HOOK Gardeners Club: If you are a regular visitor to notable gardens you may already know that the garden at Abbey Cottage in Itchen Abbas is one of the best.

On Monday, January 12, at 8pm, the club will be holding a talk given by Colonel Patrick Daniell CBE, owner of the cottage.

Colonel Daniell has recently converted to organic gardening, of which he says "organic gardening was the element missing from my gardening... now the garden feels complete".

It starts at 8pm in St John's Church room. Entrance costs £1.

You can find out more information about the garden by visiting the RHS website at www.rhs.org.uk or the National Gardens Scheme website at www.ngs.org.uk

EMBROIDERERS Guild: The Hart branch of the guild is holding a talk on the couture house and its history entitled "Fashion and the House of Dior".

The talk runs from 1pm to 3pm on Monday, January 12, at the WI Hall in Hartley Wintney, and entrance costs £2.50.

For more information, please contact Pam on 01252 543367 or Pat on 01252 877965.

VOLUNTEERS needed: You may have seen the posters put up around the village recently by Hook Care Group.

Your help is desperately needed for this vital service in our community.

It provides drivers who can take the elderly or infirm to doctors, dentist or hospital appointments.

This is a very worthwhile and rewarding job, requiring only a small amount of effort on your part but it can make a very big difference to those in the village who are not so mobile.

Any help given will be gratefully received by Hook Care Group - even if you can only spare an hour or two every few weeks.

If you would like to give something back to the community, contact Jane Bryce on 763137.