Curvaceous cook

~ bacaadmin

Miso Aubergine
I always buy aubergines, and then am never quite sure what to do with them apart from curry and chilli, but these are so quick and easy on the BBQ. Maybe you have grown some this year, they do really well in our gardens and greenhouses.

  • 1 fat aubergine, sliced across (rather than lengthwise) in about 1cm slices. It doesn’t really matter how you cut them, but I find this easiest
  • 1 heaped tbs each of white miso, tahini and apple cider vinegar, all whisked together
  • Good pinch of chipotle or other chilli flakes if you like them, still good without
  • Black pepper
  • Oil

Rub each side of the aubergine slices with a little oil
Grill or BBQ one side till just colouring, then turn over and grill the other side until just colouring. It should be starting to soften.
Turn back and spread the top with the miso mix
If you are grilling them, grill until just bubbling. On the BBQ, just until it melts a bit.
These are lovely on their own, perhaps with some rice or flatbread, or with a salad. Good hot or cold.

Really Easy and Quick Flatbreads

  • 4 heaped tbs self raising flour
  • 1 level tsp baking powder
  • Good pinch salt
  • 2 tbs (maybe more) plain yoghurt

Simply mix all together, till a smooth ball.

Leave to rest for 10 minutes or so

Divide into 4 and flatten to thin shapes with rolling pin

Heat heavy pan (no oil) and spread the thin slices on top, turning when they puff up.

When both sides look cooked, take them out, brush with butter, and sprinkle on some zataar or dukkah or whatever you fancy, or just have plain

Cover until all are ready

These are good toasted the next day if there are any leftovers….not a problem I have ever had!

Georgina Hayden has lovely recipes for Dukkah and zataar, or you can buy them everywhere these days

Bellingdon Full Fibre Broadband Update

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Hi all, I’m delighted to announce that Openreach have finally completed the Bellingdon Two Gates Full Fibre broadband project and you (129 households) should be able to place orders with your Service Provider of choice (it may take a couple of days to trickle through to some Service Provider ordering systems – Vodafone and Talktalk are lagging behind for example). 

If you are currently locked in a contract, your supplier will allow you to upgrade but they will restart the contract term. I have found that the best policy is to call them, threaten to leave (regardless of contract penalties) and they will put you through to the ‘contract retention team’ who are able to negotiate a deal and will usually match competitive offers in order to retain your business. 

Here’s a sample of the best deals I’ve been able to find at the time of writing – It seems there are two clear frontrunners! (data sourced from broadbandchoices.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, comparethemarket.com)

Provider Speed (Mb) Price Product Name
Plusnet 74 £24.99 Full Fibre 74
Vodafone 100 £25.00 Superfast 100
Plusnet 145 £29.99 Full Fibre 145
Vodafone 500 £35.00 Ultrafast 500
Vodafone 910 £38.00 Gigafast 900

All the best and good luck in getting those deals!!

Tony Orr, on behalf of BAACA

Free Event for Locals – ‘Rumble Festival’ evening

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Bellingdon & Asheridge Village Hall, Wednesday August 10th 2022 6.30pm-10.30pm

As you may be aware in recent years the Bellingdon & Asheridge Village Hall & Field has played host to ‘Rumble Camp’, a summer festival of movement & dance (www.rumblefestival.co.uk). Visitors to the event come from many locations, and this year the team are putting together one free ‘Community Evening’ for local people of all ages, U16’s welcome, to provide us all with an introduction to the Festival which takes place at the weekends of 4th-8th & 11th-15th August. 

Julia Samel, the event organiser, has put together a programme for the evening of Wednesday August 10th.  The evening will run from 6pm-10.30pm (not 11pm as below!, see the attached poster) and will have music and dance and some food & drink (veggie food, & drinks available at a small cost) for those locals attending. 

To attend Julia asks that local individuals sign up (all ages welcome) by clicking here Sign up here to register or to contact her with any questions. (Numbers are limited)

We look forward to seeing you there!

Background info

Rumble Dance Camp Bringing together various different dance styles, combined with an appreciation of a good solid dance floor, tasty and healthy food, Rumble is the place to relax, meet, experience a variety of different movement based practices and most importantly have loads of fun. Please note: this event is alcohol and drug free!

Site Plan

Village Hall AGM (13th July) and Pub Night (15th July)

~ bacaadmin

Join us on Wednesday 13th July at 8pm for the Bellingdon & Asheridge Community Association Annual General Meeting. We’ll have wine and cheese afterwards as well so come along and find out what we’ve been doing in and around the hall.

This is the first “in person” AGM for two years: all adults residents of Bellingdon & Asheridge are automatically members of BAACA and are entitled to vote at the meeting or to stand for election to the management committee.

More information and minutes from previous meetings.

Then on Friday 15th July 6:30-10:30pm we have our ever-popular pub night. Join us for home-cooked food, the usual array of drinks, pub games and good company.

Outside games
We are happy for children (and adults!) to play games outside. However responsibility for children lies with the parents/guardians – and please leave any muddy shoes in the hallway.

Help on the night
We look forward to seeing you at the pub nights, which are run by volunteers. If you are able to assist in the setup, running or clear up after the pub night please do let us know.

More information

**Village Fete 2022: Thank you**

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A massive thank you to everyone who planned, prepared, door knocked, sorted, emptied containers, set up stalls, put up marquees, marshalled traffic, baked cakes, dressed up, ate, drank, listened, heaved, cleared up, took down and packed away.

Quite literally we could not have done it without you! Special mentions to:

  • For sponsoring the fun dog show: OBH Chilterns Pony Club, Blue Ball, Frost Partnership, Wendover Heights Vets, Springwell Vets. And special thanks also to St. John Vets for providing the Rosettes and to Pet Essentials, Top Dawg Studio and Ethically Raised Raw Food who donated prizes for the winning pooches.
  • Kids’ zone & fancy dress: Bellingdon Village Nursery.
  • For marketing materials: Thinkfarm for design and Verve Display for printing all our banners. Robert Matthews and Sainsbury’s for banner display space.
  • Our official photographers: Jenny Goodall and Steve Templeman.
  • Catering supplies: David Hawkes for donating milk for the tea and cake stand.
  • Foodnet for onions and strawberries for the BBQ and bar.
  • To all the local businesses who advertised in the programme – please support them and your local High Street.
  • To all the villagers who contributed at the annual door-knock with prizes and fête “goodies”.
  • To our hard working organisers: Simon Church, Emma Eckersley, Alf Field, Hugh Griffiths, Martin Horsted, Catusha & Mike Warry and Jill & Peter Watson.

And of course, to all the volunteers who helped make the fête happen, both in the planning and on the Big Day!

Thank you. Without you, there’d be no fête.

We’ll see you next year!*

If you can’t get enough of the village hall, please keep an eye on our events calendar.

To get you started, there’s the Annual British Dalmatian Welfare Society Fun day – TODAY (see below) – then the Bellingdon & Asheridge Community Association has its AGM on Wednesday 13th July at 8pm in the hall, followed by a pub night on Friday 15th.

*We’re all off for a lie down! Any omissions above are entirely accidental.