AMBLESIDE Theatre Voices will perform a celebration of winter and Christmas in A Winter’s Tale, a festive pre-Christmas concert at the parish centre, on November 30 (7.30pm).

Tickets from Ambleside Post Office and Hub, or on the door. Proceeds in aid of Alzheimers Research UK. Theatre Voices meet weekly to sing songs from the shows, visit theatre.voices.org for more details. 

THE Langdales branch of the Royal British Legion held its annual coffee morning recently in Ambleside and raised £548 for legion funds, which was the best total ever raised by the event. 

LEARNING Plus, the Ambleside learning charity, is holding its annual meeting next Tuesday, November 26 (11am-noon), at Ambleside Library.

This is followed by a buffet lunch (noon-12.45pm) and the launch of Buddy and Community Information Services.

Learning Plus hold sessions twice weekly in term time at Ambleside Library on Tuesdays (1pm-3pm) and Thursdays (6pm-8pm) for those learning to speak English or for anyone who needs help with IT, life skills or digital technology. 

AMBLESIDE’S Victorian lady of letters, abolitionist, social campaigner and political journalist, Harriet Martineau, is the latest subject for the university’s lecture series, Negotiating a Cultural Landscape: Writers and Artists in the Lakes.  

DR CHRIS Donaldson, of Lancaster University, explores Lady of the Lakes: Harriet Martineau in Ambleside, held at the Percival Lecture Theatre, on December 2 (6.30pm).

Entry free but book at cumbria.ac.uk/about/events/university-events/ambleside/negotiating-acultural-landscape---dr-chris-donaldson.php.

THE Ambleside Rushbearing annual meeting takes place next Wednesday, November 27 (7pm) at St Mary’s Church when nomination forms will be available at the back of church for elections to the committee.

Anyone wishing to be involved with this historic local tradition is welcome and the meeting will discuss the organisation of next summer’s rushbearing. 

THE Ambleside Friends of Guiding Craft Fair and coffee morning is this Saturday, November 23 (10am-2pm) at the Kelsick Centre. It includes craft stalls, cakes and jams, tombola, books and bric-a-brac, with all proceeds towards the upkeep of the guide hut. 

AMBLESIDE Oral History Group (AOHG) will be giving the premiere of its new presentation, Tales of the Unexpected tomorrow (Friday, 7.30pm) at Kelsick Centre.

Tickets at the door. Last week, members invited more than 40 of its recent interviewees to lunch at the Kelsick Centre, to thank them for their recorded memories which are now part of the group’s sound archive of more than 550 interviews.

AOHG has been making recordings for the past 43 years, listening to people from all walks of life, remembering childhood, school days, working lives, wartime service, leisure activities and significant events in their lives both in the Lakes and beyond.

All interviews are transcribed and freely searchable and can be read online at aohg.org.uk, click on search the archive.

More than 25 interviews have been recorded so far on a wide range of topics, from schooldays at Fairfield, taught by trainee teachers from Charlotte Mason College, to memories of serving in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in the Falklands War.

There are also memories of the popular midget racing car, the Skirrow special, designed and built in Ambleside, and of the extraordinary career of an Ambleside ABA Boxing coach.

Builders also recalled traditional building methods, working on landmarks including the spire of St Mary’s Church and a local poet, a painter and a biographer and period mystery novelist have all told of their working lives. The history of Ambleside’s Christmas lights has also been recounted, from their very beginnings 40 years ago to the present-day display and the huge crowds who come to see them. 

Any local clubs looking for a speaker can choose from seven illustrated audio presentations based on extracts from the archive, including Tales of the Unexpected; The Big House; Emergency – Life Before 999; The Great War – Ambleside’s Story; Earning A Crust; A Short Story – Sunderland Flying Boats at White Cross Bay; and Those Were The Days – School Life in the 50s and 60s. To book a presentation, email judith.shingler@btinternet.com or telephone 015394- 34640. 

AGING but agile local superstars, The Elderly Brothers, are performing their popular mix of rock, pop, blues and ballards in Zeffirellis Jazz Bar next Wednesday and Thursday, November 27 and 28 (8.30pm). It is free entry but a collection for charity is planned. Arrive early for a seat. 

ST MARY’S Hospice is holding a Light Up A Life remembrance service on November 29 (6.30pm) at St Mary’s Church, for those who have lost loved ones and for whom Christmas can be a particularly difficult time.

The candle-lit service aims to provide comfort, love and hope while giving families and friends an opportunity to pause, reflect and remember loved ones, and remind them that they are not alone.

All are invited to the parish centre afterwards for refreshments.