The club's year starts in February and closes in December. The meetings are held on the first Monday of each month in Wimbish Village Hall at 2 o'clock, unless there is a Bank Holiday then it is the following Monday. The club also has a Spring and Christmas Lunch, a Spring Sale and a Social Evening.
Contact our Chairman: Kath Browne 01799 599435
All Monday meetings start at 2.00pm. Other events as shown.
For the club’s May meeting Kath Browne welcomed 16 members and the club’s guest speaker Richard Jessop.
The agenda was followed and the half day walking outing was confirmed for the 16th May to West Wood with Barry Kaufmann-Wright. Members going on the walk were asked to meet at the Graces fruit farm car park and to set off from there. Those members who would prefer not to go on the walk but would still an afternoon out, were invited to the Kaufmann-Wright’s home to spend the afternoon in the garden. Refreshments are going to be provided.
Members were reminded of the Spring Sale on May 21st and helpers for the stalls were confirmed.
The summer outing to Hunstanton was discussed and the dates would be either the 15th or the 22nd of June. The bus pick up point would be the Village Hall at 9 o’clock and for the return journey to leave at 4 o’clock to arrive back at Wimbish by approximately 6 o’clock. The cost for the coach trip would be confirmed at the next meeting.
Mr Jessop gave a very interesting talk on the work of the National Trust and on Audley End House.
Tea and coffee was served and the raffle held, after which the meeting was closed.
The speaker for the club meeting on the 6th June will be Deryck Johnson on Bees.
On Monday 4th of April instead of the monthly meeting the Club held its annual Spring Lunch at the Horse & Groom, Cornish Hall End, where 27 members and 4 guests attended.
The meal was a carvery with assorted vegetables and accompaniments and was the usual high standard which the Club has come to expect.
The Club’s president, Alan Smith, gave a vote of thanks to Kelly and Geoff and their staff for making the luncheon an enjoyable one.
Alan Smith continued on a more sombre note and told members that June Clark, a very active long time member, had passed away on the Sunday and she would be greatly missed by all.
The raffle was then held and the members then left to return to their homes.
The Club’s next meeting is Monday 9th May when the speaker will be Richard Jessop of English Heritage who will be giving a talk on Audley End.
For the March meeting Kath Browne welcomed 26 members and our guest speaker Peter Jackson from Scotsdales.
The meeting started off with Peter Jackson’s talk on the Spring Garden and how plants were being affected by the mild winter and spring weather. Mr Jackson then advised what plants and bulbs could be planted, bearing in mind there could still be frosts. At the end of Mr Jackson’s talk the plants and bulbs he had brought with him for demonstration purposes, he then offered to members for them to buy. At this point in the meeting tea and coffee was served.
The meeting then continued with the club’s agenda. Having covered the general points of the agenda, the Spring Lunch at the Horse & Groom on the 4th of April was reached. Of the members attending they were asked how many would be going and how many would need transport. The responses were noted and discussed. Then moving onto the club’s Spring Sale on Saturday the 21st of May, as there would not be a club meeting in April. Members were reminded of the stalls they worked on last year and if this was still acceptable. There being no other business the raffle was held and the meeting was closed.
The club’s speaker for the 9th of May will be Richard Jessop of English Heritage – Audley End.
The first meeting of the 2016 was held on the 1st of February and Jenny Hare welcomed 17 members.
Our speaker was Yvonne Young on behalf of the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Yvonne gave a film show along with a talk, which gave the members an insight into how these dogs enrich the lives of deaf people with confidence and independence giving more meaning and fulfilment to their silent world. Also accompanying Yvonne was a cocker spaniel named Alba and her handler Laura. Alba was being ‘socialised’ this being part of a hearing dog’s training on how to behave with several people about in different types of situations and sounds. Alba behaved very well.
To round off the club’s November programme was the visit to Scotsdales and the Christmas lunch.
Eleven members visited Scotsdales for their Christmas event on the 12th of November and Tina Knight, our local councillor also joined them, needing only the one Community bus to travel on.
The Christmas lunch at The Horse & Groom on the 30th November was attended by 33 members and 4 guests. The lunch again was superb and everyone enjoyed themselves.
The club meeting on the 7 December was the Christmas draw, this was well attended and the prizes were very good. There was also a raffle for members, so hopefully everyone won something. Tea and coffee with mince pies was served during the afternoon. When the draw and raffle were completed the meeting was closed.
For the 2016 programme this will start on the 1st of February with a talk from Yvonne Young on Hearing Dogs.
The club wishes everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year and Good Companionship for 2016.
Jenny Hare welcomed 21 members and the guest speaker, Stan Sutherland, to the November meeting. The apologies for absence were given and the minutes of the October meeting were read and duly signed. There were no matters arising.
The visit to Scotsdales on the 12th November was finalised. There would be two coaches provided by Community buses and our local councillor, Tina Knight, will be joining us.
The December meeting is the club’s Christmas Draw and Janet asked the officers and committee members to help with contributions for the main draw prizes listed. The rest of the membership present was asked to contribute to the remaining draw prizes. Members were also asked to provide mince pies for the afternoon tea or coffee, whilst the draw was in progress. Also members were asked if they needed any further draw tickets to sell and if so could they see Alan Smith who was distributing the tickets.
The Christmas lunch at The Horse & Groom was also discussed and members needing transport was arranged.
Also for the outings next year, the information from the members as to which venues they would like to go to were read out by Christine Swan. Top of the list was the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, with Hunstanton and Sheringham coming second. So it was decided that the Botanic Gardens would be a half day outing and either Hunstanton or Sheringham would be a day out. This would be confirmed next year.
There being no other business Stan Sutherland was asked to ‘Entertain’. For this meeting Stan had prepared a quiz with questions which were clues to the names of dances. Stan’s clues really made you think and were very clever, giving the members a very ‘entertaining’ afternoon, especially when Stan went through the questions at the end of the quiz, giving the answers.
Tea and coffee was then served and the raffle was held, after which the meeting was closed.
The next meeting will be the 2nd of December.
On the 19th of September to complete the club’s programme for the month was the Social Evening. The finger buffet was held first, where again the members provided an excellent spread. This was the followed by Mike Coppins entertaining the members and guests with the quiz game of ‘Family Fortunes’. There was an intermission half way through for tea and coffee and the raffle.
Mike Coppins is a firm favourite with club members and has never failed to make the evening very enjoyable.
Jenny Hare, the club’s vice-chairman welcomed 23 members for the October’s meeting and then introduced the club’s guest speaker Peter Layzell, who is a retired rural police sergeant. Mr Layzell gave a very interesting film show and insight into his life from childhood and the influences on him that made his decision to become a police cadet through to when he was promoted to police sergeant and was stationed at Southminster in Essex.
Mr Layzell also showed the members his police truncheon, which apparently he never used, and two kinds of handcuffs, with several true stories of situations he found himself in, in the course of these duties.
Mr Layzell’s other interests are family history and the Essex Regiment and Essex Yeomanry.
After the talk tea and coffee was served and the raffle was held, which was then followed by the rest of the club’s agenda.
During the afternoon the treasurer circulated an outings list for members to choose from for next year’s programme and the most popular one/ones would be put members at the next meeting.
The club had received a circular letter from Scotsdales inviting clubs and societies to an evening event on the 12th of November to preview their Christmas stock items, between 6 – 8pm. Janet asked how many members were interested in going, so transport could be arranged. There were 16 members who said they would like to go.
Details would then be confirmed at the next club meeting.
It was also confirmed that Christmas lunch will be held at the Horse & Groom on the 30th November.
There being no further business the meeting closed.
The club’s next meeting is 2nd November.
Kath welcomed 24 members to the club’s 35th Annual General Meeting. The apologies for absence were given and the minutes for the 2014 AGM were read out and duly signed. There were no matters arising. Correspondence to hand was from Scotsdales offering dates for pre-Christmas evening viewing to clubs and George and Marion Mills who support British Aid for Deprived Children. It was agreed by the members that a donation made up of the meeting’s raffle money and by club funds to the sum of £50.00 be sent to George and Marion Mills as a donation towards their work with deprived children.
The treasurer, before the meeting had started, distributed copies of the accounts for the year, this was to give the members a chance to look through them and make any notes for discussion during the meeting. The meeting was now at the point for discussing the year’s accounts. Points were raised on why the income was low for the year and the treasurer explained that donations from the Jubblies had ceased because they had disbanded. The club had had on occasions donations from the local school, but not recently and a local bus company had also been generous with the cost of bus trips.
Also on the advice of a previous treasurer, the club was in a good financial position and could afford to discount many of the club’s activities to the member’s advantage for that year. The accounts were then duly approved with a member proposing and seconded by two other members.
The chairman and then the president spoke on the events of the year and thank all the members involved. The meeting then moved onto the election of the club’s officers, all were re-elected, with a new committee member to replace Michael Greene.
Social Evening on the 19th September was discussed and the members agreed that the entertainment should be ‘Family Fortunes’, Janet, secretary to the club, would speak to Mike Coppins to confirm. Then the buffet was discussed, with members providing food for the evening.
Programme for 2016 was discussed and the members were asked for ideas on outings and speakers for the year.
Christmas Lunch – The Horse & Groom was again requested as the venue and agreed.
There being no other business tea and coffee was served and the treasurer duly collected from the members the membership renewal subscriptions and sold tickets for the social evening.
The raffle was held after which the meeting closed.
For the Club’s outing to Clacton on the 20th July there were 16 members and 1 guest. Although the day started dull with a few spots of rain, it eventually turned into one of the better days of the month. All who went had a most enjoyable day.
The August meeting was attended by 29 members. The guest speaker, Mr Chris Wright of Humphreys butchers, was unable to come due to unforeseen circumstances.
The agenda for the meeting was discussed. The members were updated about the raffle held at Nicki Swain’s which raised £100.00 for Macular Degeneration and that Nicki’s granddaughter raised £1,300 in aid of the British Heart Foundation for research into children’s heart conditions.
The treasurer, Christine Swan, reminded members that the subs for membership were due at the AGM 7th September and would be £5.00 per member. Also if members were attending the social evening on the 19th September the tickets cost £5.00 each and Mike Coppins would be providing the entertainment.
Recent telephone and postal scams were discussed and information sheets were distributed to the members.
Under any other business the members were advised that a further ‘Walk & Talk’ day had been provisional booked with Barry Kaufmann-Wright for the 16th May 2016.
Tea and coffee was served and the raffle held. There still being some meeting time left it was suggest by the club’s chairman, Kath Browne, that the members might like to try a sing song in the form of a round of nursery rhymes, this proved very entertaining, after which the meeting closed.
The Mystery Tour on June 22nd concluded the club’s June programme, to which 23 members went on the trip.
Starting at 5 o’clock from Wimbish Village Hall the coach wended its way through the villages and skirted round various towns, finally arriving at The Ugley Chequers for a fish and chip supper. The driver told us on arriving at the pub he had taken us through 4 counties and we were still only 20 miles from home. Unfortunately it rained the entire evening but this did not seem to dampen the outing.
The Club’s July programme started with 23 members attending a tea party at Nicki Swain’s home. It was a lovely afternoon and the food was excellent and as usual Nicki had ‘pulled out all the stops’.
A raffle was held in aid of Macular Degeneration and £100 was raised.
For the 6th of July a ‘Walk & Talk’ was planned with Barry Kaufmann-Wright and 15 members arrived at Graces car park, then a short walk to Mr Kaufmann-Wright’s home where the outing was going to start.
On arrival refreshments where offered and a brief outline of the day and
then back to the parked cars and heading off to Sweetings Meadow which is a
short drive to Lindsell near Thaxted. At Sweetings the members took the path through the meadow, where they saw 5 varieties of orchid and various insects and moths.
Members returned to Mr Kaufmann-Wright’s, here they had their packed lunches and further refreshments, after which they were shown around the garden, which includes 100 or more species of English trees, then walked to the reservoir and to the river which is the starting point of the Chelmer.
Walking back to the house where there were further refreshments and then leaving with a provisional booking for next May to visit West Wood.
The Club’s day outing to Clacton is on the 20th July.
For the August meeting we have a guest speaker Mr Chris Wright of Humphreys butchers giving us a talk on cuts of meat and sausages.
For our June meeting Kath welcomed our guest speaker – Peter Jackson from Scotsdales Nursery – whose talk was about the summer garden, which would also cover tubs and baskets, started the meeting off.
Mr Jackson illustrated various types of garden planting from a variety of plants he had brought with him. He also gave tips on how to improve the soil and how various plants tell the gardener something is wrong and they look ‘sick’. When to plant, even with the threat of frosts and other useful information and advice that would help any gardener.
After Mr Jackson’s talk, he offered the plants he had brought with him for sale to the members.
The meeting continued with tea and coffee, at which point Christine (with Olive Smith’s help) took the opportunity to ask the members present to confirm which outing they would likely to be on.
The meeting then continued with the club’s general business, with Kath updating the various times for the forthcoming outings.
The raffle was then held prior to the meeting closing.
Our next meeting on the 6th July will be at Barry Kaufmann-Wright’s for his “Talk & Walk”, which is to be on orchids and other wild flowers found at Sweetings Meadow and West Wood.
For the club’s May meeting, Kath welcomed 25 members, which included one new member and then to start the afternoon’s proceedings introduced the speaker, Peter Hesketh.
Mr Hesketh called his talk ‘Circumnavigation of the World’ or ‘TEU World Tour’. It was a milestone birthday gift from his family of £2,000 and the words “don’t just put it in the bank do something with it” and a close friend passing on that set him thinking as to what he could do. Having served in the Navy as a purser perhaps a sea trip would be an idea but not a cruise. He finally came up with the idea of a World tour but by container ship.
Yes container ships will take fare paying passengers, up to four people. So his adventure started on his first ship sailing from Southampton, across to Europe then to Asia, onto China and then the West Coast of America going through the Panama Canal to the southern states, then New York onto Newfoundland then homeward bound to Felixstowe, having made two further changes of ship along his journey round the World.
Filming the whole of his trip Mr Hesketh also gave details on the container ship sizes and how the containers are loaded and stacked on aboard these vessels. Number of crew, nationalities, lay out of the ships from the crews’ quarters, the bridge and how far away it is from the front of the ship, the length of these vessels, how much fuel is used and much much more. Mr Hesketh has a ‘BLOG’ www.travelpod.com for more information.
This made for a very interesting talk.
The meeting then continued with the rest of the club’s agenda. Kath made mention of the sudden loss of Michael Green after a short illness, he will be missed.
Diary Dates
The Spring Sale on Saturday 16 May at 2pm at Wimbish Village hall, setting up time and who would be on the stalls was agreed.
The Mystery Trip - members only - on the 22 June, coach cost to members would be £8.00 and would leave Wimbish Village hall, time to be confirmed.
To Nicki Swain’s for tea on 1 July. Members only. No coach costs. To leave Wimbish Village hall at 12.45pm.
Trip to Clacton on the 20 July, coach cost to members would be £12.00 and £18.00 to non-members and will leave WimbishVillage hall at 9am.
Tea and coffee was served as the raffle was held prior to the closure of the meeting.
The Club’s Spring Lunch was held on the 13th April at the Horse & Groom, Cornish Hall End.
The lunch, which was carvery style, was well attended with 39 members, friends and guests and as usual excellent.
At the end of the meal our president – Alan Smith thanked Kelly & Geoff and their staff for the meal and service and gave a mention to the invited guests, then handed over to Kath.
As most of the membership was present Kath took the opportunity to advise about the various outings planned for the summer and to have a hand count for the various venues. Being a mystery tour for the Monday 22nd June, Nicki Swain’s for afternoon tea on Wednesday 1st July and a visit to Clacton for the day on the Monday 20th July,
all to be finalised at the next meeting on Monday 11th May. Our guest speaker for this meeting is Peter Hesketh – Circumnavigation of the World.
The luncheon closed with the usual raffle and everyone departed for home.
Kath welcomed 27 members for the meeting in the village hall on Monday 2nd March.
The minutes of the February meeting were read, agreed and signed.
Matters arising – Mike Coppins has been booked for the social evening on September 19th and the Spring Lunch has been booked for the 13th April, this was followed by the treasurers report.
Correspondence – Rural Community Council of Essex.
Uttlesford community agents help support independent living for older people and informal carers. The aim is to find and develop independent living solutions from within their local community.
This includes:
- Promoting health and independence
- Reduce social isolation
- Finding practical solutions to daily living
- Providing confidential trusted information
- Informing choice and reducing confusion
- Increasing individual and community resilience
The contact for our area is Chivonne Claydon, who Janet will contact to arrange a talk at one of the club’s meetings, to give us more insight into the scheme.
To arrange a free visit call free on 0800 9775858
An outing for the summer was discussed, with a mystery tour and a meal in June being the most popular.
Spring Sale – with no meeting in April, request for members who would be available to help with the stalls and teas was agreed, to be confirmed at the May meeting.
This was followed by our speaker – Paul Goddard on Keep Fit for Older People
Paul gave advice on diet, the value of fresh vegetables and fruit and an explanation of the ‘traffic light’ coding on packaging. Then with the members seated went through various arms, legs and breathing exercises encouraging all to have a go. Paul, who is based at the Lord Butler Centre gave brief outlines on fitness programmes available and invited the members to sign up, closing his talk with a question and answer session.
Tea and coffee was served and the raffle held prior to closure of the meeting.
15 members met at the village hall on Monday 2nd February for this first meeting of 2015.
The meeting started with a talk by Terry Elton, Estate Planning Practitioner at Collective Legal Solutions.
Mr Elton covered the pros and cons for making a Will and the need for the right advice. Long term care fees - advised that the rules are changing in 2015 and to plan and protect your care funding and gave examples. Mental incapacity – Accident or illness can strike at any time or an impairment of the mind. Without an Enduring or Lasting Power of Attorney in place, a long, complex, intrusive and expensive court process could happen to the family before they can gain control of your affairs.
The talk was then followed by the minutes of the November 2014 meeting, which was read, agreed and signed. Followed by matters arising and the treasurer’s report. Janet advised members to change the date for the Spring Sale from 23rd May (as the hall is already booked) to the 16th May.
The Spring Lunch is to be held on Monday 13th April and it was agreed the venue would be the Horse & Groom, Cornish Hall End. Kath would book and find out costs. There will be no meeting in April.
Social Evening was discussed and the date agreed will be the 19th September and Mike Coppins to be booked for the entertainment.
British Heart Foundation – Nikki Swain made a request to the club on behalf of her granddaughter who has a heart condition and asked if it was possible for the club to take part in a fund raising day on the 6th February. It was agreed a collection would be made amongst members present at the meeting and forwarded on.
The family of Nikki have set up a web site www.Justgiving.com and all donations are sent onto the Foundation. The family are hoping to make people more aware of heart conditions in children and the research that is needed to help them.
Tea and coffee was served and the raffle held prior to closure of the meeting.
