On this week’s Winchester Now:
- Friday 11th September sees the start of this year’s Winchester Heritage Open Days Festival – 10 days of free cultural events. The theme this year is ‘Everyday Histories’. Summer Cook spoke to Liz Wald and Simon Roffey from the Catholic Parish of St. Peter and the Winchester Martyrs, whose St. Peter’s Church in the city-centre on Jewry Street marks its Centenary and is offering some guided walks as part of the HODs Festival.
- News-in-brief:
- Junction 9 of the M3 will be closed again this weekend, which could lead to congestion around the city. It’s part of a series of closures as part of ongoing works to upgrade the junction. The M3 will be open through junction 9, but all the slip roads leading on and off the junction will be shut. The measure will allow for new bridges to be connected to the road layout. The work is due to be finished in 2028.
- Meanwhile a major road linking the Worthys to Weeke and Harestock is being shut for 5 weeks. Wellhouse Lane will be closed from the junction of Andover Road to Headbourne Worthy from Monday. It’s to allow drainage work for the new Kings Barton development.
- Clearing up is continuing at the Matterley Bowl after last weekend’s Boomtown Festival. Around 70,000 people travelled to the city for the annual event. 800 artists from around the world performed on 12 different stages.
- The bells have rung-out for nearly an hour at Winchester Cathedral to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Mothers’ Union. A special evensong service was also held to mark the occasion. The organisation now has 4 million members worldwide who work to tackle poverty, injustice and violence, and improve the lives of others.
- A free concert of Ukrainian music is being held next week to mark the 35th Ukraine Independence Day. The event takes place at St Paul’s Church from 6.30 pm on Monday and is organised by the Winchester Ukrainian Cultural Association.
- This weekend – the Badger Farm Community Centre, is holding an ‘Open Afternoon’, to mark its 40th anniversary. The public are welcome to drop in anytime on Saturday from 2 to 5pm to talk to the team who run the centre, and to meet some of the organisations who use it for their activities.
- Patients at Winchester Hospice have had a surprise visitor. Muffin the Shetland pony went in to try out being a therapy pony for the first time. Therapy animals are said to bring a calming effect and reduce stress. Muffin’s visit brought joy to patients and their families.
- Last week was special as many people gathered before sunset on Wednesday, to witness the partial solar eclipse. The moon was covering 93% of the sun here in Winchester, enabling some of the best views of this rare event since 1999. Derek Palmer trekked to the top of St Giles Hill in the city, and spoke to Harry Mycock, Chair of the Friends of St Giles Hill Park who organised the group activity, to hear more about their work, and also to talk to members of the public attending the event.
