News

OCTOBER 2025 - BLACK CAT PROJECT

Our recent lunch on the 14th October was well attended and we all had a most pleasant lunch. This was followed by a presentation from Anne-Marie Rogers, Senior Project Manager for National Highways and John Akester, Stakeholder and Community Engagement Manager for Skanska UK, who spoke about the A428 Black Cat Roundabout to Caxton Gibbet road improvement scheme. This multi-billion Pound project (£1 million per day) will see dual carriageway making safer and quicker journeys from Milton Keynes to Cambridge by removing single carriageway bottle necks that have frustrated drivers for many years. Drone photography brought the project to life in a vivid manner.

AUGUST 2025 - BBQ

The August meeting was substituted by the Annual BBQ held in Willington. We had excellent catering and then entertainment from Joe Connors who comes with a strong pedigree in show business.

JULY 2025 - TV COMEDY

The July lunch went very well and our speaker, Charles Garland, who must be the longest speaker ever at 1.5hrs, was most interesting, he was informative and interacted fully with members. Working in television comedy can be full of fun but quite stressful at the same time.

JUNE - MAGPAS AIR AMBULANCE

Following the successful talk by Paul Firman at the June lunch, a letter of thanks has been received for the donation made to Magpas. This will be applied to the purchase of supplies and consumables within the ambulance. I think that we might make this charity our own for the future. However that needs to be decided by the membership.

MAY 2025 - VE MEAL & FAMOUS JEWELLERY

Our Club lunch in May was a Guests invitational event and remembered 80 Years since VE Day was celebrated. The meal was an excellent Stew and dumplings followed by Fruit crumble and Custard. A good attendance enjoyed both the meal and our Speaker Jason Middleton with a most interesting discourse on the Jewellery of the Rich and Famous. Needless to say our Royal family stood out as owners of the Crown Jewels however Elizabeth Taylor had some delightful jewellery courtesy of Richard Burton! All way out of our pockets I am afraid.

Malcolm Chalmers awarded BE Medal

Malcolm Chalmers was awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year's Honours List for his services to the community of Wootton. He established a music exchange between Wootton and the E.T.A. Hoffmann Gymnasium in Bamberg in 1997 and this lasted until 2019. It involved groups of young musicians from both schools staying in one another's families and giving joint musical performances. Over 1500 students benefited from this exchange over 22 years. Unfortunately the Covid pandemic halted the exchange in 2020. Malcolm is also Community Speedwatch Officer for Wootton and runs many errands for Wootton Good Neighbours, taking elderly people for hospital, doctor's and dentist's appointments as well as shopping trips.
Malcolm was presented with his medal in the Bedford Swan Hotel on March 27th by Susan Lousada, Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.

APRIL 2025 - AGM

April brought change when we had our Annual General Meeting with the election of our new President
and committee members

MARCH 2025 - CYBER SECURITY

The March lunch is offering a different speaker in Veri Ponce Morelli-Granger who is a member of the Bedfordshire Police Cyber Security Unit and will be covering online scams. The menu is cottage pie and vegetables followed by jam sponge and custard. Just the food our members delight in! We have three guests with a view to future membership which is nice. We are a welcoming club so if any of our readers are interested then please contact the Secretary.

FEBRUARY 2025 - THEATRE + STONE MASONRY

Visit to The Place Theatre 6th February 2025

February started with a visit to The Place Theatre in Bedford for a dark comedy entitled Kin. It was both enjoyable and thought provoking and we look forward to future theatre visits.

Our February lunch had an excellent turnout and our guest speaker, James Johnson, gave a superb and detailed talk on working with stone masonry. Members were able to see the range of tools he uses to maintain and renovate masonry for churches, heritage sites and walls. He imparted his love of this trade to all. Thanks James.

JANUARY 2025 - PRIMROSE SUITE VISIT

President Ian represented the club at the Macmillan Primrose Suite at Bedford Hospital for the opening of a new wellbeing room (picture below). Some of our members have been patients there in the past and the club supports the unit with ad hoc donations.

JANUARY 2025 - FIRE SERVICE

Our speaker was an officer from the Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and the subject matter was all important fire safety in the home. Four of our members took up the offer of a free house inspection and they gained a good deal of knowledge of vulnerable areas and ways of mitigating fires in the home. All members appreciated this excellent presentation and welcomed the refresher in fire safety in general.