FAVOURITES of BBC Radio 2 come to Marlow next week. Tuesday’s Marlow Jazz Club Gig (February 15) sees the welcome return of the very popular Five Star Swing Big Band.

This 13 piece outfit are big favourites on BBC Radio 2, playing and singing the swing era hits from the likes of Glen Miller and Benny Goodman. They are led by ex-Herb Miller Band trumpeter Chris Smith, with his talented wife Simone amongst many star names in the line-up.

Music starts 8.30pm at the Royal British Legion Hall.

Admission is £8.

SOMETIMES, an unexpected kindness can raise your whole attitude to the human race. This is not a valley story, other than it cheered up this valley resident.

Driving up Marlow Bottom, my whole rear-view mirror assembly dropped off. There was nothing apparently broken, just the unit had parted company with the mount that was still attached to the screen.

After trying for nearly an hour when I got home, I could see no way of reuniting the elements. Next day, I went to buy a suction/stick-on replacement. Explaining to the manager of Interparts in Desborough Road why I needed it, he told me absolutely no need.

He walked a couple of hundred yards to where I had parked and, almost by sleight of hand, deftly restored my legality to drive and refused any form of recompense. No major undertaking, perhaps, but very cheering. Thanks Mr Interparts.

VALLEY residents are usually fairly placid types, getting on with their lives and supporting the local community, often at spectacular levels. But I am aware that many are far from reticent about the mis-management of scarce resources to which they have contributed generously.

After a door-knocking and leaflet campaign a few years ago, plus a lot of general publicity in the village, many residents pay regular direct debit contributions to the Air Ambulance. Last week’s news about an accident very close to Wycombe hospital may cause some reviews of those social gestures.

Resulting injuries from the incident required urgent A&E attention – the service that Wycombe hospital no longer provides. I understand that four ambulances had to attend, plus a fire engine plus, most controversially, a helicopter, because the journey time and conditions to Stoke Mandeville demanded fast action.

Contributors to the Air Ambulance service feel that the whole cost of attending this incident represents a prodigal waste of the service's funds, imposed on it by a totally imprudent management of NHS medical organisation.

The probable cost to the AA service, from what I recall from a Valley Plus presentation, already a few years ago, is likely to have amounted to a figure in the low thousands of pounds.

It is difficult to understand why a population of some 160,000 in the general Wycombe area, by far the largest in the county, should have its critical care services taken away to a smaller town, accessible along a country lane. Now we are able to see some of the costs of this Monty Python set-up.

ROMANIAN street children have for a long time been an interest to Mary Blow and Joan Gilbert in their charity activities.

They used to collect clothing and other materials to be sent, by lorry, to charitable organisations in Romania to distribute to abandoned and orphaned children living on the streets.

Times have changed; it is now less practical to send lorries at a cost of several thousand pounds a trip; the authorities are more amenable to the influx of monetary funds, and the local charities are more capable of managing funds to acquire goods locally, now that availability has improved so much.

The targeting has moved towards getting the children off the street and into foster homes.

Additionally, money is much more easily managed at this end rather than packing and managing transport.

What hasn’t changed is the need. Indeed, Joan explained to me once that improving economic circumstances in the region have actually caused a level of inflation that demands even more funds.

Joan’s next project is a sale in St Mary’s on October 26, starting at 2pm. Meanwhile, please sort out any bric-a-brac that you can contribute; anything that might sell – and most things do.

As always, you can take material and leave it under Joan’s car-port; that’s in the garden where Joan sells plants, next to Bernie’s butchers.

Over many years, Mary and Joan have put a lot of effort into this particular cause and it is clear from reports that their activity has been a massive help to the deprived children of Romania.