C NTACT THE MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH WOMEN’S GROUP BANGKOK
October 2021
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.
Editor
Contents
Directory Page 2
Chairman’s message Page 3
Diary Page 4
Welfare News Pages 6-7
Book Club Page 10
Pronunciation Poem Page 12
Birthdays Pages 16-17
Article by Gale Bailey MBE Page 19
becky.adderley@btinternet.com
British Women’s Group.
bwgbangkok@gmail.com
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
Hello Everyone, We did a couple of Wednesday lunches recently and numbers did pick up on the second one. Next week our second list will have their second vaccinations and so we will have a coffee morning on the 14th October at the FCCT in Maneeya Centre Building and on the 28th we will have a lunch at Bistro 33. Please come along if you are comfortable to. Christmas is still up in the air with current restrictions. Obviously we would like to have a Christmas coffee and lunch, but how do you feel? Any suggestions welcome. Please keep safe and keep sane, please give feedback and think about contributing to this magazine. Liz
Hi Ladies and I hope that you are all well wherever you are in the world. If you have any articles to share for the magazine, maybe related to what you all have been up to over the past few months (holidays, baking, new hobbies etc), then please email your contributions to me at becky.adderley@btinternet.com All contributions will be be very gratefully received and these will really help to preserve and strengthen our links as a BWG community.
www.bwgbangkok.org
info@bwgbangkok.org
British Women’s Group Bangkok
Contact April 2021
October Diary SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
1
2
3
4 Mahjong
5 Bridge Golf
6 Mah-jong Art Group
7
8
9
10
11 Mah-jong
12 Bridge Golf
13 Mah-jong Art Group
14
15
16
17
18 Mah-jong
19 Bridge Golf
20 Mah-jong Art Group
21
22
23
24
25 Mah-jong
26 Bridge Golf
27
28
29
30
31
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 Golf - (morning) Ami 0971851834 Bookworms - 1st Tuesday (10am) Jane Upperton Scottish Dancing - 1st Tuesday (7:30pm) Karen Burr Wednesday Mah-jong - (beginners welcome) (10am - 1pm) Art Group - Bistro 33 Sukhumvit Soi 33 (10am -12:30pm) Julie. juliehedge4@gmail.com Rosita. rositalau@yahoo.com
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.
A Thank You from Little Birds Thanks to the generosity of members of BWG assisted by a donation from BCTFN, Little Birds volunteers were able to distribute food and hygiene parcels to the needy young adults in the community. Many thanks for all donations which were most gratefully received. From Usanee Janngeon and John MacTaggart and all at Foundation Little Birds Youth Network
From: Kimberly Quinley of STEP AHEAD Re: Donation from BWG Gale, I am sorry I have been so slow in responding. We had a major fire at our Step Ahead office in July and I have been fully engaged trying to get all the repairs done so the inspector can give us approval to use the second floor again. Also, with the increase in Covid-19 Delta cases-- our staff have been flooded with requests for help. It has been an intense few months. I also want to thank you for your generosity! We are so grateful to you and the British Women's Group. We need your donation more than ever! I am excited to share with you our newly updated website. Please click on the link below to learn how we have grown! www.stepaheadthailand.org Also, please follow us on Facebook or Instagram! Please stay safe and well! Best regards Kimberley
Fast
t
n Convenie
behind a e d i Clinic. t e n h t a t s s i t n I a Th PD d’s new O a r g n u r Bum It is perfect for minor illnesses, prescription refills, preventive care including vaccinations, or a doctor’s note. Instead of waiting for hours on end you can see a doctor, settle the bill, receive your prescription and be on your way in under an hour. Simply scan the QR code to learn more about the new OPD Instant Clinic.
www.bumrungrad.com Contact Center: 0 2066 8888
nsive
e Compreh
Book Club
Liz Dobson
Last month’s read was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.
Harold nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of England to the other. He has no hiking boots or map. All he knows is he must keep walking to see his dying friend Queenie. I was annoyed at his defeatist attitude, as if 65 is old! And he made so little progress! As he continues though, we learn more about his unhappy life and why he must make amends with Queenie. One reader found it a bit simplistic and predictable. I would say almost sentimental and twee. One member enjoyed it when he travelled through places familiar to her and I got out my AA road atlas and followed his route (the map in the book was hopeless). Most people enjoyed how his life enfolded very much and gave it 8/10. Two of us gave it 7/10. As one review summed it up “There’s no doubt that it’s an original, quietly courageous testament to the inhuman effort of being normal.”
We are currently reading A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James or alternatively The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. We will meet on Tuesday 5th October at 10.30am in Trattoria Delina in Soi Ruam Rudee and may be joined later by others for lunch. For November we are reading Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu, shortlisted for the 2021 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
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Pronunciation Poem This poem was kindly sent in by Gale Bailey MBE I take it that you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you, On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through. Well done! And now you wish, perhaps To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word, That looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead - - it’s said like bed not bead - And for goodness’ sake don’t call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt). A moth is not the moth in mother, Nor both in bother, broth in brother. And here is not a match for there Nor dear and fear for bear and pear. And then there’s dose and rose and lose - Just look them up - - and goose and choose, And cork and work and card and ward, And font and front and word and sword, And do and go and thwart and cart - Come, come I’ve hardly made a start. A dreadful language? Man alive. I’d mastered it when I was five.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We would like to wish a really happy birthday to:
Sheila Buchanan - 1st October
Lucille Bond - 4th October
Debbie Creagh - 11th October
Sally Smith - 13th October
Val Scagliarino-Baker - 13th October
Sue Davy - 14th October
Marion Causton - 15th October
Pat Barber -15th October
Have a wonderful day and we are all thinking of you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We would like to wish a really happy birthday to:
Sheona Jackson - 18th October
Betty Stewart - 19th October
Liz Khan - 22nd October
Sylvia Knows - 24th October
Geneva Hargreaves - 25th October
Davina Pickering - 27th October
Have a wonderful day and we are all thinking of you.
Celebrating 60 Years A proud tradition of learning excellence
We offer a British-style education for an international community, from Nursery through to Graduation. Find out how our approach to learning and outstanding teaching staff 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
Auntie Gale knows EVERYBODY! By Gale Bailey MBE This was the quote made by my niece Vicky when I was looking after her on a teacher’s day many years ago. I took her into Leicester City Centre where I had worked for 16 years and saw many old faces I knew which quite astounded her. My friends in Bangkok have often commented that wherever we go, there is always someone who knows me! WELL – on arrival at Frankfurt airport (all excited and emotional too) it seemed a long hike to get to passport control/immigration but all OK and into baggage reclaim! What a performance as I needed a trolley as had 3 suitcases (one full of stuff for the Hegelers) I had no coins to put in the machine to get a trolley and my card would not work either. A young American chap also wanted a trolley and tried to help me too but he was having no luck too! I saw an employee in a hi-res jacket so went to him but he said – Not my job – see airport staff but there were none around anyway! Me and the young American lad shrugged our shoulders wondering what to do next when I heard a voice call ‘Gale’ – OMG surely there must be another Gale but no and it was Till Mordstadt! Till lives in Bangkok and used to live at Floraville and he said he recognized my voice as he was busy trying to get his dog sorted. He was an angel in disguise and paid a Euro for my trolley and also for the American lad. I gave him a big hug but he was rushing and so was I, told him Jane was waiting for me after all these months apart. The next bit you all know about but WOW – how lucky was I as not sure how I could have managed! Thanks Till – drinks all round when we meet up in Bangkok – whenever that will be!
The first Wednesday Lunch for such a long time. Hopefully there will be many more to come!
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