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Haven House Summer Fayre May 20th. Due to heavy rain over last few weeks, the children hospice's summer fayre has been postponed until Sunday July 22nd.

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Magascene is a free, local magazine for Epping, Theydon Bois, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill distributed to 7,000 homes eight times a year. To enquire about editorial or advertising opportunities in the magazine, please visit our contacts page or telephone on 01992 814 621 / 07738 383299 or email info@magascene.net

10 Year-Old Austin's Bid to be Britain's Top Trumps Champ

                                                                                                   © Magascene

Theydon Bois schoolboy Austin Davies this week goes for games glory in London. But the ten-year-old must first play his cards right. The youngster has seen off more than 100,000 other UK school children to make the Grand Finals in the capital of the National Top Trumps Schools Tournament which this year is themed around the London 2012 edition of a brand new Top Trumps Tournament game.

Only 12 from these 100,000 have made it to the Grand Final – and Austin is one of those elite dozen. Of the dozen in the final Austin – of Theydon Bois Primary School – came second (out of 100,000). Austin will now compete with these eleven other youngsters - aged from 9 to 11 – on Saturday, May 19^th in London in a bid to become Britain’s official top ‘Top Trumps' champ

The Grand Final takes place at the Stadium Suite at John Lewis Stratford City 2012 in East London. The Suite is within the official London 2012 shop and overlooks London’s Olympic Park. The winner will get a ‘money can’t buy’ rowing experience with Olympic Legend Sir Steve Redgrave - the official ambassador and ‘face’ of the 2012 Top Trumps Schools Tournament - on the River Thames. Sir Steve will also be present at the Grand Final and will officially crown the winner.

Austin says, “I am thrilled to be going to London to represent my school and the whole of Essex at the final. To be in the Grand Final and meet Sir Steve Redgrave is going to be amazing!”.  When asked how he was going to prepare for Saturday's final, he said he would practice at school during rainy break sessions with his friends (so at least the bad weather has some benefit!). Austin's sporting prowess is not just restricted to knowledge as he is an enthusiastic cricketer, playing for Theydon Bois and is also very keen on fencing.

To reach the final Austin had to first trump classmates at his school to become the Top Trumps School Champion before the next grueling and grilling round - an intensive online competition. At this stage he had to battle against hundreds of other school champs across the UK to land his place amongst the elite dozen for this month’s Grand Final. More than 100,000 children from across the UK entered the competition, the third year of the National Top Trumps School Tournament,

All 12 finalists will get to meet Sir Steve, arguably Britain’s greatest ever Olympian who won five gold medals at five consecutive Olympics between 1984 and 2000. The winning youngster also picks up a trophy.

Fiona Hortopp, Head of Marketing at Winning Moves UK – the owners and makers of the Top Trumps brand – says “Our hearty congratulations to Austin. He is a winner already – having come out ahead of so many school children across the country and to come in second place. We wish him all the very best.”

Top Trumps has been hailed as not only fun but highly educational too. The National Children’s Bureau carried out detailed research on the National Schools Top Trumps Tournament and concluded the game helps children improve both numeracy and literacy. “Its findings have resulted in heads and teachers seeing the advantage of bringing in Top Trumps as a teaching tool inside the classroom,” adds Fiona.

“This year’s Tournament has also given schools up and down the country the opportunity to learn all about the Olympic and Paralympic games – past and present – which of course are so topical."

The final will be played on a special commemorative bumper version of Top Trumps, which features London 2012 medal hopefuls.

In the game are cards of scores of Olympians past and present and Olympic sports. These cards enable you to ‘trump’ your opponents across a range of Olympic themes from ‘British Legends’ to ‘Paralympic Heroes’. In the ‘Olympic Sports’ cards theme the ‘Cycling – BMX’ card enables players to trump any opponent in the ‘First Introduced’ category.

“If I were to be crowned the nation’s ultimate Top Trumps Champion playing this card it would be fantastic,” says Austin.

 Pub landlord prepares for ‘Wacky Rally’ to support St Clare Hospice - if he can find a car!

A Waltham Abbey pub landlord and two friends are raising money for St Clare Hospice by taking part in The Wacky Rally which will see them drive ‘an old banger’ from France to Spain. However at the moment they are lacking one vital piece of equipment for their fundraising challenge - a car!

Pete Wilson, landlord at The Volunteer pub, Waltham Abbey, will be teaming up with Mike Clarke, deputy manager of The Plough pub in Cuffley, and Peter Hack, from Chefsxpress Ltd, for the four-day, 1,500-mile adventure in July which is set to feature some 125 cars.

Drivers set off from Lille on July 6 and must arrive in Barcelona by July 9 having crossed the French Riviera, The Alps and Monte Carlo, and having completed a number of challenges along the route.But forget any thought of the team – Team MIB – speeding along in a top-of-the-range Ferrari, because the cars taking part cannot be worth more than £250!

Pete, who has not taken part in the race before, is looking forward to the challenge – and to raising money for St Clare Hospice - provided that someone can provide him with a car to at least start the race in.

He said: “I’ve always raised money for St Clare. It’s a local charity. There are a lot of people taking part in the event for other causes so I just thought we would do it for a local cause.” And despite having to compete in “an old wreck”, Pete is confident his team will reach the finish.

He added “There are loads of mechanics involved and we will have a robust car. Even if it breaks down you can swap cars along the way, if we can find a good scrap yard and get another one!” Dave Bishop, the hospice's community fundraiser, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to Pete and his team from The Volunteer in Waltham Abbey, for entering this exciting challenge in aid of St Clare Hospice. We wish them all the best."

For more about The Wacky Rally, visit http://www.wackyrally.co.uk/index.php

If you can help Pete and provide the team with a car, ring The Volunteer pub on 01992 713705.