Welcome to the latest update from the North Hants group

Coffee mornings have continued each month at Waitrose café (Basingstoke), alternating between Wednesday and Saturday mornings, and it has been a good chance to meet up with new and familiar faces.

Our most recent coffee morning in April was combined with a short AGM and we were delighted that lots of you were able to join us for that meeting, and as a result the group is now able to continue for another year. Thank you to all of you who came, and special thanks to those who came specifically because it was an AGM and you wanted to help us get the required quorum.

Here are the dates for coffee mornings for the rest of the year. We meet at Waitrose from 10.30 – 12.00.

Wednesday 22nd May
Saturday 22nd June
Wednesday 17th July
Saturday 21st September
Wednesday 23rd October
Saturday 16th November

We hope you can come and join us!

It’s not too late to join us for...

...a gluten free Afternoon Tea at the Palm Brasserie in Deane, 10 minutes’ drive from Basingstoke, on June 11th. This is afternoon tea with a difference, with a selection of gluten free savouries instead of the usual sandwiches, followed by scones with jam and cream and a selection of cakes and desserts.

The cost is £23.95 per person with a £10 deposit payable in advance. We’ve been able to extend the date for expressing your interest in coming along to this Friday, 24th May. Email us at northhampshire@coeliac.org.uk to let us know if you’d like to come.

The children’s group is growing!

This year so far they have been to The Pottery Stable in Tadley to do pottery painting (see below photo), Pirates Landing soft play in Wokingham (from where the parents even managed to join us on Zoom at our AGM, despite the challenge of the noise!) and they had lots of fun at the village fete in Bramley (near Basingstoke) last weekend.

Seven of the children are fundraising for Coeliac UK during May as part of Awareness month. Six of them are hoping to cycle, run, walk or swim the distance around North Hampshire (130 miles) and one is doing 100 skips each day. If you would like to support them you can check out all the details here: North Hampshire kids go the distance and Daisy's 100 skips-a-day in May 

You can also see how far the children have gone so far here.

Our next family meet up is taking place on June 29th at California Country Park near Finchampstead. For more information please visit our website:
https://www.coeliac.org.uk/local-groups/north-hampshire/events/10197-family-meet-up-picnic-and-play/
If you would like to join us or have any questions please email us.

Gemma has more plans for events with the children during the second half of the year, including the Children’s Christmas Party which is due to take place on Saturday 30 November at 3.30pm. More details will be sent out later once they have been finalised.

Summer walk and Christmas meal

In the summer we are hoping to arrange a walk and picnic (weather permitting!) for members of all ages. This will be a leisurely walk, starting within a short drive of Basingstoke. Let us know if this is something you’d be interested in – and also if you have a favourite walk that you think would be suitable for us to try.

Would you believe that we are already planning our Christmas meal! Our visit to BCOT last year was so popular we’d like to go there again. Some dates are already fully booked and we have reserved 30 spaces for Thursday 5th December. More details later.

We always enjoy hearing from group members so please feel free to get in touch via email at northhampshire@coeliac.org.uk

Faye, Carol, Lesley, Margaret, Sue, Gemma and Keith