Monthly Archives: October 2021

Gastronomic achievement – Watership Down Inn Win Gastro Pub Award Congratulations to Watership Down Inn for being awarded 2022 Good Food Award for Gastro Pubs – Blue Ribbon for Delicious Dishes™, for the second year running.

The Inn writes, “We have a great team and a simple focus, great food and drink, great service and always a smile. We’re so pleased that this has helped us win the  Good Food Award for Gastro Pub for the second year running, we’ve also been voted the best destination pub in Hampshire and the Isle of White. These awards are voted for by our guests and that makes us extremely proud, our focus is working, and our guests are having a great time.

We are just a stone’s throw away from the Bombay Sapphire Distillery where you can take a tour and sample the delights they have to offer without having to drive. Many of our guests combine a tour with accommodation for the night, and often a meal. As the only Inn within walking distance, its perfect.

We are situated in Freefolk Priors, just outside Whitchurch, there are lots of things to do and see in the area and our location is easy reach of Basingstoke and surrounding areas, close to the M3 and M4, as well as mainline railway lines. There are beautiful walks right from the front door and we welcome your four-legged friends both in the bar and some of our bedrooms, we just ask that you keep them on the lead”.

Congratulations to all .

CANCELLED – 18th November Protest at Basingstoke & Deane Council Offices and Rural Sites Committee Meeting The protest against housing numbers this Thursday evening outside the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council offices and the subsequent Rural Sites Environment, Planning & Housing Committee meeting has been cancelled as Basingstoke Council staff unfortunately supplied Borough Councillors, Parish Councils and members of the public with incorrect paperwork.

The meeting has been rescheduled for the 13th December.

Watch this space for updates.

http://whitchurchconservationgroup.org

Whitchurch Winter Festival 18th – 21st Dec – TICKETS NOW ON SALE Thanks to some generous funding from Arts Council England, we have a fantastic line-up of high-quality activities for (mainly) primary school age children and some for-pre-school children. Each individual child ticket is £15 and this includes a total of 9 activities. Each child festival ticket includes: –         6x arts and crafts activities –         1 pantomime performance –         1 music-making session –         1 dance/activity session As before, with the summer outdoors festival, we are allocating 25% of all tickets for free to local families facing financial hardship, and we thank Whitchurch Primary School for distributing our letter to parents. Whitchurch Winter Festival will be held at 3 sites in Whitchurch over 4 days: Saturday 18th, Sunday 19th, Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st December, from 10am to 3:30pm each day. The 3 sites are: Gill Nethercott Centre (arts and crafts sessions), Parish Hall (music-making sessions and pantomime) and Testbourne Dance Studio (dance/activity sessions) We have a really fantastic number of activities lined up including pantomime, Japanese taiko drums, Indonesian Gamelan orchestra, face painting, printing, origami, metal decoration making, weaving and lantern-making. Dance activities include street dance and Indian dance as well as mindfulness. As this is an indoors festival, we have really scaled back on ticket numbers. This means we will be focusing on promoting the event to local Whitchurch families for the first week, before releasing on to a wider audience. So that we can manage the flow of traffic, reduce the risk of crowding and guarantee sessions for our attendees, we are asking for all sessions to be pre-booked. Sessions can be booked on any of the four days. Booking Process: This is a two-step system. Firstly; purchase a £15 ticket for each child. Second; once payment has been received, you will receive an email listing activities available and links to book the 9 sessions. FREE TICKETS: Some parents at Whitchurch Primary School will already have received a letter regarding a free ticket and we look forward to hearing from you on email Finally, if you can spare it, we would really appreciate a small donation to help towards our running costs. We are a volunteer group, funded entirely by our own funds and grants. Kind regards, Lucie Follett Maitland, Jackie Browne and Andy Smith Whitchurch Conservation Group