Great Daffodil Appeal

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Do you bit for the Great Daffodil Appeal and help Marie Curie this March.

If spring makes you think of daffodils then how about joining the Great Daffodil Appeal collection in March in aid of Marie Curie. 

The charity which offers care and support through terminal illness is asking people to help out either through fundraising or joining in the collection effort. 

One of the UK’s most recognisable charity appeals, through the bright yellow daffodil pins, they are asking if you can spare just two hours of your time to help make a big difference. 

Marie Curie can offer a wide range of help and advice on how to go about collecting and making the most of the experience. 

If you prefer to help out in other ways, then how about challenging yourself to walk 10,000 steps every day in March and get your family and friends to donate as you ‘Step into Spring’. It’s a great way to feel good, improve your own fitness and do something amazing for those with a terminal illness. 

Did you know if you walk 10,000 steps every day during March you’ll have covered 150 miles that’s the equivalent of walking from the Brighton Pavilion to the Bull Ring in Birmingham? 

The origins of the charity began in 1948 when the Marie Curie International Memorial was established, it went on to become the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation which then launched an appeal, bringing in £4,000 and Marie Curie’s daughter gave permission for her mother’s name to be used. 

The charity started its work in earnest in the 1950s with residential homes being opened, help given to patients at home and medical research. 

It has continued to grow over the following decades and it now provides care and support for more than 50,000 terminally ill people and their families through its 2,100 nurses. 

  Click here to find out more about how you could help and join In the Great Daffodil Appeal.

Thames Valley Hospitality Awards

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Picture credit: Dijana Capan, DVision Images
Picture caption: Organisers Marc Allridge and Hilary Scott

 

Nominate your favourites for 2019 Thames Valley Hospitality Awards.

The 2019 Thames Valley Hospitality Awards are open for nominations celebrating excellence and outstanding staff in the sector. From hotels to B&Bs, bars to restaurants, it’s time to share who you think deserves to be honoured. 

In addition to last year’s categories, there are three new ones – Achiever of the Year, Wedding Venue of the Year and Outside Caterer of the Year. This is the second year of the awards and the organisers are delighted to be building on the success of last year. 

Co-organiser Marc Allridge of Cherubs Floral Design said they were very excited about the new categories. He added: “We would love people from managers to brides to nominate in the Wedding Venue of the Year category. And we want to hear form all those caterers who work away behind the scenes and often don’t get recognised for their efforts – winning Outside Caterer of the Year would fix that. 

“We also want to see lots of entries in Achiever of the Year – this is for a youngster who has overcome physical or mental issues to shine in the trade.” 

The gala awards dinner this year is being held at the De Vere Wokefield Estate on Sunday, 28th April and hosted by leading chef Daniel Galmiche. Fellow organiser Hilary Scott encouraged entries for this year, saying: “We had so many entries in our first year it was amazing. I hope that we can get more this year now we are a bit better known. And remember if you missed out last year you can enter again.” 

This year’s categories are: 

Hotel of the Year sponsored by TVHA 

Independent Hotel of Year sponsored by Newsquest Berkshire 

Bar of the Year  sponsor Matthew Clark 

​Restaurant of the Year 

Hotel Manager of the Year sponsored by Cream Design 

​Front of house star sponsored by H&D Food Solutions 

Back of house star sponsored by Cherubs Floral Design 

Warm welcome  

Best breakfast 

Apprentice of the Year 

Three new categories for 2019: 

Achiever of the Year – a youngster who has overcome physical or mental issues to shine 

​Wedding Venue of the Year – in a competitive market who stands out for their venue, service and professionalism 

Outside Caterer of the Year – in a growing market, we want to find the best 

  For full details and to nominate visit www.tvhawards.co.uk and don’t forget to share with us who you are nominating and why!

Ronald McDonald House

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Martin Keown kicks off building with twins, Finley and Billy Kearns, and mum and dad, Laura and Robert.

Former Arsenal and England star Martin Keown has helped kick off building at the new accommodation for families with seriously ill children in Oxford. 

The footballer from Oxford broke ground at the new 62-bedroom Ronald McDonald House on the John Radcliffe Hospital site on Wednesday, 6th February. The house will provide families with free accommodation while their children are being treated to save them having to go to and from the hospital. 

Among those at the ceremony were two-year-old twins Finley and Billy Kearns, whose parents Laura and Robert spent more than four months at the current house after the twins were born prematurely. Billy needed surgery to reverse a stoma. The £14million facility is due to open in summer next year with 62 en-suite bedrooms and communal living facilities, including kitchens, lounges, playrooms, laundry rooms and a garden. 

The current 17-bedroom house has experienced a rise in demand over the last 15 years and while last year it accommodated 600 families, it had to turn a further 300 away. 

Ronald McDonald House Charities has raised £9million, Oxford Hospitals Charity has added £2.5million, Children with Cancer UK is donating more than £280,000 and McDonald’s employees and customers has raised £1.5million. A further £1million is still needed to fit and furnish the house and the charity is looking to the local community to help them in this fundraising effort, as well as for volunteers to help get the house ready and provide support.

CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Jon Howard said last week they were delighted to begin the expansion work. Thanking all those who have helped, he added: “We know from research it is beneficial for the health of family members and their child to keep them close together, and that comfortable and supportive accommodation nearby is a key enabler in this process.” 

Head of the paediatric psychology department Dr Karen Steinhardt with the range of services available at Oxford, families are increasingly travelling from further afield for treatment. She said: “This new accommodation at Ronald McDonald House Oxford will allow more families to be close by in the hospital grounds. 

“It will allow them to get more rest and sleep, eat properly and lead as normal a life as possible ad importantly, feel able to make the best decisions about their child’s health.” 

The new building will be open to families with children being cared for at Oxford Children’s Hospital as well as Children’s Critical Care and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on the John Radcliffe site. 

Picture credit: Richard Cave

  Read more about the Ronald McDonald House Charity

South & Vale Business Awards

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The finalists have been revealed for the second South and Vale Business Awards building on the success of last year’s inaugural event.

The awards, organised by South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Council’s Economic Development team, are a celebration of the work of local businesses. 

The finalists were announced earlier this month with the winners to be revealed on Friday, 15th March in a glitzy ceremony at Williams Conference Centre in Grove. 

The most highly contested is set to be the small and medium-sized enterprise award with 98% of all businesses in the South and Vale falling into this category, such was the number of entries that applications were split into two – one for South and one for Vale. 

There are eight awards to be won, the finalists in each category are: 

SME of the year sponsored by Milton Park 

South Oxfordshire – Jonas Event Technology, Wallingford; SYLO Associates, Thame; You HR Technology, Wallingford 

Vale of White Horse – Montala, Watchfield; Ridgefield Consulting, Oxford; South East Workwear, Abingdon 

Large Business of the Year sponsored by Royds Withy King 

Bremont Watch Company, Henley; Gigaclear, Abingdon; Planet IT, Abingdon; Reaction Engines, Culham; Windles Group, Thame 

Social Responsibility Award sponsored by Bluestream Recruitment

  • For businesses with social goals

North Farm Stud, Wantage; Sandford Talking Shop, Sandford-on-Thames; SOFEA, Didcot 

Early Stage Innovation Award sponsored by Focus Oxford Risk Management 

  • Recognising the potential of globally important, world changing businesses

Huduma, Harwell; Oxford Nanosystems, Abingdon; Serelay, Harwell; ZapGo, Harwell  

Established Innovation Award sponsored by MSC R&D 

  • For businesses with established and commercialised innovation

HR Wallingford; Open Cosmos, Harwell; TPLC, Didcot 

Business Space of the Year 

  • Locations that offer businesses great homes 

Boston House Business Centre, Wantage; Howbery Park, Wallingford; The Self Storage Co, Didcot 

Business Leader of the Year sponsored by HSBC 

  • People who have driven their business creating benefits for the community, their employees and the organisation 

Ben Thompson, Thompson & Terry, Abingdon; John Harris, OBN, Milton Park; Richard Kennell, SOFEA, Didcot 

Employer of the Year sponsored by Richardsons 

  • Recognising the organisations in South and Vale that offer a great experience for their employees

White Horse Leisure & Tennis Centre (Better), Abingdon; Reaction Engines, Culham; SOFEA, Didcot 

 

Congratulations to all the finalists and best of luck for 15th March! 

    Tickets are available now for the ceremony, click here

Art attack: Learn to draw

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Join children’s illustrator and learn to draw great characters at The Beacon in Wantage.

Fancy yourself as an artist? Take along your pencils and paper and learn from one of the best at a family-friendly, fun-filled draw-along.

Join acclaimed children’s writer and illustrator Nick Sharratt as he shows you how to sketch characters like Tracy Beaker and Timothy Pope, sharing ways of creating fantastic dragons and unicorns, and giving loads of top tips. And to celebrate his latest book Nice Work for the Cat and the King everything will have a special ‘royal’ twist!

Nick has illustrated close to 260 books. He’s worked with authors including Julia Donaldson, Michael Rosen and Kes Gray, and his books include You Choose, Shark in the Park and Pants.

He’s also the illustrator of Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s phenomenally popular children’s novels about the 10-year-old mischief maker Tracy Beaker. He’s been awarded a gold Blue Peter badge too!

So if you have your eye on one of these coveted honours then go along and pick up some great tips from Nick.

Youngsters from four and up are welcome to take part; just take pencils, paper and something to lean on and expect plenty of chances to join in.

Nick Sharratt’s Right Royal Drawalong is on Sunday, 17th February, starting at 2pm. Tickets cost £10 or £36 for a family ticket for four.

To book go to www.ticketsource.co.uk or call 01235 763456.

Birthday HuMP: Hurst Morris People

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Help Hurst Morris People (HuMP) celebrate their 30th birthday with a barn dance on Saturday, 2nd March and more…

Great live music from Chris, Patsy and friends and an easy-to-follow caller Howard Ballard are key ingredients for a night of celebration.

The barn dance will take place at Hurst Village Hall in School Road from 7.30pm (doors open at 7.15pm) and everyone is asked to take along a plate of finger food to share – and your own drink. HuMP will supply tea, coffee, squash – and a birthday cake! Tickets sold out quickly last year so do buy yours soon; they’re £7.50, with under-12s free; to buy please email [email protected]
There’s also a May Day celebration, on Sunday, 28th April, from noon at Hurst Village Hall. A maypole dance expert will show everyone easy dances to join in and you can take your own picnic. HuMP and other visiting morris dancers will perform and invite everyone to join in with a simple dance. Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be on sale and entry is free.

HuMP’s 2019 charity is Hurst’s own inspiring good cause, registered charity Just Around the Corner in Forest Road. More than 100 young people aged between six and 25 use JAC’s services every week. They are referred by Wokingham and Bracknell schools, social services, parents and by self-referral.

Over the moon: astronomy

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Tony Hersh of Newbury Astronomy Society explains more about what we can see in the skies above us this month.

This month we have a supermoon visible from the UK! The moon is in a slightly elliptical orbit around the Earth so varies in its distance from us. On Tuesday, 19th February, it is at its closest distance, some 356,846 kilometres away and it will appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter compared to a full moon when it’s most distant from Earth (406,700 km).

But 14% isn’t a huge amount bigger so don’t expect a sight vastly different from usual. This month is a good time to see Venus and Saturn, which appear very close to each other and near the moon at 6am on Monday, 18th February.

Object of the month

All stars are created and work the same way. Vast clouds of gas (mostly hydrogen) in the universe, gradually coalesce into spheres of material. The rate of coalescing speeds up as the mass increases and gravity attracts more and more material together. After mass of hydrogen exceeds a vast but specific quantity (2.5 with 28 zeroes after it kilograms!), the pressure in the centre is so huge temperatures reach 10 million degrees Centigrade and nuclear fusion starts. It’s the nuclear fusion, combining the hydrogen into helium, that releases the energy making stars shine. Stars vary enormously in size and temperature, some being much heavier, fusing hydrogen much faster and so being hotter and blueish in colour, others have lower mass and have slower fusion reactions so are cooler and appear reddish in colour.

Find out more at Newbury Astronomical Society’s monthly meetings.

    Visit www.newburyastro.org.uk. Email any questions to [email protected]

Spice of life: local foodie’s book

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Pangbourne foodie Balwinder Kapila explains more about her new book A Pinch Of Spice.

That’s the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Indian cooking? The flavours? The colours? The wonderful spices and aromas, perhaps? Or do you think “I love the food, but I couldn’t cook an Indian meal. It’s too hard”? Trust me: it isn’t – and in this book, I’ll prove it!

For years, my friends in Pangbourne have asked me for the secret to Indian food, but, as a British person who grew up in an Indian family, I didn’t think there was any particular secret; it all seemed perfectly natural. The trouble sometimes seemed to be that people were using the right ingredients in the wrong way. When I was asked if I’d give cooking lessons to show how it was done, I tried to explain that it was easy. I think perhaps the idea of using unfamiliar spices and ingredients, coupled with visions of standing by the stove for hours on end made it all seem too much of a challenge for many. I hope this book helps dispel some of those myths and inspires people to be adventurous and enthusiastic about trying these recipes.

When I decided to write a cookery book in memory of our son (who was a student at Theale Green School), many friends were keen to help. The book has been eight patient years in the making. What was originally meant to be a little booklet for family and friends evolved into a full-scale project. A few hastily scribbled recipes eventually began to transform into a book. Cooking together, testing recipes in each other’s homes, sharing ideas of food and culture, photography masterclasses and proofreading all played their part.

I also wanted to share my experience of my Indian upbringing in Hounslow. As I put this book together it became clear to me that recipes and ways of preparing food for your family and friends carry with them stories and histories that are just as important as the ingredients themselves. They are about cultures, individual family members and memories, both happy and sad; about the everyday, special celebrations and love.

Most of the dishes are from the Punjab region of northern India. I have combined traditional Indian home-cooked food with other recipes that I have developed over the years. I hope you will enjoy serving your family and friends the dishes that I have so much enjoyed serving to mine.

   To contact me, or for more information, you can visit www.balskitchen.com, www.facebook.com/balskitchen or @balskitchen on Instagram.

A show stopper!

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Scouts and Guides stage fun-packed gang show at South Hill Park.

However you look at it February is a cold, miserable month but help is at hand to lift your spirits and get rid of the winter blues.

The Scouts and Guides of South East Berkshire Gang Show are ready to entertain you at the Wild Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell with their fabulous variety show filled with fun, laughter, singing and dancing.

The show, suitable for the whole family, is performed and organised solely by volunteers, many of whom give up many hours to help the young cast mostly aged 9-25, to perform on the stage. Volunteers include talented producers, musicians, backstage crew and costume teams as well as the hoards of others who help to make the show a success.

Come and support the performers as they tread the boards with a variety of entertainment and South East Berkshire Gang Show guarantees you will have a good time and leave with a smile on your face.

Performances run from Tuesday, 19th to Saturday, 23rd February at 7.15pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.15pm.

Tickets are available now online or from South Hill Park box office, starting from £14.50. Discounts are available for families, groups of 20+ and seniors (except Saturday evening).

    For details and to book go to www.southhillpark.org.uk or call South Hill Park box office on 01344 484123.

Fundraising superhero: Oxfordshire charity Play2Give

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Changing, transforming and saving lives – that is exactly what one young Didcot fundraising stalwart has done tirelessly without pause for half of his life.

Last year was extra special for fundraising superhero Andy Baker. On the day he turned 30 he celebrated at The Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace and the organisation he founded, reached the £100,000 mark, his long-held dream.

Play2Give was launched in 2007 to say thank you for the help he received on two occasions in his life at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Andy fought for life in the Special Care Baby Unit and again, aged 12, after brain surgery.

The money raised by Play2Give over the years helped fund the building of Oxford Children’s Hospital. Recalling the support he received since his school days at St Birinus, he says: “Everybody has backed me from the beginning of my charity crusade – it’s such a team effort. I love helping those who are less fortunate, it’s been half my life.

“Being nominated last year to attend The Queen’s Garden Party was one of the highlights of my life and a lovely way to mark all I do to put my all back into giving to society. To share such a special day with my mum [Ann, pictured above], and up to 8,000 others was a humbling experience.”

The trip to the palace came on the back of him being honoured with a British Citizens Award in 2017 for his “exceptional endeavour”. It was also a memorable year in which a patient room for teenagers at the Children’s Hospital was named after the group in recognition of its efforts.

Play2Give now has its sights set on sponsoring a family room at £5,000 within Ronald McDonald House which provides accommodation for families of sick children while they are in hospital.

And if that weren’t enough, the group also provides funds for Headway Oxfordshire which supports people like Andy with acquired brain injuries – another cause close to his heart. Footsteps, Off the Streets, Be Free Young Carers and SeeSaw also benefit from Play2Give’s efforts.

But Andy acknowledges he couldn’t do it without the help and support of the community who join in his events which this year include a summer fayre on 3rd August in Edmonds Park, Didcot; a black-tie ball at the end of September at the town’s Civic Hall; golf days and your chance to show off your singing, dancing, juggling or comedy skills at Didcot’s Got Talent. Initial auditions are on Sunday, 24th February, at 10am at the Cornerstone with the final show on 29th June.

Inspirational Andy hopes to raise £15,000 through this year’s efforts.

 To find out more and how you can help, visit www.play2give.org.uk