Good morning, Wycombe!
I’m currently sat in light disbelief that it’s October. Wasn’t it August a fortnight ago?! Probably explains why I’m in a permanent state of feeling as though I’ve forgotten to do something Very Important.
But don’t mind my minor existential disaster. Wycombe’s full of frolics this week:
🪶 First Friday is back
💆🏻♀️ I’ve found an amazing local massage place
📌 Introducing… the Wycombe Noticeboard
Plus my Operation Mincemeat review, a Shrek tribute band, and all the usual larks.
🪶🦢 First Friday Is Tomorrow — Follow The Feathers
You might have spotted them already: chalk feathers on the steps outside Patch and all across the High Street. A swan in a crown turning up on signs around town. It's been telling people to "please swander about" and insisting no one messes with the Wycombe Swan…
Last month’s act
It all leads back to the Guildhall tomorrow evening. There'll be live music and somewhere to sit. There's no set programme, so start there and then to and fro your own way into the weekend.
📅 Friday 2nd October, 5–7pm
📍 Starting at the Guildhall, High Street
🎟️ Free — no ticket needed
Heading home from work? Take the long way through town. Stay a little longer, leave a little later.
Editor’s Highlights
📍 Trinity United Reformed Church | 🗓️ Tonight, 7:30pm
Tony Mealing traces the story of All Saints Church and the town that grew up around it. Free, with refreshments after.
📍 Old Town Hall | 🗓️ Sat 3rd Oct, 3.30pm or 8.30pm
Boozy bingo with a full DJ set, dance-offs, lip-sync battles and prizes that go well beyond a book of stamps - past winners have taken home a holiday.
📍 Wycombe Museum | 🗓️ Sun 4th Oct, 1pm
Hear from the artists of Fractured Land Collective about their work and the Truth or Folly exhibition, followed by Q&A.
📍 We Make Wycombe | 🗓️ Sat 3rd-Sun 4th Oct, 10am–4pm
Textiles, photography, painting and diamond art by learning-disabled and neurodivergent artists.
⚖️ Twelve Angry Men at the Wycombe Swan — 25% Off For Pulse Readers
A life in the balance. Twelve men. One verdict.
Fresh from record-breaking West End seasons, the courtroom classic comes to Wycombe Swan this month. What looks like an open-and-shut murder case unravels as the jurors' prejudices and assumptions about the accused, the trial and each other come out, one argument at a time, until a nail-biting climax…
Pulse readers get 25% off midweek performances with our exclusive link.
📅 Tuesday 13 October, 7.30pm
📅 Wednesday 14 October, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
📅 Thursday 15 October, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
🎟️ Save 25% with the Wycombe Pulse link below
👉 Book with 25% off https://booking.trafalgartickets.com/en/wycombe-swan-theatre/specialoffer/6dwm6sfkpjpdi
Wellness Moments
🔔 Sound Bath: Letting Go
📍 Hughenden Village Hall | 📅 Fri 2nd October, 7.30pm
Guided breathwork and crystal singing bowl sound healing.
📝 An Evening with a Therapist
📍 Patch | 🗓️ Tonight, 7:30pm
Therapist Dan on what actually happens in the therapy room, and why talking things through helps.
💻 Neo Agency - Websites That Get Found 🔍
Good work deserves a website that shows it off, and one people can actually find.
Neo is High Wycombe’s own web design agency. They build sites for businesses here and further afield, then look after them long after launch.
🛠️ They design it, build it, then keep it secure and up to date
🌱 Starting out or well established, there's a package that fits
💬 Stuck? Their support hub replies within 15 minutes
📱 Site down at 2am? WhatsApp them and a real developer picks it up
🤖 Built to show up on Google and AI search results
Luke Belson Landscaping wanted a site that matched the standard of their gardens. Here’s how it went:
Your work speaks for itself. Make sure your website does too.
Get Creative
🫖 Mid-Autumn Tea Tasting Event
📍 Elané Asian Market | 🗓️ Sun 4th Oct, 11.30am
Sample rare teas paired with mooncake and traditional food to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival.
♻️ Belonging in Wycombe: Recycle Modelling
📍 We Make Wycombe Hub | 🗓️ Wed 7th Oct, 6pm
Build a shared recycled model of the Wycombe we want to see — part of the free Belonging in Wycombe series.
🍂 Autumn Wreath Creative Session
📍 Cedar Barn | 🗓️ Tue 6th Oct, 7pm
Make a wreath from dried grasses, flowers and fruits, with guidance for all skill levels.
🎤🟢 Two Nights, Two Very Different Moods @ The Venue Bucks
It's a big one on Friday, then off to the swamp on Saturday.
📅 Fri 2nd Oct, 10pm–3am | SHUTDOWN
Young T & Bugsey play their biggest tracks live, including Don't Rush and Strike a Pose, with Tino opening the night. Big production, massive tunes and serious energy all night.
📅 Sat 3rd Oct, 7–11pm | The Ogretones
The UK's #1 Shrek tribute band are performing iconic music from the films, decked out in their ogre ears and ready for singalongs. Expect plenty of nostalgia and Shrek-themed chaos.
📍 The Venue Bucks
Friday's for the late crowd. Saturday's for anyone who's watched Shrek more times than they'd like to admit…
🎭 Theatre
💼 What. A. Show. We were kindly invited to opening night of Operation Mincemeat at Wycombe Swan, the musical about the 1943 plot to fool the Nazis with a dead man and some fake papers. It’s magnificent: I guffawed like I've rarely guffawed in a theatre, and Dear Bill had me welling up. It's on until Sat 3rd Oct, so be quick. 👉 Read my full review here
🎄 A Christmas Carol
The Valley Players mark their 10th anniversary this Christmas with Dickens's festive classic. Scrooge, three ghosts and one long night that changes everything. Tickets available online from today.
📌 New: The Wycombe Noticeboard
Remember the corkboard in the newsagent's window? A room to rent, piano lessons, a lost cat. I've built a Wycombe version, online.
The Wycombe Noticeboard is for anything you'd like local people to see when a newsletter ad isn't in the budget. That could be a tutor with spaces, a club looking for members, a job going, a craft fair, or plumber advertising their services.
📌 Notices start from £9.95
📆 Advertise for either a week or a month
📸 Add up to six photos
📬 The board is linked from the newsletter every week
📱 New notices go on our Instagram Stories when they're live
I've put a few up so you can see how they look. Your next customer might be reading this right now.
🚘 Fancy a Short Drive?
🎵 Marlow Festival of Voices
📍 Crowne Plaza | 🗓️ Sat 3rd Oct, 6:30pm
An evening of choral music from the Pontarddulais Male Choir plus guest soprano Ellen Williams.
🔥 RARE: Block & Butcher x Chef Ben Perkins
📍 Block & Butcher, Wendover | 🗓️ Sat 3rd Oct, 7pm
A seven-course, all-meat dinner celebrating the craft of butchery, from hook to plate.
🎻 An Evening with Vache Baroque
📍 St Mary Magdalen Church, Great Hampden | 🗓️ Sat 3 Oct, 7pm
Early English 'concerted' music in the recently restored medieval church.
🔍 Family Fun Finder
🎪 No Perfect Family Fair
📍 Patch | 📅 Sat 3rd Oct, 11am–3pm
No Perfect Parent Company’s first family fair: a nearly new sale, handmade clothing, Usborne Books, and local groups offering family support.
👻 National Trust Halloween Trails have started — check out our post to see what’s on.
🎨 Tiny Tots Messy Session
📍 Christ the Servant King Church | 🗓️ Tue 6th Oct, 9:15–11am
A morning of painting, shaving foam and jelly play for little ones, followed by a snack and a story.
🎡 Flackwell Heath Jigsaw & Paperback Library
📍 Flackwell Heath Community Centre | 🗓️ Weds 7 Oct, 1pm–2:45pm
A monthly swap with a huge selection of jigsaws and paperbacks across all genres.
Council Catch-Up
🏥 Longer hours for Wycombe's Urgent Treatment Centre? A council review of emergency care has recommended a pilot keeping the UTC open until 10pm instead of 8pm. Last November’s council motion asked for the case for a full Wycombe A&E, but none of the 11 recommendations in the draft report calls for one. Councillors meet today to discuss. If agreed, it goes to Cabinet and the NHS for a response.
💷 Have your say on the council's budget — Your Bucks, Your Say asks which services you'd protect in next year's budget, closing on 18th October.
🏗️ In the Planning inbox:
EV chargers and a drive-thru café planned for Park & Ride — 20 ultra-rapid charging bays and a small, coffee-led drive-thru at the High Wycombe Coachway, on council land that Cabinet agreed to lease for this kind of scheme in 2024. Pending.
The Phoenix Bar stays a pub, for now — the council refused permission to turn the Bridge Street pub into a shop, saying “the proposed development would result in the unacceptable loss of a community facility” and the applicant hadn't shown the area has enough other community facilities.The applicant can appeal.
The Jolly Bodger could go retail next — the Chairborough Road pub wants to become a shop, with side and rear extensions. Pending.
Four new homes proposed behind Quebec Road — on land behind 5 to 21 Quebec Road, with new access and parking. Pending.
Sports & Activities
🌿 Hike & Pub Club - First Hike
📍 The Lee, Chilterns | 🗓️ Sat 3 Oct, ~1pm
A new walking group: a good hike followed by a well-earned pint.
🏃 Chiltern Trail Run
📍 Whiteleaf & Brush Hill Nature Reserve | 🗓️ Sun 4th Oct, 10am
A free taster with the Chiltern Trail Runners, on a 5km or 10km route through the reserve. Open to all levels.
Community Notes
🎁 Kindness in Bucks' Christmas Shoebox Appeal is back. They delivered 302 boxes last year, and this year’s will go to children in families having a hard time, pregnant mums and local NHS staff. Fill a wrapped shoebox with about eight new things, and take it to a local drop point, or donate £25 and volunteers will make one for you.
🥫 Wycombe Food Hub needs help this Christmas Could your workplace, school or club run a collection or fundraiser? They'll collect. Contact Trevor Snaith on trevorsnaith@wycombefoodhub.org. You can also give food or donate online.
🌍 Celebrating the International Day of Older People
📍 Chilterns Centre | 🗓️ Today, 10:30am–1:30pm
A free morning of tea, cake and a chat, plus a free tombola.
The Wycombe Wordle
Six guesses. Five letters. One Wycombe connection. Let me know if you get it!
🟩 Right letter, right spot
🟨 Right letter, wrong spot
⬜ Not in the word
That’s a wrap for this week’s Pulse!
Have a brilliant weekend — but before you dash…
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See you next Thursday,
Steph
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