Buckingham U3A
THE chairman opened the meeting and was delighted that six people had responded to his request for volunteers to assist Daphne May when she co-ordinates the July and December socials.
An inter-U3A quiz will take place on Friday, April 24, in Luton and one more volunteer is required to complete our team.
Suggestions for future speakers and for which charity to support in 2010 were still needed.
The speaker, Simon Gilbert, was introduced, and he was pleased to tell the story of his entry into musical theatre
When he started out he never dreamt he would one day be running his own musical touring company.
He had a variety of jobs including part of the cast of the Scottish Opera production of Camelot, a member of the Black and White Minstrel Show, singing with Pavarotti, plus performances in many other productions.
Such was his love of musical theatre that in later years he formed his musical touring company.
Simon concluded his talk with several songs.

The Film Place
THE Film Place is showing Dean Spanley (U) today, Friday, at 8pm.
It is a hugely enjoyable comedy drama set in Edwardian England.
Henslowe Fisk (played by Jeremy Northam) takes his ailing father (played by Peter O'Toole) to a lecture on reincarnation.
There they meet the extraordinary Dean Spanley (played by Sam Neill) and invite him to dinner.
Over a bottle of the famous Imperial Tokay wine, Spanley recounts strange recollections of a past life, which seem to have equally extraordinary connections with Fisk senior.
The film is full of delightful surprises, it has a witty dialogue, first-rate performances and is genuinely unlike anything else on the cinema circuit.
Tomorrow, Saturday, you can see Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG) at 5.30pm.
The further adventures of that mismatched, but entirely endearing, quartet of Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo. Aided and abetted by the resourceful penguins, the fab foursome embark on a fearsome flying machine in an attempt to return to New York (from whence they had escaped in Part 1).
The aircraft – unsurprisingly – proves a little unreliable and they crash land into the great wildlife haven of the Serengetti on mainland Africa.
Films can be seen at the Ian Fairbairn Lecture Hall, Chandos Road Building, University of Buckingham

Bicester Rotary Club
APRIL is a busy month for Bicester Rotarians. On Tuesday, April 7, a cheque for £500 was handed over to Kath Morris, the Head of Fundraising, for Sobell House Hospice. This was the proceeds of the Guess the Value of the Christmas Hampers, kindly sponsored by Wyevale Garden Centre and other outlets in Bicester Avenue.
On Friday, April 24, we join with Inner Wheel at the Littlebury Hotel for a Gala Dinner to mark St George's Day and raise funds for Bardwell School's bid for Specialist School Status. A special three-course menu featuring suitably patriotic English fare will be on offer, accompanied by music, dance and some tall tales of St George and his Dragon.
A Grand Draw with some really fabulous prizes will complete the line-up.
Tickets, costing £30 each or a table for 10 at £300, can be obtained from Rotarian John Moody (telephone 01869 350474).
Rtn. Derek Sambrook is also seeking teams for the Annual Charity Golf Day in aid of the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust to be held on May 11 at Bicester Golf & Country Club.
See our website at www.rotarybicester.org for details and an entry form, or 'phone Derek on 01869 350600.

Buckingham Acoustic Club
It was a quiet start to the evening that saw Udo setting up the sound and playing a largely Celtic set including a number of tunes by blind Irish harper Thurlough O'Carolan, and ending with a few original pieces to a small but appreciative audience.
Marian then took to the stage with a very confident set that started with Big Yellow Taxi and ended with her own song, the by now very popular Bob the Mastic Man.
Mike Moyse followed with a mellow set of finger-picked songs that included a really fine version of Mark Knopfler's Mason Dixon Line.
Our old friends Riff Raff gave us a really well executed and very tight set of songs with vocals from both lads and of course, Bill's excellent acoustic lead playing.
It was now Nick's turn to entertain us with his Flamenco guitar and he certainly didn't disappoint. A couple of pieces received an extra dimension with driving percussion from Marcus, and then Nick used a backing track (hidden somewhere in a mobile phone) of rhythm guitar and even more percussion to absolutely set the audience alight!
Our final performance of the evening came from Robert Cooke performing a couple of his own songs in the Dylan style. Robert too was accompanied first by Marcus on percussion and then by Christine on the 12-string guitar. The evening ended with Christine taking lead vocals on To Be a Country Girl Again.
All in all, the players enjoyed themselves and the audience was very appreciative. We look forward to another good evening of live music next Wednesday at the New Inn. See you there!

Winslow WI
AT the April meeting each member was asked to bring a 'meaningful' photograph to show to others.
This was a 'getting to know you' exercise which enlightened us in an entertaining way.
The winner of this month's competition for an item of lace was won by Florrie Marriott's delicate entry.
The health and fitness day held in the public hall was a success and mental strength was tested at the Inter-County Quiz held in Buckingham.
General opinion was that the questions were difficult but our team attained a creditable score.
On April 2, representatives attended the Resolution meeting in Aylesbury to discuss the accelerating decline in the UK honey bee population.
The speakers were Mr Homer, a regional bee inspector for DEFRA, and Mr Buckle, a local bee-keeper.
HMG has marked funds for research into bee health but we were surprised to learn that registration for bee-keepers is not obligatory.
The subject will be discussed by our WI at the next meeting on May 6.
There will be a trading stall and the competition is for something red.

Bicester Local History Society
BICESTER Local History Society will be holding its next monthly meeting at St Edburg's Church Hall, Old Place Yard, adjacent to the Bicester Library, on Monday, April 20 at 7.30pm.
The meeting will feature a talk given by historian Martyn Barber entitled Early Aerial Photography.
He will share his research into the early history of aerial photography and include many unique pictures of Victorian and Edwardian Britain from the air. The main theme of the talk will centre on the World War I period with examples of aerial photographs taken from English Heritage's extensive collections.
Non-Bicester Local History Society members are very welcome to attend the meeting at a cost of £2.
Further details can be obtained by contacting Pete Chivers on 01869 600109.

Winslow District Ramblers
THERE have been good numbers out this spring.
On March 15 it was good to see so many families enjoying Bedgrove Park, Aylesbury, as we set off for a four-and-a-half-mile route led by Ken.
His theme was water, passing the canal basin, Bearbrook Ponds, Bedgrove Brook and flood barriers.
Three days later we walked from Potterspury to Yardley Gobion and district.
Wendy led us over this truly rural area.
Peter led a walk from Whaddon Church on March 21, and on March 29 we set out from the green at Little Horwood to see Horwood House, built in 1911, replacing an Elizabethan mansion, now a conference centre.
The old rail track was crossed and the return was via Norbury Coppice, near which a hoard of ancient gold coins was found in the 19th Century, and the site of a water mill and Moat Farm.
Glancing back from this site we had good views of Little Horwood Manor, built in the 1930s by George Gee on the ancient settlement of Shuckelow, and later requisitioned for use by the Royal Corps of Signals.
The manor is now divided into private residences.
On April 4, Diane led the group from Hillesden down old Brackley Lane, up the Chestnut Avenue past the manor to the church.
Our May walks and contacts are: May 2, Milton Keynes, 01908 542695; May 10, Little Kimble, 01296 711941; May 16, members' coach outing to Leicestershire; May 20, Stony Stratford, 01908 670049; May 23, Quainton, 01296 655375; and May 30, Deanshanger, 01908 267063.

University of Buckingham
THE university is delighted to announce that this year's speaker for the Friends of the University annual lecture will be Mr Simon Rees, Dramaturg, at the Welsh National Opera.
His lecture is entitled Welsh National Opera, the life and work of a touring company, and will take place on Tuesday, April 21 at 6.30pm. Simon Rees has been Welsh National Opera's dramaturg since 1989.
He studied English at Trinity College, Cambridge, and taught English in Italy and at Kyoto University.
He has published three novels, The Devil's Looging-Glass, Making a Snowman and Nathaniel and Mrs Plamer, as well as poems (most recently in Poetry Wales), librettos (Hadrian at Antinoopolis in Poetry Salzburg) and has recently collaborated with Welsh composer Mervyn Burtch on the children's opera Twm Sion Cati, the children's oratorio The Song Contest of Birds and Beasts and a variety of songs.
He has translated many opera librettos for singing and for subtitles
Simon is married to the Japanese writer Yoko Kawaguchi, and they live in Cardiff.
This talk will take place in the Ian Fairbairn Lecture Hall, Chandos Road Building, starting at 6.30pm. As with other talks, admission to the lecture is free and open to all.
There will also be time after the lecture to meet and talk to Mr Simon Rees over drinks in the foyer.
For more information, please contact the publicity office on 01280 820213, alternatively you can email publicity@buckingham.ac.uk