DEAN RISE WI

My Sister Ruth Ellis - 4 January 2012

2012-01-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

It was a full house for our January monthly meeting with 49 members present

Our president Jean Lewis opened the meeting welcoming two new members and encouraged us all to learn new skills in the New Year. An air of anticipation was building up as our 20^th anniversary lunch in February is fast approaching and those of us who had not already bought tickets were told that today was our last chance to do so.

The Berkshire Federation at last gave a much deserved plaudit to Ruth Daniel for her win in the Golden Jubilee Cup with an article in the Berkshire News praising her many talents. Nominations for the new committee were invited as fresh blood would be welcome.

The Christmas meeting had proved popular as usual and over £300.00 pounds was made from the raffles.

' My sister Ruth Ellis' was the tile of the talk that followed and we fully expected to see an elderly woman but it transpired that the speaker was Monica Weller , a ghost writer of the book in collaberation with Ruth's sister Murial. Monica had certainly done her homework and had spent several years of meticulous research into this complex case. Most of us will have remembered the sensational case of Ruth Ellis who was convicted of the murder of her lover David Blakely and subsequently hanged. Ruth, a divorced mother of two, nightclub hostess and part time prostitute was convicted after an open and shut trial during which the defence lawyers had nothing to offer. Crucial evidence was withheld. The Smith and Weston service revolver used in the shooting was large gun and it would have been impossible for Ruth, who had small hands weakened by rheumatic fever, to hold the gun steady let alone shoot accurately at a target. Moreover no blood stains or oil from the gun were found on Ruth's person. Although she admitted her guilt Ruth had been known to lie.

She had had another wealthy lover, Desmond Cussen , the original owner of the gun who was a crack shot and it was he who had driven Ruth to the pub in Hampstead where the murder took place . Was it possible that he had pulled the trigger? Was there an establishment plot to eliminate Ruth because she knew too much about the famous and infamous people in her circle ?. She had been a friend of Stephen Ward who was probably a pimp as well as a double agent and had drawn Ruth into the world of espionage.

Our speaker had certainly uncovered a big picture of deceit, lies and dodgy names and addresses and we were left with the feeling that crucial defence evidence was withheld at the trial and no attempt was made to follow up subsequent information that may have aquitted Ruth. What an intriguing story-so much to speculate on. Our speaker left us to draw our own conclusions and urged us to read her book of which she had multiple copies with her and of course achieved many sales.

The meeting closed after some probing questions. At our next meeting on 1^st Feb Edward Dixon will talk about postcards of the great war.

Working at Heathrow Airport. - 2 November 2011

2011-11-02T06:17:00.000-07:00

Fifty members attended our November monthly meeting and were welcomed by our president Jean Lewis. She reminded us that contributions for Christmas raffle prizes are now due and informed us that the BFWI were running another Christmas Quiz in aid of their funds.

Our donation of £200 to the Alexander Devine childrens hospice was gratefully received and a letter of thanks was read out. The AGM of the National Federation will be in April at the Albert Hall and we will send a delegate. Our recently formed singing group received the thumbs up after the inaugural meeting when we sang a lot on old favourites and at our next gathering we will be singing carols. Plans for our 20^th birthday celebrations are gathering apace and tickets for the lunch at Moor Hall are now on sale . We will also have a well known conjurer so it should be a memorable event.

We have had some really amusing speakers over the year but Sheila Kennedy must surely surpass any. A feisty attractive lady she was something of a stand up comedienne and regaled a receptive audience with her often hilarious account of her working life at Heathrow Airport. Even as a child she had an ambition to work at the airport and she more than realized this ambition.

She worked for Pan Am and also for BA mainly on the information desks and in Customer Liason and later became a " Hunter " a team sorting out problems on the airport floor. There is no doubt that she empathized with people and made many friends with the travelling public. She featured largely in the BBC TV programme "The secret life of the Airport ", but confessed that she herself hated flying and was happier with her feet on the ground.

She left the airport for 5 years and changed tack completely buying boarding kennels in Wales where she devoted her life to four legged friends. Here she joined her local WI and started to give talks . But the lure of Heathrow was too strong and when her father had a stroke she sold the kennels and returned to live in West Drayton to care for him and eventually returned to the airport to work as an ' Auntie ' . A lovely funny lady- we never stopped laughing.

We meet in December at Maureen Lawrence's house, a social event where quizzes , big raffles and mince pies are the highlights.

Working with Ex-offenders. - 5 October 2011

2011-10-05T04:16:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of business to get through at our October meeting and our president Jean Lewis started with an impassioned plea for someone willing to stand as president next year when she retires. As no committee member is willing to take on the job, members were asked to give the matter some thought with the view to co-opting a willing candidate onto the committee. We will hope for the best because otherwise our thriving group is in danger of folding up.

Some excellent news. Ruth Daniel has won the WI Golden Jubilee Cup for her design for a pennant with an Olympic theme. She came 1^st out of 80candidates, a 'stunning design ' according to the judges. Congratulations Ruth.

All the money we made from activities at our Garden meeting will be donated to the Alexander Devine Childrens Hospice. There was more about the successful resolution of Saving our Libraries. Our inveterate campaigner Kath has more details and advertising material. Planning for our 20^th birthday celebrations are gathering speed and a lunch with entertainment is to be held at Moor Hall in February.

Our treasurer reported a healthy bank balance but announced that subscriptions for next year will go up again and that we will be allowed to keep considerably less than half for the needs of our branch.

The subject of the talk was 'Working with sex offenders' and two representatives of a local charity called HTV Circles that takes a holistic approach to tackling sexual crime came to explain their methods. The offenders helped by the Circle have all been convicted of serious sexual crimes and have served full sentences without parole. These people are often sociopaths, inadequate, hugely isolated and lonely. They were much vilified in prison, often attacked and even killed by other prisoners. The idea is that when released they have a strong circle of support so that even hardened offenders can be helped by the highly trained volunteers with the object of bridging the gap between the said offenders and the communities. Thus they can be safely managed if not cured. The late lamented News of the World and similar papers were seen as unhelpful as their lurid headlines only drove sex offenders underground and it is important that The Circle should know where they lived in the area in order to 'manage' them. In the view of one of the speakers libido reduction by chemical methods or castration was not used enough.

Opportunites were given to ask questions but clearly with such an emotive subject more time could have been given.

The meeting was closed and the subject of the talk at the next meeting on Nov 2^nd will be

'Working at Heathrow Airport'.

Gardening with Perennials - 7 September 2011

2011-09-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

There was a good turnout for our monthly meeting on Sept. 7th. Fifty members and a few visitors attended, probably due to the popularity of our speaker who had visited us several times before.

Jean Lewis started off in good form with not one but two anecdotes and welcomed us back after the summer and about the summer the least said the better.

The visit to Lord Carrington's garden had been enjoyed despite the rain and miraculously our own garden meeting in Audrey' lovely garden was a knockout with temperatures in the 80s.

Our various sales and the raffle at this event raised exactly £200 which will be donated to a local charity. Several suggestions were made for a suitable charity but the outcome will be decided at committee level.

A petition with the objective of saving local libraries ( the chosen WI resolution this year ) was passed round and signed by all. Certainly a worthy cause.

Our RBWM local planning group has requested that we send a member to a planning workshop to be held on 3rd Oct. Our representative will be Mary-Lou Kellaway and we are urged to send suggestions and opinions to her. Geneviève Usher , our very talented singer was a soloist at 'Glyndebourne in the Barn' at the Old Barn in Purley. The local NHS Foundation Trust has sent an SOS via our Berkshire WI Federation for help in supplying emergency packs of toiletries for patients admitted urgently to A&E who have been unable to pack a bag first.

The special interest groups gave their reports and there is good news for our singing hopefuls. The newly formed singing group will have their first monthly meeting on 22nd September.

Planning for our 20th birthday celebrations have been going on behind the scenes and a date has been set for Feb 15th next. More about that later.

Our speaker, Brian Davis, winner of a full set of RHS show medals including Chelsea Gold
is always received with great enthusiasm here. His talk was entitled ' Gardening with Perennials' and he showed us his own colourful slides with his thoughts on suitabity for different planting sites and soils. He also gave the lowdown on gardeners enemy no1, thso nasty slugs and snsils. Apparently it is the little slugs that come up from underground, tackling the roots before making inroads on those succulent shoots. Although always entertaining Mr Davis was possibly a bit more subdued than usual, probably because he was waiting for an operation on his ear which was giving him some pain.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 5th October and will be entitled ' Working with Ex-offenders.

A Transcontinental Bike Ride - 1 June 2011

2011-06-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

There were a few announcements to make at the start of our June monthly meeting. The annual draw for a bursary to Denman WI College was made and the winner was Annie Panton. Tickets for the National Federation raffle were on sale and an appeal was made for books and plants to sell at our summer garden meeting in August and also for good quality raffle prizes.

Our attention was drawn to several arts and crafts activities to be held shortly in the Berkshire area and also to a literary lunch at Denman College.

Our very talented Ruth Daniel has entered the WI Golden Jubilee Competition and has made a pennant with an Olympic theme ; it is made of cloth with a most striking design for which she has copyright. Good luck to her.

Our speaker was Mary Bryant, a feisty and articulate woman who with her partner embarked on a 9000 mile bicycle tour visiting 15 countries and 3 continents. It had been her lifelong ambition and having retired could see her objectives more clearly. So in 2002 they set off on bicycles made specially for the trip. After the ferry to Calais they crossed France and via southern Europe made for Greece, Turkey and from Istanbul took a flight to India and thence to Burma where they followed the course of the Irrawaddy marveling at the ancient temples on the way,

The main focus of her talk was S.E.Asia. Vietnam they found stunningly beautiful with a highly literate population; Laos a very poor country relying on foreign aid as did Cambodia which was desecrated by years of war. One of the big tourist attractions in Cambodia is the huge old temple complexof Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world dating from the 12 th century.

Everywhere was full of interest as displayed on a slide show, Strange to us with our obsession with Health and Safety were the ramshackle buses and taxis filled to the scuppers with people and animals lumped together , insde, on the roof, clinging to the sides and even on the driver's lap and frantically overtaking each other at breakneck speed on bumpy dirt roads. What a nightmare!

Of course they found the going hard on these roads . And their bicycles were weighed down with sleeping bags,tents and utensils , the tyres often sticking to the road in the heat. But they triumphed and their experiences are recorded in Ms Bryant's book “Four cheeks to the wind” .

The next meeting on July 6^th will feature a talk on “ Mercy Ships “

Resolutions, Coffee and Cake - 4 May 2011

2011-05-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

There was a smaller than usual gathering at our May monthly meeting , many members being on holiday. Jean Lewis welcomed us and entertained us with an amusing anecdote before starting the business of the day. There were several announcements .On the subject of speakers members are to be asked for feedback and forms are now provided for their views. Diaries for 2012 are already on sale and decked in royal purple to coincide with the Queen's Jubilee year. Our attention was drawn to an open day at WI house in Mortimer and members were urged to visit . Over 20 members had expressed an interest in forming a singing group and a prior meeting is to be arranged to decide what form it would take.

The May meeting is always devoted to the Resolutions which are issues of current concern which the National WI with its undoubted clout hopes to influence government thinking .Two had been selected; namely the closure of local libraries and proposed mega farms ;two very different subjects which provoked a lively discussion chaired by our inveterate campaigning member Kath Pinto who did an excellent job in presenting the respective backgrounds and arguments for and against the Resolutions.

The closure of libraries was unanimously deplored. It was perceived that the role of libraries had changed considerably over a generation. Far from being exclusively a book borrowing service it is now a community hub providing meeting rooms, computer tuition, exhibition centres, story and reading groups to name a few. Luckily the Royal Bourough does not envisage closures but is actually opening one new library later this year.

The matter of megafarms proved rather more complex. While most of us instinctively deplored the idea of farm animals being kept indoors all year round and felt there is something inherently right about cows contentedly grazing in the fields and hereabouts paddling in the shallows of the river , there are clearly more issues at stake. Better control of feeding and spread of disease, better milk yield, improved husbandry, control of methane gases were some advantages put forward in favour of megafarms. Even happier cows? Huge farms with vast fields would mean increased crops to help feed an ever growing population. Interestingly both the RSPCA and the NFU have argued that with good management they might be the way forward. On this issue members had divergent views.

The meeting closed with the announcement that the next meeting will be on June 6th and the Speaker will be Mrs Bryant on A Trancontimental Bike Ride.

Glaciers, Geysers & Waterfalls - 6 April 2011

2011-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Our April meeting started with an extremely amusing April Fools joke which had us in stitches of laughter but we were then put in a more somber mood by our president Jean Lewis who announced the sad news of the death of Cec Hewett, husband of our very popular ex- president Val. A wave of sympathy followed but then we had to get on with the business of the day.

The new programmes were distributed and promised talks on interesting and varied subjects. The committee had been re-elected with one new member serving. There were reports from the Special Interest Groups and many members supported the idea of forming a singing group.

We voted to increase our contribution to the ACWW to £150.00 for this year, the main project currently supported being the supply of clean water in Tanzania,

Two outing were planned for the summer; a visit to Dulwich Picture Gallery and also to Lord Carrington's garden at Bledlow.

Our speaker was Mr J. Howes on the subject of Glaciers,Geysers and Waterfalls in Iceland.

The waterfalls rival most other countries in terms of sheer power and raw beauty.

They range from wide river type waterfalls to tall narrow ones cleaving through huge volcanic cliffs. Nature has many faces on display here from geysers,thermal pools and hot sulpher springs to massive glaciers such as Vatnajokull which is by far the largest in Europe and a sight to behold. In fact Iceland's energy demands are met largely by geothermal heat.

The whole landscape has been sculptured by volcanos and lava formations. There is a big volcanic eruption about every five years. We all remember the ash from last years eruption which so disrupted air travel throughout Europe.

Birdwatchers throng to Snaefellness, the jagged peninsular in the NW, a rugged area of waterfalls, idyllic fjords and ice floes.

Mr Howes completed his talk with slides of the capital Reykjavic and some other smaller places with their charmimg traditional buildings.The meeting closed with a reminder that the next meeting will be on May 4th when the WI Resolutions for this year will be discussed.

“Feng Shui” Mrs C Miles-Robertson - February 2, 2011

2011-02-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to report on our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 2nd. February 2011.

Our President , Mrs. Jean Lewis opened our meeting with a joke, which started this very entertaining meeting so well. We welcomed two guests, who had heard that the Speaker we had booked was speaking on the subject of Feng Shui, and they were keen to learn more, as we were.

Our Speaker, Mrs. Carla Miles Robinson, started her career in Graphic Design and Illustrations. She then became very interested in Feng Shui. I must admit most of the members had but a vague notion what it was all about before she started and we found her talk very amusing and entertaining.

Feng Shui was first recognised by the Chinese many centuries ago and has only become more popular here in the last 20 or so years . Feng Sui means Fire, Earth, Metal and Wood. It is an ancient and wise approach to the way we feel about our environment and how it affects us. The way we feel and act is affected to a large extent by the environment which surrounds us. Learning how to properly organize what surrounds us can improve our lives and that really is all Feng Shui is all about – but it is a large and quite complex subject.

Firstly in our Homes. Is the name or number of our house easy to find or is it obstructed by i.e. trees or bushes or non existent. Clutter – do we really look at all the objects in our homes and do we really need all of them – when did we last set about really looking? Photographs, are they arranged singly or in groups, the latter giving a better feel to a room. Has that light bulb been replaced that went out some time ago. Are all the clothes in your wardrobe likely to be worn again, if not throw them out. Is the headboard at the north end of your bed ? We were told that it was preferable!

We were told that by organizing our immediate surrounding and leaving clear spaces - clears the mind. ( My Husband groaned when reading this as I have my eye on his overcrowded shed and garage! )
A most thought provoking talk.

Uniquely British – from PG Woodhouse to Alan Bennett - 6 October 2010

2010-10-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to Report on our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 6th October 2010. Our President, Mrs Jean Lewis opened the Meeting, as usual, with a joke, which always goes down well before the business side of the meeting.

Many members have put their names down for the next trip, arranged by Ann Wale to Bletchley Park. A 49 seater coach is booked, the cost includes entrance fee, coffee and lunch. This like all of our trips are well supported. Many husbands will also be joining us.

Members were invited to bring raffle prizes for our fund raising event at Christmas, to make up our very popular Christmas hampers ! These will be required at our November meeting.

Our Speaker this week was Mr. T. King and his subject was named “Uniquely British - P.G. Wodehouse to Alan Bennett”. Alan Bennett was born in 1934, the son of a butcher, and his childhood and formative years were spent in Armley, Leeds, surrounded by ordinary Yorkshire women. Many of the characters in his books originated from his experiences in those days. From his detailed observations he wrote the wonderful “Talking Heads”.

He loved the comedians Tommy Handley and and Tommy Trinder, listening to them on the radio. He attended Oxford University and together with his collaborators Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller they revolutionized satire with ‘Beyond the Fringe’. Later he wrote many notable books, plays and films etc. reflecting the detailed lives of ‘ordinary’ people’.

The 2nd author chosen by our speaker was P.G. Wodehouse who was born in 1881 in Guildford. His childhood was vastly different from Alan Bennett, spending his school years at various boarding schools and seeing very little of his parents. He started his working life as a banker and then a journalist. His best known novels are about Jeeves -- but what was surprising to all of us that he wrote 15 plays, 250 lyrics and 30 musicals, including the lyrics for the song ‘Bill’ from Showboat with Jerome Kern and Cole Porter.

Mr. King accompanied his talk with slides and reference to the many books written by these two talented and vastly different British authors.

The next Meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45 on Wednesday November 3rd. and the talk will be ‘Tales from the Opera’ will be given by Mrs. P. Purcell.

Visitors are always welcome.

Swimming with Sharks - 1st September 2010

2010-09-05T05:52:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report on our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 1st September 2010. Our President, Mrs. Jean Lewis opened the Meeting. She mentioned the very enjoyable previous meeting held in Mrs. Val. Hewitt`s beautiful garden, which was a great success. Unfortunately the weather changed towards the latter part of the meeting, but a good time was had by all. Refreshments were all home made and a Book and Plant stall were very popular.

Our Speaker for this, our September meeting was Mr. N. Stewart. His talk was entitled “Swimming with Sharks,” and illustrated by some wonderful underwater photographs, which were taken by Mr. Stewart. It was explained how the sharks circle around many times following a barrel of frozen fish, which when slowly thawed, in the warm waters in the Bahamas, is closely following by shoals of sharks. The idea is that whilst they are being fed in this manner, the underwater photographers are ‘safe’ !! The male sharks have the first fish and the female sharks finish what is left ! !

It was explained that sharks have in their jaws approx. 1000 teeth and when they are damaged, a new tooth replaces the damaged one. What a wonderful system !
Mr. Stewart then went on to show our members, most graphically, the slaughtering of hundreds of thousands of sharks which are killed for their fins, which command a very high price. They are used to make Shark Fin soup which is considered a delicacy in many countries. Not only does this happen in China, Malaysia etc. but also surprisingly, by European fishermen. These beautiful creatures face total extinction if this trade is not stopped .

It was a very sobering finale to his talk but we all felt that if this trade continues at the present rate, our children and grandchildren will never have the opportunity to see these amazing creatures ---- should we not consider a WI Resolution to stop this dreadful trade ?

The next Meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45 am on Wednesday October 6th and the illustrated talk will be on `P.G.Wodehouse to Alan Bennett`.

Visitors are always welcome.

The Origins of Manners and Customs. - 2 June 2010

2010-06-02T04:32:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report on our Monthly Meeting on Wednesday 2nd June 2010.
Our President, Mrs. Jean Lewis opened the Meeting. She mentioned a lovely day spent at Savill Garden which was attended by a good number of our members, who enjoyed the wonderful rhododendrons which were in full bloom. They were captured so well by one of our very talented members, Mrs Ruth Daniel, who painted a beautiful apricot Rhododendron in water colour. We have a forthcoming visit to the gardens at “Old Thatch” Bourne End - planned for the 14th July.
Our Special Interest groups include Book Club, Bridge, Mah-Jong, Scrabble, T’ai Chi, Tennis and Walking, are enjoying their regular meetings.

Our Speaker at this meeting was Mr. H Granger, who before he retired was a Chief examiner in English Language. He is a very accomplished speaker with no less than 34 topics on which he speaks. Our Talk was entitled “Origins of Manners and Customs”. He opened by saying that there is no such thing as a ‘universal language’ of sayings and gestures. Take nodding for instance; in Turkey and much of the Middle East nodding means no. Raised eyebrows which denotes “surprise” in the West means “no” in Chinese. It is considered bad form for a Chinese lady to show any facial expression, so will cover her face with her hand.

There was so many customs Mr. Grainger mentioned, too numerous to record here !. But I have listed just one or two. The reason ladies coats etc. button on the opposite side to men, is because a valet laid out mens clothes and the man fastened his own buttons , whereas women had to be helped to dress by a maid to get into tight bodices, so for the convenience of the maid, who was invariably right handed, ladies clothes were buttoned from the right, viz opposite to men !

As the Pagan `churches` gave way to Christianity, many pagan customs were adopted by the new Church to placate the pagan tribes. They wanted to see if the new God could do any better than their own gods! In fact many of our Christian churches were built on the sites of Druid or Pagan sites, to give continuity. A number of the Christian dates also were taken from Pagan dates, to ease the `change over`.

Furthermore, our custom of making cakes in the Autumn when the berries and nuts were harvested came from even earlier days and in fact were probably introduced by the Vikings. These were made with Flour, Nuts, Mead etc. and buried in the garden to preserve them. Only to be eaten in the winter when food was in short supply -- hence our Christmas cake !

Mr Granger was thanked for his very informative Talk and many of our Members bought CD`s of his talks.

The next meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45 on Wednesday July 7th and the talk will be on Organ Transplant and will be given by Mrs. C. Nelson, Organ Transplant Co-Ordinator. Visitors are always welcome.

Resolutions, Coffee and Cakes - 5 May 2010

2010-05-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

The meeting on the 5th May was the annual “ Resolutions “ meeting and as usual provoked a lot of lively discussion. The subject of the resolution to be debated nationally was " The mandatory clear labelling of food with the true country of origin ". Our votes on this matter are collated at National level and will be taken to the WI Annual meeting at Cardiff in June. We hope to be one of the several high profile groups lobbying the government for stricter regulation on this matter.

But first of all we had our own group business. After a warm welcome our president Jean Lewis briefed us on the Spring Council Meeting at the Hexagon attended by several of our members.

Forthcoming events highlighted included the Thames Group meeting later this month at the Soltau Centre and members were asked to make cakes for this event. Several garden visits were suggested and we hope to visit the Savill Gardens at rhododendron flowering time .

The tennis group restarted after a winter in the doldrums and a Mah Jong group recently started was reported to be going strong.

Geneviève Usher, one of our members who is an accomplished singer is to be a finalist in the Golden Jubilee Cup later this year and she urged members to come and support her.

At the coffee interval we were treated to some delicious cakes and with flowers on the tables there was a festive air.

The serious discussion of the resolution was initiated by Kath Pinto, our expert on all matters green and environmental . She handed round packets of food and asked us to comment on misleading labelling. It transpired that we are all keen to buy British products but food is so often sourced elsewhere and packaged as British. It was agreed that a change is vital even though it may lead to significantly higher prices in the shops.

At the next meeting on June 2nd we will have a talk on The Origins of Manners and Customs.

‘Starting out in Family History’ - 7 April 2010

2010-04-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report on our April 7th 2010 meeting. Our speaker for the morning was Mr. T Weston . He gave a very informative talk on ‘Starting out in Family History’, accompanied by many slides.

Mr. Weston started on this interesting hobby when he retired, as he explained that it soon becomes a very compulsive hobby, so much so that he definitely would not have had the time when he was in business ! He said that with the advent of the home computer that genealogy has become one of the fastest growing hobbies in the U.K. and the TV programme ` Who Do You Think You Are ?` stimulated great interest with the public.

Mr Weston said that the internet, with the help of various publications, now plays a fundamental role in the research. The Web sites (quoted at the end of this report) will be useful to those starting out to find their ancestral history.

Dates and many relevant details are available from 1800’s but the 1700’s can be more difficult to find. It was in 1538 that Parishes were obliged to keep accurate records of Births, Deaths and Marriages in the UK. The 1801 Census is a very helpful tool in research. Large libraries invariably have internet facilities and one can use them free of charge. The national records at Kew also have very good research facilities. School admissions and War Graves Commission records are other sources of basic information. He also mentioned the Mormon Church.

Mr Weston gave us some very good guidance -- “ when clearing out a deceased person’s house, do not throw away papers before examining them carefully. Speak to older members of the family before their memories fail. When you start to delve, do not worry about family skeletons in the cupboard, we all have them! “ He also advised us to keep careful records of all the names of people we are researching and note where we found the details, so that we can retrace our steps, as this can be a time waster if you go over the same ground twice!

At the end of the talk many questions were asked by our members -- this was an excellent talk with numerous slides, which gave many of us the inspiration to start our own family history research ! The Members showed their appreciation in the usual way.

The next meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45 on Wednesday 5th May which will be the Resolutions meeting accompanied by coffee, cakes and conversation. Visitors are always welcome.

Web pages ---
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.family search.org
www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates
http://freebmd.rootweb.com

3 February 2010 - Waterways of Russia

2010-02-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to report on our February 3^rd 2010 Meeting. Our speaker for the morning was Mrs. Margaret Deakin. The talk she gave was entitled Waterways of Russia.

Mrs. Deakin and her husband took a cruise through the waterway from Moscow and finishing in St. Petersberg. Her talk was illustrated by some very beautiful slides of churches and monasteries containing many beautiful icons.

The Moscow canal was commissioned by Stalin in 1932 and completed by 1937. 75 miles of straight waterway was channelled through existing villages, some of the church spires are still visible. The canal was built by Gulag prisoners, of whom 100,000 died during the construction. (No Public Enquiries were held as to whether it was needed, in those days ! ) The completed canal was a huge improvement on the existing narrow canal, which was very limited with the size of the vessels that could navigate it. Apparently 7 concrete dams, 8 earthen dams, 11 locks, 8 hydroelectric plants, 5 pumping stations, 15 bridges, 2 tunnels , a river terminal and a finally a large cargo port, were all constructed. However the canal is only navigable between May to October, due to ice.

One priceless snippet of information Mrs Deakin gave us was that 2 million bottles of Vodka are drunk by the Russians every day – it`s a wonder the canal is straight!

Their cruise finished in the beautiful city of St. Petersberg, where many priceless treasures are stored including of course many of the world renowned Faberge eggs.

A truly interesting and entertaining talk. I believe it will inspire many members of the W.I. to follow in Margaret’s footsteps to see some of the many treasures held in Russia.

The next meeting of Dean Rise W.I will be at 9.45 on Wednesday 3^rd March when it will be the Annual Meeting followed by a talk by the Air Ambulance Trust. Visitors are always welcome.

4 November 2009 - History of the Building & Restoration of Westminster Abbey

2009-11-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to report on our November 4th 2009 meeting. Our speaker for the morning was Mr. Roberts, Project Manager for the restoration of Westminster Abbey. He worked for 4 years prior to his retirement on the biggest restoration work ever undertaken, at the Abbey.

The original site on which the Abbey stands was called Thorney Island. The site was picked by the Romans and Edward the Confessor had the first building built there in the first century. It was known as the Minster in the West. Thorney Island was a sacred spot originally and was consecrated by Henry of Reims. Later Henry then changed the original design with a Gothic theme, which was quite different from the original concept. Much of the stone was carved by stonemasons who favoured stone excavated from mines in Beer in Devon. The stone , however, was very soft and had to weathered in the London air for about 6 months to harden, before they could start to carve it.

Stone was brought from other mines in the country and much of it transported up the River Thames. ( Why, I wonder, cannot more materials be transported in this manner, instead of by road! )
The Abbey remained largely as originally built, until Christopher Wren designed and added the great West Towers in about the 1730’s.

The present restoration was started in 1973 and 19,000 cubic feet of new stone has been used. Many of the stonemasons learnt their trade whilst working on the Abbey. One such sculptor started as an apprentice and finished as the Foreman in Charge. There were also two women sculptors involved in the restoration, one of whom always signed her work incorporating a dolphin into her carvings.

Mr Roberts suggested that when we next visit Westminster Abbey, to take a pair of binoculars, in order to properly see the range of animals etc. carved into this great building.

It was gratifying to learn that we still have craftsmen able to do this work in this 21st century.

The next meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45 a.m. on Wednesday the 2nd December, when it will be our Christmas Meeting. Our Hostess for the morning is Mrs. Maureen Lawrence.

7 October 2009 - Mysteries of the Mind

2009-10-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

After a warm welcome by our President Jean Lewis we dealt with the business in hand.

After her financial report our eco-campaigner Kath Pinto urged us to participate in the climate campaign by sending special post cards to parliament and joining the climate march in December. There was also a follow up on honey bee concerns. Kath also had a part in starting up the farmers market in Maidenhead and a tribute appeared in a recent issue of The Advertiser. It was suggested that we should arrange a talk on ovarian cancer as interest had been shown at a previous meeting . Leaflets explaining the symptoms were handed round.

Some forthcoming events in our area were highlighted. Of particular interest is a ' Culture of Japan ' day at the Soltau Centre and an Art lecture at Knowl Hill. There is also a possibility of a visit to the BM in January,

We welcomed Neil Somerville - a writer and journalist as our speaker. His field of expertise is in the mind, body and spirit area and he has made a study of telepathy, premonitions, ESP and creative visualization.

Rather than talk he subjected us to a series of experiments to show his mastery of telepathy and mind reading and with audience participation it made an entertaing morning. He had such unerring success with his telepathy that many of us wondered if some trickery was involved or did he really possess such awesome powers. We will never know ; particularly as he did not invite questions afterwards which he may not have relished from such a sophisticated audience.

The meeting closed after reports from the special interest groups and we were reminded that our next meeting on Nov 4th will feature a talk on

The History and Restoration of Westminster Abbey.

2nd September 2009 - "Living with Jane Austen"

2009-09-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

It was a wet morning ( yes another ) but 52 members attended our September meeting. After the initial welcome there were reports of certain of our activities during the past month. The garden meeting in August was much enjoyed and the book, plants and bring and buy sales realized a good profit to be donated to charity. An outing to Mary Berry's garden in Penn and another to Bagpuize House and Denman College had received approval from the groups. One of our founder members Genevieve Usher had the distinction of becomimg second in the county for her monologue in the Lady Denman Cup competition. She received a round of applause and wll go on to the final. Genevieve also alerted us to the need for better diagnosis of ovarian cancer and Kath Pinto praised a solar heating hot water club recently started in Cookham Dean.

We welcomed our speaker Mr Tanner whose talk was entitled “ Living with Jane Austen “ , a subject dear to our hearts judging by the large turnout.

For his reminiscences Mr Tanner took on the persona of the Austen family gardener with a suitably bucolic accent. In his role of gardener he lived in Steventon where Jane's father was rector and where she grew up with her brothers and sisters. We can see from Jane's mode of life that it was very similar to some of her heroines: she took walks, visited the poor, danced at the local Assembly Rooms and if she was lucky was invited to one or two of the large houses in the area. She also went to Bath where she lived for a while with her father and sister Cassandra. She hated Bath and when her father died she and her sister took a cottage in the village of Chawton where she happily wrote the rest of her books. Our narrator in the guise of the gardener also went to Chawton where he gardened for Jane and also for her wealthy brother who lived in a mansion nearby.

Sadly Jane became ill at a relatively early age and spent her last days in Winchester County Hospital. She died there aged 41 and was buried inWinchester Cathedral, a productive life cut short. Who knows what other gems she might have written.

Our next meeting will be on Oct 7th and we will have a talk on “ The mysteries of the mind “

1st July 2009 - “Life on the Reef”

2009-07-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report on our 1st July 2009 Meeting. Our speaker for the morning was Mr. Neil Stewart. The subject of his talk was “Life on the Reef”. Mr. Stewart had been always inspired in the past with the television programmes of Cousteau and Hans Haas when he was a boy. After serving in the Royal Engineers he was lucky enough to fulfil his dream in his 40’s, when he learned the basics of diving. Mr Stewart thenprogressed to scenic, wreck, cave and archaeological dives. Over the following years he visited many far flung places around the world.

We saw many fantastic slides of marine life in both the Tropics and around the British Isles. One of the many interesting subjects covered , was when he was diving in Scotland around the coast of St. Kilda. The trip to the area he was diving inaround St. Kilda took 15 hours in very rough seas. The inhabitants of St. Kilda had been evacuated between the wars. It was found as there had been so few inhabitants on the Island, that over the many years of climbing the steep cliffs , the children that were there had far greater physical ability than their counterparts on the main land. Their fingers and toes were considerably longer also, due to the evolution over the years of climbing up the cliffs to retrieve eggs, etc.

Viewing the exotic marine life with such wonderful photography and the dangers he encountered whilst swimming with sting rays, sharks, red octopus, that are normally nocturnal and change colour to blend with the background, was truly amazing.

We will endeavour to ask Mr. Stewart to return again and give another inspiring talk, in the future as there was insufficient time to answer all the questions his talk provoked.

The next Meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45a.m. on August 5th and will take place at Mrs. Audrey Jacobs beautiful garden at Harwood Acres, Spring Lane., CookhamDean. There will be a raffle, book and plants stalls. Coffee and cakes will also be served.

3 June 2009 - Customs & Excise 40 years of Catching Smugglers

2009-06-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report on our 3rd June 2009 Meeting, which to my mind was one of the most memorable WI Meetings I have attended. The sun was shining on this very warm morning and our speaker for the day was Mr. Tony Strafford.

He arrived resplendent in the uniform of Yeoman Warder (Beefeater at the Tower of London). Mr Strafford who must be 6 feet 5 inches tall made a very impressive figure as he walked into the W.I. Hall. His talk was on the Ladies of the Tower. He had been a Beefeater for 19 yrs.. Prior to that he served 22 years in the Army, much of it as a Sergeant Major !! During his talk he did not refer to any notes and spoke for three quarters of an hour without `hesitation or repetition`. To say he held his audience -- you could have heard a pin drop. He related happenings in our history, particularly regarding Henry the Eighth`s wives, some of which were particularly gruesome. We all felt that if history lessons had been told in this rich and amusing way, it would bring to life, what to many children can be a somewhat boring subject. He also told stories and related these to present day sayings we all use, explaining their origins. Mr Strafford answered many of our questions -- one of which was `where did the name beefeater originate` He said that no one really knew – `its lost in history`

We will endeavour to bring back Mr. Strafford next year and would definitely recommend as many people as we can fit into our hall, to hear his further numerous accounts of what has taken place in the notorious Tower of London and the humorous tales of his days as a Beefeater conversing with a multinational public.

The next Meeting of Dean Rise W.I. will be at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday 1st July. The Speaker will be Mr N Stewart - he will talk about `Life on the Reef` with slides.

6 May - Resolutions Meeting - Coffee, Cake and Conversation

2009-05-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

The meeting on the 6th May was very well attended and our new President, Jean Lewis, thanked all our members for attending . The W.I. Hall looked very attractive and welcoming, with circular tables, tablecloths and flower arrangements, coffee and homemade cakes, proving to be very popular.

The Resolutions this year is : - “Honeybees play a vital role in the pollination of food crops and in the environment. In view of concerns about the accelerating decline in the U.K. honeybee population this meeting urges HM Government to increase funding for research into bee health.”

We were fortunate to have a very informative talk given by Mr. Michael Sheasby who is Vice Chairman British Beekeepers Association and Chairman of Slough Windsor and Maidenhead Beekeepers Society. Mr. Sheasby informed us that there are approx. 1 billion honey bees in this country the vast majority are kept by private bee keepers and a relatively small number of professional bee keepers. The difference between wasps, bumble bees and honey bees was fully explained . Mr. Sheasby brought along a beehive, fortunately devoid of bees, to explain the construction which has hardly changed since the early nineteenth century.

Mr. Sheasby himself has lost 60% of his own bees due to the current world problem. He explained why his Association were pressing government to urgently explore what has been termed “Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD) “ This may be caused by a new parasite or pathogen.

The best action the public could do to help the problem is not to use pesticides indiscriminately, especially at mid-day when honey bees are most likely to be out foraging for nectar and plant good nectar sources such as red clover, foxglove buddleia etc..

He thanked our members for the support being given by W.I.

Our next meeting takes place on the 6th May at 10.0 a.m. and the talk will be Customs and Excise 40 years of catching smugglers, by Mr. M. Nelson.

1 April 2009 - Artists in the Thames and Chilterns - Mr Brian Edwards

2009-04-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

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 1^st 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.

4 February 2009 - Easter Island

2009-02-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

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.

7 January 2009 - Body Language

2009-01-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

Despite a bitterly cold morning we had a surprisingly good attendance at our January meeting and Val Hewett welcomed over 40 members and 2 visitors to hear Kate Bradford talk about Body Language. But first we had the usual WI business.

Our delegate to the Resolutions meeting reported that many interesting and worthwhile ideas had been suggested but a decision had yet to made as to which ones would be submitted for discussion later in the year.

An appeal was made for double knitting wool and more knitters for the Peace
Blanket members were making, and a member reported that her quilting group had just sent off 2 bags of cot quilts for babies who are in prison with their mothers. We had also received letters of thanks for 2 donations we had recently made.

Our guest speaker Kate Bradford , a teacher of adults , had by a lucky accident added Body Language to her repertoire of talks. It was lucky for us too as she forced us to look at ourselves anew. How do other people see us?

Our very postures, tilt of head, hand gestures, movement of eyebrows, crossing of legs or arms, hair twirling and a host of other body movements can indicate whether we are confident, superior and in control or diffident,uncertain and socially inept. Even distance we stand from each other when conversing can denote warmth or hostility. Interviewers ,of course, are trained to make good use of body language. When intervewing they can tell by the way someone walks into a room, sits, listens, twiddles etc whether they havethe potential needed. The talk was a great success, most entertaining and certainly gave us food for thought.

Questions were taken and the meeting closed with a reminder that instead of the scheduled talk on February 4th Ruth Daniel will speak on the subject of Easter Island.

5 November 2008 - Heroines of the Geat War

2008-11-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

5 November 2008

We held another well attended meeting in November and several visitors were given a warm welcome by our president Val Hewett. After the usual anecdotes when the hall echoed with laughter the serious business of the day commenced. Correspondence was dealt with and the financial position was declared to be healthy. Several items and competitions of seasonal interest were highlighted in the Berkshire News and invitations from other groups were read out. Thirty of our members had recently enjoyed a visit to Cumberland Lodge to view an exhibition of Commonwealth gifts to the Queen.

Our expert on all local health issues, Elizabeth Runnacles urged us all to publicise the recently opened Minor Injuries Unit at St Mark Hospital and to make representations to the Primary Care Trust about lack of publicity and the perceived need to adjust opening hours .

Contributions were brought for the big Christmas Raffle which is our main fund raiser for the year.

We welcomed back Mr Edward Dixon, a speaker well known to us , whose subject was " Heroines of the Geat War ". His talk concentrated on those courageous and truly inspirational women , the nurses who often risked their life and health and possibly even their sanity tending to the injured and mortally wounded soldiers on the battle front.

The nurses of Queen Alexandra's Nursing Service for example were highly trained ,professional and always immaculately uniformed. They did a marvellous job tending to soldiers with the most appauling injuries in the primative conditions of the military hospitals in war- torn France and Belgium.

There were were also many volunteer units often staffed by upper class women who had hitherto led sheltered lives. They tended injuries , comforted the dying, and even wrote letters home on behalf of the blinded and seriously injured. They also cooked, drove ambulances and learnt mechanics.

Edith Cavell is a familiar name to many. She set up a nursing school in Belgium but was eventually captured and shot by the Germans. The writer Vera Brittain was a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment and described the dreadful carnage as "A circle of hell '.

The heroism, drive and humanity of these women is beyond belief and proved a fitting subject for a talk on the eve of Remembrance Day.