Read summaries of our past talks here

64. SATURDAY FEBRUARY 17th 2024. LUX – ELIZABETH COOK

Elizabeth is, among many other things, a poet so she started the session reading us a couple of her poems, then she talked about her novel Lux which grew out of her interest in the poet Thomas Wyatt and covers the story of David and Bathsheba as well as that of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. It was an excellent and thoughtful afternoon.

63. SATURDAY JANUARY 20th 2024. POetry – VANESSA RAISON

Some members of Vanessa’s poetry group (run by the Aldeburgh Library Foundation) read selected poems to us. This was a very special session and achieved a very supportive and intimate atmosphere. The poems were excellent, especially since it was some people’s first stab at writing poems.

62. SATURDAY DECEMBER 16th 2023. CHRISTMAS PARTY

As last year we got together to enjoy conversation and festive nibbles.

61. SATURDAY OCTOBER 21st 2023. CRYPTIC CROSSWORD WORKSHOP

We were a small group, but had good fun as we tackled some of the Times quick cryptic crosswords and also raced through the original Bletchley Park crossword that was used for recruitment. Interestingly this was a mix of cryptic and straightforward clues.

60. SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 16th 2023. THE IMAGERY OF THE TAROT DECK – SUE PINE

This was NOT a talk about divination. Instead, Sue took us through the intriguing images of the major arcana (the main picture cards) which is based on an immense body of metaphysical ideas current in the late Classical world. We followed the ancient strands of Neoplatonism and Alexandrian Hermeticism as they interweave with ideas from further afield to create the famous and compelling pictures. We also touched briefly on the developments during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that led to the images that are in widespread use today.

59. SATURDAY 10TH june 2023. death cafe.

Caroline Fisher hosted a successful third session of Death Cafe, which resulted in fascinating discussions, as so often. This was our last meeting before the summer break.

58. SATURDAY 20TH maY 2023. lettering arts trust.

Karoline Newman gave a fascinating talk on the work of the Lettering Arts Trust with especial reference to local works

57. SATURDAY 25TH march 2023. sappho – a woman for our times.

Rosie Thomas is the pseudonym for Janey King, one of the top 100 borrowed fiction authors in the UK and winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 1985 and 2007. Her search for Sappho was equally romantic and a journey of enquiry, dedication and flair.

There is little trace of Sappho on the island of her birth, Lesbos. A Sappho cashpoint on the wall of the Sappho Travel Agent. A modern sculpture, on the harbour, which wouldn’t have existed in 630 B.C.E. when Sappho was born. Yet King shared the glorious sunsets, the “breeze feeling as gentle as honey” and the imbibing of red mullet and clear glasses of wine that Sappho would have enjoyed.

Sappho writes of roses, myrrh, marigolds and frankincense. That she should have been allowed to create lyrics and play her lyre in the patriarchal Greece of 600 B.C.E seems extraordinary. Perhaps it is Lesbos’s geographical location that explains it. The third largest Greek Island is opposite Turkey, near to the Dardanelles, and may have held customs closer to Southern Asia at that time than Greece.

King’s Sappho, after all, is in the fragments of poetry written on papyrus. A new batch was discovered by farmers in their fields in the 1890s and some are now housed in the Bodleian. King explored Sappho’s voice vividly and empathetically, using Christopher Childer’s translation. Fragment 31 captures human longing and jealousy, perhaps for the first time in poetry. In the affectionate Fragment 98, Sappho conveys the habit of all daughters to ask their mothers for unnecessary things:

I do not have an

Ornately woven

Bandeau to hand you,

Kleïs. From

Where would it come?

In Fragment 58, she is both philosophical and accurate about old age, lamenting the sore knees and the inability to dance nimbly any more. A poet by the sea, her favourite word is “glitter”.

King drove to Sappho’s birthplace and saw the carving on a sarcophagus, which was found in 1994 in what was formerly Troy, depicting the sacrifice of Polyxena on one side and women in profile wearing togas and bearing a fan, a lyre, a pipe around a seated central figure on the other; perhaps they are following Sappho in the call of Aphrodite.

Sappho’s voice still rings today. From feminist icon to provider of pop music lyrics, as King says, “You’re Everywhere and Nowhere, Baby.” It was a wonderful talk

56. SATURDAY 18TH FEBRUARY 2023. LOCAL POLITICS MATTER.

Sarah Whitelock explained the ins and outs of local politics, explained how council bodies had changed in the last few years and what sort of things each body deals with. She then told us about how she came to understand that local politics make a real difference and how that had led to her decision to stand for the Green Party in the forthcoming elections.

55. SATURDAY 17TH DECEMBER 2022. WISE CHRISTMAS PARTY.

We gathered in the library on the Saturday before Christmas bringing mince pies and other delicious snacks to share, drank Prosecco (or tea or coffee) and had a generally good time. Party hats were worn. To give everyone a chance to meet each other properly, we split into pairs and took 10 minutes or so to discuss a topic (a sample list was provided, but increasingly was not really needed).

54. SATURDAY 19TH NOVEMBER 2022. WINTER IS COMING. THE ENERGY CRISIS.

Unfortunately, Lamorna Good was unwell so couldn’t talk to us about her work on providing a town-wide response to prolonged power cuts. In particular, on raising money for a generator to power a central Hub where people can go if there is a long term outage.

Caroline Boyd talked about Warm Spaces in Aldeburgh and the background to the program.

We then discussed power cuts, benefits of batteries and/or generators where we could volunteer and what would be useful. We also decided to send out a leaflet listing warm spaces and other low cost activities for people in Aldeburgh. This has now been circulated with the library friends courses brochures and has also been advertised on Aldeburgh Chit Chat (thank you to TJ and Katherine for arranging this) and by the Aldeburgh Business Association. See here for the brochure content.

53. SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER 2022. CAROLINE FISHER LED A SESSION OF DEATH CAFE.

Caroline Fisher hosted a second session of Death Cafe at WISE. We had three tables of members this time and, although discussion was led by the participants, Caroline provided each group with sets of cards with questions to promote discussion (see below in the March write up for examples of these). As promised, there were indeed some interesting conversations. Guidelines are set out on the Death Cafe site.

52. SATURDAY 18TH JUNE 2022. MARIANNE FELLOWES. SOCIAL HOUSING IN ALDEBURGH

This was a follow up to our discussion on housing in April. Marianne Fellows from the Aldeburgh Town Council took us through what is happening with social housing in Aldeburgh and laid out what our options might be.

51. SATURDAY 28TH MAY 2022. FRANCES GIBB. GEORGE CRABBE “A TIME AND A PLACE”.

Frances Gibb is a journalist and former legal editor of the Times. Her family has been associated with Aldeburgh for over 60 years and over lockdown she wrote a book about George Crabbe and his love hate relationship with Aldeburgh and Suffolk, “A Time and A Place” – see here for details.

George Crabbe came from an established Aldeburgh family. The gravestone of his parents (Mary and George) is in the churchyard, though he himself is buried in Wiltshire and has a fine memorial in the church there. All his life he had strong ties to Aldeburgh and the local environment, but his association was not always happy.

He was a scholarly child and was encouraged by his father, a warehouseman working in Slaughden. Later he was apprenticed as a pharmacist / doctor though never qualified fully. He hated working for his father and the first of two major turning points in his life happened when he was standing by the Leech Pond in Aldeburgh and decided to leave and go to London. The second, most important turning point was when Edmund Burke became his patron, after a difficult time in London.

Under Burke’s guidance, he became a parson, taking up a curacy in Aldeburgh initially and later in Leicestershire, a happy time, and then inland from Aldeburgh at Great Glemham. He had married his wife, who came from Beccles, after an 11 year engagement, though sadly, 5 of their 7 children, died in childhood. After she died, Crabbe had several relationships with much younger women, one of whom he very nearly married. He was deeply interested in insects and botany, which intensified his love of the local countryside. He wrote some works on these topics, but burned his major work when someone criticised it for not being written in Latin.

His poetry was not in the fashionable romantic mode of Byron, Keats, Shelley and Wordsworth, but instead was based on realism, both about human nature and strongly evocative of the environment of Aldeburgh. In his later life he became quite well known.

The work, “Peter Grimes”, from his long narrative poem “the Borough”, was taken up by Britten and turned into the great opera, which humanised the character of Grimes; originally based on a real fisherman in Slaughden, several of whose apprentices mysteriously died. It was E. M. Forster whose original radio talk on Crabbe brought him to Britten and Pears’ attention while they were in the US during the Second World War.

50. SATURDAY 23rd april 2022. katherine mackie. the aldeburgh society & a discussion on housing in aldeburgh.

Katherine took us through the Aldeburgh Society and directed us to their website, http://www.aldeburghsociety.org.uk/, since annual membership is only £10. The AGM is coming up on May 20^th. See her PowerPoint here.

She then led a discussion on building and development in Aldeburgh, where we covered many related matters. We talked around social housing and what is needed to encourage families and their children to stay and work in Aldeburgh. We also looked at other towns in Suffolk and what works and what doesn’t. We especially touched on the original Town Plan (from 2014) and the reasons why we decided against having a Neighbourhood Plan. See the PowerPoint here.

49. SATURDAY 19th MARCH 2022. CAROLINE FISHER LED A SESSION OF DEATH CAFE.

The Death Cafe is a nationwide movement that has attracted many people. To date there have been 13,741 Death Cafes held. These never involve agendas, advertising or set conclusions. However, interesting conversations are guaranteed! At a Death Cafe people drink tea, eat cake and discuss issues related to death. The movement’s aim is to increase awareness of death and to help people make the most of their (finite) lives. Guidelines are set out on the Death Cafe site

We hosted two tables of members and although discussion was led by the participants, Caroline provided each group with sets of cards with questions to promote discussion. At the end of the session we felt that another would be well worth holding. We all found it useful as well as great fun.

Sample cards were:

What is/has been most important to you in your life?

What does it mean to you to have a “good death”?

Have you thought about minimising  / organising your possessions to help those who will be dealing with them?

Which of your life experiences have you most valued?

What are some of your most favourite possessions and who / have you thought who you are leaving them to (also legacies)?

Who has really inspired you and which qualities do you most value in a person?

How would you like to be remembered / what would you like to be on your gravestone?

Are there any words (written or spoken) about death / dying that you have found helpful?

What is your most memorable death / or experience of dying in a film, play or book?

Have you thought of writing your funeral service (address or part of it)?

If you knew this was the your last month / year  / 6 months, would you do anything differently (daily / more or less frequently / one off)?

48. SATURDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2022. CAROLINE BOYD. WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING A WOMAN SCIENTIST? TWO STORIES.

Caroline told the story of the discovery of nuclear fission (and its consequences) through the lives of two women scientists: Irene Joliot-Curie, who was French and Lise Meitner, who was Austrian.

Irene was Marie Curie’s elder daughter, born at the end of the 19^th century and worked with her at the Radium Institute, both of them running a mobile X-Ray unit during WWI. There she met and married her husband Frederic Joliot who also because her working partner. In the 1930s they carried out and published many experiments in the field, though did miss out on recognising two sub atomic particles: the neutron and the positron. But in 1935 they discovered how to create artificial radiation and for this they were given the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Frederic and Irene were both socialists and were also firm believers that they should share their work with other scientists. In 1938 they published the results of an experiment of theirs bombarding aluminium foil with sub-atomic particles and this caused another pair of scientists, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner, working in Berlin to run further experiments.

Lise Meitner was born in Vienna in 1875 and was not able to access secondary education until she was in her late 20s. Then she because the first woman to gain a doctorate in physics in Vienna and only the second in the world. She went to Berlin and there met Otto Hahn with whom she had a long, successful working relationship. Despite not being allowed to work in the main Institute initially things gradually loosened up and she became a full professor and Head of Department. Einstein called her the German “Marie Curie”. However, the anti-Jewish laws when Hitler came to power in 1933 affected her. She was no longer able to attend conferences, speak in public or put her name to published work.

In 1938, after the Anschluss, she had to escape to Sweden. There at Christmas in 1938 she finally worked out that radiation was produced by the atom splitting, something that had not been understood before.

This was the first big problem in nuclear physics solved. The next was how to achieve a continuous release of energy; the chain reaction. Here the equipment in the Radium Institute was important. Also, scientists across the world realised that there was a possibility of developing a bomb of unimaginable proportions. Irene and Frederic stopped publishing and archived their work. They also smuggled their stocks of heavy water out of the country. But they couldn’t move their Cyclotron (a particle accelerator). Irene left for Switzerland and treatment for TB, but Frederic returned to Paris and joined the French Resistance. Every time the German scientists arrived to use the Cyclotron, he made sure it never worked.

However, the atom bomb was of course developed as part of the Manhattan project in the United States. Lise Meitner had been invited to join the project but refused categorically. She hated being known as the mother of the atom bomb.

Irene survived for 10 years after the end of WWII. She was an active member of the Peace Initiatives and also, as a committed feminist, made several applications to the French Academy of Scientists which didn’t accept women to make a very public point.

Lise went on teaching in Sweden after the war, only retiring to the UK in 1960. She spent many years working to convince the German scientists to accept that they had supported an evil regime and even propped it up, to Germany’s detriment, in the final years of the war. She is buried in Hampshire, where the legend on her gravestone says “A physicist who never lost her humanity”.

47. SATURDAY 20th november 2021 . ROSEMARY JONES. CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS FOR BEGINNERS.

We were quite a nervous group to start with, but keen to learn how to do cryptic crosswords. Then Rosemary told us that the point to remember about cryptic crosswords is that they are meant to be FUN and FAIR. They are a game, not some struggle with the twisted brain of the setter.

In fact, as we worked through a sample together (see the examples below) we started to enjoy the cleverness and wit of the clues. Rosemary also told us to think that these crosswords are easier, because we aren’t just given what the answer should be (as in a regular crossword), we also get a puzzle that helps us see if we have picked the right word.

The first British crosswords appeared in 1923. The first all cryptic version was published in the Observer in 1928. In the 20s, the crossword in the newspaper had the same effect as Sudoko when that was introduced in the UK in the Times in 2004. It became a craze. The grids are symmetrical and originally there were only a limited number available, because of the typesetting technology used then. There are national differences too. The UK versions are unique. In the US, the cryptic crossword is known as “the British Crossword”. Wikipedia is full of information for those who want to delve into the topic.

There are many different levels of crossword. Some are crushingly difficult. But Rosemary suggested we should start with the easier ones: the quick cryptic in the Times 2 or the Guardian Quiptic which is available online at Quiptic | Crosswords | The Guardian. You can do these ones online, which is good because there is some help available, or print them out.

Rosemary gave us all a list of the types of clue we should look out for, which was enormously helpful and went through each type, giving example clues.

We then spent the rest of our session working through one of the example crosswords together, which was very enjoyable. We all learned a lot.

I have put up the handouts we were given here

List of Rules

Sample Crosswords (with answers) Nov 8^th, Nov 9^th, Nov 10^th, Nov 11^th, Nov 12^th

46. SATURDAY 16th OCTOBER 2021. THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ABOUT WISE. DISCUSSION

We had a good discussion about WISE. We agreed that informality was very important and that we like the format of women talking to women. Something we did want to add to the mix though, was to give people the opportunity of meeting others when they come to a live meeting. We also felt it would be interesting to experiment with some different formats: to try out some workshops and to include discussion. We did feel it would be good to be exposed to alternative points of view, but if there are strongly held views on several sides, we should be sure that discussion is on Socratic lines (no criticism of people only of ideas) and follow Chatham House Rules (not attributing ideas to people outside the discussion).

We are happy with keeping the session completely free, except in the odd case. An example of this would be a craft workshop, where some payment may be needed. Otherwise, we will continue to fund the fees for use of the library by asking for a donation for tea and biscuits. Where the session needs some payment, those attending will be asked to contribute. There were many, many ideas about topics for session and we will be looking into these in the coming months. It was agreed that we will prioritise space for issues that matter to women.

There was a fundamental point made that WISE was something we all participate in and not just something we turn up to.

We talked about various ways of giving people the chance to meet others. For now, we will continue to serve tea as people arrive (a break in the middle of a session was thought to be difficult). However, we will delay the start of the formal part of the session (talk or discussion) to 4:15. Also, and especially while COVID continues to be a risk, we will lay out seating in what is called café style; chairs arranged around tables. Then people can take their tea and sit down to chat, since we still need to wear masks in the library while moving about. This gives us time for general chat and discussion and hopefully makes for a good mix of people.

45. SATURDAY 18th SEPTEMBER 2021. MARTI LAURET AND SARAH WHITELOCK. GROWING UP IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Marti came to the UK in 1964 because she was interested in left-wing politics.  She went to Leeds University and in 1965 married and then stayed in the UK.  She has written two books “Be Careful What You Wish For” and “The Rising Cost of Staying Alive”.

Marti began by talking about her early life in South Carolina near the Blue Ridge Mountains, her father’s communism and his political confusion.

Marti became aware of McCarthyism and the danger facing her family when her father was dismissed from the army for being a communist, although subsequently he was allowed to join the merchant navy.  When in 1939 Hitler and Stalin concluded a non-aggression pact her father renounced his membership of the communist party and became a reporter for the Daily Worker although his politics always remained at variance with the society in which he lived and this shaped Marti’s life.

Marti was eleven months old when her mother took her to live in South Carolina where she had a much-loved black nanny, Lily.  At that time the people in South Carolina were following in the footsteps of the English (her mother was a debutante) but then came The Great Depression, followed by the war, and many families had a much-reduced standard of living.  Much of the country was too swampy for traditional English agriculture and Marti‘s description of the freshwater Salamanders and South Carolina marshlands where there were alligators, snakes, racoons, Snowy Egrets and Jaybirds roosting in the trees on the inlets of the marshlands was wonderfully evocative.

Marti went on to discuss segregation which had it’s roots in the slave trade when British ships took slaves from the Caribbean to the American colonies, including South Carolina.  Thousands of slaves were brought in to work on the plantations growing cotton, rice and sugar cane crops and it was during this time that they developed their own language, Gullah, which gave them some degree of privacy.

The slave trade was abolished in England in 1833 and in America in 1865 and the subsequent reduction in the supply of slaves may have reduced the worst treatment for some.  But vagrancy laws, which were introduced in 1866 and continued until the 1940s, could force anyone who appeared to be unemployed or homeless to work on the plantations.   However, although some slaves were able to grow fruit and vegetables, both for themselves and to sell, only a tiny minority were able to buy their freedom through trading in the market.

44. Saturday June 12th 2021. Sue Pine, In Collaboration with Aldeburgh Library Foundation. Sue Pine asks Do fairies exist? In the light of quantum physics is it time to revisit this ancient idea?

For this session, we were fortunate to collaborate with ALF (Aldeburgh Library Foundation) and the talk was given by one their most popular tutors, Sue Pine. Sue has run courses for ALF on classical philosophy, on other cultures and on philosophy applied to topics such as “the mind”, “climate change” and many others.

Sue Pine is a teacher of philosophy and a dowser, so this talk was bound to contain much interest and present different angles of thought. The topic was deliberately chosen to give us an opportunity to “think outside the box”. So, in true philosophical tradition, Sue helped us first to define our terms “what do we mean by” and then asked the question “why should we be open to the possibility”. She also introduced us to Swinburne (the Oxford philosopher rather than the poet) who has set up a framework for judging if an account may be considered valid evidence; the principle of credulity and the principle of testimony.

She took us through some background, showing that:

• A belief in fairies, or other nature spirits, exists consistently across many different cultures
• There are potentially credible accounts of encounters with nature spirits

Sue then took us through some of the related science. As a dowser, Sue detects earth energy, which is assumed to be on the electromagnetic spectrum. Our brains operate on electrical transmission between neurons and it has been shown that the brain is influenced by magnetic waves. The study of neuroscience itself is a rapidly developing area.

A strand of thinking Sue introduced us to is Panpsychism (“mind is everywhere”), a fairly recent branch of philosophy, which suggests that consciousness is not binary (e.g. humans are conscious, vegetables are not) but may be a continuum allowing for vegetables and even inanimate objects to have a degree of consciousness, though slight.

Sue then talked about some of the ideas of quantum physics. Starting with Einstein’s famous equation linking energy and matter, we raced through the dual behaviour of light as waves and particles and the mysteries of string theory with its multiple dimensions and the consequent appearance and disappearance of particles.

Putting these things together gave context to some of the instances of fairy sightings; especially a well documented example from Mr S from Stowmarket in the 19^th century. This account passed the Swinburne tests so deserves consideration. Sue suggested that some fairy sightings such as that of Mr S may be the human’s way of making sense of something unusual it cannot otherwise recognise. Coming up against unusual patterns of energy may therefore be interpreted as sightings of fairies or other supernatural beings.

Sue then took us through some of the typical fairy behaviours from UK folklore, such as dancing in rings, large troupes of fairies encountered at the equinoxes and the fact that time passes differently in “fairyland” for those who are said to have entered their realm. She also talked about the ways in which nature spirits are experienced in other cultures.

In conclusion, we can say that some sightings of fairies are bona fide. Sue suggested that these may be related to energy phenomena and that some of these may be sufficient to affect the human brain. The unanswered question remains, could these energies be conscious?

So, we might believe in fairies, though perhaps in a different form to the spangly winged beings of Peter Pan. We can also benefit from feeling more connectedness to nature and adopting a less human centric view of the world.

There was much comment and discussion following Sue’s talk, covering crop circles, changelings and other phenomena and including mention of:

• Shinto, which has a belief that there is consciousness and sprit in everything
• The fact that honey bees (and birds) are thought to respond to electromagnetic fields

43. SATURDAY 27th MARCH 2021. SARAH WHITELOCK, FIONA GILMORE, ALISON ANDREWS

RENEWABLES ARE GOOD, SO WHY ALL THE FUSS?

This impression of the extent of the proposed development may help explain.

Ahead of full details of the talk, I am posting some resources for those who want to go further. SEAS has an excellent set of videos on YouTube

as well as its own site here and a template letter for those wishing to write to the Secretary for State for Business.

42.  SATURDAY 6TH MARCH 2021.  AMY RAYNER

AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO GARDENING

Two or three years ago, Amy realised, what Monty Don has been telling us recently, that mowing your grass damages the environment, destroys insect habitat and reduces biodiversity. Describing gardeners as a group of people who spend their time killing plants and destroying creepy crawlies, also showing statistics such as the loss of 97% of our grassland habitat in the UK since the 1930s, she made us think of the advantages of gardening differently and leaving our grass long. She also told us that there are more microbes in a teaspoon of soil than there are humans on the planet. And she told us about glomalin, only discovered in 1996, which retains carbon and nitrogen and may be a possible means of carbon sequestration.

We still need to cut grass (or trees and shrubs will take over), at least once a year, after seed from annuals as well as grass has had time to set. She does three cuts using her old lawn mower, first from the highest then to a lower setting each time. It is important to remove the cuttings to allow for regrowth. The area looks brown after cutting but then soon greens up again. She did suggest mowing pathways through the areas that will become meadows. We don’t need to seed for flowers, these will just appear, but it can be helpful to add some seeds (beware of meadow seed containing mostly grass though!) especially yellow rattle which weakens grass and leaves more resource for other plants.

Amy talked about the Blue Heart Project (bluecampaignhub.com ) that she works with. She also showed us some of Saxmundham’s verges which were being left to grow and only mown round the edges to prevent fallen plants getting in the way of paths and roads. She told us a bit about how she and a friend dealt with the council and Norse, the contractors who cut the verges, to achieve this. The Blue Heart site also hosts an excellent Good Verge Guide from Plantlife.org.uk.

A couple of the WISE members already have experience of managing areas of long grass and Amy has clearly inspired others among us to plan something similar this year. She has kindly offered to answer our questions as they come up.

Amy has provided an inspiring list of websites, books and gardens to visit, which you will find here

41.  january EVENT. SATURDAY 31st january 2021.  kerstin davey & jane maxim

the BeNefits of walking for mind and body (conversation)

We had a large turn out on Zoom for this conversation. People joined from London and even from Portugal (in Kerstin’s case).

Jane took us through some of the points she made in her first talk for WISE showing that walking helps delay Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Research shows that walking regularly increases blood flow to the brain and so supports cognitive and mental health.

Kerstin told us that walking helps reduce risk of strokes and of hip fractures. As we age, our joint cartilage can suffer from wear and tear or inflammation, and the synovial fluid which lubricates the joints becomes more viscous. Low-impact exercise increases blood flow to cartilage supplying the nutrients it needs. Walking helps lubricate the joints, decreases pain and stiffness, and increases range of motion. We need to find a balance between too much which can cause inflammation in those with rheumatoid arthritis and sufficient to feel the benefits.

Keeping feet mobile and flexible aids balance and muscle symmetry while walking. The sensitive plantar fascia on the sole of the foot which supports our body weight and frame can be massaged and stimulated by rolling a spikey ball over the whole area. Walking on shingle is great for balance and helps us use different muscles.

We talked about pace of walking and agreed that mixing pace is helpful. Faster walking is great for blood flow, interspersed with slower periods so that we can enjoy being outside and concentrate on what we are seeing.

Walking in nature is great. It can be a meditative experience and often gives the “back brain” time to sort out problems while we aren’t really thinking about them. A rhythm to walking is beneficial. The difference between walking in town and in the country was noted; town can give opportunity for curiosity and discovery.

We talked about walking in groups and on our own. Although some of us really like walking on our own, others had realised they felt uncomfortable, explaining the high level of dog ownership in Aldeburgh.

The Ramblers, https://www.ramblers.org.uk/, was strongly recommended. Our local group https://www.ramblers.org.uk/alde-valley can be contacted at its website here http://aldevalleyramblers.onesuffolk.net/ There is also https://www.suffolkramblers.org.uk/

Long walks are a different commitment and, though often in groups, some people like to walk on their own so that they meet people locally and discover more about the area they are passing through.

Jane and Kerstin put together this brilliant list of books about the experience of walking to which I have added some further suggestions which came up.

40.  NOVEMBER EVENT. SATURDAY 7th NOVEMBER 2020.  RACHEL LAUGHTON-SCOTT

ENJOYING AGE APPROPRIATE EXERCISE (DISCUSSION GROUP)

Our second lockdown group had to be held on Zoom, but as it turned out that was no barrier to lively discussion. Rachel took us through the importance of strength training, building muscle and helping strengthen bones; important for arthritis, osteoporosis and sarcopenia (shrinking muscles). We also need the benefits of aerobic exercise to improve blood flow and hold back aging. Finally, we were all reminded not to neglect the pelvic floor.

Balance too becomes increasingly important as we age. Rachel suggested we use everyday activities, cleaning teeth, washing up etc, to practice standing on one leg, with closed eyes for advanced practitioners. Indeed, all opportunities to keep moving should be encouraged, even if it is simply moving our legs and turning our ankles while sitting down reading or watching.

We talked about: Feldenkrais, the opportunity for repair in the body, and our opportunities for exercise in town and country.

Rachel showed us one the videos she has made for her own students and told us about some sites with valuable information.

39.   OCTOBER EVENT. SATURDAY 31st OCTOBER 2020.  CELIA ALLABY

 HUMAN RIGHTS AND COVID 19 (DISCUSSION GROUP)

Our first meeting of a WISE lockdown group was on Human Rights and the effect of COVID. Six of us met, in real life just ahead of the November lockdown, and Celia led the conversation.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has reported on the impact of COVID restrictions on life and the figures are directly relevant to Human Rights such as: Right to life, Right to family life, Right to education. Women have been especially affected, taking on more social care, more child care and home schooling; with more women than men changing full time to part time working. Personal security is also affected, with a 50% increase in calls to the violence helpline in the second week of the first lockdown. Food bank use has nearly tripled.

We discussed the balance between Life, Liberty and Livelihood that the government must make when setting COVID restrictions and how this could be best managed. We also discussed the balance between personal privacy and track and trace technologies.

Finally, we discussed the issue of trust in authority and the way rules are applied. Interestingly, South Korea, after the SARS outbreak, held a referendum to establish the population’s attitudes to rules and regulations affection privacy and everyday activities for use in future pandemics.

38.  February event. Saturday 8th February 2020.  Caroline Reekie and Jane Maxim

You don’t have to be a Saint (a conversation about volunteering)

Caroline and Jane mulled over why they had both become involved in volunteering for charities: what had motivated them and why they had chosen the organisations they have volunteered for. In discussing this talk beforehand they had discovered that their parents were all heavily involved in working with local charities and with the community in which they lived.

Caroline first volunteered in the 70’s with St Mungo’s Homeless Charity, going out on the night soup run to feed rough sleepers in Spitalfields Market and Kings Cross.  However, full-time work put paid to these all-night ventures. Caroline said the St Mungo’s work was not due to altruism but rather because she fancied the boy who suggested it.  She couldn’t remember having any training at all.  Then she did a longer stint with the Samaritans, again on the suggestion of someone else. The training was rigorous and selective and the support from the shift leader immense. There were scary moments, problems with nuisance callers, but, on the whole, it was an extraordinary experience. She said it gave her a new perspective on things.

Jane said her motivation was more work related at first; in her academic life charities such as Leonard Cheshire and Different Strokes (which works with younger stroke survivors) asked her to evaluate their staff communication programmes or the difficulties faced by stroke survivors returning to work.  In her academic life Jane said she worked closely with people all the time while Caroline’s more solitary life as an artist has caused her to seek people-centred volunteering.  Jane now volunteers for the Alde & Ore Estuary Trust where the environment takes centre stage.

Caroline now works with CRUSE bereavement support locally here. She wanted to work with people face to face and not on the telephone. Once again, she was well trained and has the support of a supervisor. She said “I think it’s important to stress the importance of support and of the wisdom of other volunteers (at our monthly meetings.) It means you’re never doing it on your own, and it can be remarkably rewarding for everyone. Certainly, the training I’ve received has also been a huge help in my own life. “

Jane and Caroline agreed that you receive a huge amount from this kind of work. It’s not why you do it but it is an important part.

37.  January event.  Saturday 11th January 2020. Speaker: Alison Andrews

A North Sea Gem: The Alde and Ore  

What a wonderfully informative talk Alison gave us – clearly this area is a gem on many levels.  To the landward side the estuary owes so much to the river walls built from 1168 and renewed over the centuries, the last major refurbishment followed the significant damage following the storm surge of 1953.  What Alison made clear was that if we do not refurbish the defensive walls along the length of the Alde and Ore Estuary we will end up with vast areas of mudflats should a tidal surge inundate the fragile earth banks. It is planned to upgrade the existing defences, built of clay and grass covered, building higher and wider as necessary to increase resilience.  It is recognised that to build defences ever higher is both unaffordable and unsustainable.

To provided defences that can survive intact whilst allowing the water to overtop is a sustainable solution for both the uninhabited and inhabited parts of the estuary. It is of course of paramount importance that the flood waters quickly drain back into the estuary, through the sluices, as the water levels recede. The plan has to include all walls as the estuary works as a whole so that flooding in one flood cell can affect another.

Facts not fake news…We would upset the fragile equilibrium that the bird and animal life enjoy.  We would lose sailing on the river in the way it is now.  We would lose many miles of enjoyable river walks, and other leisure activities.  There would be a resulting reduction in tourism, reducing footfall to businesses.  There are some 300 houses/businesses dependent upon the walls to keep them safe.  The local economy is worth some £100 million a year.

Most of all we would lose vast acreages of farm land used for vegetable production – with the loss of the freshwater aquifers used to irrigate the sandy uplands. These aquifers are protected from saline contamination by the estuary defences. The damage to agriculture and the many jobs it supports cannot be overstated.  This touched me as the reason my father decided to moved here in the 50’s was to improve the self-sufficiency in food, at a time when food was still rationed.

Alison’s talk ended with the Alde and Ore Estuary Trust’s pie chart showing how funds need to be raised to do the work. The local community’s share to raise is £5 million. Other sources are the Government, landowners and charities. The wall is in a perilous state as at any time there could be another high tide with wind conditions that lead to an overspill of the river and we could lose yet more of our surroundings that we have grown to love. It is a stewardship issue. We must not be the generation that falls short in its obligation. (Summary: Amanda Churchill)

36.  December event. Saturday 14th December 2019. Speaker: Melissa Day

Niroshini Direct Trade Tea

Many of us were still sipping our pre talk cups of tea as Sarah Ladbury introduced Melissa to us. Such an everyday activity that we probably take it for granted, but about which, within minutes, we were going to be hearing some uncomfortable home truths.

Melissa describes herself as a Cosmetic Acupuncturist and Luxury Transformative Retreat Leader but she was here to talk to us about a project in Sri Lanka that she is passionate about supporting called Tea Leaf Vision, run by the UK registered charity Tea Leaf Trust. Her association with the charity began as a result of her own personal story: she told us about a series of extraordinary coincidences which resulted in her managing to find, not only her birth mother, but also two full brothers and her grandmother, living on a tea plantation in Sri Lanka. She described the elation of meeting them but this was tempered by her concern about their living and working conditions.

Poor education keeps the Tamil workers of Indian origin, who were originally brought over especially to provide the poorly paid labour on the tea estates, firmly in their place. Melissa told us that wages are below the UN poverty band and that the tea plantation area in Sri Lanka is known as the world’s “fourth hotspot” for suicide.

Melissa is keenly aware that, had she not been adopted at eight weeks old and brought to the UK where she received an education that has enabled her to pursue her own career choices, she would be one of those plantation workers herself. She has been determined to find the best ways to help not only her own family but also the wider community.

We were shown a short film about Tea Leaf Vision which outlined their work in providing free education programmes, taught by qualified teachers, to the poorest tea estate communities. These programmes have proved life changing for the students who have had the chance to study on them. Melissa told us how she was able to get her two brothers onto the English Diploma Programme. Learning English opens up opportunities for work and the programme includes IT skills and business training. In gratitude to the charity Melissa helped raise the funds for a mobile library, including upkeep for the vehicle and the salaries for three teachers and a driver for a year. The bus not only takes over eight hundred books out to children on a daily basis but also provides safe transport for the diploma students to and from their place of study.

One of Melissa’s brothers now has a good job on a plantation that supplies Direct Trade tea, which promotes fairer, living wages. Melissa herself has launched her own tea brand: “Niroshini Direct Trade Tea” which is produced on this plantation. We were given a sniff of Melissa’s first hand rolled tea, “Flowering Black Velvet”, which has whole white tea flowers in it, which open up once the hot water is added, producing “fragrant, delicate overtones of honey”. A percentage of the profits go to Tea Leaf Vision and Melissa is continuing to search for new ways to support their work.

There were many questions at the end of this fascinating talk and I am adding some website addresses for those who would like to know more.  (Summary: Sarah Dawson)

The Tea Leaf Trust (which runs the project Tea Leaf Vision): https://tealeaftrust.com/ More information about Melissa’s tea:  http://niroshini-acupuncture.com/direct-trade-tea

35.  November event. Saturday 16th November 2019. Speaker: Lamorna Good

Parties, phaetons, and tragedy: life in an Aldeburgh house from 1789 to 1901

Lamorna first became interested in the history of Thellusson Lodge, Church Walk, Aldeburgh when she and her husband moved into the house in 1996. She read that in 1789 the 1st Marquis of Salisbury had lived there. Over the next five years Lamorna visited the archives at Hatfield House, much encouraged by the archivist there as she was the first person to research this part of the Marquis’ life.  She continued her research of Thellusson Lodge families up to 1901.

The characters Lamorna introduced us to included royalty, aristocrats, dandies, fops, mistresses and political hostesses. She talked about their ways of life in high office, involvement in legal inheritance battles, their support of the local community, their births, marriages and deaths.  We heard about several notable families and their offspring, namely the 1st Marquis of Salisbury and his wife, Isabella Strode, Sir George and Lady Wombwell, George “poodle’ Wombwell, Arthur Thellusson, and Henrieta Vernon Wentworth.

Lamorna’s historical sources gave us fascinating detail. The local tavern receipts, estate agents’ sales and contents particulars, letters, newspaper articles, portraits, Gillray cartoons, and census information brought the characters and history of Thellusson Lodge to life. They also gave us an insight into the development of Aldeburgh as we know it today.

Lamorna’s talk was well attended – we all look forward to the next instalment when Lamorna has undertaken the next phase of her research.  (Summary: Sally Simmonds)

34.  October event. Saturday 12th October 2019. Lizzi Thistlethwayte and Vanessa Raison

Making sense of the everyday muddle

Two very different poets discussed their very different poems: Vanessa Raison, an ebullient teacher on a middle-aged gap year, and Lizzi Thistlethwayte, an intrepid sailor and published poet. Both are members of the East Suffolk Poetry Group. On the table in front of them were Vanessa’s pamphlet Open and Close and Lizzi’s two pamphlets No Name and Angels and Other Diptera (the latter was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award for Poetry in 2016).

Vanessa. On coming into the packed space in the library I saw on the screen:

‘It’s not so much what poems are, in themselves, but the infinitely larger optimism they offer by their intermittent twinkles: that beneath the little lights on their tiny masts, so far from one another, so lost to each other, there must be a single black sea. We could have no sense of the continuousness of the unknowable without these buoyant specks.’  (Kay Ryan, extract from Specks)

I thought, erroneously as it turned out, that this meant that the economic metaphors of poetry pointed to the transcendent. Vanessa gave no explanation for the quotation but the moving poem which she had written two days after her mother’s death, and which was read at the funeral, and to us, emphasised the optimism of poetry.

Vanessa said she had started writing poems when her mother died a year ago, and she has written a poem every day since then. She talked about grief, quoting the Kubler-Ross five stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, but went on to explain how the dead continued to live on with us. She put up on the screen a picture of her mother walking with her dog Rusty along the boardwalk at Snape. Unbeknown to her it was taken and published in the AboutFram magazine as an advertisement for Snape Maltings two months after her mother’s death. This photo is included in her collection of poems Open and Close, from which she read three poems: ‘Holy Bhaji’, ‘Snapshot’ and ‘April Fool’s’.

Vanessa’s talk was not all about grief. She told us what poems engaged the children she taught. Poems by Roger McGough and Wendy Cope led to interesting discussions and questions. Her favourite poem, which she read, but was not recognised by anyone in the audience, was ‘You’re’ by Sylvia Plath.

When asked the process of composition Vanessa said she always carried an exercise book in which she could scribble down sights and ideas which might give rise to a poem. Sometimes awake at 3am a poem might come to her fully formed. Perhaps the unspoken message she left us with is ‘A poem a day… Keeps the Doctor away’.

Lizzi.  Lizzi began her talk by answering the question of why she wrote. She said she used to be a paper conservator, bookbinder and teacher, but after her daughter became ill she found she could no longer do these things, so she began to write. She said she finds it difficult to articulate thoughts or ideas in any other way:

‘I love words. The look of words on a page is as important to me as the sound and all the different meanings of a single word. It’s akin to choosing the various materials I need to make a book: first the weight and feel and look and sound of a single sheet of mould-made paper, then balancing these elements against the format of the book, folding the paper, choosing the thickness of linen thread to sew the folded sections together. Poem-making is haptic (and choreographic) as well as aural, visual…and of course the words need to make sense. The constraint is in being truthful to the emotional landscape the poem is rooted in.’

Lizzi continued by relating ‘who and what’ influenced her. The landscape is an influence, both emotional and geographic; attempting to find a reference point within that landscape. Words in a particular order, just a few on a page, no clutter; kept inside your pocket or your rucksack, you can pull out a pamphlet of poems and read and feel Yes.

Lizzi said many poets have influenced her. The first was Ted Hughes; she then quickly found her way to the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai and then to the European poets that Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort published in the 1960s in ‘Modern Poetry in Translation’. She likes to explore poets in translation; her particular joy is to come across bi-lingual editions so that she has, for example, the Norwegian printed opposite the English translation. She said, ‘I like to pretend I can read the unfamiliar words, the sounds (my invented pronunciation of the words!) conjure up a new soundworld. New landscapes. That’s exciting.’

She read four of her own poems which all showed her love of word play: ‘Mirror’, ‘Colonsay’, ‘Still the Rain’ and ‘The Angle of Dip’.

To conclude: these two poets, Vanessa and Lizzi, gave us an interesting and enjoyable afternoon.  (Summary:  Angela Sydenham)

If you would like to obtain copies of Lizzi and Vanessa’s work please get in touch with them directly – for details and prices click on the ‘Links’ page of this website.

33.  September event. Saturday 7th September 2019. Speaker: Hannah Raison

Gap Years

Hannah gave a talk about her Gap Year as a volunteer teacher in India, a destination partly inspired by her grandmother’s love of her own visits there.

Hannah’s talk was fresh, amusing and at times very moving as she candidly described her mix of feelings on having thrown herself, on her own, into this unknown territory of job location, encounters and experiences completely unfamiliar to her.

She chose to find a volunteer opportunity independently, rather than via an organisation, since she wanted to be in direct contact with a local community and the headteacher of its school.  Internet trawls and sheer chance brought her to an ad for a 6 month post as a volunteer teacher at a community primary school in northern West Bengal, near Kalimpong.  This method of finding her ‘opportunity’ also brought enormous parental  anxiety as to whether the ad was a route to an internet slaving scam!

Hannah gave us lively descriptions of the school day and life (and the delicious food) in the hostel she shared with the headteachers, their families and 23 of the school children.  She told us about the community, its social life, particularly the many weddings, where everyone was involved in the preparation and cooking for them in the most reciprocal way.  She made many friends, in spite of the sometimes difficult language barrier and was repeatedly the object of enormous generosity, despite the givers being relatively so much poorer.  She learnt about a different approach to life, lacking the time-saving modern domestic conveniences that we have, yet making time to share a cup of tea and human empathy.  In this community, she also learnt about the joys of freedom from preconceived judgement and found the fun and outgoing confidence to join in, to sing and dance even in public.

Hannah spent the first three months in India on her own amongst her Indian friends.  When she returned after Christmas, she brought with her a friend Seb who, to the huge delight of the boys, loves football.  Playing team football became a regular event.

Hannah’s own contribution to the community, above daily school lessons, engagement with everyone and teaching English here and there, was to try to awaken in them the desire to care for their local environment and to better their own surroundings.  They all worked together on projects to change attitudes to littering in both adults and pupils, first clearing the playing fields of huge quantities of litter and then making and decorating bins for future use.  She introduced them to the delights of story books and being read to and to the benefits of practicing regular personal hygiene, such as good tooth-brushing and dealing with outbreaks of head-lice.

In conclusion, she urged us all that a Gap Year was for anyone!  And, after the initial understandable qualms of a novice, she can’t wait to go back next year.

There were no meetings in June, July and August, we stopped for the summer. 

32.  May event. Saturday 4th May 2019. Speaker: Caroline Fisher

Resolving disputes around children

Caroline Fisher, child care lawyer, led this WISE session. It was part role-play, part explanation and part discussion. Caroline’s aim was to show the part played by two organisations – Citizens Advice (CA) and the Child and Family Court Advisory Support Services (CAFCASS) – in resolving family disputes around children. It was the first time that a WISE session had used role-play.

In the first role-play two WISE members (well briefed by Caroline beforehand) played the roles of a mother and a Citizens Advice adviser. In the second role-play Caroline played the role of a CAFCASS officer and the two WISE members played the roles of the respective parents.

The first role-play was set in the Citizen’s Advice office, where a mother was seeking help over an issue involving her ex partner’s contact with their children. The mother told the Citizens Advice adviser that her eight year old son had shown a worrying change in behaviour after seeing his dad and his new partner. The mother wanted to refuse the father contact with their children. At this stage the CA adviser persuaded her to try and solve the problem through mediation rather than go straight to court.

Caroline explained that despite an attempt at mediation, there had followed a period of three months with no apparent change in the situation.

The second role-play took place at the first court hearing following the father’s application for contact with his children. It was set in the office of the CAFCASS officer (played by Caroline) interviewing the father and the mother. The CAFCASS officer encouraged the parents to reach an agreement, which in the role-play scenario they did. It was now necessary for a court order to be made so that the new plan for the father’s contact with the children was incorporated into a legally binding agreement.

Caroline emphasised that in all such disputes the well being of the children is always paramount; the role of CAFCASS is to represent the children’s best interests in court.

The use of role-play turned out to be an unusual and effective method of conveying, in a simple way, the complex circumstances around family breakdown and the workings of the Child and Family Court system.

The session generated a lot of interest and many questions. We all enjoyed the session and went away much better informed. (Summary: Jila Peacock)

31.  April event. Saturday 13th April 2019.  Speaker: Arabella Marshall

‘A Wing and a Prayer’

Among Arabella Marshall’s inspirations are Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and Matisse’s chapel at Vence. In her 40s when the children left home she felt free and brave enough to pursue her creative visions. She attended City and Guilds  in 2001 (20 years post art school) and it was in subsequent week long master class that she gained the necessary toolkit for setting up her own  studio. Arabella now has a two meter kiln and sculpts – fusing together layers of coloured glass along with glass granules called frit and copper, gold and silver foil inclusions for detailed patterns. Her pieces may take the form of outdoor sculptures or architectural installations.

Arabella loves the environment and connects her sculptures with spaces. She is not a Christian but enjoys the feeling of awe you get upon entering a church or cathedral. The discovery of the ruined monastery at Minsmere fascinated her with its range of contradictory emotions arising from the tranquil landscape, the RSPB birds, Sizewell power station, boggy land and the red brick remains of a WW11 pillbox which gives the site the site listed status! She knew she had to make a sculpture here, to fill the open air window arch with coloured glass and from that moment she became a project co-ordinator.  Funds were needed for the builders and engineers to fit the glass in the stone and the metal worker to make the frame. Permission was needed from Historic England and the RSPB. Cathy Smith from Suffolk Coasts and Heaths AONB helped her apply for grants. With this and the support of many individuals and two local companies (so far), all the work will be undertaken this year and the piece itself will be installed in May 2020.

Arabella has always loved connecting place and sculpture but a new thrill has grown from this project, that people share and are inspired by her vision and are working as a community to effect change in the world. (Summary: Vanessa Raison)

If you would like to get involved with the project or make a donation please visit the project web site: http://www.awingandaprayer.org.uk/

30.  March event. Saturday 9th March 2019.  Speaker: Rosie Andersen in conversation with Lizzi Thistlewayte

Fairy Stories and Folk Tales to guide us out of today’s dark woods

We started with a quote from C.S. Lewis “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again”. Lizzi , an East Anglian poet, is interviewing Rosie, who has now come to writing fables for adults and children, having in the past written articles and collaborated on a textbook about complementary medicine.

Rosie told us a bit about her books Songs of the Trees and The Lost Key and we also talked about the meaning and purpose of fables and legends. Songs of the Trees is the first fable she has published. It is beautifully illustrated by Paul Jackson, who really understands her intention. She has based it around six lyrical pieces, the story actually came later. Like her later books, it is based on a real place, Staverton Thicks, and refers to local stories and customs. The character of Aelfwynn, retreats into woodland as a place of healing, and subsequently finds herself walking a labyrinth, which has its own metaphor and symbolism. Paul’s illustrations are delightfully detailed and complex and sometimes contain hidden features. They certainly repay looking at closely.

The Lost Keys is Rosie’s second fable. It has strong roots in East Anglia’s Anglo Saxon heritage and is set in the Saints, a strange and interesting area north of Halesworth with many beautiful churches. It is a little darker than the first. The central character goes on a journey and has to solve various riddles in order to find his true self. Rosie has with permission, used translations for two of the riddles from Anglo-Saxon, The Exeter Book, and one translation from Latin from Saint Aldhelm’s Riddles. The Key within the story contains the symbol of the snake, a metaphor for change and transformation. The Green Man features a great deal, a well known local figure in mythology, often appearing on carvings in East Anglian churches. Both fables contain much analogy.

Fables traditionally have a moral to them. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries they were largely written for adults. It was only with the advent of Grimm and Andersen that they became part of children’s reading. Indeed in the 17^th century they were often written by women and dealt with topics such as feminism and women’s rights, in a suitably coded way.

Rosie and Lizzi suggested that fables and folk tales may represent a response to dark times. We may use them as a way to deal with topics that are too hard to hear otherwise. They might be a way to deal with our fears and make sense of difficult things in a safe way. Do we need new fables for today’s issues? Indeed, Andrew Simms has written a book of modern fairy tales dealing with issues like climate change: Knock Twice – 25 modern folk tales for troubling times. They do seem to play a vital part in our understanding of real life as we grow up. To quote Einstein: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales”.

 In wider discussion, we talked about: the use of fairy stories and legends in treating mental illness; the archetypes that occur again and again in legends and fables from very different cultures; Aborigine song lines; the way the Bible deals in fables; cave paintings; and using writing and other creativity, for working with prisoners. Rosie is currently planning a third fable. It will deal with the theme of grief and loss and is set a little further north of the county where villages have disappeared.

29.  February event. Saturday 16th February. Speaker: Eva Loeffler

The Paralympics: Then and Now

Eva Loeffler gave a fascinating talk about her involvement with the Paralympic movement and in particular the 2012 event which brought the games to a huge audience on TV. Daughter of Sir Ludwig Guttmann, founder of the Paralympic movement, Eva was one of the first Directors of the British Paralympic Association. She had the honour of being Mayor of the Paralympic Village in London 2012.

Eva explained that the Paralympic games have had enormous consequences for people with disabilities across the world. In China, for example, before the 2008 games disabled people did not leave their homes; it was only because China was determined to have the highest medal count that they searched out and trained their disabled athletes.  This led to a much greater acceptance of all people with disabilities.

Eva’s involvement with the Paralympic movement carried on from the work of her father Ludwig Guttmann, a brilliant neurologist and neurosurgeon who had had to flee Germany in 1939 because he was Jewish. Eva described how the Guttmann family managed to get to England in March 1939, leaving behind close family members who they never saw again. They arrived in England penniless. Eva and her brother were immediately sent to school where they had to learn English quickly.

Eva talked about how her father developed the spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and how this eventually led to the first Paralymic games. She said that at that time – it was 1944 – people with injuries to the spinal cord were not expected to survive very long. Under her father’s direction the centre developed a new scheme of physical and mental rehabilitation; this demonstrated that competitive physical activities were an enormous aid to recovery for young disabled ex-servicemen.

The Stoke Mandeville wheelchair games became international in 1952 but it was after the Rome Olympics in 1960 that 400 wheelchair athletes from many countries took part in the games for the first time. In 1966 Ludwig Guttmann, already a Fellow of the Royal Society, received a knighthood from the Queen. He died in 1980 having done an enormous amount to enable people with disabilities to take part in wider society.

Eva’s involvement with the Paralympic games began when she was asked to become one of the first directors of the British Paralympic Association. Her talk at WISE stressed the importance of the Paralympic games for children with disabilities, allowing them to take part in a wide variety of sports. Eva showed a slide of her carrying an Olympic torch in the procession at the 2012 games and of a bike race past Buckingham Palace. It was especially poignant when another WISE member talked about her own father, who had come back from the Second World War for treatment at Stoke Mandeville, and how his time there was vital to his recovery.

Eva’s talk underlined how a step forward in one area of life – better treatment for people with spinal injuries – spread to a worldwide movement which has changed attitudes and enabled people with disabilities to play a much wider part in society.

28.  January event.  Saturday 12th January 2019. Nicky Loutit in conversation

“How did I get to here?”

When I arrived, artist, Nicky Loutit was setting up in the Library, arranging some of her artworks. There was a beautiful, colourful painting on the screen. Women were gathering and were all invited to have a cup of tea.

The afternoon session was to be a “conversation” between Nicky and Sarah Ladbury. Sarah introduced herself by saying that she lived her life as an atheist, but she was intrigued by Nicky’s story and how she had come to be in Aldeburgh and attend church here. As a committed Christian, my ears immediately pricked up because I thought this could be a fascinating “conversation” and wasn’t sure what to expect. And so, Sarah gently asked Nicky about her early life.

Nicky said that from a young age there was no mention of God but when she was sent to boarding school at the age of seven, the hymn “O God our help in ages past…” made a profound impression on her. This was the beginning of her search for something spiritual. Nicky was also aware of angels being ever present in her life and incorporated angels in her paintings. She studied at the Slade School of Art and at Chelsea Art School and eventually settled in Herefordshire with her husband and three boys. They had a smallholding which, although very hard work, was fulfilling and idyllic. They became involved with Methodism whilst there.

Then, one day, a friend appeared at their home wearing orange robes and Nicky and her husband became convinced by him and other friends to give up everything and join an Ashram in India. This was not a happy time for Nicky, she eventually had to leave after five years and came back to Britain with her three boys.

To cut a long story short, Nicky eventually landed in Aldeburgh. One day, at 9am, she found herself in the Parish Church, sitting at the back in tears. A group of people were “gossiping” in the Chapel and one of them encouraged her to join them for Morning Prayer. She did and immediately fell in love with the calmness, order and peace of the service. She has continued to attend Morning Prayer regularly as well as other services.

Sarah conducted the “conversation” in a respectful, empathetic way, encouraging Nicky to talk openly. Members of the audience were able to ask questions and share experiences. Someone asked if Nicky felt “excited” by this journey of faith. Nicky liked that! There was a comfortable feeling of togetherness with shared emotions. I felt that Nicky had been very brave in sharing her story with us. She seemed at peace but excited about what was to come!  (Summary: Fran Smith)

27.  December event. Saturday 8th December 2018.  Speaker: Harriet Frazer

Memorials by Artists

In the summer of 2018 the Lettering Arts Trust in Snape staged a superb exhibition celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Memorials by Artists. On 8 December, Harriet Frazer described to us how she came to found Memorials by Artists back in 1988.

The story begins with the loss of Harriet’s step-daughter Sophie who died peacefully by suicide in 1985. Harriet spoke most movingly and with great honesty about her family (Sophie was a twin) and about the difficulties they encountered in trying to create a fitting memorial for Sophie: something that would ‘lift the spirit and mark a unique life’.

Harriet commissioned the sculptor Simon Verity to design and carve Sophie’s beautiful headstone. But conforming with the strict rules for churchyard memorials presented huge obstacles. Out of the difficulties they encountered and overcame – Sophie’s memorial is now in place in the churchyard at Salle, Norfolk – was born in Harriet the idea to find other letter-carvers working in the British Isles and to publish an illustrated guide for people wanting a unique memorial about the use of good British stones and fine design and lettering. Memorials by Artists would be a matching service, crucially making it possible for client and artist to build a rapport so that the process of commission should be as creative as possible. That Harriet succeeded in realizing her vision was borne out by the wonderful examples of letter-carvers’ work shown in the anniversary exhibition and indeed by a member of the WISE audience, who spoke to me afterwards about how much her family valued the support they had been given by Harriet herself when they most needed it.

Harriet traced the history of Memorials by Artists in a series of images of remarkable memorials that have been created over the years. Ten years after its foundation, the first exhibition ‘The Art of Remembering’, was staged. Ten years after that, the ‘Art & Memory Collection’ was launched in the gardens of West Dean College, Sussex. Soon to join the number of memorials gracing our land is one to be sited on Orford Quay, in memory of the Boffins of Orford Ness.

Memorials by Artists is a treasure. Harriet claims that what drove her to create it was both ignorance and anger: ‘I knew nothing about lettering or the wide variety of British stones and slates. My anger was with the Church, with their insensitive and philistine rules for churchyard memorials. I suppose I had a sense of mission.’ She is modest about her achievements, but passionate about the importance of the work. Among her legacies is an educational trust, set up to ensure that the skill of letter-carving will endure through two-year apprenticeships and lettering workshops. As she said, it is crucial to have well-trained tutors to teach the young letter-carvers. We are thankful that her work will endure through Harriet’s successor, Executive Director Sarah Harrison, Lynne Alexander, the Lettering Arts Trust’s Education and Exhibitions’ Director and Mary Carter-Campbell who now runs Memorials by Artists.  (Summary: Suzy Powling)

For more information please see <http://www.letteringartstrust.co.uk

26.  November event. Saturday 10th November 2018.  Speaker: Liz Shackleton

The History of Rag Rugs: Trash to Treasure

Our first introduction to the subject of Liz Shackleton’s talk was the colourful, textural array of rag rugging that we saw laid out in Aldeburgh Library as we entered. We were able to inspect, stroke and marvel at a variety of examples of her work, whilst Liz unfolded to us the inspiring story of creativity found in this craft, and its history, via Vikings, Danes and 19th Century northern England. She accompanied the talk with an excellent collection of slides and some amusing poems about the hazards of having a Progger in the house!

We learnt that the craft of rag rugging in Britain was a simple way of creating useful household items out of textiles that had become too threadbare for use in their original form. It was born out of poverty and a need for thrift. Where money was scarce to spend on comforts, fabric could be given a second or third incarnation. The technique of hooking or looping strips of fabric through a loosely-woven backing was used to make rugs or mats for the floor and for occasional bed and wall coverings, all items to add to the comfort of the poor household. They brought warmth and colour and provided a rare opportunity for women at home to have an outlet for artistic expression. Rug-making could also be a social affair, being done communally to produce a large piece and to enjoy companionship and chat.

The main makers of rag rugs were women: wives of miners and farmers, fishermen or military men who could be away at sea or at war for long periods, leaving their wives to hold the household together. Children cut the many strips of fabric needed for each rug and the men helped by making the wooden frame to hold the work and by fashioning the simple tools used. These were hooks and prodders, or proggers, improvised from all sorts of materials such as the shafts of old keys, nails, wooden pegs, pieces of horn.

We were fascinated to see the variety and beauty of the designs, from the initial simple interpretations of everyday objects, a few surviving from the 19th Century – vase of flowers, cat, dog, hens – to the growing intricacy of pattern, colour and effect of 20th Century examples from Britain and across the Atlantic. Over the years, rag rugs became treasured as desirable Folk Art in the USA and Canada. In Britain this has only latterly become the case. By the end of this talk, there were a number of new devotees!

Liz concluded her engrossing story with questions to make us think about our modern ways and their consequences – our throwaway society, our profligate use of resources, our detrimental impact on the ecology of our planet, our loss of hand skills, thereby our enormous loss of the satisfaction and joy of creativity, of its peace and mindfulness. Perhaps, as AI looms to take over the employment of the ordinary man and woman, we should make conscious efforts to revive many of the handcraft skills.

Thank you, Liz, for an inspiring talk.  (Summary: Ann Moynihan)

25.  October event. Saturday 20th October 2018.  Speaker: Rachel Laughton-Scott

Volunteering – why do we do it?

Rachel’s executive career includes publishing, museum management and business research but her volunteering began as a child helping her mother with Meals on Wheels.  This proved to be a rewarding experience and since then she has volunteered for many organisations:  English Heritage; The Tower of London; the V&A and Hampton Court Palace amongst others.  Rachel outlined questions to ask yourself when considering volunteering: why are you interested? What purpose do you have? Will you feel adequately rewarded for your time and effort? Do you have enthusiasm for it and will you be able to make a difference?

People volunteer for many different reasons, very often to meet people of all ages and backgrounds, to help others and to give something back to the community and hopefully to make a difference.   We heard that volunteering can open new opportunities for learning and self development on a diverse range of topics including Bee Keeping; or how to use Excel spreadsheets; how to communicate with different groups or to travel – Rachel went to China.

Rachel stressed that volunteers need to create their own goals and structures – for example Rachel started, and still teaches, exercise classes for older people and talks to them about ageing healthily and their own volunteering.

Rachel’s enthusiasm was contagious and working with such varied organisations has obviously been a very important part of her life, one that is both enjoyable and satisfying.  Her talk was followed by a general discussion on volunteering, both abroad and in the U.K., and the motivation and opportunities available for young people. (Summary: Anthea Shaw)

24.  June event.  Saturday June 9th 2018.  Speaker: Suzy Powling

My Red Pen & Me: An Editor’s Working Life.

Suzy Powling’s WISE talk was an insight into a career most of us possibly don’t even think about. A book just ‘happens’, doesn’t it?

Suzy has worked almost her entire career as a non-fiction book and magazine editor, and it has certainly been a varied career that relies on her using all her ‘ideas, skills and experience’ (WISE words!) in a variety of settings, to support a wide variety of authors from idea to publication. She is now well read (she must read every word of course) in areas as diverse as marriage guidance, antiques, wine, motherhood, military history, physics, psychology and much more.

Although Suzy started out at Faber & Faber, it was at a smaller independent non-fiction publisher called Batsford that she explained was her ‘crucially formative period’ for learning the trade. Not only learning the different aspects that make up an editors’ role, but also how to treat an author – with a delicate balance of sensitivity and scrutiny.

At its most basic, Suzy explained, editing is being able to read and write (she has a degree in English and Latin), have patience and an eye for detail. The ‘red pen’ of the talk title is the clearest way of marking up a manuscript for accuracy and make notes for consistency – her watch-words.

When describing what editing is, it was clear that this is not an industry for ‘one size fits all’. Everything needed an individual approach. I liked Suzy’s anecdote about how a whole book on flower arranging arrived to her on pieces of paper, in different handwriting, and all in a carrier bag! She made a sense of it all and a successful book was created.

She has more usually worked freelance and talked modestly of writing over a dozen non-fiction books and numerous articles herself over the years, and in a very recent change, she is part way though writing a novel.

Suzy had opened by calling herself a ‘dinosaur’, as the traditional editor’s role has been transformed by digital publishing. So, from someone who once had to laboriously count every single word on a page to this new era of computer word counts, Suzy’s career has spanned all types of editing, multiple subject matter, and innumerable books and journals.  A WISE woman indeed. (Summary: Cathy Smith).

23.  May event. Saturday May 12th 2018. Speaker: Sally Hartley

‘One head cannot contain all wisdom’ (Masai proverb)

This talk by Sally Hartley on her work in Africa with disabled children, was fascinating and wide ranging. She explored how, over four decades, the interpretation of the Masai proverb had taken on deeper meanings. Her first job was as a VSO Speech Therapist, but over the years she had turned her hand to many things, and her stories were very humbling.

Every project she tackled was always underlined by the need for disabled people to be accepted into mainstream activities. Deaf children were often left in darkened rooms because they could not speak and were therefore not considered to be human. Signing was introduced to one village – a complete revelation that changed their lives. In a famine camp women were encouraged to make traditional bowls and spoons to sell for much needed cash. Sally was known as Madam Spoon!

After 20 years of development work Sally realized she was going to have to enter academia to examine and share her experiences. In too many instances the same mistakes were being repeated due to lack of guidelines to take them forward. Sally along with other researcher and colleagues in WHO, the World Bank and UNESCO produced many reports and guidelines that were there for us to browse. E.g. World Report on Disability http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/

CBR Guidelines (Community Based Reabilitation) http://www.who.int/disabilities/cbr/guidelines/en/

She also described a CBR Network she helped to set up which now functions in 53 African countries. http://afri-can.org/our-core-functions/

Sally’s quote ‘One Head Cannot Contain All Wisdom’ was born out in different ways in every project she described – things are achieved by sharing, talking and working together, not by exporting our own culture and practices. Increasingly she was able to demonstrate the positive effect of including everybody in disability research and practice, particularly disabled people themselves.

She gave us this beautiful quote to finish her talk…..

Go to the people

Live with them, learn from them, love them

Start with what they know

Build with what they have

But for the best leaders, when the work is done

The task accomplished, the people will say

‘We have done this ourselves’

                                                 by Lao Tzu

Very inspiring!  (Summary: Sal Goldsmith)

22. April event.  Saturday April 14th 2018.  Speaker: Jila Peacock

Painting with Persian Poetry

Artist-printmaker Jila Peacock was born in Iran. In this talk she focused on the making of her hand-printed book of shape poems ‘Ten poems from Hafez’, which won the British Book Design Awards for literature in October 2006. As well as slides, there was a short animation film made with two images from the book with which she won a BAFTA nomination in 2008.

Hafez was a 14^th century poet and a seminal influence on Persian literature and art. Jila said that the aim of her project was to make what she called visual translations out of whole poems in which Hafez uses various creatures, – birds, insects, fish – as poetic metaphors, symbolizing various aspects of the human condition.

There are very few accurate details about Hafez’s life. He was born around 1320 in Shiraz where he spent his life as a court poet. He died in Shiraz around 1390, making him a contemporary with Geoffrey Chaucer in England and Dante Alghieri, in Florence. Unlike these writers however, you can find a copy of his poems in every Persian-speaking household.

The precise origins of the Arabic script/calligraphy are unknown although a Semitic script was in use on the Arabian peninsula in the 6^th century. In Persian poetry the beauty and the meaning of a poem are enhanced by its calligraphy; this elegant, legible form of writing lends itself perfectly to copying love lyrics and mystical or romantic epics.

There is a long tradition of the Persian Artistic practice of using calligraphy to make an image of what is best described as a ‘shape poem’. These could be said to be the perfect example of seeing an image and reading a text simultaneously.

Some years ago, Jila said she made a series of prints and paintings from the calligraphic image of a horse written in Arabic. This horse, from 19^th century Iran, is a Shia prayer from the sayings of Ali, the son in law of the prophet, who is said to have been a calligrapher himself. The horse is a symbol of submission and faithfulness. She has also written what she calls the poem of the parrot, over the top of a simple silhouette, generally choosing poems in which Hafez uses animal imagery to symbolize aspects of divine love.

When Jila had all the ingredients ready for an illuminated hand made book of calligraphic shape poems she chose the silk-screen process to make it. In this technique the images are photographically impressed onto a fabric stretched on a frame so she was able to screen-print the text of the book as well.

The afternoon was a wonderful insight into the culture and art of a country that is still relatively unknown.  (Summary: Caroline Fisher)

21. March event. Saturday March 10^th 2018. Speaker: Fiona Duby

Abortion: the debate and the reality

This talk on abortion was well attended and Fiona, who has spent several decades involved in reproductive health including abortion in the UK and the developing world, put women and families at the heart of this presentation.

Before the 1967 Abortion Act which allowed abortion up to 28 weeks’ gestation, abortion was a leading cause of maternal mortality in the UK. The UK law nevertheless requires the signature of two medical doctors. The time limit was subsequently reduced in 1990 to 24 weeks’ gestation in response to medical advances. But as Fiona pointed out, only 0.1% of all abortions are carried out at this late stage and recent data show that most abortions are under 10 weeks. The prevalence is now declining in the UK (especially among women younger than 30 years – though not among older women). 98% of abortions are paid by the NHS. Lacking access to safe abortion in Ireland, a few thousand women travel to the UK every year, while others obtain abortion pills from the internet. Fiona noted that although abortion pills are the most commonly used method in the UK they ought to have medical supervision. A referendum will soon determine whether the law in Ireland will be liberalised.

In the developing world especially where Catholicism is dominant and family planning services inadequate, unsafe abortions continue unabated contributing to up to 18% of maternal deaths. In Asia particularly, there are many unsafe or bogus abortifacient products sold across the counter. Bangladesh is a unique example where government policy enables women to have “menstrual regulation” or MR (up to 10 weeks) even though abortion per se is not legal. MR was introduced to help women made pregnant by Pakistan soldiers during the war for Independence from Pakistan. “Bringing back periods” became an acceptable way to deal with unwanted pregnancy.

Despite vast improvements to women’s access to reproductive health services in poor countries, the ‘Global Gag Rule’ re-imposed by Trump on his first day in office, has removed over US$9 billion of US aid funding for reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and nutrition programming. This is already having a devastating impact on the poorest women. ‘She Decides’ is a Dutch initiative that is now bringing governments and agencies together to leverage funds to fill some of this gap, but is only a small proportion of the need.

In the context of recent negative publicity of the aid industry, Fiona expressed concern that the UK Aid budget is potentially vulnerable. She suggested that lobbying our local MP and supporting organisations that lobby for change or give practical aid to women in developing countries are options for us all.

The Q&A was extremely active, with questions relating to HIV, the confidence UK young people now have in seeking family planning advice, the role of education both here and abroad, the urban/rural divide and the importance of non-governmental organisations among others. (Summary: Celia Allaby)

Please note: A report by the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group was published just after Fiona’s talk. Fiona recommends it to anyone interested in reading further on this issue. It is entitled: ‘Who Decides? We Trust Women’. APPG, March 2018. Download from: http://www.appg-popdevrh.org.uk/APPG 2018 AW.PDF

20.  February event. Saturday February 10th 2018. Speaker: Jennie Foley

Art or Design?

There’s something inspiring about listening to a person who loves what they do. “I love colour”, says Jennie Foley. “I love paint”. “I love pattern.” And she communicated that delight to us in her talk to WISE on 10 February.

When her mother asked the child Jennie what she wanted to do in life, the answer came easily: “I want to make the world more beautiful”. So Jennie went to art school, but had to decide between becoming a designer or an artist. Fine arts were thought of as more elevated than the applied or decorative arts; the artist alone in his or her studio more important than the designer pursuing her profession in the wide world.

Jennie was a successful textile designer for 30 years, creating fabrics that were taken up by Heals and John Lewis and numbers of international clients. One aspect of the work that she particularly valued was the constant feedback. Unlike the artist in his garret, the designer can always rely on a direct response to her work. At one of the large shows where Jennie would display her work, she could see immediately which designs had captured buyers’ attention. A design, once sold, might appear on furnishing fabrics, rugs & carpets, wallpapers, indeed a range of merchandise.

Operating in this world was fun, but Jennie admits it was tough, and she clearly had the drive and character to succeed – and the talent: that was evident from the gorgeous swatches and fat scrapbooks that she showed us.

Making the transition from designer to artist seemed like a natural progression. Jennie is now a painter, in acrylic and (especially for portraits) in oils. Some of her designs have been incorporated into her paintings, but loosed from the constraints of commercial design she plays freely with colour and media: cut-outs, collages, patchwork, painted furniture all feature. And all sing with joyful colour. For a happy hour and a half we were transported from the grey of a February afternoon.  Summary: Suzy Powling)

19.  December event. Saturday December 9th 2017. Speaker: Sally Irvine

Women in Health Care in Suffolk before Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

Sally Irvine retold medical history before 1830 to reflect women’s contributions. She used letters, diaries, parish records and local press, rather than books by men about men, to reveal the women who worked as wives, healers, midwives and practitioners.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries women played important roles as healers and midwives using herbs they grew and learning from their mothers as evidenced in Lady Fanshawe’s Receipt Book. Mrs Jane Sharp (1641-1671) wrote the The Compleat Midwives Companion covering anatomy and delivery techniques and Sarah Stone The Complete Practice of Midwifery, a casebook of 40 or more complications of birth.

Medicine was about symptoms not prevention, yet Lady Montague Worsley (1689-1762) watched doctors take a scab from children suffering from small pox in Turkey and promoted the idea of inoculation to Britain.

After a man died his widow was granted legal status and many doctors’ widows continued to run the practice after their husband’s deaths through engaging assistants and partners. Jesse Leeder’s wife was surprisingly listed jointly with him as ‘master’ to a female apprentice, Ann Turner in 1757, itself a rare occurrence.

The invention of the forceps during the eighteenth century helped to medicalise childbirth and by the end of the nineteenth century men were preferred as midwives particularly in the cities and amongst the well-to-do and aristocracy. This was far less true in rural counties such as Suffolk where the traditional pattern of female midwife bringing in the family doctor only in a crisis was more prevalent. Near to home the Romantic poet of Aldeburgh George Crabbe (1754-1832) was forced by his father to be a surgeon’s apothecary and tried to gain skill as a male midwife. However his second delivery left both mother and child dead and his reputation and confidence in tatters.

To become a doctor you needed an education (for a physician a degree in classics) and money. So few women are known to have practised – Sarah Mapp was an infamous bonesetter in 1730 but by and large women were pushed into the domestic sphere. Only twenty-five female surgeons/ apothecaries were active in the 18^th century and none are recorded between 1800 and 1830.

Through writing her PhD in 2012, Sally discovered that women’s role in medicine up to 1840 was useful but not professionally recognised. Sally’s in-depth, beautifully presented talk, of which I have skimmed the surface, needs to be published as a book.  (Summary: Vanessa Raison)

18.  November event. Saturday November 11th 2017. Speaker: Annabel Chamberlain

Gardening in the Mind

Jane Maxim introduced Annabel Chamberlain who moved to Iken in 1994, where she has designed and created a beautiful garden, occasionally open to the public.

Annabel explained that the garden is on former heathland so she is planting into sandy and greyish soil.  Excepting a scrappy beech hedge and some leylandii, Annabel started the garden with an empty canvas.  She illustrated the importance of considering the garden from inside the house – the views from the windows and how the garden approaches and/or surrounds the house. We were encouraged to make good use of the winter as a review period – to look out and assess the ideas in the garden, to judge whether or not it is ‘working’ as planned.  And if not, to plan adaptations for improvement.

Inspirational and colourful slides enlightened us – including a few early planting ‘failures’. Jane suggested such ‘failures’ could lead to a profitable exchange of unwanted plants with friends and neighbours. Consideration must be made of the site – ideas that might have worked in Gertrude Jekyll gardens might not be appropriate if your garden is windswept and sandy.

Questions we should ask ourselves include – is the garden at its peak when we want it that way?  Does it need more colour? Less colour? Simplification? Is it good for guests/ grandchildren/ shade/ sun?

Annabel shared many tips she has learned from her long experience and also plant recommendations. These included:

• Calamagrostis Karl Foerster – a particularly well behaved grass which survives cold winters and strong winds
• Helenium Moerheim Beauty – reliable late colour
• Geranium Mrs Kendall Clark – the only plant that will grow in rubble.
• Salvia Amistead – ‘bomb proof’

Mexican plants cope well with local conditions including Matthiasella Bupleuroides Green Dream and Amicia.

Avoid growing white blooms against purple foliage – a deadening effect.

Be wary of purple leaves in a hot border.

Don’t put grasses in a mixed border – they work better with prairie plants.

A brief rundown of garden history included the influence of Capability Brown, the Industrial Revolution, William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll. Annabel highly recommended two particular books: ‘The Education of a Gardener’ by Russell Page (Harper Collins 1962) and ‘The Well Tempered Garden’ by Christopher Lloyd (Harper Collins, 1970).

Annabel generously answered many questions, which continued long after we ran out of time whilst the chairs were put away and the lights switched off!  (Summary: Rachel Laughton-Scott)

17. October event. Saturday October 14th 2017. Speaker: Vanessa Raison

Celebrating Women Filmmakers

This talk was given by Vanessa Raison. Ness’s back ground of teaching Media Studies and a particular interest in the history of film-making led her to explore the contribution of women to documentary film.  Her talk covered the origins of the first ‘documentary’ made in 1878, through the development of celluloid, to capturing moving image for early cinema in the following decades.

The early influence of French film pioneers was strong and the first woman mentioned, Alice Guy Blache , created narrative cinema, the first person to realise that a film could tell a story with her 60 second film La Fee aux Choux made in 1896. She directed over 1000 films during her career.

By 1895 there were more women in production and acting than today, and more women owned production companies than men. Mary Pickford, actress turned producer, was a notable example, earning around 1 million dollars a year as a producer within the early Hollywood Studio system.

In the 1920s with the revolution of sound in film, movie production, distribution and exhibition became big business. It attracted male dominated Wall Street money and power, and women’s involvement declined.

Ness then introduced us to a number of talented women filmmakers who, with their husbands, were actively and equally involved in film production but never officially recognised in any credits. Many were pioneers of documentary filmmaking. Amongst them were Robert Flaherty and his wife Frances who created a new kind of film, essentially a documentary, about an Inuit family. Made in 1922, it was a dramatic reconstruction filmed in the Arctic but described ‘ordinary people, doing ordinary things, just being themselves’.

 Leni Riefenstahl’s sophisticated and controversial ‘art’ documentary of the Nuremberg Rally– Triumph des Willens – brought subsequent lively discussion among those attending. Made in 1934, it won accolades at the Venice Biennale and the World Exhibition in Paris. However, as a piece of powerful Nazi propaganda it was highly inflammatory.

We continued the talk to the close with the questions posed by the above:

• Do film makers have a responsibility as to how their films will be used and to the subjects, especially if they are vulnerable, poor, powerless?
• What makes a good documentary?
• Voice or voyeurism?
• Is it important to tell the truth? 

The discussion was wide ranging and introduced the work of more contemporary women documentary film makers such as Elizabeth White producer and director of Islands for BBC’s Planet Earth II, the Canadian Molly Dineen who inspired Felicity Anne Sieghart to start the Aldeburgh Documentary Film Festival, and the current Festival producer Diane Gueho.  (Summary: Kerstin Davey)

16.  September event. Saturday September 9th 2017. Speaker: Caroline Boyd 

What is copyright? How does it work, and why does it matter?

We had a very interesting talk and discussion about copyright starting with the questions:

• How do we pay artists?
• What is the value of, and how do we recompense, our images, documents, photographs etc?

Caroline gave examples of why these questions matter: today graphic artists earn only about £12,500 per annum; and Van Gogh sold only one picture in his lifetime: The Red Vineyard, which sold for 100 Francs (Caroline showed us this picture). She noted it would now be worth about £30 million.

Caroline went on to explain that following the invention of the printing press, the Statute of Anne was passed in 1710 to provide for copyright regulated by the government and courts, rather than by private parties i.e. publishers. The right granted was to copy and have sole control over the printing and reprinting of books, with no provision to benefit the owner/creator after the sale apart from royalties, so the writer / artist / creator was paid by the popularity of the work.

Copyright is currently “death + 70 years” but the greater challenge now lies in the internet. In most people’s minds the internet is free. Thus, although the creator of a work should have control over how it is used, this is often not now the reality.   This raises the issue of “creative commons” when permission is sought and then generally given by the author / artist. But where is the value? – is it money or acknowledgement or on the internet directing the traffic to somewhere else? And how does marketing differ from sales?

The creative industries contribute approximately 87 billion a year to the economy in the UK, that is 10 million per hour! And yet individuals, especially for example poets, rely on the public seeing what they do – and yet how can they live if we take what they do and use it for free?

Caroline went on to discuss the issue of museums and galleries, which have enormous assets, but since we all love to go to them for free how do we expect them to be funded? And if they should be funded by the government, how important is culture compared to other areas such as health and education?

We agreed that this seemed a fairly intractable challenge for all parties, and we probably finished with as many questions as we had had at the beginning! But it raised many issues that needed to be grappled with for the sake of the artists and their ability to earn a living for themselves in a fair way for all.  (Summary: Caroline Fisher)

15. June event. Saturday 10th June 2017. Speaker: Deb Mawson

Never Knowingly Underplanted

Deb explained over tea and biscuits in her sitting room that she has run her East Anglian based garden business The Land Girls for the last fifteen years and is now in the slow process of retiring. Her daughter, Rose, one of the original Land Girls and professional gardener, was helpfully at the meeting. It is Deb’s second season in her south facing garden which overlooks open fields and contains an undulating lawn, a pond full of lilies, (but sadly no frogs or fish), flower borders with all year round interest, trees and a vegetable garden. Last Autumn Deb redesigned the borders and restocked them with snowdrops, forget-me-nots, alliums, tulips, herbaceous perennials, and grasses. Aspect and soil is always to be considered. The aim is to give all year round interest in a border. Deb undertook a programme of tree planting, (apple, pears, cherry, willows, amelanchiers and hawthorns), created the vegetable garden and a cutting garden. Her next project is to plant up the orchard area with English bluebells, daisies and more poppies.

Apart from the grass snake ‘Sybil’ that eats the newts, frogspawn and tadpoles, Deb described the usual issues facing Suffolk gardeners which can be drought, floods, wind, sea salt, sand and clay soil. As a general rule, the land to the East of the A12 is sand and the land on the West is clay! Deb has noticed the climate changes over the last ten years: how should gardeners cope with extreme wind, floods and long dry spells? Deb’s garden is dry, exposed to wind, there is a dip in the middle where it drains from both ends, the pond dries up and the soil needs much mulch at least twice a year.

The WISE women were asked to describe their gardens which ranged from a backyard on King Street, an east-facing balcony in the Barbican, through a seaside cottage on the Estuary overgrown with shrubs to a large, open south-facing garden.

After a stroll in Deb’s gorgeous garden it was Gardeners’ Question Time, held outdoors in a gale all seated round a wooden table.

Q: How do you plant mistletoe? A: Squidge ripe white berries into the cracks in the branches of apple trees.

Q: Can I cut back my hellebores whose leaves have spread out and the flowers are brownish? A: Yes, you can do it now. Generally though, cut the leaves back in late winter, when the flowers are in bud, to expose them to the light and reduce the leafage. For more plants, leave the flowers to seed in June.

Q: When do you prune dogwood? A: In the early Spring cut back hard about 1/3rd of the older coloured stems to the base. The new growth will emerge brightly coloured. You could also cut some stems at the Winter Solstice to use to make a wreath for your front door. If the Cornus is getting too tall you can also clip to shape in the Spring.

Q: How do you condition the soil? A: I buy large bags of compost such as Council compost from local suppliers or bags from the tip in Leiston. You can buy a mixture of compost bags (e.g. mushroom, manure, compost) from garden centres, though I like to use Elmwood Nursery in Knodishall. I open them and mix them up in a wheelbarrow before spreading generously on borders around my plants. In autumn and early spring I mulch the beds. I also make compost to heap round the base of trees or anywhere that won’t be affected by potential weed seed.

Q: Oxeye daisies came up from my compost. What should I do? A: Preferably don’t compost weeds from flowerbeds or long grasses with seed heads on. Leaf mulch is good for camellias and other hellebores rather than manure. It is acid. Woodland plants like leaf mold. Put leaves in a black bag with holes in it for one year and store them behind the shed. Mushroom compost is alkaline and vegetables like it. It has a similar effect to the old fashioned Lime that gardeners used to use.

Q: Should I prune the clematis Armandii on my apple tree? A: Yes cut out the flower stems after it flowers in early spring and tie the new shoots in.

Q: Which are better, plastic pots or clay? A: Terracotta pots are more attractive, not so hot and they don’t blow away but they cost more, can crack in frosts. Glazed pots are frost proof. Avoid metal pots because they cook the plants!

Q: Is there anything wrong with using Fairy Liquid and water to keep the black fly off the broad beans? A: No. Use it for Aphids on roses as well. Be generous with the Fairy Liquid: mix a solution at a ratio of 50/50 or at least 10% and use a squirty spray. You can hose down a lemon tree with black mould and wash off the Fairy Liquid afterwards.

If you pinch out the tops of the broad beans the black flies are inhibited. You can eat the tops of broad beans, scrummy. Carrot fly are attracted by the smell of carrots being pulled. So never leave bits of carrot tops about. Dig out the whole carrot–tops and all- and remove it to the kitchen. Dispose of tops on compost heap or in the wheely bin.

Q: How do you stop caterpillars? A: Soak nicotine and tobacco..it smells ghastly!

Q: What do you think of companion plantings? A: Useful. For example, grow small strong dark orange pungent tagettes round vegetables such as tomatoes. Or some prefer the look of their cousins – French marigolds.

Q: What do you do with slugs? A: I’m afraid I use slug pellets and copper rings for pots. You can make beer traps or put ash on the beds since they don’t like a gritty surface. Put salt on them. But slug pellets are quick and work.

Q: Is it OK to grow Spanish bluebells and borage next to herbs? A: Yes. Plant the mint in a container and cut the borage back before it seeds. English bluebells preferable.

Deb then demonstrated a two pronged weeder on a pole from Coopers which digs into the ground, twists and pulls out dandelions, including the tap root, with a satisfying ‘thwuk.’ It costs approx. £30. The hole can be filled with compost and grass seed. Deb personally is not an advocate of weed seed and feed chemicals but advises not to cut the lawn too short as that encourages the formation of moss.

Q: What do you do with bindweed? A: Paint a strong weed killer (such as Roundup) on the leaves then isolate the weed by inserting in a plastic bag and tying round the neck and stem. Leave in the ground and let the Roundup do its job by working into the roots to kill the plant.

Q: Why does the pond smell? A: I have not turned on the water feature regularly enough because when I do, more water evaporates and the pond ends up even lower. On going problem, water has gone slightly stagnant.

Q: why is my Camellia struggling? A: Perhaps it needs more iron, or the soil is too alkaline? Suggest mulch with Ericaceous compost (or even replant in E. Compost), feed with iron rich feed in early spring, and prune back quite hard after flowering. Never plant Camellias facing East. The flowers can be damaged by late winter frosts followed by early sunshine.

The talk was so inspiring that I went home and trimmed my bushes into tidy shapes, letting in some light for the plants and producing three bags for composting. Thank you, Deb, for a gentle, informative and relaxing event. (Summary: Vanessa Raison)

14.  May event. Saturday 13th May 2017. Speaker: Sarah Ladbury

The Syrian refugee crisis: lessons from Turkey?

Sarah’s talk focussed on how Turkey has coped with the huge numbers of mainly Syrian refugees, who have moved north across the border into Turkey. The loss of life due to the Syrian civil war, and the migration from Syria and Iraq has been described as the largest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. Her discussion also asked us to think about whether the UK response was the most effective contribution that Britain could be making. Could the UK learn anything from a country such as Turkey that has taken significant numbers of refugees?

Sarah showed us photos of what it is like inside the 22 Turkish camps for Syrian refugees, where there is water, sanitation, health care and food. Of course, the Turkish government has more control over people in the camps and camp residents are also the recipients of the majority of aid. However, these camps accommodate only 10% of the estimated three million Syrians in Turkey. Those outside the camps live in public buildings or private housing in poor areas of large cities. For the local Turkish population, this has meant rent increases for poorer Turks and this has caused resentment.

Local authorities all over Turkey are dealing as best they can with a number of other challenges, for example, education. UNICEF estimate that 400,000 out of 900,000 Syrian children in Turkey are not enrolled in school. And for the Turkish education system there are dilemmas: which language should be the medium for teaching and what should the curriculum be? There are many Syrian refugee teachers but there is no comprehensive system for using them.

Employment is another challenge. In theory, when Syrians register under the ‘temporary protection’ classification in Turkey they get free health care, education etc. but until 2016 they could not work legally. Many have therefore gone into the informal economy, with low pay and poor conditions. In Gaziantep, where Sarah had just visited, women workers in the industrial zones outside the city work in plastics, leather goods, white goods manufacturing and textiles, undercutting local wages. Although the Turkish government is now issuing work permits relatively few of these are taken up – refugees must get their employers to sponsor them and there is little incentive for employers to do this. Why legalise a worker if it means paying that worker double what they pay them as ‘informal’ workers?

Is there any possibility of going back to Syria? It has been seven years since the conflict started and settlement seems a long way off. Assad is still in power, supported by Iran and Russia. Many say they will not go back to Syria if he is still in power. But what would be the reality of going back? There has been massive destruction of property and all types of services, IEDs and landmines make many areas lethal. Even now, the UN estimates that 5.1m people are living in highly contaminated areas. Accessing what was theirs requires title deeds and many will have no proof of ownership; only 4% of women had title deeds for their property anyway. For these practical reasons many realise it will be some years before they can return.

The talk ended with questions about the UK response. The UK has taken the decision to bury the issue by paying Turkey to keep Syrians there. Sarah suggested a more comprehensive approach could have been used but was not. For example, joining with positive countries (like Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Norway) to develop a joint plan would have enabled countries to come together and show they take their international obligations seriously. This wouldn’t necessarily have meant the UK taking thousands of Syrians as refugees, rather sharing out responsibilities. What we have done is to agree to accept a pitifully (Jane’s description) small number (20,000 by 2020) and even this target looks unlikely to be met. The UK has clout with other donor countries because of the size of its aid programme, but it has not used this to help develop a comprehensive strategic response to the Syria crisis. (Summary: Jane Maxim)

 13.  April event. Saturday 8th April 2017. Speaker: Rebecca Crowley

A Sense of the Sacred

Rebecca introduced her talk by saying that a sense of the Sacred in our lives is essential to everyone. She firmly believes that we need to develop our Spiritual sides as the world becomes increasingly materialistic.

Rebecca’s personal quest for a sense of the sacred started during the 1980s when her health was compromised and her life as she knew it, fell apart. She began to feel that her illness, M.E, was a spiritual sickness, a sort of ‘wake up’ call inviting her to search within herself for a meaning and purpose for life. She felt her illness was caused by a spiritual lack, and this forced a major change in her life.

In her quest she observed that for her, the Christian church did not fill her spiritual hunger. What she was really searching for was the sanctity of a female, matriarchal Goddess to which she could align herself. At that time in the 1980s Rebecca found that the church was still very patriarchal. Most female aspects of deity were side-lined to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and consigned to a lady chapel within the churches themselves.

When questioned ‘how did you come to your world view?’ Rebecca’s reply was that there was real and persistent calling to search within her. It would not ‘go away’. The Sacred within us being at our core, led her to both her search and a calling. Rebecca explained that the Pagan tradition reaches back into the ancient world where Gods and Goddesses were part of life and the devil is not acknowledged (it being a Christian construct). However, goodness and evil are part of the Pagan culture. Pagans also believe in reincarnation.

Paganism is an oral tradition; there is no liturgy, dogma or holy book. In Pagan belief Isis is believed to be the Queen of heaven, the great mother figure. She is also the moon goddess. She is honoured because she is seen as accessible; she has an ability to connect to common problems and to people. Importantly she is also a Goddess who can alter fate.

Pagans look for and find the sacred in the natural world. They honour the Universal Spirit – the sun and moon, the tides, the earth, sky, forest, fields, moors. Sensing the presence of Spirit and seeking enlightenment through meditation, Pagans use their senses and the power of the mind – incorporating the concept of the ‘third eye’ – to follow their intuition and attain a connection with the Divine. Rebecca asked us to do an experiment in what Pagans refer to as journeying, i.e. visualising a journey to an inner-world in order to attain a change in personal consciousness.

Rebecca went on to say that Pagans honour the four elements, each of which has a specific significance. These are: Air (mind, inspiration, knowledge); Fire (reaching out to new experiences); Water (using one’s will to focus and probe); the Earth (to be silent). There are eight main Pagan festivals: Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lammas, Autumn Equinox Samhain and Winter Solstice. She also mentioned the gatherings, which usually take place outside, and where robes are worn and rituals performed before a decorated altar.

Strands of Paganism include Heathen/Wicca/Druidry/Faerie/ N.A. Indian/ Celtic. Rebecca ended by saying it is a cheerful belief system, which promotes joy and freedom and direct contact with the Divine. She closed her talk with an ancient prayer. We thanked Rebecca for an inspiring, informative and fascinating talk.  (Summary: Deb Mawson)

12. March event. Saturday 11th March 2017. Speaker: Jane Maxim

The Alde and Ore Estuary: Nature or Nurture

Jane began with a brief sketch of her background, explaining that she was new to these estuaries but had been won over after coming to live in the Aldeburgh area. She emphasized the fragility of the area in terms of erosion and flooding, particularly the recent salt water flooding of the Hazelwood Marshes and the overtopping in 2007 and 2013.  Although flooding the marshes attracts new birds there is a need to control this and maintain sea defences where practicable.

Referring to maps of the estuaries Jane gave a brief history of Orford and Slaughden Quay. Orford was once a busy fishing port with a history of iron-age settlements and bronze-age barrows.  Salt was extracted in Roman times and pottery has been found relating to this.  Orford Castle, built by Henry II in the 12C, signifies the importance of the town in its day. Due to longshore drift the Ness has increased in size at the expense of Orford harbour.  In due course the Ness was taken over by the Military and is still only partly accessible to the public. Slaughden Quay at Aldeburgh was once the most important area of the town with fishing boats and coastal traffic to London and back.  There were fish houses, warehouses and coal yards and fishermen’s cottages.  This has all been washed away now and the fishing industry is confined to a few boats on Aldeburgh beach.

Jane identified the ‘price of failure’ if flooding is not controlled today:
• The pollution of underground water supplies so essential to farming
• Destruction of protected marsh habitats
• Increased speed of the tides affecting fishing and boating
• Destruction of homes.

Jane went on to discuss the Government bodies involved in efforts to control flooding today. These include: Suffolk Coastal District Council, the National Trust, RSPB and the Internal Drainage Board, which imposes a tax on landowners. She mentioned that the International Levee Handboook describes the gold standard in river bank construction. She then focused on the Alde and Ore Planning Partnership Plan. The Partnership is made up of local interested parties and is consulted by statutory agencies.  The Alde and Ore Estuary is divided into flood cells for management purposes. The Partnership identifies upgrading priorities, and monitors the estuaries.  In turn it liaises with the Environment Agency and the Internal Drainage Board.

Apart from conservation of the sea and river banks, she gave two possible alternatives for managing the estuary which, although radical, are under consideration:

• Re-wilding -map of the possible change was shown
• Shingle Engines – which involves dumping large quantities of shingle just off the beach south of the Martello tower. This would stop coastal erosion for up to 50 years but would be expensive and the environmental effects are difficult to predict. Chief Scientist Mike Cowling outlines the issues in this paper: http://www.SlaughdenSinglesEngineSuffolkCFFeb2016.pdf

Everyone found this talk interesting and joined in the discussion at the end offering suggestions, possibilities and examples of flood management around the country.  (Summary: Rebecca Crowley)

11. February event. Saturday 11th February 2017. Speaker: Kerstin Davey

 A talk about the Pilates Method

Pilates was designed as a holistic exercise system designed to elongate, strengthen and restore the body to balance. Exercises involve the whole body and are performed either on special spring assisted apparatus or on mats.

As someone who has practised Pilates for 30 years and taught for the last 5 of them, Kerstin spoke about the contribution of Pilates to general health and to specific conditions. She focused on the following issues:

•      History and principles of the technique
•      Understanding muscles and myofascial tissue
•      The ageing process and helping our bodies to stay functional.
•      Why Pilates has been widely embraced by the Health and Fitness industry.

Kerstin began by noting the technique was developed by a German called Joseph Pilates, who was interned in the Isle of Man during the WW2. He is said to have used his fitness techniques drawn from various disciplines to help fellow internernees. He developed these techniques along with his resistance apparatus when he settled in New York and opened a studio. It was embraced by the modern dance community as a rehabilitative and complimentary training centre. After his death his in 1967 his exercise philosophy became known as The Pilates Method.

Understanding muscles and how they can be strengthened is fundamental to Pilates exercises. With the aid of diagrams of the human body Kerstin explained that muscles work in pairs: the agonist muscle contracts whilst the antagonist relaxes. She explained that Pilates mainly works with isotonic movement within the muscle groups to increase muscle strength, length and endurance. The aim is to create symmetry and balance within the body’s muscle and skeletal structure to enable good functional movement. Kerstin also discussed the importance of myofascial tissue – a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles. It needs to retain its suppleness and flexibility to allow muscles to move optimally.

Kerstin then talked about Pilates in relation to ageing. She noted that we lose muscle mass naturally from our 30s onwards. This results from a reduction of nerve cells in the brain sending messages to begin movement, muscle fibres reducing in number and size, and a slower replacement of tissue. Changes in the nervous system cause muscle to lose tone as well as the ability to contract.  As we age, joints become less flexible and stiff due to thinning or damaged cartilage and an increase in the viscosity of synovial lubricating fluid within the joints. For post–menopausal women there are additional problems: hormone reduction leads to a decrease in the ability of the body to turn protein into energy so that less protein (collagen) is made. Kerstin noted how Pilates exercises can help with many the changes brought about by ageing, including balance.

Kerstin concluded her talk with a discussion about the spread of the Pilates method through the dance community and now its popularity with the UK health and fitness industry. The first studio was opened in London in 1970 at the London Contemporary Dance Company HQ.

Today there are mat classes all over the country, although apparatus studios with the resistance based equipment are scarce outside London. The Pilates method is now used widely by sportspeople and dancers and has been found particularly beneficial to people with joint and muscle injury as well as those in post-operative rehabilitation.

We all had a mass of questions for Kerstin but sadly time ran out. We thanked her for a most stimulating and informative talk.  (Summary: Dawn Holder)

10. January event. Saturday  14th January 2017.   Speaker: Sarah Zins

Sarah gave a talk on Suffolk’s Hidden Needs

Sarah Zins who volunteers for the Citizens Advice Bureau gave a sobering talk about the hidden needs of people living in Suffolk and of rural poverty but countered this issue with an enthusiasm for the Suffolk organisations that try to mitigate disadvantage and a call for us to consider volunteering. We can, living in an area of outstanding natural beauty, easily assume that poverty is not an issue BUT the surrounding affluence conceals deprivation. She took, as her starting point, a recent report by the University of Suffolk for the Suffolk Community Foundation, a “super-charity” which channels local philanthropy to local issues. Suffolk’s deprivation levels have continued to rise since a previous   report in 2011 – only 3 other local authorities have levels that have worsened more than Suffolk over last 6 years.

• Large numbers of people live at the most minimal standard provided by welfare benefits: 12% of the county’s population – a total of 83,000 people which includes 20,00 children and 23,000 older people.
• The increase in the ageing population is coupled with a low birth rate. And while 30% of all income deprived in Suffolk are older people this rises to 39% in rural areas.
• Only 33% of children eligible for free school meals attained five good GCSEs, compared with 70% of pupils overall in England.
• Broadband and mobile phone coverage are poor in 50% of rural parishes and unavailable in 8%.

Sarah unpicked for us some of the causes of income deprivation in Suffolk where 40% of the population live in a rural setting compared to less than 20% of the population of England and Wales. One major cause is that rural households are exposed to additional challenges including transport (availability and cost), higher domestic fuel costs, access to essential services, educational choices and employment opportunities. Income levels remain below regional and national averages – fewer people work in managerial and professional jobs and the combination of low pay and limited opportunity for career progression fuels sustained in-work poverty and can represent an obstacle for social mobility. A further barrier to better jobs is education: attainment in Suffolk has been very poor but is improving. Locally, Alde Valley Academy in Leiston and Saxmundham Free School were in the worst 5 schools in the county in 2015. At Alde Valley, 35% of children got 5 GCSEs (including maths & English) Grades A* to C. Many schools have difficulty in recruiting teachers.

We discussed the reduced budget now available to local councils and the growing population of older people with care needs – who councils are having great difficulty in supporting. Because of such changes, there is a greater need for charitable intervention. We also discussed the issue of debt, which often brings people to the Citizens Advice Bureau where Sarah volunteers. Sarah outlined what is being done to mitigate deprivation by organisations and in particular voluntary bodies in our local area:

• Citizens Advice Bureaux – benefits, housing, debt, relationship breakdown
• Seckford Foundation
• Snape Maltings – children’s music-making; prison work; dementia work
• Homestart
• Saxmundham Community Café
• Guides/Scouts/Sea cadets
• The CYDS Project – Young People taking Action
• Just 42 (focuses on young people)
• Framlingham Area Youth Action Partnership
• Wheels to work
• Coastal Accessible Transport Service (CATS)
• The Rural Coffee Caravan
• Disability Advice Service
• Warden’s Charitable Trust
• Anglia Care Trust

One organisation, Community Action Suffolk, has the specific remit to strengthen and champion community action in Suffolk by supporting the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in its work. If anyone is interested in volunteering, they should contact Sarah or this organisation.

The 2016 report can be found here: http://suffolkcf.org.uk/2016/09/launch-of-hidden-needs-2016/

Both the 2016 and 2011 reports are also available directly from the Suffolk Community Foundation website if the link above does not work. A list of the organisations just in the Suffolk Coastal area to which the Suffolk Community Foundation has given grants over the last 3 years is also attached.  (Summary: Jane Maxim)

9.  November event. Saturday 19th November 2016. Speaker: Janey King

Janey gave a talk entitled: The Age of Antarctic Heroism (beard essential)

The first part of Janey’s talk focused on the first 20 years of the 20^th century when four men literally put the Antarctic on the map: Scott, Shackleton, Mawson and Amundsen. Using the men’s own diaries as well as maps and photographs taken by expedition photographers at the time, Janey traced the expeditions of these early polar heroes, giving us a glimpse of their extraordinary stamina and determination as well as the physical conditions they experienced and overcame – or not. We heard of course about Scott’s ill-fated expedition to get to the pole, and how and why he was beaten to it by five weeks by the Norwegian Amundsen in December 1911. We also learned about more personal things: Scott’s determination to be the first and to keep Shackleton (initially his third officer) in his place and Shackleton’s impeccable decision to save his team’s lives in 1909 even though it meant turning back within striking distance of the pole. On Shackleton’s 1914 Endurance expedition their ship sank, crushed in the ice, and we heard about the men’s escape to Elephant Island, the extraordinary 16 day crossing to South Georgia in 1914 in an open boat, and the heroic trek across that island to seek help from an isolated whaling station. Janey also talked about the valuable contribution of the Australian Mawson, whose expedition to map the interior of the continent in 1912 resulted in the deaths of his two companions and a 200-mile struggle back to winter quarters, a journey that Janey described as the greatest solo survival story of the Antarctic. It was intriguing to have Deb Mawson at this WISE meeting – the explorer’s great-niece, who later said the talk was ‘inspiring, inspirational and fabulous’.

It was in the early 2000s that Janey had her first opportunity to travel to Antarctica and to see for herself the physical challenges of the men who had made Antarctic history. By this time the continent had been extensively mapped and studied, and was on the cusp of opening up to mass tourism. Janey went at the invitation of Exodus, the travel company, to write some travel pieces about this new destination (she is a novelist in her other life). It was immediately clear however that this was not a trip for the fainthearted; the group sailed from Patagonia in an aged Russian icebreaker without mod cons, and in enormously high seas that made most people seasick. Not being prone to seasickness stood Janey in good stead for this and future voyages. Her photographs and commentary indicated what a fierce landscape this is, but also its spectacular beauty. On her second trip – now with a novel in mind – she spent six weeks with a Bulgarian research team and helped with penguin research. ‘I have never been so sad to leave anywhere in my life’, she recalled. And then a third opportunity came up: she was invited to join an expedition to recreate Shackleton’s journey from Elephant Island and across the route he pioneered over South Georgia. This was with seven British surgeons (all men), a surprisingly coherent team that now reunites for further adventures at least once a year. But even this journey sounded relentlessly exhausting, not least the sailing rota: three hours on watch and six off in ferocious seas for four and a half days. As for the island traverse itself – Shackleton and two companions did it in 30 hours, their emulators took six days. But, as Janey said, she and the surgeons were on holiday.

Janey ended with a ray of hope for the Antarctic despite what she saw as the potentially devastating long-term impact of factory fishing and mass tourism. Last month an agreement was signed between 24 countries to create a 1.5 million square mile marine park in the Ross Sea; this will be the largest marine park in the world and it means no fishing for 35 years. It should help towards the protection of this incredible continent.

Thank you Janey, for an extraordinary journey.  (Summary: Sarah Ladbury)

8.  October event. Saturday 1st October 2016. Speaker: Janine Edge

Janine gave a talk about ‘Wise ways to handle conflict’

Janine is a mediator who has also trained in conflict coaching, restorative justice and non-violent communication. Formerly she was a partner of the City firm, Slaughter and May where she was a corporate and commercial lawyer, and since then has delivered sessions to schools and other organisations about handling conflict. She had already given one talk to a small group of WISE members on the theory behind different ways of resolving disputes, but on this occasion was asked to give an experiential session to demonstrate the principles. Janine did this by asking us to engage in four practical exercises.

The first of these was to form a pair and for one person to tell the other about an argument they were having (or had in the past). The other person had to ask 5 questions and listen to the answers but say nothing more. The listener was to be empathetic rather than sympathetic. The questions were:

1. What happened?
2. What are you feeling about this?
3. What are your thoughts about this?
4. What do you need right now?
5. What can you do to help solve the problem?

Janine said that the person with the problem is much more likely to come to a compromise or solution to the argument if they are shown empathy. Further it is essential to find out fully what is going on before considering possible solutions, so the ordering of the questions is critical. The challenge for those of us that were listeners was to refrain from offering suggestions, as this is often unhelpful when we lack a complete understanding of the circumstances and the emotions engendered.

Following the first exercise, one participant pointed out that, while it was all very well being empathetic when not involved in a dispute, it was much harder when you are. Janine explained the neuroscience behind this. In particular when we are involved in a serious argument, our neuronal empathy systems are turned off and our brain goes into fight or flight mode. She demonstrated in a role-play how our tendency then is to argue back, blame the other person or run away. The next exercise was about how we counter these natural impulses and do something different.

The second exercise required us to summon up some acting skills, simulating a dispute between 2 neighbours. Neighbour A was sitting down and Neighbour B came in to complain. Neighbour A had to:

• Build rapport (visual and verbal – for example by matching the other’s voice and stance, before trying to “bring down” the level of the complaint)
• Listen and reflect back
• Show understanding of B’s reality
• Establish what B needed
• Ask what B wanted to happen

As part of the exercise, Neighbor A was not to argue back, justify their behavior or refute the criticism. At the end of the exercise, we compared notes about what we had done, and reflected on the research that effective communication is 50% body language, 40% tone of voice and 10% words.

Exercise 3 was a variation on the previous scenario, where Neighbor B (still the complainant) tried to approach Neighbor A in a manner designed to reduce conflict by:

1. Building rapport
2. Using “I” statements such as

• “I feel …………………..(describe how you are feeling about it)”
• “Because ………………(describe the consequence or result for you)”

1. Enabling resolution by expressing what B needed: “So what I need…….”

Neighbour B was asked to avoid ordering, threatening, blaming, labelling or moralising.

Exercise 4 was done as a group and we looked at various different scenarios to establish who had the problem, and whether our role was to coach (where the problem doesn’t involve us), express our concerns without blame (where we have the problem with someone else), understand and empathise (where another person has a problem with us) or mediate (when we each have a problem with the other). Janine explained at the outset that she deliberately talked about wise ways to handle conflict, rather than conflict resolution, as there are occasions where it is too dangerous or inappropriate to try to resolve the conflict, or even where a good row is necessary to clear the air!

It was clear that, although there is a huge amount of psychology theory behind how to handle conflict, as future “practitioners” the important thing was to put into practice the skills we had learnt in these exercises. For those who wanted to know more about the theory, Janine recommended “Empathy” by Roman Krznaric 2014 or “Zero Degrees of Empathy” by Simon Baron-Cohen (2011).  (Summary: Sarah Zins)

7.  September event. Saturday 3rd September 2016. Speaker: Sarah Zins

Sarah gave a talk about the work of Citizens Advice Bureaux

Sarah has now retired from a career in law and finance and has spent the last 10 years volunteering for one day a week as an advisor at Leiston CAB. Before Sarah explained her role as a volunteer she gave a brief resume of the history and structure of the CAB.

Citizens Advice Bureaux were set up in 1939. Initially the 200 bureaux looked at how to meet the needs of a civilian population in war-time where the problems of lost ration books, homelessness and evacuation, missing persons and debt quickly became issues. When funding ceased after the war various charities stepped in including the Rowntree and Nuffield Foundations. Over the following decades the number of bureaus declined from 1074 to 416 until in 1973 there was a government grant to extend the national network.

Over the years the topics have expanded to include advice on consumer problems, employment rights, pensions and witness advice, covered now in several languages to reflect the ethnic diversity of the population.

The fundamental principles remain: that the advice should be free, impartial, independent and confidential and accessible to all citizens. The majority of those citizens are low wage earners who are statistically five times more likely to seek help. Advisors come from all backgrounds and receive extensive training of 3-12 months complete with study packs on topics such housing, benefits, relationship and money problems, before starting in the bureaux.

There are now CABS throughout the country in 3300 community locations with 22,000 volunteers and 6500 paid employees. They are co-ordinated through a central CA umbrella, which sets out strategy and provides information technology to the bureaux, training modules and a formidable database where advice is available on all topics accessible in any branch. If further specialist advice is required voluntary advisors can refer a client to the relevant paid CAB expert within its geographical area.

Sarah then explained how it works for a trained volunteer when a client comes into the bureau to seek help. Having had CAB permission, she logged onto the adviser information system and we produced various fictional scenarios. The database asked relevant questions or gave specific options to the adviser to break down each scenario into concise information about procedure, where to seek further help, and in benefit cases, exactly how much was eligible given the individual’s circumstances. The quality and breadth of the advice was remarkable as was the user friendly structure for an adviser. The labyrinthine bureaucracy of life’s difficulties made manageable and approachable for all!

Sarah’s description of her own time spent as an adviser illuminated what an invaluable national asset the CAB is for anyone in the community needing help and reassurance, as well as a worthwhile and challenging occupation for those wishing to volunteer.  (Summary: Kerstin Davey)

6. August event. Tuesday 16th August 2016. Speaker Blair Priday

Blair gave an illustrated talk on her work as the director of the Ethiopian Heritage Fund www.ethiopianheritagefund.org/. Founded in 2005, the stated aim of the charity is to preserve the cultural heritage of the Christian churches in Ethiopia.

As an introduction to the work of the charity, Blair gave an overview of the early Christian civilisations and cultures mostly located in the northern highlands of the country, followed by a sketch of the political history.

The talk focussed on a number of projects. The conservation two 6^th century Gospels, Garima I and II was the first work undertaken. The talk highlighted the difficulty of working in remote places amongst the monks, taking the right equipment and finding a place to work that would not damage the books.

Another issue for conservation was highlighted by a 15^th century ceremonial fan. Five foot high and constructed of parchment it is covered in paintings of Mary and saints. In 2010 the charity carried out some remedial work. However, as tourism increases, so is the number of times this fan is opened. How long will it last?

The charity is currently working with the World Monuments Fund on a joint project to conserve wall paintings in Yemrehanne Kristos. The paintings are the oldest in Ethiopia (10^th century). Darkened by years of candles and dust the paintings are hard to see. After careful consideration, the charity recommended no dusting or cleaning as there was no way to ensure that the paintings would not be damaged. Conservation does not always mean action.

A particularly interesting strand of the talk concerned the difficulties of conservation work on the ground in this region. The monks who guard the treasures can be uncooperative or even hostile, and there are many problems related to bureaucracy, obstacles created by other official bodies, and general misunderstanding of the role and capacity of the Charity, which is funding the care and restoration of the fragile pieces. However, the work continues where possible. There is the hope of creating a small museum, and another bright prospect is £750000 of EU grant money coming to Tigre for conservation of their heritage.

The talk gave us an intriguing glimpse of the valuable work done by the Fund.  (Summary: Janey King)

5. July event. Saturday 16th July 2016. Speaker Janine Edge

Janine gave a talk on ‘Wise ways to handle conflict’

Janine Edge has been a lawyer, a university lecturer in organisational psychology and a mediator. She is also trained in conflict coaching, restorative justice facilitation and non-violent communication. For the last 7 years she has been involved in bringing mediators into schools to train school students in mediation skills, both in New Zealand and the UK.

Only five of us were able to attend Janine’s talk as many people were busy. The talk was so interesting that we decided not to write up a summary here but to run it later in the year when more people can attend. So just to summarise for the future: Janine has adapted Thomas Gordon’s ‘problem ownership’ model for resolving conflicts into a hands-on, practical tool that can be used in a variety of everyday situations, and that she hopes to take to schools for use by teachers and students. When Janine gives the talk next time she will ask us to practically test the usefulness of the methods she has developed.

We will hope to schedule Janine’s talk for the autumn and will post the date on ‘Future Events’.

4.  May event. Saturday 7th May 2016. Speaker Sarah Ladbury

Sarah gave a talk on ‘Radicalisation’.

Sarah has worked in international development for over 30 years. In 2005 and the London 7/7 bombings, she was asked to carry out studies more specifically on the issues around radicalisation, extremism, terrorism etc. Sarah explained at the outset that her methods were very much based on the personal testimonies of individuals, rather than as Jane described in her work on the ageing brain where she used statistically significant trial results.

Sarah’s work has focused on testing the UK government’s “theories” on radicalisation with people in communities where jihadi groups are recruiting (including the Taliban in Afghanistan, al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya, Boko Haram in Nigeria and a range of groups in Pakistan and Bangladesh). Questions tested include: is western foreign policy the problem? Do very religious people hold the most extreme views? Do madrassahs (religious schools) radicalise pupils? And are women involved or are they just there because they are married to fighters? To help everyone’s understanding, Sarah went on to define terms such as “radicalisation” which she saw as “a process of influencing others into a system of ideas that advocates fundamental political or social change”. She noted that since 9/11 the term has been ‘Islamised’, so it now means anyone who is inculcated into the ideology of a militant Islamic group. The concept of “jihad” was also discussed. Originally this meant the internal spiritual struggle to understand the will of god. It implied a physical struggle only if Muslims were persecuted. However, as used by jihadi groups today this term has come to mean a violent war against any ‘enemy’ identified by the group in question, including fellow Muslims, usually with a view to establishing a Caliphate and ruling through the group’s own interpretation of Shari’a (Islamic law).

Sarah then went on to describe two case studies in radicalisation, one from a farmer in a rural area of the Punjab, and another a woman in Nigeria who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram. She said that there tend to be some common features amongst the individuals. For example, nearly all of them are radicalised only after they joined a group; only in the case of Islamic State does the internet allow for radicalisation before individuals ‘join up’. Whichever group the men and women belong to, a number of them want “out” at a certain point, for example because they lose respect of their leaders and/or the brutality becomes too much. Women and girls generally get involved either as family members of fighters or, in the case of Boko Haram in Nigeria, because they are abducted and forced into marriage with a fighter. In either case, it can be difficult to find a way back unless they escape, and even if they do escape they may well be ostracised within their communities back at home.

Some of the main differences between individuals radicalised in different countries is that there is no common background – many are not very religious when recruited, some are poor and rural and others are wealthy and highly educated. Further, some governments have been complicit in some way and even if not, due to the geopolitics, there are many ways that governments can support jihadi groups even if not directly. Thus there is no one overarching sense of commitment globally to stamp out this form of “war” because no-one can agree a joint strategy.

Sarah then considered the response of the UK government, such as not condemning those governments supporting jihadi groups, or the US drone strikes. This led to an interesting discussion about the way to deal with jihadis who wish to return. There is no offer of amnesty to those who have gone to join IS, even when they realise they have made a horrible mistake. Presumably this is because they are considered a risk to the UK, but given they themselves have wanted to return, are there ways for the potential risk to be assessed?   And what role is the media playing in the views of those who feel threatened by those who wish to return.

This final point lead to ideas about a further topic in respect of the role and power of the media, which we hope to return to on a future date.  (Summary: Caroline Fisher)

3.  April event. Saturday 2nd April. Speaker Caroline Fisher

Caroline talked about Child Care Proceedings

Caroline is a child care solicitor working for local government.  She provides legal advice to child care workers on children going through legal proceedings. Of her caseload, many of the children either have parents who were in care themselves or the families have been known to social care for many years. By the time Caroline becomes involved and the case comes to court, the harm suffered by the children is so severe that few children are returned to their parents.

Caroline explained that the state intervenes to protect children from “significant harm”. This is defined as being caused by physical and emotional harm often resulting in chronic neglect, and sexual abuse. Significant harm can result from several factors including parental misuse of drugs and/or alcohol, poor parental mental health and/or a learning difficulty and, increasingly, alcohol-fuelled violence. If children witness domestic violence this can be seen as emotional abuse.

In England, the first Children Act was passed in 1889 and, in 1894, the subsequent Act recognised mental cruelty, now termed emotional harm. It was not until 1970 that all councils’ social work services, including those for children, were amalgamated into social services departments.

Certain child murders have been significant in changing the way sentencing and children at risk are supported. For example, in 1973 Maria Colwell’s death in the care of her stepfather resulted in a public enquiry when the case went to appeal. This identified three main contributory factors: the lack of communication between the agencies who were aware of her vulnerable situation; inadequate training for social workers assigned to at-risk children; and changes in the make-up of society.

Caroline also discussed adoption. She noted that in the UK the vast majority of children offered for adoption have suffered harm, either from the care given to them by their parents, or in utero. Two serious conditions that cause harm in the womb is foetal alcohol syndrome, the effects of which do not appear until school age, and the misuse of drugs, where treatment in a special baby unit is required to enable their withdrawal. The only children offered for adoption who are unlikely to have suffered harm are “relinquished” babies whose mother or parents decide for their own reasons that they cannot care for their baby (e.g. if it would bring shame on their families, or if they are very young).

Caroline talked about changes in the training approach for professionals. Nowadays the focus is on always believing the child. In the past, parents were regarded as the client and not the child. Now, as well as social workers, health visitors and the GP on the multi agency team, there are Children’s guardians who are the independent voice of the child in court.

The 1989 Children Act centres on the idea that children are best cared for within the birth family and therefore, the threshold to remove children from their families is extremely high from the outset. The social worker will have worked with the family sometimes for years before court proceedings are issued, usually with other agencies under a Child Protection Plan. If this does not lead to a change for the child(ren), legal proceedings will be issued. However, if during legal proceedings, work with the family appears to have lead to positive change, the Local Authority may ask for rehabilitation back to their parents. Often the Social Worker, sometimes supported by the children’s Guardian in the legal proceedings, will seek adoption (or placement with other family members). A Judge may nonetheless overrule their professional opinion and return a child to her or his parents.

(Note: Since this talk was given, the case of Ellie Butler has been in the media. This was a case where the culture that children are best cared for by their parents was a significant factor in Mrs Justice Hogg overruling the opinion of the Social Workers, and deciding that Ellie should be cared for by her father, rather than her grandparents where she was being well cared for. Ellie was returned to her father and died in his care.)

Finally Caroline discussed two children who had suffered fractures to illustrate the difficulties that social workers, solicitors and the courts face. On the face of it the two cases seemed similar: there were other siblings, the home conditions were “suboptimal” but “good enough”, and the medical view was of “non accidental injuries”. Baby A, however, was in fact Baby P who was severely malnourished and died. The other baby is doing well.  (Summary: Jane Maxim)

2.  March event. Saturday 12th March 2016. Speaker Janey King

As a published author of more than 20 novels, Janey King (aka Rosie Thomas) gave a talk entitled ‘Of course, what I really want to do is WRITE’.

The title of Janey’s talk reflects a desire that she often hears, including by women like us, who want to find a creative way of reflecting on life’s experiences. Janey said that such ‘creative writing’ has many benefits, but writing as a career – when you have to earn a living – is a different thing altogether. As a full-time writer for 36 years she focused her talk not on ‘how to write’ but on what a would-be author needs to know about the book business. In short what you are up against if you decide to make writing your career.

Janey wove the commercial aspects of the book business and the importance of personal networks and self-presentation, into a story involving three characters: Jennifer, an aspiring young author, Will, her literary agent and Emily who becomes her editor. We are first introduced to Jennifer who has talent, determination and a novel already in draft. She needs a literary agent (enter Will), who she fortuitously finds through her brother. This is lucky because literary agents are bombarded with scripts every day. Will likes her draft and he takes her on; she writes a fourth draft under his direction. Will’s job is then to ‘sell’ the idea of Jennifer (who is attractive, an advantage) and her novel to a publishing house. He is ambitious, skilful, and he knows the business. He succeeds. A publishing company picks up the novel after they decide it has real potential. Emily, as Jennifer’s editor, is now able to make her a financial offer: an advance of £100k for two books. Success! It sounds as though she is on her way to a successful writing career…but is she?

At this point Janey switched our attention to the financial aspects of the book business. She had already mentioned that Will’s company, as her literary agents, would take 15% of her UK and Commonwealth earnings and 20% of any translation rights. But that was just the beginning. On any book sale, hardback or paperback, about half of the recommended retail price (RRP) goes to the retailers; then there are printing, editing, publishing and distribution costs. The rest is divided up between publishers, literary agent and author. The author’s share is based on a sliding scale, but it is not high (7.5% of a paperback RRP up to 50k copies; 9% thereafter). If Jennifer’s novel is to make back the £50k her publisher’s have agreed to pay her (let alone a profit on top of that) then it will have to break through the ‘normal’ ceilings for a first novel and become a top seller. Emily’s firm have taken a punt and think it will do this. But what if they are wrong? What if, despite their best marketing efforts, the novel does not attain the sales they predict?

Janey noted that there is nothing worse for an author than being given a big unearned advance. If the novel does not make the sales expected then the author’s future dims. Jennifer may find it difficult to find a literary agent and a publisher a second time; Will and Emily will shift their attention to the next rising star. But, as Janey said, even though only a few authors make big money there are many types of author and many ways of getting one’s work into print. Her final message to us: ‘Perhaps we should satisfy ourselves with simply saying, as I do nowadays: ‘Of course, what I really want to do is READ’. I think the aspiring writers amongst us quietly agreed.  (Summary: Sarah Ladbury)

1. Inaugural event. Saturday 30th January 2016. Speaker Jane Maxim

Academic and speech and language therapist Jane Maxim’s talk was on ‘The Ageing Brain: is it true that we “use it or lose it”?

Jane gave a brief introduction to brain function, and outlined the characteristics of the ageing brain before summarising current research findings.

One the dark side, dementias – of which Alzheimer’s is the most usual form – are common in old people. Past 80, one individual in 6 will suffer. Women are slightly more at risk of Alzheimer’s, although more men than women will have vascular dementias. An unfortunate 10% of affected individuals will suffer from both forms. Mild cognitive impairment is yet another form of dementia, and this general-sounding term functions as a diagnosis in itself.

On the brighter side, East Anglia has lower rates of dementia than the general population – although the reason for this is not yet known. And it also appears that moderate alcohol intake in later life reduces the risk…

Jane then turned to consideration of what we might do to prevent or delay any possible onset. She was able to tell us that without doubt aerobic exercise is the best resort: meta-data studies of the research literature are statistically significant. Exercise increases cognitive ability and decreases dementia risk, even if the individual starts late in life and has never exercised before. The exercise must be aerobic – ie raise the heart rate – and be sustained for 20-30 minutes for proper effect. A minimum of 150 minutes per week is recommended, and even gardening and housework as well as brisk walking can count, according to some American data, so long as the heart beats faster.

In concluding, Jane said that the answer to her own ‘must we Use it or Lose it’ question is – in summary – yes and no. Exercise is the best weapon against impairment, but it also seems that brain preservation is more readily achieved if it is communal and sociable. The best recipe might be to combine a range of activities, with exercise boosted by a range of mental challenges such as bridge, crosswords, studying a new subject, maintaining a foreign language, or learning a new one – not necessarily spoken. Learning/practising music would be excellent, for example.

The talk then opened out into questions about distant and recent memories, names, and problems or ease in accessing these. Finally there was a lively exchange of individual suggestions for exercise disciplines and mental stimuli, from walking to joining a choir to visiting the housebound. One or two people expressed surprise that exercise plays such a crucial role, yet it seems that most of us, whether newly retired or on the point of retiring, have our personal recipes for maintaining physical activity and mental alertness.

Thanks are due to Jane Maxim for summing up the recent research and current expert insights with such precision, and for answering our questions in relation to these.  (Summary: Janey King)

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