It’s Halloooooween! Time for some half-term holiday fun

It’s that time of year when West Berkshire is awash with pumpkins and witches, cauldrons and bats, ghouls and ghosts, and things that go bump in the night …

From Friday 23 to Saturday 31 October, join the Halloween Haunt Hunt in Newbury town centre, brought to you by Newbury BID. Collect your special form from the allocated venue in Parkway Shopping Centre and follow a trail of cauldrons around the town collecting clues. Those who work out and find all 15 clues and crack a code will be in with a chance of winning something spookily special at the prize draw which takes place on Sunday 1 November at Newbury Artisan market.

From Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November there is the Bucklebury Giant Pumpkin Hunt at Bucklebury Farm Park (www.buckleburyfarmpark.co.uk) where you can take a walk on the wild side through their new spooky woodland maze.

Cobbs Farm at Hungerford (www.cobbsfarmshop.co.uk) have some great Halloween activities planned:
· Pumpkin carving takes place in their marquee Monday 26–Friday 30 October, 10am–4pm. Just turn up and get carving.
· Friday 30 October sees the Cobbs Farm Halloween Extravaganza. Dress up in your scariest outfit to enter their fancy dress competition and play some traditional Halloween games, including apple bobbing and pumpkin hurling.

Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre (www.bbowt.org.uk/nature-discovery-centre) has lots of Halloween entertainment:
· Tuesday 27 October – drop in between 11am and 4pm and make your very own ghost puppet at their Recycled Arts Workshop.
· Thursday 29 October – pre-booking is needed for the Spook-tacular Science event where you can make gooey Halloween slime in a wonderful workshop for ages 3–10. Sessions run 10–11am, 11.30am–12.30pm, 1–2pm, 2.30–3.30pm.
· Friday 30 October – another drop in event between 11am and 4pm: Green Halloween. Dress up in your best spooky outfit and enter the fancy dress competition, and watch out for all sorts of fun activities including Teresa Queen Bee with her Bee Punch & Judy Show, see the magical Mr Alexander's travelling show, create bubbles with pedal-power, make spine-tingling discoveries about hedgehogs … and much more.

Go Pumpkintastic at Five A Day Market Garden at Englefield, near Theale, (www.fiveaday.org.uk) from Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 October. Family activity sessions run 10am–1pm where you can carve a pumpkin lantern, decorate a magic wand, and find out about spooky and magical wildlife and traditions.

Or how about a Creepy Cruise? Children can dress up in their Halloween costumes and take a trip on the Jubilee Narrowboat from The Wharf in Newbury where Halloween horrors await! Creepy Cruises sail Tuesday 27–Friday 30 October, 2–3pm. Pre-book at Newbury Visitor Information Centre (tel 01635 30267).

Many people’s favourite Halloween creature has to be a bat, so why not go on a Bat Box Building Workshop? These batty half-hour workshops happen at Beale Park, Lower Basildon (www.bealepark.co.uk) on Wednesday 28 October, 10.30am–12.30pm on a first-come-first-served basis.

Shaw House in Newbury is in on the spooky happenings too:
· Join their Scuttling Rat activity day on Wednesday 28 October, 10am–4pm. This is where children aged 4–11 can make a scuttling rat and take part in a Halloween-themed trail. No need to book, just drop in. (Tel 01635 279279 for more details.)
· It will be Halloween Party Night on Saturday 31 October, 6.30–8.30pm. This promises to be ghoulishly good fun as in the grounds of Shaw House there will be Halloween trails, apple bobbing and snapping (make sure you take a torch). In the house there will be Halloween crafts, ghostly story time, and trick or treating throughout the night. Arrive dressed for the fancy dress competition at 6.30pm. Suitable for age 4 and upwards and must be pre-booked at Shaw House or Newbury Visitor Information Centre (01635 30267).

West Berkshire Museum in Newbury (01635 519562) is housed in a very old building, the perfect venue for these family-friendly Halloween activities:
· Make a Spooky Spider at their family activity day on Thursday 29 October, 10am–3pm, or get busy with tissue and glitter making a stained-glass pumpkin or ghost on Friday 30 October, 10am–3pm. These activities are aimed at 4–11 year-olds but older and younger children are welcome.
· As darkness falls, which members of the family will be brave enough to tour the  Museum at Night by torchlight on Friday 30 October, 6–8pm? Take your own torch and explore only by its light ...

Spooky-Tacula Shows take place in the Kennet Centre in Newbury on Friday 30 October at 10.30am, 12noon and 2.30pm. These shows are presented by CBeebies very own Alex Winters with lots of fun, games, music and challenges for fiendish young shoppers. Prizes for the best spooky fancy dress costume too!

2 Wild at Path Hill Farm, Goring Heath, near Reading will have a Halloween Extravaganza for ghouls, ghosts, witches and wizards on Friday 30 October, 9.30am–3.30pm. Dare to scare by arriving in fancy dress costume. Spend a ghoulishly ghostly time in the hair-raising Hardwick Woods. Make a broomstick or a woodland monster. Create your own spider’s web. Follow the pumpkin treasure trail and munch marshmallow ghosts. Play giants, elves and wizards, quidditch relay and ghoulish Guess What. Book in advance, ages 5 and over (www.2wild.co.uk).

Eddie Catz in Newbury (www.eddiecatz.com) is hosting a hauntingly good Halloween Party on Friday 30 October, 5.30–7.30pm. Magic and entertainment, dancing at the Halloween disco and a fancy dress catwalk competition with prizes for the best costumes. Entrance by ticket only and suitable for ages 2–8.

The Skeleton Ball at the Corn Exchange in Newbury is going to be a spook-tactular extravaganza on Saturday 31 October at 1pm, 3.30pm and 6pm. There will be ghostly activities, spine-tingling story time, dancing at the bone-jangling disco, prizes for the best fancy dress and much more. (Free but must be pre-booked: www.cornexchangenew.com.)

And finally, nothing will chill the blood as much as darkness falls on Halloween itself, Saturday 31 October, as hearing wolves howling. Do this at Wolf Howl Night at 7pm at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust at Beenham, near Reading (ukwct.org.uk). You’ll find out lots of fascinating facts about wolves at this event which must be booked in advance. You won’t see the wolves but you will hear them hoooooowl …

PLEASE NOTE: Parental supervision is required at most activities. A fee is chargeable for several of them and admission fees may also apply. Some events need to be pre-booked. Contact the venues for full details.

The Merry Month of May in Newbury

There is so much happening in Newbury over the next few weeks that the month of May is indeed lining up to be a merry one.

First up is the Car Festival, brought to you by Parkway Shopping Newbury and Newbury BID (Business Improvement District). This is taking place over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 2 to Monday 4 May at Parkway. Zoom along to experience the very best on four wheels: Mercedes, BMW, Maserati and lots more….

Also on Bank Holiday Monday, 4 May, is the Round Table Crafty Craft Race. This annual charity fund-raising event happens on the stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal running between the village of Kintbury and Victoria Park in Newbury. First started in 1974, this is a fun boat race where teams in home-made boats sail along this five-mile stretch of water. Competitors navigate their vessels along the canal, carry them around the seven locks, and paddle their way to the finish line in Victoria Park. But the fun doesn’t stop there as ‘Vicky Park’ is host to a great day of entertainment for all the family. More details, including how to enter a team in the race or to reserve a stall in Victoria Park, from www.craftycraft.com.

On Saturday 9 May, Paddington Bear is coming to town! Following hot on the heels of the wonderful film about him, everyone’s favourite bear is travelling with First Great Western from the London station after which he is named to arrive in style in Newbury. Paddington will be ‘meeting and greeting’ in Parkway, where there will be special events taking place all day long. He’s going to be one busy little bear so maybe you could pack a few marmalade sandwiches…?

That same week sees the start of one of West Berkshire’s most prestigious musical events of the year: Newbury Spring Festival 2015. Running from Saturday 9 to Saturday 23 May, this is a full-on fabulous ‘Festival Fortnight’. Now in its 37th year, many venues throughout West Berkshire – from Sheepdrove Farm at Lambourn to Highclere Castle, from the Corn Exchange Newbury to Douai Abbey to name but a few – play host to leading musical talent and rising stars covering many genres. The first evening starts, as is tradition, with a classical concert at St Nicolas Church in the centre of Newbury – but don’t for one minute think the whole fortnight is about classical music. There really is something for everyone of all ages (even babies!): jazz, orchestral, poetry recitals, theatre, film … the list is endless. Full details at www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk and tickets from the Corn Exchange, www.cornexchangenew.com, Box Office 0845 5218 218.

As the Spring Festival draws to a close on the Saturday, that same weekend, on Sunday 24 May, the Bayer Newbury 10K and Under-16s Races take place. Local business Bayer is once again partnering Newbury Athletic Club (NAC) for the Bayer Newbury 10K run, plus two pre-event runs for under-16s. All races start in the Market Place, Newbury and races for the under-16s follow a route around the town centre on traffic-free roads. This year the event supports Naomi House and Jacksplace children’s hospices. Details of how to enter at www.bayer.co.uk/newbury-10k. But you don’t have to run to join in the fun – go along and cheer on the runners!

Rounding off the month is the start of this year’s Banjo Cycles Summer Cyclocross, commencing on Thursday 28 May. Competitive cyclists of all ages and experience are welcome to go along and join in at Goldwell Park in Newbury. The fun starts at 5.30pm and runs over six consecutive Thursdays, the final one being on 2 July. There will be lots of different courses to try out, suitable for those who want to push themselves and those who prefer to take things a little more steady, and all on grass tracks. Pre-register or just turn up on the night: further details at www.banjocycles.com.

And that’s just May! Summer is just around the corner, so keep a look out for more Newbury fun over the coming months.

Giant Easter Egg Hunt: 3–18 April 2015

The Easter school holidays are on the horizon, and what better way to keep children of all ages (from 1 to 101!) amused than with Newbury’s Giant Easter Egg Hunt 2015? If it’s anything like the one in 2014, it’s going to be cracking good fun!

This year’s Giant Easter Egg Hunt starts on Good Friday (3 April) and runs for over two weeks, ending on Saturday 18 April, and as it incorporates three weekends this gives everyone plenty of time to get involved.

So, how does it work? It’s simple. All you need to do is collect an entry form from Parkway Easter Zone on East Street or the Visitor Information Centre in Market Place (available from 3 April). This will present you with a series of 15 clues about where in Newbury town centre you will find the giant Easter eggs, planted by Newbury’s very own Easter bunny. Follow the trail around town – it is all within easy walking distance – as you work out the crafty clues. When you find each of the 15 giant eggs you will also find a special letter that will go towards cracking a secret code. Once you’ve completed the trail and cracked the code, all entry forms need to be returned to the Easter Zone in Parkway – then keep your fingers crossed!

Everyone who works out the code correctly will be in with a chance of winning a fabulous prize, including a fantastic first prize of a £250 voucher from John Lewis at Home. It is expected that competition winners will be announced on 18 April, but no later than 20 April.

Which shops and businesses are involved? Well, that would be telling! But what we can do is thank Newbury BID, Newbury Building Society, Parkway Shopping Newbury, Pageant Party shop in Cheap Street and Rainbows in Inches Yard who are sponsoring the event and giving everyone this exciting opportunity.

Even if you don’t have time to complete the trail, while you are in Newbury over the Easter period you are sure to enjoy admiring the magnificent giant Easter Eggs – they really are enormous and hugely colourful. Many of them have been designed by local junior schools, giving the children a great time demonstrating their artistic talents. Others have been decorated by local craft shop Rainbows.

Many people who participated in the Giant Easter Egg Hunt 2014 voted it an out and out success, and this year it is anticipated that even more locals and visitors to the town will take part. We hope to see you there!