Members of the club spent a day collecting donations at the Newgate Lane, Fareham, branch of Asda. The event was organised by Margaret Smith, second left in the picture, who set up a rota of volunteers. Thanks to the generosity of shoppers £308 was raised for the Portsmouth and Isle of Wight branch of Headway, the charity that supports people with brain injuries.
The club assembled in the rural village development of Knowle for a walk around the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum originally built in 1852. Our guide was Dr Susan Burt, fifth from left (in a white top), whose thesis was a review of some of the patients there in the 19th century. She explained the history of the development, how the asylum location was selected for its tranquil wooded outlook and there were two separate wings, one for women and one for men, each housing 200 patients. More buildings were added as the need arose. The main building, although unpretentious, must have seemed like a palace to the local labourers and farm workers committed there under the Poor Law. They were issued clothes, and fed regularly, which may have been more than they got at home. When released, judged cured, they often had gained weight. Many
The title reflects the conversation when club member Tracy Gardiner invited former Regional President Joyce Boorman to visit the club – when Tracy suggested she was a “tame” Federation Director, Joyce bristled and claimed she had “attitude”! Joyce gave a brief introduction to herself and her position as a Director without Portfolio, and then presented the slides on the SIGBI Strategic Plan – Vision 2021. Some members had already heard this at the regional meeting, where Finance Director Judith Lewis had spoken about it, but it was worth repeating to the whole club. The presentation laid out the vision for our organisation’s 100th birthday in 2021. One of the aims is to increase our membership, and the club is looking forward to receiving three members from Chichester club and inducting a new member at the next business meeting. There were questions about Associate Membership, and
At the club business meeting in July, we inducted new member Claire Cage (right). She is shown receiving her badge, as confirmation of her membership, from President for the Month Wendie Douglas (left). Claire has already been active in the club’s activities, including helping at the Southampton half marathon event with the region in June. She joins the “Chichester three” as newcomers to the club, and we wish them all a long and happy membership here. The business meeting also saw the collection of another £5 bag of 5p pieces – a regional initiative for the house we support at Mamelodi, a village community for AIDS orphans in our Friendship Link region of South Africa. The club sends round a piggy bank at each meeting, and over the last year or so has collected at least £40 to take to regional meetings – we are
The title reflects one chapter in a book on Women in War, edited by our speaker Paul Strong, shown flanked by Stella Astbury, acting president, and Tracy Gardiner, the colleague who introduced him. Paul is a military historian working locally, who gave a rousing review of some of the key female characters of the second world war. They ranged from the famous, like Elizabeth Windsor driving lorries in the ATS and Junior Commander Mary Churchill on anti-aircraft batteries in Hyde Park, to those that should be, like Corporal Joan Pearson who won the George Cross for bravery in rescuing aircrew from a burning plane. But mostly Paul told us about the range of jobs that women took up during the war, primarily to release the men to fight, but also that demonstrated what they themselves were capable of – whether spotting a V2 factory
The club holds its speaker meetings each month at a Golf Club, which lays back from the main road some way into the middle of the Cams Hall estate. It means that any visitors have generally got a reason to be there. We now realise this applies to more than just club members and guests; there have been sightings of badgers along the road through the golf course! So please mind our badgers! They tend to rummage through the hedges in the car park after dark, or trundle across the road oblivious of the humans on their patch. This has already caused cars to perform emergency stops, when the badgers appeared in their head-lights. With a bit of care, we can all share the estate and its beautiful environment.
What an enjoyable evening was had at the club social evening held at the home of member Carolyne Trew – and the event raised £200 for charity. More than a dozen of us, with several spouses, were treated to baked potato and a choice of fillings beautifully provided by host Carolyne at her lovely North Boarhunt home. The cat lovers amongst us were delighted to make the acquaintance of her three handsome Burmese felines. There were also a great number of furrowed brows amid the laughter as we tried to guess who each baby photo was. Julie Francis was far and away the most successful. Members paid £5 a head for the food and drink and a bring and buy sale raised £80 taking the total for the evening to an impressive £200. This is to be donated to AFFECT, the local charity that supports
Six club members, Wendie Douglas, Kathleen Durning, Pam Grosvenor, Kay Mainwaring, Ann Pibworth and Margaret Smith, marked International Women’s Day (March 8) by attending a Reclaim the Night event organised by Sian Brooke, a student at Portsmouth University. The occasion was billed as Portsmouth’s biggest and loudest grassroots protest against street harassment, victim-blaming, and all forms of sexual violence and abuse. It kicked off with some fun – volunteers painted people’s faces in the colours of women’s rights and feminism. Survivors of sexual abuse gave moving first hand accounts of their assaults, there was also some poetry, an exceptional reading from a young man who spoke of men taking responsibility for their actions, and presentations by two Portsmouth organisations that gave an insight into working with individuals who have suffered sexual and domestic violence. They were Aurora New Dawn, offering support for survivors, and Portsmouth
Christine Wilkes, on the right in the picture, with acting president Stella Astbury with the thank you letter from Mary’s Meals, the charity that provides daily meals for the world’s poorest children. Our £250 donation was doubled to £500 thanks to the government’s Aid Match scheme running from the end of September to the end of December. Christine has been the driving force behind the club’s support for Mary’s Meals for a number of years. Last year she organised a second collection of essentials such as pencils, notebooks, soap, clothes and flip-flops for girls and a few boys and she also arranged a group of members to pack the items into 26 backpacks.
Many people are surprised to learn that the most common age group for sufferers of head injuries is of young men aged between 16 and 24, members were told. They ride their motorbikes too fast, they cycle without wearing helmets, they drink and fall over, they play rugby and they fight, said Deborah Robinson, service manager for the local branch of Headway, the charity that supports brain-injured people and their families. The organisation celebrates its thirtieth anniversary next year and for all those years they have worked to help patients restore lost functions. Injuries can be caused by accident, assault, cardiac arrest, stroke, aneurysm, brain tumour and such. Headway offers a wide range of services including rehabilitation programmes, carer support, social re-integration, community outreach and respite care. “How well people recover is determined by the extent of their injury and by their attitude,” said Deborah.
