a piece from Stephen Goss for Dame Evelyn and Matthew Wadsworth. The piece will be premiered at the Candlelit Lute recital in Great Missenden on Thursday 5th March. Dame Evelyn and Matthew both also precede their respective events with pre-concert talks.

Chiltern Arts’ popular concert and dinner event returns to The Gatsby in Berkhamsted with music from members of the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, featuring cabaret and a seven-piece band.

Three outstanding young professional ensembles feature at the festival: the Salomé String Quartet, baroque quartet Ensemble Hesperi and wind group the Magnard Ensemble. The first entirely youth-focused event features music from several local young musicians and performers, including students from the Mary Hare School for the Deaf, Amersham Music Centre, Tring School and Chiltern Music Academy, as well as a massed choir led by the Marian Consort.

More info..

The poetry competition also returns, open to writers of all ages. There’s information about all of these events online, where you can also request a brochure, buy tickets and find out how you can get involved with Chiltern Arts. You can also call the box office on 01442 920303.

Website

Going The Full Monty

Round & About

February 24, 2020February 24, 2020

New production aims to boost Urology Unit at Royal Surrey County Hospital

Following the success of Calendar Girls, which raised nearly £7,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, Sunflower Productions is back and this time the team are raising money for The Urology Unit at The Royal Surrey and have brought together a fabulous cast of local performers to stage The Full Monty, a Broadway musical.

Based on the smash-hit British film, it follows the journey of a group of unemployed steel workers from Buffalo NY. Jealous of the attention their wives give to a touring Chippendales show, the men hatch an ambitious plan to raise some cash and go ‘the full monty.’

Sue Sillett, co-founder of Sunflower Productions said: “We formed Sunflower in 2013 to raise much-needed funds for cancer research and were astounded by the response, not just of our audiences but from people wanting to help backstage and with fundraising. We’re incredibly proud of the amount we raised for charity and knew we wanted to do a follow up – it just had to be the right show.

“Rehearsals are now in full swing and we’re really excited to see it all taking shape.”

Stuffed full of fantastic songs, loveable characters and featuring a highly anticipated finale number, The Full Monty is a musical about heart, humour and friendship. An uplifting night of musical theatre to banish February blues.

All profits raised from this production which runs from 26^th to 29^th February at The Electric Theatre, Guildford, will be donated to The Urology Unit at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

More info..

Tickets £20 (plus £1 booking fee) from the website or 01483 501200.

Website

March recipes: Not your average Joe!

Round & About

February 24, 2020March 2, 2020

Fitness star Joe Wicks –AKA The Body Coach – has teamed up with cancer charity Macmillan to share some veggie recipes for March

Rosie’s Beautiful Lentil Bolognese

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Large onion, finely chopped
• Two medium carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
• Salt and pepper
• Two cloves garlic, crushed
• Two sprigs of rosemary
• 200g dried green lentils
• A glass of red wine
• Two 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• 60g walnuts
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Cooked pasta of your choice
• Grated cheese, to serve
(optional)

This one [inspired by Joe’s wife Rosie] is a great recipe to make ahead. It will keep in the fridge for two or three days and freezes very well.

Method:
Add the oil to a saucepan over a low heat. Tip in the chopped onion and carrots, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for six minutes until mostly softened. Stir in the garlic and rosemary sprigs. Cook for another minute until it smells fragrant, then tip in the lentils. Give everything a good stir, then pour in the wine.

When most of the wine has bubbled off, chuck in the chopped tomatoes, then re-fill one of the tins with water and pour it in. Stir in the tomato puree then leave to cook for 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the lentils are soft. When the lentils are nearly cooked, toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until lightly browned and smelling nutty.

Allow to cool and roughly chop, then add them to the pan. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and season your bolognese to taste, removing the rosemary sprigs. Serve with cooked pasta and, if you’re like me, loads of grated cheese on top!

l To support this fantastic charity please visit www.macmillan.org.uk

Peri-Peri Halloumi Burger

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp peri-peri sauce
• 100g halloumi, cut into four slices
• 1 tbsp mayo
• One baby gem lettuce
• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
• One medium tomato
• Burger bun

Method:
our two tablespoons of the peri-peri sauce into a shallow bowl. Add the halloumi slices to the bowl and turn them so that both sides are covered in the sauce. Leave to marinate for a few minutes.

While your cheese is marinating, stir the remaining peri-peri into the mayo. Separate the lettuce leaves and slice the tomato into rounds. Warm a dry non-stick frying pan over a high heat. When it is hot, chuck in the halloumi slices. Dry fry for two minutes each side, spooning any of the leftover marinade over the cheese as it cooks so that it becomes sticky and crisp. Take off the heat. Toast your burger bun, then spread the base with spicy mayo. Stack in the halloumi, lettuce and tomato.

Avo & berry breakfast pot

Ingredients:

• Half an avocado, flesh scooped out\
• One small banana, roughly chopped
• Two handfuls of mixed frozen berries
• 2 tbsp natural yoghurt
• 1 ½ tbsp rolled oats
• 1 ½ tbsp. mixed seeds
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• Drizzle of honey

Make ahead – You can blitz the fruit and yoghurt the night before and keep it in the fridge

Method:
Place the avocado, banana, frozen berries and natural yoghurt in a blender and blitz with a splash of water until smooth. Tip into a bowl or pot to take to work. In a dry frying pan, over a medium heat, toast the oats and seeds until the seeds start to pop. Take off the heat. When you’re ready to eat, top the avocado berry pot with the toasted oats and seeds, almond butter and a drizzle of honey

See our other recipes

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Drive time

Round & About

February 24, 2020March 18, 2020

Whatever your vintage or passion, March is a great month for motoring enthusiasts.

Waylands Group shows off the UK’s first plug-in hybrid premium compact SUV

Waylands Volvo in Newbury, Oxford, Reading and Swindon has announced it is now offering the UK’s first plug-in hybrid premium compact SUV to customers. Volvo is the UK’s first car manufacturer to offer plug-in hybrid versions across its entire model range, and its new petrol-electric XC40 T5 Twin Engine completes a full line-up of hybrid cars.

The XC40 has also seen enhancements, with new engine features and generous specification levels adding to its desirability, connectivity and safety – including technology such as the Blind Spot Information system, which monitors and alerts the driver of rapidly approaching vehicles.

John O’Hanlon, CEO of Waylands, said: “We’re pleased to announce that customers can now come and test drive the new petrol-electric XC40 T5 Twin Engine, which is set to be hugely popular.

“Volvo is committed to giving customers the best possible choice when it comes to cars that are better for the environment, practical for their lifestyles and safe for their families. The electrification of our model line-up is just the tip of the iceberg for our sustainability journey, and we’d encourage people who are looking to reduce their environmental impact to come and test drive one of these amazing cars.”

Waylands also offers a wide range of new and Volvo Selekt Approved Used cars, in addition to the plug-in hybrid XC40, and later this year customers can look forward to the pure electric XC40, Volvo’s first all-electric car.

More info

To find out more about the new plug-in hybrid Volvo line-up, visit www.waylandsrecharge.co.uk or email contactus@waylands.co.uk

Start your engines! March is considered by many petrolheads & motoring enthusiasts as the real start of the year. With the start of the Formula One World Championships (in Australia 13th-15th March), the Techno-Classica Essenin (Calais, 25th to 29th) and the British Touring Car Championships (Donington, 28th & 29th), there’s tiger in the tank for car fans of all persuasions.

One familiar broadcaster who is looking forward to seeing Lewis Hamilton et al coming off the blocks is ITV sports anchoman Steve Rider. “I’m always excited about the new F1 season,” says Steve, 69, who lives in Bucks. “This year I look forward to a greater injection of competition but am more pessimistic about the sports ability to make the commercial and sporting changes required to make this possible long term.”

Round & About Towers is populated by your larger-than-average number of petrolheads and we’re always interested in what people drive. “My first car was an electric blue Austin A35,” says Steve. “Today I drive a Land Rover Discovery Sport.” Steve, who was the lead presenter for ITV’s Formula One coverage from 2006 to 2010, has seen his fair share of supercars… so what’s his dream car? “I’m not flash! My dream car was an MGB and it still is.” What about Steve’s perfect road trip – what would be his ideal route and who would be his lucky passenger? “The Pacific Highway on the west coast of America. I would auction the passenger seat to the highest bidder to enable me to make the trip in the greatest luxury.”

Industry analysts have heralded 2020 as the year of the electric car, with Oxford car giant Mini, Vauxhall Corsa and Fiat 500 joining the rapidly expanding European EV market. “Electric cars seem to be the future and now we’re being told it’s official,” says Steve.

However, when it comes to technology Steve is very much of the mindset that older can certainly sometimes better… “There is information overload every time you step into a modern car. I look forward to a serious reduction in the constant data a car bombards you with. I also own a 1971 Fiat 500 and am President of the Fiat 500 Club of Great Britain. Motoring at its most basic and enjoyable.”

More info

Steve is the host of the Monaco Business Seminar on 21st & 22nd May. This exclusive two-day event on board a yacht will offer insight into what makes the world’s sporting elite tick, including guest speakers Paula Radcliffe MBE, Sir Clive Woodward OBE and many other stars of the world of motor racing. To book or make any enquiries please contact Ben Lambourne on 07771 760979 or email ben@fresh-sport.co.uk

Here are some present ideas ahead of Mothering Sunday on 22nd March.

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Plans are blooming for the ninth annual Garden Re-Leaf Day, which takes place on Friday, 13th March.

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Thursday is the annual worldwide celebration of books and reading that is World Book Day.

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Never has the saying ‘nice as pie’ been so apt – who doesn’t love a tasty pastry pie and what better time to indulge than in British Pie Week.

We asked our star baker Christine Wallace to share a pie recipe with us so why not put this on the menu this week?

Left over turkey, leek and mushroom pie

Method

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Spanning six decades of work, David Hockney: Ways of Working takes an in-depth look at the artist’s genius and shows there’s much more to him than just swimming pools.

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Host a supper club on 7th March and raise funds for Eva’s Friends

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Fi Harding tells us more about Chiltern Arts Festival 2020 which takes place at various venues between Friday 28th February and Saturday 7th March

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New production aims to boost Urology Unit at Royal Surrey County Hospital

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Fitness star Joe Wicks –AKA The Body Coach – has teamed up with cancer charity Macmillan to share some veggie recipes for March

Rosie’s Beautiful Lentil Bolognese

Peri-Peri Halloumi Burger

Avo & berry breakfast pot

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Whatever your vintage or passion, March is a great month for motoring enthusiasts.

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Waylands Group shows off the UK’s first plug-in hybrid premium compact SUV

Get the latest news straight to your inbox

Host a supper club on 7^th March and raise funds for Eva’s Friends