Despite a heavy fall of snow the previous day no fewer than 51 members and 5 visitors turned up at the WI Hall for our February meeting. We were welcomed by Jean Lewis standing in for our president Val who was present but had lost her voice due to a chest infection. We received the sad news of the death of one of our founder members Audrey Everest, after a long illness born with great courage. Tributes were paid and one minutes silence observed. Reports were given by the leaders of the interest groups, the walking and tennis groups being particularly hit by wintery weather.A final appeal was made for knitted squares for the peace blanket.
It was the 17th anniversary of the founding of our group and we were informally seated around tables with drinks and nibbles to be served at the close of the meeting.
But first we had our speaker and Ruth Daniel, one of our members, was well qualified to talk to us about Easter Island having spent 8 days there in 2007.
It is one of the most remote places on the globe , only 14 x 10 miles and physically virtually treeless.
Most people are familiar with pictures of the iconic stone figures (called Moais ) ; huge human heads and torsos with long noses and overhanging brows that stand on various sites on the island. The reason for their existance remains somewhat of a mystery but we know that they were carved with stone picks by the original tribes who were probably seafaring Polynesians as early as the 1st century AD. They hewed the stone from the Ramu Raruku quarry and dragged the finished figures on log rollers to various sites and then with mammoth effort levered them upright only to be pulled down several centuries later. This was a time when hardship and terror reigned and most of the tribal population were on the verge of starvation.
Ruth took us through the centuries to modern times when in the 1950s Thor Heyerdahl brought the mysteries of these strange figures to the notice of the outside world in his best selling book Aku Aku. Over the years many of the stones have been righted again but their origins still remain an enigma. Today the population of approx 4000 earn their living largely through tourism . An airstrip was built in the 1960s and since then several hotels have been built.
Ruth was inspired to carve a statue herself out if a 4 ft high piece of walnut and this multi talented lady also showed us her sketchbook of beautifully executed pen and wash drawings ahe had made during her visit there. Her talk provoked a lot of interest and several questions were asked.
Our next meeting on March 4th will be the AGM and the talk will be by a Water Aid Volunteer.
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