Hardy Plant Society, Bucks & Oxon Group

AT our meeting on Saturday, April 18, Duncan Coombs, who has been to talk to us before, will be discussing liliums.
He has been a lecturer at Pershore College for more than 20 years and a professional horticulturist all his life.
The talk starts at 2.15pm and will be held at the Winslow Centre, Park Road, Winslow.
Visitors are welcome but will be asked to pay £4.
Further details from Paul Radcliffe on 01280 813352.

Buckingham Acoustic Club

MIKE Moyse started off the evening with a selection of singer/songwriter songs from Mike Silver and Gordon Haskell.
Next up was Udo, who delighted the audience with three pieces written for the cello by Bach.
This music transfers particularly well to the guitar under Udo's masterful control and dexterity.
He finished his set with a request to play Classical Gas.
The stage was then set for a new band to the club, Mobile Duck Pond.
Fronted by Adam who has been a regular at the club, this new venture added another guitarist, bass and a drummer playing an unusual instrument called a cahon.
They played a very competent set consisting of songs written by Adam and were well received by the audience.
Our regular Flamenco guitarist Nick then took to the stage and in a very strong performance took us to sunny Spain and had some of the audience dancing!
To finish the evening, Alex gave us Steve Earle's Guitar Town and the very popular Hints by Jose Gonzales.
He was then joined by Robert for a vocal duet of Bob Dylan songs, finally teaming up with Gareth for When You Were Young.
Once again, a great evening full of fantastic talent, surprises and great music.
We meet every Wednesday at the New Inn and welcome all styles and abilities, come along and join in or just listen to the great music. www.buckinghamacousticclub.co.uk.

Adstock & Padbury Garden Club

THE speaker at the last of this year's winter lecture series will be Kathy Brown with a talk entitled Edible Flower Gardens.
Viewers of BCC's Gardeners' World will remember Sarah Raven's interview with Kathy last October when she showed some of the exciting ways she uses flowers in the kitchen.
The meeting will be held at 8pm in Adstock Village Hall on Tuesday, April 14, and visitors will be very welcome.

The Film Place

THE Film Place is showing Of Time And The City (12A) tomorrow, Saturday, at 7.30pm.
Released in the year of Liverpool's European City of Culture, it could not be more 'timely'.
It encapsulates both an intensely personal view of the city's post-war years and one which, through the observations of director Terence Davies, binds his personal struggle to the struggles of a city that is learning to re-invent itself.
Beginning with marvellously nostalgic footage of a childhood in the 1940s and '50s, Davies recaptures the first, fine careless rapture of youth.
The rosy spectacles come away with the onset of the 1960s as beloved, familiar things are swept away, paralleled by Davies' increasing hostility to the pillars of the establishment (the Catholic Church, the monarchy and the Beatles all come in for a knocking).
On the plus side, the wonders of cinema, his love of music and poetry are ever present in the narration, casting a timeless celebration of the arts over the whole.
Liverpool – and by implication the places of one's childhood – remains the constant yardstick in Davies' journey through life.
Loving them and hating them are all part of the tapestry Davies weaves in this remarkable portrait of a city.

Croughton History Group

HISTORY Beneath My Feet is the title of Croughton History Group's talk on Tuesday, April 28.
With an interest in history and a vivid imagination, speaker Michael Hodges bought his first metal detector in 1975, in the days when such things were still thought of as new technology.
His all-encompassing hobby of finding, identifying, restoring and researching has produced a wealth of unique treasures.
A number of his artefacts, dating from the Bronze Age to the present time, are on display in both his own museum and in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
For the diary, Croughton Group's talk on Tuesday, May 26, will be London Livery Houses by David Rowden.
Meetings start at 7.30pm at Croughton Village Hall.
Members £1, non-members £3, including refreshments.
For details and bookings, contact 07958 538 583, caroline@redworks.co.uk or leo.coleman@virgin.net, or go to www.croughton.org.uk.


RBST Northants Support Group

MR and Mrs Whittle recently gave a very interesting talk about their life and work with Katharine House Hospice at the recent Rare Breeds Support Trust meeting.
For many years they have given up their time to make crafts which they sell to raise funds for this very worthy cause and as a result £175 was raised by the sale of their wares during our March meeting.
The merchandise stall will be in attendance at the Daventry Countryside Day on May 17.
Please remember the Annual Boxed Fleece and Poultry Sale at Elm Tree Farm near Evenley on Sunday, June 28, from 10am to 2pm.
For more details please ring Carrie on 01327 857195.


Buckingham Primary School

BUCKINGHAM Primary School in Foscott Way will be holding its Spring Fair on Saturday, May 9, between noon and 3pm.
The fair will be opened by John Bercow MP and the school Djembe Drummers.
Also in attendance will be the Buckingham town jester.
Come and join in with all the fun – we shall have bouncy castles, a magic show and storytelling from the jester, country and maypole dancing, tombolas, barbecue and cake stalls as well as many other stalls and attractions.
The fair is organised by the Friends of Buckingham Primary School.


Buckingham Amnesty Group

WE have re-elected most of our officers.
Olivia Riches stays in post as chairman, but we have a new vice-chairman in Will Wood, who remains as legal adviser.
Margaret Hodges, as treasurer, was able to report a significant increase in our contribution to AIUK.
Our year has been good socially too.
The consequences of past campaigns, while encouraging, show there is still a great deal to do in the areas we touched.
For example, the Quilliam Foundation is making a real public impact, but there are bridges of understanding to be built, brick by brick, and more justice for religious and other minorities is a matter of urgency.
We signed a letter to John Bercow MP drawing his attention to the plight of destitute asylum-seekers, as the Border, Citizenship and Immigration Bill goes through Parliament.
AIUK is one of 29 organisations campaigning to bring refused asylum-seekers out of destitution.
This coalition includes the Refugee Council, the Red Cross, the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales, and the Archbishop's Council of the Church of England.
Planning continues for our stall and street collection on May 30, together with various campaigns.Over 50 people attended the Annual Amnesty Lecture, which was sponsored by the university and our group.
The bulk of the audience was students, who have formed their own Amnesty Group and arranged an effective stall and display.
The lecture highlighted the courage of a section of the opposition press during the apartheid regime, and the event in the university's main lecture theatre ended with a moving rendition of God Bless Africa, accompanied by pictures on the screen provided by the technical staff.
Professor Susan Edwards and other academic staff helped to make the lecture and the supper afterwards at the Villiers Hotel a memorable event for our group, for the audience and for Mrs Paterson, the inspirational speaker.
Plans for the 2010 event are already underway.
We are excited by the help we receive from the university, the support of our MP and our generous hosts at the New Inn.
The interest of the Advertiser & Review is an asset we always welcome.


Charndon Community Association

CHARNDON Community Association is holding a quiz night on Friday, April 17 at 7.30pm at Charndon Community Centre.
The quizmaster will be John Braybrook.
The cost is £5 per team, maximum four people.
To book please call Ann on 01296 738311 or Martin on 01296 730050.
Give your team a quirky name!