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2019 Meetings
Click on an underlined title to go to a report of that talk.
Date | Activity |
---|---|
20th January 2019 | A Peep behind the Scenes Marion Pettet Marion will give an illustrated talk on her life as a stage manager and director, including her years with Chelmsford Ballet. |
18th February 2019 | Grenada at Chelsea Suzanne Gaywood Suzanne will be talking about her creations exhibiting successfully at Chelsea with her stunning designs showcasing fruit and flowers from the island of Grenada. |
18th March 2019 | A Year in the Life of... Eve Regulous Eve has for many years been a successful booking agent to many celebrities. This light-hearted talk will reveal details of some of the events she has organised and some of the people she has worked with. |
15th April 2019 | The Social & Political Satire of Gilbert & Sullivan Bernard Lockett Bernard is an authority on the pair and has written widely about them. |
20th May 2019 | The History of Chocolate Tony Diamond His talk includes myths and beliefs surrounding its discovery and enjoyment. |
17th June 2019 | A G M |
15th July 2019 | The Crop Circle Mystery Andy Thomas Andy is an internationally renowned authority on conspiracy theory and strange phenomena like crop circles. |
19th August 2019 | The Silk Road, China David Whiteing |
16th September 2019 | Pounds, Shillings and Poverty David Williams |
21st October 2019 | Old Time Music Hall Arthur Brooks Arthur will be giving a light-hearted talk to give a taste of music hall, with some music. |
18th November 2019 | My Solo Walk across Africa Fran Sandham Fran is an explorer and professional speaker who writes and talks about his adventures. |
16th December 2019 | Christmas meeting |
February Monthly Meeting
Suzanne Gaywood was introduced as the lady who does the Grenada Flowers at Chelsea.
Suzanne Gaywood.
Photo by John Bowen
She started her presentation by saying that she was born and raised in Grenada, married an Englishman and moved to Woodham Walter near Maldon. She used her flower arranging skills to arrange flowers in the local church and then in 1989 she assisted the Windward Islands team in exhibiting at Chelsea. RHS Chelsea Flower Show first started in 1862 and moved to the 21 acre site of the hospital in 1913.
Using the experience gained, she decided to exhibit in 1998 for Grenada and was awarded Silver followed
by Silver Gilts in 1999 and 2000. Once allocated an area, one has to design a theme - in 2001 this
was around a wooden hut built by Poulton Portables of Danbury but modified on-site to satisfy the judges
at Chelsea. One side of the hut was open to the public - the whole area was covered with
beautiful exotic flowers from Grenada and for this she was awarded her first Gold Award.
In total she was awarded a Silver, 5 Silver Gilts and 10 Gold Awards - what an achievement!
Flushed with success, she arranged to exhibit again but her husband reasoned that they could design and build the next "set" in their back garden with the assistance of neighbours. They called themselves "The Chelsea 8". This was the format adopted for the next 16 exhibits.
Each year, Suzanne had to think of an exhibition theme such as churches, sandy shore lines, water wheels, special buildings used to dry nutmegs (Grenada being the second largest producer in the world), representation of the dreadful Hurricane Ivan which hit Granada in 2004, 'Island in the Sun', to name but a few.
Cast Away.
Photos by kind premission of Suzanne
Tropical Paradise.
Spice Island.
Nutmegs and Other Spices.
The Grenada Tourism Authority has been a leading sponsor of the exhibition. Typically 80 boxes of
flowers are flown in each year with some 80% grown by Suzanne's friend, Denis Noel who exports
Ginger Lilies, Heliconias and other exotic flowers throughout the World.
This exhibition shows to the typical 150,000 people who visit each year what a wonderful
Country Grenada is to visit with its trees, lush vegetation and flowers.
In 2011 she was made a MBE in Recognition for her Services to Tourism in Grenada and to Horticulture. She showed a slide of her investiture by the Queen, who had a few words with her at that time.
She showed a number of slides of each year she exhibited and with some of the Grenada born personalities at Chelsea including Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC, Ainsley Harriot, Emma Thompson, Joanna Lumley, Sir Trevor Mc Donald, & a host of other celebrities including our Queen, who was a regular visitor, the High Commissioner for Grenada, Mr Joslyn Whiteman, and Mrs Catherine John to whom she passed the baton to continue exhibiting in 2015.
Suzanne now uses her knowledge of the island and horticulture to show groups of visitors around private gardens in Grenada in November.
Click here to see the website for Suzanne's tours:
http://www.gardentours.co.uk
A lovely afternoon of photographs of beautiful flowers, interesting stories told in a pleasant manner.
We trust your cold was not worsened by your presentation which was very much enjoyed.
Report by John Bowen with grateful assistance from Suzanne.
June AGM and 21st Birthday party
This year was our 21st birthday, so after the brief business of the AGM, members enjoyed (alcohol-free) sparking wine and food while being entertained by banjo player Steve Galler.
Beryl McDonnell, one of the founding members and first Chairman cut the cake.
A potted history of the group:
1996: Beryl McDonell read an article in a magazine about the U3A concept. She thought it was a good idea.
1997: When Beryl moved to Maldon, a leaflet came through her door which advertised the U3A in Chelmsford. Beryl later met up with her old friend, Barbara Arnold, they decided to go to the main
meeting of Chelmsford U3A to find out more. Members of the Chelmsford Committee helped them to get the ball rolling.
1998: In April, with help from Bill Stitchbury, an opening meeting was held. 35 people came. Some of those present at first meeting were Beryl McDonell, Archie McDonell, Barbara Arnold, Ken Cox, Shirley Springett, Bill Stitchbury, Marion Condon, Catherine Stern, Jean Sharp, Jack Mulville, Monica Williams and Chris Shaw.
Several groups were started at the first meeting, including Walking, Local History, Creative Writing, Play reading and Scottish Dancing.
Members were invited to reminisce on memories of those 21 years; below are a few miscellaneous jottings:
- Making new friends - enjoying interesting group meetings - all delightful.
- I feel very proud to have been a Founder Member and the first Speakers Secretary. The U3A is a fantastic organisation. I have happy memories of being on the Social Committee, and in the early days cooking large amounts of food!
- I remember talks by some retired Police Officers, some of which I take with a pinch of salt!
- David Arnold's European Group - Trip to Obernai. The coach driver couldn't find the hotel; on our third time around the very narrow streets of the quaint town, a policeman on his bike guided us to our destination. A local woman in an upstairs window had such a look of sheer puzzlement on her face the whole coach was in hysterics, but we had a lovely time, as always.
- I will never forget the knobbly knees competition at Hi-Di-Hi Maldon-on-Mud evening.
- European Group - Having Nigel Farage to speak to us and then going to Strasbourg to the European Parliament.
- The Ballet of the "Three Queens" on the Mersey during our Maritime trip to Liverpool.
- Making lots of new friends. All welcome at groups and meetings whether a couple or single.
- The first meeting Graeme and I came to was very memorable. A lady appeared on the stage in Victorian costume. She was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and she talked about her life and the founding of the Women's Hospital - which still exists. We were hooked!
- Being "persuaded" into remaining as Treasurer for another year!
- I got persuaded to an extra 3 years.
- Being "persuaded" to join a committee when I said I'd finished with all that!
- Henry VIII was good!
- Strolling around the Essex countryside with like-minded people, Great!
- I thought the holiday to the Iron Bridge and all the outings were very well planned and the whole holiday was great.
August Monthly Meeting
A selection of photos from the talk by David & Brigitte Whiteing following a Silk Road trip in China during October 2018. They crossed the whole of China in three weeks.
Xiahe Labrang Buddhist monastery.
Xiahe Labrang Buddhist monastery.
The longest corridor of rotating prayer wheels in the world.
Part of the Great Wall of China which runs for 13,000 miles.
Beijing drum tower, an hourly show on the Big Drums - played here by Monks.
They can be heard for miles.
A Pedal Rickshaw - it produces about a ¼ of a horsepower but is nearly carbon neutral.
Beijing drum tower.
Beijing Temple of Heaven, 2.7 million square meters.
Beijing the Forbidden City, 980 buildings over 180 acres.
The great wall surrounding the city of Xian, 14km in length.
The Terracotta Warriors in Xian - first found by a young boy in 1976.
There are approx. 8,000, all unique and slightly taller than life size.
A Camel Train of the type which made the Silk Road between China and the West so famous.
To a Western person, camels can be quite dangerous because they go up and down in 3 stages.
Brigitte was thrown off a camel and still has the bruises.
Dunhuang Crescent Lake in the sand dunes, a tourist attraction.
Local Tribesmen in the Taklamakan desert entertaining the tourists.
Report by John Bowen with thanks to David Whiteing for the images and titles above.
October Monthly Meeting
Arthur said that Music Hall described the venues from their inception in the 1850s to the end of WW1. During this time the living standards were generally poor and the idea of an escape for a few hours to a Music Hall where you could eat, drink ale, smoke and be entertained was attractive. From 1953 to 1983, they were portrayed by the BBC TV with the series called "The Good Old Days" from Leeds Music Hall theatre with a compere.
The original ones were noisy affairs and the artist had to project him/herself, or die on stage.
Arthur Brooks
Photo by John Bowen
Marie Lloyd (1870-1922) was a famous performer although she was known to sing slightly risqué versions of her songs. Our speaker had a small boom box and played a number of songs starting with "My Old Man's a Dustman", and "It's a long way to Tipperary". Unfortunately the audience was not invited to join in - which was a pity because many knew all the words.
For some 20 years she took a touring company to the Isle of Man and during this time introduced Flanagan (1896-1968) and Allen (1894-1982) as a duo - they sang such songs as "Underneath the Arches" and "Run Rabbit Run".
Arthur's Grandfather was a cabbie and told stories of how he ferried people to the Music Halls such as Wiltons, off Cable Street, London but he could also remember being taken on the trolley bus to such a venue, hoping the pantograph arm would fall off - watch the driver and conductor pole it back into position. He must have been 5 or 6 at this time. John Wilton bought it in 1850 when it could accommodate 1,500 but suffered a fire in 1877 when it was bought by the Methodist who used it as a Chapel until 1956 when it became a rag store. It has now been restored and it is used as an Arts and Heritage venue.
Harry Champion was another famous Music Hall performer who belted out with speed such numbers as "Any Old Iron", "Boiled Beef and Carrots" (maybe a forerunner of the Hay Diet?), "I am Henry the 8th I am, I am" and "I married the Widow next door who had been married seven times before".
From 1919 to the 1960s when television killed them off, the venues were referred to as Variety halls where the artist was allocated a time slot (typically 12 minutes) and thrust on the stage to perform. Arthur said he was a Member of the British Music Hall Society and was involved in preserving those which still remain today.
Arthur concluded his presentation by telling us about "Little Tich" (1867-1928). He really was tiny and also slightly deformed with webbed fingers but had made for him very long boots with which he used to do all sorts of tricks.
Little Tich in Paris
Please continue to pressure the BBC TV to bring back Variety from Leeds Music Hall - we "oldies" want a bit of fun in the evenings!
John Bowen.