January Meeting 2012

The January meeting opened with Business – Mandy wished everyone a Happy New Year and reminded us of the very successful and cheerful Christmas meal held on 6 December. It had been decided not to use outside caterers so it was “hands-on” with everyone involved and it proved an excellent evening and a good start to the run up to Christmas.

Tony Eaton was then introduced and he spoke on “The Curious Disappearance of Glen Miller.” It was a brilliant talk and we were caught up in a remarkable tale of courage and selfless duty by Glen, a gifted musician, who gave up his career to enlist in the U.S. Army. Once in England his band and music brought cheer to many. However, the devious ways of war caught him up with secrecy, intelligence and propaganda. In obeying secret orders to fly to Paris to be with General Eisenhower, the plane mysteriously came down with all hands lost. This was rumour and it has since been discovered that Glen met with General Eisenhower in Paris. There was fighting and in escaping Glen was shot in the head and eventually flown to the U.S. where he died.

The secrecy probably came about to protect General Eisenhower’s reputation and to this day no documents have been released to tell the facts. Certainly there was an authentic ring to what actually happened to this talented brave man caught up in war.

Gwenan gave the vote of thanks.

On 7 February Jan Barton will give a talk called “Positively Flourishing” – the new science of positive psychology. Visitors and new members are always welcome. Barbara Peake

November Meeting – Four Cheeks to the Wind
Speaker: Mary Bryant

‘Live your dream’ was the advice given to assembled members by the speaker Mary Bryant. This is indeed what she and her husband did when they set off in 2002 to cycle around the world. Their plan was to travel east through Europe, Asia, Australasia and America. They succeeded in cycling 9000 miles across fifteen countries, taking in the first three of the above continents, before unfortunately having to return home for family reasons. The emphasis of the talk was the Far East sequence of the journey.

Their bikes were custom built to a high specification which, judging by the pictures of some of the dirt roads along which they had to ride, was a wise move. They were lightweight and manoeuvrable when delivered but decidedly heavier by the time tents, clothing, pans and other paraphernalia had been attached. It was amusing to compare pictures of Mary’s baggage, strapped low down to maintain balance, with the huge piles of produce balanced precariously all around the shoulders of the Vietnamese cyclists. The Vietnamese, Mary said, seemed to be either very busy or taking the opportunity to sleep whenever possible. Graphically illustrating this were pictures of people sleeping in the strangest positions such as a taxi driver fast asleep across the top of a moped.

The children in Laos were very shy and pictures showed the fascination on their faces when Mary rode past. The ferry across the mile wide Mekong River consisted of a raft of planks lashed across two canoes. The locals were riding motor bikes across the boarding plank but Mary chose to walk! Mary and her husband rarely encountered any cars in Laos, the main road users apart from dilapidated buses were young boys walking the water buffalo which were used to farm the land.

The worst roads in the whole of their journey were in Cambodia and they were warned not to stray away from the carriageway for fear of unexploded bombs. They did wonder at some points whether the latter would not have been preferable to facing the Cambodian drivers many of whom behaved like ‘visually challenged psychopaths’. The sight of the fabulous ancient temples like those at Angkor Wat, held up by roots and branches of rainforest trees, more than made up for the disadvantages of riding through this remarkable country.

Thailand was the most civilised of the countries of the Far East and whilst there they celebrated New Year three times: Chinese, Christian and Buddhist.

Mary Dennis thanked Mary for a most interesting talk. The Christmas Dinner will be held on Tuesday 6th December and the first meeting of the New Year will be on Tuesday 10th January when Tony Eaton will talk about ‘The Curious Disappearance of Glen Miller’. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Faye McGeehin

October Meeting
“ Tales of the Unexpected” – a Digital Presentation by Alan Copeland FRPS – with Sound Effects.

With such a title the Members were not quite sure what they were in for, but it proved to be an evening filled with images (with accompanying appropriate sound tracks!) of a huge variety of strange and interesting features from all over the country.

Mr Copeland had collected his work into subject categories and the first included images connected with early motoring; there was a memorial to the first fatal car accident in 1899 and some very pretty Milestones leading to Bow bells to name but two.

Other sections covered were Heroes, Churches and Buildings. Out of the many fascinating items the most local is at Kingsclere, where there is a sign on the church tower warning everyone that the local hostelry has bedbugs – at least it did in1100 when King John went to stay there! Perhaps the most poignant was the Heroes Cloisters in Postman’s Park in London which shows a collection of memorial tablets from the 1800’s all commemorating people, including children, who had sacrificed their lives in order to save others.

This was only Part 1 of Tales of the Unexpected and Mr Copeland has many more titles. There’s an awful lot of interesting things about if only you know where to look!

The next meeting on Tuesday November 1st is entitled “Four Cheeks to the Wind “ – the story of a two year transcontinental bike ride by Mary Bryant. All are welcome.

Sara Dickinson

September Meeting 2011
Open Meeting

On 6th September Hampstead Norreys WI held their annual Open Meeting, at which the speaker from Hilliers gave an illustrated talk about her experiences as a member of the team which stages Hilliers stand at the Chelsea Flower Show. Sue Robinson has been a member of the team since 2000 when her first experience was just as a helper but she quickly took on more responsibility and her role now is team leader and designer of artefacts and accessories, for which she shops throughout the year. Through the slides she gave us an insight into the planning and preparation that goes into creating the largest stand at the show, always centred round the tall monument in the centre of the Floral Pavilion.

The 32 member team takes 10 days to build the stand and just 10 hours to dismantle it. Not until the walls are built, paving and decking laid, buildings erected and water features installed can the trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, all in prime condition, be planted - all this before Sue’s finishing touches are added. The statistics were mind blowing – 16 tons of sand, cement and ballast, 1300 concrete blocks to raise terraces and water features, 4 tons of paving and walling, 10 tons of bark chips, 750 hand written labels and 3000 trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials.

Invariably the stand is comprised of a series of gardens based on a central theme, which in 2011 was ‘Feel Good about Gardening.’ Each garden is differentiated by its own colour theme reflected in the imaginative planting, artefacts and accessories. Plans, top secret of course, are already underway for their 2012 exhibit.

Sue’s enthusiasm was infectious and it was obvious that she delights in every moment of her work. Mandy Bradley thanked her warmly for her talk before members and friends took the opportunity of buying plants from the wonderful selection on offer.

The next monthly meeting, entitled ‘Tales of the Unexpected through photographs’ will be held on Tuesday 4th October – visitors and new members are always welcome.

Mary Hall and Mandy Bradley