Winter 2024/25
Available in Wendover, Dunsmore, The Lee, Halton, Weston Turville and Aston Clinton
FREE
OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS PRESENT Seasons Greetings to all our readers. The dateline above says “Winter 2024/25,” because this is our first ever year-end double issue, covering events throughout December and January. For people who miss it in the shops first time round in late November, never fear, we’ll be topping up their shelves again in the week before the Christmas break.
The new South-East Aylesbury Link Road (SEALR) might encourage the view that the village is just a part of the Aylesbury conurbation. The historical centre of the village may be in danger of losing its village identity forever. Stoke Mandeville’s Village Society recognises the importance of protecting its heritage and sense of community. They want to demonstrate that Stoke Mandeville still does have a heart – and soul.
With 40 pages of great stories, it’s also our largest issue since 2019, after which the world changed and times got weirder. Apart from two months’ worth of coming events listings (p2-6), we’ve got stories on seasonal fare and gifts, and where to buy them locally (p8-11); ideas on how people who are on their own or are carers can cope with what may be lonely times (p21 and p22).
We’ll be starting to deliver copies of Wendover News to Stoke Mandeville with this edition. If you live in Stoke Mandeville and it took time to get this copy, please help us build our volunteer deliverers’ network! We also need volunteers to join our team as local reporters with other creative and admin roles available too. Email getinvolved@ wendovernews.org for details.
For your reading entertainment over the long winter nights we have the long and sorry saga of HS2 and the Ellesborough Road debacle (p26-30), accompanied by a separate broadside from our new MP, the very HS2-sceptic Greg Smith (p16).
Even if you aren’t in Stoke Mandeville, we are looking for volunteers to help deliver door to door in lots of other localities. Volunteering can be fun: it’s good Less controversially, p24-25 looks at the recently re-opened medieval exercise and you get to meet some of your neighbours! Great Hall at the Kings Head pub in Aylesbury, managed by Wendover’s We’ll see you again for the February 2025 issue. own Chiltern Brewery – it’s been beautifully restored and the food and drink make it well worth a visit. Please send your contributions for the February Wendover News has had a great year: We have built a great team of edition (Including payments for advertisements) volunteers, increased the size to the pre-Covid page count and started by Wednesday 8 January at the latest. a group for young writers. To put the cherry on the Christmas cake and put a smile on our faces for the new year, we are increasing our We may not be able to include unexpected coverage area to include Stoke Mandeville! content after that date.
RAF Flypast RAF Flypast
Photo: Simon Eccles
To celebrate the completion of training at RAF Halton, a flypast will take place, weather permitting, at 13:30 on Wednesdays 4 & 18 December | 15 & 29 January 2025
ANTIQUES AT . . WENDOVER Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
December Mystery Object
Please join us for mulled wine and mince pies on Saturday 30th November for late night shopping and on Sunday 8th December
Britten
Ceremony of Carols
Purcell
St Mary’s Church, Wendover Wendover Choral Society Wendover Players
Fairy Queen
Corelli
Sunday 8th December 2024 5:00pm
Christmas Concerto
Carols Mulled wine Mince pies
Featuring Siân Dicker Soprano
TICKETS Adult £17.50 Under 16s FREE Tickets Available on the door and from: Just -Wendover High Street
October ‘s was a seafood pick Open 7 Days a week Free customer car park THE OLD POST OFFICE, WENDOVER, BUCKS 01296 625335 www.antiquesatwendover.co.uk
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Wendover Choral Society Music Director: Kenton Brigden
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Events
Contents Christmas Dinner - look no further................... 8 Gift Shopping in Wendover High Street......... 11 Save lives with a defibrillator......................... 12 Establish a back garden allotment.................. 13 Self assessment tax returns............................ 14 HS2 activism / Greg Smith.............................. 15 Local news...................................................... 16 Wendover Dementia Support........................ 22 Where’s Alex................................................... 23 Chiltern Brewery’s Great Hall......................... 24 HS2 & Ellesborough Road - full story.............. 26 EKFB................................................................ 31 Club Corner.................................................... 32 New Year’s resolutions................................... 37 Tribute: Vic Cox............................................... 38 Local Face: Nick Sinterklass............................ 39 WPC View from the clocktower..................... 40
Published by Wendover Community News CIC: A community-owned Company. Editorial Team: Simon Eccles, Wynne Byford, Jane Larkham, Richard Byford, Lorna Archer and Izzie Addison. Coordination, ads, social media and online: Wynne Byford Production: Richard Byford, Simon Eccles Accounts: James Harrington & Paul Hammett Distribution and deliveries: Tony and about 67 very jolly volunteers! We are a regulated media company funded entirely by advertising revenue. Please support our advertisers.
Simply Walks and Cycle Rides
Wendover – Tuesdays: Weekly walks from Wendover Clock Tower, leaving 10am. You can socialise afterwards at Wendover Christian Centre. Aston Clinton – Thursdays: from Aston Clinton Park leaving 10.30am. Meet beside “Your Café in the Park,” where refreshments are available afterwards. Registration is 15 mins beforehand at both locations. Aylesbury Cycling UK: Easy Pace: every first and third week of the month, about 30 miles long. Newcomers: each second and fourth week and about 20 miles long. Email: aylesburycuk@ gmail.com.
Christmas at the Chilterns Neuro Centre Sun 1, 1-5pm, Oakwood Close, HP22 5LX
and cake! chilternsneurocentre.org/event/ christmas-at-the-centre/.
Yoga with Alice D
Countrymen’s Club for retirees
Mons, Halton Village Hall, HP22 5NG 19.00-20.15 Pregnancy Yoga, 20.30-21.45, Women’s Yoga Weds, Wendover Memorial Hall, HP22 6NL 10.30-11.30, Mum and Baby Yoga, 12.00-13.00, Nurture Baby Massage. www.yogawithaliced.com. See ad p19.
Festive Tea at St Mary’s Church
Sun 1, 2.30–4.30pm, Weston Turville, HP22 5SQ All welcome. Mon 2 & 16, 1.30-3.00pm, Road Farm, Great Missenden, HP16 9LS Meet and chat with like-minded countrysideloving gentlemen at a working family farm and participate in farm-related tasks. These meetings are on Monday, twice a month. There is a small voluntary charge, suggested as £10 per session if affordable. See p19.
Kimble & Ellesborough Horticultural Society Tue 3, 8pm, Stewart Hall, Little Kimble, HP17 OXN John Catton, ex-chairman of the Chalfonts Beekeeping Society and of Bucks County Beekeepers, now volunteers for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, raising funds
WENDOVER MEMORIAL HALL
ST ANNE’S HALL to hire
Great for Children’s Parties Ideal for Weddings & Functions Excellent kitchen facilities
All enquiries to Angela German 07423 266713 stanneshallwendover@hotmail.co.uk
Enquiries : 07804 671445 angelawmh@aol.co.uk
LEGACY FAIRS
Alcoholics Anonymous
Wendover News Winter 2024/25
Christmas Tree Festival at St Peter & St Paul Sun 1, 11.30am-4.30pm, Great Missenden, HP16 0QS There will be more than 20 Christmas trees lit around the church and various events including a giant hamper raffle, music, stalls and refreshments. Parking available.
Until 15 Dec, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP Wonderful artwork for sale by 34 professional artists. Check website for all events including Nostalgia & Natter, Afternoon Tea & Talk and the new WEIRD exhibition. www. discoverbucksmuseum.org.
Tuesdays 8.15-10.15pm, Halton Village Hall, HP22 5NG An all-inclusive mixed Morris side who meet most Tuesdays for dance practice. Everyone welcome - musicians and dancers. No experience needed to dance. Email cracklewickmorris@gmail.com.
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1st Wednesday each month, 7.30pm- 9.30pm Halton Village Hall HP22 5NG All enquiries to Suzanne Stock (chairperson) on 07946 627298 or suzannestock@outlook.com.
Off the Wall Art Fair at Discover Bucks The Centre will have Christmas stalls, Museum games, wreath making and Santa’s Grotto
Cracklewick Morris
Worried about your drinking? Call our local AA helpline, open 24/7 01628 530055 www.aachilternthames.org.uk National helpline 0800 917 7650 www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
Chiltern Miniaturists Club
Antiques & Collectors Market Wendover Memorial Hall
Thursdays 19 December & 16 January 9am-2pm (Trade 8am) clarity@debooks.co.uk www.double-entry-bookkeeping.co.uk 07841 427832
For updates Tel: 07503 465532 or email: peterphillips39@yahoo.com Entrance by donation to Charity
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and awareness of wild bees. He will explain the three types of bee (honey, solitary and bumblebee) and wannabees (ie mimics) and talk about gardening with pollinators in mind. See https://e-voice. org.uk/kehs.
Craft Group
Wed 4 & 18, 10am-12pm, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG Craft Group provides time, space, and friendly company to work on any kind of craft project. Please bring your own materials or just come to see what others are doing. Coffee served at about 11am.
Compassionate Café Wigginton
Wed 4, 1.30-3pm, The Sports Ground, HP23 6HH A space at the community-run café for local people affected by bereavement to meet others. See p21.
multi award winning
Chilterns Light Network
Wednesdays, 7.30 for 8pm, Wendover Memorial Hall, HP22 6NL 4; Astrology – how it works 11; Epigenetics – the amazing effect of thoughts and emotions on the body. January schedule tba – see website. Fun and friendly group. All welcome. £5 non-members. www.chilternslightnetwork.org. See article p32.
Proud Sponsors
Wendover Horticultural Society
Thu 5, 1pm, St Anne’s Hall, Wendover, HP22 6JG Annual Members Social. Note time of 1pm, which is earlier than usual.
Wendover Art Hub Autumn Term Workshops
Thu 5, 6-8pm, Real Magic Books, High Street, Wendover Festive wreath-making workshop with Jaany Ravenscroft-Hull and Caroline Davey. £35. To book email: art.hub.ox@gmail.com.
Poetry Please
Fri 6, 10.30am, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG ‘Christmas’ is the theme for December. Everyone welcome!
Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards Local History Group
Fri 6, 7.30 for 7.45pm, St Leonards Village Hall, HP23 6NW A new talk by Stephen Barker called Trench Humour in the First World War, taking a light-hearted look at trench humour in slang and through tunes, cartoons, satirical journals, concert parties and in many other ways. Membership for the season is £10. For more details see www. cholesbury.com. See p36.
Sarah Routley BSc (Hons)
Max Rogers ANAEA
Gusto Art Club
Fridays 6 & 20, 2-3pm, Gusto Café, Castle Park Road, HP22 6AE Last two in a series of weekly art club meetings that started in November. Run by Jaany Ravenscroft-Hull. Take paper or a sketchpad, pencil and pen. £10 per session and you can just turn up. Or email art.hub.ox@gmail.com for more details.
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Aston Clinton Repair Café
Sat 7, 9-12pm, St Michael & All Angels, Aston Clinton, HP22 5HW See if the team of volunteers can fix your household items.
Lee Common CE School & Larks Nursery Christmas Fair
Sat 7, 12-3pm, HP16 9JH Kids’ activities, Santa, disco, BBQ, tea room, carols, bar. Free entry.
Christmas Tea Dance
Wendover Choral Society
Sun 8, 5pm, St Mary’s Church, Wendover, HP22 6NL A joyful afternoon of festive music. Under the baton of music director, Kenton Brigden, the Choral Society will present Britten’s ‘A Ceremony of Carols, featuring Siân Dicker, soprano. Tickets available on the door or from Just shop on Wendover High Street. See ad front page.
Wendover Evening WI
Tue 10, 7.30pm, St Anne’s Hall, Wendover, HP22 6JG Sat 7, 2-4pm, St Mary’s, Church Wendover, HP22 6NL Christmas dinner followed by lots of festive fun and games. See p34. An afternoon of dancing, singing and refreshments for all in the Wendover community, young or old, who love dancing. Free entry. Board Game Café Thu 12, 2-4pm, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG Aylesbury Vale Stitchers Enjoy a variety of games old and new or take your own to play with Sat 7, 2.30pm, Wendover Memorial Hall HP22 6HF others. Open and free of charge for all. Open Meeting, free to non-members. Members can bring their own stitching projects. Email aylesburyvalestitchers@gmail.com. Wendover Art Club Thu 12, 7.30-9.30 pm, St Annes Hall, Wendover, HP22 6JG Great Missenden Choral Society – Christmas Concert Members’ Christmas get together. A chance to socialise in a friendly Sat 7, 7.30pm, St Peter & St Paul, Gt Missenden HP16 0BA atmosphere of interactive games and brain teasers, loosely connected Features Schubert’s ‘Mass in E flat’ and Bullard’s ‘O come, Emmanuel’ with art. There will be refreshments to keep the cognitive powers with full orchestra and soloists. Tickets from www.gmcsonline.co.uk working. or on the door. Wendover Art Club welcomes all artists in drawing and painting medias, regardless of experience. Meetings on the 2nd and 4th evenings Commemorative Christmas events at local crematoria of each month. There is an entry fee of £10 for non-member guests Sun 8 12-2pm - BIERTON, Cane End Lane, Bierton, HP22 5BH to demonstrations and £2 for creative evenings. Carol Service 12-1pm, Crafternoon hour following the service 1-2pm. Sun 15, 12-2pm, – CHILTERNS, Whielden Lane, Amersham, HP7 0ND CribFest 2024 Crafternoon hour preceding the service 12-1pm, Carol service 1-2pm. Fri 13, 3-6pm and Sat 14, 10am-3.30pm Refreshments available. Visual Tribute (photos need to be submitted St Anne’s Church and the Christian Centre, HP22 6JG via email no later than one week before the service). An intriguing variety of home-made and treasured crib scenes will be To submit visual tributes please call 01494724263 or email displayed in St Anne’s Church, ready for your vote for the ones you like chilternscrem.csb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or most! All ages welcome. In the Christian Centre, there will be craft, biertoncrem.csb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk See p21. cakes, home produce & second-hand book stalls, plus refreshments
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including a soup lunch on Saturday. All proceeds to ‘Embrace the Book Club Middle East,’ whose humanitarian work is vital at the current time. Sat 21, 10.30-11.30am, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG No set book. Just go along and hear what others have been reading. Carols around the Tree with Chinnor Silver Band If you wish, talk about something you’ve read – whether you loved Fri 13, 6.30-7.30pm, Manor Waste, Wendover, HP22 6EA it or not. It begins with coffee and sometimes cake. Song sheets will be supplied, and you can link your phone to a QR code that will be available to download the lyrics. Echor Music Concert at St Mary’s, Wendover More on back page, p40. Sat 21, 7.30pm,St Mary’s Church, Wendover, HP22 6NL Featuring baroque music. Tickets will include a glass of sparkling Wendover Singers Christmas Concert wine. www.echormusic.com/tickets. Sat 14, 5pm, St Mary’s Church, Wendover, HP22 6NL Well-known festive songs. Tickets available from Just, Wendover Tring Choral Society’s Winter Concert High Street, via the website or scan the QR code in advert below. Sat 21, 7.30pm, St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Tring wendoversingers.com. The concert is the much-loved Handel’s ‘Messiah.’ The choir will be accompanied by four professional soloists and orchestra. Tickets Christingle Service available from www.tringchoral.org.uk or from choir members. Do Sun 15, 3.00pm, St Mary’s Church, Wendover, HP22 6NL buy in advance as this event is likely to sell out. Connect, create, and celebrate for all the family. See ad below.
Compassionate Café, Great Missenden
The RSPB Aylesbury Group
Wed 27, 11.30am, Great Missenden Library, HP16 0AL Mon 16, 7.30pm, Prebendal Hall Community Centre, Ayles, HP19 7QW Each session is facilitated by trained volunteers who ensure the café ‘The Changing Wildlife of the Chilterns’ by John Tyler. Details: group. offers a safe and welcoming space for people to come together for rspb.org.uk/aylesbury/ emotional support. www.bit.ly/3Zqn5RH.
BBOWT
Tue 17, 7pm, Great Missenden Memorial Centre, HP16 9AE Mick Jones on ‘Dancersend: 100 years of Conservation.’ Admission £5. www.bbowt.org.uk/events.
Flicks in the Sticks
Fri 20, 7pm All Saints’ Buckland, HP22 5HX £10 per ticket including a hot supper. Contact Natalie on 01296 632488 or email Benefice3@gmail.com.
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fires, overflowing tankards – but what was it really like to visit such a place? James will explore evidence from architecture, history, and archaeology to reconstruct the experience of visiting an inn during the mediaeval period.
2025 EVENTS Craft Group
Wed 1, 15 & 29, 10am-12pm, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG Craft Group provides time, space, and friendly company to work on any kind of craft project. Please take your own materials or just go along to see what others are doing. Coffee served at about 11am.
Wendover Horticultural Society
Thu 2, 2.30pm, St Anne’s Hall, Wendover, HP22 6JG AGM at St Anne’s Hall 2.30pm, followed by a talk from Christine Barlow who will show ‘The Flora and Fauna of Madagascar,’ much of which has evolved separately from the rest of the world. Visitors welcome, Price £3.
Poetry Please
Fri 3, 10.30am, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG You have a choice – ‘Weather’ or ‘Water’! Take a poem on the theme or go and see what others have chosen.
Board Game Café
Thu 9, 2-4pm, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG Enjoy a variety of games old and new or take your own to play with others.
Wendover Art Club
Thurs 9 & 23, 7.30-9.30 pm, St Annes Hall, Wendover, HP22 6JG 9; Demonstration by Graham Jefford of ‘Landscape in charcoal.’ A chance to see how charcoal can work to produce interesting landscapes by one of the club’s talented members. 23; Varvara Nieman demonstrating her approach to ‘Still Life’ in acrylic. See her website to gain an idea of her colourful approach to all subjects, and then go along to the demo to see how it’s done: www.varvaraonline.net
Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards Local History Group
Fri 10, 7.30 for 7.45pm A Zoom talk starting at 7.45pm, welcoming back Dr James Wright, mediaeval buildings archaeologist, to talk on ‘The Mediaeval Inn.’ These are a familiar scene from popular fiction – dark rooms, roaring
Countrymen’s Club for retirees
Mon 13 & 27, 1.30-3pm, Road Farm, Great Missenden, HP16 9LS Meet with like-minded countryside-loving gentlemen and participate in farm-related tasks. Small £10 voluntary charge if affordable.
Wendover Evening WI
Tue 14, 7.30pm, St Anne’s Hall, Wendover, HP22 6JG A time to catch up with WI friends, reminisce about 2024 and plan lots of exciting activities for the forthcoming year.
Aylesbury Centre of the National Trust
Thu 16, 8pm, Broughton Junior School HP20 1NQ Jeremy Holmes speaks on ‘Mad, bad and dangerous to know: Lord Byron and his women.’ All welcome. Doors open 7.30pm. Contact: Hon Sec 07399 540626 or email aylesburycentrent@gmail.com See p33.
Book Club
Sat 18, 10.30 -11.30am, Wendover Christian Centre, HP22 6JG No set book. If you wish, talk about something you’ve read – whether you loved it or not. It begins with coffee and sometimes cake. The RSPB Aylesbury Group Mon 20, 7.30 pm, Prebendal Hall Community Centre, HP19 7QW ‘Spurn – the birds, wildlife and fossils of this Yorkshire reserve,’ by Harry Appleyard.
The Arts Society Ballinger
Wed 29, 10.00am-3.30pm, Ballinger Memorial Hall HP16 9LQ Brothers in Art. James Russell will give three lectures on brothers Paul and John Nash, who grew up together in Iver, Bucks, where they developed a passion for the English countryside. After both serving and spending time as war artists in World War One, they painted in Chalfont St Peter and retained a love of the Chilterns ever after. This is a study day costing £30 including coffee, cake and a light lunch. Open to members and non-members. For more information and booking, which is essential, email ballinger@theartsociety.org.
Weston Turville Historical Society
Fri 31, 8pm (Doors open 7.30) Weston Turville Village Hall ‘On your Doorstep – Aylesbury,’ with speaker Towse Harrison. Entrance £2 members, £3 visitors
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Merry Christmas to everyone from the team at Scruples Looking for gift ideas ? We have a selection of quality hair and beauty products available in our salon and Scruples Gift Cards are always a perfect present for friends and family.
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Christmas dinner: look no further! You don’t need to go very far from the middle of Wendover for your Christmas treats. The area is full of shops and producers that can provide you with everything you need to have a Christmas full of the sort of food and drink that memories are made of. We thought it would be good to ask some of these local suppliers for their personal recommendations. This is what they told us… Photo: Jill Wellington on Pixabay
Turkey? Or something else?
We asked all our local shops and suppliers what they would suggest Lastly, we asked Debbie Cattle at Cornelli, the cake makers’ shop to customers wanting something different from the traditional turkey. at the bottom of the High Street. She replied: “Cake! It’s all about the cake!” Steph Hares, speaking from her Buckmoorend Farm shop, just off the road going past the front of Chequers, said: “We do sell locally-reared Ban the brussel sprouts? turkey, from Pearce Family Turkeys in Stoke Mandeville. However we Brussel Sprouts are a bit like Marmite. You either love them or you hate have noticed over recent years a slight drop in demand for these, them. If sprouts were outlawed, we asked, what would you suggest as people look to other cuts of meat for their centre-piece of the as a replacement and how Christmas table. We produce our own lamb and beef at Buckmoorend would you prepare/present Farm, so any cut from these meats could be considered. Certainly, the substitute? sirloin and rib of beef joints have become popular over recent years, along with beef fillet. Personally, I would add value to my fillet and Steph at Buckmoorend make a beef wellington if I was going down that route!” Farm shop jumped to their defence: “Sprouts should Block and Butcher is still finding turkey the most in-demand item. Ricky definitely not be banned. Jeffrey, co-owner of the shop in Wendover High Street, explained: If you can’t bear the “Turkey, pigs in blankets and in more recent times rib of beef. Going traditionally boiled sprout, away from tradition we recommend our porchetta, typically an cooked until the water’s Photo: No2 Italian favourite at Christmas. This cut of pork has all the flavour green, I can understand the and succulence you could want, plus from our homemade special sentiment of wanting them blend, the hit of fresh herbs and spices. It’s a cracking alternative.” banned. However they can be used in many different ways, and cooked with a variety of ingredients to make them so tasty. Lightly What signals the start of the festive season for you? boiled, then fried with some lardons and garlic is my favourite.” Ricky at Block and Butcher: “As soon as the pigs in blankets go in the counter, bang…! Christmas has arrived and does not leave until “If you’re adamant about leaving them off the menu though, I would those little piggies do.” replace them with something British. I would hate to think of someone having greens imported from Spain or Africa to make up their meal. After the main course It’s no alternative to sprouts, and will probably be on my table in any Kate Rumsey (from the chocolaterie on the High Street) said: “Skip the event, but braised red cabbage with apple could be considered.” main course and get straight to the chocolate!” Ricky at Block and Butcher was also in favour of rebelling against the hypothetical ban, but had an idea on hand for a substitute: Nicola Grant at No2, on the “Pan-fried crispy cabbage in tallow fat with some smoked streaky corner of Dobbins Lane, bacon – and if you’re feeling decadent some chestnuts. But I love reminded us of one of the sprouts, so keep them in!” traditional treats that can fit in at any time between Debbie at Cornelli was another who went for red cabbage, which she the Chris tmas pudding suggested should be spiced. One of the more unusual suggestions and late - ni ght supp er: to replace sprouts came from Kate at Rumseys, who, as you might “Impress your guests with expect, said “Chocolate!” Apparently as an afterthought she said a festive cheeseboard. Our “although maybe not on the same plate as the turkey!” cheesemongers at No2 have done the hard work for you Keeping costs down in creating the perfect cheese Christmas dinner can get expensive. We asked them what items selections. Simply pop into they could substitute that would maintain the atmosphere, but the shop to choose your reduce the cost. own favourites with fabulous Photo: Rumseys accompaniments.” Ricky at Block and Butcher suggested: “I think huge pleasure can be 8
Wendover News Winter 2024/25
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found in a well reared, free range roast chicken or capon. They are to go with traditional both cost effective and multiple meals can be made from leftovers. Christmas meals and If turkey is the only thing that will cut it, then a small boneless turkey turkey especially!” crown can go along way on a tight budget.
After-dinner treats
Debbie from Cornelli quickly replied that Christmas cupcakes could Chiltern Brewery is not do the job very well – especially if decorated by the children who just about beer. George will be eating them! Jenkinson says: “As well as beer though, we have What will YOU eat? a lovely smooth coffee, Lastly, we asked each of them what they would be eating for Christmas roasted just for us. And themselves. Steph at Buckmoorend Farm shop said: “We will be having to help round off a lovely a turkey. It’s the one time of year we eat turkey, and I look forward dinner, we have chocolates to it. Plus, I couldn’t give up my tradition of turkey sandwiches in in the shape of half barrels the evening.” of beer, and with some Photo: Buckmoorend Farm of the hop oils from our “– and cold turkey with bubble and squeak for Boxing Day” piped in brews, made just for us Daniel, her husband, who runs the farm. by Rumsey’s on Wendover High Street! There is plenty more besides, from marmalade to pickled Ricky at Block and Butcher: “Rib of beef and a dressed turkey crown, onions and chutney – all unique to us.” gotta keep everyone happy! Getting around the table and sharing a meal with loved ones is at the heart of what we offer at Christmas, so Kate from Rumseys added: “Hand decorated figurines of Santa I would have to say an alternative would be our beautiful homemade himself, hot chocolate flakes, pralines, caramels, fudge and marzipan. beef wellington.” All made in our chocolaterie and wrapped elegantly with ribbon. We have something delicious for everyone.” “Debbie from Cornelli: “Turkey and trimmings from Block and Butcher!” Keeping the festivities going into the next year “Perhaps one present that has become increasingly popular is our 12 And to drink… Beers of Christmas,” says George Jenkinson at Chiltern Brewery. “A George Jenkinson, partner at The Chiltern Brewery, didn’t need to box of beers specially chosen to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. think about this line for very long: “There is one beer in particular that Although we put the beers in order in the box, we don’t think everyone we make just for Christmas, and that is our Christmas Ale. It is sold in follows it, or that they last the 12 days! We sell more each year, so a refillable glass flagon. It’s a beer that we have created specifically it seems to strike a chord with people.”
EST 1980
en op op h s s a m st i r h C m p 5 o t m a 0 1 t a S Mon A CHILTERN BREWERY
d n a e om c s a m Christ visit us!
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We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers, regular and new, for their continued support and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year The last date for ordering Christmas Fayre is 15th December 01296 622014 / 620262 kingsfarmshop@btconnect.com www.kingsfarmshop.co.uk
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Nicola at No2 says: “we can get the party started now and keep going all the way into 2025. What is the secret? Choose delicious cheese, meats, antipasti and create first-class nibbling boards for your parties. Buying party wine? Don’t forget the 12 bottle discount.” she added.
and vegetables; eggs, plants and pet food; miscellaneous goods; ladies’ fashion; watch repairs; pickles, sauces and jams; fresh fish; street food. Wendover Parish Council organises the Local Produce market which is run on the third Saturday of each month and offers rare breeds meats, various breads and Practical advice bakery, flowers and plants, wooden How can people with a small fridge/freezer ensure that they have goods, preserves, honey and beeswax. enough provisions in store for the whole Christmas/New Year holiday? This year Christmas falls on a Ricky at Block and Butcher had a quick answer: “Collect your orders Wednesday. The last weekly market as late as you can, let the butcher or shop do the storing for you. before Christmas is on Thursday 19 Make everything fresh as you need it and get the people around December. Most of the stalls have you involved. So much fun can be had preparing food together.” a holiday in the period between Christmas and New Year. The last Local Last words… Produce Market before Christmas is on Cornelli George Jenkinson at Chiltern Brewery said: “I don’t think it is so much Saturday 21 December. about what is on the table, as who is around the table. The happiest Christmas meals come from being together and enjoying each other’s Gift Shopping on Wendover High Street company. We turn the TV off and leave phones in another room.” Then he added: “But if there’s one thing that says Christmas meal to me, it’s the hats from crackers!” Kate: “As a family business I can honestly say I think it’s about coming together with loved ones that is the most important thing. I’d love Rumsey’s chocolates to help make it a little sweeter but presence is always more important than presents.”
Wendover Markets
Wendover also has two markets which mostly feature fresh food. The weekly Thursday market is a descendant of Wendover’s 900+ year old market charter (granted in 1214) and happens every week from 9am to 3pm. Around the war memorial are stalls selling artisanal cheese; bread and baked products and Greek olives and garlic, plus some other specialities. Outside Sweeney’s you can buy fresh fruit
Do you enjoy finding quirky gifts for friends and family? Wendover High Street is just the place for you, with so many independent shops offering out of the ordinary items. Here’s a quick tour, starting at the clock tower and progressing up the High Street and back again. First you come to the old wooden framed No1. Don’t worry if you missed its Christmas launch on 17 October, there is still plenty
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to browse from its extensive selection of quirky, ornamental and the Barn Courtyard has lots of small enterprises, up the stairs is practical range of gift ideas and decorative items. new Sidehill Alley, which sells Namibian-German and South African themed items and offers craft classes. Below it is the new Balloon Walking on up the High Street, don’t miss The Forge – once the village Times, specialising in greetings cards and party banners. blacksmith’s and now an independent boutique for women’s clothes. The St Mary’s church shop, Just, specialises in an eclectic range of Further on is “a little bird told me” gallery owned by Melanie Bird, Fair Trade goods – anything from cards and wooden toys to woolly with two floors of unusual art, cards, books and gifts. socks and exotic spices. Rennie Grove Hospice Charity, celebrating 25 years in Wendover, offers pre-loved items. Basford Fine Jewellery Back on the High Street cross over the roundabout to No2 Pound can make something bespoke for Street, a specialist wine and cheese you, especially in silver. centre that has tables for light meals (with accompanying drinks Flower Gallery has fresh flowers of course). for all occasions. Real Magic Books, now in its third year is a On to Sweeney’s, a large independent welcome return to the concept of which offers the basics alongside an independent local book shop, interesting and tasty local produce. stocking nationally known authors It partnered with Morrissons earlier but with space for local authors, this year, so it displays a lot of its too – owners Carl and Sophie also brands with prices matched to organise regular book readings, Morrissons’ own stores. talks and music events. Rumsey’s is a destination for Block and Butcher next door offers chocoholics and makes its own grass-fed local meat as well as its confectionary on the premises while popular sausage rolls. Florence offering a café too. Photo: Simon Eccles Nightingale Hospice Charity Shop has a large double unit offering cards, pre-loved books, clothes, CD/ Back on the High Street, Wendover Post Office offers the usual vital DVDs and bric-a-brac. services, plus cards, toys, stationery, newspapers and magazines. Near the Clock Tower roundabout is Brookes for sophisticated women’s The big wooden framed Antiques at Wendover is a vast and rambling clothes and Andrew Gardner for stylish men. Eileen’s flowers is a two storey former post office, run as a co-operative for all sorts of long established favourite. sellers. Set back from the archway to the left of Wendover Antiques, Jane Larkham & Simon Eccles
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Save Lives with a Defibrillator By Rhiannon Smith Defibrillators or an “automated external defibrillator” (also shortened to ‘AED’) are lifesaving devices, designed to provide electric shocks to aid the heart when someone has gone into cardiac arrest.
Learning how to use one can save someone’s life
Out-of-hospital CPR alone tends to yield low survival results, but, early delivery of CPR with the aid of a defibrillator increases survival rates by as much as 49-75%, according to Postgraduate Medical Journal 2007. Knowing how to find and use one could be the difference between saving a loved one or losing them.
Where can you find defibrillators in Wendover?
In Wendover, there are many defibrillators close to the town centre, mainly in publicly accessible areas including Sweeney’s, the clocktower, and St Annes Roman Catholic Church and Wendover Free Church. There is also one outside Wendover Shed on the allotments on Hogtrough Lane. Most AEDs are available 24/7 for anyone to access.
How to access a defibrillator Defibrillators often have a key code to access them and will have instructions on the front of how to open them. Calling 999 for the access code is the most common way to get inside. This is not always the case, sometimes they may have a different number on them, so reading the box you are using is important.
How to use a defibrillator
Using a defibrillator for the first time might seem a little scary but do not panic, they are very simple to use. Once inside the defibrillator case, there are clear visual and audio instructions. Everything is well labelled with images, directions and a defibrillator has audio instructions to guide you. They only work on those who are in cardiac arrest as the pads of the AED monitor the heart’s electrical rhythm to deliver the shocks. So you cannot harm someone by using one. The British Heart Foundation provides the following instructions: “The first step is to stay calm and turn it on by pressing the green button, so you can hear the voice prompts. When using one, all clothing must be removed from the chest, especially if there is metal, as this can cause burns, so you may have to cut clothes off. You will find where to place the pads displayed on the back of them. For adults, one pad goes on the upper right side of the chest, and the other goes to the lower left side. It is slightly different for children, as the pads cannot touch; one pad must go in the centre of the chest whilst the other goes on the back. For children aged between one and eight, use a paediatric defibrillator or standard defibrillator with paediatric pads. It is important to note defibrillators must not be used on children under the age of one. Once the pads are on, you need to let the AED analyse the heart’s rhythm. No one can touch the person at this moment, so the area must be clear, make sure everyone has stepped back.
Similarly, when delivering a shock, you need to make sure nobody touches the person. Shout “clear” to let surrounding people know. You will then need to press The map above correct at the time of writing and shows all the the “shock” button. defibrillators that should be available near the middle of Wendover, according to www.defibfinder.uk. Make yourself familiar with the app, Once it has delivered the shock, start CPR again as soon as the using it to memorise where you should be able to find a defibrillator machine allows. You need to make sure to listen to the machine as near your home and places that you visit regularly. 2 minutes or so later you may need to administer another shock.” If you are in need of one in an emergency dial 999 immediately and an operator will direct you to the nearest defibrillator. Or, if you have an internet connection, you can use British Heart Foundation’s Defib finder (described above). It produces a map of all the registered defibrillators in a given area or postcode. You can use Defib finder to find the ten defibrillators nearest to your location.
How to identify a defibrillator
For more information:
Watch St John Ambulance’s YouTube video on how to use a defibrillator. Read St John Ambulance’s ‘Defibrillators - a guide for rescuers’ on sja.org.uk. Read British Red Cross’ guide to using an AED, with images, on redcross.org.uk
Typically AEDs are in a bright green box, although not all. The best way to identify them is by their symbol, a heart with an electric bolt St John Ambulance offers local first aid in the centre. They will often have an AED or defibrillator. Most are training if you are interested in learning more locked with a key code pad. and becoming a first aider. For more information, visit the first aid training courses page on sja.org.uk. 12
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Establish a back garden allotment – you can dig it! By Leigh Porter
There is something very special about growing ‘stuff’ and it doesn’t matter if it’s flowers, fruit or vegetables. There is a sense of wonder and satisfaction that is good for the soul. Doctors actually recommend gardening as a therapeutic treatment. Photo: Wikimedia Commons It’s good for exercise and good for mental wellbeing. Although being creative in a flower garden is thoroughly enjoyable, there is something primeval and empowering about nurturing your own food supply, and that’s before we talk of saving money and plants will grow, while the cardboard suppresses weeds until it rots the absence of packaging and air miles. Added to the long list of away, leaving you with a clean weed-free patch for your produce. reasons – it’s the taste too! Should a determined weed poke through you just remove as much Easing into growing might start with just some pots of herbs and as is easy and pop a couple of small layers of cardboard over the top perhaps expand into a tub of ‘cut and come again’ lettuce, but once with a handful of compost, then keep doing that until it gives up. you take control of a patch of garden you realise that things that go into the ground seem to do better without as much ‘care’ (work). This easy-growing method cuts down on all that weeding and provides You’ll embark on a journey that will provide more entertainment food for the soil. It is now recognised that all the good microbes and than Netflix, more drama than BBC News and more frustration than beneficial fungi are in the top few inches of the soil and so there politics, and yet have you coming back for more! are additional benefits to be gained by leaving them alone to do their thing. Anyone who tried to grow sunflowers this year to ‘Make Wendover Smile’ knows, growing is not without its challenges, and an army of This method is a revelation. Gone are the days of double-digging, slugs is just one. For those who smugly grew towering sunflowers, and in comes the regular covering of clean compost to keep feeding they know it’s all possible and wonderfully rewarding. The world your patch, with a lot more time to enjoy the planting and harvesting. seems to be a hectic and worrying place and it’s all too easy to be absorbed in a life happening on our tablets and TV. Getting off the The dark winter nights are the time to start considering your next sofa, putting our phones to one side and doing some growing can season’s growing. There is so much information available to help you. be as refreshing and enjoyable as a mini-break. The No Dig Gardening guru is Charles Dowding, with lots of helpful YouTube videos which are worth a watch and are definitely inspiring. What puts many of us off starting to grow fruit and vegetables is the idea that this is back-breaking stuff or we don’t know where to I’m off out to my own back garden allotment to cut one of my start. Fear not, the answer is much easier than you would imagine cabbages. I’ve been admiring it for long enough and if I leave it if you use what is called the No Dig method. much longer the slugs will spot it. While I’m outside I’ll plant these onion sets which can go in now along with some of my home saved Quite simply, choose your patch of ground. It can be lawn or a weedy elephant garlic, which was definitely my most impressive crop. area, it matters not. Cover the area with brown cardboard (first remove labels, packing tape and staples) and cover with compost. I can only encourage you to give your own back garden allotment a Into this you can sow rows of seeds of your choice or better still plant go. It will provide you will plenty of fun, frustration, diversion and plug plants for an instant garden. The idea is that your seeds and with a bit of luck, some food!
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are helpful, they operate on a one-size-fits-all basis and No need to worry about your programs may not capture the unique financial situations of every individual. accountants will take a personalised approach to uncover the tax return this Christmas; Most possible deductions and reliefs. They can also offer strategic advice on how to structure your finances throughout the year to optimise your tax situation, helping you keep more of your hard-earned money. expert help is at hand For many people, those ‘spare’ days between the wind-down for Christmas and re-starting work in the new year, are set aside for doing all the paperwork that you didn’t find time to do during the year. In reality, there are no spare days before Christmas. Shopping, wrapping up presents, tweaking the decorations and making sure you have multiple corkscrews and bottle openers handy, are actually full-time work. Days between Christmas and the new year end up being used for more important things, like finishing off the mince pies, checking that all the drinks bottles are completely empty and playing with your new toys. The last thing you feel like doing at this time of year is concentrating on your self-assessment tax returns. We asked Wendover High Street accountancy Numbers how we could make the problem go away for our readers. Its staff kindly wrote this for us:
Minimising errors and investigations
The complexity of tax returns and filing deadlines can lead to mistakes, which can be costly in penalties and late payment interest (more so since the autumn budget) and trigger HMRC investigations. Errors such as incorrect deductions or undeclared income are common pitfalls for those filing without professional help. Should HMRC question your return, having an accountant who understands the intricacies of your financial affairs and can represent you can be invaluable. This expertise can help navigate the investigation process smoothly and efficiently, providing a buffer against potential penalties.
Time-saving and reducing stress
The time required to accurately prepare a tax return can be substantial, especially for individuals with complex financial affairs such as multiple income streams, investments, or business ownership. With an accountant taking care of it, you can devote more time to Filing self-assessment tax returns: why professional help is both personal and professional activities so you can focus on what worth the investment you do best. The peace of mind that comes with In the intricate world of UK taxation, the annual knowing a professional is handling your tax affairs task of filing tax returns can be a bit daunting. can help eliminate the stress and uncertainty that With ever-changing regulations and the need often accompanies the tax return season. to optimise deductions and reliefs, even the most financially savvy can find themselves Strategic tax planning overwhelmed. This is where the expertise of Beyond the immediate task of filing returns, an accountant becomes invaluable – not just a an accountant can offer strategic tax planning matter of convenience; it’s a move that can lead services that can benefit you year-round. This to financial benefits and peace of mind. long-term perspective means that your financial decisions are more informed by a comprehensive Navigating complex tax compliance understanding of how they will impact your tax Photo: Simon Eccles Tax law is notoriously complex and subject to situation, both now and in the future. frequent changes. What might have been a straightforward claim last year could have different rules applied The benefits of using an accountant to prepare your tax returns could this year. extend far beyond simple convenience. Their expertise in navigating complex tax laws, maximising deductions, minimising errors, and Accountants keep up-to-date with these changes and understand how providing strategic tax advice can make them an indispensable asset! they impact various tax situations. They have an in-depth knowledge so can identify allowances and reliefs that the average person might As the 31st January filing deadline fast approaches, consider making overlook. This expertise can sometimes result in a substantial tax the investment and let an accountant take care of your tax return for saving – far outweighing the cost of an accountant’s services. you. Contact details for Numbers are as shown in its advertisement, below. You can also an email hello@numbers-ltd.co.uk, call them on Maximising deductions and reliefs 01296 620220 or pop in to the Wendover office on the High Street. A common misconception is that online tax software can replace Other accountants are available – as the helpful people at Numbers the detailed understanding of a seasoned accountant. While these confidently point out.
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Numbers is here to take care of your accountancy needs so you can focus on your business. We are here to help you with: • • • •
Company accounts & corporation tax Self assessment tax returns Book keeping, VAT (including Making Tax Digital), Payroll & CIS Company secretarial services Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas and Happy 2025 Matt Ryan FCCA | Numbers Limited | 01296 620220 | info@numbers-ltd.co.uk 32 High Street, Wendover, Bucks, HP22 6EA | www.numbers-ltd.co.uk
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Local News HS2 activism update from our MP Greg Smith
Our elected MP, Greg Smith, wasted no time engaging with the community in Wendover on taking up office. We asked him to go over some of the aspects of his work that are of particular relevance to readers of Wendover News. He sent us this reply:
Failures like leaving St. Mary’s Church with eye-watering costs for noise mitigation; frustrating efforts by the Cricket Club to set up a new cricket ground; constant noise day and night from drilling and piling for residents of Nash Lee Lane; what seems like a never-ending closure of the Small Dean Lane bridleway. I could go on. Be assured I am exhausting all means to put these problems to the new Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, as well as the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, Sir Jon Thomson. I have personally written to them on behalf of everyone who has contacted me, insisting that they come and experience the disruption for themselves, and I shall not stop until we see meaningful solutions. I am continuing to work closely with Buckinghamshire Council on tackling the project’s woeful approach to road and footpath closures, as well as on securing a more generous compensation package to help fix those roads which EKFB and others have damaged.
“I am pleased to report back on the steps I have been taking to tackle HS2 in Wendover. The issues Photo: Greg Smith and concerns that have been raised with me are numerous and varied and I am determined to do everything I can to help both individuals and organisations as well as the whole community. I am grateful both to the Cricket Club and St Mary’s Church for showing me what they’re facing, as well as to your local ward councillors and As I made clear during the General Election, I am no stranger to fighting Buckinghamshire Council’s deputy cabinet member for transport, HS2. Having battled it out alongside communities further north in Cllr Peter Martin, for their support in pushing for change in attitude the county I was determined to get my elbows out in Wendover. and approach from HS2. As your MP I will never give up the fight and I am always available to help. Please contact me by email if you Having begun by meeting the local Wendover HS2 Mitigation Group wish to raise anything: greg.smith.mp@parliament.uk.” and the Chiltern Society, both of which I thank for their tireless efforts to hold the project to account, I have spoken to many residents Library Car Park charge causes local anger about your experience and frustration with the way this community Andy Smith, clerk to Wendover Parish Council, writes: Wendover has been treated. I have come across numerous broken promises residents and businesses are expressing anger and dismay over and assurances given years ago by project managers, leaving many Buckinghamshire Council’s new parking strategy. facing higher than expected costs, simply to move out of HS2’s way. The Library Car Park lost its first free hour’s parking in September, What should be simple solutions that HS2 turned into a bureaucratic when a new 50p charging scheme was introduced across the county nightmare: extremely poor management of road and footpath closures of Buckinghamshire. This was in line with the new parking strategy and an overall lack of respect for residents and businesses that have produced by Buckinghamshire Council. in many cases been left to fend for themselves. The problems caused by the new charges have been further I am afraid to say this is nothing out of the ordinary for HS2, and compounded by faulty ticket machines or machines that don’t my experience of dealing with these issues is that they are never accept cash payments. The alternative, to avoid a fine, is to use the resolved overnight. But that will not stop me from doing whatever RingGo app through a mobile phone, which not everyone can access I humanly can to make project leaders see sense and hold them to or understand. What’s not obvious even then is that there is a 35p account on their numerous and extensive failures. surcharge for using the app, so the 50p first hour goes up to 85p.
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Residents using local shops and facilities had been hit by this change, complaints from locals affected by this decision by Buckinghamshire with parking moving to local roads. Local businesses are also reporting Council. He stated: “The situation with the Library Car Park is a drop in trade that coincides with the changes. unacceptable on several levels. Buckinghamshire Council have failed to consider the impact on anything other than car park revenues The new parking strategy went out to consultation on 23 January and the need to make their car park account balance. The impact this year, and closed on 18 February. The new strategy was published for our businesses and locals is significant. They do not appear to less than a week after the consultation had closed. It set out blanket have taken the broader issues and the local economy into account.” fees for all parking in Buckinghamshire and a push to stop taking cash payments. At the time Wendover Parish Council expressed concern He further stated “There continues and dismay at the consultation, the speed with which the strategy was to be an issue with payment published after the consultation and the recommendations it made. machines not working, a fallen tree left abandoned in the parking In an article on the Bucks Radio website, Steven Broadbent, Bucks spaces and dangerous potholes in CC deputy leader, and cabinet member for transport, said: “The the approach road. It is not clear one-hour parking charge at Wendover has been introduced following This tiny text warns if the extra revenue is having any a public consultation that ran earlier this year. The purpose of the of the extra charges benefit for the users of the facility. charge is to start to harmonise the hours of control for all parking across the county, ensuring the approach for paying for parking is “There has been an offer from Buckinghamshire Council that the consistent whilst continuing to allow Town and Parish Councils the Parish Council can pay an annual fee to reinstate the free parking and option to fund free parking schemes, as is commonly done in other this is something the Parish Council will have to consider, but that will parts of the county. require more money from local residents or cuts to our services.” “Income from parking charges is used to fund the management, enforcement and maintenance of the car parks. Should there be a surplus, this is used to support transport, environmental, and local highways schemes. Having the parking charges paid for by car park customers helps ensure that the costs are not inadvertently paid for by non-users of the car park, through the use of other service area budgets.”
Remembrance Sunday 2024
It is over 100 years since Britain started remembering the dreadful human cost of World War One, extended to all other military involvements since, and the Wendover Ceremony continues to attract crowds to the communal two minutes silence and wreath laying at the war memorial on Manor Waste. It is organised by the Royal British Legion, RAF Halton and Wendover Parish Council. As well as the RAF, the ceremony is supported by other uniformed groups, Wendover Parish Council believe that this decision was taken without and other organisations in Wendover. The area surrounding the War full consideration of the wider implications. Clive Gallagher, chair of Memorial on Manor Waste is filled by the parade as hundreds of Wendover Parish Council, said councillors are were receiving many others look on from the sides. RAF Halton provided the trumpeter
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who started the two minutes silence with The Last Post, and ended Council; RAF Halton; Royal Air Force Association; Royal British Branch it with Reveille. and Club; Thames Valley Police and St John Ambulance, Air Cadets; Scouts from beavers to explorers; Guides with rainbows and brownies; the Women’s Institute and u3a; Rotary in Wendover and Wendover Society, J Brown Funeral Services Ltd and John Colet School; Churches Together in Wendover – St Anne’s, St Mary’s, Wendover Free Church. Prayers were led by the leaders of the three main churches. To find out more about the people named on the War Memorial, see www. bit.ly/4fIG1jM and www.bit.ly/4fJSbbQ. Armistice Day This year, Armistice Day, 11 November fell on the Monday after Remembrance Sunday. A small group of under-5s from The Children’s Room Nursery in South Street came to lay their hand-made poppies on the War Memorial before taking them home to show their parents and carers. Most people who gathered were of retirement age and knew the last verse of the Lawrence For the first time in living memory, Wendover Parish Council included Binyon verse which started the dogs in its part of the Remembrance Parade, marking the part played two minutes silence, and the by animals in conflicts. The two dogs were well dressed, one with a Kohima Exhortation to end it. specially embroidered coat and the other with a collar incorporating the WVRS badge of deputy chairman Leigh Porter’s grandmother. As usual a striking display of One of the councillors, Patrick O’Donnell CBE, wore his RAF uniform crocheted poppies has been to lay the wreath on the behalf of service animals. made by many volunteers over the year and fixed in place on Photo: Simon Eccles This year all of the names inscribed on the Memorial were read out the war memorial railings at the while the wreaths were laid by representatives of the services and beginning of November by Sue local organisations. These included Greg Smith MP for the Houses Abbott and Carole Low (right). The poppies will remain there until of Parliament; civic councillors including Bucks and Wendover Parish the New Year. Photo: Jane Larkham
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Wendover Parish Quiz 2024 results
The final round of the Wendover Parish Quiz was due on 21 November, after Wendover News went to press. We’ll publish the winners in our next issue, February 2025. This year’s Quiz has been the last to benefit from Alan Myers as quiz master, after 25 years’ sterling service. He has written and asked all the questions during the quiz season. Round 1 - October 17, 31 and 7 November Quarter Finals - November 14 Semis & Final - November 21 Access to Bowls Club from 7pm, Quiz starts at 7.30pm. Round 1: 17 October Michlin Stars v The Spartans Wendover Free Church A v On The Shelf The FoWlers v Wendover Evening WI Team 1 Preliminary Round 31 October Wendover Free Church B (34) v Hase Osbourne (34) Tie Break Wendover Free Church B (6) v Hase Osbourne (10) Winner – Hase Osbourne Round 1 Matches: 31 October Wendover Evening WI Team 2 (34) v Wendover U3A (35) Winner – Wendover U3A Distilled Knowledge (33) v Wendover Shed (29) Winner – Distilled Knowledge
for the Trust, said: “Lizy has shown exceptional drive and enthusiasm in the role, creating strong links with the John Colet School where she continues her A level studies. She has instigated the successful new second-hand clothes shop, gathered Year 12 support to staff it, organised the LAST presence at the new Year 7 evening and much more besides. We wish her every success in the future as we introduce the new ambassador, Lily-Mae Going, a current Year 12 pupil, who we are looking forward to working with in the coming months. “We are also introducing the new chair of the Trust, Robert Duggan, who will take over from Gwen Williams at the Annual Meeting in April. We also welcomed Emma Caroll, our new foundation trustee, a great asset to the team. Since April, LAST has given over £17,000 in grants to local people and organisations. At this meeting, a further £37,000 of funding was awarded helping support those in need.” The next funding round will be advertised in the new year, and is also available on its website: www.wendovertrust.org.
Wendover Singers to hit the big stage
Wendover Singers and their friends at Wing are booked to perform in a groundbreaking concert at The Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury on 12 April 2025. Hundreds of Buckinghamshire singers join forces Lionel Abel-Smith Trust Autumn Update to raise awareness of the impact of singing on mental health in a On 6 November the Lionel Abel-Smith Trust (LAST) held its autumn groundbreaking concert. It will showcase the positive impact singing meeting where Trustees said thanks and farewell to Lizy Pearson, its has on everyone’s mental health and raise much-needed funds for Youth Ambassador after her year in office. Sheila Bulpett, speaking mental health charities.
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Wendover News Winter 2024/25
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Community choir champion, and critically acclaimed Soprano, Jill Neenan, will lead 180 singers, including children, from The Wing and Wendover Community Choirs, with a number of surprise special guests, as they perform a broad repertoire of uplifting music and song.
her Neenan Singers. Further tickets were made available as soon as the first were taken, but also sold almost immediately. Funds raised were for the benefit of their mental health work in the community. Watch out for the next event in 2025, more info www.lindengate. org.uk.
Countryways CIC celebrate 10 years of care farming
The pioneer in Buckinghamshire care farming is celebrating a decade of providing support to hundreds of individuals through connecting with nature, farming and the outdoors. The end of October also saw a visit from Buckinghamshire High Sheriff Kurshida Mirza.
Delivering over 480 special sessions annually, Countryways provides tailored programmes for people with learning difficulties, mental and or physical health challenges. ‘Farm Helpers’ engage in activities including animal care, horticulture, maintaining hedgerows and a range of woodwork projects which impact their personal development and create a real sense of purpose and belonging. “It feels good that I’m trusted to use tools. Coming here I have progressed with The concert will include stories from singers whose lives have been my confidence and believe I can do things,” says Declan, one of the transformed by the joy and camaraderie of singing and belonging farm helpers. to their choir. All profits will go to support the crucial work being done by national and local mental health charities. Don’t forget to The project is led by Wendy and Duncan Gray, with a growing team put the date on your calendar. of dedicated staff and volunteers. It is based at Road Farm, a real working farm with livestock and arable under the stewardship of Lindengate sells out farmer David Knight. It takes people of all ages and backgrounds, A success for the Lindengate Charity, but disappointment for especially those who face some level of challenge in their lives, people wanting to attend Lindengate’s Christmas spectacular on offering them the experience of working with animals, learning 28 November: The event sold out before the electronic ink on the Countryways skills, physically connecting with the countryside and online advert was dry! engaging in outdoor activities. The event was at Lindengate Gardens in Wendover and included It also welcomes paying service users and volunteers, including Duke Christmas songs from critically acclaimed Soprano, Jill Neenan, and of Edinburgh award candidates. “Seeing people gain confidence, new
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skills and building friendships through coming here is very special” says co-founder Wendy Gray. “We couldn’t have this impact without a brilliant team of committed, talented and caring people, and we’re so grateful for crucial funding support from charitable organisations and kind individuals.”
but needs to find funding from grants and donors to support staff to deliver sustainably into the future, without exhaustion. Could you help with this? Countryways is reaching out to the local community for volunteers as part of its quest for sustainability and growth. Whether you have a passion for people, nature or a desire to help others working outdoors, volunteering with Countryways offers a rewarding experience. www.roadfarmcountryways. com/volunteer.
There are established strong par tnerships with local schools, healthcare providers, local charities, clubs and societies (including Wendover and Halton Scout Groups and Wendover Dementia Support), with at least 50 larger group visits a year. Donations are always welcome and Open Farm Sunday saw over directly enable Countryways to 700 visitors from a wide area. provide more opportunities that support vulnerable people and promotes wellbeing. See: www. Workshops have covered specialist skills such as woodwork, tree roadfarmcountryways.com/donate. Corporate sponsorship also pruning and farm-to-fork cookery. There are also regular meetings helps organisations to play a vital role in making a measurable social of retired farmers and countryside lovers at the Countrymen’s Club. impact. See: www.roadfarmcountryways.com/corporatesponsor. See events p2. There will be an Open Farm day for visitors on 8 June 2025. That’s School visits cover topics from the national one for your new diary, but Countryways would be grateful for curriculum, including biodiversity, climate and any volunteers or financial support before then! Visit www. food. Most of these are free under Countryside roadfarmcountryways.com. Stewardship arrangements. Newest staff member Emily McCann highlights an exciting development: “Thanks to help from the Chilterns Conservation Board, we’re creating new and more-accessible goat housing. Caring for an animal has so many benefits – reducing stress and anxiety, providing a sense of purpose and responsibility and great learning opportunities. Best of all, the goats are so friendly and affectionate they really enjoy the care and attention…it’s a win-win!”
Volunteers needed at Aylesbury Vale Child Contact Centre
Julianne Wilderspin writes: “Want to make a child happy? Have you three hours to spare, once a month, to help at the Aylesbury Vale Child Contact Centre in Buckingham Street, Aylesbury? It’s a place of safety and welcome for children unable to see a parent they don’t live with. We are really short of volunteers, and it’s a very fulfilling role – just welcoming and supporting and making tea. You’d be part of a great team of other volunteers. Please contact Veronica on 07974 470605 for more details.”
Looking ahead There is much demand for vulnerable people to be able to access a When Christmas just hurts too much safe space where they can feel valued, capable and make a meaningful Not everybody enjoys Christmas as much as they have in previous contribution. Countryways has developed a plan to support this, years. Trying to be cheerful and festive in the first few years
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after the loss of a loved one can be very difficult and can lead to individuals becoming isolated and feeling even more lonely. If you have a relative or neighbour in this situation, consider setting aside a few hours to visit them. Go along prepared to be ‘Christmassy,’ but don’t be surprised or offended if they don’t want to get involved. Having somebody with them might just be enough.
care after this date, they would be referred to Florence Nightingale.
Stewart Montgomery-Marks, chief executive at Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, says: “The people of Wendover have loyally supported Rennie Grove Peace since the beginnings of Iain Rennie Hospice at Home and then Rennie Grove, and we are truly grateful for this amazing support. Every penny raised and every hour volunteered over The staff at Chiltern and Bierton Crematoria understand bereavement the past four decades has helped us provide patient care in this area. and have opened up their chapels for a number of events. See details below and on page 4 of the December Events. We are sad that we will no longer be serving the people of Wendover but will continue to work closely with the other hospice care providers Another organisation, Compassionate Café has sessions in December, who are all equally committed to ensuring the highest quality care in Wigginton on the 4th, 1.30-3pm, and in Great Missenden Library for patients that is tailored to their individual needs.” on the 27th at 11.30am. www.bit.ly/3Zqn5RH. Details in events.
Calendars Commemorative Christmas at Chilterns and Bierton Crematoria At least two local organisations produce annual calendars, using
photographs taken by local amateurs and sometimes by special December events are open to all, whether you have invitation. These make attractive local artwork for your home or to attended the crematoria or not, and details appear give to someone who loves Wendover, supporting the Community in the events section. All are welcome, regardless Library or Wendover Canal Trust. of beliefs. See p4. Wendover Community Library has an exhibition, as well as a Jodie Warren, office supervisor, says: “At a time that is often difficult committee to help choose which photographs appear in the calendar for those who are grieving the loss of someone, we offer our carol each year. It is available from Real Magic Books in the High Street or events as an opportunity to be welcomed to an event surrounded by Wendover Clock Tower during the current limited library hours from those who can relate to their difficulties at this time of year, when 10am to 2pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. All money raised the focus is on families and togetherness.” goes to support Wendover Community Library. See also page 10 in the October print edition of Wendover News, www.wendovernews. The events provide the opportunity of a Christmas sing-along, a visual co.uk/print-editions. tribute of loved ones, with refreshments and crafts. They are free to attend, although donations are accepted and this year fundraising Wendover Canal Trust invites known amateur countryside is for Cruse Bereavement Charity. photographers in the south of England as well as members to provide images. Again this calendar is a fund-raiser for the restoration and For more information and to submit visual tributes please contact maintenance of the canal, which is a great resource for walkers, 01494 724263, email chilternscrem.csb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or bikers and local children who can walk to school in a peaceful rural biertoncrem.csb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk environment instead of along a busy road or in a car. It is available online at https://bit.ly/40JCrld.
Hospice care for local people
The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) has worked with providers to change the way it commissions hospice care services in Buckinghamshire. This will take effect from 1 January 2025, reallocating Hospice at Home and palliative community services. The aim of this is to ensure that everybody who needs hospice care will receive high quality joined-up care, with the hospice provider working alongside GPs and district nurses to deliver continuity of care. New patient referrals will begin to be allocated to the relevant provider from 20 November 2024. Therefore, if a patient who is registered with a Wendover GP was referred for Hospice at Home
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Bring your dog to Wendover Woods for forest walkies with Wallace and Gromit!
Routes will also be plotted on Ordnance Survey’s Maps app to help you navigate your way around and you’ll find more information about Tails are set to wag and noses to twitch as Forestry England invites the routes and be able to enter the competition from the app too. you to take your dog on the ultimate forest dog walk with Wallace and With a third of visitors to the nation’s forests bringing their beloved Gromit as it unveils a brand-new Forest Walkies route in Wendover dogs, Forestry England welcomes them all year round to exercise Woods. The route is one of 22 across the and enjoy the sights and smells of the forest nation’s forests and has been developed in landscape. Forest Walkies is a chance to deepen partnership with Aardman and Ordnance the bond you have with your dog and support Survey. their wellbeing and yours. Forest Walkies will give four-legged friends the time of their lives and help you spend quality time with your canine companions. Not only that but there’s a chance to win your dog a fabulous holiday – and the whole family can go too! Panels along the Three Becks route offer activities to do with your dog featuring that inimitable duo, Wallace and Gromit. Challenges include encouraging your dog to sit still while you count up to 30 (in Gromit seconds!), high-fiving your canine chum, and encouraging them to lie still while you both enjoy looking up at the trees. Any cheating is all part of the fun you’ll have with your happy hound! And there’s even a photo opp at end of the route for your dog to say, “cheese Gromit!”
There is a brilliant activity pack to buy before you go on your Forest Walkies, with a beautifully designed tote bag featuring Wallace and Gromit striding out on their own forest walk as a special gift for dog owners. Inside is a cute dog bandana as a gift for the most important member of the group. You’ll also find a leaflet to enter the competition as well as a fun crossword puzzle to be just like Wallace and Gromit, with clues on the route panels to solve on your forest walk. One lucky dog (and their family) will be in with the chance of winning an amazing Forest Holidays cabin break worth £1500, where they can put their paws up and relax! Details of how to enter can be found in the activity pack and also on the Forestry England website. forestryengland.uk
Buckinghamshire’s biggest ice rink Is back
Chiltern View Nursery in Aylesbury is once again bringing their full-scale family friendly ice rink back to Buckinghamshire this festive season from 22 November to 31 December. The opening night will be celebrated with performances from Boney M, back by popular demand. Special guests will also include BBC Radio 2’s presenter Vernon Kay and, fresh from the announcement of her upcoming appearance on the new series of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK, the fabulous La Voix. With last year’s tickets selling fast sure you book your tickets early to avoid disappointment! The beautifully decorated winter wonderland has a fully licensed bar and many more festive treats to offer. It’s a perfect Christmas outing for the whole family. Book now at www.chilternviewicerink.co.uk
Photo: Simon Eccles
Explain to the wider family that your loved one is unlikely to follow a group conversation and may feel marginalised and upset. It usually works well if just one person is with them, and it can be a comfort just to have someone just sitting quietly beside them.
Christmas when caring for someone with Dementia
Create meaningful moments: Engage your loved one in simple The holiday season can be both joyful and challenging, especially when activities they enjoy—perhaps decorating cookies, folding napkins, or caring for a loved one with dementia. Planning ahead can help you reminiscing. Small tasks can help them feel included and contribute create a memorable and enjoyable experience for everyone, while to the celebration. managing the stress that sometimes accompanies these celebrations. Self-care for caregivers: Lastly, the family carer should remember Adapt traditions: Holidays often bring traditions that may overwhelm to look after themselves and not take on too much additional work. someone with dementia. Instead of long noisy gatherings, consider With a thoughtful approach, the holidays can remain a cherished smaller, quieter celebrations. Simplify decorations such as flashing time, offering comfort, connection, and joy for the entire family. lights, as they can be disorienting. Focus on familiar traditions that bring comfort, like listening to favourite Christmas music or looking If you know someone living locally with dementia who needs support, through family photos, which can help spark positive memories. contact Wendover Dementia Support: www.wendoverds.org or Keep expectations realistic: Dementia can cause anxiety or confusion 07732 342409. in busy settings, so plan for a quiet place they can retire to if needed. 22
Wendover News Winter 2024/25
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Country to Capital Ultra Marathon
Any plans for the morning of Saturday 4 January 2025? Take care, Wendover High Street would appreciate a road closure from 08:40 to 08:55 as the 17th Country to Capital Ultra Marathon sets off on as many footpaths and towpaths as possible on its way to the finish near where Westway goes over the A404, covering 43.1 miles.
The participants will welcome some people at the start to cheer them on their way. You’ll see them go from The Shoulder of Mutton down the High Street then at the Clock Tower go along the path taking them via Heron Path into Church Lane, over Hale Road to Hogtrough Lane, past Wendover Shed and allotments up the hill towards Kings Ash, through The Lee and eventually skirt Pednor and Chesham. For more information and the whole route go to www.bit.ly/4ewHkRE.
Where’s Alex?
Straight onto the run along Brighton seafront with Adam Hill’s prosthetic foot in my backpack and with the sun coming up, taking in the Brighton Pier, i360 and Hove Beach Huts. I was joined by a lot of early morning runners and one kite surfer who looked like he was having a blast! There’s another sport to put onto my try list. Then networking at Brighton Rocks – which was a lot of fun – chatting with Alex’s quickest swim – at 04:00 under moonlight! some new contacts and introducing them to the three charities I’m Alex continues his quest to complete a triathlon in every city in the raising funds for. Then the 40km bike ride in full winter sun taking UK. That’s difficult on its own, but while he is doing it, he is also in River Adur, Brighton Marina, Rottingdean Beach then back into juggling... his family life and work! the Brighton centre.” He’s been busy since the last issue of Wendover News: Southampton, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Chichester, Brighton, Salisbury and Winchester. Although each triathlon would be a feat beyond most people’s reach, you might think that he tries to make things easy for himself. Far from it.
He’ll be carrying on through Christmas and the new year, hopefully with a well-earned rest with his family. In the meantime, you can help him achieve his goal and show your support by donating to his charity fundraising page via the home page of his Wendoverbased company at www.equategroup.com: Go to the right-hand tab “Triathlon” which will take you to the Just Giving page.
In his log for Brighton he wrote: “An amazing 6am swim at Sea Lanes open air pool on the beach front. I felt a bit under-dressed. Quite More on Alex’s incredible challenge in the February issue of Wendover a few of the regulars were jumping into their wet suits. My coldest News, when we will be introducing you to one of the three charities and quickest 1500m – but it was memorable in the dark with the – and explaining in his own words, why it is so important to him. moon overhead.
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How Chiltern Brewery restored the Great Hall back to medieval style – despite 21st century lockdowns!
I
f you’re visiting Aylesbury in the run up to Christmas, you could take time to pop into the Kings Head pub, off the market square, where for the first time in 20 years you can experience a real slice of medieval history in the newly renovated Great Hall, while enjoying local beers and food. It’s a separate building, bar and eating area from the original Farmers’ Bar, which you access on the right under the Kings Head’s entrance arch off the cobbled street leading from the market. The Great Hall entrance is opposite it on the left side. Wendover’s (or Terrick’s) family-owned Chiltern Brewery manages the Kings Head as its ‘brewery tap.’ It leases it from the National Trust, which has owned the extensive site since 1925s, when the family of the previous owner Charles Rothschild The Great Hall is filling up. The tables and settle were built for the room. Note the two owners donated it after his death. Until the panels to the left of the door that show the original wall structure behind clear acrylic. Through the door is the restored Georgian room and its famous WC! 1990s it was a hotel. Some of it is really ancient, with the cellar of the Farmers’ Bar dating to the 1200s, and the building above it may be almost as old (the National Trust has a change of ownership document on vellum, dated 1455). Other parts may be Georgian or Victorian additions. Although younger than the Farmers’ Bar building, the Great Hall still dates to 1470, when it was built for the local Lord of the Manor to stay and entertain in when he visited. The second storey gatehouse linking the two sides came later in the 1530s to form the arched entrance way. The Lord of the Manor then was Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne, the unfortunate second wife of Henry VIII. Chiltern Brewery originally started with just the Farmers’ Bar in 2005, but took on the lease for the whole site at the beginning of 2020, and re-opened the Great Hall last June, after it had been unused for about 20 years. As a Grade II* listed building, great care had to be taken with the floor to ceiling restoration, using original materials and styles. The Kings Head front entrance arch from the stree leading from the market square. The Great Hall is to its left.
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Wendover News Winter 2024/25
Wendover News spoke to George Jenkinson, who runs Chiltern Brewery as a partner together with his brother Tom. They are the
sons of Chiltern Brewery’s founders Richard and Lesley Jenkinson, who set it up in 1980.
This is the entrance to the Great Hall looking back from the courtyard.
Until the lockdown of 2020 George managed the Kings Head and lived on the premises with his wife Annette, who was and remains the head chef there. The pub site itself is now managed by his brother-in-law Peter Fonyodi. “We present the Kings Head as a country pub in the middle of town,” says George. “The Farmer’s Bar has the buzz of a public bar, and the Great Hall is rather more like the old saloon bars, with more comfortable seating and a sense of occasion for people who want to go out.” The menus are different too, he says. “In the Farmers’ Bar there’s typical “pub food,” and in the Great Hall it’s more gastro. Even though both menus have burgers, they are different. The wines are different, and so are the beers apart from the main Chiltern Brewery beers. “We serve all local food – for meat we go to Block & Butcher in Wendover and Beef Olive in Aylesbury. We bake our own bread Please mention Wendover News when responding to adverts
Andrew Alston pulls a great pint and can also relate the history if you ask him nicely!
on-site, as well as making the Christmas puddings that we also sell at the Brewery shop.”
Looking towards the bar, the wall above has the Parliament clock and Chiltern Brewery memorabilia. Note the fabulous restored window and the chandelier.
Opposite the window is the cosy fireplace, with the Hall’s entrance to the right.
As word gets around, the Great Hall is starting to attract its own customer base, George says. “It may end up more food oriented than the Farmers’ Bar. It’s big on theatre nights, but everyone wants it in a rush! “There are Christmas bookings for tables and a special menu, but not the whole hall – if parties want a room, there’s the Victorian dining room behind, off the courtyard.
The original Parliament clock, with Brewery memorabilia.
“Last month we had a Medieval Night, that sold out. There was a six-course modern interpretation of a banquet, and people hired period costumes.” This was so successful that it will be repeated next year, on 23 January, then 24 April, 24 July and 23 October.
On the wall over the bar is a large ‘Parliament clock’ made for the Kings Head in ‘Aylesbeury’ in the late 1700s, by Neil Campbell. Next to it are items from the Chiltern Brewery’s own history: a collection of hats worn by founder Richard Jenkinson over the years, and two barrel ends from the early days.
Customers can explore some of the extensive history of the site The coloured glass windows are a remarkable treasure, bought for too, guided by a page in the menus, written by George, and the bar a song from the Greyfriars Abbey after it was forcibly shut during staff will explain more, if they’re not too busy! the Dissolution of the 1530s, the same time as the gatehouse was built. The menu explains the various sections and coats of arms in One of the Great Hall walls has exposed sections behind acrylic the glass. Under the windows is a corner settle seat, built for the panels, showing the old original wattle and daub construction, room. using sticks, straw, mud and dung. With no damp-proof course, this is a breathing wall and needs special hand-mixed paint, giving Hanging from the ceiling is a large brass chandelier with lettering the distinctive grey-green colour. reading HRVI – ie Henry VI, who was king at the time of the 1455 deed. It’s probably Victorian, converted from candles to electric. The Great Hall has two rooms running alongside on the arch side. One is the bar, another is called the Glue Pot, dating back to when the Kings Head was a staging inn for passenger coaches that also took the post, where horses were changed and passengers were refreshed – the glue was to apply stamps to letters. The small lobby leading to the Great Hall used to be the reception area for the hotel. Leading off from the Great Hall wall opposite the bar is another room used for drinking and dining. This is called the Georgian Room and has also been restored with appropriate early 19th century furniture. It’s originally thought to have been staff quarters. The Georgian Room off the Great Hall has also been carefully restored – so has it’s Rothschild era WC!
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George points out that there’s a “magnificent Rothschild era water closet room” off that, which is apparently well worth a visit! Simon Eccles newsdesk@wendovernews.org
Wendover News Winter 2024/25
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HS2 and Ellesborough Road: the full story
By Richard Byford, with Murray Cooke By the time you read this, the “temporary” traffic lights on the Ellesborough Road diversion may finally have been removed, eight months after the road was opened for traffic. But beyond them, the enormous concrete slab over the blocked-off part of Ellesborough Road, installed this year at presumably great effort and public expense, is going to be removed after only four months’ use.
Aerial view of the Wendover end of Ellesborough Road, pre-slab, about March 2024. Photo: Karl Vaughan.
The slab was intended as part of a temporary route for dump trucks hauling about 1 million tonnes of spoil from the cutting works near Great Missenden north along the HS2 route to build up the embankments at Stoke Mandeville. The slab was needed to protect utility services running underneath Ellesborough Road which had not been moved.
have been stopping their herd of sheep while a chariot went past. It stayed like that even when the railway arrived in the 1890s: It would have been little trouble to temporarily divert a horse-drawn carriage or pedestrian around where they were building the Great Central Railway to Manchester.
By the second half of the 20th century, civilisation became dependent on wires and pipes for electricity, telephones, mains water and sewerage. By 1965 there were heavy-duty National Grid pylons with 400 kV cables at Wendover, and several other electricity and telephone cables running east-west across the bridge over the railway. The construction of the Wendover bypass had its challenges, but at the time they were easily overcome by routing them all over the The unexpected and unscheduled problems with the cutting at new combined rail and bypass overbridge. Ellesborough Road are holding up the whole HS2 construction programme between Wendover Dean and Stoke Mandeville. This In 2010 the idea of running a high-speed railway route through the means the works and disruption locally will carry on for even longer ‘Wendover Gap’ was proposed. Other routes had been considered than planned, and the public costs are spiralling. and many organisations argued against the route through Wendover because of the damage it would cause to the natural landscape. At How did it get to this? We thought it would be a good time to record various times, the possibly of running the railway entirely in tunnels the history of the works and describe what we know of the plans through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) for this small focus of chaos. and was considered and eventually dropped, in favour of the current arrangement, based on cost and technical difficulties. However, wetter winter weather brings movements to a halt as the trucks just churning up the mud on the rest of the haul road. Now the constructor EKFB is going back to its original plan of digging the HS2 track cutting through Ellesborough Road and using that as the ‘haul road’ once the remaining utilities are diverted this winter.
A gap in HS2 planning?
The gap through the Chilterns leading to Wendover has probably been in use as long as people wanted to move from one part of the country to another. When bronze age travellers met up with others travelling east or west on Icknield Way, the most difficult thing might
Given what we know now about the structure of the Coombe Hill aquifer, the cost of the building the green tunnel, the viaducts and restoration of the landscape, it might be argued that that it was an inappropriate decision, and the objectors were right.
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History of the Ellesborough Road cutting
Soon after the elephant moved on, the bats moved in.
From an early stage the plan was to include a ‘green’ cut-and-cover tunnel below Ellesborough Road, which implied demolition of some of the cottages which dated back to 1877 or earlier. A ‘route optimisation’ study in 2010 considered classic tunnelling under Ellesborough Road on cost grounds and moved the line about 20 metres west to avoid disruption to the Ian Rennie Memorial Wood. Dismissal of the option for a conventional tunnel under the road proposed by various organisations were further rejected by a House of Commons Select Committee, based on evidence submitted by HS2 including cost and engineering issues.
Unfortunately, by then bats had taken advantage of the compulsory purchase of the buildings by roosting in them, so they could not be knocked down until much later that year.
Construction of the diversion road and bridge started. The reality of rerouting the utility services then became apparent, with the various organisations surveying where their cables and pipes were probably located, followed by trial holes to see what was actually in place. These all involved road closures, and yet more were needed as new underground duct routes were created to cope with the diversions. The gas mains, electricity cables, British Telecom and Virgin Media services were successfully migrated from mid 2023, prior to the The subsequent House of Lords Select Committee in 2016 specifically diversion road being opened to public traffic in April 2024. decided to reject discussion of more tunnelling for Wendover. Following Royal Assent of the HS2 legislation in 2017 a ‘design and Thames Water, however, pointed out that its sewer pipe would not build’ contract was given to CEK JV (a joint venture between Carillion, function over the new bridge, as the altitude at the east end would Eiffage and Kier) to review the scheme design and work out how not allow sewage to flow above the A413 and Chiltern Railway line. they would build the line. During 2015 HS2 plans were made to move about 1million tonnes of clay and chalk material north from the Chilterns to other parts of the route in Aylesbury Vale. MPs directed HS2 to create a temporary diversion road to the north of the houses which would close Ellesborough Road to traffic for “a few weeks” as it was brought into use. This timescale was wildly optimistic.
The problem with regards to HS2 and Ellesborough Road, is not that the train will be running quite deep under the road. It is the fact that during construction, they must keep the construction trench open for several years without interrupting the utility services above or the flow of traffic along the road. At Ellesborough Road they concluded that all utility services would need to be diverted while the 18-metre-deep cutting was made through the road. They were also concerned about the narrow width of land available for their use as defined in the Act, which precluded creating a site access road and separate Dump Truck ‘haul road’ alongside the railway works. Their conclusion was that the temporary diversion road should incorporate a “Bailey bridge” above the works, so that dump trucks travelling north/south would not interfere with east/west public traffic on Ellesborough Road. The bridge was also designed with ducts to handle diverted utility services over the works. Although the design and build contracts were in place, the pace of progress was constrained by the Covid epidemic and the outcome of the Oakervee review, commissioned by the Department for Transport, which considered ‘whether and how’ to proceed with HS2. Following the February 2020 announcement from the prime minister Boris Johnson that HS2 would go ahead, plans were put in place to demolish the Ellesborough Road buildings in early 2021.
The engineering solution adopted was to build a second, smaller Bailey bridge parallel with the south side of Ellesborough Road, to carry the sewer and water main at their original altitude and downward slope. A large hole was excavated to the southern side of Ellesborough Road, on the western edge of the memorial garden, which was sheet piled for protection, and the additional bridge was constructed. When migration of the utility services was started, it was discovered that the mains water, sewerage and BT services were
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intractably intertwined, that it would not be possible to complete the move in time.
Dump truck driving over the slab. Photo: Murray Cooke
The second utilities-only Bailey bridge. Photo: Murray Cooke
also needed to be backfilled and the ground consolidated. Since August, the steady stream of dump trucks going over Ellesborough Road, up and down the steep incline and under the Bailey bridge, have indicated the extent of the movement of materials required across HS2 around the Wendover area.
The ’Mass Haul’
The original construction plan was for the cutting through Ellesborough Road to be excavated to full depth as soon as the traffic had been diverted onto the new road. This would allow dump trucks to move spoil stockpiled from excavation at Great Missenden to worksites north of Wendover. About a million tonnes of chalk, clay and soil excavated from the North Tunnel Portal at Great Missenden and cutting either side of the Wendover Dean viaduct would need to be moved to places further north, where it could be used, for example, to cover the green tunnel and form embankments. This is normal practice and on smaller projects in the past, it would have been carried out using tipper trucks over public roads. The only reasonable solution for the enormous volume of material in this case was to take it along a dedicated haul road, crossing the A413 via a conveyor belt at Small Dean Lane, where it would be stockpiled and then reloaded onto dump trucks for onward carriage north.
More construction setbacks
With project timescale pressure to start the ‘mass haul’ the contractors concluded that they could not wait for the cutting to be opened so they decided to run their 100 tonne (fully laden) trucks over the top of the existing part of Ellesborough Road, then down a steep slope to run under the Bailey bridge that carries the public road diversion. To avoid damage to the remaining water pipes, a thick concrete slab was created over Ellesborough Road, and the spoil movement started in August 2024. This required removal of the new utility services bridge in April, which had only been installed two months previously. The 18-metre-deep hole over which it had been built
The Mass Haul begins. Photo: Murray Cooke However, wetter weather has brought this to a halt, and now EKFB plans to remove the slab after only four month’s use, and go back to its original plan to make the cutting.
Back-tracking
The haul road is affected by the weather, and gets churned up by the trucks following heavy rain. The disruption involved means that the mass haul programme will be suspended for the winter, probably between November and April. During this time, EKFB will be reinstalling the utility service bridge to allow Thames Water to divert their pipes. This will then allow it to revert to the previous plan and dig the trench all the way under Ellesborough Road, before the restart of the mass haul in the spring of 2025. We are then expecting the new cutting to be used by the dump trucks for the rest of 2025, followed by the installation of the roofed-over “Green Tunnel” pre-cast concrete shell and backfilling to restore the previous landform during 2026.
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A green tunnel that has already been contructed elsewhere on the route of HS2. The design of the Wendover Green Tunnel may be slightly different.
Photo: HS2
Minor snags, major delays
Utility companies have not always responded very quickly to requests from EKFB (HS2’s main contractor) for cooperation in re-routing their services. The High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017 gives HS2 Ltd draconian powers to do almost anything it wants in the areas where the railway will go – on many occasions overriding the powers of local authorities and countering their demands. However, the utility companies have similar powers, and tend to carry out requests from HS2 at times when they fit in with their own plans.
the single-carriage section because of the congestion on Pound Street, as a result of vehicles from South Street having priority at the roundabout by Dobbins Lane.
Another anomaly is the traffic lights further up the old Ellesborough Road which appear to be controlling all the traffic visiting the frontage of the five houses in what is now a cul-de-sac, created to allow the railway cutting works. This aids the passage of a couple of bin lorries and a few delivery vans during most weeks. The lights were made necessary by the fact that the old road is still designated as the An example of this is where UK Power Networks was asked to move B4009, and as so the major road traffic cannot join it without being a high voltage cable, which was encased in concrete, exactly where under the control of traffic lights or give way lines. the diversion road goes right as you leave the bridge going towards Ellesborough. The result is that for eight months, traffic leaving Eventual restoration Wendover in both directions has had to queue at ‘temporary’ traffic Bucks Council has indicated that it expects HS2 to remove the lights on the bridge. During evening rush hours, traffic backs up in temporary road and bridge as part of the land restoration requirements
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in the HS2 Act. However, the six houses demolished as part of the cutting works will not be replaced. The area above the tunnel will simply be landscaped. It is not yet clear what is going to happen to the diverted utility services, and if it will take a further 18 months to reinstate their original routing to allow removal of the Bailey bridge. Our current expectation is that the Ellesborough Road works should be completed by the end of 2028.
Wendover’s other tunnel
Work has started in the big hole next to Bacombe Lane to build a storm drain culvert. An 800m long, 2.4 metre diameter pipe will be tunnelled by mining, with spoil removed by a crane at Bacombe Lane.
Update: Other HS2 news Ellesborough Road
During October two new electricity substations were brought into service each side of the railway cutting. This is progress, but UK Power Networks still need to remove the old transformer so that both lanes of the new diversion road can be brought into use and the traffic lights removed. As we go to press, EKFB has put up notices that the Photo: Keith Hoffmeister road will be closed from 25 to 29 November, which indicates that the electrical work (including the cable removal) will be completed then and hopefully the road will re-open without the traffic lights. This will lift the mined material up from the tunnel works in a caisson access shaft which is now being excavated, and will eventually Small Dean Viaduct become a storm water cistern. During November there were a series of night time closures of the A413 to allow the installation of the final pier for the viaduct. The current plan then involves closing the A413 for one day on Friday 31 January, when the viaduct deck will be slid across the road. The Chiltern Railway line will then be closed over the weekend of 1 and 2 February to allow the deck to pushed to its final destination.
Photo: Keith Hoffmeister This storm drain tunnel is expected to take about a year to build. It will run from the south portal of the Green Tunnel at Bacombe Lane to roughly the old cricket ground north of Ellesborough Road. It will then connect into a box culvert that will be installed in an excavated trench, and then finally into a pipe that goes to a drainage pond west of the line, close to Wellwick Farm. The complete length of the storm water drain will be about 2km.
Bacombe Lane diversions
HS2 and DfT
Work has been continuing on building a temporary link road from Louise Haigh, the new Transport Secretary, has been getting to grips the Ellesborough Road end to the houses on Bacombe Lane. A new with the state of the HS2 project, and instituting new management water main is being installed at the same time. oversight in an attempt to control the costs involved. She appears to have convinced the Chancellor to fund the tunnelling to Euston. On completion Bacombe Lane will be closed from the South Street This is needed to run a sensible number of trains per hour, given the end to beyond the HS2 works, to allow the Green Tunnel cutting to limitations of the Old Oak Common station. be excavated in the new year. The existing right of way will also be rerouted over the link road. Eventually, after the Green Tunnel is We’re expecting that this means the procurement of the ‘Railway completed, Bacombe Lane will be restored to run over the tunnel Systems’ (such as the track and signalling) will now go ahead for and the link road will be removed again. Phase 1, but the rumoured extension of the railway north to Crewe was not committed in the October 30 Budget. Meanwhile HS2 Ltd is having a significant internal reorganisation following the last Government’s decision to scrap the project north of Birmingham, and we are still trying to get an official forecast of when the works will be completed at Wendover. Our unofficial guess is that the civil engineering may actually continue until 2028.
Issues with HS2?
If you’re affected by the construction activity, please contact the HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 (which is available 24 hours a day) or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk to get your issues resolved. It helps if you have photographic evidence and please get a complaint reference number so that we can follow up issues as needed. We understand that revised diversions signs for the paths are being produced, as the existing ones are well out of date and misleading. 30
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new alignment. An advance works notice will be shared closer to the date with more details. Information supplied by EKFB, the local contractor for HS2
From our last update in Wendover News, we mentioned that the Small Dean Viaduct launch will be taking place in early 2025. The large steel beams that can be seen by the A413 will undergo a deck ‘push’ over four days between 30 January – 2 February 2025 at an approximate speed of 8 metres per hour. On 31 January, there will be a 24-hour closure of the A413 while the viaduct is ‘pushed’ over the road. Stay tuned for the timelapse video, which will be shared on our website post-viaduct launch.
Our Mobile Visitor Centre visited the Wendover Farmer’s Market on Saturday 19 October. This was an opportunity for residents to discuss ongoing and future works; their invaluable feedback will be fed into the programme and design. We recommend signing up to our mailing list and checking the HS2 events page for future events. The North Chilterns Area Winter 2024 newsletter will be live in December, reviewing HS2 progress made in 2024 and giving details If you would like to read more about the works and view the advance of future works. works notices and maps, please go to HS2 website www.hs2.org. uk and click the ‘in your area section’ to view the interactive map.
HS2 in your area
Please refer to the HS2 website regularly to check for any changes and updates or to view our detailed Advance Works Notices. Alternatively, if you have a question about HS2 please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk .
EKFB at Wendover Farmers’ Market. Photo: Simon Eccles We are approaching the next phase of our construction at Rocky Lane. The road is designed to be diverted under the new Rocky Lane underbridge, to take the road under the railway. The construction of the underbridge will continue until early 2025. Following its completion, we will be realigning the road. This will necessitate the closure of Rocky Lane for six months, from February 2025. Due to the width of the existing carriageway, the road requires a full depth reconstruction to complete tie-ins from both sides. Two major utilities in the existing highway will be diverted along the
The final pier at Small Dean completed. Photo: Simon Eccles
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Club Corner All in a Pickle(ball) at Halton In the November issue we teased you with a mention of Pickleball. Some of you will be in the know – the new classes at Purple Pickleball in Halton are being booked up quickly already! But if you’re just catching up, the new sporting kid on the block is like a mixture of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. Confusing? Apparently it is anything but, and is gaining a reputation for its accessibility, sociability, and ease of learning.
to see so many other people feeling the same and coming back to session after session, growing in confidence.” The club ran its first Pickleball Festival in November, with matches for newbies, as well as those with a bit more experience, and plans are afoot for more events.
Popularity of the sport is growing globally, and celebrities from Kim Kardashian to Bill Gates have been spotted paddle in hand, so if you According to Purple Pickleball coach Alan Hutcherson: “It’s really want to see what all the fuss is about, sessions run on: easy to pick up, with simple rules, so you can get a game going very quickly. How much energy and physical effort you put in is down to Monday & Wednesday 8-9.30pm you – you’ll have a great game regardless.” Tuesday 1-2pm Thursday 1-2.30pm Purple Pickleball is based Saturday 12.00-1.30pm and 1.30-4.00pm at Halton Tennis Centre, and runs adult classes on £10 a session (or £7.50 on Tues), with all equipment provided. Monday and Wednesday Courts are also available to hire for £16/hour for outdoors, or £24/ evening, and Tuesday and hour for indoors. Go to www.haltontennis.co.uk/pickleball for more Thursday lunchtimes plus information or to make a booking. Saturday lunchtimes/early Chilterns Light Network afternoons. Chris Maylor writes: “The Chilterns Light Network came into There are 12 indoor and being in 2022. Its essential aim was to bring people together in a three outdoor courts, which non-judgemental space where everyone’s views were heard and are the same dimensions respected. We believe in freedom of expression while respecting as a doubles badminton the rights of others. The ethos of the group is to be open-minded, court. Each court features inclusive and welcoming to all. Halton Tennis Club’s pickleball a non-volley zone, called ‘the coaches: coaches Alan (left) and kitchen’ (yep, we don’t know Coming together and building a community spirit is vital and our Mike (right) why either…), which extends regular weekly meetings cover a wide variety of topics. For example: about 2m from the net on both sides. The game can be played as organic food cooperative; hypnotherapy; frequency healing; keeping singles or doubles, using paddles made of wood or composite, to fit; well-known podcasters and more. In this way, we learn new skills hit a perforated ball over the net. and ideas, meet new people and support each other through life’s twists and turns. Much lively chat ensues over teas and coffees! Alan and fellow coach Mike James got a taste for the sport and entered The English Open in the summer, winning the doubles and We also understand that we are souls having a human experience. with Alan taking the singles. They set up the club to share their We wish to help to build a future of unlimited possibilities, in which new-found passion, and have been overwhelmed with the response. all people are honoured, all people are cared for and respected. A reality in which humankind is in partnership with nature and all Alan says: “I love the simplicity of the game, and it’s been great living things.
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We have a messaging group of well over a hundred people, many social value to NT membership while supporting local National Trust of whom come quite some distance to attend. Hence our name property projects through an annual donation. Chilterns, as we cover a wide area, spanning several counties. The programme of events this year has included nine monthly talks We are a non-profit community group run entirely by volunteers. held at Broughton Junior School, Aylesbury. Day coach trips have All welcome. One of our members writes: ‘The Wendover group has included Alcester and Harvington Hall, and a Christmas lunch cruise been an absolute lifeline for me, living on my own, mainly because from Windsor. Self-drive visits were made to Greatmoor Recycling I met like-minded people and have made so many new friends. The Facility, and Chenies Manor. A week’s holiday was enjoyed at St people at the meetings are so friendly and welcoming and I have Leonards on Sea, Sussex. Occasionally there are group walks, and learned so much on so many new subjects. We have stimulating coffee mornings. A newsletter, published three times year, gives and open discussions on many things, from health questions to up-to-date details of the programme. self-sufficiency, to local and global issues.’ For further details and a membership form contact the Hon Secretary More details can be found on our website: chilternslightnetwork.org. at aylesburycentrent@gmail.com or phone 07399 540626.” See p6. Come along and give us a try! You can drop in on the odd occasion (£5.00 towards the cost of the hall) or become a member which Wendover Cricket Club works out cheaper for regular attenders.” See events on p3. The Girls Section at Wendover Cricket Club welcomes new recruits to attend its indoor training programme, which starts on Saturday Aylesbury Centre of the National Trust 25 January, 13:00 to 14:00, in the John Colet School sports hall. It will The Aylesbury Centre of the National Trust was inaugurated 50 years run for 10 weeks excluding half term. It caters for girls in school years ago in 1974. Like other NT Supporter Groups around the UK, it is open 5 to 8 of any ability, and soft balls will generally be used. For more to NT Members and Volunteers living in the Aylesbury Vale, adding information or to sign up, contact Jonathan Seabrook jseabrook@ wendoveremail.co.uk or phone 07767 148 119. (See ad on p 36). Junior training for all age groups begins on Saturday 4 January – any potential recruits should contact Viral Patel wccjuniorscontact@ gmail.com or phone 07930 360495 for information and to ascertain age group availability. UPDATE 3.12.24: Senior nets are running on Sundays from 2 February for 10 weeks excluding half term; at John Colet School, 13:00 to 14:30, cost £6/session. Just turn up/ check details with Jonathan as above.
ACNT members at Claydon House (Sept 2024)
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Wendover Bowls Club
7-8pm and Friday 4-5 pm. People of any ability and fitness level will Don Knight writes: Our AGM was held in early November. Nothing be welcome. About 10 members turn up to each meeting. Formal too radical arose but it was good to see more than 60 members walking football competition teams are usually six-a-side with 3-4 subs. attend. There was the inevitable slight increase in membership fees and so on but the liveliest discussion was about dress code. The traditionalists wanted to keep our whites and greys with Club shirts, while some wanted a relaxation with other colours acceptable. The traditionalists seemed to have won though it was argued that if we want to attract younger members, we should look a bit more “hip”. Talking of membership, ours is holding up well with a slight increase, unlike many other clubs who are struggling since Covid. It was good to get an update on plans for the green which looked very tired by the end of the season. It was laid 70 years ago and now needs a major refresh. The experts that we brought in have devised a plan that covers the next three years during which time we will be able to use it, but with care. Already it has been hollow tined and had several tons of treated sand spread. Oddly since we stopped playing outdoors our fox has stopped digging holes. I think it must have taken the fun out of it or perhaps he has taken up another hobby. We also have a new President; John Brooks kindly accepted the post taking over from John Firmin who sadly died earlier this year.
Photo above: Wendover are in the yellow shirts (sponsored by Dayla and Lionel Able Smith Trust) and Tring in blue. The cup was presented by Trish Wright (Tom’s widow) in the middle with Tom’s son Andy. Obviously, an interest in football is important, but game organiser, Karl Bull says: “We are a friendly group who all love the chance to play football and enjoy team social outings.” So – plenty of chances to have fun and make new friends! Hopefully it is they who will be cheering you on, when you’ve got your fitness back and are walking onto the pitch for your first Premiership match!
One of the highlights last year was our game against The Royal Household at Windsor. This year we have managed to get a home fixture against the Chelsea Pensioners. Your bowls club only moves in the highest circles!! It would help if we had better competition results but people really seem to enjoy beating us and we enjoy playing, win or lose, which is what it is all about. Call Karl on 0789 1324565, Stuart Endean 07768 767272, or just turn up at one of the sessions. With Christmas just around the corner all of us in the Club (and the fox, who has not paid his subscription) wish everyone a happy and Wendover Evening WI peaceful year. Alison Jarvis-Evans writes: “Wendover Evening Women’s Institute is a thriving and vibrant group of 84 ladies, who meet monthly. At Walking football meetings, we have speakers covering a number of subjects which If you are still dreaming of becoming a superstar of football, but range from anecdotes from an author about her time in the RAF to have concerns about your fitness, we have some good news for you. experiences of another about working in the BBC. All meetings are Wendover now has a walking-football club! accompanied by the obligatory home-made cake and tea at half time. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg! Formed two years ago, Wendover walking football club started very small but has gradually built up to 30 members. It has already engaged In addition to the monthly meetings, Wendover WI has 15 sub-groups in a cross-county match with Tring WWFC. The match was for the for members to join if they wish, including games evenings in the Tom Wright cup, which was named after the late and inspirational winter to cycling in the summer. One of the most popular sub-groups club founder. The game was a ‘friendly’ in every sense of the word, is cookery in which, a third of the membership participate. It has but despite their best efforts, Wendover ended up handing the cup been seperated into four groups. These are themed evenings which over to their Hertfordshire friends. They look forward to regaining are enormous fun with fabulous food, dressing up, games and the it in their next match with them. odd glass of wine! New members are always welcome. It meets twice a week at John Apart from the more regular activities above, there have been several Colet school’s floodlit top quality 4G artificial pitch, on Mondays at memorable events during 2024:
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This is not an exhaustive list of our highlights of 2024, but hopefully Aboard the M.V. Georgian a large group of ladies enjoyed a sumptuous will give an overview of the fun things which we do. For 2025, we Champagne lunch whilst cruising from Maidenhead to view the have embryonic plans for a number of events, for our members magnificent Windsor Castle; and the community. Please look out for more details in the future editions of The Wendover News. See events p4. As a thank you to their members for their generosity, the WI Committee hosted a delightful cream tea in the sunny garden at St Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards Local History Group Anne’s Hall; A birthday outing to The Vyne in Basingstoke, with a A friendly amateur society in the Hilltop Villages whose members National Trust led guided tour of the house and a picnic lunch by the have an interest in the history of the local area and the Chilterns lake; Members enjoyed a bring and share lunch in the secretary’s more widely. A regular feature is the programme of talks by guest garden in the summer. A ramble in Tring Park on a late summer speakers and meetings take place monthly between October and May. evening, ending with a delicious supper at the Greyhound Pub in The meetings usually take place at St Leonards Village Hall, doors Wigginton; open at 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start. One of the less tangible benefits is the friendship, companionship and camaraderie which membership of this group brings. For instance there is a flourishing WhatsApp Group, which constantly provides amusement, information sharing and on occasions, wants and needs. However, it’s not all about the Wendover WI. As part of our enduring support of worthy causes, earlier in the year we asked our members to vote to identify the charities which we would like to support this year. Their votes resulted in us donating, from our spring stall takings to the Chiltern Foodbank and Aylesbury Women’s Aid. We have also made a donation to Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research. After our Christmas Fair on 16 November 202, we will be making significant donations to The Little Princess Trust and Aylesbury Women’s Aid. In addition to donations, ladies bake cakes and serve tea and coffee weekly to the Wendover Dementia Support Group and also support other local charities by giving their time freely.
After the talk there will be tea, coffee and biscuits, providing an opportunity to meet and talk informally to speakers and chat to fellow members. To start 2025, with the weather unpredictable but likely to be cold and wet, you can keep warm at home as there will be a Zoom talk. This starts at 7.45pm on Friday, 10 January. See events on p3 & 6.
Rotary in Wendover
Annual Duck Races Sunday 20 October 2024 The weather started out more gloomy than usual but stalwart fans came to the Heron Path to watch the annual Rotary Duck Races. Their faith was not misplaced as the rain held off until after the last race had finished. Thank you to all the individuals, businesses and Rotary Clubs which took part in the various races. Nearly £,1300 was raised and will be distributed to this year’s local charities – Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity and 14th Vale of Aylesbury Sea Scouts – in addition to Rotary Supported Charities. Rotary Santa Eco-Sleigh As mentioned in the November issue, the Rotary Santa Eco-Sleigh will be out before Christmas if they have enough volunteers. They do not go out if it is pouring with rain or the roads are treacherous. The monies collected will be added to the amount raised from the Duck Race. Jane Larkham
Girls Cricket (Years 5-8)
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Indoor training to learn and/or improve skills
Regular or one off cuts For free quote call Ian Whittome
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down how to use them. Learning essential first aid skills, like how to use a defibrillator, could help save lives in your community.
Five New Year’s resolutions to help your community in 2025
Take up volunteering. From supporting local residents with dementia to running youth groups or volunteering at Wendover Swimming Pool, the Volunteering Opportunities page on Wendover News’ website lists a variety of ways to help your community. Whatever your skills, interests or availability – there’s a volunteering opportunity to suit you.
Photo: Simon Eccles From joining a gym to cutting down on our use of social media, the promises we make to ourselves nowadays may seem a far cry from those the Babylonians made to the gods some 4,000 years ago. But centuries later, many of us continue to see a new year as a fresh start - a way for us to section our lives into chapters, leaving behind old habits and taking up new ones. But the feeling doesn’t always last. Last year, a YouGov poll found that only 31% of those who said they’d made New Year’s resolutions for 2023 had actually stuck to them all. Their 2017 poll found that one in five had already failed some of their resolutions just six days into the new year.
Shop local. Where you can, support the fantastic local businesses in and around Wendover by shopping local. You don’t have to wait until the new year to start this one – why not support our small businesses by Christmas shopping locally this year? Don’t miss the opportunity for late-night shopping at this year’s Christmas celebration event on Saturday 30 November, from 4-7 pm on Manor Waste. Protect your environment. Could you pledge to walk or use public transport more in 2025? Perhaps you have a few hours spare to help Wendover Parish Council’s community litter pickers? Or fancy joining Climate Action Wendover, a community group focused on reducing Wendover’s carbon footprint and increasing biodiversity?
Three tips to stick to your resolution:
Hold yourself accountable. Finding a friend to take on the challenge with you could help to keep you both accountable. You could also record and track your progress, and tell people about your plans. When they ask you for an update, you’ll want to have an answer!
Start small. Breaking your goal down into clear steps will help it feel more manageable. Give yourself time to build up a new habit, and So how can we make more sustainable resolutions that we stick to be realistic about the time you can dedicate to it. Dedicating ten long after the schools have gone back and even the last Bounty has minutes a day is still ten minutes more than in 2024! been eaten from the tub of Celebrations? Don’t lose the ‘why.’ When you make your resolution, write down The answer may lie in the type of resolutions we make. According to why you’re doing it. Keep revisiting that note – don’t lose track of YouGov, the most common resolutions are made around personal why you’re doing this. health and wealth. Would we be more successful if our New Year’s resolutions were about helping someone else? Finally, remember that resolutions aren’t just for New Year’s Day. At any time, you can decide to do something for someone else, learn Here are five practical resolutions you can make to help your something new, or try something different. If the New Year isn’t the community in 2025: right time for you to make a change, keep this list of suggestions for when it is. Help neighbours in need. Friends of Wendover Health Centre are looking for volunteers to collect and deliver prescriptions for patients Wishing you a Happy New Year from in need, visit housebound patients for friendship and support, and all of us at Wendover News! provide transport to medical appointments. For more information, get in touch with the centre on 01296 622565. Are you trying something new for your community in 2025? Have an idea of a volunteering role or project readers could get involved in? Learn life-saving first aid. On page (see p12) Rhiannon Smith takes We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch on: editor@wendovernews. us through the locations of defibrillators in the local area and breaks co.uk. Izzie Addison
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Tribute: Vic Cox
13 August 1940 – 5 September 2024 Victor Brian Cox (Vic) was the third child of Ivy and Charles Cox, Vic and Margaret had three sons, Ray, Barry and Mark, all born born in Faversham, Kent. He had five sisters, Violet (who sadly died in Limavady where the family lived until April 1971, when they as a baby), Pat, Barbara, June, and Sylvia. moved back to England. Vic’s service took him abroad At just 15½ years old, he joined the RAF as frequently, including time on Christmas Island during a boy recruit, leaving home and heading to nuclear testing, for which he received a service medal St Athans. later in life. They finally settled in Wendover in 1989, after Vic served his last RAF posting at Halton, finishing Vic was an active youth, enjoying fishing, in 1987 as a trainer of new recruits, a change he made basketball, bellringing and singing in the after managing the airfield, to allow the family to stay church choir. Additionally, he served as a in the area. football referee for many years and football continued to be his passion as a lifelong He went on to work as a prison officer, mainly at Tottenham fan. After a couple of years in Bedford Prison and Spring Hill, then as a security guard service Vic was posted to RAF Ballykelly in at what was then called Equitable Life in Aylesbury. Northern Ireland. During this time he met Margaret, the love of his life, at a jazz club. Vic was a loving family man who adored his Margaret, from Limavady, initially accepted grandchildren and great grandson, and was devoted a date with Vic for fun, but their relationship to his rescue dogs. His legacy is one of love, fun, and blossomed. cherished memories with his family, and across the community, never leaving home without dog biscuits They courted for about 18 months before for the local dogs, even long after his last dog Rolo died. marrying on 2 November 1960, in Drumachose church, followed by a three-day honeymoon in Belfast. They faced a memorable incident His contributions and the joy he brought to his family and the on their wedding night involving a train journey where Vic nearly community will be remembered fondly. missed rejoining Margaret after a toilet break! Mark Cox
I would like to wish all the readers of Wendover News a healthy festive season and all the very best for 2025
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Local Face: Nick Sinterklass Nick was born in Turkey but spent much of his life in Scandinavia. When his parents died, he used some of his inheritance to visit Northern Finland where he decided to apply for residence. He was soon accepted by the villagers – they laughed at the red-coloured outdoor gear and white scarf that he took with him. Working as a reindeer herder, he was in there for many centuries, but nobody ever remembered him being any younger – and he didn’t seem to age. Children loved him because during the darkest days of winter, he enjoyed going round the village visiting the families, giving children presents and teaching them to sing traditional songs. It was then that he acquired the nickname ‘Santa.’
had grown up, but he found out where the new children were and invented ways to get toys into their houses – sometimes resorting to climbing down their chimneys. He enjoyed what he was doing so much, that felt he wanted to do the same thing all over the world.
Going global
In the mid 20th century, on a visit to Wendover, he got caught in act of delivering toys to a house. The parents of the children there gave him some cake and sherry and sat him by the fire to have a chat. Hearing about his plans, the mother explained that he would need to expand his production to a huge scale. The dad chipped in that he could start ‘franchising’ his operation to other men with white hair and beards in different countries. He also introduced him to an aeronautical engineer from Halton who had developed a new machine which used TARDIS technology to make reindeer-driven sleighs travel through both time and space. Sadly, he was unable commercialise his invention and go into full production because apparently, referring to ‘magic’ in a patent application automatically gets it disqualified.
Move to Wendover
In 1642, there was a civil war in England and children had nothing to look forward to in the depths of winter. Hearing this, he moved to Wendover and set up home in a small hut he called his ‘grotto’ – on the lower slopes of Boddington Hill. He became popular with the local children when he suggested that they should make the Christian festival of Christmas into something special, like a big children’s party. He started making small toys from wood in his grotto, but he dreamed of having a big shed and access to a CNC computerised woodworking machine. That’s another story.
Santa managed to ramp up production massively by setting up a major facility in the middle of the Arctic, where the local population of Elves provided a readymade workforce of skilled toymakers. He still spent a lot of his time in Lapland and managed to train eight of his best reindeers to pull the magic flying sleigh and bred many more to give to the three million franchisees he had recruited.
He still makes a point of delivering to Wendover (and the surrounding villages) personally every year. The interview with Santa for this Local Face article was only possible because he made a rare daytime visit to Wendover to meet some people he called ‘The Rotaries’ to advise them Several years later, a grumpy man he met in the about costumes for their special Christmas The only known photo of Nick in new coaching inn, The Red Lion, won the civil war project. Knowing that he still has a fondness and returned to Wendover to put a stop all the Wendover. Taken from a video recorded for Wendover, I asked him if he had a in low light on a smartphone in 2022. fun of Christmas. All the decorations were torn message for the readers of Wendover down, presents confiscated and the Christmas News. With a loud chuckle that made the cakes taken away and given to his soldiers. He banned everything the bobble on his red hat bounce, he said “Have a great Christmas – look children enjoyed and threatened to kill Santa if he ever came across after each other and be kind!” him again. With tears in his eyes, Santa headed off back to Lapland, promising the children that one day, he would return to Wendover. Santa still lives in the Arctic, slightly south of the North Pole, with Mother Christmas, his wife of 386 years, and their hundreds of Years past and he spent most of his time refining his toy-making children, grandchildren and other offspring. Not forgetting the elves production. It wasn’t long before he started sneaking back into and fairies, of course. Wendover. By then the grumpy man had disappeared, and the children Richard Byford Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers www.magprint.co.uk
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily the views of the editor. If you have a complaint or concern about content in Wendover News, please visit www.wendovernews.co.uk/complaints.
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Wendover News Winter 2024/25
39
Wendover Parish Council View from the Clock Tower Christmas Light Switch on
It is that time of year when we look to bring our community together with a range of free events and activities to celebrate the festive season. We hope to see as many people as possible enjoy our tree light switch on event on the Manor Waste starting at 4pm on Saturday 30 November. There will be music from Bucks Radio who will be hosting the event. Local choirs will be performing, stalls will be offering gifts and present ideas, hot and cold food and the big man himself will be visiting our grotto! We continue to strive to make this a local event and this year nine of the 16 stalls are Wendover based with the rest from within an eight mile radius. The event raises money from the stall pitch fees and the Santa’s grotto and this year we are donating to Wendover Dementia Support. Many shops on the high street support this event by running their own features and attractions so make sure to pay them a visit and keep your eyes open on the welcome to Wendover website www. welcometowendover.co.uk/. The following market stalls will be at the event: Wendover Dementia Support – tombola and glow in the dark tattoos; Studio D – fused glass decorations and gifts; Eddies Honey Wendover Local Produce Market Saturday 21 December, 10am to 2pm Manor Waste We're looking for new traders! Contact estates@wendover-pc.gov.uk
– honey and shortbread; Gems and Jules – gold and silver recycled jewellery; Pettigrove Glow’s – glow lights; Phil the Woodturner – turned wooden products/gifts; M&C Creations – personalised and Christmas merchandise; Chilterns Neuro Centre – Christmas cards and big raffle tickets; Wendover Shed – whistles, toy houses, trugs, birdboxes, insect hotels, beeswax polish; Lulu’s Hair Accessories – hair bows and accessories; The Hovernauts – light-up bottles and handcrafted items; Loretta’s Kitchen – hot food and donuts; Coffee Stop – hot drinks; Red Lion – mulled wine.
Carols round the tree
If you fancy something a little less noisy then our popular Carols Round the Tree event with the Chinnor Silver Band is back on Friday 13 December, 6:30pm to 7:30pm. After last year we have made sure more song sheets will be available. We will also have a QR code you can scan on your phone to download the lyrics. It’s a lovely community event so why not combine it with a meal out in one of our wide range of food outlets – and after your vocal chords have been given a workout they will need a bit of lubrication!
Christmas Local Produce Market
If you are still looking for those last minute gifts we have a range of stalls at the market on Saturday 21 December from 10am to 2pm. Ellesborough Silver Band will be playing lots of festive hits – with the inescapable
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Christmas songs being played in-between. As an advanced warning, these songs may include Wham’s Last Christmas for those of you playing Whamageddon. On more mundane matters...
Library Car Park
The impact of the charging for the Wendover Library Car Park is high on the Parish Council current priorities (See p15).
HS2
There are a number of traffic issues from HS2 road closures that we are concerned about and trying to mitigate (see Wendover HS2 Mitigation Action Group Article on p30). There are a number of issues we are trying to get mitigation for, including the future closure of Rocky Lane for six months. This is a concern for local traffic. With so many closures we would like to recommend the https://one.network website which shows all current and future closures. Christmas Clock Tower Opening Hours The Parish Council and the Library will be closed from Monday 23 December 2024 to Wednesday 1 January 2025 (inclusive). The Parish Council will be back at 9am on Thursday 2 January and the Library will be back at 10am on Thursday 2 January – 2025, time flies!
Parish Council Meetings Tuesday 3 December, 7:30pm St Anne's Hall, Aylesbury Road HP22 6JG Information about upcoming meetings: www.wendover-pc.gov.uk
Wendover Parish Council, The Clock Tower, High Street, Wendover HP22 6DU
www.wendover-pc.gov.uk
clerk@wendover-pc.gov.uk
01296 623056
Sunday Church Services in Wendover • St Anne’s: 9am Mass • St Mary’s: 9am and 10.45am • Wendover Free Church: 10.45am St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church – 07753 633713 stanneswendover.uk St Mary’s Church of England – 01296 696136 / 623123 stmaryswendover.org Wendover Free Church – 01296 622354 wendoverfreechurch.org.uk 40
Wendover News Winter 2024/25
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