Wednesday 31 October 2012

If it's Wednesday, it must be ...

Village Coffee Morning!
A couple of years ago, I was persuaded by one of the members at Chapel to go along to said group. I think it was originally set up for the more elderly of the village but it constantly needs new and younger blood.
We pay a small annual subscription and pay £1 each week for a cup of coffee and biscuits. And then at the end of each term we go out to the local hotel for a very nice meal. For many of the ladies and gentlemen, this is the only time that they go out for a meal. Usually we all pay £5.00 with the club paying for the rest of the bill but sometimes when the bank account is nicely flush, we all get a free meal.
A few weeks ago the three ladies who had been running the club for many years had had enough and all stepped down at the Annual General Meeting, leaving us all in a bit of a fix as no-one felt that they could commit to being there every Wednesday.
However, one lady in her eighties (a Chapel member) volunteered to be the treasurer and another younger lady volunteered to be the secretary, leaving the post of chairperson vacant.
But it had to be filled, especially for signing cheques which needed at least two signatures.
Well, if all they need is someone to sign their name, I said OK!
And for my first week in post I had a prior engagement but since then I have been there on the other side of the counter.
Fortunately, I have been able to take on this extra responsibility without it incurring too much extra work.
If the Chapel isn't suitable to run coffee mornings for the village then the Chapel will just have to go to the Village Hall!

Friday 26 October 2012

Autumn

There has been a rather long pause in my blogging over the summer due to my 'get up and go' disappearing for a few months but recently some of it has come back!

I don't usually listen to Radio 3, preferring Radio 4 or BBC1, but one evening recently I heard a piece of music and it seemed very familiar so with the aid of the internet was able to find its title. The music turned out to be 'Automne', a piece I knew very well as a young teen as it was my solo piece when the dancing school I attended put on shows. However hearing it many decades later it didn't sound quite right but then I was not dancing to a record but to a lovely lady playing the piano and it is only recently that I have been made aware that different performers can play the same piece of music in very different ways! Why does Eric Morecambe come to mind?!

I get my dressmaking skills from my Mum and she made all my dresses for the shows including several tutus. The one to dance the part of Autumn had a brown satin bodice and a skirt of many layers of green, brown and orange net and it is rather disappointing that the one photo I have is in black and white and as tights were not as stretchy as today, although I don't have Nora Batty ankles, the knees are rather baggy, so no-way will it get scanned and put on-line!

I spent many hours painting and cutting paper leaves that I held in my hands and then wafted over the stage during the dance and I'm always reminded of the dance at this time of year, especially when the leaves are as colourful as they are this Autumn.

And then I saw this which explains everything!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20083813