The members of Bake, Natter and Roll Farnham WI were in party mode as they celebrated their tenth birthday at their meeting on January 15.

They started the evening’s meeting with chat, tea and cake, the delicious cakes having been created by Karin and Lorraine. This was followed by a presentation from Anna, a representative of Step by Step - a charity which is based in Aldershot but covers six counties.

The charity has been around for nearly 40 years and has been doing its bit to prevent youth homelessness. It helps children and young people between the ages of 11 and 25 to find safe places to live and gives them support.

In 2025 it assisted 1,500 young people - the average age of the young people it helped was 16 and a half. As well as assisting with places to live, it also helps with mental health issues and gives support with training and life skills. The charity costs £4 million per year to run.

More information about the work of Step by Step can be found on its website at stepbystep.org

To celebrate Bake, Natter and Roll’s tenth birthday, all the members were given a party bag containing lots of goodies. One of them, Melissa, made a magnificent birthday cake which was cut by Carole the Surrey WI adviser. They sang, with gusto, Happy Birthday to themselves, and ended the evening with a merry game of pass the parcel.

The next meeting is on February 19, when Hayley Scott will talk about A Day in the Life of a Metropolitan Police Crime Investigator. The meeting starts at 7.45pm and will be in the Large Hall at the Spire Church in South Street, Farnham.

For more information email [email protected]

At The Harting Society’s meeting on February 5, Andrew Shaxson will present The Harting Film - Unpicked, featuring a film made about Harting in 1956.

Commissioned for the Colonial Office, it shows life in a typical, traditional, rural English village, a self-sufficient and neighbourly community.

At the time, it is said, the intention was to demonstrate the timeless values of English village life to Commonwealth countries seeking their independence. Today the film provides a charming portrait of a picturesque village and its villagers in the mid-1950s.

The talk is at Harting Village Hall and will start at 7.30pm, with the bar opening at 7pm. Non-members and guests are very welcome and invited to make a contribution of £5. For membership enquiries call Sarah Wilcox on 07963 909889 or email her at [email protected]

A talk on Morecambe and Wise was a cheerful and popular start to Milford Probus Club’s year on January 16.

After a friendly lunch, the next talk on March 20 will be on Britain between the Roman Empire and the Vikings: a Commonwealth of the Holy Spirit.

Members and visitors - growing in number and always welcome - will learn from Steve Stanley about a fascinating but often misunderstood period of British history.

Between the fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Viking invasions the Irish - also known as Scots - Picts, Britons and Anglo-Saxons competed and developed a distinct cultural heritage. This is sometimes but not very accurately described as the time of the Celtic Church.

Steve will discuss how religious change and conversion drove cultural development against a background of political competition. A retired criminologist, he has degrees in history, social research and classical studies. He is also a popular and impressive speaker, who has given talks on the silk trade in Roman times and the fall of the Roman Empire. Lunch and the talk will cost £32.

Milford Probus Club is for retired and semi-retired business and professional men and women who enjoy comradeship, informative talks and wider activities. Anyone interested can visit www.milfordprobus.com or book lunch - eight days in advance - by calling Miranda O’Brien on 01483 423398 or emailing [email protected]

The club’s activities include organised outings and enjoyable walks, ending in a fine pub. Prospective members are invited to join lunches as paying guests while considering membership, and will be very welcome. There is a friendly bar and plenty of parking.

Members of the Alton Art Society were treated to a wonderful demonstration of using liquid charcoal by Rodney Kingston at the Alton Assembly Rooms on January 17.

Rodney’s subject was the Statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus. His medium was a mixture of powdered charcoal and gum arabic, and came in a tube which could be treated like watercolour but had the benefit of being able to be easily removed back to white paper once dried, a very useful trick.

Rodney painted a watery background, then went from darks to lights using a large flat brush. He explained that the paint must dry completely between layers, and used a hairdryer for this. He also used the edge of a piece of cardboard for very straight lines, such as the lampposts. To finish, he took out paint with a damp brush to create light areas - this really brought the painting to life.

Sally Cox

At its first meeting of the new year, Haslemere Morning WI received a thank you letter from the I Choose Freedom group for abused mothers and children after the branch had produced wrapped Christmas presents at its last meeting.

A bring and buy sale, together with the monthly raffle, was held for funds, and a future outing to Stansted House and Park was announced. The National WI Federation had chosen five good causes to be discussed at its summer conference, with Haslemere choosing to support the homeless women charity.

The morning’s speaker, Haslemere first responder Kevin Morris, had brought along a mannequin to explain how to use a defibrillator and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on people suffering heart failure or attacks.

He listed where all the local machines could be found and demonstrated how, once an ambulance has been called, the defibrillator articulates exactly what to do, with moving pictures also illustrating the correct processes. With a ten-minute slot before a heart finally closes down, a knowledgeable person should be able to keep the patient alive until professional help arrives.

This was a most useful lesson and, should an emergency occur, it is good that around 30 new people are now aware of what to do to save a life.

Fay Foster

The Rotary Clubs of Farnham held their annual Youth Speaks competition on January 14 at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham.

With eight teams from local schools, the debates were inspiring. Teams from Weydon, All Hallows, Eggar’s, Heath End and Cove schools covered a wide range of topics.

Weydon entered two teams, one debating “This house believes that the death penalty should be reintroduced”, with strong arguments for and against. The other considered whether “Animals should not be kept in zoos”, dividing opinion in the audience.

Cove chose to consider that “Too many presents are rubbish”, their proposer feeling many gifts were badly chosen, and wasted money and packaging. But their opposer felt it remained important that families and friends exchanged gifts, and that this supported local small businesses.

Eggar’s debated whether immigration should be severely restricted, while their opposer pointed out its hugely important value to healthcare and other services.

Heath End felt the school curriculum did not prepare students for work, but its opposer believed it did and that there was only so much a school could fit into its timetable.

The second Eggar’s team challenged the idea of medicated death, a debate currently going through parliament, with strong arguments on both sides which again divided the audience.

And the senior Eggar’s team challenged the view that transgender athletes should be allowed to compete equally in competitive sports. As with the other debates, the team demonstrated thorough research and made justifiable arguments on both sides.

The evening concluded with the All Hallows senior team considering whether artificial intelligence negatively affected childhood, another topic in the national news, which again was covered with thorough research and convincing arguments.

The questioner, Farnham town clerk Iain Lynch, challenged one member of each team with an unplanned question to justify their reasoning.

Judges Jonathan Jones, Ann Fisher and Doug New gave first place in the intermediate section to Eggar’s, on immigration, and first place in the senior section to All Hallows, on artificial intelligence’s effect on childhood. Both will go forward to the South East area semi-final in February.

Two further prizes, for the Best Intermediate Speaker (aged 11 to 13) and the Best Senior Speaker (aged 14 to 18), were awarded to the Eggar’s proposer discussing medicated death, and to the All Hallows proposer arguing that artificial intelligence did negatively affect childhood.

All competitors received a framed certificate, and winners also received a voucher and a medal.

Judge Jonathan Jones said: “All the young people entering this competition today are winners.”