Beer festival at the top of Saturday's events
This year there will be more than 200 different drinks available for people to sample, as well as a range of hot food and live music performances.
Among the acts signed up for this year are Newbury’s very own classic funk and soul group The Groove Thing and Reading-based rockers No Connection who will both perform on the main stage.
The festival will see the return of the popular toffee apple cider as well as the introduction of its first-ever sour beer, called Summer Breeze, from Silchester company Wild Weather Ales.
Other drinks on offer will range from a light 3.2 per cent Diamond Lil’ ale from the Two Cocks Brewery to a 7.5 per cent cider from Lilley’s Cider Barn for those with a taste for something stronger.
This year’s event will start at noon and run until late. Tickets cost £10, which includes three alcoholic drink tokens.
More than 3,000 revellers attended last year’s event, which raises money for Naomi House Children’s Hospice, a charity offering services including end-of-life care and emergency and bereavement support.
Wash Common's Garden and Craft Show returns to the Wash Common Community Centre at 2pm today.
Home-grown produce, flowers, home baking, crafts, and art will be on display and there will also be an auction and refreshments.
People across West Berkshire can learn about the district’s First World War casualties at a series of exhibitions this weekend.
Theale will be transported back 100 years at a special fete and exhibition, Theale Remembers – 1914-18, held at the recreation ground in Englefield Road between noon and 5pm today.
Theale Parish Council has received £7,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the project, which will focus on what life in Theale and the surrounding area was like 100 years ago and how things have changed since the Great War.
To mark the war’s centenary, people can discover the stories behind the men on the village war memorial, and artefacts from the period will also be on display.
Visitors will be given a taste of village social life 100 years ago, with attractions including bowling for a pig, Punch & Judy, an exhibition cricket match and poetry reading. Refreshments will be available from the traditional beer and temperance tents as well as an old fashioned tea room.
Clerk to Theale Parish Council, Jo Friend, said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund for what will be a truly memorable community event.
"The interest and enthusiasm shown for our 1914–18 Village Fete and Exhibition has been fantastic and shows that people are keen to learn more about their local history.”
Great Shefford will honour it’s fallen soldiers from the village, East Shefford and Shefford Woodlands, with family trees, newspaper cuttings and pictures.
The exhibition will be held between 11am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday in Great Shefford Village Hall.
Speen Parish Council are also putting on a public exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the war’s outbreak.
Documents, pictures, maps and artefacts relevant to the period, including the display created by Stockcross & Surroundings History Association, will be on display at Speen Parish Hall, Speen Lane, between 10am and 5pm on Sunday.
The parish council wants to hear from people who have any information or articles that they would be willing to loan for the day. Contact the clerk, Catherine Gorvin, on 07584435656.
People can also explore Shaw House for free this weekend.
The sixteenth century house will welcome visitors through its doors for free during normal opening hours on September 13 and 14 as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme.
Heritage Open Days celebrates England’s architecture and culture by offering free access to places that are usually closed to the public or normally charge for admission.
Built in 1581 by Newbury clothier Thomas Dolman the Elizabethan building was home to successive Dolman families, the flamboyant Duke of Chandos and the Andrews, Eyre and Farquhar families.
Over this time the House played host to several royal visitors, including Elizabeth I.
Shaw House will be open between 11am and 4pm with introductory talks at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm.
The last open air cinema event of the year will take place at Shaw House in Newbury today.
The multi-Oscar winning Les Miserables will be screened at sunset in the grounds of the historic building.
The film, set in 19th-century France, sees Jean Valjean taking over care of a factory worker’s daughter while being relentlessly pursued by Jevert, the ruthless policeman, for breaking parole after stealing a loaf of bread.
Keith Ulyatt, public relations manager for West Berkshire council said: “We’re looking forward to this final film of the year.
“All those attending these events in this unique setting seem to have had a great time, so this last one is not to be missed.”
A large area of the garden will be available for setting up deckchairs and picnic blankets. Members of the public are welcome to bring their own food.
There will also be a barbecue, Pimms tent and other light refreshments available.
Classified as a 12, tickets are priced at £12 for adults or £8 for children and students.
Doors open at 6.15 and the film will start at 8pm. Tickets can be purchased from Newbury Information Centre or by calling 01635 30267.
The showing is a separate ticketed event and not part of the Heritage Open Days scheme.
The West Berkshire Ramblers will be setting off on another weekend walk today.
The group will meet in the Hamsptead Norreys village hall car park at 10am before setting off on a 3.5 mile walk via Firtree Farm, St Abbs, Eling and Park Wood.
Or you can learn more about the conservation work being carried out on Snelsmore Common by heading to the Rangers Seasonal Walk at Snelsmore Common Country Park, Wantage Road, between 10.30am and 1pm.
