Moroccan Night & Quiz
On ‘Leap Night’ – February 29th, Sally & Alistair invited us to a Moroccan Evening and Quiz. We started with olives, hummus and home-made crisps, followed by the main course of a tasty, spicy vegetable tagine and couscous, finishing up with a delicious dessert of home-made orange sponge topped with oranges and cream. Each course was interspersed with the different ‘legs’ of a riotous quiz and the evening concluded with the raffle and ‘heads and tails’. This exotic evening raised a fantastic £1103.00 towards our new Church Hall.
Burns’ Night
Our first event of 2020 was Burns’ Night on January 25th which was, as usual, ably hosted by Kim, Russell and Ian. Tartan abounded, the Saltire was on display, the Haggis was suitably addressed and served with traditional ‘neeps and tatties’ with whisky gravy. We then enjoyed a cranachan dessert, poetry, readings and songs, a raffle, Ryan’s beer and much laughter! This brilliant evening brought the community together to have great fun and raise £666.50 towards the Church Hall rebuild.
ASTRA Annual Curry Buffet at The Jalori
4th November found us once again at The Jalori in Woburn Sands for our annual Charity Buffet organised by Alastair and Lisa Brooks and hosted by Ahmed (who kindly donates half the ticket price directly to ASTRA) and his marvellous staff. As always the buffet was delicious and efficiently and professionally served. Together with a raffle and the auction of a beautiful piece of jewellery generously given to us by John Woolfe of Woolfe Jewellery, Milton Keynes, the evening raised an amazing £1,400.00.
Metro Bank Talk on Bank Scams
On Monday, September 30th ASTRA hosted a free talk by Mike Adamson of Metro Bank, Milton Keynes, on Cyber Crime. The content was most alarming as, in this country, almost a billion pounds has been stolen from our bank accounts by a plethora of frauds and, if you have not already been caught by these crimes, you probably will in the future! So do take care and encourage your family and friends to tighten up their security steps.
Foodie Night
On Saturday, 28th September, Gill and Andy presented their ‘Foodie Night’ at the Pavilion. Guests were welcomed with a glass of bubbly, followed by a delicious three-course spread with hummus, olives and nibbles to start, then wine, cheese and cold meats and baklava and dessert wine to finish. We enjoyed a ‘foodie quiz’, a raffle and Horne’s Brewery bar and were entertained with rousing live music from ‘Old School’. This brilliant evening raised an marvellous £818.97.
Church Hall Grand ‘Tidy Up’
On Saturday, August 31st the mops and buckets, polish and dusters, paint pots and brushes came out to give the Hall a good Spring Clean and spruce up! The Village rallied round and, fuelled by sandwiches and cake from volunteers, the windows were cleaned, the curtains washed, the tired paint-work touched up, the loos ‘refreshed’ and even the sagging floor shored up in preparation for the Playgroup’s new term beginning in September. Thanks to everyone who came to help – it was a lot of work but a lot of fun too – and really showcased the perfect Community Spirit which is so prevalent in our village.
We are all helping Emily
With grateful thanks to Ahmed and his staff at the Jalori Restaurant in Woburn Sands, the village community banded together on June 10th 2019 to enjoy delicious food, chance their luck in the raffle and raise a wonderful £1,095 towards the necessary funding for a life-saving liver transplant for our own Emily Locking. We would like to thank everyone for their generosity in helping this brave and inspirational lady.
We are all helping Emily 2
On June 25th 2019 we held our second fundraiser for Emily. Simon and Denise generously gave their time to host another of their amazing ‘Wine Tasting Evenings’. Simon served up a delicious meal for next to nothing while Denise struggled to make herself heard over the laughter and chat with information about the lovely wines she was presenting and which we must try to buy when next at the supermarket. Naturally, the evening would not have been complete without ‘Simon’s Magic’ performance following the meal!
A staggering £1,117.01 was raised for Emily. We have to thank the wonderful team who helped to put on this event as well as all those who helped set-up and then dismantle the hall, wash-up and stack away the tables and chairs. Thanks also to those who donated the raffle and auction items and, of course, all those who joined in to give so generously to this urgent appeal.
Thankyou!
Of course, none of our events could ever take place without the ‘unsung army’ of ‘Friends of ASTRA’ who regularly and quietly come along to set out and decorate the hall, prepare and serve the food, clear away, wash up and then deconstruct and tidy everything away at the end. You really are stars and we can’t thank you enough!
We hope that it won’t be too long before we can start getting together again. In the meantime – everybody stay safe and well and we look forward to seeing all friends, both old and new, once this danger is past.
ASTRA Community Projects - Bow Brickhill 