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December 2011 AGM
Chairman David Bruch welcomed members to AGM at Mendi's. David thanked all the officers, committee and members for their support during his year of office. A total of £3,855 has been raised during the year for his two chosen charities and presentation of cheques will be made early in 2012. He had many highlights during the year but pointed out two that were special. A train journey with a meal and entertainment on the Holt to Sheringham Steam Railway and a visit from John Ely from The Antiques Road Show. A painting completed by the speaker for October Roy Didwell was presented to the club and together with a raffle raised £210 for the new chairman's charities in 2012.
The following officers and committee were elected: Chairman Derrick Holmes, secretary David Evans, treasurer Stewart Warren, speaker finder David Hodgson and press officer Peter Dennis.
The following committee were elected: Michael Bates, Roy Duff, Robin Harnwell, Colin Harvey, Michael Woods, Rick Wilson and Colin Perkins.
David Bruch, who formally welcomed and inducted Derrick Holmes as the new chairman for the coming year and wished him every success.
Derrick outlined his extensive programme and stated his two charities would be Wisbech Cancer Fund and SERVE Emergency Services.
The date of the next meeting is January 11 with speaker David Parish from the SERVE Emergency Services, which delivers blood and surgical items to hospitals during out of hours.
November 2011
Historian Andrew Ingram provided an excellent evening on Wisbech Anniversaries. A slide show of the 900th. Anniversary of St. Peters Church the centenary of Rev Awdry's birth and 50 years since the death of photographer Lillian Ream. The show included pictures of over 20 anniversaries and some previously unseen pictures of Wisbech.
October 2011
Roy Didwell stepped in at the last minute for John Abbott who unfortunately fell ill on the Monday preceding the meeting. Roy is a very accomplished artist of farmyard and rural scenes. He completed a painting of a kingfisher in flight on black velvet while he answered question from the members. This painting is to be donated to the Chairman's Charity for a raffle at the AGM in December.
September 2011
John Bly, Antique's Road Shows Furniture Expert. A Look Behind the Scenes of The Road Show. John Bly firstly gave an in depth talk on how the style and shape of pottery, silver and furniture indicated their age together with the indicators relating to when the original methods of production began. During the meal he visited all tables to look at any antique objects brought along for his attention. Afterwards he selected some interesting items which he then used to conduct an "Antiques Roadshow". Finally he gave an insight into how the actual show was produced for the BBC. John proved to be a captivating speaker of great knowledge of his subject matter delivered in a humorous manner. He was thanked on the night by Ludovic Potts. The Chairman thanks all those who kindly donated raffle prizes.
Annual Golf Day at Tydd St Giles Golf & Leisure Centre. The Chairman congratulated Rick Wilson for his hard work and making this year's event an unqualified success. £825 was raised for the Chairman's Charities: The Meningitis Trust and AGE UK Cambridgeshire. The Chairman thanks all the hole sponsors, donators of raffle prizes and especially David Hodgson who kindly donated the Trophies. The winner this year was Diddy Edgson's team. John Stiles (son of Nobby) ex Pro Footballer provided the after dinner entertainment.
August 2011
6.30pm start at the Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum where our guide and speaker Peter Clayton gave a talk in the Long Room after a tour of the museum emphasising the achievements of Octavia Hill. Firstly for beginning Social Housing and secondly starting the purchase of open spaces to prevent the loss of parkland that eventually became the National Trust. The Club were then taken by Peter to view the closed off area adjacent to the Museum which is to be purchased and developed as an open space to celebrate the achievements of Octavia Hill. The Club then viewed the improvements that are being carried out at the White Lion and the Rose and Crown Hotels. After the meal at Mendi's Peter gave a talk of how important he considered the effect of Octavia Hill and tourism is to the town of Wisbech.
July 2011
The Speaker Dave Stewart of Xtreme Action Images who
accompanied his talk with a slide show of sporting events
taken for various magazines when he was the official
photographer for them. He explained some of the hazards he
experienced when taking photographs at dangerous sporting
events.
He was thanked by Derrick Holmes.
June 2011
The Speaker, Alan Kippax PSF Director Cambridgeshire County Council gave the club a well-informed talk on "Building Schools for the Future" in Fenland with a particular reference to the process that was gone through to achieve the new build model at The Thomas Clarkson College and the change to achieve Academy status. The new plan is to make The Thomas Clarkson Academy a more flexible and easier to use educational space and be available for wider use within the community. Six significant projects within Fenland are in progress to make improved teaching and recreation facilities in Wisbech, March, Chatteris and Whittlesey. He particularly pointed out that the Fenland projects had been approved when all others had been cancelled after the election in 2010. He was thanked by Bernie Hurst.
May 2011
Our speaker was Barry Sissons, Dog Section Manager at Whitemoor Prison. Barry has been involved with guard, search and detect dogs since they were introduced into the Prison Service over 30 years ago. During that time he advised the meeting the methods applied have changed from 3 men to one dog to one man to one dog. Dogs also have become more sophisticated even to the point of being able to detect hidden mobile phones and simm cards. He was thanked by Michael Bates. A donation of £50.00 is being made to the RSPCA.
April 2011
Chairman David Bruch welcomed 28 members and 2 guests to the
meeting and the Speaker GEOFF HODGE, Freelance Journalist
and Website Editor for various periodicals and the Royal
Horticultural Society.
Geoff described how his early career managing garden centres
enabled him to use his experience to be involved with the
production of monthly gardening magazines. He emphasized
the importance of the Front Cover and The Free Gift to
attract regular subscribers and having enough controversial
content to receive feed back for The Letters Page and from
manufacturers of gardening products.
Geoff invited questions and provided an informed answer
session on gardening related topics to round off a very
successful evening.
March 2011
At the March meeting David Bruch welcomed 48 members and
guests. Michael Woods was inducted as a new member. The
chairman stated that the annual golf day on S
eptember 21st. is now fully booked as well as the Grand Ball on October
8th. The guest speaker for the evening was Jeff Probyn
an ex England rugby player voted best prop player in his playing
days. Jeff completed 37 caps for England and is still today the
top scoring prop forward. He made his test debut England v
France in 1988. He told many stories relating to his career,
some serious and some humorous. He was thanked on behalf of the
club by member Mike Burns.
First to be presented with a cheque for £1074 by Rick Wilson
was for the critical care unit equipment fund, Queen
Elizabeth hospital, Kings Lynn. This was presented to senior
sister Carol Underwood and sister Julie Allen who stated
that the money would go towards adapted chairs within the 16
bedded ward to take patients to physiotherapy. The second cheque for £1074 was to Wisbech & district cancer
care group who in 10 years in Wisbech has raised £103,000. Andy Green trustee of the group and member accepted the
cheque.
Finally our speaker for the evening was Terry Downing county volunteer for help for heroes. This is the third year Terry has been in his role and there are 172 volunteers within the country giving their services to this most worthy cause. Every penny raised goes to the wounded project for a person in urgent need. To date 86 million pounds has been raised on a national basis. Help for heroes is all about the people, the men & women of the armed forces should get the best, they give more, they risk more, and they sacrifice more. To date over 6000 have been wounded and over 300 have been killed in action. A cheque for £1000 was presented to Terry by Rick Wilson. A vote of thanks was given on behalf of the club by Mac Narborough, a guest for the evening.
January 2011
52 members & guests attended the first club meeting of the
year. During the evening new chairman David Bruch welcomed
back to the club previous member Stephen Woolner and
inducted Andrew Burke managing director of Burley Fluid &
Air Ltd as a new member.
The guest speaker was Peter Carter, eel catcher who
still
makes and uses willow eel hives & griggs. Peter gave a very
informative talk with humour on his life in the fens which
is exclusive to his family dating back to 1470.
Apart from
catching eels he also looks after wildlife and mole
catching. Peter has been on many tv programmes and has also
had the privilege to meet the queen. He also demonstrated
his talk showing photographs from his family stretching over
500 years. He was thanked on behalf of the club by
Stephen Woolner
after receiving a standing ovation.
