C NTACT THE MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH WOMEN’S GROUP BANGKOK
August 2020
BRITISH WOMEN’S GROUP The aim of the Group is to enable its members to meet socially, to welcome its new members and associate members to Bangkok and to establish a programme of social, welfare and cultural activities.
Contents
Directory Page 2
Chairman and Editor’s message Page 3
Diary Page 4
Book Club Pages 8-9
First coffee morning Page 12
August coffee Page 13
Ladies night out Pages 16-17
Welfare Pages 19-21
The Odyssey Part 4 Pages 23-25
Editor contact@bwgbangkok.org Advertising advertising@bwgbangkok.org Please note that the deadline for advertisements is the 5th of the month prior to issue. Please contact advertising@bwgbangkok for more information. PLEASE NOTE : Contact is published as a service to our members to keep them informed of news and events within BWG. The accuracy of other information cannot be guaranteed and is not an endorsement by the group. This also applies to advertisements that are included in Contact in order to cover some of the production costs. Every effort is made to produce Contact in good time to reach members before the first scheduled meeting, but the editor cannot be held responsible for unavoidable delays caused by circumstance beyond their control. It is the members’ own responsibility to know when meetings are scheduled and to contact someone to check if any changes have been made. Members are also asked to bear in mind when booking actives that most venues are not deemed suitable for children over six months of age and to make appropriate child minding arrangements.
Chairman’s Message August is here and so are we! This is the time of year when we all usually head off to our homeland for family and friend catch ups, but instead we are making the most of the wonderful country in which we are guests. Like me, I am sure you feel very grateful for being in a safe place.
We do however have to say goodbye to Nicky Beardmore who is returning to the UK with her family. I would like to thank her for her wonderful support of the BWG, and we wish her every happiness in her next adventure.
We have had a very successful soft getting back to normal coffee morning, and it was so lovely to get together in the flesh. This was followed by a great Girls Night out, fun and laughter with a spectacular birthday Ailsa Kneath celebratory “flaming Lamborghini” drink. Photos of both events in the magazine.
Please keep your eyes on your mailerlite and Facebook pages for next month’s events. The main one being our AGM on 20th August at 4pm Thai time by Zoom. All details will be sent out by mailerlite nearer the time. The committee very much hope that as many of you can will join us in this novel meeting in these strange times, when the going gets tough we endeavour to embrace new ways to cope!
Thought for the month:-
One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.
J F Kennedy.
Welcome to the August issue of Contact Magazine and I hope that you are all keeping well wherever you are in the world. Its lovely to see the magazine filling up again with write-ups of BWG nights out and activities, showing that gradually everyone is able to socialise a bit more now and enjoy each other’s company again. Its also been lovely to read messages from the mahjong group on WhatsApp now the Monday meeting at the British Club has resumed again. I can’t wait to be back and join in with the mahjong ladies but I think that it will be a good few months yet before I am able to return to Thailand. www.bwgbangkok.org
info@bwgbangkok.org
British Women’s Group Bangkok
Contact August 2020
August Diary SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
1
2
3 Mah-jong
4 Bridge Golf
5 Mah-jong Art Group RVYC Trip
6 RVYC Trip
7
8
9
10 Mah-jong
11 Bridge Golf
12 Mah-jong Art Group
13
14
15
16
17 Mah-jong
18 Bridge Golf
19 Bridge Art Group
20
21
22
23
24 Mah-jong
25 Bridge Golf
26 Bridge Art Group
27 Coffee Morning
28
29
30
31 Mah-jong
Weekly/Monthly Activities You are invited to join these groups, but final approval is at the discretion of individual group leaders
Monday Mah-jong - (beginners welcome) (10am - 1pm) Tuesday Bridge - Audrie Sill Beginners/Intermediate Golf - (morning) Ann McKinnon Golf - (morning) Sheona Jackson Bookworms - 1st Tuesday (10am) Jane Upperton Scottish Dancing - 1st Tuesday (7:30pm) Karen Burr Wednesday Mah-jong - (beginners welcome) (1pm - 4pm) Art Group - Bistro 33 Sukhumvit Soi 33 (10am -12:30pm) Karin Worthington
Royal Varuna Sailing Club Trip New Date:
5th - 6th August 2020 Royal Varuna Sailing Club, Pattaya Reserve your room now for our, now annual, trip to the beautiful Royal Varuna Sailing Club. This is an overnight stay, leaving Bangkok early on the Wednesday morning and returning late Thursday afternoon. As in previous years, there will be a beach BBQ on the Wednesday evening and the opportunity to try your hand at sailing (with qualified instructors). If that does not appeal, you can either lie by the pool or sunbathe on the beach and do absolutely nothing. Mini buses will be organised to take us to and from the club, the cost of which will be shared amongst us, when we have final numbers. These will leave and return to Emporium Suites at Phrom Pong. The cost of each room is 1,590 bht (net). The rooms have single beds and an en-suite, so ideal if you would like to share. The beach BBQ is 750 bht ++ per person All other food and drink is what you want to eat/drink. The bar and restaurant are open all day. It is a fabulous trip and we hope you can join us. Husbands, partners and friends are more than welcome to join us. If you would like to reserve a room, please email Sue Williams on sue270698@hotmail.com No money needs to be paid until the 6th August, however any cancellations after 29th July will incur the cost of the room. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to ask. We hope to see you there ⛱ " # $
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www.bumrungrad.com Contact Center: 0 2066 8888
nsive
e Compreh
Bookworms - August
Our first meeting after lockdown , so it was good to get together again. We read two books:
Woman in the Window
by
A.J. Finn
This book was apparently an instant best seller and went immediately to The Times best seller list. The story revolves around Dr Anna Fox who is a child Psychologist. After a traumatic experience she has become agoraphobic and is terrified to step out. She lives alone and spends her days watching suspense movies, playing chess online, talking to her estranged husband and daughter and spying on her neighbours through her camera. Have to say I didn’t like the spying through her camera idea and we did have a bit of discussion re this activity, agreeing that many people are interested in neighbours but watching them through a camera is considered extreme (and creepy). Anna also drinks and believes she witnessed a murder when she was drunk and she wonders whether she really did see a murder. The book was mostly enjoyed - ‘a good story - had to get it finished‘, ‘kept me interested’, 'I like forensic science‘, ‘really enjoyed it, just sat on the sofa and read it and forgot where I was’, ‘hard going - I carried on reading to see what happens’ and we all learned a lot about agoraphobia from Gale who has a sister-in-law who is agoraphobic and who hasn’t been out out of her house for 50 years. However we all didn’t love it. One person described it as ‘terrible’. I have to say I didn’t enjoy it either. Comments of internet critics included ‘I never gave up on a book till this one came along’, ‘ from now on I will read the sample before I buy another book’
Scores : 2/10 -2; 6/10 -1; 7/10 -2; 8/10 -4
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier I couldn’t find better words than these from Amazon ‘A story elegantly told in language so poetic, it is its own experience’. If you read this book long ago I am sure you recall the beginning: ‘Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and chain upon the gate‘ A mystery story well told. Most loved this old, beautifully and exquisitely written book.
Scores: 7/10 -2; 8/10 -1; 9/10 -1; 10/10 -2.
Next meeting is at 28-06 Urbana, Lang Suan on August 4th 2020 The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger (this book is also on Netflix) 1984 by George Orwell The next meeting after that is September 8th Giver of Stars - Jojo Moyes
Books suggested and waiting: The Great Alone by Kirsten Hannah Convenience Store Woman by Saka Morato The Rosie Project by Graeme Simpson Light a Penny Candle by Maine Benchley The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
nspiring ndividuals At KIS International School all students can shine. The midsize, caring community allows KIS students to be confident and to be appreciated as an individual, with unique dreams and strengths. The school is a full IB school, offering the International Baccalaureate Programmes for all age groups (IB Primary Years Programme, IB Middle Years Programme and IB Diploma), ensuring an academically rigorous curriculum that not only prepares students to be successful at university, but also teaches important life skills. KIS, it’s all about Knowledge, Inspiration and Spirit. Check out the students’ videos to learn more about their passion www.kis.ac.th
Tel: +66 (0) 2274 3444 Email: admissions@kis.ac.th
“With the power of imagination, characters can actually fly off the page” Jun, Grade 11.
COFFEE REPORT by Ailsa Kneath
We had a fabulous coee get together on the 9th July at Indulge Restaurant. It was to be a low key event with the proprietor Dee providing yummy peanut butter cookies and garlic bread. Despite our tentative gesture, twenty five lovely ladies arrived to support us and sister Louise with her stall of great priced T-shirts. We were all so very happy to be able to speak to each other in the flesh and really appreciated the fact that we were able to be back together.
Thank you Liz Khan for arranging the venue and wonderful to meet a new member Talisa.
We look forward to our next coee morning with a talk on First Aid to be held at Bumrungrad Hospital on Thursday 27th August.
August Coffee Morning Date: 27th August 2020 Time : 10am Venue: Bumrungrad Hospital Topic : Essential First Aid RSVP : lizziekhan@yahoo.co.uk
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Celebrating 60 Years A proud tradition of learning excellence
We oer a British-style education for an international community, from Nursery through to Graduation. Find out how our approach to learning and outstanding teaching sta develop global citizens who shape their world through independence, empathy, creativity and critical thinking. Contact us at admissions@patana.ac.th www.patana.ac.th | +66 (0) 2785 2200 | 643 Lasalle Road, Bangkok 10260
Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit, IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC
GIRLS NIGHT OUT As you can see from the photos, a great time was had by all the ladies who braved a visit to Indulge cocktail bar on the evening of Thursday 16th July just before the rain came down. It was a good feeling to be out in the wide world again, made even more special as Sally Fisken popped in before going out for her birthday meal which prompted the most amazing drink to be put together for her delight and ours. None of us will forget the “Flaming Lamborghini�!
A wonderful first night out!
Nurses who have graduated By Gale Bailey MBE I had a lovely email from Susan Race of THEP (Thailand Hilltribes Education Project), who had coordinated the girls' sponsorship and has given updates for the past 4 years, to say the girls have graduated. Such happy photos and the girls had written 'Thank you for the scholarship which made me today’.
It brought tears to my eyes as I remember being in Phuket with Sue Steel (free vouchers from Music on the River) as the thought came to my head to sponsor girls into nursing with the money raised following Edith's death. This amounted to 200,000 Baht made up from the collection at the funeral, Cracker Ladies, sale of her memorabilia at the British Club and BWG - WOW - her legacy lingers on!
Sunanta second left and Prakakaew in the middle.
Prakakaew second left and Sunanta second right.
Prakakaew and her proud family.
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The Odyssey – Part 4 There is not really much to report at the moment. Obviously, I had a massive sulk and went off to pout when I heard the Thai government had closed the borders for another month. It then got me thinking, what is the point of all those quarantine beds if the government is not going to use them? Especially as it is the likes of me who will have to pay for them when I do get back to Thailand. Don’t they want to try and get any of their money back? Anyway, this is not the venue to discuss politics. So, what of old Blighty at the moment? Well, people are becoming more and more frustrated with the continuance of the lockdown. This was enforced by a lovely letter I had from my godmother today. She will be 91 by the end of the month and was married to my godfather – a wonderful man – for 70 (yes, seventy) years. In her writings, she says, “…….in my long life I have never known anything like it. Pubs and cinemas stayed open even in air-raids!” It does make one wonder what the world will look like when all of this is finished. What will be the ‘New Normal’? Well for a start, I will not be able to see the wondrous sight of Scotland winning every rugby match that Scottish Rugby puts on for us week after week. The latest festive treat was a game from the 1984 Grand Slam season when we beat the French – always a good thing. Sadly, when all of this is over, we will revert to reality and I don’t have to tell you what that means. Also, one thing I will not miss is having to watch Boris live on TV. I now find myself sitting with a dictionary next to me to find out what heuristics will spew out on any particular evening. The latest one was ‘marmoreal’. For those who are as equally thick as I am this means, “made of or compared to marble”. If you look at the Merriam Webster’s definition, it gets worse – “of, relating to, or suggestive of marble or a marble statue especially in coldness or aloofness”. Given that Boris was trying to compliment the British public’s common-sensical values you may understand why I am a tad confused. On top of this he then dives into another language, “Salus populi suprema lex esto” which, as we all know, translates as "the health of the people should be the supreme law". Why can’t he just say this in English rather than make us all click on to Google translate? I do find it amusing when I go out on my weekly adventure to the supermarket to hear people chatting in the aisles (appropriately social distanced of course), wistfully looking forward to going back to work. They probably never imagined they would hear themselves speak such words but I have heard folk say they missed such things
as: “pressure”, “the boss shouting at me”, “deadlines”, “commuting”, “traffic”, “the general hassle of going to work”. How times change and just shows that the old phrase, “the grass is always greener…………” is so true. One of the first things I had to do when the Thai government issued its latest missive on lepers such as I, was to go down to Heathrow to renew my ticket for the fourth time. I stated earlier in a previous Odyssey report that I did not believe the roadworks would be finished by Christmas. I forgot to add one thing – Xmas 2021 at the earliest. I would not be a happy chappie if I had to commute into London on the M4 every day. Things were slightly different at the Lufthansa desk. You can see they reckon they are now in for the long haul – forgive the airline pun – by the fact that there are now plastic screens up between the person at the desk and the customer. Lufthansa were as brilliant as ever and I wonder if they realise how much a little bit of civility and kindness goes? I will certainly be using them again. I then returned to my car to drive back to Caversham when the tyre pressure light came on. Fortunately, Europcar was just round the corner so I popped in there to see if they could solve the problem. Well, even I could see there was a bloody great nail sticking out of the rear offside so they changed the tyre there and then. Yet again, great service and by people who were prepared to get closer than 25 yards so as to help you out. When all of this is over, it will be interesting to see if people are still prepared to meet with each other – especially for business. I have now got used to the two or three second delay in a reply when chatting with someone on Zoom or that very oldfashioned concept called Skype. I half suspect I will be expecting the same thing even if I am sitting opposite them over a desk when I eventually get back to work. As well as all of this, I do find myself wondering if we will ever use physical money again. People look aghast at me when I try to hand them a ‘fiver’ – not that you can get much for a fiver in the UK these days. They assume I am some sort of serial-killer who is trying to add them to my list of ‘folk I have managed to knock off today’. Then, when I offer them a credit card, I get a look that could kill at thirty paces and silently says, “Why didn’t you give me this in the first place?”. People are complaining that pubs, clubs and restaurants are not being allowed to open. I can vouch for this and can also state that whilst there are no longer any queues for these kind of places, they have been replaced by long lines of people waiting to disgorge last week’s consumption at the Bottle-Banks.
Going back to the supermarket side of things, after being here for what seems like an eternity, I do wonder about the freshness of things we buy in Thailand. Take milk for instance. If I buy a pint of Meiji or Dutch in Makro with a sell by date of say, 13/05/20, I know it will be good for what seems like months. Over here, if I see something with the same date then at one minute passed midnight of the ‘use by date’ the bloody stuff curdles into a glutenous mass that is more akin to my wife’s homemade cottage cheese than a pint of milk. Talking of food, one thing is for sure, when the lockdown ends, half of us will have learned how to cook properly and, if we haven’t done that then we will all have a serious drinking problem. I, for one, need to practise some serious social distancing with the fridge and am wondering where to go for next weekend’s bank holiday – the kitchen or the living room. One of my business partners is a brilliant baker. Maybe I should get some tips off him as to how to create a magnificent marraqueta or perfect pannetone? I suspect I will be blaming the oven door for not closing properly and so forsaking the potential of this domestic bliss. I don't think anyone expected when we changed the clocks, we'd go from Standard Time to the Twilight Zone. It’s now got to the stage that I really get excited about deciding what to wear – even when it is time to take the rubbish out. I do also wonder why the UK government says that everyone has to be two metres apart when the World Health Organisation says that one metre is enough. I will let the reader digest this fact and leave you with this final thought – it is better to be six foot apart than six foot under! Ulysses