Weekly What's On Friday 18 September 2026
Annually Autumnal
Whilst the world turns ever more tumultuously, autumn arrives as usual and so many aspects of it are welcome. There's something invigorating about early autumn days still summery warm, the light turning more golden as afternoons advance; making the most of the last of light as the days shorten, beautiful sunsets swiftly fade, and welcomely cooler nights follow.
September is the start of the season of 'pannage', when pigs are released on the forest to stop the ponies from eating more acorns than are good for them. Living here we become accustomed to these annual traditions but New Forest pannage is also now frequently reported nationally. There's a sense that others also value that annual reassurance, increasingly harder to find.
At this stage of September we are usually well into the season of pony drifts too. But this year is different. Because of the equine flu, the August and September drifts were postponed. As far as I can establish no October dates have yet been set either, but hopefully an update on this next week.
Whilst still enjoying the remnants of summer, at the same time and kind of inevitably as the 'er' months begin, Christmas doesn’t feel quite so far away - and it's acceptable to start talking about it! The eagle eyed will spot that more Christmas events have been added to the Diary below. And while not for everyone, for me September is a great time to start making plans for next year too: having a sense of a shape of the year to come, whatever may come along to change it!
What's Happening...
There was a fantastic turnout last Saturday afternoon to celebrate the official reopening of East Boldre Village Hall following its extensive refurbishment programme. Guest speaker and local historian Dan Snow praised the efforts of everyone involved and commented what a pleasure it was to see the historic building and important community space given a new lease of life.
The Arches Physiotherapy in Lymington is launching yet another initiative, this one for young athletes aged 11-16 who are recovering from injury or simply building up their resilience. It's a Children’s Physio-Pilates Group, blending core stability, muscle balancing, and sport-specific rehabilitation to help kids rebuild strength and prevent re-injury. And it sounds very sympathetically priced: £75 for 6 weekly sessions.
There's lots going on this coming weekend...
Tomorrow there's free free entry for all to Hurst Castle as part of 'Heritage Open Day', England’s largest festival of history and culture which takes place every September as a celebration of history and culture.
Also tomorrow, Durlston School is hosting its first ever Charity Dog Show - a community day for the whole family of fun, wagging tails, and friendly competition! All funds raised will be going to Oakhaven Hospice, helping to support the incredible care it provides to our local community.
Still tomorrow, Lymington Community Centre celebrates Twenty Years of the Met: two decades of onstage glory as experienced in cinemas, featuring highlights from the company’s collection of more than 185 extraordinary onscreen performances. And by the way, the fabulous new Malt Cafe at the Centre has just opened, and if you have a chance to pop in today or tomorrow there's a promotion to vote for your favourite local cinema The Malt! You can vote from their Facebook page here, too. There's a chance to win cinema tickets as well!
On Sunday Careys Manor invites us to allow ourselves to pause, with A Moment to Breathe: Yoga & Meditation.
Also on Sunday there's the Wedding Showcase at Balmer Lawn Hotel, Simply BMW at Beaulieu and the Voices for Hospice Choir Concert – The Armed Man a Mass for Peace.
A mention for next Thursday's Gift of Sight Quiz Night, hosted by Specsavers at Lymington Town Sailing Club in aid of this interesting and important charity; the evening includes an update from the Professor of Ophthalmology at University of Southampton on the latest breakthroughs in sight-saving research.
And next Friday 25 September is the date for this year's annual Macmillan Cancer Coffee Mornings - some are listed below and more will be popping up locally because that's the whole idea: donations from thousands of coffee mornings, big and small, help raise vital funds to support the almost 3.5 million people in the UK living with cancer, from the moment they are diagnosed, throughout treatment and beyond.
Enjoy the last of the summer - with or without the wine for those who remember these things...Sunday especially should be a very pleasant day.
Best wishes Jane
Read the rest of this week's newsletter here
And check out What's On in the Diary of Upcoming Events!
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