November 2011 Bulletin - Biggleswade Rugby Club

TEL: 01234 843905 ADVERTISING: advertising@biggleswadebulletin.co.uk BIGGLESWADE BULLETIN NOVEMBER 2011 27‘Christmas is coming… The goose is getting fat…’SO goes the old rhyme. But the season ofChristmas is fast approaching and SandyTourist Information Centre is an ideal place topick up those unique and local gifts.For the second year we have produced SandyChristmas cards and a Sandy calendar.We have selected scenes for two separatecards this year. one depicts a snowy scene lookingacross the river meadows in Sandy and theother shows a winter scene with a delightful winterview across the former parklands of SandyePlace looking towards St Swithun’s Church.The 2012 Calendar has twelve wonderfulphotographs of various different scenes in theparish and town of Sandy with its beautiful countryside.The views include a wonderful winterscene taken from the Sandhills looking westwardson a snowy day, a view looking towardsthe park of Hazells Hall and a close up photographof frozen thistles taken by the riverside.Spring has delightful pastoral scenes along theSandcast Path with sheep grazing in the millmeadows and a view of some picturesque cottagesin Ivel Road. The hazy days of summerhave scenes of the Edwardian ironstone dovecotein the grounds of Sandye Placeand summer flowers are shown ina scene at the patronal flowerfestival in St Swithun’s Churchphotographed in July and thefollowing month depicts a beautifulDahlia at the Sandy FlowerShow. The season of autumn isrepresented by a whimsical sceneshowing riverside swans andducks and the beautiful autumnaltrees in Sand Lane.For that special Christmas giftIvel Valley U3ACHAIRMAN Anne Jones welcomed members of theIvel valley u3A to their Annual General Meeting onTuesday, 11th october at Holmemead Schoolcanteen. A special welcome was given to the visitors.She hoped that the members had enjoyed last month’squiz as much as she had.The secretary gave details of various events organisedby the u3A. An invitation had been received forthe official launch and re-branding of Age ConcernBedfordshire on 10th November.The Christmas Lunch will be on December 14th atThe Green Man, Stanford. The next meeting for theBook Group one is at Margaret MacInnes on 7thNovember and Book Group 2 at Sue oldroyd’s on14th November. The new Art Group programme wasavailable.Chris Davies will be organising a couple ofoutings next year and is hoping to arrange a visit to theHouses of Parliament.The meeting adjourned for refreshments that hadkindly been donated by the committee. After the breakPresident Eric Lund presided over the Annual GeneralMeeting. The Minutes of AGM held on 13th october2010 were read, approved and signed. Copies of theAudited Accounts were circulated. our membershiphad increased to 65 from 61. opening her reportChairman, Anne Jones said that the previous year hadpassed very quickly and she hoped that all themembers had enjoyed the speakers, social meetingwhy not give a Theatre Token.This will transport the recipient tothe magical world of the theatre,with everything thing frommusicals, dramas, comedies toballet and opera. The voucherscome in sums of £5, £10 and £20and they are accepted at over 240theatres nationwide and they haveno expiry date and so there is nogreat pressure to use them. oncethe recipient has been given thisfantastic gift, they simply presentthem at the box office. The majorityof theatres also accept telephonereservations with theatre tokens.A book for Christmas is awonderful gift. What about a localone? Amongst the stock we havethe book by Bernard o’Connortelling the story of TempsfordAirfield, the secret airfield ofWorld War II, where agents onvarious dangerous missions wereand outings as much as she had. She thanked all theCommittee members for their hard work in makingthe year a busy and successful time – highlightingBrian Tobin for deputising during her holidays,Thelma Rogers’ care of the finances, Jean Curwenfor finding such excellent speakers, especiallyremembering Dr Tony Maisey talking on ‘Spare PartSurgery’ – a never to be forgotten afternoon and ChrisDavies who organised such brilliant outings. Annethanked the Group Leaders for organising theirgroups and congratulated Nettie van de Weerd onforming a second book group. unhappily the cardgroup had folded so members were urged to thinkabout restarting the group. Her highlights from thepast year’s activities have been the Snowdrop Trailand Lunch at Moggerhanger House, the LavenderFields at Ickleford, Maggie Taylor talking about TheDonkey Sanctuary, the Members talking about theirHoliday Reflections and of course her very favourite– Patience for Six with Brian Tobin. Summing up, thepast year had been most enjoyable and although wewere few in numbers compared to some u3A’s wewere most successful thanks to the Committee andMembers with much laughter and friendship. Ifanyone had any new ideas please tell a committeemember as new blood was needed.As no one had come forward the whole committeewas re-elected and members were reminded that theirsubscriptions of £10 were now due.flown to German occupied Europeto uphold the resistance groups,etc. Continuing this subject wehave another book by Bernardo’Connor about the Women ofTempsford and we have the bookdetailing all the secret airfields inthe county during the last war,called Spy Capital of Britain.other books we stock include ahistory about Gamlingay, theCongregational Chapel at Roxtonand the Lost villages ofBedfordshire. Two lovely illustratedbooks of Bedfordshire includea book of the county in colouredphotographs and another show thedelightful drawings of BernardWest. There is a great interest inlocal history and especially oldphotographs taken during the lastcentury, showing how towns andvillages have changed. We stocktwo books containing copies ofold photographs of Sandy andanother book of old photographsof the village of Tempsford.How about that special localproduce gift? We sell Sandyproduced honey and honeymarmalade, together with localjams, sold individually and in giftbaskets and boxes.These are just some of theitems for sale in the TouristInformation Centre and of coursewe have so much, much morePay us a visit at Rear of 10Cambridge Road (Access fromTown Car Park), Sandy,Bedfordshire SG19 1JE. el:01767-682728/Fax: 01767-692527 email: tourism@sandtowncouncil.gov.uk