Christmas Tea Party at the Hyde-Out Cafe

  

 Following the regular walk last Tuesday the Pals were joined by friends and partners for a Christmas Tea Party.  

Twenty-three of us - tea, mince pies, carols and a good chinwag.  
All of which went down very well.

Happy Christmas!

A good turnout for the Pals' walk  today at Hengistbury Head.

Some walked over the top of the Head others took a shorter route.

Today we talked of many things: When was cows milk first consumed in England?  Who is our favourite composers? And the advantages of the metric system over the pounds, shillings and pence.

We discussed education today, global warming and the difficulty that fossil fuel producing nations, like Poland, have in helping save the planet, and there was even a short discussion of Brexit! 

Sheep helping with weed control on the Iron Age site of Double Dykes. 

Who ate ate all the cake?

Not Lolly!

Friends are invited to our next meeting
for Christmas nibbles and tea.

A walk in the rain; a chat in the dry.

The Pals group went to Hyde today, to brave the wind, rain and temperature.  Whilst walking, there was talk of  nearby WW2 aircraft runways, horses and ponies, poodles, the effects of  new housing in Fordingbridge, our children and how modern eating habits compared with those of our childhood.  For some reason, now forgotten, there was talk of how sugar and salt used to come in blocks.

John brought Lolly along, his sedate, and well mannered, eight year old labrador, but as soon as someone threw a stick, Lolly was transformed into a two year old sprightly young thing!  Some of us thought that it would be good if you could play a similar trick on humans.  Then we noticed that those throwing the sticks, were looking a lot more sprightly themselves!  Well done, Lolly.


After an hour or so of walking, we settled down in the Hyde Out Cafe to sort out the rest of the world's  problems, over pots of tea and mugs of coffee and hot chocolate.

Hyde Cafe to Abbotswell

It was a gorgeous autumn day today for a lovely, lively walk with the Pals. We went from  Hyde Out Cafe to Abbotswell and back.  

The gorse was in bloom, as it nearly always is, hence the saying; 

When gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season. 

The good news is that either common gorse or the closely related western gorse is pretty much in bloom whatever the time of year.  In fact, a few yellow flowers can generally be seen even in harsh winter months.

We also talked of countries that we had lived in, family trees, photography and about the various animals we came across.  Web pages got a mention as did poodles, swimming in the sea, pigs and panage and the New Forest grazing rules.

There was a discussion about whether there was more than usual grass for the animals  this year and what the donkeys were waiting for, outside someone's gate.

Some walked a few hundred yards and others, a couple of miles.

Everyone agreed that we were indeed exceedingly lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and to be fit enough to enjoy it.

Many thanks to everyone at Hyde Out Cafe for putting up with the whole gang of us taking the place over for half an hour.

Many thanks to the Fordingbridge Rotary Club for their donation of £200 to Avon Valley Dementia Pals.  It will go towards our continued work, helping those affected by dementia.

A grateful thanks to all their members for their hard work.

On the Banks of the River Stour at Tuckton

A grand walk for sixteen Pals and volunteers on a cold, bright, penultimate  day of October.

Some walked for three miles, others, less.

This week we talked of many things; changing times, driverless cars, snowfall, our first cars, the news, families, poodles, cows, the importance of trying to keep walking through old age.

Then, over tea and coffee in Tuckton Tea Gardens, the world was firmly, put to rights.

Friars Cliff Beach

Lovely walk at Friars Cliff  today with a group of Avon Valley Pals and volunteers. It is a regular spot for us in winter as it is dry underfoot, not too crowded and there are plenty of things going on to spark off conversations. Some of us did bird spotting - oyster catchers, plovers, blackback gulls, black headed gulls, cormorants and crows - others, discussed their favourite canine pets and many put the world to rights. We ended up at the Beach Hut Cafe for coffee, where the sun came out to crown another enjoyable walk.

Walk to the Millenium stone at Abbotswell

 A walk from Hyde Cafe to Abbotswell Millennium stone.

Meet the Pals

Avon Valley Dementia group receive £335 from Waitrose.

A great day!  £335 donation from Waitrose, a slow walk along the old railway track, really good chat and a drink at the Fish.