LOCAL NEWS

Ferraris visit Pace!

In April, the children at the Wendover Road Bradbury Campus of Pace had a surprise visit when, not one but two red Ferraris turned up outside their classrooms! The children loved looking round the cars and asking lots of questions in the sunshine.

Thank you @MaranelloSales for organising!

Fabulous Summer Tea Party

Joanna Lumley lends support to summer fundraising campaign of national charity Horatio’s Garden

Joanna Lumley, actress, activist and ambassador of national charity Horatio’s Garden, is encouraging everyone to take up their teapots this summer in aid of the third annual Horatio’s Garden Fabulous Summer Tea Party, which raises vital funds to support people affected by spinal injury.

The countrywide fundraising event is all about appreciating our gardens and natural spaces whilst simultaneously celebrating family and friendship. Together, these elements of our lives that have shown themselves to be immensely valuable throughout the past year and with lockdown restrictions easing, this summer will be the perfect time to reunite with your loved ones whilst giving back to a charity in need of your help.

Sharing her support for the event, Joanna said: “Patients with spinal injuries need your support more than ever and you can make a huge difference to people facing difficult times by simply having a cuppa – or even a glass of fizz! – and donating via the Horatio’s Garden website.”

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, Horatio’s Garden have continued to lend a horticultural hand to people adjusting to life-changing spinal cord injuries in NHS hospitals across the UK, as well as to the clinical teams who care for them.

Their stunning, accessible and expertly designed gardens have remained open against all odds. The havens have not only been vital for people’s physical rehabilitation and the psychological wellbeing of patients and staff alike, but have also provided a beautiful outdoor space where visitors can safely see their loved ones, who on average spend upwards of two months in hospital.

With five thriving projects to support and a sixth due to be opening in autumn this year, every penny raised at your Fabulous Summer Tea Party will make an enormous difference.

You can host your very own Fabulous Summer Tea Party anytime and anywhere; as long as it’s within government guidelines, the more innovative, the better!

There’s also the opportunity to get involved on social media by simply sharing a #TeaForChange selfie featuring your favourite brew, texting TEA to 70450 to donate £5 and challenging three people to do the same.

Inviting your family, friends, colleagues and anyone else you can think of to be part of this fantastic celebration couldn’t be simpler. Together we can all be part of something special this summer and help Horatio’s Garden to improve the lives of everyone affected by spinal injury now and for many years to come. Nationwide Engineering and Birchall Tea are lending their support to this event for the second year running.

To discover more about the Horatio’s Garden Fabulous Summer Tea Party and download your Fabulous Fundraising Pack, please visit www.horatiosgarden.org.uk/teaparty or call 01722 326834.

Hike for the Hospice

Four local sisters are hiking the Ridgeway in support of Florence Nightingale Hospice, who looked after their mum when she had terminal cancer.

You can read their story and donate to their JustGiving page by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3e3dFU7

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity, so it's the most efficient way to give - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thanks from Councillors

Thank you for re-electing us as your Conservative Buckinghamshire Councillors. I, Steve Bowles, along with my colleagues Peter Strachan and Richard Newcombe are delighted and privileged to be your councillors once again. We will do our absolute best to continue to represent the interests of all of the residents of Wendover, Halton and Stoke Mandeville no matter how they voted to ensure their concerns are heard and addressed over this next term of office. Cllr Steve Bowles Cllr Peter Strachan Cllr Richard Newcombe

Wendover Arm Trust Grant

Wendover Arm Trust are now in the process of applying for a development grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to progress the restoration, and ran an online survey in May in support of the application. Updates about the grant application and the survey results in an upcoming issue of Wendover News.

South East landowners encouraged to plant trees for climate change and wildlife

Landowners across the South East are being asked to consider planting trees to help tackle the climate and nature emergencies.

The Woodland Trust in May reopened applications for its flagship woodland creation scheme MOREwoods for anyone looking to get trees in the ground in the forthcoming 2021/22 planting season which starts in November.

Senior project lead for woodland creation at the charity, Emma Briggs said:

“A common misconception about creating woodland is that you need a lot of land but the beauty of MOREwoods is that you only need half a hectare to be eligible, which is around the size of half a rugby pitch.

“Whether you're a farmer, smallholder, private business, NHS Trust, university campus or an individual, there are so many reasons to plant trees. We are in the grips of a climate and nature emergency and trees are natural warriors in the fight against both. They lock up carbon, enrich soils, improve water quality, slow the flow of flooding, provide shade, shelter and a haven for wildlife and of course they look good too.”

The Woodland Trust’s MOREwoods scheme is open to anyone wanting to plant woodland of at least 500 trees on at least half a hectare of land. The charity can visit your site with you to help design the woodland, create a bespoke species mix, help with form filling, supply the agreed trees and protection, and cover up to 75% of costs as well as arrange for contractors to plant the trees.

All trees and shrubs are native broadleaved species that will help local landscapes become more diverse and therefore more resilient to future threats such as pests and disease, and they’re all UK sourced and grown.

MOREwoods is funded by Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland as part of a broader commitment to plant one million trees a year over the next decade.

For more information visit www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant or call 0330 333 3300.

The Darkening of Aldbury

In this new book by Raymond Hugh, all the action revolves around the village of Aldbury and the Ashridge Estate along with Wendover and the countryside around Beacon and Pulpit Hill towards Princes Risborough.

The author is a keen conservationist and there is an underlying conservation theme running throughout the story. The author hopes readers of the book who may not all be that interested in conservation will by reading the book be converted and become involved in the cause. He has left a personal message in the book and wants eventually to form a charity restoring flower meadows, old orchards and protected ponds to encourage pond life, so much of which has been decimated in recent years. In the meantime for every book sold in the first year 50 pence will be donated to a local conservation charity. The publisher hasalready committed for the first three months to donate to the ChilternSociety.

The author says: "We are hoping to offer the book in all sorts of local shops - not just in book shops - and it will also be available to purchase online. If anybody has trouble finding a copy of the book please contact us directly either by telephoning 01202 133790 or emailing morningmistpublications@ gmail.com."

The jacket summary says: A young French girl moves to a quiet village with her parents in the Chiltern Hills. A village over which hangs a cloud that refuses to move. From day one strange things start to happen. As village life starts to resemble Hell the little French girl finds herself drawn into a battle with an invisible enemy. As the story draws to a nail-biting climax the final outcome could very well depend on you! The Darkening of Aldbury - see advert page 25.

Wendover Junior School in the early 1990s Photo taken from Wendover Woods by Mike Stanton