The Incredible Honey Bee

16/11/11

Speaker: Steve Molton

Steve Molton from Brightwell Bees, whose hobby became his occupation, gave a fascinating talk about the Honey Bee. These bees don’t hibernate but manage to maintain a temperature of 35 degrees within the hive all winter where they huddle together for warmth and change positions, so that those on the outside can get warm too. Even in February they go out to pollinate.

Their system of honey production is highly scientific from the construction of the cells in the comb where every angle is precisely measured, to the production of specific temperatures for precise activities. If they attack, it is never random and their means of communication gives precise instructions for the location of pollen.

Approximately one third of all fruit and vegetables in the UK are pollinated by bees and they have a commercial value of about £2m for hire as pollinators. There is no evidence that UK hives are affected by Colony Collapse Disorder and, even though there are problems with Varroa mites, UK hive losses have returned to normal.

At the end of his talk, members had the opportunity to purchase honey and beeswax products.

http://www.brightwellbees.co.uk/

Update on Cementing Futures

15/6/11

Speaker: Debbie Rogers from Bournemouth SI

An outline of the origin of the project was given for new members and then an update of the amount of funding raised (c£20k) and issues to be faced.

Many things have changed since the project began – political, social, climatological, legal – which could require a rethink of the original plans and the most effective ways to use the funding for the education of Bangladeshi children. Some of these include:

- Would it be cheaper to rent than to build?

- Would slum clearance affect the usefulness of the building?

- Would it be better to help children now rather than several years down the line?

They are also looking at new ways of raising funds; considering offers of free land; working alongside UNICEF for the training of teachers.

An invitation was issued to SIOD members to visit Bangladesh in Nov. 2012 with theBournemouth club. The visit would include a trip to Chittagong.

What makes a great place to live and work?

16/2/11

Speaker – Claire Chidley

It would be impossible to summarise the exhilarating journey on which the speaker took members as she performed her whistle stop tour through about 74 slides from all over the world.

A Soroptimist herself, she has had a dynamic career in local government, economic development and city planning. She now works internationally as a consultant encouraging managers and developers to think more widely and creatively about city development.

Some points from her talk to stimulate thought:

- What makes a great town or city in one place wouldn’t necessarily be successful in another. Each place needs to feature its own strengths.

- It’s essential to think creatively. Not just in terms of the Arts but also in terms of education, social development and political creativity.

- A creative society finds imaginative solutions to problems and empowers. It crosses boundaries and thinks of the bigger picture.

- People need to be ready for change and to predict the future. They need to think differently (360 degree thinking) and to change their mindset.

- Cities that are culturally diverse are more successful.

A Nutritional Strategy to Treat Bipolar Disorder

20/10/10

Speaker Anna Scarna - a Research Psychologist at Oxford University Warneford Hospital and Senior Lecturer in psychology at Oxford Brookes.

After explaining the nature of bipolar disorder, Anna Scarna described the side effects of an experimental mixture of amino acids on those who took it. Her research involved trying to block the excessive amounts of dopamine in manic patients by nutritional means, without replicating any side effects associated with conventional medication. The outcome has been the production of a yoghurt-type drink which has proved successful throughout rigorous trials. Although not as potent as dopamine-blocking medication, this product allows the patient to have control as they can take the compound when they recognise the need.

Malaysian Cookery Demonstration

16/6/10

Speaker Yolanda Tapping

Yolanda started by talking a little about Malaysia, especially about how diverse the population is. She is Chinese Malaysian, so her food is influenced by this. She started by cooking a chicken curry, followed by a vegetarian noodle dish. It was great fun with her portable, electric woks and we learnt how to count to 10 in Malay. There were lots of useful tips about how to make the perfect stir fry. Everything smelt delicious and fortunately we got to eat it all. While we ate and drank jasmine tea, we browsed her stall of Malaysian crafts.

Yolanda does cookery demonstrations for adult learning, but also does catering.

www.malaysianmemories.co.uk

A Child in War Time Poland

19/5/10

Speaker Renata Calverley

Renata told us her spell binding story of growing up as a Polish Jew during WWII.

She was only a toddler when war broke out and gave a heart breaking account of what happened through the eyes of a child who didn’t really understand what was happening. She remembers a very happy childhood with a warm supportive family and eating strawberries greedily (there was a reoccurring obsession with food). The first tragedy struck when, one day, her father (a doctor) did not come home. Shortly afterwards Renata with her mother and grandmother were moved to a ghetto.

Her mother and grandmother worked shifts to make sure she was never left alone. Renata remembers being selfish and crying about the lack of food and facilities. One day she had been particularly bad tempered after her grandmother had washed her in cold water (which had also been used to clean potatoes) and was crying when her mother came home from the factory. Her mother told Renata that she had a treat for her and offered her a bit of sausage she had saved. An argument broke out with Renata’s grandmother, as she felt Renata had been fed and her daughter also needed to keep her strength up. Renata’s grandmother then went to work the night shift. Renata’s mother winked at her and gave her the sausage, which Renata scoffed in one bite.

Renata’s grandmother did not come home that morning. Renata’s mother did not come home that evening.

Various other adventures unfolded. Renata was smuggled out of the ghetto by hiding in the skirts of her former (Catholic) nanny and spent the rest of the war passing from place to place, hiding from the Germans. There were many people who were selfless and brave to hide her, but equally those who preyed on the desperation of her remaining family.

Eventually, when the war was over, she was sent as a refugee to England. As she stepped off the boat to be exmained by the doctors, she was picked up and grabbed into an embrace. We got a proper Hollywood ending to her story – her father was the doctor sent to check the new refugees.

Renata told her story without self pity or drama. All agreed Renata should try to publish her story or record it for future generations.

Our Members

17/3/10

Instead of having an outside speaker this month, Cecily Lau, Helena Ayyub and Kieke Bededictus gave brief accounts of their respective and very different careers. All were extremely interesting to listen to and exemplified the high level at which they operate; the very busy lives that most Soroptimists lead and the major contribution that they make to society.

At the end, President Margaret gave a brief account of some new research into ME in which she is involved.

On Being Grandma

17/02/10

Speaker Penny Faust

Penny Faust was introduced as a Jewish mother of four, a grandmother, a child psychologist, a broadcaster on BBC and Radio Oxford, speaker on ‘Thought for the Day’ and involved in interfaith dialogue – amongst other things.

“Never have children, only grandchildren”. – Gore Vidal

She began by saying that people who had children in the 60s have opened up a lot of things and have changed the nature of ‘grandparenting’. The flavour of the relationship has changed because our grandparents were ‘old’ and had different expectations of their retirement years.

She pointed out that it isn’t essential to have one’s own grandchildren to be a ‘grandparent’. Any adult can establish an important cross-generational relationship, perhaps from babysitting or through Home Start, which builds up over the years and provides ‘a constant’ in the child’s life. The joy of being a grandparent is that one can say when one has had enough, unless one is in the unfortunate position of having full time care of the child/children.

Four out of five teenagers in a survey said that grandparents were the most important people in their lives outside their families. Teenagers talk a different language but Penny Foust stressed that it didn’t hurt any of us to learn another language to keep the lines of communication open.

She pointed out that the role of grandparents is not an easy one and can lead to many conflicts or resentments: sons/daughters can feel rejected when more interest is shown in their offspring; they can feel jealous of the relationship between grandparent and child and they can resent the way grandparents deal with their child if it differs from their own ways of doing things. Families have to learn not to be frightened of grandparents or resentful, and grandparents not to compromise their own integrity over differences in values and attitudes. In her view, the happiest grandparents are those who choose to look after their grandchildren rather than have to.

Club members were then invited to share their experiences of grandparenting or of their own grandparents.

Has The Women’s Movement Died?

20/01/10

Speaker Dr Louise Livesey

Dr Livesey gave a lively and challenging talk about the current stage of Feminism and The Women’s Movement and then gave an introduction to current courses at Ruskin College. Dr Livesey and her team are also willing to run day or half-day courses, if requested.

She reminded members that there had never been a single women’s group or set of ideas to which one could subscribe but that there had always been women working on behalf of other women.

The first newspaper to declare that feminism was dead was in 1922 but there is still a great deal of coverage of feminist subjects in the media: writing, thinking, broadcasting, the internet, podcasts, video bloggs, networks etc. There is also a lot of ‘backlash’ material. Generally, media reports take one of two positions: that there is no such thing as The Women’s Movement or that it is to blame for everything, including environmental disasters.

According to Dr Livesey, the original four aims of Feminism have not yet been achieved, even though it is 40 years since the first seminal women’s liberation conference at Ruskin. These conferences have been held every ten years since and Club members were invited to attend this year. See www.wlm40conference.org.uk for further information.

Two definitions of feminism: ” I know I’m a feminist when someone recognises that I’ve done something that differentiates me from a doormat.” (Rebecca West); “Women are valuable people.” ( Louise Livesey)

Training midwives in Chad

17/11/09

Euranis Neale gave a fascinating talk about a small charity, which is training midwives in two hospitals in Chad. Accompanied by graphic photographs of the conditions they have to work in.

Her description and slides of the (lack of) hygiene facilities in the hospital made it seem miraculous that any one ever survived the experience of childbirth at all, yet she described those who went into hospital as the lucky ones.  Lack of hygiene wasn’t the only problem encountered: midwives were lacking in essential basic knowledge, undisciplined and excitable.  Training resources had been made available from charitable sources but neither the midwives nor doctors knew how to use them.

Women travelled miles to get to the hospital and many camped rough with their children in the hospital grounds.  Facilities for them inside were primitive and gave no room for privacy, comfort or even personal respect.  Even though female, the midwives seemed not to have any empathy with the women they were treating.

Euranis gave a most memorable slide presentation in such a way that we could have listened for much longer.  Even when dealing with statistics she presented them in an easily assimilated way so that the impact of them on those listening could not fail to affect.

The tasks facing Euranis and her colleagues seemed impossible, yet they cheerfully persevered and, working with the most hopeful of the trainees, began to make some headway with the hope that progress would continue after they returned to the UK.