BAALHS EVENTS PAGE

Wednesday 12th May at 6.30pm: Keysoe and neighbourhood
Car trip and walking tour with Alan Woodward. Alan is a long-term resident of Keysoe, which is a typical ‘extended’ North Bedfordshire village. He will show us the main points of interest in the village, including the Church, the School and the former Baptist Chapel. We will benefit from Alan’s years of research into the village’s history and landmarks.

Sunday 13th June at 10.30am: Pitstone Green Museum & Windmill
Car trip to Pitstone Green Museum and Windmill. The Museum is housed in the buildings of an 1831 farm. It is a Rural Life Museum with many exhibits relating to farming, country life, trades and professions within a 25 mile radius of Pitstone. It has many other varied exhibits, including a Models Room with two model railways, a model of Pitstone Windmill, and a wide range of model carts, a 37 HP Crossley gas engine, stationary engines, vintage wirelesses, and a WWII military aviation room with a full-size reconstruction of a section of a wartime Avro Lancaster bomber.

Pitstone Windmill is believed to be the oldest post mill in the British Isles and bears the date 1627. It was badly damaged by the great storm of 1902, which ended its working life. It was given to the National Trust in 1937 by Mr. L.J. Hawkins of Pitstone Farm and is now restored. Unsuitable for anyone with limited mobility. Admission charge of Ł4 for the Museum & Ł1.50 for the Windmill (free to National Trust members).

Sunday 27th June at 10.00am: Tour of North Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire.
A mini-coach tour of north Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire with Mike Knight, starting from Mowsbury Park car park, Kimbolton Road, at 10am, returning by 6pm. We will stop to look at points of interest from the turnpike era and some purely local. The cost is Ł16 per person. You will need comfortable shoes, packed lunch & drinks. It will include pub/toilet stops. The tour is currently fully-booked, but if you want to go on a waiting list in case of cancellations, please contact Jenny Spearing (01234 211834).

Sunday 11th July at 2pm: Monuments in local churches.
Car trip led by Alan Cox, including Cardington, Willington and Flitton.
WE VERY MUCH REGRET THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED

Saturday 24th July at 12.00 Noon: Royston Cave & Museum
Car trip from Mowsbury Park car park visiting Royston Cave and Royston Museum. Unsuitable for anyone with limited mobility. Royston Cave is unique in Europe, believed to date from the 14thC, it is a beehive-shaped cavern with an extensive range of wall carvings representing the Cruci Family and several saints. The cave may have been Knights Templar in origin. Admission charge Ł3 (Ł2 for concessions), payable on the day. Royston & District Museum is home to the Whydale Collection – a renowned artist of horses and rural scenes who exhibited between 1910 and 1950, as well as an excellent collection of late-19thC ceramics and glass.

Thursday 12 August at 13.00: Milton Keynes Museum
An independent local museum, housed in a former Victorian farmstead. It covers the history of the Milton Keynes area, including north Buckinghamshire and south Northamptonshire from 1800 onwards. It includes the Stacey Hill Collection of rural life, consisting of agricultural, domestic, industrial, and social objects connected to the area before the 1967 foundation of Milton Keynes. There is also a collection of many memorabilia of the nearby Wolverton railway works. The museum's Connected Earth collection includes a variety of historic telephones and switchboards, many in working order. Admission charge of Ł4 payable on entry.

Sunday 26th September at 9.00am: Chedworth Roman Villa & Bourton-on-the-Water.
Coach trip to Chedworth Roman Villa and Bourton-on-the-Water (model village, ‘Birdland’, motor museum).

Chedworth is one of the largest Roman villas in Britain. The villa was accidentally discovered in 1864 by a gamekeeper digging for a ferret. The former owner, Lord Eldon, built a small museum near the site to house recovered objects. It has been administered since 1924 by the National Trust. Admission charge of Ł6.30 (non-National Trust members). Please note there are very limited refreshment facilities at the site, so you may wish to bring a packed lunch (there are extensive grounds in which to picnic).

Bourton on the Water is a large picturesque village, known as the ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ because of the bridge-spanned River Windrush that runs though it. Attractions include:
• Model village - a 1:9 replica of the village and includes a model of the model village itself (a model within a model). It was built by local craftsmen in the 1930s, and opened in 1937.
• Cotswold Motoring Museum.
• Birdland – an ornithological theme park, with a collection of birds, from parrots to penguins to passerine; bird-of-prey displays.
• The Dragonfly Maze.

Pre-booking and pre-payment. (Ł20 per person for the coach fare) is essential for this trip. Please book by the 31st July if you can, so that we know as soon as possible whether we will have sufficient numbers to be viable (though later bookings can be taken).