Happy New Year 2026! January Magazine
Happy New Year from the Dorking Talking Newspaper! Let’s hope 2026 is going to be a good one for all of us.
Dorking Talking’s getting off to a busy start, with theatre and pantomime, bandstands and holidays, history, advice and poetry – not to mention sheep, horses and a guide dog too…
So just click the link and join us to enjoy it together:
- January Welcome & Birthdays
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- Soundings Panto Ear-spy
- Macular Society Free Counselling Service
- Dorking Museum in 2025
- Dorking Community Bandstand
- Seeable Holidays
- Buckland Parish Magazine Centenary
- Ockley Shepherdess
- Ground Force – Surrey Farms
- Thomas the Lifeguards Horse
- Guide Dog in Training: Buster #3
- New Year Poems
- Endpiece
- 10 minute exercises #1
December Magazine
It’s the run-up to Christmas and here come shopping and shows, useful gifts, wrapping tips, and holly & ivy, as well as partridges in pear trees. Also winter wildlife, audio books, local national treasure Prunella Scales and Buster the guide dog in training…
Don’t miss a thing – just click the Listen Here button!
- December Welcome & Birthdays
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- Have a Merry LOCAL Christmas!
- Christmas wrapping tips
- Life hack stocking-fillers
- Guide Dog in Training: Buster #2
- Audio & Tactile Library Services
- Farewell to Prunella Scales
- Christmas Wildlife
- Holly & Ivy
- On the Cadge – Mummers
- 12 Days Of Christmas from the Bible
- Kindness of Trees poem
- Christmas Thoughts
November Dorking Talking
We have lots of seasonal events for you this month as we approach panto season – oh yes we do! We hear about theatre touch tours of stage sets and a chance to meet the cast for VIPs, as well as a blind actor on stage with her guide dog. There’s guide dog puppy Buster as he starts his training and a tribute to blind politician David Blunkett.
And on the health front, we bring you pharmacists, stress awareness, the air ambulance and tips for macular sufferers.
Just click the button to join us and listen…
Into September with Dorking Talking
September’s Dorking Talking magazine is here! As well as updating you on the High Street & Dorking Halls, we hear about astonishing research which suggests implanting tooth material into the eye to improve vision, kitchen hacks, and proposed changes at the Macular Society. That’s as well as social prescribing, Heritage Open Days, the making of a guide dog, and beyond the slime to the virtues of slugs – all in this month’s mix. Just click the “Listen Here” button to enjoy it with us:
01 September Welcome & Birthdays
02 High St Update
03 Dorking Halls Whats On
04 Government Phone Alert Warning
05 Social Prescribing
06 Macular Society Changes
07 Tooth Implant in Eye to Improve Vision
08 Heritage Open Days 2025
09 Polka Theatre Autumn
10 The Downsmen Barbershop Harmony
11 Making of a Guide Dog
12 Kitchen Top Tips
13 Slugs: More Than Just Slime
14 Sept Thought: Harvest
15 Endpiece
16 Blind Tim Tests Flapjack Recipe
Ice cream at the ready – here’s August’s Dorking Talking!
We look at getting in touch with your GP without having to use technology, and suggestions for navigating the bathroom with poor sight, before we leave the serious behind and launch into holiday mode, complete with fun things to do, a quiz to keep you thinking, pumpkin shows and even a trip to the beach. So it’s ice creams and cool drinks at the ready as you click the link to join us…
- August Welcome & Birthdays
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- Dorking Museum in August
- Soundings Ensuring Non-Digital Access to GPs
- Macular Society Top Tips for Navigating the Bathroom
- Soundings Quiz 10 Teasers Roger
- Soundings Repair Café
- Circular Dorking on “Stuff”
- Retirement Advice
- Soundings 10 Teasers Answers
- An Oak Tree Windfall
- St James the Least on Judging Pumpkins
- A Bit of a Do
- August Thought: Patricia Routledge on Ageing
- Endpiece
July’s Dorking Talking is here!
This month we focus on some of the latest ideas for people with poor sight: suggestions for Summer days out; how to cope with bright sunlight; Macular Society research into peripheral vision; making e-scooters noisy to keep pedestrians safer; and a new theatre project featuring visually impaired actors. Then we have the story of Alexandra Palace, as well as the latest updates from Dorking Halls and the High Street.
Just click the link to listen:
- July Welcome & Birthdays
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- Dorking Banking Hub in Pippbrook
- Westcott Village Hub – a Community Story
- Macular Society Research on Peripheral Vision Aids
- Making E-Scooters Make a Noise
- Alexandra Palace Anniversary
- Summer Shepherdess
- Coping With Photophobia in Summer
- VI Actors Take to the Stage
- Enjoying Summer Days Out
- St James the Least on Complaints
- WI Audio Newsletter
- Thought: If I Get Dementia
- Endpiece
June Dorking Talking
Here we are in June, with loads of local events, from the Dorking Big Green Week, Abinger Medieval Fair and the Surrey Hills Festival of Wine to the circus coming to Meadowbank, and from sheepdogs to big bands.
We also feature the extra medical needs of visually impaired people, gardening “ tips for VIPs” and the multifarious hobbies enjoyed by those with poor vision. Something for everyone, in fact.
- Welcome
- Invitation
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- VIP Patient Treatment Risks
- Tips for VIPs – Gardening
- VI Hobbies
- Circus / Big Band concert / Craft Festival / Wine Festival
- Dorking Big Green Week
- St James the least on CCTV
- Detector Dog Making a Difference
- Grandma’s House Poem
- June Thought: Ageing Cheerfully
- Endpiece
May’s Dorking Talking
Dorking’s Cockerel is all dressed up for VE Day and we’re celebrating with him, with veteran’s memories. We’ve also got tips on reducing your household bills, healthy eating, and shopping with sight loss. And as well as VE Day, we’ll be celebrating Dolly Parton, walnut trees, and the hidden gems that are Leatherhead Museum and Dorking’s Greenroom Theatre…
…not to mention raising a cuppa to International Tea Day! So get the kettle on the boil and click the Listen button to join us:
- May Welcome & Birthdays
- Anniversaries
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- Shop Around and Beat Bill Hikes
- Lancaster Bomber Radio Operator
- Reg Rose Wartime Memories #6
- International Tea Day
- Leatherhead Museum
- Dorking’s Hidden Theatre
- VI Shopping Tips
- Dolly Parton philanthropist
- Eat Your Rainbow
- Walnut Trees: Chris Currie
- Thought: Pro Patria Mori
- Endpiece
Dance into April!
Dance into Spring with Chris McCausland in April’s Dorking Talking! We find out what’s next when you’re diagnosed with macular disease, hear about charity “Eye Matter” bringing people with impaired sight together, and get ready to celebrate Surrey Day in Dorking. And what do William Shakespeare and the Wizard of Oz have in common? They’re both coming to Dorking this month – oh yes they are!
- April Welcome & Anniversaries
- Dorking Halls Whats On
- High St Update
- Shakespeare Birthday Walks in Dorking
- What Follows a Macular Disease Diagnosis and Why Register As Sight Impaired?
- St James the Least Parking at Church
- Bee Facts
- Soundings: Eye Matter charity
- Chris McCausland interview
- Soundings Ballroom Brainteaser
- Reg Rose Wartime Memories #5
- Surrey Day 2025 in Dorking
- Easter Egg Thought for Month
- Endpiece
March Dorking Talking: Spring is springing!
Welcome to Springtime at last! As well as the latest from Dorking Halls and the High Street, we look at Macular disease and the support available for both patients and their families. We go back in time to schooldays long past, prove just how eco-friendly we all were in the old days before “the green thing” and enjoy a browse through an assortment of nice, nifty, nasty and sometimes naughty names attached to local people and places. Just click Listen Here to enjoy it all with us:
- March Welcome & Birthdays
- Anniversaries
- High St Update
- Dorking Halls What’s On
- Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal
- Book a Free Safe & Well Visit
- All About Macular Disease
- Support from Macular Society
- Helping Hands for VIP
- Never Eat Shredded Wheat
- Reg Rose Wartime Memories #4
- Mothering Sunday
- Shepherdessing Winter to Spring
- Vaughan Williams House in Dorking
- The “Green Thing”
- Nifty to Nasty Names
- Thought for March: Lent
- Endpiece