Round & About Magazine

Author: Zoe Gater

  • Basingstoke Canal Society celebrates 60 years in 2026 with an exciting programme of events

    Basingstoke Canal Society celebrates 60 years in 2026 with an exciting programme of events

    Charlotte Rogers from the Basingstoke Canal Society invites you to join its 60th anniversary celebrations – from boat trips and exhibitions to family-friendly entertainment.

    2026 is a celebratory year for the Basingstoke Canal Society as it reminisces and reflects on the past 60 years and looks ahead to the next 60, of course!

    Celebrations began in January with a special talk about work, memories and what the Canal Society and the anniversary mean to them – with input from members and supporters.

    The society also welcomed ideas on what the coming year’s celebrations should include.

    Later this spring, a commemorative booklet will also be released for sale; themed boat trips will run throughout the summer season in Odiham, Hampshire and Woking; a list of 60 things to do on the Basingstoke Canal will be published; and much more.

    Perhaps most excitingly, taking place alongside the Canal and only a few minutes’ walk from the town centre, the society will host a special event in Woking on Saturday 18 April 2026.

    Expect family-friendly entertainment, refreshments, Kitty II on the Canal and exhibitions spanning the last 60 years.

    For more information on becoming a member, how to donate and volunteering opportunities, visit basingstoke-canal.org.uk.

    Keep an eye on the Facebook page for more details on the April event and more to come during the year at facebook.com/basingstokecs.

  • Historic beam engines return to life with Easter fun and family-friendly festivities

    Historic beam engines return to life with Easter fun and family-friendly festivities

    Experience Crofton Beam Engines’ Easter Steam Up this April, with working engines, duck races and family fun.

    There is something quietly thrilling about standing beside a working steam engine — the heat, the rhythm, the sense of history moving beneath your feet. That magic returns as Crofton Beam Engines launches its steaming season with a joyful Great Easter Steam Up on Sunday 5 and Monday 6 April 2026.

    One of the most extraordinary industrial heritage sites in the country, Crofton is home to the world’s oldest working beam engine still in its original location, faithfully lifting water to the summit of the Kennet and Avon Canal just as it has done since 1812.

    During the Easter weekend, both mighty engines will be in steam, rising and falling in near-silence as visitors watch this feat of Georgian engineering up close.

    The Easter Steam Up is designed to delight all ages. Families can enjoy the ever-popular duck races, watching brightly coloured ducks emerge from the pump and race towards the canal, with prizes for both first and last place.

    There’s also an Easter egg trail around the grounds, a hands-on crafting area, and plenty of space to picnic while taking in the glorious Vale of Pewsey countryside.

    With expert volunteers on hand to explain how everything works, and the welcoming Smithy Tea Room serving refreshments, it’s a perfect spring outing — equal parts education, entertainment and wonder.

    Whether you’re a steam enthusiast or simply curious, Crofton’s Easter Steam Up is a powerful reminder of Britain’s engineering past brought vividly to life.

  • Joe Hicks to debut new album at special Arlington Arts homecoming gig

    Joe Hicks to debut new album at special Arlington Arts homecoming gig

    Newbury singer songwriter Joe Hicks to showcase new album with Arlington Arts gig in April 2026.

    Singer-songwriter Joe Hicks is set to release his new studio album Before It Gets Dark, on Friday 27 March, before playing a Newbury homecoming show on Saturday 11 April 2026.

    Having steadily built his profile in the years leading up to his 2022 debut album The Best I Could Do at the Time, Joe has been praised for his solid songwriting and remarkable vocal skills, hitting falsetto notes with ease while channelling the likes of John Mayer and Paul Simon with his clean and dexterous guitar playing.

    Before It Gets Dark is a cathartic set of songs written as Joe came to terms with the loss of his father and a relationship breakdown.

    Joe says: “The album is about feeling beaten down by modern society, uncertainty, and by the things life can throw at you. It deals with the death of my dad, a breakup, and the darker songs are from the somewhat nihilistic ‘life is meaningless’ perspective of the world that I slipped into following those events. This record is about coming through that and looking forward; wanting to see the world before it gets dark.”

    Throughout the album, Joe’s effortless musicality is front and centre as his vocals shine against the delicate layers of guitars, neither too much nor too little.

    To celebrate the album’s release, Joe will return to the Arlington Arts Centre on Saturday 11 April 2026 for a homecoming Newbury show.

    Tickets are on sale now at arlington-arts.com/events/joe-hicks.

  • See the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in Berkshire

    See the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in Berkshire

    The world’s finest nature images are revealed as Wildlife Photographer of the Year returns to The Base Greenham this spring.

    Stories and species from around the world are in focus at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition when it comes to The Base in Greenham from Sunday 27 February 2026.

    Now in its 61st year and on loan from the Natural History Museum in London, it features some of the most exceptional nature photography taken today from across the globe.

    The exhibition shines a light on powerful and fascinating images that capture hidden animal behaviour, spectacular species, and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world.

    This year’s competition attracted over 60,000 entries from photographers of all ages and experience levels from 113 countries and territories. Entries were judged on their creativity, originality, and technical excellence by an international panel of industry experts.

    Kathy Moran, Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Jury, says: “This preview presents just a small insight into the 100 awe-inspiring, impactful and moving images in store for visitors to our exhibition in October.

    As an advocate for the power of photography, there is nothing more rewarding or moving than seeing our relationship to the natural world, in all its complexity and splendour, shared on the world’s biggest platform for wildlife photography.”

    Families are invited to get involved through an engaging programme of workshops designed to inspire creativity and curiosity – sing, move and explore together at Songs and Stories in The Gallery on Saturday 7 and Thursday 19 March, Thursday 2 Saturday 11 April, while budding young makers can sculpt imaginative creatures in Wildlife Clay Animals on Saturday 21 March with ceramicist Susie Oates.

    For adults looking to get creative or enjoy inspiring evenings out, The Base offers a rich programme of talks, workshops and Gallery Lates.

    Photographer Hannah Gamble leads Master the Art of iPhone Photography on Saturday 14 March and Saturday 18 April, blending exhibition-based learning with guided outdoor practice on Greenham Common.

    Those interested in ideas, discussion and contemporary culture can enjoy evening events including Poetry Open Mic Night on Thursday 19 March, alongside expert-led talks such as WPY61 in Focus on Thursday 5 March and Strictly Nature on Thursday 23 April, with photographer Simon Booker.

    Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition tickets are free to Base Pass holders. Full price tickets cost £11.20pp; £9.50 concession; £9pp in groups of 10+; £7 under-16s; and free for under-5s.

    To find out more about the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at The Base Greenham, or any of the exhibition themed workshops and events, visit thebasegreenham.co.uk.

    Image © Amit Eshel, Bence Mate, Kesshav Vikram, Parham Pourahman, Simone Baumeister and Tinnapat Netcharussaeng.

  • Explore West Oxfordshire’s vineyard and mental health recovery garden

    Explore West Oxfordshire’s vineyard and mental health recovery garden

    Wander the walled garden and vineyard at Bridewell Gardens in West Oxfordshire, enjoy homegrown produce, and discover the mental health recovery work happening behind its ancient walls during its Open Days in 2026.

    Tucked away in a peaceful corner of West Oxfordshire, behind ancient walls and rolling vineyard rows, Bridewell Gardens is preparing to welcome visitors once again for its Open Days in 2026.

    Taking place from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 19 April, 17 May, 14 June and 6 September, these special days offer a rare chance to explore a beautiful working garden and vineyard while learning about the life-changing work that happens within its walls.

    Bridewell Gardens is a mental health recovery service supporting people in West Oxfordshire who have experienced serious mental ill health. Set within a walled garden and vineyard at Wilcote, Bridewell provides a creative, compassionate environment where recovery is nurtured through gardening and working with nature.

    As one former gardener puts it, Bridewell is “a small mental-health charity with muddy paths, patient people, growing things — and absolutely no pressure to pretend everything’s fine when it isn’t.”

    Open Days invite visitors to wander freely through the walled garden, vineyard and surrounding spaces, discovering fruit, vegetables, flowers and vines grown as part of Bridewell’s day-to-day work.

    Plants propagated on site will be available to buy, alongside home-produced jams and chutneys and Bridewell’s acclaimed organic sparkling wine, made from grapes grown right there in the vineyard.

    A pop-up café will be serving tea and cake, while those keen to linger are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and relax among the vines. Families and children are welcome to explore, spot dragonflies by the pond, and count the chickens roaming the vineyard, while dogs on leads are also very welcome.

    Open Days are not just about enjoying a beautiful place. They offer an opportunity to meet Bridewell staff and volunteers, hear about the recovery service, and understand how working outdoors can help people rebuild confidence, develop skills and reconnect with their community.

    For many, Bridewell provides structure, kindness and hope at a time when it is most needed. As one participant reflects: “Bridewell has been my parachute. It got me out of the house, gave me routine, and helped me find confidence again.”

    Entrance is by suggested donation of £5 per person, with no booking required.

  • Experience a thoughtfully curated cancer wellness festival – with expert talks and healing sessions

    Experience a thoughtfully curated cancer wellness festival – with expert talks and healing sessions

    Designed for anyone affected by cancer, Brave Crab & Friends 2026 is a thoughtfully curated wellness festival in Wokingham featuring leading oncology specialists and restorative wellbeing sessions to help you feel informed, supported and empowered.

    Brave Crab & Friends is a one-day Wisdom & Wellness Cancer Festival created for individuals touched by cancer — whether currently in treatment, navigating life post-treatment, or supporting someone they love.

    Curated by Vicky Carroll, the festival is intentionally designed to provide care, attention, and meaningful support.

    Taking place on Sunday 8 March 2026 at the scenic Easthampstead Park Hotel in Wokingham, the festival offers a welcoming space where attendees can feel seen, supported, and understood, surrounded by others walking a similar path.

    The event features talks from expert oncology practitioners addressing common challenges during and after treatment, including sleep and fatigue, sexual health, lymphatic care, pain management, and more.

    In addition to the informative talks, attendees can enjoy small-group wellbeing sessions such as cacao ceremonies, gong baths, and breathwork, all carefully selected to help regulate the nervous system, cultivate calm, and foster a sense of centeredness. These experiences provide moments of pause, reconnection, and restoration.

    Keynote speakers include Helen Addis MBE (Titty Gritty), whose storytelling brings heart, humour, and hope; Rosamund Dean, journalist and author, offering practical guidance for navigating cancer care and maximizing support from medical teams; and Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel, an integrative medical doctor, presenting evidence-based insights on safely combining integrative approaches with standard oncology care.

    The festival supports attendees as whole individuals, addressing physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of the cancer experience. By the end of the day, participants can leave feeling lighter, more informed, and more hopeful, equipped with practices and insights that support calm, empowerment, and resilience beyond the festival.

    The experience is highly personal: attendees select the sessions that resonate most, allowing each person to shape a day that meets their unique needs.

    A No-Risk Promise ensures peace of mind: if illness prevents attendance, tickets are fully refunded with no questions asked.

    Tickets are priced from £60 to £80, offering the flexibility to design a personal and meaningful day.

    For further details and bookings, visit bravecrab.co.uk.

  • Rare water voles return to River Thame after decades

    Rare water voles return to River Thame after decades

    Rare water voles, celebrated in Wind In The Willows, have been spotted the River Thame catchment area for the first time in decades.

    For the first time in decades, water voles have been confirmed living in the River Thame catchment, offering a hopeful boost for one of Britain’s fastest-declining mammals.

    Known to generations of readers as Ratty in The Wind in the Willows – written by Henley resident Kenneth Grahame – the real-life return of this much-loved riverside character feels especially poignant locally.

    Volunteer monitors from the River Thame Conservation Trust captured video evidence of water voles at two sites – on the River Thame near Chearsley and Chalgrove Brook in Stadhampton– using motion-sensor wildlife cameras, earning a mention on Radio 4’s Today programme.

    The discovery marks a milestone in the charity’s long-running monitoring across the catchment.

    “It’s a fantastic affirmation of hard work by all the volunteers and landowners,” says Hilary Phillips of the trust. “These findings remind us how vital it is to protect and improve river and floodplain habitats, so we don’t lose any more precious wildlife.”

    One of the first clips showed a heron catching water voles, dramatic footage that, while difficult to watch, confirmed their previously undetected presence. Soon after, further video revealed a water vole swimming past a mink monitoring raft, clear evidence that at least one animal is actively using the river system.

    Water voles were once common along British waterways but have declined by more than 90% since the 1990s, largely due to habitat loss and predation by invasive American mink.

    Since 2023, the trust has been working with BBOWT as part of a landscape-scale mink control programme, funded through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme.

    Conservation experts say the sharp drop in mink detection is encouraging and may be giving water voles the breathing space they need to recover.

    The rediscovery signals renewed hope that these charismatic mammals could once again become a familiar sight.

    Find out more at riverthame.org.

  • Enjoy an uplifting evening of sacred choral music from one of the region’s leading chamber choirs

    Enjoy an uplifting evening of sacred choral music from one of the region’s leading chamber choirs

    Wooburn Singers invite you to enjoy their spring concert at All Saints’ Church in Maidenhead, this March 2026.

    The Wooburn Singers Spring Concert 2026 promises an uplifting evening of sacred choral music on Saturday 28 March 2026 at All Saints’ Church in Maidenhead, beginning at 7.30pm.

    As one of south Buckinghamshire’s leading chamber choirs, Wooburn Singers bring together about 50 dedicated voices for concerts that span a wide range of repertoire, from early music to contemporary works, often with rich orchestral collaboration and guest soloists.

    Founded in 1967 by the late Richard Hickox, Wooburn Singers have built a strong reputation for musical excellence and community engagement in the Chilterns and Thames Valley.

    Known for performing both large choral masterpieces and more intimate works, the choir rehearses in Beaconsfield and regularly presents concerts across the region.

    The Spring Concert is a highlight of their season and typically showcases music that moves and inspires. In previous seasons this has included stunning sacred repertoire alongside instrumental pieces.

    The choir’s performances are notable for their expressive depth, technical precision and heartfelt engagement with both performers and audiences. Whether you are a long–time supporter of choral music or new to the genre, this concert offers an opportunity to experience uplifting music in the beautiful setting of All Saints’ Church.

    Tickets are available direct from Wooburn Singers and on the door, offering a welcoming evening of live music that brings the community together in harmony. For full concert details and future dates, visit the Wooburn Singers website.

    Tickets: £22 in advance; £25 on the door; under 18s free
    available via TicketSource, 07739 184 258, from members, or on the door – if not sold out beforehand.

    For more information, visit wooburnsingers.org.uk.

  • A third Fearless Girls Club has launched in Surrey’s Knaphill

    A third Fearless Girls Club has launched in Surrey’s Knaphill

    Helping young girls gain self-belief and resilience that lasts into adulthood, a third Fearless Girls Club has opened in Knaphill.

    More young girls will “have smiles on their faces” with the addition of another Fearless Girls Club, thanks to two local mums.

    Adding to the provision in Chobham and Sunninghill run by Elle Wilks and Kate Cooper, girls aged 8-12 are given the tools to be “unapologetically themselves”.

    Through a unique curriculum of Club Quests – fun, research-based activities that help girls embrace their boldness and learn to know and love who they are – they become ‘fearless’.

    Quest areas include Knowing Myself, Leadership, Being Bold, Resilience, Speaking Up, Critical Thinking, Mind & Body, Friendships and Digital World.

    Sessions are supported by older girls from local secondary schools called Quest Leaders, who volunteer their time to role model fearlessness and leadership to club members.

    Since launching the first of the not-for-profit clubs in January 2025, demand has soared, with waiting lists and grateful parents praising the ethos and the effect it has had on their daughters.

    Elle said: “Fearless Girls Club gives them space to explore who they are, to ask questions, take up space and learn to feel proud of themselves.

    “We’re helping them build the kind of self-belief and resilience that lasts into adulthood, so when life gets tough, they know how to handle it. Club is a place where they can learn to be and love themselves, and know they’re not alone.”

    The club meets at Knaphill Methodist Church Hall on Tuesday, from 5.30pm to 7pm.

    To book, visit fearlessgirlsclub.co.uk/bookings.

    To join the club or to find out more, please visit www.fearlessgirlsclub.co.uk or email clubhouse@fearlessgirlsclub.co.uk.

  • Discover fascinating Living History Festivals at West Horsley Place in 2026

    Discover fascinating Living History Festivals at West Horsley Place in 2026

    Travel through the years at West Horsley Place and experience living history, fabulous events and much more.

    West Horsley Place invites you to step back through centuries of history this year with four living history festivals.

    Lose yourself (or not, hopefully) in an immersive escape-room-style experience in Escape The Manor on Thursday 2 April 2026, solving clues and uncovering the hidden secrets of the past before time runs out. Fans of Ghosts can get spooked on a BBC Ghosts inspired guided tour on Tuesday 7 April – with multiple additional dates available – exploring the real Button House.

    Put your best foot forward and have your dance card at the ready for the Starlit Soirée: Regency Ball on Friday 10 April. And Historians Day on Sunday 12 April will feature talks from Simon Jenkins, Gareth Russell and Daisy Dunn.

    The deep dive into our culture, heritage and nature continues with Regency Revels on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April, where you can mingle with costumed re-enactors, enjoy music and dancing, talks, crafts and family-friendly activities bringing the early 19th century to life.

    Fans of the great outdoors can discover the estate during Bluebells and Badgers: Nature Day on Sunday 26 April, with guided walks and seasonal talks celebrating the natural world.

    Following the popularity of their guided tours, including Nooks & Crannies Tours and Filming Favourites, West Horsley Place has introduced a brand-new guided experience for 2026: Tudor Traces.

    This small-group tour invites visitors to explore the Manor House through a focused journey into its Tudor history, uncovering stories of royal connections, Tudor architecture and the lives lived within its walls during one of the most fascinating periods of the house’s past. Available to book on various dates — check the website for details.

    Explore your creative side throughout the year with a range of hands-on workshops: try soap-making, discover Stories the House Could Tell at a creative writing workshop, join a Medicinal Plant and Foraging Walk, create moss-covered hanging houseplants in a Kokedama workshop, or try your hand at Art Deco pottery and Japanese bookbinding.

    Later in the year, the living history celebrations continue with Hosting Henry VIII Tudor Festival in July, Saxon Saga Fire Festival in October and Crewe’s Christmas towards the end of November.

    The Grade I listed medieval manor house and estate dates from 1425, and the West Horsley Place Trust aims to bring the house, gardens, 400-acre estate and outbuildings back into good repair to improve wellbeing through culture, heritage and nature.

    For full details on all the events at the house and to book please visit westhorsleyplace.org.