Cover VERSION
TOWNSWOMEN’S GUILDS – MAKING WOMEN’S LIVES BETTER SINCE 1929
ISSUE 01 2021
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FOOD AND FRIENDSHIP
How community fridges are uniting neighbourhoods
ON THE ROAD ART
Bringing ➙❂♣✴❂♣✴ ☞♣☞✙➙ ☞➙✙ cancer care to your doorstep ➯⑧ ɵ⑧➸➙ ✒⑧⑧➙➡➯✙↔
BUZZ ON! PRODUCTION
Do your bit for the bees
PLUS
All the latest ❛❛ ➯✼✙ ❛➯✙➡➯ TG news
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g n i p e e K ouch in t Sylvia Irvine Robertson – see page 34
loss g n i r a ing he m o c r Ove
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Welcome, 1
WELCOME
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Published on behalf of the Townswomen’s Guilds by Think, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH www.thinkpublishing.co.uk
ART
Editor Jane Yettram Designer Amanda Richardson Chief sub-editor Marion Thompson Account director Rachel Walder Advertising sales executive Jamie Dawson 020 3771 7201 jamie.dawson@ thinkpublishing.co.uk
PRODUCTION CLIENT
Special thanks to Rhiannon Batsford and Beryl Hales of TGHQ. We welcome your stories, comments and suggestions. Please email photographs if possible. Or, if posting, send duplicate photographs only, as originals cannot be returned. Email or write to TGHQ at the addresses above. The publisher cannot be held responsible for loss of or damage to unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. The views of contributors and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the policy of the Townswomen’s Guilds nor those of the publisher. © 2021 Townswomen. All rights reserved. Every reasonable endeavour has been made to find and contact the copyright owners of the works included in this magazine. However, if you believe a copyright work has been included without your permission, please contact the publisher. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge at time of going to print. Printed by Pureprint.
Stepping
onwards O
nce again the virus has forced me to rewrite this column just before we go to press. The euphoria of the vaccine news faded with the reduction of Christmas to a single day at most. But with everyone’s help we will meet again in 2021. Our event survey has produced some interesting and thoughtful comments, including this from a member: ‘We seem to have disconnected from the core values of our organisation and become just another social group, looking inwards rather than reaching out.’ Meeting again after a long break gives us the opportunity to rethink what we are doing. No doubt our first meetings will be social occasions and we will need to remember those we have lost. But we need to look to the future positively, placing ‘making women’s lives better’ at the heart of what we do. This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves, but at the same time we can learn new things, campaign and help our communities if we are able to. Why not plan a party or coffee morning to mark Old Friends, New Friends Week in the third week of May and invite along neighbours and local heroes to join you? Use it to show what TG is about. I hope many of you were able to join our virtual carol service – a report is on page 10. Our next big event, International Women’s Day, is also moving online to avoid the risk of members wanting to get online. We hope the last-minute Covid issues. We are planning to article on page 9 will help. However, I also know spread our ‘day’ over a week, and the many members don’t want to be online: being theme is ‘Writing women into online will never be a condition of TG Recruitment! history’, whether women membership, but we can offer more, Finished with your from the past, present or at lower cost, to those who are. copy of Townswoman? Pop future. As part of this we I wish you a very good 2021, it through the letterbox of a nonare creating a timeline of in which we continue to TG friend, with details of your local remarkable but largely make women’s lives better. Guild. She could be inspired to join TG, either now or when meetings resume. forgotten women Yours in TG friendship. Recycling! If you don’t pass (see page 7). on or keep your magazine, During the remember that it isn’t just pandemic, I’ve become Townswoman that’s recyclable – the very aware that we hold polywrap it arrives in is too. Just take it to carrier bag collection email addresses for less points at major than a third of members. I’ve Penny Ryan, supermarkets. also received enquiries from National Chair
Mouse About Town (www.mouseabouttown.co.uk)
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Townswomen’s Guilds Gee Business Centre, First Floor, Gee House, Holborn Hill, Birmingham B7 5JR Tel: 0121 326 0400 Email: contact GET IN @the-tg.com TOUCH www.the-tg.com
Let’s look to the future with positivity
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Contents
34
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Bulletin 6
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NOTEBOOK The latest TG news 10 EVENTS ROUND-UP Five online occasions – including our National Carol Service 13 WHAT’S ON Celebrate International Women’s Day – and look forward to future TG events 14 RECRUITMENT Promote your Guild: social media made easy
Your TG PRODUCTION
16 MAILBAG Your letters and emails 18 TOWNSWOMEN TOGETHER Guilds & Feds in pictures
Our campaigns CLIENT
22 IN OUR HANDS Food and the planet: why what we eat matters 24 SCRAPBOOK Do you have an urgent proposal for the AGM?
27 Time for you 37 THE GOLDEN AGE Books celebrating youth – and the young at heart 38 FOOD FOR THOUGHT The network sharing food and building communities 40 PUZZLES AND GIVEAWAYS Give your brain a workout and win some great prizes
LOOK OUT
for the next issue of Townswoman – out on 23 April 2021
38
Living 27 REMARKABLE WOMEN Composer Fanny Hensel 28 SISTERS IN ARMS Two ex-servicewomen sharing support and friendship 31 10 TOP TIPS To get your garden buzzing 32 A DAY IN THE LIFE Sarah Bamford – mobile cancer care nurse 34 LISTEN UP Hearing loss in the time of coronavirus 42 MY WORLD Mathematician Dr Diane Crann – and why maths matters
On the cover All cover stories are marked with a heart. Townswomen’s Guilds was born 92 years ago in 1929. Since then, we have been bringing fun and f riendship to thousands, and speaking out on issues our members care about. Not part of TG? We’d love you to join us. Visit www.the-tg.com Email contact@the-tg.com Call 0121 326 0400
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Contents, 1
CONTENTS
BULLETIN NEWS VERSION
Notebook
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Your TG news
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SPEAKING UP
For some Guilds, until members can meet face to face, online meetings with speakers are proving to be the next best thing. Jane Campbell of Worsley Roe Green Guild explains ART PRODUCTION CLIENT
When we ended our last ‘live’ Guild meeting in March we did not know when we would all meet again in person. A few members have been attending TGHQ’s Whiteboard Wednesday training sessions, leading us to think that perhaps we could have local Zoom meetings. We contacted all members by letter to let them know what we were planning and updated email addresses where possible. We heard from everyone, although inevitably not all Guild members are online, meaning they are not involved at present. Each month we now have one Guild meeting, plus one committee meeting, on Zoom. At the first full meeting there were 13 members, at the second there were 18. We are hoping more members will be able to attend in the future, with the few technical niggles we had reducing as everyone becomes
Emma Sproson was the subject of a talk via Zoom
more adept with Zoom. Using TG to arrange our meetings helps, and there are members on hand by phone to assist access. At our second meeting we were pleased to have Sara Trayers, TG’s
National Recruitment Officer, as our first online speaker. Sara gave an interesting talk on the life of suffragist Emma Sproson. A complete surprise to us all was that one of our members, Sue Ward, had contacted Sara to say her grandfather had given the address at Emma’s funeral in January 1937, which was reported in a local paper. Although meetings are different on Zoom – and a live meeting is definitely preferable – for the time being members feel it is a good way to keep in contact.
COULD YOU BE A FREE ONLINE SPEAKER FOR A GUILD? As restrictions continue to limit in-person meetings, more Guilds – like Worsley Roe Green, above – are getting together online. Many would like to host speakers, as they would for a normal meeting, but aren’t sure where to start. TAKE ACTION
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So we’ve created our own speakers list in the Members’ Area of the website – a list made up of TG members who wish to volunteer, and which will be accessible only to TG members. There may be a topic you’ve
studied for years or a hobby you’re passionate about. Or you may have interesting travel stories to tell or worked in an unusual field. Whatever your area of expertise, we invite you to put yourself forward to
speak to Guilds across the country. To be added to our list, please fill out the form in the Speaker Information section of the Members’ Area. There you’ll also find the list of members who have offered to do a talk. Do take a look to see if any of the topics are of interest to your Guild.
News, 1
WRITING WOMEN INTO HISTORY Currently, the UK population is made up of 50.8% women and 49.2% men, reflecting the population balance since records began. But if you came from another planet and studied UK history, you would think that men were around in far higher numbers than women until relatively recently. According to historian Dr Bettany Hughes, women ‘only occupy around 0.5% of recorded history’. There has been increasing interest in recognising the part women have played in history and – as well as theming our new online International Women’s Day event on this issue (see page 13) – TG would like your help in writing women back into
history by adding to the timeline we are creating. Eleanor Rathbone – the driving force behind family allowance, introduced 75 years ago this year and the precursor to today’s child benefit – is exactly the kind of woman we want to recognise in our timeline (see Townswoman Spring 2019 for more on Eleanor); as are women such as Rosalind Franklin (right), the scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA but whose contribution went unacknowledged. Please email or send us the name of a woman you would like to see included, plus a few sentences about her achievements.
JOIN US AT A TiG INTEREST GROUP The following TiG online specialist groups have now started: • Members meet for Elevenses every Friday and every other Monday for a chat and a cuppa – at 11 o’clock, of course! • Join Janice and Sheila’s fortnightly Monday Makes at 11am or 7.30pm. • Knit and Natter runs every other Sunday at 5pm. • There is a prize on offer for the fortnightly 5.15pm Saturday TG Tea Time Teasers group, where we play games. A cup with the winner’s name on it is emailed as a ‘flat pack’ that can be printed and constructed to display! For details of all groups, see the i-Guild meetings section of the Members’ Area at www.the-tg.com. TAKE ACTION
Share your suggestions If you have an interest you’d like to share that isn’t already covered and would like to start a group, please contact Sara Trayers (sara@the-tg.com).
AGM EXHIBITION Don’t forget that we plan to stage an exhibition at the AGM in June 2021, featuring members’ interpretations of ‘What TG means to me’. We will accept written work (single side of A4, maximum 400 words), craftwork and photographs. There’s no limit on how many items each member can submit. You could write a poem, create a piece of cross-stitch and send in a photograph. Please think about what you could contribute – it would be a real celebration of members’ talents to have a large number of items at a bumper exhibition in Scarborough.
Please send your submissions to TGHQ to be received no later than 30 April 2021. Include your name, ID number and Guild on the reverse of your entries or on an attached note. We are also accepting group works, although social-distancing regulations may make this difficult. Do list everyone’s details when you send in your work. As a starting point, perhaps you could showcase how being a TG member has helped you during the pandemic, when so much about normal daily life changed. National Trustee Lynda Young
TAKE PART IN A TG PODCAST In late November, we recorded a round-up of our 2020 podcasts. Having recorded the first one at TGHQ, sitting round a table with microphones in front of us, we marvelled at how we have all embraced the technology to continue recording them from our own homes. The process is very easy. Nexus, our marketing agency, sends an internet link to a site where the voice recording takes place. We leave that running and use another link that takes us into Zoom. We soon forget that we are being recorded. We would love members to take part. Interested? Please get in touch with TGHQ. Beryl Hales, National Vice Chair TAKE ACTION
Recording the latest TG podcast
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BULLETIN NEWS VERSION
WHAT YOU GET FOR YOUR £17
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We have received some suggestions that we reduce the portion of subscriptions paid to TGHQ for 2021-22. But, as a board, we feel we cannot do this. These are the reasons why. To keep in touch with you, our members, we have been producing our Townswomen In Contact newsletters, which are sent by post to the 11,000 members without an email address. These cost £6,650 per issue and we will carry on producing them until all Guilds can meet again. Emailing those we can helps to minimise costs, but it is important for every member to feel in touch with TG. All members still receive their issues of Townswoman magazine. We continue to pay salaries, rent and other contractual costs, plus additional costs such as laptop hire to enable staff to work effectively from
home. We continue to advertise, deal with enquiries and campaign. Where we have had to cancel events, we have replaced them with online versions. Furloughing some staff reduced our costs, making redundancies will reduce future costs and we are looking at ways to further reduce our overheads. ZOOM SAVINGS We saved money on hotel and other expenses that the board haven’t incurred. Our monthly three-day meetings at TGHQ in Birmingham have been replaced by Zoom meetings from our homes (a learning curve for us all, but very successful). Of course, we haven’t been able to visit Guilds and Federations either – a saving we would prefer not to have. For those online, we have established a
secure platform for meetings on the TG website in the Members’ Area (see ‘Join us at a TiG interest group’, page 7). Beryl Hales also hosts a TG Quiz every Tuesday afternoon at 2pm – just email beryl.TG@outlook. com if you’re interested. It would be good to see you, as I usually take part – give me a wave if you join in. KEEPING TG RUNNING Our accounts show that for the past two years we have had an operating
deficit of over £300,000. By 31 January 2021 we will have released £300,000 from the TG investments to supplement this year’s affiliation fees, to keep TG up and running. Because of all of this, TGHQ will still need £17 per member for next year’s subscription. Your Guild may be in a better position to reduce their element of your sub if they have made savings on closed premises and speakers. I hope this explains why we can’t reduce the subscription and you see it as value for money. After all, the amount you pay to TGHQ is roughly the same as one firstclass and one secondclass stamp each month. Take care and I hope to see you for the online TG Quiz. Marilyn Lawton, Honorary National Treasurer
WHY I’M GLAD TO BE A TRUSTEE I love finding TG memorabilia and this week managed to lay my hands on a copy of Townswoman from April 1983 – the Golden Jubilee edition. As I flicked through it (when I should have been writing about why I’m glad to be a Trustee) the subheading ‘What do they all do there at National Headquarters?’ caught my eye and I had to read what Pat Fox had written about being a Trustee. She asked the question, ‘Why do we do it?’ and answered it by saying, ‘We believe in our movement’. She continued, ‘We are willing to help other women enjoy leisure and extend their knowledge in 8 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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any way we possibly can. We want to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters will have Guilds to join,’ and quoted a former National Secretary who said, ‘If we get a little fun in the process, so much the better.’ I hope you won’t think I’ve cheated by quoting her, but I couldn’t have put it any better myself. All I would add is that I love having the opportunity to meet so many members, talk to them about their opinions on how TG is doing and gather their ideas about how we can move forward – and then using the skills, knowledge and experience I’ve gained throughout my
life and work to play a part in ensuring that TG continues to be the best that it can be. National Vice Chair Beryl Hales
Beryl Hales and her 1983 copy of Townswoman
News, 2
TGHQ NEWS An update from National Chair Penny Ryan THE VIEW FROM MY DESK
QUESTIONS WE’VE BEEN ASKED
The past few months haven’t been what I was expecting when I became Chair! Plans for meeting members went up the chimney. In their place I have had the privilege of leading a team of Trustees determined to keep the TG family together. Since we began our restructuring process, I have also discovered our staff ’s hidden talents. Their creativity, imagination, commitment to members and willingness to embrace change have made me very proud. There are times when we fumble, but please be patient and treat us as you would family or friends. I hope we will soon be returning to the Penny office more Ryan frequently, but we must proceed with caution.
Do the redundancies you’ve made mean TG’s future is in doubt? Absolutely not. We have, for several years, drawn heavily on our reserves, which are mainly held in investments. When markets are strong, amounts we withdraw can be compensated by increases in investment values. In an unsettled economy we can’t rely on this. That’s why we’re reducing our costs, and we hope we can stretch funds, strengthen membership and meet our 2029 centenary in strong form. We’re not planning to meet again until March, making it difficult to pay our affiliation fees by 31 March. What should we do? Guild delegates can only attend the AGM and vote if their Guild is a paid-up member of TG. The early cut-off enables us to ensure this is the case. We know
that in 2021 this will be difficult, so we are setting a deadline of 17 May. Still difficult? Tell us your situation and we’ll be as flexible as we can. If social distancing is still being enforced, affiliation paperwork could be delayed in reaching you. WELCOME TO A NEW TRUSTEE
We’re delighted to announce that Karen Moore, our website and social media adviser and a member of Sedgley (E) Guild, has joined the board. STAFF CONTACT DETAILS
• Joanne Merchandise and diary sales,
website and social media support: 0121 326 1978, joanne@the-tg.com (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri) • Rhiannon Campaigns and magazine: 0121 326 1974, rhiannon@the-tg.com (Mon-Fri, except Mon pm) • Kelli Events: 0121 326 1975, kelli@the-tg.com (Mon-Fri) • Sara Recruitment, internet groups and Student Guilds: 0121 326 1973, sara@ the-tg.com (Mon-Fri) • Nancy Database administration, change of Guild/member details, affiliation fee issues: 0121 326 1979, nancy@the-tg.com (Mon, Weds, Fri).
GET SURFING The internet is invaluable when we can’t all meet as normal, but we know the digital world can be daunting. Karen Moore, TG’s website and social media adviser, helps you get started.
THE INTERNET FOR BEGINNERS How do I use the internet? First, don’t worry! You needn’t do it all on your own. Ask friends and family for advice and practical help. You don’t need to have the latest or most expensive equipment either, but you will need: • a digital device, such as a laptop computer, tablet (eg, an iPad or Kindle Fire), desktop computer (PC) or smartphone (eg, an iPhone or Android mobile phone). • an internet service provider (ISP). Internet access is set up by an ISP through your telephone line or a mobile device. Popular ISPs include
BT, Virgin Media, Sky, PlusNet and TalkTalk. If you already have a telephone provider, they should be able to upgrade your package to include internet access. It can be worth shopping around and asking the advice of friends and family, as the cost of the service can vary. • a modem (a piece of equipment that uses your telephone line to give you access to the internet) or a router (a piece of equipment that allows different devices in your home to share the same internet connection – a Wi-Fi network). Your internet provider usually gives you a modem or a router when you sign up. Alternatively, you will find PCs with internet access in many local libraries. If your library has restrictions in place, you can still call them for advice on local resources.
FURTHER INFORMATION There is excellent information online for beginner internet users. Here are a couple of links to websites we recommend. If you can’t access them yourself, you could ask a friend or family member to do so and chat everything through with you. • www.ageuk.org.uk/informationadvice/work-learning/technologyinternet/getting-online • www.silversurfers.com/bestof-the-web/tablet-or-laptop-forolder-people Look out for the next part of ‘The Internet for Beginners’ in a future issue of Townswoman magazine.
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Singing to a new tune
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Although we couldn’t meet in person, Covid didn’t stop us holding an online National Carol Service, as TG’s National Events Organiser, Kelli Jones, explains
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his year proved to be the year of organising and ‘attending’ events from the comfort of my living room – an opportunity to learn, adapt and step outside my comfort zone, as so many people have had to do. With staff at Bristol Cathedral, we brainstormed how to bring a service to Townswomen at home. We decided to pre-record parts of the service at the cathedral, such as Canon Nicola Stanley’s prayers, as well as readings by a few local members, Trustees and former chairmen. The Lord Mayor of Bristol also did a welcome and Knowle Bristol Castle Guild set up a nativity scene they had knitted (see right). But organisation started much earlier than the October recording. With no choirs allowed to meet and uncertainty about changing rules as every week passed, we had to stay flexible. So we asked members to provide choir pieces recorded before Covid enforced social distancing. Very quickly I had to learn how to be an audio-visual engineer, tidying up the sound and film quality. The final service included the talents of three choirs: Bristol Cathedral Choir, Wolverhampton-based Wulfruna Ladies Choir (which started as a Guild choir 55 years ago) and Southend Vox Chamber Choir – a multi-awardwinning, all-female community choir based in Essex. We also put members at the heart of the service by including photos from Townswomen showing what lockdown has meant for them – from the low points of loneliness to the highs of doing wonderful things for charity. With all the elements ready – including a message from Princess Anne – the challenge was putting them
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Canon Nicola Stanley reading prayers – with the knitted nativity scene beside her
all together. The service went online on Friday 4 December. We do hope you enjoyed watching. Southend Vox Chamber Choir also performs at weddings and civil partnerships (see www.southendvox. com, www.facebook.com/ southendvoxchamber).
We put members at the heart of the service by including their photos
Our Patron Princess Anne sent a special message
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SONG OF PRAISE
This poem, written a few years ago by Gwenda Lowry of Hereford Tupsley Guild, was included in the service and seemed particularly apt.
As we sing our favourite carols, praising God for Jesus’ birth Wishing, hoping that this Christmas, would bring peace to all on Earth. May we be grateful for our blessings, so many more than we can tell. We have our homes and friends and freedom and a peaceful land in which to dwell.
Sad thoughts come of those who’ve left us, cherished members of the Guild. Friends are gone but not forgotten, their places never can be filled. Others too who’ve lost their loved ones, may they all be comforted, By the love and friendship shown them in the days that lie ahead.
CREATING THE NATIVITY Knowle Bristol Castle Guild’s Knit and Natter group has been involved in many projects, such as making Trauma Teddies. So at the end of March 2020, when Penny Ryan suggested we craft a nativity scene for the Bristol carol service in December, we were keen to go ahead. Covid-19 meant that the physical meeting up and swapping of ideas, wool and materials was curtailed. Fortunately, emails and Zoom let us share designs and view results. After sourcing a basic design, members selected what they
would like to make and – with Joseph, Mary, Jesus, wise men, shepherds and animals – we ended up with 15 models, all crafted to scale. The result was well worth the work when assembled, together ɯ⑧➙◗ ɯ✼✙♣ ➡➡✙❦☛❛✙✒ً ➯⑧✴✙➯✼✙➙ with Penny’s scenery (and Penny Ryan and straw!), at Bristol the Lord Mayor of Bristol Cathedral for the filming. The figures were placed by members of the group – the first time they had seen the result of their fantastic efforts.
Knowle Bristol Castle Guild
BEING A READER On a cold sunny day in mid October, I travelled to Bristol Cathedral. It was my first time on a bus since March. The cathedral looked starkly different, with most chairs removed f rom the nave, leaving just a few, appropriately distanced. There were about 25 of us, including the cathedral staff. A welcome and opening prayer f rom Canon Nicola Stanley preceded the Lord Mayor of Bristol arriving, in full regalia, to record her welcome. It was eerily quiet, as the music was to be added later. We, the readers, had our readings recorded, followed by the final prayers and the blessing. After the announcement that our recordings were safely stored, we said our goodbyes and made our separate ways home.
Valerie Bishop, Chairman of Bristol North West Federation
Though the world is full of sadness, and the night is dark and long, The light of dawn sees hope returning, so raise your voice once more in song. Praise His name – to Him the glory, who sent His only Son to Earth. Sing again our favourite carols praising God for Jesus’ birth.
VIEWER’S REVIEW Logging on to watch the carol service on 4 December, we saw Bristol Cathedral decorated with Christmas trees and white flowers, and were welcomed by Canon Nicola Stanley and the Lord Mayor of Bristol. The first singing was from Bristol Cathedral Choir – a marvellous sound. Southend Vox Chamber Choir also made a wonderful contribution, and traditional carols were sung by the Wulfruna Ladies Choir. We heard readings and saw pictures of Townswomen showing what they had enjoyed during lockdown. In her address, Canon Nicola Stanley drew parallels between the Christmas story and the pandemic. We too might be afraid to venture forth, and things outside are beyond our control, but she reminded us that the angel’s message was to not be afraid. HRH The Princess Royal’s message was that the pandemic has shown us, with the use of the internet, that we’re never too old to learn something new. The service ended with the Southend Vox Chamber Choir singing about a Hawaiian Christmas Day.
Anne Pardon, Shirley (E) Guild For another member’s thoughts on the virtual carol service, see page 17.
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BULLETIN EVENTS ROUND-UP VERSION
Harvest supper
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Chris’s cupcakes
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Pam Coombes of Glastonbury Tor Guild enjoyed our virtual gathering around the bonfire. In November, Beryl Hales hosted a Silent Bonfire Night on Zoom. She reminisced about listening to Terry Wogan, who celebrated the ‘haven of peace’ and the ‘solace of fireworks on the radio’. We learnt that bonfires began with the Celts marking Samhain, the coming of winter, by lighting fires on 31 October – a precursor to Halloween. We also watched recordings of the annual Tar Barrel Rolling contest in Devon, and Sara Trayers told us the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. Beryl explained how fireworks are made, and the science behind producing the colours and showers of sparks. Fireworks, we discovered, were first mentioned in the 13th century; there were fireworks at the wedding of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in 1486. Elizabeth I appointed a Fire Master of England and Shakespeare mentions fireworks in Love’s Labour’s Lost. Traditional Bonfire Night food featured too – from foil-covered potatoes to parkin. Chris Hyett also shared a video showing how she decorated Bonfire Night cupcakes. Other members, including Penny and Val, took part reading poems and talking about their memories of Bonfire Night. It was a very enjoyable evening, full of interesting facts, pictures and fun.
Betty Farr of Nailsea and Backwell Guild on our celebration
B
eryl Hales introduced to harvest hops. Chris Hyett shared the theme of harvest a photo of her great-grandparents – the reward for hard hop picking. work on the land, We talked about harvest racing to get the crop celebrations, and Sara Trayers in before the weather spoilt the shared a short video of ladies Corn dolly produce. For our forefathers, it dancing in a ring to ‘Oats, peas, was a community effort. beans and barley grow’. Readings of autumn poems further As with our forefathers, the evening set the scene. Beryl demonstrated her was a collective effort, and an hour and a craft skills making jam-jar lanterns and a quarter sped by very pleasantly. simple corn dolly – traditionally created from the last corn in the field. See www.the-tg.com/NewCrafts I recalled my memories of Kent, where for instructions on how JOIN I lived as a child – a farmer’s daughter to make Beryl’s lanterns To res US! fascinated by the East Enders who came and corn dollies. place a erve your t
MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY Sheila Baker of Daventry Abbey Guild joined our jollifications. In October, we shared a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party via Zoom, each bringing our own tea and cake! Everyone wore a hat some wore more than one, though not at the same time. I gave a talk about the importance of women in the hat industry, and included a lighthearted look at changing fashions and fashion icons during the 20th century. We heard about the earliest knitted caps and the history of straw hats from National Chair Penny Ryan. Val Comery of Great
a meetin TG Zoom inform g, see the atio Townswn in your om in Conta en newsle ct tter
Barr Guild illustrated a poem by Joyce Grenfell by changing hats for every verse. Ann Pardon of Croydon Shirley (E) Guild had rewritten the Eleanor Farjeon poem, ‘Cats Sleep Anywhere’ to make it about hats. Beryl had made a steamed suet English hat pudding – with custard – which looked delicious. As always, it was another meeting full of TG friendship.
Marie Blewitt’s hat
Interested in Sheila’s online talk for your Guild? See Speaker Information in the Members’ Area of www.the-tg.com
CHRISTMAS SONGS AND CAROLS Trustee Beryl Hales organised some festive online fun. For Christmas Songs and Carols on Zoom we dressed in Christmas wear, ‘decked the halls’ and answered the question, ‘Are you hanging up your stockings?’ Karen from Sedgley (E) Guild had us ‘rocking around the Christmas tree’ with her choir, Christine from Worsley Green talked about the 12 Days of Christmas and Cheryl from Tennyson Guild (right) made us laugh with her ‘Santa Baby’. The words ‘fun’, ‘enjoyable’ and ‘welcoming’ featured in the chat and emails, which is just what we wanted to hear.
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Diary, 1
What's on
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY BULLETIN
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Let’s look forward to 2021 – and these great TG occasions, open to Townswomen across the UK
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INTERNATIONAL R WOMEN’S DAY 2021 STAN T E Monday 8 March to EV Friday 12 March Online event Tickets: An all-event pass costs £5 for members (£10 non-members) and is available now TGHQ contact: Kelli Jones oNow nline
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Because of the unpredictability of the pandemic, the event in Stockport has been cancelled. But we will still be celebrating this Baroness Joan Bakewell important date, with a theme of ‘Writing women into history’, by staging a whole week of online entertainment and inspiring speakers – including Lady Mary Peters and Baronesses Joan Bakewell and Floella Benjamin. Full details will be included in the February newsletter.
NATIONAL GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ FINAL Wednesday 12 May, time tbc Tally Ho Centre, Pershore Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7RN Tickets: £12 spectators; closing date for spectator tickets 16 April
TGHQ contact: contact@the-tg.com, 0121 326 0400 Last year’s postponed National General Knowledge Quiz Final is now finally happening! So get your tickets to watch the teams go head-to-head.
SOC DISTANIAL CING Arrang ements for all even ts will b e subject social-d to the istancin g rules ap plic at the ti able me.
Scarborough, here we come!
CARING FOR CARERS When we postponed Po stponed the Caring for Carers conference to March 2021, it was with the expectation that we would be back to ‘normal’. We still believe that the issues faced by carers are important, but know that if they are to be discussed it should be to our fullest abilities with energy and passion. As vaccines are rolled out, we understand that people’s priorities will lie in reconnecting with the people closest to them and making up for lost time. With this in mind, the conference is being placed on hold with a view to relaunching during 2022, when we will be able to give it the attention it deserves.
AGM 2021 Wednesday 16 June 8am Doors open 10am Meeting starts 4.30pm (approx) meeting closes Scarborough Spa, South Bay, Scarborough YO11 2HD Tickets: Delegate and Banner Carrier tickets are complimentary; Observer ticket price to be confirmed. For more on the application process, see future issues of Townswoman. TGHQ contact: Kelli Jones Despite having to cancel the 2020 AGM, we will be meeting in beautiful Scarborough for this year’s – and for a better-than-ever celebration of our wonderful organisation.
NATIONAL CROWN GREEN BOWLS COMPETITION We hope this will take place at the Moor Park Sports and Social Club in Preston in late July or early August. Look out for more information.
HOW TO APPLY FOR TG EVENTS • Paying by cheque? • For all events apart from the All events – Please make it out to AGM, the easiest option except the ‘Townswomen’s Guilds’. is to visit www.the-tg. AGM – are op en • Please provide your com/shop and apply for to non-mem be bank name, account your tickets online. (carol services rs case-by-case on a number and sort code in • Otherwise, use the new basis). So bring a case a refund is required. Ticket Application Form, friend! which you can download NB: tickets cannot be from the Members’ Area of reserved without payment. the website (www.the-tg.com).
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Social media can be a great way to promote your Guild and keep in touch with news, views and friends. Cheryl May, of Tennyson Guild, explains how two symbols can help
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uring the recent lockdowns, some Tennyson Guild ladies used the time to enhance their computer skills. Some, like Joan and Maureen, now find it convenient to order online food deliveries with confidence and to keep in touch with their families through Zoom. I attended an online summer school run by the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, which represents amateur theatre, that also used Zoom. And although apprehensive at first, I enjoyed learning how to navigate Zoom as much as I enjoyed the drama course. Technology can be daunting for those who need reassurance. How many of us have phoned friends or family in a panic? ‘How did you change the name that Zoom displays to your own?’, ‘How do I get gallery view?’, ‘Why can’t I hear anything?’ – the answer to that one being, ‘Click the unmute button, Mother.’ I am more tech 14 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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savvy now than I was pre-lockdown. It is a learning curve. So what about those # (hashtag) and @ symbols? Socially speaking, they are powerful means of advertising. As Press Officer for Tennyson Guild, I set up a Twitter account earlier this year to advertise our wonderful group and events, and to encourage new members to join us. I have been using my personal Twitter account to promote my published plays for a few years, so I’m no stranger to the @ sign. What is the @ symbol?
The @ symbol is used as a tool on the internet. For those of us who have email
Those special symbols – # and @ – enable us to connect with each other
addresses it is part of our digital address. For example, our Guild’s email address is tennysontwgpublicity@ gmail.com. The first part, tennysontwgpublicity, is the username – the name we chose. The second part refers to Gmail, the service provider. The @ symbol separates the username from the Gmail domain name. The @ symbol is also used on social media sites like Facebook to tag someone. If there is something of interest to my friends in a Facebook post I am writing, I type @ and my list of friends appears. Then I click on the names of people I want to include in my post/message. The fact that I have now added them means that they will see it, and, in some cases, may be notified by a text message etc. The @ symbol is also used on Twitter and other media sites to reply to someone. For example, after I took part in the TG Silent Fireworks Night organised by TG Vice Chair Beryl Hales,
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I made a point of thanking her on Twitter and including her name, @BerylHales1, so that she would see the tweet. I also used #silentfireworks and #townswomensguild to connect my message to similar topics.
us more exposure for our news and so on. As a writer, I usually need to research something or get more background information. Nowadays I click on hashtags as regularly as I Google something.
What is the # symbol?
Things to remember: The # symbol does not work if you use spaces between the words. ● Do not use punctuation. Short, easy to remember hashtags are easier. ● Hashtags only work if your account is public. ● Use the hashtag within or after your tweet or message.
By typing #townswomensguild into my tweet about the TG Silent Fireworks Night I, and anyone else reading my tweet, was able to click on it. Clicking on that link led to information tweeted by our national Townswomen’s Guild, City of Lichfield Guild, TG Chair Penny Ryan and a host of other people who had written something about their own TG group. The # makes it much easier to discover posts about specific topics – for example, #wellbeing or #IsleofWight, or anything else you might be interested in. The use of the # symbol links us to news, events, topics and conversations and gives
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Most important of all… Those special symbols – # and @ – enable us to connect with each other. I enjoy reading tweets and checking hashtags to see what other TG groups are doing. In a climate where we can’t meet up with our social groups, I’m all for staying connected.
QUESTION TIME Guild meetings may have paused when lockdown hit, but that hasn’t stopped new members joining – including Marilyn Tomlinson. Why did you join a TiG? My friend, Judith Yates, piqued my interest when she told me about the relatively new TiGs (Townswomen Internet Guilds) and how she was learning to use Zoom in the Whiteboard Wednesday class. I was not a TG member, had never used Zoom before, and had always avoided FaceTime and so on. I was rather hesitant, but was beginning to realise how it could help with
feelings of isolation during lockdown. After several prompts from Judith, I agreed to her contacting you to sign me up as a TiG guest. (With the proviso that I would not get too involved!) What have you done since? I signed up for the online ‘How to be Crafty with Marilyn Tomlinson
SHOUT ABOUT TSGs To explain who we are and what TSGs (Townswomen’s Student Guilds, for women over 16 and in full-time further or higher education) are all about, we have added a new video to our website and the TSG Facebook page. Please share this so that students can see what they will be gaining by joining. The TSG images (above) have been made using maps to show that TSG members may come from all over the UK. This was the idea of their maker, Jackie Ward, who uses many recycled materials in her work. You can see what else she does at www.treehuggery.co.uk.
Janice and Sheila’ and enjoyed the experience so much, I instantly decided to become an Associate Member (with the proviso that I would not get too involved!). In less than a month, I had attended the Whiteboard Wednesday sessions, the craft sessions and the TiG fortnightly meeting, plus a Zoom meeting of the local TiG! (Did I say that I would not get too involved?) How do you feel about being a member now? I am really enjoying the experience and I now know so much more about the organisation in general. I love the accessibility of the Zoom TiG meetings and hope
this continues after we are done with this horrible pandemic. The logistics of attending/ travelling to local TG meetings is not always easy or even possible for many people, plus having a mix of members from across the country makes things diverse and interesting. I do realise that not all are able to engage in the power of the internet, but for those who can try to master a few basics, it is a convenient and most enlightening experience. Marilyn has now joined the TiGgers i-Guild. Interested? See www.the-tg.com/ townswomens-iguildinformation
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RECRUITMENT BULLETIN
YOUR TG LETTERS VERSION REPRO OP
Mailbag
For the next issue, email letters to mailbag@ the-tg.com or post to TGHQ by 12 February – email may be preferable due to Covid-19
Email mailbag@the-tg.com or write to Mailbag at Townswomen’s Guilds, Gee Business Centre, First Floor, Gee House, Holborn Hill, Birmingham B7 5JR SUBS
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Please note: letters may be edited or omitted, and may be published on www.the-tg.com as well as in Townswoman. The views expressed in Mailbag are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Townswomen’s Guilds or the publisher
STAR LET TER
Are you aware that after the age of 70, we do not automatically get our three-year breast cancer check-up mammogram? In fact, you have to ring up to book an appointment! For my 73rd birthday, and my husband’s two months later, we booked a South American cruise on the Queen Victoria (there was no Covid on our ship). We set off on 25 February, arrived in Santiago on the 26th, and set sail. That’s when my world changed for ever. The next morning, I discovered a lump under my right breast. The ship’s doctor recommended I saw a specialist, the nearest being in Lima, Peru! I preferred to see my own doctor when we returned on 18 March. My doctor confirmed the diagnosis and made an urgent referral to our main NHS hospital in Newport. On 23 March, coronavirus hit the UK, and the hospitals were full of Covid patients. Our only
option was to go privately, and we managed to get the last appointment on 1 April. At the last minute, we were told the NHS needed the private hospital beds and, when I heard that, I cried. The specialist said if we could get to the hospital ASAP he would see me. This we did, by the skin of our teeth! I had the consultation, mammogram, ultrasound scan and also a biopsy, which was sent off immediately. I was amazed to be contacted on 17 April by a local NHS hospital which had my private scans – and no Covid issues – to go for the assessment. I had
a Covid test, which was fine, and was told the operation would be on 20 April. The operation went well – a tumour and two lymph nodes were removed. I was even able to go and clap the NHS from the window! Six weeks later I had radiotherapy and now I take letrozole tablets, and will do so for five or more years. I have my own breast cancer nurse, who I can contact any time, and will have an annual mammogram. I was one of the lucky ones and I’m now in the system. If reading this helps even just one TG lady, it will be worth it. Chris Robinson, Chairman, Chepstow Jubilee Guild
STAR LETTER PRIZE
Chris wins a Martha Hill Evening Primrose Skin Care set, worth £34.90, from natural health and beauty specialist Beauty Naturals. The set includes Cleansing Lotion, premoisturising Toning Gel, soothing daytime Moisturiser and night-time Nourishing Cream, giving all-day care and protection, helping maintain smooth supple skin and minimising the appearance of fine lines. All products are formulated using the finest herbal ingredients, as well as being cruelty-free, UK-made and free from artificial fragrance and colour. To see Beauty Naturals’ extensive range of health and beauty products, visit www.beautynaturals.com or call 01780 470802 for a brochure.
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Mailbag, 1
SINGING TG’S PRAISES
A DAY TO REMEMBER
I have just watched TG’s virtual National Carol Service. I was the third person to log on and was fascinated to see the number of people watching it increasing. The service was very uplifting and really got me into the spirit of Christmas. Thanks to whoever had such a great idea and to those who made it work. I was taken back to the times when my choir, made up of members of Dore and Totley Guilds, was chosen to sing at three National Carol Services. First, we sang in Liverpool Cathedral, and this was followed by singing in the aweinspiring York Minster. Finally we sang in Lincoln Cathedral. Three fabulous cathedrals where, on each occasion, I was very proud and thankful to be a member of TG. Shirley Wilks, Totley (M) Guild
Despite Remembrance Day events being cancelled due to the lockdown, many Guilds marked the occasion. Here are just two. * Several Guild members usually attend the Chester-le-Street service and lay a wreath. Although we couldn’t do this, our Guild sent a donation to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal as we know it is suffering from a loss in income this year. Doreen Yeates, Chester-le-Street Guild * Member Mary Clark delivered a wreath she had knitted for the Royal British Legion 11/11 Poppy Challenge to World War II veteran William Carter (right). He was thrilled – and asked for it to be hung on his front door. Sedgley (E) Guild
For more on the Carol Service, see page 10.
A TURN UP FOR THE BOOKS Thank you to all those who, after reading the letter in the last magazine, wrote to tell us about their Be-Ro books. This is the earliest edition mentioned. * I am writing in response to the letter from Gillian Davis, Perton Jubilee Guild, in which she refers to the Be-Ro cookery book. She mentions that she has a copy, given to her by her mother,
Barbara with Royton Guild’s knitted creations
We only ublish ace to p have sp letters. r u yo f o l a handfu ve something ha So if you out your Guild, ab e to share uild pag n your G or your post it o te si G web page, on the T cebook Guild Fa r local u yo t le and unity r comm paper o ow. n k te si web
and that it is the 37th edition. In fact the one I have from my mother is the sixth edition. Included in my copy is a reference to ‘The Be-Ro Demonstration Kitchen and Tea Lounge at the North East Coast Exhibition, Newcastleon-Tyne, May-October, 1929’. So I imagine the sixth edition was probably published about that time. Sheila Pank, Gants Hill (E) Guild
HELPING OUR NHS Due to Covid-19 our Guild’s activities came to an abrupt halt in March. But we have all continued to keep in touch and are thrilled to have been helping out the NHS by knitting cannula covers – tiny sleeves for covering intravenous tubes – for babies in Royal Oldham Hospital. As well as the cannula covers, we have knitted blankets, hats and cardigans. Charity and goodwill are at the heart of TG and we’re always ready and willing to help with a good cause. In this instance it has also given us a purpose during this difficult time – plus it has been featured in the local press, which is excellent publicity for our Guild. Barbara Micklethwaite, Chairman, Royton Guild
A GOOD READ
I very much enjoyed the ‘Partners in crime’ book reviews in Townswoman and wanted to mention my son’s crime mystery books. Several friends in my Guild have read and enjoyed them very much. His name is Andy Griffee and he has had two books published in the Johnson & Wilde Mystery Series. The first was called Canal Pushers and the sequel is River Rats. A third book, Oxford Blues, is out in July. They follow the fortunes of an unemployed journalist called Jack Johnson, who lives on a narrowboat called Jumping Jack Flash. The books are set on various canals and waterways of the UK and are inspired by true stories. There is also a strong romantic theme as Jack is helped on his adventures by a young army widow called Nina Wilde. I am sure the books would be enjoyed by TG members. Kay Griffee, Hamworthy (E) Guild
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YOUR TG GUILDS & FEDS VERSION REPRO OP
Townswomen together
For th e nex t issue email , pictur conta ct@th es to e-tg.c or pos t to TG om, H by 12 Febru Q, ary
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Recent times might have been tough, but Townswomen still make sure they support their communities and nurture their friendships LEST WE FORGET Christina Shinton, Vice Chair of Yate and District Guild, laid a Remembrance Day wreath at St Mary’s Church.
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2020 VISION The ever-resourceful craft group of Burnham Guild were inspired to produce this banner reflecting 2020.
SHARE YOUR SNAPS We have space to publish only about 15% of the pictures we receive, but we post as many as we can on www.the-tg.com. We also suggest that you put your pictures and activity reports on your Guild page on the TG website, and share them with the local press.
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TOGETHER AGAIN Knowle Guild members were thrilled to meet again at their socially distanced outdoor gathering in October.
Guilds & Feds, 1 MAKING MASKS AND FORGING COMMUNITY LINKS At the start of the Covid pandemic I saw a message on the local neighbourhood site asking if people would be prepared to help to sew face coverings. I emailed Guild members to see if anyone was willing to get involved. In true TG spirit several members came forward – Pam, Sue, Anna and Doreen. I was delighted with the response and before long all five of us were busy sewing, with other Guild members donating material. As time has gone on the need has grown and local hospices, health visitors, care staff and NHS workers have all benefited. By the autumn, when I wrote to Townswoman, the group was over 200 strong,
comprising people from all around the area, and had made and delivered over 53,000 masks. Shelagh Cheetham, the organiser, was delighted with the response, thanking volunteers for their amazing contribution. All group members are still busy sewing in their own homes and there is still a great need. We’re pleased to have been a small cog in this huge wheel and it’s good to know that our efforts have protected those who work with the elderly and the sick and in our schools and colleges. I certainly will continue to make the masks while there is a need.
Jo Fox, Dronfield Woodhouse Guild Chair
Pam, Sue, Jo, Shelagh (the organiser) and Anna
HELPING HANDS Jean Kelly of The Hub, a local community association, was delighted to receive hand-knitted twiddlemuffs – which give comfort to dementia sufferers – from Portchester (E) Guild Secretary Marjorie Brand (left). All had been made by Guild members.
TICKLED PINK Rugeley Rebels Guild organised Zumba, a raffle, coffee mornings and more – all in groups of six for a pandemic-friendly version of their annual Wear it Pink campaign, fundraising for Breast Cancer Now.
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WREATH LAYING – LIVE AND ONLINE On 7 November, City of Lichfield Guild visited the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Alrewas to lay a poppy wreath at TG’s National Memorial. For the previous four years, I had laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Lichfield, but in 2020, owing to Covid restrictions, there wasn’t to be any formal ceremony. So I made a group booking at the NMA and ordered a large civic wreath from the British Legion. Reverend Prebendary Janet Waterfield, Rural Dean of Lichfield, agreed to conduct the ceremony and I also invited neighbouring Rugeley Rebels Guild to attend and lay a wreath. The weather was very misty, almost ethereal on the morning, and it suited the mood. The ceremony was filmed by Fraser Hinch Video Productions and then livestreamed on Facebook for all TG members to be able to tune in to watch at 11am. At the next monthly meeting, it was agreed by the committee and members of City of Lichfield Guild that this will now be an annual event.
Jane Dayus-Hinch, City of Lichfield Guild Chairman
FAIRY GODMOTHER Maureen Tankins of Uplands and District Guild made and sold these beautiful fairy houses, with proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation.
WARM-HEARTED Members of Bramley Guild received a special thank you from domestic abuse charity Rotherham Rise for hand-knitting these cardigans and jumpers for families in refuge this winter.
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FLOWER GIRLS Wickford (A) Guild’s craft club created beautiful flower arrangements.
Guilds & Feds, 2 STEPPING OUT Sedgley walking group got out and about for a socially distanced walk.
BADGE OF HONOUR National Chair Penny Ryan presented Margaret Flowers, one of Darrick Wood (E) Guild’s founder members, with her 50-year service badge at a celebratory lunch.
IN THE SWING Shirley (E) Guild headed off for a socially distanced ramble – and walk leader Pam Lees tried out a swing they discovered in the woods.
Because of the number of pictures received, only a selection will be published and we are unable to reply to submissions
TEA FOR FIVE At a surprise tea at a local hotel, Audrey Mynard (centre), 94, was presented with her 60-year service badge and certificate. Joining her were three Guild members and her daughter.
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OUR CAMPAIGNS SPOTLIGHT
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In the second of our series about TG’s new campaign to protect our planet, National Trustee Maureen Brown explores food and climate change
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ave you thought about food today? I think about it when I wake up hungry or when I have to think yet again about what to have for tea, but until I started to research climate change I never thought about how global warming might affect the food on our tables. The long-term changes in weather patterns across the globe are starting to have an effect on our ability to feed ourselves. Extreme weather events such as the wildfires in the USA and droughts in Africa are affecting the food supply, not just directly with crop failures, but also indirectly when the transportation of food is delayed, leading to spoilage. At the moment, it is the poorer countries of the world, with the fewest resources, who are feeling the effect of climate change the most. But if we don’t reduce global emissions and halt the rise of global temperatures, we will all start to feel the effects of food shortages and price rises. Most of us are aware that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, gas, oil and petrol are Deforestation causes more carbon dioxide contributing to global warming. However, to be released into methane from livestock is also a factor. the atmosphere Climate change is affecting our ability to feed ourselves, but food production itself is impacting on climate change. up an area of land the size of North, The major factor in this is the way we Central and South America combined, produce our meat, and the sheer scale of and the industry produces nearly a sixth how much meat we eat. Take a look at of global greenhouse gas emissions.’ what Greenpeace says about the issue. And there appears to be no sign that ‘Over the past 50 years, meat the rate of meat consumption is slowing production has more than down. Already each quadrupled. Today, more year, more forests Take a look at than half the mammals are cleared to ter let ws ne TIC the on the planet are provide land for about In Our Hands, sent to livestock, and the impact animal feed or to all members of this shift has been house livestock, not this month enormous. Grazing and good for the feeding these animals takes indigenous people 22 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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living there or for wild animals. Many forests are burned, releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and fuelling global warming. Trees are still the most effective way we have to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and we need more land available to plant trees, not less. An additional factor is that meat production also requires a huge amount of water, an increasingly precious resource. The agricultural sector accounts for 70% of all global freshwater use – and by 2030, according to United
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In Our Hands
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Eating more fruit and vegetables is good for the planet and our health Nations estimations, demand for fresh water will exceed supply by 40%. I am sure this has given you a lot to think about. Maybe you feel that it is unstoppable, but it doesn’t have to be – there is still time to make a difference. SMALL STEPS, BIG DIFFERENCE
To help halt global warming we will all have to cut our consumption of meat and eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. We will all have seen the growing trend of people eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. That may be an option for some of you, but you don’t have to cut meat out altogether – just try to eat less of it. The supermarkets have a growing variety of vegetable-based meals and ingredients for us to try out, and there are recipe books and instructions online for meat-free meals. Eating more fruit and vegetables is not only good for the planet but good for our health, as early deaths could be prevented if we all ate a low-meat diet. TAKE ACTION
To help halt global warming we must also cut down on food waste. How much food do you think is wasted? If asked a year ago, I might have said 10% or 20% but, although estimates vary, it is thought to be that a third to half of the food produced is wasted. Some of this waste happens in the supply chain, with the producers or supermarkets. The charity FareShare works with supermarkets and suppliers to distribute food that would otherwise go to waste to charities, which then redistribute it to the hungry. You might be able to help too – check out www.fareshare. org.uk for more information.
Cutting down on food waste will help halt global warming
Unfortunately, in the UK a lot of food goes to waste in the home. While figures show that increased awareness of the issue has seen levels of food waste fall, there is still £14bn worth of food wasted a year – the equivalent of £700 a year for an average family with children. As all the food we produce uses valuable resources – land, water and energy – to both produce and transport, this waste is something that we should be avoiding. Luckily, it is also something we can all tackle by taking the time to think a little more carefully about the food we buy and by planning our meals and shopping to avoid waste. In future articles we will look more at waste in general and how it is affecting climate change. In the meantime, we would welcome your thoughts on the issue of food and climate change, in particular any tips to avoid food waste, or perhaps your favourite meat-free recipes, which we can share on our website. Community Fridge Network is a charity that is tackling food waste – and feeding and bringing communities together at the same time – Methane all across the UK. from Find out more on livestock page 38. adds to
USEFUL RESOURCES FRIENDS OF THE EARTH ● Hub with links to food waste and farming issues, plus low-meat and meat-free recipes. https://friendsoftheearth.uk/food GREENPEACE ● There’s a Monster in my Kitchen – a short animated film about a boy’s friendship with a jaguar, whose forest home is being burned by the meat industry. www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/ monster-film-deforestation- true-story ● ‘How much meat should I be eating?’ – article about reducing meat consumption. www.greenpeace.org.uk/ news/how-much-meat-should- i-be-eating ● General information on food-related issues. www.greenpeace.org/ international/tag/food
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OUR CAMPAIGNS SCRAPBOOK VERSION REPRO OP
Speaking truth to power
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Politicians work for us – and petitions are an important way of telling them what we care about. But, says Rhiannon Batsford, not all online petition sites are created equal
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ovember 2020 marked 10 years since the launch of the UK Government and Parliament’s petitions website. Through this website, found at https:// petition.parliament.uk, it is possible to submit petitions calling for action from the UK Government and to sign petitions submitted by other people. Unlike other online petition websites, such as www.change.org, the UK Government and Parliament site is monitored by a Petitions Committee, which serves as a direct link with Parliament. Petitions that reach 10,000 signatures will receive a response from Government; at 100,000 signatures a petition will
almost always be debated in Parliament (provided the issue has not been debated recently and is not scheduled for debate in the near future). We know that TG members like to support
petitions, and social media makes it easy to share petitions from across the web – but for petitions calling on the Government to take action, it is important that you focus just on the UK
Government and Parliament petition website. It is the only site that the Government has an obligation to respond to, and it is far better to focus petition attention there rather than on petition sites that will go ignored. So if you see a petition that you feel strongly about on another website, it’s worth looking to see if the UK Government and Parliament site has anything on the same topic. You can find advice on how to set up a petition and how the site works at https:// petition.parliament.uk/ help – so take a look, explore the open petitions and lend your support where you feel you can. And if you are on social media, share the petitions you sign to help them reach the thresholds for Government action.
URGENT PROPOSALS FOR 2021 AGM With no new mandates passed in 2020, we intend to bring the 2020 proposals to the 2021 AGM. However, we are also aware that a lot can happen in a year and that there may be issues that have arisen which cannot be held for another time. Therefore, please let us know if there is an issue which you feel: ● cannot wait until the 2022 AGM ● can be voted on without need for discussion TAKE ACTION
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is not covered by an existing mandate that would allow TG to campaign on it ● otherwise falls under mandate proposal requirements. If you would like to send something to us, please do so in writing (by email, if possible, to rhiannon @the-tg.com, or to the usual TGHQ
●
address) and as soon as possible. The Trustees will consider your submission and may, at their discretion, choose to bring it to the AGM. Please note that due to time restrictions, restrictions, we we will only consider topics topics that that can can be be understood and voted on without speakers or debate.
Scrapbook, 1
UNDER-18 MARRIAGE
MODERN SLAVERY
At our 2018 AGM in Brighton, its second reading on 13 a mandate was passed calling November and we had hoped for marriage before the age we would be able to provide of 18 to be made illegal in the you with more information UK. The aim was to protect in this issue. However, due vulnerable young people to Covid, this has now been from forced marriage, pushed back to 26 and TG wrote to key February 2021. We politicians to further at HQ will continue this cause. to monitor the Bill’s In October 2020, progress and will Pauline Latham MP report anything of tabled a Ten Minute note as it surfaces. Pauline Latham Rule Bill calling In the meantime, for a change in the you can read law which would prevent more on the official www. marriage of those aged parliament.uk website – under 18 even with parental and perhaps you could write permission. The Marriage to your local MP letting them and Civil Partnership know about TG’s mandate (Minimum Age) (No.2) Bill and encouraging them to 2019-21 was originally due support the Bill.
Some progress has also been made on another issue highlighted by a 2016 TG mandate – modern slavery. In September, the Government announced new regulations demanding that public bodies, such as local councils, report every year on what they are doing to prevent slavery in their supply chains. This extends the requirement from big business to the public sector – something shown to be of immense importance following reports of concerning practices by suppliers of personal protective equipment to public bodies.
TG supports any and all actions that will see an end brought to the systems that allow for vulnerable people to be exploited and worked in slave-like conditions, and it is good news that the public sector will be held to account to ensure it is not gaining from work done by modernday slaves. Anti-slavery campaigners now want the legislation to be given more power, by introducing tougher penalties for those who don’t comply with reporting, and making companies legally responsible for preventing modern slavery in their supply chains. New regulations are being brought in to help put an end to modernday slavery
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Remarkable Women, 1
REMARKABLE WOMEN LIVING VERSION
Fanny Hensel
REPRO OP
Many female composers and musicians have been written out of history. Postgraduate researcher Alice Borrett introduces just one… Talented pianist and composer Fanny Hensel
ART PRODUCTION CLIENT
Fanny was expected to learn to play and write music simply as a hobby able to gain her parents’ approval for the two of them to get married. Fanny continued to compose works at the encouragement of Wilhelm, and also Felix, who admitted that her music was just as good as his. While he disagreed with the idea of Fanny publishing her own works, he published a number of her pieces under his name, including the song ‘Italien’. Fanny wrote over 400 works, most for piano and voice, and, with her husband’s support and convincing, published her first work at the age of 41, just a year before her death. Musicologists who have re-examined the works of Felix Mendelssohn now
believe that a number of them were actually written by Fanny. She has also now been credited as being the pioneer of the musical style ‘Songs Without Words’.
THE AUTHOR After completing a BA and MMus at the University of Hull, Alice Borrett – shown here at her graduation – is now working towards her PhD. Her research is focused on women in music.
Alamy
SUBS
F
anny Hensel (1805-1847) has been described as ‘a pianist of rare talent’ and ‘one of the most prolific female composers of the 19th century’. However, she is often overlooked during the study of music history and is certainly far less well known than her brother, Felix Mendelssohn. Fanny and Felix were given the same musical education growing up, and in letters Felix has said that he believed his sister to be more talented than him. However, despite Fanny’s obvious gift, her father and brother discouraged her from pursuing music as anything more than a talent, and certainly did not approve of her wanting to publish any of her works. And so, although the siblings were educated to an equal standard, the purpose of such an education was widely different. Fanny was expected to learn to play and write music simply as a hobby, and in order to entertain guests and impress a husband. Felix, however, was encouraged to pursue music as a career. This is very telling of the time. In the early 19th century, upper-class women such as Fanny were not expected to participate in activities outside of the home. Instead, they were expected to maintain a home, raise children and entertain visitors. Felix, of course, became a household name. And the fact that Fanny did not is very likely because of her gender, which meant she was denied the same opportunities as her brother. While Fanny’s brother and father both discouraged her from pursuing music within the public sphere, her husband, Wilhelm Hensel, instead encouraged her talents and eventually persuaded her to seek publication. Wilhelm was an artist who – despite being from a family of a lower class and 11 years older than Fanny (they met when she was just 16) – was
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LIVING TWO’S COMPANY VERSION REPRO OP
Sisters in arms The Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) Association supports ex-servicewomen. Its Buddy Buddy scheme, launched during the Covid-19 lockdown, pairs members for regular phone chats. Caroline Roberts talks to two women who are benefiting
SUBS ART
C
PRODUCTION CLIENT
arole Tyler and Sally Cadec speak every Monday at 4pm. That’s 4pm sharp. ‘You can tell Sally’s been in the army because she rings dead on the hour,’ says Carole. ‘And when it’s my turn, I do the same and she picks up immediately. Punctuality is second nature for us both.’ They have never met and, in many ways, their army careers have been very different. Carole, 81, from Lincolnshire, joined in 1957 as a tuba player in the corps band, serving in Germany, the Netherlands and Cyprus before leaving after two years to get married. Sally, 59, from Dorset, joined as an officer in 1989, just three years before the WRAC was merged with the men’s army. By the time she retired in 2004, she had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. Nevertheless, the two women find plenty of common ground when reminiscing about their time in the forces. ‘You can immediately understand where someone’s coming from when they talk about square bashing during training at Guildford, and NAAFI breaks,’ says Sally. ‘It’s a shared language you slip into and it means you can really relate to them.’
Carole playing the tuba…
DOWN MEMORY LANE
They both have plenty of stories to share. When Carole joined the WRAC, she was hoping to be a driver or a typist, or serve with the military police. But when recruiters found that she was almost six feet tall and had played the bugle and drums in the Girls’ Brigade, they had other ideas. ‘They said, “You’re a big girl so you’d suit one of our big instruments” and brought in a tuba so I could feel the weight. It was about three stone. I used to march 28 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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miles through London playing in the Lord Mayor’s Procession.’ She even got a cameo appearance in the closing scene of the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant. ‘I was one of three tuba players in the front rank. That’s my claim to fame,’ she laughs. ‘I enjoyed the sisterhood that came with being in an all-female band. All 16 of us lived together in a billet and I still keep in touch with quite a few. Sally joined so long after I left and it’s
…and with her late husband, Don
AT YOUR SERVICE
Their voluntary work is another big topic of conversation, with both women volunteering for veterans’ organisations. As well as having a paid job running the office for a security consultancy, Sally is a long-standing volunteer for the SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, and has recently stepped back in as Chairman of the Dorset branch after a previous eight-year stint in the role. Carole is Chairman of her local WRAC Association and
A regular contact to touch base with is really important
Sisters in Arms, 1
fascinating to hear first-hand how it affected people when the WRAC was disbanded,’ she says. ‘I don’t think I would have liked some of the changes, but you have to keep moving forward.’ Was army life harder? ‘Possibly,’ says Sally. ‘You were in competition with your male counterparts for positions and postings. There was no slack given and you were expected to do the same physical fitness tests as the men.’ After the forces were merged, Sally became the first female officer with an all-male tank regiment, acting as assistant to the adjutant, who is responsible for personnel and discipline. Like Carole, she served in Germany and Cyprus, with operational tours in Bosnia and Sierra Leone. ‘Bosnia was a beautiful country, albeit ravaged by war, and Sierra Leone was very different, but also war-torn and with huge poverty.’
…and at a dinner for former officers at the House of Lords
Sally on parade…
is a caseworker for the Royal British Legion, carrying out assessments for grants to former soldiers in need. It’s just one of a dizzying number of volunteer roles that she has undertaken over the years, ranging from AIDS and HIV counselling to marshalling on fun runs. Once back in civvy street, Carole finally realised her ambition of joining the police and worked as a custody officer as well as volunteering for 25 years as a special constable. More recently her roles have included proofreading murder case statements and role playing a criminal to help with police training. ‘I’ve been arrested for shoplifting six times in Mablethorpe. The officers chase you round the shop, then you get arrested and handcuffed. It’s full of customers and only the manager knows it’s a set-up. Once, a woman shouted at me, “You should be ashamed of yourself at your age!”’
Carole misses the active life she had pre-coronavirus, particularly as she lost her husband, Don, in July 2019 after over 60 years of marriage. ‘Lockdown has been horrendous. We lost a couple of WRAC Association members and I wasn’t able to go to the funerals. But I do try to keep in touch with everybody, especially the ones who live on their own.’ It would be great if the Buddy Buddy scheme could continue after the pandemic, says Sally. ‘It’s not always easy for older people to get out and about and I suspect they might feel more reticent about doing so when things do open up. A regular contact to touch base with is really important.’ ‘It would be nice if we could meet once all this virus business is over,’ adds Carole. ‘We have such a lot to talk about. It’s funny to think I’d have to salute her if we were back in the army.’
THE WOMEN’S ROYAL ARMY CORPS ASSOCIATION The WRAC The WRAC Association Association is a charity that provides ffriendship riendship and support to more than 3,000 female army veterans through a network of regional branches, as well as participation in events and parades. Membership is open to women who served
in the in the Auxiliary Auxiliary Territorial Territorial Service Service (ATS), (ATS), WRAC WRAC or or the the British Army. Army. British The association also has a benevolent fund to help former servicewomen experiencing hardship. You only need to have served for one day to be eligible to apply.
Grants are means-tested and can cover a wide range of things, including household adaptations, TVs and licences, care home fee top-ups and transport costs. If you would like to find out more about the WRAC Association and the help that’s available, visit its website at www.wracassociation.org.uk.
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VERSION
To get your garden buzzing
WORLD BEE DAY
REPRO OP
is on 20 May. Why not plan something with your Guild to spread the word about the importance of these pollinators?
SUBS
Bees are at the heart of a healthy ecosystem. Tanya St Pierre – Project Manager, Get Cumbria Buzzing!, Cumbria Wildlife Trust – explains how to secure their survival
ART
Wild bees, including bumblebees and solitary bees, are vital pollinators. Nationally, 23 bee and flower-visiting wasp species have gone extinct in the UK since 1850. Here’s how to help.
PRODUCTION
1. GETTING STARTED Planning your garden now will reap rich rewards. Identify sunny, shady and sheltered areas and enjoy a gardener’s guilty winter pleasure – browsing seed catalogues! Choose wisely and your garden will be buzzing and blooming from March to October. Look for single flowers to give easy access to pollen and nectar. Borage with its blue starry flowers is brilliant. Foxgloves are great for shade. Viper’s bugloss is a bee magnet – it refills with nectar, and keeps the bees coming back for more.
CLIENT Chris Lawrence, Penny Frith, Shutterstock
2. BEES’ NEEDS Create a ‘des res’ for solitary bees. Choose a block of natural, untreated wood and drill holes of various sizes, from 2mm up to 10mm, along one side, without going right through the wood. Fix in a sunny spot between 30cm and 300cm from Ashy mining bee
the ground. Bumblebees often nest in pre-loved spaces such as bird boxes or old mouse holes. 3. PLANT A TREE Bees love the blossom of fruit trees such as pear, plum and apple, including crab apple. Watching the pennies? Plant young barerooted trees or whips – usually available until the end of February – while they are dormant. Or splash the cash on bigger containergrown specimens. 4. REACH FOR THE SKY Clothe walls or fences with climbers. Fragrant clouds of honeysuckle are heavenly for bumblebees whose long tongues seek nectar from trumpet-shaped flowers. Ivy is an autumn must-have. Its delicate, yellow globe flowers provide late nectar and pollen. 5. PUT THE MOWER AWAY Leave a patch of lawn to grow a bit wild. Different species of bee need both long and short grass for nesting sites. 6. PLANT A MINI MEADOW Stunning wildflowers grow best in poor soil – remove a patch of turf and rake the ground. Look for packets of native and local wildflowers (don’t take seeds from wild plants). Cornfield annuals will flower this year; perennial meadow flowers next year. 7. SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL Fill window boxes or planters with bee-friendly flowers. Scented
Red mason bee
lavender is a winner, or try white and yellow poached egg plants, and herbs like marjoram. In autumn switch to bulbs or corms such as early crocus – in February its sweet nectar revives early-flying bees. 8. BEE WATERING HOLES Bees need a drink. If you haven’t got a pond, collect different-sized smooth pebbles and arrange in a shatterproof shallow dish or plantpot tray. Top up with water. 9. LEARN TO LOVE YOUR BEES Start with a basic ID chart and you’ll enjoy watching bees all the more. Red mason bees, with thick ginger hair, nest in old, soft mortar or hollow stems. They build tiny mud walls to separate cells where larvae develop. Leafcutter bees cut circles out of leaves and use sticky saliva to glue pieces together, creating tiny nests to lay eggs. Look out for holes in rose leaves, one of their favourites. 10. DISCOVER MORE For lists of flowers, ‘how to’ activity sheets and bee ID charts, visit www.wildlifetrusts.org and www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk.
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Top Tips, 1
ASK THE EXPERT LIVING
LIVING CLOCKING IN VERSION REPRO OP SUBS
A day in the life... Hope for Tomorrow is a charity that brings cancer care closer to patients’ homes through special Mobile Cancer Care Units (MCCUs). Nurse and trustee Sarah Bamford, 61, shares her day
ART
INTERVIEW JANE YETTRAM
6.30am PRODUCTION CLIENT
I let the dog and the cats out, then make breakfast. I’m a porridge girl! Nurses never know when they’ll be having lunch, so I need a breakfast that’ll keep me going. Hope for Tomorrow, which supplies the MCCUs, was founded by Christine Mills after losing her husband, David, to cancer. David’s regular 60-mile journey for treatment had been painful, stressful and time-consuming. Knowing that chemotherapy closer to home would have made a huge difference, Christine set up Hope for Tomorrow, with the support of consultant Dr Sean Elyan. In 2007, the first MCCU was launched – the one I work on in Gloucestershire. Cancer care on your doorstep is so beneficial. Some patients have treatment for months or years, often every week or two. They’re on a rollercoaster, and the time taken up by treatment stops them feeling in control of their lives. But with the mobile unit, patients have treatment in their community. It’s less stressful and less tiring. They can get back home and get on with their lives with the people they love.
7.30am I drive to Cheltenham General Hospital to prepare for a day on the unit. There are now 13 MCCUs across England, including two reserves. Each is allocated to and staffed by an NHS Trust. In 2019, 17,000 treatments were administered in 39 different locations! 32 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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8am At the hospital I meet up with Monica – two nurses staff each MCCU. Today we’re off to the Forest of Dean and we check everything we need to take – the chemotherapy drugs, the patients’ notes… You don’t want to find you’re missing something when you’re 45 minutes from base!
8.45am We load up the Nurse Support Vehicle – a car, also provided by Hope for Tomorrow – and drive to Dilke Memorial Hospital in the Forest of Dean. Our unit uses car parks in small community hospitals, though some use supermarket car parks. The MCCU will be parked up when we arrive – taken there from Gloucester Royal Hospital by our driver, Steve.
9.30am We unload and set up. We’re currently using only three of the unit’s four chairs, to provide distancing during coronavirus. We treat up to 18 patients a day. All have been shielding during the pandemic, but they feel safe here – it’s less risky than a large hospital.
10am Steve welcomes Maddie, our first patient, with a cup of tea. Patients have fixed appointment times so there’s no hanging around. That’s thanks to the bookers organising appointments according to how long each person’s treatment takes. I’ve got to know Maddie, who has breast cancer, really well. Having her treatment in Cheltenham would involve a 50-mile round trip, plus the nightmare The MCCU means patients can be treated closer to home
3.15pm The last short appointment – a blood test for a lady between treatments – before we tidy up. Then Monica and I head back to Cheltenham, while Steve drives the MCCU to Gloucester for the night.
4pm Nurses Sarah (left) and Monica (right) with patient Maddie
and cost of parking. Coming here means a 10-minute drive through beautiful woodland. She says she still needs to live her life and that the MCCU makes cancer a smaller part of it. Maddie reached her 80th treatment in November. Afterwards, she posted on Facebook saying how grateful she is to the NHS and Hope for Tomorrow. She wrote, ‘Treatment has been a social highlight through lockdown, and today was raised by the company of other patients who’ve become friends and two of my favourite chemo nurses.’ That really touched me.
11am All three patients’ chemo is under way. Steve sorts out a roll-along stand for the pump so one lady can nip to the toilet while the chemo keeps infusing. Then Steve makes me a cup of tea. I never take my mask off in the treatment area, so I drink it in the kitchen – we have to plan our cuppas now! In the past, I’d always have a biscuit. That’s one good thing about coronavirus – casual biscuit eating has gone out of the window.
11.30am Maddie is chatting with a newly diagnosed patient. As Maddie puts it, ‘When you’re first diagnosed you think oh my God, I’m going to die. But seeing people like us, happy and joking, gives new patients hope.’
All patients have a good chinwag during treatment. Even with the chairs spaced out it’s more intimate than the hospital. This contact has been a saving grace for many.
1pm I eat lunch, which I bring with me. If we’ve had a cancellation, afternoon patients come in earlier, so we eat around 3.30pm, when all treatments have finished.
1.30pm A patient comes in for his half-hour chemo infusion – afternoons are generally for shorter treatments. A lady who receives her chemo by injection arrives too. It’s a 10-minute job, so it’s marvellous she can have it here instead of travelling an hour to Cheltenham.
2pm
Back at base, we send the bloods off to the lab. I love working on the unit. But it couldn’t happen without everyone playing their part – pathologists analysing bloods, the clinical team phoning patients, pharmacists making up tomorrow’s chemo… And they don’t even get to see the patients’ appreciation.
6pm Back at home, I start making a big threebean chilli. I live with my husband, our daughter, our son and his partner. We’re all one happy band but I’m the chief cook.
8pm I’d love to be watching Bake Off tonight, but I’m chairing our local parish council meeting instead. I also have regular Hope for Tomorrow meetings, as I’m a trustee. Covid has had a big financial impact. With fundraising events having to be cancelled, our income fell by 85% in the first two weeks of the March lockdown. The staff have been working really hard to fill the gap.
11pm
The next patient needs his PICC line flushed. A PICC line – a tube running from a vein in the chest and emerging from the arm – is put in for certain types of chemo. Today, he’s having it dressed and flushed to keep it safe and working.
Time for bed before another day on the unit. I’m passionate about the difference Hope for Tomorrow makes – and Maddie sums it all up: ‘Everyone becomes part of your family. The staff are really good friends as well as professionals, and there’s a feeling with the other patients that we’re all in this together.’
Cancer care on your doorstep is so beneficial
Hope for Tomorrow receives no Government funding and relies solely on donations. For more about the charity or to donate, visit www.hopefortomorrow. org.uk or call 01666 505055. ISSUE 01 2021 THE-TG.COM 33
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A Day In The Life, 1
Another patient collects her medication. She’s on oral chemo, so it’s great she can just pop in and get it.
LIVING HEARING MATTERS VERSION
Sylvia is enjoying life again through the use of new skills and technology
REPRO OP SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT
Listen up Eleven million people in the UK live with hearing loss – and it can affect every part of their lives. By Jane Yettram
I
t was when she realised she couldn’t hear the news on the radio – and that if anyone spoke to her from behind she didn’t even know they were there – that Sylvia Irvine Robertson, now 66, first knew there was something wrong with her hearing. That was over 20 years ago. And 10 years after that, things got worse. ‘I suffered sudden sensorial hearing loss overnight,’ says Sylvia, who’s from Hertfordshire. ‘As a result, I completely lost my hearing in one ear and I have profound loss in the other.’ In the early years, Sylvia coped by being in denial. ‘But when I suffered sudden sensorial hearing loss my life changed dramatically. My job teaching French became untenable, relationships with my 34 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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family were tense and friendships became difficult. I avoided social situations as they were too stressful. Even shopping was a challenge.’ THE RIPPLE EFFECT
The fallout from Sylvia’s hearing loss is far from uncommon and shows that the consequences of deafness go far beyond simply not being able to hear. ‘Deafness and hearing loss have wide-reaching implications,’ explains Angie Platten of Hearing Link, which is part of the larger charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Statistics show that it can affect people’s education and employment opportunities, plus it is linked to an increased risk of dementia.
It can also cause isolation. ‘People may become fearful or anxious in social settings and, because of this, completely withdraw,’ explains Angie. ‘Lack of socialising or communicating with other people can also impact brain health, other types of physical health and mental health.’ ‘Hearing loss creates a vicious circle whereby the sufferer withdraws from social situations and becomes isolated,’
1 in 6 of the UK adult population is affected by hearing loss
Listen Up, 1
6.7 million people could benefit from hearing aids – but only 2 million use them
FACING COVID
Coronavirus, of course, has dealt a blow to those who need to lip-read. ‘It is impossible to lip-read when someone is wearing a face mask, unless it is transparent, and even then there is distortion,’ says Sylvia. ‘Everyday situations, such as dealing with
Many deaf women, past and present, have achieved great things. Here are just a few… Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was a composer, who – as well as many operas and orchestral works – wrote suffragette anthem ‘The March Of Women’. Despite worsening hearing, she completed her choral symphony ‘The Prison’ in 1930 at the age of 72.
Angie Platten of Hearing Link
a bank matter or talking to a pharmacist face to face, are not possible through a mask. Medical appointments are stressful. It takes confidence and determination to overcome the problem by insisting that the other person either writes down what they want to say or types it onto a screen. A speech-to-text app can help, but misinterpretations are common.’ Even those with more limited hearing loss – such as TG’s own National Chair, Penny Ryan, who uses hearing aids – have found that face masks present problems. ‘I became very frustrated during the recording of TG’s National Carol Service,’ says Penny. ‘We had to wear masks, except for when we were doing readings. I needed to wear my glasses to read and also a hearing aid so I could hear what I was being told to do. It took some time to secure the hearing aid so it wasn’t dislodged when the mask went on, but when I took the mask off, the hearing aid became entangled, so that had to come out too. Now when I need to wear a mask I don’t wear a hearing aid and have to keep asking people to repeat themselves. I’m sure everyone must think I’m stupid. I certainly feel it!’ As well as communication on an individual level, there’s also a wider issue with the pandemic – as Angie points out. ‘Another major challenge is having fair access to information. We all rely on updates from the Government and scientists on the TV, but if important broadcasts are not being delivered in a way that is accessible to people who
Paul Wilkinson
confirms Sylvia. ‘The more isolated someone becomes, the harder it is to get back into a social environment. This is a major concern in terms of mental health.’ Of course, avoiding social situations is devastating for people who live alone. But even Sylvia, who lives with her husband, Roland, says she was in danger of developing depression through avoiding social contact. Her solution was to be selective about the social gatherings she went to, and to control the environment – such as seating position and lighting – to make communication easier. ‘This meant I could actually enjoy such occasions, which had a knock-on effect of making me feel happier in myself having overcome a barrier. I do, though, avoid large group social events, particularly dinners, as the noise level is exhausting, and so is the effort required to follow the changing conversation topics.’ With no hearing in one ear, Sylvia is reliant on a hearing aid in the other. ‘Hearing aid technology has moved forward considerably over the past 10 years. My audiologist has worked tirelessly with me to ensure that I get the best possible performance from mine in terms of my hearing levels and my needs.’ But it was lip-reading that transformed Sylvia’s life. ‘Joining a lip-reading class was a real turning point for me in the journey towards taking back control of my life,’ she says. ‘For the first time in years I felt relaxed in a group because we all shared common ground and no explanations were necessary. It was so therapeutic to share experiences and laugh in a supportive environment. Although it takes time to acquire the skill, I gained a vital tool in my ability to communicate, and I became more confident and independent.’
ROLE OF HONOUR
Nellie Zabel Willhite (1892-1991), who lost her hearing at the age of two f rom measles, was the world’s first deaf person to gain a pilot’s licence. Gertrude Ederle (1905-2003), whose hearing loss was also caused by measles, was an Olympian and the first woman to swim the English Channel. Lady Emma Nicholson, 79 – a politician now sitting in the House of Lords – was born with 20% hearing. Whoopi Goldberg, 65, the Oscar-winning actress, uses two hearing aids. She attributes her hearing loss to years of listening to loud music. Dame Evelyn Glennie, 55 – the award-winning percussionist – has been deaf since she was 12. She often performs barefoot so she can feel the music’s vibrations through the floor. Whoopi Goldberg
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Listen Up, 2
LIVING HEARING MATTERS VERSION
Tinnitus can lead to various health problems
LIVING WITH TINNITUS
REPRO OP
‘An estimated one in eight people in the UK live with persistent tinnitus, and this is expected to rise over the next decade,’ says Hearing Link’s Angie Platten. ‘Tinnitus is an awareness of sound in the ears or head which is not from an external source. There are different types of sound – a hiss, whistle, whirr, ring or buzz. Occasionally, it can be segments of music. Someone with tinnitus can find it hard to relax as they are focusing on the sounds, which can lead to fatigue, mental exhaustion, irritability and insomnia.’
SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT
Nearly 42% of those over 50 have hearing loss, increasing to about 71% of those aged 70 or over can’t hear – for example, by using British Sign Language or subtitles – it prevents people who rely on this type of communication getting the same level of information as others. This can make them feel excluded and isolated, and even put their health and safety at risk.’ Unfortunately, though video calls and meetings have helped many during the Covid crisis, they haven’t always been a solution for deaf people. ‘The reliance on video calls has had quite a negative effect on me because I simply cannot make use of them,’ says Sylvia. ‘The sound quality isn’t good enough for me to grasp the speech, and lip-reading doesn’t help much as the screen can freeze or distort. It is frustrating not to be able to take part in family discussions. And I’d love to chat to friends in this way instead of emailing. But without live captions, it isn’t possible.’ One thing that Sylvia has found helpful is the Relay UK app. ‘Since I’m unable to hear on the phone, I make use of this free
regulated service provided by BT. It enables me to read what someone is saying on my mobile phone while the other person hears me. I don’t have to rely totally on someone else to make a call for me.’ IT’S GOOD TO TALK
The crucial thing, Angie stresses, is that if you are experiencing hearing loss you don’t have to struggle alone. ‘People might think hearing loss is a natural part of ageing and therefore is just something we have to live with, but it can really impact your quality of life, so it is important to seek help. If you experience a sudden or unexpected hearing loss you should speak to your GP or seek emergency help. You can also contact the Hearing Link Helpdesk for personalised support from
people who understand the challenges of living with hearing loss.’ ‘Be honest with friends and family,’ adds Sylvia, ‘because most people will respond well, and ask how they can help. I would recommend some sessions with a hearing therapist too, which you can organise via your GP. It is good to talk to someone outside your circle to come to terms with the loss and move forward.’ Most important of all, ‘Be kind to yourself,’ says Sylvia. ‘Think of it as a journey towards a new life, which will not be the same but will be what you make it.’ To contact the Hearing Link Helpdesk, visit www.hearinglink.org/services/helpdesk. For more support, see www.hearingdogs. org.uk/helpingyou
HOW TO HELP There is a lot everyone can do to make communication easier for people with hearing impairment. ‘Being aware that people may have different communication needs, and slightly adapting the way you communicate, is important,’ says Angie Platten. ‘If someone relies on lip-reading, you can make a difference simply by facing them so that they can see your mouth, making sure you speak normally but clearly without shouting, rephrasing things if you need to and even offering to write things down. These small things can make the world of difference to someone who faces communication barriers every day.’
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VERSION
The golden age
REPRO OP
Check out our selection of titles focused on youth – and the young at heart
SUBS
JACINDA ARDERN: A NEW KIND OF LEADER BY MADELEINE CHAPMAN The History Press, £20
ART
THE BOOK A biography of the New Zealander who became prime minister at the age of 37.
PRODUCTION CLIENT
THE REVIEW Jacinda Ardern, current Prime Minister of New Zealand, has impressed many people, but why? This overtly sceptical book is an attempt to find that out. On the one hand she is described as charismatic, a pragmatic idealist, never being known to lie, and appearing to have genuine empathy and a sense of humour. On the other, she is ruthless, determined
DJINN PATROL ON THE PURPLE LINE BY DEEPA ANAPPARA Chatto & Windus, £14.99
and a smiling assassin, who fails to meet her own high standards and is more popular internationally than domestically. However, she led her party to an outright majority in the 2020 election (not covered in the book). What comes across very clearly is that her use of social media signals personal availability rather than selfobsession. Ardern is a career politician, but from the time she served on her school council, her constituents’ needs have come first. The author sums up her impact by saying, ‘What Ardern was unintentionally doing by showing a bit of humanity and good intentions was highlighting the complete lack of these things in other countries’ leaders.’
TOMORROW WILL BE A GOOD DAY BY CAPTAIN TOM MOORE At a time of darkness, we were desperate for light. And Captain Tom – raising £33m for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden – became that beacon. This autobiography brings you the life story of this remarkable man – World War II veteran, motorbike racer and epitome of the young at heart.
TAKE ACTION
• We give you a list of the
featured books to choose from.
• You get about a month to read your chosen book.
• You email or post us your thoughts. Interested? Let Rhiannon at TGHQ know.
Revie Nationwed by Pennyal Chair Ryan
Michael Joseph, £20 A city slum in India, poverty rife, children snatched… But despite being set in the most heartbreaking world, this novel is full of warmth and charm – because we see things through the eyes of Jai, the nine-year-old narrator, who sees himself as a Sherlock Holmes-style sleuth, out to catch the kidnappers. Also out in paperback on 25 March.
REVIEW A BOOK FOR TOWNSWOMAN
KITTED OUT BY CAROLINE YOUNG
The History Press, £18.99
For me, Ardern was summed up by her borrowing a scarf to wear as a hijab when she flew to comfort survivors of the Christchurch massacre. I will watch her future career with interest.
Subtitled Style and Youth Culture in the Second World War, this book looks at the wartime years from a brand-new perspective: through how youngsters – despite being conscripted into khaki or fighting with the resistance – still managed to express their youth, individuality and style.
PEOPLE LIKE US BY LOUISE FEIN
MAKE IT HAPPEN BY AMIKA GEORGE
In 1930s Germany, Nazi power is on the rise. Hetty Heinrich – the novel’s narrator – is the young daughter of an SS officer and a loyal admirer of Adolf Hitler. Then Hetty falls in love with a Jewish boy. Slowly, her eyes open to the horror of the Nazi regime, and she begins to fight against all her father stands for. Also out in paperback on 4 March.
Amika George was just 17 when she began her campaign demanding that the Government fund free period products in schools. Her aim was to stop girls missing out on education because they couldn’t afford pads or tampons. And she was successful. Now 20, this is her guide for all of us on how to change the world.
Head of Zeus, £18.99
HQ, £12.99
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Books, 1
BOOKS TIME FOR YOU
TIME FOR YOU FOOD FOR THOUGHT VERSION REPRO OP SUBS
Waste not, want not
Between er 2019 Novemb er 2020, b to c O and unity m m the Co tw e ork Fridge N ted over u ib redistr nes of 2,000 ton food s lu surp
All across the UK, an ingenious scheme is tackling food waste and feeding communities. By Joe Osborne
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y mum is an environmental engineer and, when we lived in Indonesia, she’d take me to see her work. I was about seven and I’d be going to landfill sites, looking at waste.’ Kanahaya Alam, who until recently was coordinator for the Community Fridge Network (CFN) – an initiative established in 2017 by environmental organisation Hubbub – is explaining how she became interested in food redistribution. ‘Mum was keen to teach me about where things ended up after I’d used them.’ Four years ago, Kana trialled the UK’s first community fridge in Swadlincote, Derbyshire – a fridge ‘that can be accessed by anyone in a community, where individuals and businesses give and take surplus food for free’. It drew immense interest and emails flew in from people looking to get involved. By the following year, the CFN was born, helping set up community fridges nationwide. There are now 110 across the UK – the 100th was opened by Prince Charles in September. ‘He’s always been interested in sustainability,’ Kana explains. ‘So The Prince’s Foundation approached us. ‘It runs cool things like a community café and cooking workshops and wanted
Greener Kirkcaldy Community Fridge
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to make something to attract more people. So it thought “we’ve got the food that the café doesn’t use in time; we can put it in a fridge”. It was an exciting milestone. In just over three years we went from 0 to 100 fridges. By the end of 2021, we hope there will be 200.’ The CFN’s success, Kana believes, comes down to doing things differently. ‘We try to be positive and playful. People want to understand environmental issues and do something about it. But it’s hard to do that when you feel guilty.’ The CFN’s approach is all-smiling and all-inclusive – you don’t need to get referred to use the fridge, you don’t have to pay, nor show proof of income, and there’s no limit to the amount of times you can use it. ‘Fridges are community hubs – somewhere to chat to neighbours, try new food, cook new stuff. They’ve also started running budgeting workshops, food workshops, teaching people how to xxxxx grow food on windowsills. It’s so much more than just giving people free food. Some run a library of things (tools or equipment), some share clothes, toys and books. Some run classes showing people what they can do with the food.’ A Surrey fridge was once filled with hemp milk, making for particularly adventurous cooking. ‘People had never Kana and Prince Charles at a community fridge opening
Visitors browse the food on offer at the Greener Kirkcaldy Community Fridge
heard of it, so they exchanged recipes and worked together. When you go to a fridge, you don’t just pick up the food and go. It’s a really social space – in normal times…’ When Kana spoke to Townswoman, Boris Johnson had just introduced a second national lockdown. ‘A lot of the fridges closed during the first lockdown, but many have pivoted their operations to deliver to vulnerable households and people who are shielding. ‘Covid has unearthed a massive societal inequality. Coupled with climate change – and its impact on the most vulnerable – it means initiatives like community fridges are more important than ever. They have a role in building community resilience in a sustainable way.’ One such resilient community fridge is run by community-led environmental charity Greener Kirkcaldy. Community Food Team coordinator Geraldine O’Riordan explains that their priority has always involved ‘bringing people together and building community. The impact of Covid has not changed anything – we’ve adaptÕ. just had to adapt’.
Robert Thompson
INGREDIENTS ï 250g smoked haddock ñ preferably undyed ï 1 litre (approx) semi-skimmed milk (depending on desired thickness) ï Bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme (optional) ï 300g baby potatoes ï 4 sticks of celery ï 2 large onions ï 2 leeks ï 50g butter ï ❛↔ ✴ ז❂♣ ⑧➸➙ Iain McLellan
Fridges are community hubs – somewhere to chat to neighbours The Kirkcaldy fridge had to close from 20 March until early September. But working with others they established alternative food redistribution services, which tackled increased food demand during the pandemic. From 3 April to the end of August, the Community Meals to Go Kirkcaldy initiative delivered 7,400 meals to households and organisations, and 3,050 meals to Kirkcaldy food banks. Many isolating alone looked forward to the drop-off as it meant a regular chat with a volunteer driver. Each recipient got a weekly phone call and information on other community support and activities. Of the Greener Kirkcaldy volunteers, Geraldine says: ‘They’ve worked tirelessly, their commitment, dedication and can-do attitude has been really inspiring.’
Additionally, before Covid, various workshops (such as a four-week basic cooking and budgeting programme) and a weekly community meal attracted many people. Now, the meal is served every Tuesday as a takeaway, and community chef Iain posts regular recipes online. ‘We’ve had lots of fun coming up with creative ideas to use the food donated to us,’ says Geraldine. There’s no doubt Kirkcaldy’s fridge has played a key role for its community during the pandemic. ‘It really makes a difference,’ says one visitor. ‘The fruit and veg are really fresh. I can make soup, smoothies… lots of things. Some of the items available would be luxury items for me.’ And as another puts it, ‘I’m eating like a king – I haven’t eaten real meat and vegetables other than out of a tin for months.’ For more about the Community Fridge Network, visit www.hubbub.org.uk/ the-community-fridge. And turn to page 22 to read about the issue of food and climate change. TAKE ACTION
METHOD 1. Infuse the milk by putting the haddock in a pot with enough room to cover with semi-skimmed milk. Add bay leaves, peppercorns or ➯✼ɵ❦✙ ✳⑧➙ ⑧➯✼✙➙ ɮ⑧➸➙➡ ❂✳ ✒✙➡❂➙✙✒ِ Put the pot on a low heat, checking the temperature of the milk after 10 minutes; the milk should be hot but not simmering. At this stage, take the pot off the heat and leave to cool a little. Then use a colander in a large ☛⑧ɯ❛ ➯⑧ ➡✙↔➙➯✙ ➯✼✙ ➡✼ ♣✒ ❦❂❛◗ِ 2. Boil the potatoes. When done, cool and leave in a colander for later. 3. Finely dice the celery, then dice the onions. Slice the leeks ñ separate the dark green and white parts. 4. On a medium heat, sweat the white leeks, onion and celery in the butter, stirring occasionally. Try not to let the onions colour. 5. When the vegetables have ➡⑧✳➯✙♣✙✒ً ✒✒ ➯✼✙ ⑧➸➙ ♣✒ ☞⑧❦☛❂♣✙ well on a low heat. 6. Increase the heat to medium/high and add the infused milk gradually, ensuring it is incorporated before adding more. The amount of milk you add will depend on how thick you want the soup. 7. When happy with the consistency, add the diced cooked potato and smoked haddock and gently fold in. 8. Add the green part of the leeks and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes making sure itís not sticking to the pan. 9. Taste for seasoning.
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Food For Thought, 1
CULLEN SKINK
TIME FOR YOU PUZZLES & PRIZES VERSION
Break time BRAIN-TEASERS AND GIVEAWAYS
WIN! THREE CONTIGO TRAVEL COMPANIONS
SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT
The Matterhorn Couture bottle comes in various stylish designs and is super functional too, keeping beverages up to 24 hours cold or up to 10 hours hot. The screw cap ensures that the bottle is 100% leak-proof when the lid is closed. The West Loop travel mug, with its Thermalock double-wall vacuum insulation, keeps drinks hot up to five hours and cold up to 12 hours. Plus, the Autoseal technology automatically seals between sips to prevent leaks and spills. The 720ml Autoseal Chill bottle – with Autoseal and Thermalock technology – keeps drinks icy cold for 28 hours. It also has a hygienic spout cover, protecting against germs, plus a push-button mechanism for one-handed opening and closing.
SUDOKU Train your brain with a sudoku workout. Fill in all the squares in the grid, so that each row, column and 3x3 square contains all digits from 1 to 9. See the TG website for the answers to last issue’s sudokus.
EASY
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For your chance to win, complete the crossword and correctly identify the hidden word. Then send the word to the address on the right to be entered into the prize draw.
OUR DIGITAL WORLD Do your bit for the environment, and support TG’s In Our Hands campaign (see page 24), by checking your carbon footprint at www.footprint.wwf.org.uk and then discovering some tips for reducing it.
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ENTER NOW To enter the crossword competition or giveaways, send the answer (if relevant), along with your name, address, phone number and member ID by email to tgprizedraws@ thinkpublishing. co.uk or on a postcard to Townswomen’s Guilds, Gee Business Centre, Gee House, Holborn Hill, Birmingham B7 5JR. Entries should arrive before 11.59pm on 31 March 2021. Terms and conditions apply: 1. Open to residents in the British Isles only, aged 18 or over, who are members of Townswomen’s Guilds. 2. The prizes: see left and right. 3. To enter: see above. 4. One entry per person. 5. Promotion closes: see above. For full terms and conditions, visit the Members’ Area of the TG website (www.the-tg.com).
PICTURE THIS Add the two pictures on the right together to find the name of a famous comedian and magician who would have turned 100 on 19 March this year.
Picture puzzle answer: Tommy Cooper, born in 1921
REPRO OP
Look out for all winne rs’ names and the crosswor d solution in th e next issue
40 THE-TG.COM ISSUE 01 2021
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Break Time, 1
PRIZE CROSSWORD
For a chance to win this issue’s prize (see left), fill in the crossword and combine the letters in the shaded squares to reveal a place in Britain famous for its spring water. Email or post your answer to the address on page 40 before 11.59pm on 31 March 2021, marking your entry ‘CROSSWORD’. 1
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22 & 29 Eccentric gal gathers up emu and eagle to form precursor to RSPB (see Townswoman Issue 4 2020) (7,6) 24 Flooded dyke creates minor whirlpool (4)
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26 Alpha male turned up unexpectedly to protect castle (4) 30 Large mafia corruption found just south of Naples on the Italian coast (6) 31 Exceptional prettiness won’t disappear overnight (10) Down
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QUICK CLUES Across 1 TG campaign to protect the planet (2,3,5) 7 Very early stage of animal development (6) 9 Classical female follower of Bacchus or Dionysus (6) 12 Official language of Pakistan (4) 13 & 14 National Chair of Townswomen’s Guilds (5,4) 17 Power of the mind or body (7) 18 Region of central Ghana, invaded by the British at the end of the 19th century (7) 19 Senior rank of UK Royal Navy (7) 22 & 29 Group formed to stop the use of bird feathers in fashion (see Townswoman Issue 4 2020) (7,6)
5 Action or legal document (4) 8 Red wine from southwest France (5) 10 The right to vote – first campaign of TG’s predecessor (8)
3 New Yorker finds love in bird sanctuary (7) 4 Country where men are completely immersed in beautiful song (7)
11 French term for hazelnut chocolate (8)
5 An intentional action, whichever way you look at it (4)
15 Promotional description on a book jacket (5)
6 Nab any bananas from a South Asian fruit tree (6)
16 Type of light, enriched pastry (5)
8 Crime documentary set around the wine producing area of southwest France (5)
20 More crazy, more angry (6) 21 Wreath of evergreen leaves worn on the head (7) 22 People who go from place to place selling goods (7)
10 America backs up loud female anger for movement which inspired the birth of TG (8)
23 Distant or supercilious in manner (5)
11 I join frolicking Eton set for a posh nutty treat (8)
27 To leer or stare at (4)
15 Unclear image on front of book, publicity info on the back cover (5)
28 White fish like cod, much loved by the Spanish (4)
24 Swirl in water or current (4)
CRYPTIC CLUES
25 One part of what Miss Muffet ate (5)
Across 1 TG conservation campaign for troubled Sudan rhino (2,3,5)
26 Water-filled defensive ditch (4)
2 Wild dog remains provide only evidence of terrifying giant (4)
16 Delicate pastry dough sounds like it’s made of leather (5) 20 This minute snake was once used to dye clothes red (6)
30 Town on Italian coast, known for its lemons (6)
7 Early stage of organism about to grow by more development (6)
31 Lasting a long time, repeated (10)
9 Wrongly named a frenzied female follower of Bacchus (6)
Down 2 Shrek was one of these (4)
12 Language discovered in famous ancient city of the French, perhaps (4)
3 Group of nesting rooks or other birds (7)
13 & 14 Copper unravels yarn leading to TG Chair (5,4)
27 Shapely leg attracts love and a lustful look (4)
4 Country in the Caucasus, once part of the Soviet Union (7)
17 College head at the heart of problematic university department (7)
28 Fish with small head and tail on flaps and wobbles (4)
21 Novel allures provide somewhere to rest (7) 22 Young chap gets mixed up with devious reps to sell wares from door to door (7) 23 A backward fool appears reticent and unfriendly (5)
WIN! LOTIL SKINCARE PRODUCTS For over 100 years, Lotil’s rich cream has been alleviating dry, cracked and chapped skin with a quickly absorbed formula that leaves no greasy residue. Lotil uses oleic acid and glycerine, which act as a super-hydrating emollient, replenishing dry skin and reinvigorating healthy skin function to protect against environmental factors. They even relieve symptoms of psoriasis and eczema. For a chance to win, email or post your entry, marked ‘LOTIL’, to the address on page 40.
WIN! A COPY OF THE GOVERNESS This novel is inspired by the true story of Marion ‘Crawfie’ Crawford – the progressive young teacher who, in 1933, became governess to the little Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. For 17 years she served at the heart of the royal family. But her devotion and loyalty counted for nothing when a perceived betrayal brought everything crashing down. For your chance to win, email or post your entry, marked ‘GOVERNESS’, to the address on page 40.
ISSUE 04 2020 CROSSWORD SOLUTION WINNING WORD: PALOMINO
Across: 1 Algorithm 8 Credit 9 Pelmet 10 Cava 11 Spray 12 Scum 16 Eclairs 17 Harpoon 18 Salieri 21 Cowslip 23 Tome 24 Scone 25 Farl 28 Briefs 29 Exodus 30 Hydrangea Down: 2 Lady 3 Octopus 4 Impeach 5 Hale 6 Drivel 7 Velcro 10 Creosote 13 Monopoly 14 Cider 15 Prawn 19 Lamarr 20 Incisor 21 Canteen 22 League 26 Hedy 27 Dove ISSUE 04 PRIZEWINNERS Crossword: Verena Evans, Chepstow. Mavala Revitalizing Hand Milk: Gillian Davis, Perton. Holy Lama Spice Drops: Ruth Hardcastle, Rochdale.
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VERSION REPRO OP
Dr Diane Crann Embarking on a mathematics degree in her 30s, Diane never dreamed she’d have a PhD in her 50s and go on to enjoy an award-winning career – she says she still feels like a fraud!
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loved maths as a child. It was either right or wrong – or so I thought – and I remember getting whole pages of ticks for my homework. Although I was quite academic, I left grammar school just after starting sixth form, meeting my first husband at 16 and marrying at 19. We had our two sons in our early 20s and life was OK, but I realised that others had gone on to higher education and I had missed out. I started one day a week at the local college studying basic accounting, then decided to have a go at an Open University mathematics degree. It took 10 years, but I was awarded distinction in all 12 subjects – perhaps I hadn’t lost it after all! By this time, I had met my second husband, Alan, and soon started my PhD at the University of Hertfordshire, where he was a lecturer. I was running my administration business full time and raising two teenagers alongside studying, but Alan and I found time to take over the Royal Institution (Ri) Mathematics Masterclasses for Hertfordshire in 1993. I loved encouraging these able 13- to
Maths has brought Diane a rewarding career
Maths certainly can be fun 14-year-olds to think outside the curriculum, so in 1997, when a part-time post was offered at the Ri organising masterclasses in London, I jumped at the chance. Looking back on my career now I’m retired, I never dreamed I would do all the things I have. Getting my doctorate took about 12 years, with a couple of breaks when work became too busy, but in June 2005 I took my viva – where you defend your
doctoral thesis in front of examiners – and passed. Then, in 2006, the Ri applied for a grant to trial engineering masterclasses and my name was put forward. The resulting nationwide programme was a success, and the Royal Academy of Engineering awarded me the Rooke Medal for my work in 2014. I was stunned. When I became Clothworkers’ Fellow in Mathematics at the Ri it was already the icing on the cake,
International Day of Mathematics: 14 March 2021 Led by the International Mathematical Union, this second year of worldwide celebrations will encourage people to get involved in activities on the theme of ‘Mathematics for a Better World’. Visit www.idm314.org to learn more.
so receiving an MBE in 2019 was amazing. After I completed my PhD, my dad asked why did I bother? After all, I wasn’t going to be a teacher. But I did it for a hobby, for fun. Because maths certainly can be fun – just come to a primary maths masterclass and see the smiling faces! Of course, we can’t all be proficient at academic maths, but the subject is so varied and we’re using it every day: at work, in our hobbies, for household finances. Puzzles and logic games; TV and radio game shows; news stories on the US presidential election, Black Friday sales, sports – so much of our society is built on the mathematical sciences. We don’t need to understand exactly how it all works, but we should notice it’s happening, ask questions, discuss it. If everyone realised the difference statisticians have made to the understanding of Covid-19, say, then that might make for a more positive mindset. Mathematics does and will continue to make for a better world. Diane and Alan still love to lead masterclasses and activity days in schools – and offer workshops for adults too. Head to www. mathsdiscovery.co.uk to see what topics your Guild might explore. TAKE ACTION
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My World, 1
LIVING MY WORLD