news and updates

12/11/2025

Christmas eve advent window

24th December @ 16:30

As is customary, the final advent window will be unveiled at the Reading Room on Christmas eve, so please join us for mulled wine and mince pies from 16:00. We’d love to see you there.

12/11/2025

Village Christmas Lunch

Wednesday 3rd December at 12.30 in the Reading Room - All welcome

Some wonderful volunteers are planning on putting on a Christmas Lunch for the village.

Following the success of last Christmas’s lunch we thought it would be a great opportunity for people to get together again this year to kick off the Christmas season. There will be a roast turkey dinner, a choice of desserts or cheese and biscuits and a glass of wine or soft drink for £15 per person.

We will have Christmas music from the children at Helmdon primary school, a raffle and a quick festive quiz and Father Christmas will pop in as well.

Please let Angela Goodall know by Friday 21st November.

There is a sign up form on the notice board in the Reading Room or please email Angela on [email protected]

15/08/2025

the Sound bath returns

Call Jenny-Ann on 07976 281451 to book and avoid disappointment.

31/05/2025

let's shine together

To help celebrate the 10 days of talks, activities and classes organised by the Astwell benefice for their ground breaking Let’s Shine Together festival, the Helmdon Community Foundation has donated £150 to help sponsor the festival, and is opening its doors on Sunday the 8th June for our Relaunch Event to showcase the culmination of our 2 year improvement programme to those who’ve not visited recently.

Please feel free to come in, join in the village treasure hunt to win your picnic hamper, play some games, grab a coffee and cake, and take a look at what the Reading Room has been transformed into. See you there!

16/04/2025

ever tried a sound bath?
well now's your chance

Having done a couple of sound bath sessions remotely during the Covid lockdown months, I can heartily recommend giving this a try.

Call Jenny-Ann on 07976 281451 to book and avoid disappointment.

23/03/2025

amazing success for charity afternoon tea event

Today Claire Bryant and friends organised an afternoon tea event to help raise money for the Kathryn House Hospice in Banbury. Claire is taking part in a London to Paris charity cycle ride in September and the whole village turned out to offer their support and contributions; it was standing room only at this amazingly successful event!

Katharine House Hospice provides specialist care for people with advanced life limiting illness and is reliant on charitable donations to enable it to continue with the amazing support and clinical care provided by a multi-professional team. Over £3.5 million pounds need to be found through fundraising and donations each year and the costs are rising. If you are able to support this amazing charity by making a donation, Claire’s just Giving page is here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/c-bryant-1735649359352

11/02/2025

renovations and upgrades

The current 26 month programme of renovations and upgrades is now nearing completion with the latest round of improvements including:

complete refitting of the general use toilets
removal of all the old radiators,
stripping the boxed lighting from around the walls and rerouting the pipework and cables secreted within them
having all walls re-plastered where needed
painting the new cupboards and all the interior walls in the new colours
removing the crumbling fireplace in the committee room and the wall made good
installing new curtains
installing new sliding partition doors between hall and lounge
mounting a 50″ LCD screen in the lounge area

We hope that you agree that the extensive upgrades that have been achieved have made the Reading Room a far nicer place to be.

15/01/2025

The reading room needs you!

The Helmdon Community Foundation (the charitable trust that oversees the running of the Reading Room) is seeking 3 pro-active, community minded residents to join its board of trustees. If you’re interested in joining our fantastic team to help shape the future of the Reading Room, please get in touch to find out more.

The commitment is not huge, the trustee meetings are a good laugh and you’d be doing something rewarding that really makes a difference to the village. Thank you.