The Friends of Ewelme Watercress Beds will be holding their annual social and fundraising event in the Village Hall from 7pm on Saturday March 21.  Cost is £15 per head which includes “Friends” membership for 2026, while funds raised will be used to cover the costs of maintenance and management of the Cress Beds and the associated Local Nature Reserve undertaken by our dedicated band of volunteers.  This year the main requirement is covering most of the cost of a self-powered walk-behind mower to maintain access paths and improve biodiversity, plus the regular costs of hedge-cutting and Green Gym expenses.

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The event will follow our usual varied format which has proved so popular in the past.  Your ticket price includes:

• a hot supper

• an entertaining table quiz with prizes

• a short film by the Not Bourne Yesterday team

• raffle and bar

• a live music performance

• an exhibition on the Ewelme Stream and the nearby Thames. ​

 

We can promise you a high quality, varied and enjoyable evening of entertainment!

The hot supper comprises baked potatoes with a choice of fillings including tuna, vegetarian chilli con (or strictly speaking sin) carne, cheese and baked beans, followed by ice cream.

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The music is provided by “Shiraz”, an a capella group from the local area who regularly perform at events such as Bunkfest and the regular Ewelme Music evenings.  They sing their own arrangements of a wide range of songs to suit all tastes, from the Mamas and Papas to Simon & Garfunkel and from The Carpenters to traditional folk numbers. 

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The quiz is a table-top affair of four rounds which you answer as a team at your own pace during the evening; it is then marked at the end.  The questions range from straightforward (most) to challenging (a few). 

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The short film produced by the “Not Bourne Yesterday” programme of the Chilterns National Landscape is entitled “Tales from the chalk streams” and features some local characters.  It runs for about 15 minutes.

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The exhibition on the brook and nearby reaches of the Thames will be board-mounted and will cover geology, hydrology and natural history in a very digestible format. You may recall some of our earlier popular exhibitions of cress-bed art, a history of the working cress beds, and wildlife of the cress beds and nature reserve. These last two have been preserved as permanent exhibitions in the cress centre.

The bar and raffle will accept card payments and cash.

 

Advance booking is essential (hall capacity is limited and we need to know numbers for catering).  If you wish to attend please make an online payment (£15 per ticket) to The Friends of Ewelme Watercress Beds, sort code 30-98-56, account number 00900695 and email Andrea Powell (andreajpowell@yahoo.co.uk) to let her know that you have made payment and who the payment covers.

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If you can’t make it along to the social evening this year, but would like to renew your membership of the Friends for 2026, please transfer £5 per member to the same account.  Thank you!