Alton U3A will hold its AGM at Alton Community Centre on June 12 at 2pm, with refreshments served afterwards.

An open afternoon at the community centre on August 8 will be an ideal opportunity to find out more about the U3A and its activities. Visitors can meet and talk to group leaders and committee members.

The 2026-27 annual programme will be published in mid-July, with copies available from Alton Community Centre, Alton Library and the Curtis Museum. Full details can also be found at https://alton.u3asite.uk, along with further information about Alton U3A.

The challenges of crime and policing in and around Alton were outlined to a meeting of local Rotary members recently by a member of the community police team, Jess Hornsby.

Jess is a police community support officer and part of the police team covering the area around Alton.

She explained that one of the team’s objectives was the prevention of crime at a local level and ensuring that crime levels were accurately reported. She said one of the issues the team had to deal with was the volume of unreported crime in the area.

Jess spoke to members in her heavy stab protection vest equipped with body cameras for evidence gathering.

The community police team works with other force teams when necessary, including a response team covering a larger area, a road traffic team, an armed response team and volunteer special constables.

It also works with a country watch team specialising in rural crime which is equipped with heat-sensing drones for searching remote areas for missing people.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has more than 100 PCSOs like Jess. She said she returned to the job after a career break because it offered a fascinating challenge.

She works shifts but can be emailed at [email protected] for advice on local crime and policing issues.

For more information on Alton Rotary Club visit www.altonrotaryclub.uk

The ecumenical coffee morning, which takes place at Alton Methodist Church every Tuesday, celebrated its 20th birthday on April 21.

Past coffee servers joined the current teams and the regular customers to enjoy free coffee and cakes, including a magnificent birthday cake.

Begun with two members from the Church of St Lawrence and two from Alton Methodist Church, the coffee morning used only Fairtrade ingredients and sold Fairtrade products. The coffee, tea and sugar used is still fairly traded only.

Seven teams, comprising members from the Parish of the Resurrection and Alton Methodist Church, now take turns to run the weekly sessions.

All profits go to charity and over the 20 years of its existence the coffee morning has donated more than £10,000 to local charities. It also provides friendship and fellowship for its many customers.

On May 21 the members of Bake, Natter and Roll Farnham WI were busy bees at their meeting in the Small Hall at the Spire Church.

They were entertained by Juliet Evans from The Hive Helpers Project of Farnham as she raised their awareness of bees.

Juliet’s daughter Erica started Hive Helpers in 2021 and they have become very involved with Farnham Community Farm.

Juliet said that in the UK there was only one type of honey bee but various different types of bumble bees and solitary bees.

Bees are very important pollinators and they need habitat to forage, which is being depleted. Solitary bees like to be close to their homes.

Juliet took members through the life cycle of bees, how they pollinate, and other insects that also pollinate. She said some of the bees' favourite plants were ones people might class as weeds, such as dandelions and toad flax. Member Debbie even dressed up in the full beekeeping kit.

Farnham has a bee safari leaflet, available from the Farnham Town Council offices, and one of the most popular places for bees is the library.

Staying on the bee theme, cake bakers Melisa and Bobbie created delicious bakes that had honey as one of the ingredients or were decorated with bees.

After Juliet’s presentation the general news of Bake, Natter and Roll was discussed, such as the curry club, book group, theatre group, walks available with the Farnham Walking Festival and the forthcoming guided walk around Brookwood Cemetery.

On June 18 Bake, Natter and Roll will have a members-only get-together at the Ceramics Café. The next full meeting will be on July 16 at 7.45pm in the Small Hall at the Spire Church in South Street, Farnham.

For more information email [email protected]

The roses are blooming weeks earlier than anyone can remember. In her garden in Lower Froyle, Corinna Furse is already busy deadheading.

Nine beautiful gardens in Froyle will be opening their gates between 1.30pm and 6pm over the weekend of June 6 and 7.

Tickets cost £10 (under-12s free), in support of the National Garden Scheme. There will be lots to see and ideas to take away. There will be plants for sale, delicious home-made teas in the village hall, and free parking on the recreation ground in Lower Froyle.

For more information visit www.froyleopengardens.org.uk

Bourne Blades FC is looking for current Year 10 pupils to join both of its under-16 teams for the 2026-27 season.

There will be a trial on the top artificial pitch at Weydon School in Farnham on June 16 at 7pm. Players of all abilities and positions are welcome.

A club spokesperson said: “We are looking for players who display a positive attitude, respect and teamwork, who are keen to learn and improve.”

For more information visit [email protected]

Over the late May bank holiday weekend Alton welcomed a party of 20 visitors from the French town of Pertuis to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the twinning between the two towns.

Members of the Alton Town Twinning Association (ATTA) hosted the visitors in their own homes, while a programme of activities kept everyone busy in very Provencal hot weather.

The opening event on May 22 was a mayor’s reception in the Alton Assembly Rooms hosted by newly-elected Alton town mayor Cllr Barbara Tansey.

Welcome speeches were made by the mayor, her predecessor Cllr Annette Eyre and Emmanuel Ferreira, vice-president of Pertuis’ twinning association.

Afterwards visitors and hosts were invited to the nearby Freedom of Expression gallery, an enterprise of the Mouth and Foot Painting Association Trust Fund.

Fund chair Tom Yendell introduced the party to the work of the gallery, which trains children and adults with disabilities in the arts, and to the works on display by artists including mouth and foot painters.

Then the visitors enjoyed a guided walk around the town, showing them some of the historic buildings and heritage, not least the bullet holes from the Civil War in the Church of St Lawrence’s door.

In the evening everyone gathered for a convivial bring and share supper at Beech Village Hall, with a quiz, some singing, and a magnificent spread of food contributed by ATTA hosts and members.

A highlight was the cutting of a 20th anniversary cake, with icing displaying the Union Flag and the Tricolor. The event was also attended by members of Alton Ramblers, who make joint trips with Pertuisien counterparts.

On May 23 the party took a coach ride to Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard to see the Mary Rose museum. They were hugely impressed by both the ship itself and the countless artefacts recovered showing all aspects of life on board.

The guests noted with satisfaction that the ship sank in 1545 while in pursuit of the French: diplomatically, HMS Victory next door is currently hidden under a web of scaffolding during restoration.

May 24 was a day for individual hosts to show their guests something of southern England. Some went for leafy walks in the local countryside, while others went as far afield as Stonehenge and Salisbury.

That evening the Pertuisiens’ visit was rounded off with an outstanding dinner at the Rose & Crown in Upper Farringdon.

Speeches were made celebrating the enduring friendship between Alton and Pertuis, and gifts were exchanged, ceramic items hand-made by artisans in the two towns.

There was special mention that contact at school level between the towns had restarted after the disruption of Covid.

An ATTA spokesperson said: “We were sad to wave goodbye to our guests on bank holiday Monday, but it was very much au revoir not adieu. We will meet each other again before long to maintain and further develop our strong partnership.”

ATTA thanked Alton Town Council, East Hampshire District Council and Resurrection Furniture in Alton for grants which helped make this 20th anniversary twinning visit such a success.

In addition to exchange visits, ATTA arranges social and fundraising events throughout the year. New members are welcome. For more information email Patric Hinde at [email protected] or visit www.altontwinning.org.uk