We enjoyed a very interesting afternoon in the company of Jean Smith MBE, otherwise
known locally as "The Cycling Granny", who talked us through a period
of 13 years during which she cycled the entire coast-line of England, Scotland
and Wales, and through every County across the mainland, the Isle of Wight,
and the Scottish Islands. Her tours were certainly not gruelling speed trials
to prove any great physical achievement, but more a quest to achieve a personal
ambition to see as much of the beauty of the British Isles as possible.
Like so many of us, she realised at the age of 60 that she knew little of her
homeland, and she proceeded to embark upon twice yearly adventures, mostly alone and at her own pace until, at the age
of 73, family circumstances meant she could no longer be away from home. She
has travelled a total of 17,135 miles in 25 journeys, and, through talks such
as this, she has raised over £28,364 for various charities, the main beneficiary
now being Macmillan Nurses. She has an amazing tale to tell, backed up with
some beautiful photographs taken along the way. A really inspiring woman!
Shirley provided a lovely tea for us, during which we considered the two trips
proposed for the coming year in which we are to join with the Oakstones Club.
Further details will be advised soon, and the new year's programme will be ready
before the AGM in May. Our "Birthday Girl" in February is Jean Day.
At our next meeting on 6th March we will be ably entertained by our own Bryan
Gordon - so get those toes ready to tap and those voices tuned in for another
good afternoon's entertainment!
At our November meeting we had the pleasure of welcoming David Padwick from Gt Horkesley who entertained us with a wide variety of "Songs from the Shows", from "Oliver" to "Fiddler on the Roof", "Sound of Music" to "Joseph & his amazing technicolour dreamcoat" and many more. Most of us knew the tunes and we sang along with the well-known ones! David, who clearly comes from a musical family spanning several generations, has a rich and clear singing voice and a wide knowledge of the shows, and gave us a most pleasant afternoon in his company.
Details of the Christmas lunch on 12th December at Bradfield (12:30 for 1o/c) were given, and it looks to be a "full house" again this year. Any members not at this meeting but who would like to come to the lunch should please ring either Brian & Christine Gordon on 01255 870856 or Marilyn on 01255 862062 as soon as possible.
As always, we would love to welcome new members to our Club. We generally meet on the first Tuesday of every month at Beaumont Village Hall at 2:15pm, and we have a wide variety of entertainment, and outings. Membership is only £1 a year, and we ask £1 at each meeting for teas and the raffle. Do come along...
In September we were invited to both the Oakstones & Wix Golden Years clubs, and it was good to see so many old friends whilst enjoying a lovely afternoon tea, and to be well entertained.The music and poems at Oakley were varied, with nostalgic, amusing, and modern themes, & we enthusiastically joined in for the choruses, and added our own backing "music" to the pieces with a selection of small percussion instruments, which was great fun! At Wix we were again entertained with music, and enjoyed a superb spread as well as a glass of sherry! We felt very welcome at both Clubs and will be sending our own invitations to come and join us in Beaumont in the New Year.
October saw us back at Beaumont Village Hall where we met two intrepid fund-raising ladies, Melanie Davis & Julie Claxton, who talked enthusiastically about their two greatest challenges - their fight against breast cancer and their 86km high-altitude trek in Nepal to raise money for Breast Cancer Care. It was a very interesting talk, with some lovely photos demonstrating the challenges they faced, and showing the wonderful scenery in the Himalayas. They were an inspiration to us all!
We meet again on 7th November at 2:15 to be entertained by David Padwick, and we would welcome any new friends who would like to come along. Our Christmas lunch at Bradfield on December 12th will be the last meeting in 2006.
Marilyn Peck
We are very lucky that, for a number of years, we have had an excellent relationship with both the Great Oakley club "The Oakstones", and the Wix "Golden Years Club", and we have built up some good friendships with their members. It was as a result of these long-standing links that we were invited to both clubs during September, and it was good to see so many people at Oakley on 6th to be brilliantly entertained, and to enjoy a lovely afternoon tea.
The music and poems were varied, with nostalgic, amusing, and modern themes. Some were old favourites which we enthusiastically joined in for the choruses, and a selection of small percussion instruments were passed around so we could add our own backing "music" to the pieces, which was great fun! We felt very welcome and will be looking to invite the Oakstones back to Beaumont after Christmas to enjoy another afternoon together. At the time of writing, we are looking forward to visiting Wix on 20th for more entertainment, and to catch up with news from our friends there!
October sees us back at Beaumont Village Hall on Tuesday 3rd at 2:15 where we are to meet two intrepid fund-raising ladies, Melanie Davis & Julie Claxton, who will be talking about their two greatest challenges - their fight against breast cancer and their 86km high-altitude trek in Nepal to raise money for Breast Cancer Care. I am sure that it will be a very interesting talk, followed by teas and the raffle, and we would welcome any new friends who might be interested in coming along.
Our Birthday girl for September was Alice Yeoman.
We had a day trip by coach to North Norfolk, visiting the Norfolk Lavender Centre at Heacham and Caithness Crystal Glass at Kings Lynn. It was a glorious day and we were lucky to see the lavender still in flower despite the very hot weather. The Lavender Centre has a pleasant area to walk round with different colours and varieties of lavender in the National Collection, and an interesting Herb Garden which was showing signs of distress from the dry weather. The restaurant served a good selection of food and drink for our lunches, and we were able to shop for gifts and plants, and to walk in the shade of the trees by the Fragrant Garden. At Caithness Crystal we declined the demonstration as the furnaces were just too much to bear on such a hot day! However we were able to enjoy a light tea and again to shop for some excellent bargains in the Factory Store. A cool-box full of iced bottled water was well received as we set off for home.
At the beginning of August we held a Sale in the Village Hall for which everyone worked very hard, and which was quite well attended. Our thanks go to those villagers who came to support us and helped us raise £400 for our funds. We were happy to donate some of our unsold items for the Village fete at the end of the month.
September sees us visiting both the Oakstones on 6th and Wix Golden Years on 20th for tea and entertainment.