Arts & minds

Karen Neville

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Karen Neville

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Art-lovers! Check out Wokingham Arts Trail, 10.30am-5pm over the weekend of 21st & 22nd September, with free entry & work by 29 artists to enjoy

Nine local venues will take part in this highlight. This, the 13th annual trail, will feature ceramicists, jewellers, textile artists and more.

Watercolour, acryllic and oil paintings, jewellery, handmade books, ceramics, glassware and textiles will be on display in studios and including groups at WADE Centre in Reading Road, and the Bradbury Centre in Rose Street. Regular participants and 10 new faces will be involved, offering the opportunity for visitors to meet the artists, view and buy unique outstanding and varied works.

Peter Izod says: “I’ve been a participant in Wokingham Arts Trail since 2010 under the inspiring chairmanship of Christine Morgan, until I took over from her in 2020. I have been fortunate to have my own venue in the town centre and the Arts Trail has attracted over 200 people each year, many regular visitors.

“It’s a great opportunity to show your art, ceramics and jewellery, meet visitors and discuss the displays. We all learn something from it every year and the broad involvement of the public – many of whom get round to every venue – show Wokingham’s thriving interest in art. This year, with 29 participants, I think we have one of the most varied and high quality trails to enjoy.”

Artist Christine Morgan (Brandywine Art) adds: “I have made a few changes in my studio since the last Arts Trail so I can use the space for mixed media work and clay. I’m really looking forward to welcoming visitors as I work. I love to encourage all ages to experiment and enjoy making art in whatever form. Opening my studios gives me the opportunity to share simple ways to allow them to ‘have a go’.”

The 2024 brochure is out now in local shops and you can visit wokinghamartstrail.co.uk

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Float along to Oxford Canal Festival

Liz Nicholls

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Liz Nicholls

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Oxford’s residents are proud to announce the line-up for this year’s free-to-visit Oxford Canal Festival, 11am-6pm on Saturday, 21st September

Head along and enjoy a community day of festival fun on the Aristotle Lane Recreation Ground, OX2 – entry is free!

Proceeds will go to ‘The Kilsby Theatre Boat Project’ – the 108-year-old narrowboat being rescued to become a new community theatre boat for Oxford’s waterways.

The music line up included the Jericho Singers, Ben Avison & Three Idle Women, Weekend Warriors, The Dirty Big Canal Dance Band, Mambo Panthers, Papa Nui, and Senegalese kora musician Jali Fily Cissokho.

Visit the Spoken Word Tent for a fantastic literary experience with Sir Philip Pullman reading live on stage, Roy MacFarlane, our Canal Laureate announcing the winning performances from this year’s poetry competition and the hugely fun University Challenged quiz with local teams taking on Oxford University finest brains!

Enjoy stalls selling jewellery, clothing, treats and local crafts on the Oxford canal running alongside the Aristotle Rec. There will be fun activities running all day for children including: face painting, art, a bouncy castle, a Canal Olympics, Arts and Crafts projects, and a Cinema showing local history short films.

Visitors can also enter a fun dog show – a hugely entertaining and impressive competition with our winners taking home fantastic canine prizes.

Craft beers and non-alcoholic drinks will be available in the bar tent, and a big selection of food vendors will be on site offering international cuisines.

The Kilsby Boat Project is rescuing and restoring a 1912 canal boat, reinventing it as a community venue for storytelling, music and boat trips. Kilsby is moored at Tooley’s historic boatyard awaiting restoration works that will enable her to make the trip back home to Oxford.

The canal festival is free to enter. For more information please visit Oxford Canal Festival 2024

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Skill and artistry at September Ceramics

Karen Neville

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Karen Neville

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Katherine Kingdon invites us to marvel at the creativity and talent on show at September Ceramics 2024 in Newbury, September 13th to 22nd

A handmade object has something special about it. The maker’s experience is made visible, in the design, in the construction, in the quality of the surface. There’s something else too, something less concrete, more personal.

It’s something about where it was made and who it was made by. It wasn’t mass-produced in a factory far, far away. It was made somewhere closer to home, perhaps in a garden shed, perhaps with the sound of pigeons cooing in the background and certainly by someone who was thoroughly engaged in the act of making, using their skill to navigate its joys and frustrations.

Clay is a material with many joys and frustrations. It’s amazingly adaptable. You can squidge it, you can pour it, you can carve it and until you apply heat to it, you can recycle it ad infinitum. With few tools and little experience, it’s easy to create a simple form, with practice, practice, practice and as many or as few tools as you wish, you can make magic happen. But as even the most experienced ceramicists know, it also has a mind of its own. It loves to wrap and crack, even melt. Those who stick with it get used to this. They learn from it and develop a resilience which pushes them to explore furhter.

Join us at September Ceramics 2024 at City Arts Newbury, Hampton Road RG14 6DB, to see work by a group of local makers who’ve spent many years honing their craft. During the first weekend you can meet these makers and enjoy a rolling programme of demonstrations.

This year’s makers are Lizzy McCracken, thrown and tin glazed earthenware; Anne Dalton, thrown-ware with sea creatures and glazed and unglazed surfaces; Pots of Hope Susie who is also offering have-a-go sessions on the potter’s wheel (sign up for these on CITY ARTS NEWBURY); Ali Keeling, hand-built vessels explore the relationship between surface and form; Helen Long, working with coloured porcelain to celebrate the power of the sea; Rebecca Maynard’s distinctive animals and busts; Leah Blake’s wonderfully constructed animal sculptures and Katherine Kingdon’s playful piece, guaranteed to make you look twice.

There’s also a ceramics raffle, the ‘Up and Coming Makers’ competition delicious tea and cake at The Art Hub Café and voting for your favourite work.

This year’s sponsors are Scarva Pottery Supplies, Bluematchbox Potters Supplies, Ugly Duckling Pottery Painting and City Arts Newbury. For more details, visit CITY ARTS NEWBURY.

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Big Berkshire show

Karen Neville

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Karen Neville

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Newbury Show is widely regarded as one of the best county shows in the country hosted over two years, September 21st and 22nd, at Newbury Showground

Newbury Show remains true to its roots – a celebration of all aspects of farming and rural life in the area, showcasing agricultural technology, animals, artisan products, local produce and more!

The Newbury Show offers a great day out combining displays, competition, shopping, an unrivalled food hall experience, craft marquee, rural crafts, have-a-go activities plus all the traditional attractions of a county show.

The Grand Parade of Livestock will enter the Main Arena on Saturday and Sunday. Winning cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, llamas and alpacas will all be parading for your enjoyment. Come see them all, you may see some breeds you’ve never heard of before!

In the Sports Zone you will be able to see what it is like to do circuit training, have an introduction to stress management exercises and even find out about kettle ball.

It won’t be long until Christmas and there are many original ideas for presents, as well as a few treats for yourself you won’t see on the high street.

There will be a wealth of food stalls crafts in craft tent, spectacular displays of plants in the horticulture tent and trade stands galore.

Over at the Bandstand you can relax with your cup of coffee or lunch and listen to a wide variety of the counties musical talent.

Sponsored by Ramsbury Brewery, it’s going to be another fabulous countryside celebration for the entire family.

Book tickets at Newbury Show (ticketsrv.co.uk)

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Take off on Twilight Runway Challenge

Karen Neville

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The 2024 Twilight Runway Challenge is cleared for take off, book your place and help boost local charities with the Community Matters Partnership

Run, walk, cycle, scoot or skateboard along the strip at Blackbushe Airport and help raise funds for a local charity or school in the Twilight Runway Challenge.

The fun, family-friendly event which is the flagship event of the year for the Community Matters Partnership takes place on Saturday, 21st September and is open for entries.

It attracts a wide variety of participants, from people looking to get fit, beating a personal best, taking part in fancy dress or having fun with friends, family or colleagues and it’s up to you how you get round the course with the choice of taking on a 3km, 5km or 10km route.

You also have the option to take part and raise vital funds for a local charity or school of CMP’s choice. Simply choose the cause, set up an online fundraising page and share it with friends, family and colleagues. There are already a variety to support including Aerobility which offers disabled adults the opportunity to fly a plane, The Zone which supports families living with autism and arts for wellbeing charity Creative Response among many more. For the full list of those you can support visit Twilight Runway Challenge.

CMP works to connect businesses with community enabling them to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility and commitment to social good.

Simon Jarvis, CEO of CMPP, said: “CMPP is all about community and collaboration, and our Twilight Runway Challenge embodies this. We are proud that this flagship fundraising event helps to raise vital funds for charities across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Last year the event helped to raise over £39,000 for local charitable causes and we are hoping to raise even more this year.”

The Twilight Runway Challenge is a unique opportunity for the community to get together, have fun and raise funds for local causes.

CMP would like to thank Blackbushe Airport for their support in hosting the annual Twilight Runway Challenge for the third time.

Gates open at 4pm, with the start at 5.15pm. All Challengers receive a finisher’s medal (wooden). To find out more and enter visit Twilight Run Challenge 2024 | Home (twilightchallenge.co.uk)

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Food, glorious Haslemere Food Festival

Karen Neville

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Karen Neville

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Mouthwatering morsels and delicious drinks will surround you at Haslemere Food Festival. Taste and sip on a variety of treats as Adaleigh Buckrell tells us

Haslemere’s annual Food Festival, a delicious celebration of locally made delicacies will tempt foodies to Lion Green on September 21st.

With free entry to enjoy the mouth-watering food and drink of producers and providers from Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, there’s plenty to enjoy and tuck into from 10am to 4pm. From cured meat, to shortbread and baked goods, to cheese, pies and gourmet condiments, the variety of culinary treats available in the local area is impressive. This is showcased by the diverse choice of stalls on offer at the festival.

Take the opportunity to sample the tasty bites before you buy, and purchase a glass of your favourite beer, gin or wine as a prelude to the bottle you take home. Whether you are in the mood for sumptuous burgers and tacos, moreish Thai or Sicilian street food, or a burrito (of which there are vegan and veggie friendly options), you won’t have to look far for a lunch to devour on the grassy green.

A drop from the pop-up Prosecco bar or a scoop of ice cream would be the perfect refreshment to accompany the live music played by bands from Haslemere and the surrounding towns. As you recline on your rugs around the stage, the kids will be entertained by the blow up obstacle courses, slide and other fun activities, or distracted by the pick ‘n’ mix stand. Not only will you be supporting local businesses by coming along to the festival, but it is a great day out that brings the community together.

Even your dog will be excited by the special pet biscuits stall. The Surrey Wildlife Trust will also be in attendance to provide yummy snacks to leave out for the hungry creatures in our gardens – hopefully they have not eaten the tomato plants being grown by school children in the area. The fruits of their labour will be judged by the town mayor at the festival and prizes given out.

The festivities are organised by a committee of volunteers who give up their time to ensure everyone can appreciate the delectable, high-quality products that are created by award-winning suppliers in and around Haslemere.

Make sure to pop by before they are sold out!

There are plenty of car parks nearby and the festival really caters for all! Email enquiries to [email protected] and follow @haslemerefoodfestival on Facebook for updates.

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Become a nature sleuth with SWT

Karen Neville

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Image by: Danny Green

Karen Neville

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Get a free Wildlife Recording Kit and monitor local green spaces

Want to know what wildlife might be making its home on ground you own, manage or work on with a community group?

Help is at hand thanks to Surrey Wildlife Trust’s new Wildlife Recording Kits – boxes filled with surveying equipment to help community groups undertake species monitoring on sites from gardens and recreation grounds to local woodland.

The kits are available free of charge from Guildford and Godalming Libraries and directly from the Trust’s head office in Pirbright, and can be reserved for one or two weeks at a time.

Image by: Jon Hawkins

With one-third of local species in trouble, Surrey Wildlife Trust is on a mission to encourage more people to take action to protect and provide homes for native plants and animals – and these kits will help people identify what wildlife, from minibeasts to moths to small mammals, is present, enabling them to make better informed land management decisions to benefit nature. Actions could include putting up signage to encourage people not to walk on wildflowers, installing bird feeders filled with suitable food for a particular species, installing bat boxes, planting hedgerows to support butterflies and moths or creating ponds for newts.

The Trust currently has the following equipment available:

• Bat kit including high-viz jackets for working at night, a bat detector and call frequency guide.

• Pond kit including nets, trays for specimens and identification guides for a range of species.

• Minibeasts kit including magnifying pots, equipment for handling specimens and ID guides.

• Small mammals kit including footprint tunnels and plates, feeding kit and ‘tracks and signs’ ID guide.

• Soil kit with a corer and tester kit to establish soil chemistry.

• Plant kit including quadrats, magnifiers and ID guides for a huge range of local native flora.

• For those with a cinematic bent, a trail camera kit is also available. This can be set up to record badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, birds, mice and other creatures that might visit when you are not present.

Once people have completed their surveys, the Trust is encouraging users to report their findings to the Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre (SBIC) to help it gain important information on the distribution and abundance of species and habitats across the county.

SWT’s Community Engagement Manager Claire Harris says: “You don’t have to be a professional to contribute to science and conversation. SWT is proud to work with a broad range of community organisations across the county, but we want even more people to get involved in mapping, understanding and restoring the natural world. It’s great the local Libraries of Things are working with us to help people find out more about what lives on their doorsteps. If we all play our part, we can open minds, transform local areas and ultimately create a much wilder environment for everyone to enjoy.”

More information about how to book kit, and the equipment hire agreement is at Wildlife Recording Kits | Surrey Wildlife Trust

SWT also runs courses that enable people to learn more about species and habitats in Surrey. Any adult can register to attend here. The Trust also offers a limited number of FREE places to Surrey-based community groups, who are signed up to its Wilder Communities programme.

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Westgate Oxford: New Epic Bar

Ellie Cox

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Ellie Cox

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Flight Club – the lively fairground inspired bar and Social Darts experience is coming to Oxford and is set to open doors on 22nd November, just in time for the festive season!

Promising to deliver a one-of-a-kind social experience to Oxford, Flight Club is designed to bring groups of friends together for an unforgettable time. Situated on the roof terrace level of the Westgate Shopping Centre, Oxford locals can look forward to a stunning bar with a lively atmosphere, craft cocktails, and delicious sharing dishes. Expect unexpected, ridiculous joy every time.

Flight Club Oxford will offer semi-private oches (Social Darts playing areas) around a spectacular bar, along with plenty of seating options and two beautiful terraces. Its blend of delicious food and drink, stylish interiors, vibrant DJ sets, and energetic vibe makes this new addition to Oxford’s bar scene the perfect destination for creating memorable moments with friends.

Darts revolutionised

Flight Club’s highly popular Social Darts experience has completely transformed the traditional game, bringing darts into the 21st century with fun, fast-paced multiplayer games that anyone can enjoy.

First-time visitors to Flight Club should leave any preconceived notions about darts behind. This modernised version of the game has undergone a high-tech upgrade. Cameras track and automatically score each dart, eliminating the need for manual arithmetic. Live action replays are displayed on-screen during the session, and afterward, shareable stories of the best memories are sent directly to players’ phones.

Perfect for groups of friends, Flight Club redefines the traditional two-player game. Social darts, Flight Club’s enhanced version, allows up to 12 people to gather around an oche. For larger groups, corporate events, or Christmas parties, multiple oches can be linked to host up to 250 players in epic tournaments led by an expert Gamesmaster.

There are six immersive and fast-paced games to choose from. One game, ‘Demolition’, start players with 180 points, with the goal of reaching zero by taking turns throwing darts. Unlike traditional darts, no double is required to win, making it easier for newcomers. In the game ‘Killer’, players must hit their assigned number three times to become a “killer”. Once they achieve killer status, they aim to hit other players’ numbers to knock them out, with the last person standing declared the winner.

Small plates, sharing pizzas and spectacular cocktails

The food menu at Flight Club Oxford will include crowd-pleasing dishes ideal for sharing and eating mid-throw. Sourdough pizza paddles, juicy burgers and loaded fries are just some of the treats on offer.

If you’re a cocktail aficionado, you’ll be in good hands, with plenty of options to choose from, including signature cocktails, classics with a twist, cocktail slushies – perfect for balmy summer evenings – and sharing trophy cocktails served in a show-stopping trophy cup – the best way to toast the Social Darts champions.

Bottomless brunch with a twist

Not forgetting everyone’s favourite weekend pastime, Flight Club Oxford will also offer a bottomless brunch you won’t want to miss. Plenty of booze, great food, and an all-round epic time. Tickets for the two-hour brunch session cost from £30pp and include 60 minutes of gameplay at the oche, a bottle of prosecco per person and all the pizza you can eat. Party vibes are guaranteed as the resident DJ blasts the tunes throughout the day.

The setting: all the fun of the fairground

Flight Club Oxford will be decked out in Flight Club’s signature style, combining the fun of the fairground with Victorian nods and all the best bits of a traditional British pub. Think fairground-style signage and lighting that blinks in time to the music, panelling, bold prints, and subtle nods to Oxford’s history throughout.

There are treasures and trinkets in every corner to surprise and delight, including clocks and barometers of varying sizes on the walls, fun adaptations to Victorian portraits, reclaimed antique furniture pieces and a fairground carousel horse.

Booking enquiries: https://flightclubdarts.com/location-oxford

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The end of The (Grand) Tour

Round & About

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Round & About

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Robbie James laments the demise of Top Gear and love them or loathe them, Jeremy, Richard and James

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take to our screens for one final time this month. Together with their various crew and production team, they’ve created some of the most entertaining television of the last couples of decades, whether we like them or not.

At the turn of the century, in a Top Gearless world, if you’d told a television controller that a car review show as going to be on BBC Two every Sunday at 8pm, they would tell you that you don’t know what you’re talking about, and they’d be right. There was no way a niche like this would even get to take BBC Two out for a drink. It had to have an additional entertainment factor, and a cast that drove (oh dear) that entertainment.

Whether you like any of Jeremy, Richard or James (not that many of us know them), there’s no denying that they are extremely talented at what they do. They have such clarity as to what their role within the show is. Jeremy knows he’s the anchor (you thought it, not me). Richard knows he’s the slow, sensible grandad.

While they all possess an understanding of how our attention, how to make us laugh, and how to bring out the best (or in most cases, worst) in each other, there’s an underlying knowledge of the car world that is far less glamourous and takes fewer headlines, but is equally important to the success of the show.

I always enjoy things that can bring multiple together, and it’s harder than ever to succeed in doing so. The simple, Pythonesque humour that they’ve so often adopted over the years doesn’t discriminate; people falling over will never not be funny.

The success of Top Gear and The Grand Tour provides us with a few reminders. Firstly, the concept of a show may sound plausible, but it’s the case that turn a one series fling into a sustainable, nation capturing television show that runs for the next 22 years. You can’t fake a friendship for 22 years. You can’t fake your humour or your enthusiasm for that long.

Oh and also, television is expensive. Like, really expensive, especially if you’re planning on giving your audience an opportunity for a ‘cwoaaaar’ or a ‘no no no no no OH’ as another vehicle descends off a cliff into the English channel. Explosions to pay for. Travel to pay for. Oh, and it’s a car show isn’t it, so lots of cars.

The relevance of cars to the show itself tells you everything you need to know about what has made the show the mainstream success that it’s become. While the BBC’s Top Gear, the show was featured based. Any time they were actually doing the car review bit, that was scrolling time. I don’t care about the new Audi’s A7 torque, I want to see Paul McKenna try and get a Suzuki Liana around a wet Dunsfold Aerodrome, or watch James test sail the car he’s converted into a boat.

They’ve had their controversies and won’t be for everyone, but no one is. There’ll be a gap in the car-based-television-show-market, but no doubt in 22 years’ time, they’ll still be on the newly named U&Dave. I can’t think of many shows that have remained so consistent when it comes to format and personnel over such a prolonged period of time, and I think they deserve credit for that.

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Bid in OxTrail auction

Karen Neville

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Karen Neville

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Oxfordshire’s oxen are set to go under the hammer on September 13th to raise funds for Sobell House Hospice

More than 130 oxen decorated the county with people discovering hidden ox designs across the area, but now it’s time to herd them up and auction them off.

The auction will be held online and in person at the Saïd Business School, Oxford on Friday, 13th September at 7.30pm. The sale will feature a stunning selection of life-sized ox sculptures and mini oxen, all available for online bidding.

The event will be hosted by celebrity auctioneer, Bargain Hunt’s Thomas Forrester. Those looking to attend can check out the online auction via the digital catalogue and register their interest today.

Thomas said: “I simply can’t wait to wield my gavel like am American cowboy in the mid-west driving my herd to an ox-tounding sale at auction, raising such much needed and valuable funds for Sobell Hospice!”

Among those at auction is Children’s illustrator KorKy Paul with his “Winne and Wilbur” inspired ox, and international artist, Amanda Quellin’s design inspired by the stained glass found in Oxford’s architecture. Both with starting bids at £2,500.

The much talked about BBC Radio Oxford ox has also gone up for auction. This sculpture features hundreds of crocheted segments stitched together representing the ‘colourful and diverse’ communities of Oxfordshire. Starting the bids at £1,300, this special Ox is named ‘Tony’ after the artist Yarnsy’s Grandad, who was cared for at Sobell House.

And those looking for a celebrity treat, the trail’s scribed mini ‘Post-ox’ is also starting at £1,300 in the auction house. As part of the ‘moo-vement’, Postb-ox features doodles and signatures from over 20 famous faces – including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Prue Leith, Ben Shephard, Radiohead and Miriam Margoyles.

Director of Fundraising, Beth Marsh from Sobell House Hospice, said: “The auction provides a fantastic opportunity to own a unique piece of art while supporting the vital work we do at the hospice. We are very excited for the sale, it’s the perfect opportunity to purchase one of the moo-jestic ox sculptures and share in the legacy of OxTrail 2024.”

Those who wish to bid on oxen in September can purchase £50 tickets, they include drinks, canapés, and entry. Alternatively, bidders can register online, and place their offers ahead of the auction.

Beth added: “We give people the chance to live well in the time they have left and provide them with compassionate and dignified end of life care. Please place your bids and make an ox-tra big difference this September.”

For more information on OxTrail visit Home – OxTrail 2024

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