March 24, 2011

The Star Wards Daily Sparkle

The Reminiscence Newspaper

TM

Friday 25th March 2011 THE WAY WE WERE

TODAY IN HISTORY

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On 25th March, 1950, a team of skiers from Norway and the Ski Club of Great Britain held a ski jump competition on Hampstead Heath in London. If you’re thinking surely there couldn’t have been enough snow for that sort of thing, you’re right! The Norwegians brought the snow with them, 45 tons of it, packed in wooden boxes. The boxes were kept cold using blocks of dry ice. Speeding down the slope this sparkling expanse snow, the wind whistling your ears, must have been exhilarating experience!

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There’s something very nostalgic about patchwork quilts. I bought two of them at an auction once. I knew nothing about where they had come from, and they had no connection with my family. All the same, I felt very affectionate towards the women who had made them. I used to picture them sitting by the fire on a rainy afternoon, cutting and stitching. I wondered where the fabrics had come from. Perhaps they had used good bits from children’s clothes that were otherwise worn out. Or maybe they were scraps leftover from dress-making.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

I can’t imagine anyone of our generation not having heard of The Archers. Even if you don’t listen to it now, I bet most people have heard it at some time in their lives. I remember being very upset when The Archers replaced Dick BartonSpecial Agent as the daily radio serial, but I soon grew to like it. The best times were the days of Walter Gabriel and Mrs P, and good old John Tregorran. Do you remember them? I used to listen to it in my lunch break, which lasted from 1pm to 2pm. It was the repeat of the previous evenings episode that I often missed. The sound of the Archers theme tune was the cue to start work again.

OVER TO YOU

Dear Mary and Jack I have been a lifelong member of the Women’s Institute. I have had years of pleasure, and some very good friendships, as a result. The W.I is also very good at helping women to maintain excellent standards in cooking and traditional crafts. I learned a lot from the talks and demonstrations I attended over the years. In my younger days I used to make cakes and lemon curd to sell at the W.I. monthly market. They were held in the village hall. My daughter-inlaw is a member now, and I enjoy hearing about what the W.I. does nowadays. Best wishes from Barbara

WORDS QUIZ Today’s quiz is about words that have two different meanings. 1. Used in carpentry/part of your fingers and toes. 2. To call a taxi/harsh weather - even worse than snow. 3. To fight, as a sport/a container to put things in. 4. To conceal something/ animal skin. 5. Weapons/parts of the body. 6. Not heavy/quite pale coloured.

SINGALONG The words to this song date back to the early 1900s, but the tune is based on a much older piece of music. I love the - - - , I love the navy Love my biscuits soaked in ----But - - - - - - little black eyed Susie But pretty little - - - - - eyed Susie Cross my - - - - - I love ya best of all. I love the hills, I - - - - the prairie I love Jane, and I love - - - But pretty little black eyed Susie But pretty little black eyed ----Cross my heart I love ya best of all.

ANSWERS 1. Nails 3. Box 5. Arms

2. Hail 4. Hide 6. Light

ANSWERS 1. sea 4. black 7. Mary

2. gravy 5. heart 8. Susie

3. pretty 6. love

The Daily Sparkle Carer’s Notes Friday March 25th, 2011 PAGE 1 • TODAY IN HISTORY • through the years • 25th March 1950 Background: An artificial ski run on Hampstead Heath would have seemed novel and

exciting. Nowadays many large cities have ‘Snow-domes’ or their equivalent, with artificial snow where people can ski all year round. In 1950, artificially created snow was still unheard of - a thing of the future. It was a huge undertaking to transport such a large quantity of real snow. Questions: Have you ever been ski-ing or sledging? What did it feel like? Where did you ski or sledge? If you haven’t ever been ski-ing, how do you imagine it would feel to have the wind and cold air in your face and hair?

PAGE 1 • THE WAY WE WERE • from Mary’s point of view Patchwork Background: Using the scraps left over from dressmaking, or the good parts of clothes that

are otherwise worn out, has been done for years. The Victorians made patchwork out of random shapes and then decorated it by embroidering over the joins. English patchwork is often made out of square pieces or hexagonal pieces, made by tacking them over a paper template before joining them up. Questions: Do you like patchwork? Have you made anything in patchwork yourself? Where did you get the fabric from? How did you make the patches? Did you ever have patchwork on clothes? When was that? What was it?

PAGE 2 • DO YOU REMEMBER? • from Jack’s point of view The Archers Background: The Archers is the longest running radio serial in the world. It is set in the

fictional village of Ambridge, loosely based on a village in Worcestershire. It is a farming community, and the early scripts contained a lot of material that was thinly disguised messages from the Ministry of Agriculture. Questions: Do you like The Archers? When did you first start listening to it? Who are your favourite characters? Which radio or TV character from any programme is the most like you?

PAGE 2 • OVER TO YOU • Readers’ Letters Women’s Institute (WI) Background: The Women’s Institute was formed in 1915 to revitalise rural communities

and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. It is now the largest women’s voluntary organisation in the UK. The organisation celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2010 and currently has approximately 205,000 members in 6,500 different groups. Questions: Were you a member of the WI? What sort of things did your WI group do? Did you ever make - or buy- produce from a WI sale? Were there any other groups to belong to in the area where you lived?

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