2019 Speakers
List of meetings for 2019:
Tuesday 14th January: The Seven Ages of Woman - Sue Leicester
Tuesday 12th February: Styal Women's Prison - Eddie Tarry
Friday 22nd February - Jumble Sale
Tuesday 12th March: Pioneers On Wagon Trains - Rina Tillinger
Tuesday 9th April: Polio to TV Presenting - Jane Shepherd
Thursday 9th May ~ Dane Valley Group Meeting:
Leslie Smith as Mrs Thatcher
Tuesday 14th May: Norton Priory - Keith and Kathy Williams
Tuesday 11th June: Toy Town to Buckingham Palace - John Stirling
Tuesday 9th July: The Story of Flamenco - Christine Stockton
August - No Meeting Group Outing
Tuesday 10th September - Guitarist, Singer, Humourist - Rob Mason
Tuesday 8th October - Members Night
Tuesday 12th November - AGM
Tuesday 10th December - Christmas Dinner
Meeting of Tuesday 8th January 2019:
'The Seven Ages of Women' - Sue Leicester
An entertaining and informative evening. Sue took us through the seven ages of women dressing up and acting out scenes many of us could relate to from our own childhood and teenage years to adult hood and beyond. Poems and songs depicting the trials and tribulations of being a woman, a wife, a mother or all three and hopefully made us all realise just how wonderful and multi-talented we all are!
Meeting of Tuesday 12th February 2019:
Styal Women's Prison - Eddie Tarry
Eddie Tarry first started working at Styal Prison in 1980 and gave us a fascinating insight into the changing face of the prison during his time there. We learned how the prison was first developed as an orphanage in 1890 which closed in 1956. In 1962 it was recommissioned as a female prison with a new wing added in 1999. It is now made up of 16 houses, a remand wing and a prison house which is located outside of the grounds and used as an 'open prison'. Styal Prison takes adult women and since 1983 young offenders too and is the main women's prison in the north of England with 485 places available.
Eddie told us about life inside both the remand wing (Waite Wing, after Terry Waite) which can take 180 remand prisoners and the 16 houses where the women live in groups of approximately 18-22. Women wear their own clothes and are encouraged to participate in training and education. The message the prison likes to promote is one of 'Building hope and changing lives'. This is achieved by first addressing offending behaviour, enrolling prisoners in courses such as victim and drug awareness and providing education both in functional and vocational skills. The prisoners are also encouraged to engage in activities linked to life outside the prison, for example Tatton Flower Show, Clink Restaurant (left) and Recycling Lives, which also helps prisoners integrate back into the community once freed.
Meeting of Tuesday 12th March 2019:
'Pioneers On Wagon Trains' - Rina Tillinger
A fascinating talk from Rina about the lives of some 300,000 people, who traveled across America to stake their claim on the west coast to 160 acre plots of land. Wagon trains were made up approximately 30 wagons per train and life proved to be extremely harsh during the 4 - 6 months it took to make the journey through over the difficult terrain. It cost each family about $1,000 for supplies and a wagon pulled by either oxon (the cheapest option), mules or horses. The wagon master was in charge of the train and in many cases he laid down strict rules. Many would not allow alcohol or swearing and in some cases no single women. There were 3 main trails a wagon train could take and all trains left in the spring when the weather was at its best. It was very dusty and muddy and the train only traveled at about 2 miles per hour, which for a 2,000 mile journey was painfully slow. Forts along the way allowed for re-stocking and provided a temporary safe haven from the elements. Dangers included stampedes of wild animals, wagons catching fire, children getting lost or killed, attacks from native Indians and of course disease as hygiene was very poor. 1870 saw the last of the wagon trains, as railways provided an alternative and preferable mode of transport.
Meeting of Tuesday 9th April 2019:
'Polio to TV Presenting' - Jane Shepherd
Jane contracted polio in the 1950s when she was 5 months old and spent ten months in hospital in 1953. Having made many 50 mile round trips, Jane's parents were determined to take their little girl home much to the surprise of some hospital staff who implied that she was likely to be little more than a 'cabbage'! Having spent a childhood in calipers, her best friend Karen was determined to get Jane walking across the school playground, but the calipers still came in handy in deterring the occasional bully! Jane loved school but insisted she was not being sent off to boarding school along with other children with special needs. She stayed in main stream secondary school where she excelled and went on to train as a medical secretary and then a social worker. Not one to stand still with her career, Jane took a temporary job with BBC Manchester which soon developed into a permanent research job with the boss of 'Open Air'. She worked long hours and was exhausted, but her love of the job which gave her the chance to meet many celebrities, kept her going. She told us some funny stories about Tony Bennett, Dr Miriam Stoppard and Julie Walters. Day time television production moved to Birmingham and it was at this time Jane by chance was spotted and asked to do a screen test. She went on to work both as a presenter for television and Radio 5 Live which she told us was her favourite job. In 2001 Jane's career took a new turn again as she applied to sit on tribunals for disability benefits and also worked as a professional role player.
We were all in awe of just what Jane had achieved throughout her career. She proved to each one of us, that against all the odds it is possible to achieve the very best out of life.
Meeting of Tuesday 14th May 2019:
Garden Meeting & 'Norton Priory' - Keith and Kathy Williams
A lovely evening spent with guests to Jodrell Side WI, invited as a thank you for helping out with events throughout the year. A cheese and wine supper was enjoyed by all. The evening was made all the more enjoyable by a talk given by Keith and Kathy Williams from the beautiful gardens of Norton Priory. A full history of the walled garden's restoration was given to the group, with an illustrated tour via a slide show. Norton Priory is the most excavated monastic site in Europe and its museum opened in August 2016 following a major HLF funded redevelopment project. The museum we were told displays thousands of objects from Tudor shoes to the incredible medieval statue of St Christopher. Visitors can explore the 12th century undercroft building and priory ruins, or venture further into the surrounding woodland to discover secret summer houses and stream glades.
Members Meeting Tuesday 8th October 2019:
Zoe C Lloyd- Retired District nurse
Zoe worked for 15 years in a local Cheshire village similar in size to Goostrey. In a talk which was often hilarious but also at times very moving, she contrasted some of the characters she met on her home visits in Cheshire to some of the harrowing experiences she encountered when working abroad in India, Nepal and Haiti.
On one of her 4 visits to India, when on her way to a meditation retreat, she met a meditation teacher from Sri Lanka who was ill, and as she suspected it might be terminal cancer, she accompanied her to first one hospital and then a specialist cancer hospital many hours’ drive away, where the patient’s diagnosis was confirmed. In the following 6 days before the patient died, she managed to local the patients’ family in Australia who arrived in time to say their farewells. Zoe was even invited by the family to light the funeral pyre.
She described circumstances in Népal, where patients would routinely walk for 2-3 hours to see a doctor - or be carried there at the end of life. On one occasion Zoe delivered a mother’s baby with only a 16 year old boy as interpreter to communicate between herself and the mother to be. Following these experiences, she raised £750 to open a school for 14 children, which she still supports through her speaking engagements and from donations received for copies of her funny book “All Patients Great and Small - Tales of a rural District Nurse.” The book, published by Balboa Press, describes many funny experiences on her rounds in the Cheshire village, including close encounters she had with one or two lonely widowers! The evening raised £120, which would be remitted to the school before Christmas.
