David Reeve talk on Royal Security

We welcomed David Reeve whose talk was on Royal Security.  What a fascinating subject it proved to be.  David had been a serving officer in the Norfolk Police and one day, much to his surprise, he was asked if he would like to go and be responsible for security at the Queen's Royal Sandringham House and Estate and anyone who was staying there.  He accepted and  together with his team had to make contingency plans for all sorts of eventualities.   It involved 12-14 hour shifts.  All visits that Royalty made within the County were his responsibility as well,  including the Maundy Thursday ceremony at Norwich Cathedral she attended which took place a few years ago.  On that occasion it involved 7 days constant surveillance and every nook and cranny in the Cathedral searched

He has been invited to lunch with the Queen and Prince Philip on several occasions.  He was always very nervous about going as he is quite fussy about certain vegetables.  He also found it a bit disconcerting as at these lunches, the Queen insisted he walked in front of her because he was her guest!  Apparently the Royal Family always eat very small portions of food - how to keep your figure!

He worked in all 14 years in this job and was awarded the MVO and MBE.  Although retired, he still hears from the Queen.

Funnily enough, he was born in Rockland St Mary and went to Framingham Earl Secondary School.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 11 June at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when Mrs Jackie Aldous will be delighting us with her skills at flower arranging. 

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Mrs Kate Smith who came and talked about a boat called Rogue

PORINGLAND WOMEN'S INSTITUTE

We welcomed Mrs Kate Smith who came and talked about a boat called Rogue which is a much loved sailing vessel owned by her and her husband.

She talked about how the Broads have changed with rivers flooding and receding over the centuries, Burgh Castle and Caistor St Edmund being prime examples of rivers receding and the Dove Valley between us and Brooke would have been a river.  Hard to imagine isn't it?

Kate and her husband lived in the Midlands for many years but on returning to Norfolk, wanted a project.

She said at the start of the War all boats anchored on the Broads were commandeered by the Government and joined at intervals across the rivers and Broads to make things difficult for possible river invasion by the Germans.  The embargo was lifted in July 1943.

Her husband always had fond memories of sailing on the Broads with a young school friend and his parents pre-war.  He made enquiries from his friend only to find it had been sold many years previously and they had no idea of its whereabouts.  They kept looking on the internet and catalogues and at long last in 1989 it came up for sale.  They went to see it and what a pitiful sight met their eyes - just a rotting hulk!  After much thought, they decided to purchase it and brought it back to Norfolk.  They and their family and friends set to,  to restore it and after 4 years, it was fit for sailing - they still had the old sails thankfully. The original owners from Norwich were invited to see her at the launch - they were overjoyed to see her again.   They went on to win different Broads Racing Trophies in 1998 and 1999. Over the years, they have sailed up and down all the Broads and rivers and we saw lovely slides of their travels.

It was amazing to see the slides of the wreck that she was and what she was like after restoration -  I wonder how many people would undertake such a project!

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 14 May at 7.30pm in the Community Centre.  This will be our Birthday Meeting so after discussing the Resolutions, we will enjoy a nice buffet  and then chatting and a Quiz ,  if time permits. 

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Shirley Shackshaft

House of Lachasse leading Couture Houses London

 

We welcomed Kathleen Dentten to our February meeting to talk about her experience of working for the House of Lachasse, one of the leading couture houses in London famous for its classic styles.  It was situated just round the corner off Berkeley Square. 

 

She was always interested in dressmaking and embroidery at secondary school.  After leaving school, she applied to several fashion houses but was accepted at Lachasse for a 5 year apprenticeship in 1967.  She started in the tailoring department and just did sleeves at first under strict supervision.  Customers had three fittings before completion of a garment   Over the years she went on to make complete garments.  She also managed to gain experience on the dressmaking side as well - dresses etc.  She made a pink jacket for Barbara Cartland, who liked her clothes very tight.  They held a Fashion Show twice a year at which 72 outfits were shown!

 

She left them when she married a man in the Forces and travelled all over the world.

 

In the latter years, she set up her own very successful dressmaking business including making theatre costumes in Norfolk which she sold two years ago.

 

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 9 April at 7.30pm when David Reeve will be coming and talking about Royal Security.

 

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

The Royal Geographical Society

 

We welcomed a young man called Daniel Evans who gave us an enthralling talk about his journey into Alaska, Canada and  the USA in September 2012.

 

He is a scholar at The Royal Geographical Society and when he was 18 years old he won a scholarship grant of £4,000 for four months.  Extra funding from relatives and friends was also needed. Approximately  5,000 people applied but only 14 were successful.  He decided on the above countries and spent half of that time in Alaska.  He travelled by Greyhound coaches and stayed in Youth Hostels.  He researched for a year beforehand getting a sense of what he would see.

 

His remit was to study peoples movements from one place to another, advancing geography and geographical learning.  He said people travel so much faster nowadays and don't  appreciate life around them at times.  A change of scenery anywhere is to be relished and enjoyed using all our senses.

 

He showed some lovely slides of Alaska through autumn and winter including the Northern Lights, down the West Coast of Canada and USA to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.  He remarked on everything being on a large scale with California having six lane highways.

 

At the end of his trip he had  to present his findings with a lecture to an invited audience. He  certainly passed on his enthusiasm for geography and the need to enjoy life around us.

 

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 12 March at 7.30pm in the Community Centre. Mrs Kate Smith will come and talk about her travels with her boat called Rogue.

 

 

REMINDER - 8 MARCH - JUMBLE SALE

 

As I mentioned last month, our Jumble Sale will be at the Community Centre from 11.00am.  Everyone welcome.

 

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

 

Aspects of Christmas by Ernie Richards

Ernie Richards came and gave an interesting talk on the Aspects of Christmas.  The programme was not as everyone had imagined.  It consisted of readings by various well known people interspersed with short excerpts of Christmas songs by Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard and Frank Sinatra. and The 12 days of Christmas. We welcomed members from other Institutes.  We followed this with a super buffet table, all provided by our members which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 12 February  at 7.30pm in the Community Centre. Mrs Kathleen Dentten will be coming and giving us a talk on A London Fashion House.  We might get some tips for those of us who are fashion conscious!

 Jumble Sale - Saturday 8 March

Early notice of our next Jumble Sale in the Community Centre from 10.30am to 12.30pm. There will be the usual stalls.   Any unwanted items will be very welcome.

Visitors are always welcome to our meetings and, of course, to the Jumble Sale.  If there any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

  

Shirley Shackshaft

Annual Meeting

Our Annual Meeting was unusual as for a lovely change we had an election for Committee members.  This was followed by an election for President and  Pam Cooper was voted in.

 

We followed, after refreshments,  with a DVD presentation of members of different Institutes, including one of our ladies,  being filmed talking about what the Women's Institute meant to them.  Everyone was very positive about their experiences over the years!

 

2014 heralds in the first of our meetings. This will be on Wednesday 8 January at 7.30pm in the Community Centre.  Mr Daniel Evans will give a talk with slides about the Royal Geographical Society,  Should be enjoyable.

 

Visitors are always welcome and if there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

 

  

Shirley Shackshaft

Windmill Ringers (Hand Bells)

 

We welcomed the Windmill Ringers to our October meeting.  There were three ladies in the Group each with 4 bells.  Altogether there were 29 bells and some chime bells.  The bells were made in America and are tuned to concert pitch and stay in tune.  They played a full range of tunes from the music hall like "Oh Mr Porter" to light classical music by Schubert.  We enjoyed ourselves singing along to some of the tunes. Apparently they often play Hymns and Carols in Churches as well.  All the members thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

 

Our Christmas meeting is on Wednesday 11 December at 7.30pm in the Community Centre.  Mr Ernie Richards will be coming and entertaining us with Christmas readings and music and we will have our usual buffet supper. Everything for an enjoyable time.  Do come if you can.

 

Visitors are always welcome and if there are any queries, please contact Veronica Brett on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders on 01508 492155.

 

Finally may we wish all readers a happy, healthy and warm Christmas and New Year.

 

 

 

Shirley Shackshaft

Voluntarily workers for the East Anglian Childrens Hospice Charity Shop

PORINGLAND WOMEN'S INSTITUTE

We welcomed Pauline and Maureen who work voluntarily  in the East Anglian Childrens Hospice Charity Shop in Long Stratton.

The Trust has 3 Hospices in Quidenham  Norfolk, Milton  Cambridge and Tree House  Ipswich. They have 15 shops in East Anglia and the Long Stratton branch is one of the most successful.

They were asked why there was not a shop in Norwich and they said rents were very high and there were too many other competing charities.

The aim of the Charity is to help parents of children not expected to reach adulthood because of life threatening diseases often from birth. This help can be in parents own homes or at the Hospices themselves.  They also offer bereavement counselling when the child dies - 478 last year under their care.

Everything they receive is processed and most of the clothes/linen if  unsold after two weeks in the shop are  sent for salvage.

We were told some amusing episodes of life in the shop.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge recently became their Patron.

A very interesting talk.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 13 November a 7.30pm in the Community Centre.  This will be our Annual Meeting followed by entertainment afterwards.

Visitors are always welcome and if there any queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Shirley Shackshaft

Poringlands WI Garden Party - August 2013

We celebrated our August meeting in Mary and David Stancer's garden.  It was a beautiful afternoon and the garden looked beautiful with shrubs and flowers and the gazebos.  We had some visitors from other Institutes as well who thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

 

With the plates of lovely cakes which kept appearing and cups of tea, it really was an afternoon to remember with friends having a good natter as well! 

 

Our thanks go to Mary and David for all the work they did - I know from personal experience how demanding it is.

 

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 9 October at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when the Windmill Handbell Ringers will be coming and entertaining us.  I'm sure we will have a lovely meeting - maybe they will ask members if they would like a "go"!

 

As I mentioned last month our Jumble Sale  will be on Saturday 12 October  at 10.30 am to 12.30 pm in the Community Centre.  There will be the usual stalls - come early as the bargains always get snapped up very quickly.

 

Visitors are always welcome to our meetings and, of course, to the Jumble Sale.  If there are any queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

   

Shirley Shackshaft 

Davenport's Magic Kingdom

Several members and husbands enjoyed an afternoon at Magic Kingdom.
After a interesting tour about witches and a look around the museum we were entertained by Roy Davenport in the Kingdoms theatre to a magic show.
We finished a very enjoyable visit with a lovely cream tea.

Tales of mystery - Tales of long ago

We had a surprise change of speaker as the lady could not come until our September meeting.

Instead, we welcomed Mrs Esme Wilson-Staniforth.  She came to entertain us with tales of mystery of long ago.  She was excellent for her telling of the tales both in expression and voice.

The first tale was about the Pedlar of Swaffham - a very familiar story, followed by tales of the velveteen rabbit, a riddle about King Arthur, Body and Soul and several others.  She finished with an amusing rhyme about "whether you are well or whether you are ill".  One of our members asked if she had been an actress in the past but she said no but she had been a teacher.  A very enjoyable evening.

We were so sad to learn of Monica Fawcett's sudden death, a peaceful one by all accounts.  She was our longest serving member and will be sorely missed.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 11 September at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when our delayed speaker, Mrs Pauline King, will come and talk about working as a volunteer in a charity shop.

Start collecting your jumble as our next Jumble Sale will be on Saturday 12 October n the morning at the Community Centre.  More details next month.

Visitors are always welcome to our meetings and if there are any queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Shirley Shackshaft

Birthday buffet/Social evening

  

We had a lovely meeting celebrating our Birthday.  We had small round tables instead of the usual line of chairs.  This arrangement made for plenty of chatting.  We went through the National Resolution for this year's Annual Conference  at Cardiff - only one this year which seemed a shame.

We then had a beautiful buffet laid on by the Committee together with fruit juice.

We followed this by what seemed a very complicated Quiz set by Veronica, our President.  She called it a Bingo Quiz.  A lot of us got a bit bogged down with the questions especially at first and one member called it "confused.com"!!  Enjoyable nevertheless.

We had a very enjoyable Birthday Lunch at the King's Head, Brooke, although a little low on members .

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 10 July at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when Mrs Pauline King will give us a talk on a Volunteers day in a Charity Shop - I am sure she will have some very interesting things to tell us.

Visitors are always welcome and if there any queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155

The Tribes of Southern Ethiopia

Pat Alker came and gave a very interesting and enlightening talk with slides on The Tribes of Southern Ethiopia.  She came wearing an Ethiopian style long white cotton dress.  These are made by the men of the Tribes, as are all the colourful woven items, samples of which she brought along.  Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world.  80% of the population are subsistence farmers existing without electricity, clean water or sanitation.  The average life expectancy is 53 years.

Since her first visit in 2006, when they raised money to provide a water tap, they have been raising money for the children, mainly to buy food for them, and a school for HIV/Aids orphans and abused children situated in the Dukem, which is a very small village near Addis Ababa. These are for 4-14 year olds, who live with elderly relatives or friends.  In 2012 a toilet was provided and in 2012 a Library.

The Tribes have market days every week to sell and buy their wares.

The men can have 4 wives and we saw pictures of the women of the Mursi Tribe,  who wear very large lip plates made of heavy clay.

Pat told us of men of the Hamer Tribe who jump bulls as an initiation into manhood.  Also of the Konso Tribe and their 20th King in an unbroken lineage going back 400 years.  Other tribes called the Dorze,  Oromo and the Abora, all have different interesting customs going back hundreds of years.

Fundraising for these children is an ongoing project for her husband Philip and herself.

Our next meeting  is on Wednesday 12 June at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when Mrs Rachel Casey and Dr Roger Wood will come and talk about Chiropractic care - hopefully we will get some tips on keeping our bones supple!

Visitors are always welcome and if there any queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155
Shirley Shackshaft/Gail Mays

Local crime Community Sentence - Presentation

Our meeting proved to be very different and thought provoking.  Paul, who has been a Magistrate for 27 years introduced himself and Sue.  She  is a Probation Officer and she told us of the background to her work and training.

We were all given a headline from a make believe newspaper.  It featured the case of a frail 75 year old pensioner being treated by paramedics for a suspected broken wrist, when a jobless heroin addict called John Dunn, a 23 year old, pounced on her and the paramedic and stole the ambulance medical bag.  He was subsequently arrested. 

We were each given a piece of paper and asked to say whether we thought he should go to jail or or not.   Paul then went on to detail the other alternatives which are open to him and his fellow magistrates.  They work very closely with the Probation Service to establish his background and any information which would help them decide the appropriate action.  It turned out that he had no convictions of this sort before which meant that they could only impose certain judgement ie 6 months jail which meant only serving 2-3 months..  Apparently he had not injured either of the two ladies.

Sue, the Probation Officer then explained how she interviews on a 1 to1 basis the person involved for 1 - 1 1/2 hours to establish the background to the case.  Years of experience helps her to establish what happened and not rely on newspaper headlines.  

Paul then has a meeting with Sue to establish all the facts.  He said rehabilitation is all important - some youngsters go into jail and mix with hardened criminals and end up on release turning into thugs themselves.

In this case, it was the young man's first crime of this nature, he was very remorseful and wanted to apologise to the two ladies.  He also said it was a "spur of the moment thing". It was thought community service would be a more appropriate sentence in this case.  This was not an easy alternative.  On top of the community work, he would have to attend probation appointments each week and prove he was looking for work.  Lots of good work is done, mostly hard and  physical and strictly supervised work - examples recently quoted of work in the fens clearing ditches and repairing and redecoration of village halls etc was given by Paul.

Incidentally, this charge will  stay on his record for many years and if he offends again, this would result in much harsher sentencing next time.

He said it is very much cheaper for state funds as Community Service versus Prison is one quarter of the cost.

At the end of the talk, he asked us to put on to the pieces of paper he handed out earlier, if we still thought the man should go to prison - I think quite a few ladies changed their minds!

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 8 May at 7.30pm in the Community Centre.  This will be our Birthday meeting and so after discussing our National Resolution, we will be enjoying a buffet kindly supplied by the Committee followed by social time - a chance to have a good natter with friends.

Visitors are always welcome and if there are any queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Shirley Shackshaft 

Talk and slides on Madagascar

If like me, you knew very little about the island of Madagascar, apart from the fact that it was an island off the east coast of Africa, then John Henson's talk with slides about the holiday he took with his wife Maureen, was a real eye-opener.

They went with Saga Holidays and there were 17 in the group.  The island is twice the size G.B.  They only covered the lower part of the island and it involved 15 days of continuous travel.  The French originally owned the Island and when they left, they took almost everything of value - the people are still very bitter about this. The population is extremely poor and their diet consists mainly of rice three times a day.  Natural resources are emeralds, vanilla and cinnamon but the emeralds seem to disappear as soon as they are mined (black market).  The area is guarded by gentlemen with kalashnikovs and photography of these mines was forbidden!

There were no shops where they travelled, just makeshift stalls and fruit on sheets on the ground and everybody walked - only in the big towns were there a few cars. 

John said they had gone in the wet season so the temperature was very humid.  In spite of the fact that the island was so poor, all the hotels were excellent.  Beggars were a problem but they were asked to bring small gifts with them and Maureen had bought a football from England and the kids went wild when she gave it to a group of youngsters.  John said they did not see any old people but with a life expectancy of 48 years, perhaps that's not surprising.

There are no large animals except for Zebu (horned cattle) and John said they tasted like beef.  Lemurs are the most prolific animals (about 36 varieties).  Their plaintiff calls constantly echoed through the trees and bushes).  Having seen some of them in nature programmes and Banham Zoo, I think they are the most delightful creatures.  Plenty of creepy crawlies, butterflies and flowers abounded in the dense vegetation.  They visited a tea factory which was very interesting.  The men seemed to be mostly recycling metal to make into cooking pots - but they wear no footwear when they are heating the metal up!  The women mainly weave scarfs etc.  John and Maureen showed us some fascinating items they had brought back..Altogether a very memorable holiday although travelling time of 24 hours to reach the Island  was a little tiring.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 10 April at 7.30pm in the Community Centre when Mrs Pat Alker will be coming and giving a talk about the Tribes of Southern Ethiopia - another chance to find out about another part of the world.

As usual, visitors are always welcome and if there are queries, please contact Veronica Brett, President on 01508 493029 or Lesley Sanders on 01508 492155.