BISHOP’S Waltham Gardening Club will welcome guest speaker Pauline Weeks on Wednesday, November 27. She will be giving a talk on “The wild bunch in your patch”. Pauline has immense experience of wildlife conservancy and is involved in many wildlife projects including a petition to raise awareness about sustainability and wildlife. Her website is greenpauline.co.uk and provides information about her varied projects and activities.

After last month’s very successful ‘Social Evening’ this month the club will return with its  ‘Guest Speaker Social Evening’ at its new home of St. Peter’s Church Hall, Free Street. All are welcome, with members enjoying free admittance and visitors just £2. The club offers refreshments and will hold a raffle.

The club’s ‘membership year’ began last month, so visit its website bwgc.org.uk where there are all the details you need to join this Gardening Club.  For the latest updates, news and messages and for more information visit the Bishop’s Waltham Gardening Club Facebook page.

BISHOP’S Waltham United Free Church are holding a Christmas tabletop sale on Saturday, November 23. The event will run from 10am to 12.30pm, with sausage rolls, mince pies and cake available alongside tea and coffee. Everyone is welcome to attend and pick up a bargain.

THE Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club has made a donation of £1,000 to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance to help with its Operation Airbase appeal. This will help the air ambulance fund it’s move to a new base near Southampton, with the charity hoping to raise £3.6m in total. The new base will allow the air ambulance to respond to incidents with greater speed.

With the help of the community, Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club has also collected and sorted more than 500 shoeboxes packed with presents for children in need at Christmas. These boxes will be added to over 20,000 boxes collected from around our district, which covers most of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, and parts of Dorset and Wiltshire. This year the boxes are going to Ukraine, Montenegro, Moldova and Romania, and from there they will be shipped to local Rotary Clubs who will distribute them.

MEON Voices will be holding its Christmas concert at St Peter’s Church, Bishop’s Waltham, on Saturday, December 14, from 7.30pm.

This year the programme includes a moving medley from Les Misérables, three of John Rutter’s most beautiful pieces: What Sweeter Music; The Colours of Christmas and Christmas Lullaby, Eric Whitacre’s Glow and as always, audience carols. There will be an interval with tea, coffee and mince pies. There is no need to book, and whilst the concert is free to attend; there will be a cash collection, the proceeds of which will be divided between the Choir and the Church’s charities.

Anyone who wants to join the choir is welcome to do so, with Monday night practices recommencing in mid-January from 7.30pm to 9.30 pm at the United Free Church in Bishop’s Waltham.

THE Bishop’s Waltham Reindeer Trail will kick off on Thursday, November 28. Similar to last year’s Elf Trail, more than 50 reindeer will be hidden in shops/business windows around the town for you to find. Entry is free.

ONE last reminder that the Bishop’s Waltham Christmas Fayre is taking place on November 28 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Alongside late-night shopping, there will be craft stalls, food and drink, a mini funfair, music, and Santa on his sleigh. There will also be “celebrity guests” Elsa, Ana and Olaf from Frozen.