We once again had an excellent attendance at our April meeting – maybe due to the fine spring weather. We have enrolled 7 new members so far this year and we have a new President, Jean Lewis who gave us a warm welcome. The President's badge was duely handed over and the responsibilites of individual committee members .announced.
The new programmes were handed out and we can look forward to a varied and interesting selection of speakers over the next 12 months. Correspondence was read out including a thanks from People to Places for our donation. Two of our members had recently done courses at Denman College and praised the experience. Our president urged us to sign the National Federation's petiton deploring violence against women which is a blot on a supposedly civilised society and an outrage in many countries of the world.
Our scheduled speaker was unable to attend owing to injury but we had a splendid substitute in John Humphries , a retired architect, who spoke to us on the London Marathon. He had competed no less than eleven times so we could look forward to an informed and amusing talk. We were not disappointed. He took us through the history of Marathons from their beginnings in Ancient Greece to the large international media events they have now become.
It was a century ago in 1908 that crowds turned out to witness the 1st London Marathon but it was not until 1981 that it became an annual event due to the efforts of Chris Brasher. The race is always run from Blackheath to The Mall a distance of only a few miles but the actual running distance is 26 miles 385 yards as the course takes many twists and diversions.
Mr Humphries told us that the hardest part is not running the race itself but the arduous training involved and the entry factor. For it is true that roughly one third only of all the entries received are accepted and about 45,000 runners finally partake.The wheelchair race is the first to start followed by the womens race ( our own Paula Radcliffe being a winner on three occasions) and finally the mens race Most finish in due course greatly assisted by the water stations positioned every mile or so.Of course you can walk most of the route but you are likely to come last.
A spirit of goodwill pervades with most of the competitors running for charities even if they are Wombles or endangered Rhinoceroses.
With his fluent and amusing style going down well our speaker then answered questions.
The meeting ended with a reminder that at our next meeting on May 6th we will discuss the the decline of the honey bee which in view of its crucial importance is the sole Resolution put forward this year.
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