On this week’s Winchester Now:
- The team behind the Renew Wellbeing Café project in Winchester are planning to launch a new ‘Renew style’ Wellbeing Arts & Crafts Café over the coming weeks. It will provide a weekly space for creativity, connection and care. There is a no-obligation Volunteers Information Evening taking place at 7:30pm on Thursday 7th May, at the Winchester Baptist Church. Anna O’Brien spoke to retired GP, Mervyn Suffield, who volunteers with Renew, to find out more…
- News-in-brief:
- The NHS in Hampshire is urging people to seek the ‘right care in the right place’ during this early May Bank Holiday. Many pharmacies will be open and ready to help over the long weekend, and these can help treat common conditions such as shingles, sore throats, earaches, sinusitis and insect bites. If you are unsure where to go for treatment, you should contact NHS 111.
- Hampshire Police’s Live Facial Recognition vans will be out-and-about in Winchester next week. The equipment – introduced at the end of last year – helps officers identify criminals and find high-risk missing people. Two vans operate across the force area, and they’re using the latest technology, which is said to have a high level of accuracy that cannot be replicated by officers on the ground.
- Winchester residents will go to the polls next Thursday to cast their votes. There are local elections for both Hampshire County Council and for Winchester City Council. In some areas there are parish council elections too. The polls will open at 7am and close at 10pm.
- Hundreds of members of local uniformed groups from across Winchester and surrounding villages, converged on the city on Sunday for the annual St. George’s Day parade. They marched from Colebrook Street, through the city, to a special service at the Cathedral. All ages of Scouts and Guides were involved, from the youngest Squirrels at 4 years old to the Explorers and Ranger Guides aged 18 and over. Shoppers, visitors and parents lined the streets to watch.
- It’s been announced that the Purple Night Walk is returning to the city centre in September, raising money for Winchester Hospice, which marks its 5th anniversary that month. This year the Walk will start and end in the Abbey Gardens, and a new route will cover 7km. Many of those who take part wear tributes to remember a loved one. The Walk has raised almost £100k to fund hospice care over the last 4 years.
- An art installation will be unveiled in the Square on Saturday. It’s to highlight the plight of Hampshire’s wild chalk salmon, which is facing a decline in numbers. The campaign – mounted by conservation groups and businesses – is calling for more protection of our chalk stream rivers. It’s hoped that a giant 3D chalk salmon will encourage people to engage with the project.
- Dementia Action Week events (18 to 24 May):
- Some members of this ‘Dementia Friendly Winchester’ action group network, will be volunteering at the Winchester Parkrun on Saturday 16th May, and there will be take-away literature on upcoming events for the week’s activities to share with you.
- Dementia Fair, organised by the dementia nursing team at Hampshire Hospitals, Mon 18th May, from 10am to 2pm within the Education Centre, at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester. There will be a wide variety of organisations with people on hand to speak to including teams from Hampshire Hospitals, local charities, businesses and groups that support people living with dementia, and helpful leaflets to take away. No need to book – just turn up.
- Glass workshop as part of St. John’s Winchester’s ‘Memory Wellbeing Centre’ at the Winchester Sport and Leisure Park in the afternoon on Mon 18th May.
- Dementia Aware & Share event, Mon 18th May, 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Winchester Baptist Church on City Road in Winchester. Ideal if you are working during the day, and cannot get along to the earlier information event at the hospital. There will be a range of organisations on hand who support people living with dementia, that you can go along and speak to about local services and activities. Again, no need to book for this event – just turn up.
- Afternoon Tea: Tue 19th May at Flowerdown Care Home; Thu 21st May at St Catherine’s View Dementia Care Home (with local primary school children coming in to visit and sing); Thu 21st May at Winchester Heights Care Home (inc a Jukebox Party). Places need to be booked in advance for these events.
- A group stroll around Winchester on Wed 20th May, organised by St. John’s Winchester, setting off from Abbey Gardens from around 10:30am.
- For those who love the movies, there are a number of dementia-friendly film-screenings taking place during Dementia Action Week too. Home Instead Central Hampshire and the Everyman Cinema on Southgate Street will have 2 dementia-friendly screenings on Monday 18th and Wednesday 20th May in the morning; plus city-centre business the Cabinet Rooms will be offering a nostalgic film on Tuesday 19th May in the morning.
- Shout-outs
- To the nearly 900 people who turned-out last Saturday for the ninth Cycle Winchester Mass Ride – and to all the volunteers, marshals, Hampshire Constabulary and Winchester City Council for making it happen. It was a brilliant, family-friendly celebration of cycling in our city.
- To the 520 finishers of last Saturday’s Winchester Parkrun, to the 182 young people who took part in the 2k Junior Parkrun on Sunday morning. A big thank you to all the volunteers who make these events possible each weekend. Special shoutouts also to the young runners at the Junior Parkrun event last Sunday achieving milestones: Alexandra got her half-marathon wrist-band, Rhys and Lucy got their ultra-marathon wristbands, and Clara got her silver wristband for completing an amazing 100 parkruns! And a big thank you, as well, to Steven and Keira for volunteering 100 and 50 times respectively.
- To Sam Parsons, director and senior instructor at Winchester Pilates, who’s been racking up international HYROX wins, including two major championship titles in just two weeks this April. Sam and her partner Emily took the EMEA Age Group Women’s Doubles title at the HYROX EMEA Championships, then followed it up with a Pro Women’s Doubles win at London Olympia a week later. From a past riding injury that once threatened her mobility to the top step of the podium – what an inspiring Winchester success story!
- To Canary, a gentleman who is one of the regular guests at the St. Peter’s Sanctuary Welcome Hub, run with the Southampton and Winchester Visitors’ Group. Canary has completed his training with SWVG, now takes-on a volunteering role with the activity team at the hub, supporting others who are refugees or asylum seekers.
- To all the green-fingered young people at Henry Beaufort School, who have been busy planting flowers as part of the school’s Garden Project – breathing new life into outdoor spaces around the school grounds.
- To retired teacher, Joan Pape, who celebrated her 100th birthday this week. Joan, who now lives at Abbotts Barton Care Home, marked her special milestone birthday with a family party and later by attending a recital by a string quartet.
