Events this year

Membership subs are now £40 per year which covers the cost of the venue and guest speakers Meals are now £22 for members and £23 for visitors/guests. 

Please book in advance and let us know any dietary requirements by the Friday before each meeting at the latest. New members are very welcome to join us for one taster session without payment of the subscription fee.  

• 22 February: Melanie King How the British fell in love with  tea, coffee, & chocolate
  
  
• 29 March: Kate Round  The history of Stourbridge glass
  
  
• 26 April: Kath Reynolds Watching with mother. Children’s TV favourites
  
  
• 24 May: Max Keen King Henry V & Agincourt. England’s finest three hours?
  
  
• 28 June: Neil Hurst  Britain had talent. The golden era of music hall
  
  
• 27 September: Andy Street The role of the Mayor of the West Midlands
  
  
• 25 October: Christine Cox MBE Behind the scenes of The Pride of Britain Awards
  
  
• 29 November: Eliza McCelland It’s Christmas party time! Seasonal entertainment and Christmas dinner. Male partners/companions are welcome to join us for this session only.
  
  
• 31 January 2024:  AGM – (Members only )

 

Malcolm Castle: Fire Fighting in Shropshire

Photograph © Malcolm Castle

This month, we were entertained by fire fighter and author, Malcolm Castle, who talked mainly about the humorous side of fire fighting. He joined the Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service when he was 18 years of age in 1980 and served for 32 years on Red Watch, based at Shrewsbury Fire Station. 

Malcolm told us that when a call is received, the crew can get dressed and ready to travel within 35 seconds in the daytime and within 53 seconds at night. New recruits are given the title the jockey, and to keep the rest of the team entertained (in quiet moments, of course) they're sent by senior members on foolish errands, which are said to be character building!

Like many others employed in the emergency services, he has a great sense of humour is able to see a funny side to the job, which might help him come to terms with the more harrowing situations he has had to deal with. He talked amusingly about some of the calls (or shouts) they received, such as being sent to rescue animals in odd situations. One case was of a cat that was supposedly stuck in a chimney but after some time was found to be shut in a log box by the fireside. 

Another incident involving a horse trapped in a slurry pit was described in such a way as make us all laugh due to the sticky situation they found themselves in, but also feel sorry for both the horse and the rescuers.  Of course, there were also many serious shouts such as rescuing people trapped in road accidents, as well as fires, which he described as both exciting and challenging.

Malcolm has written several books about his long and varied career, including All Fired Up and Great Bales of Fire, showing the lighter side of a fire fighter's job. He also likes to act and produce plays which was evident in his delivery and description of his past work, and has also helped the BBC as a fire adviser for various programmes, one of which is Casualty.

Whilst Malcolm had entertained and amused us for nearly an hour, we were conscious of the skill and bravery exhibited by fire fighters who are willing to risk their lives to save others. This was recognised in the vote of thanks to Malcolm for his talk.

Dickie Arbiter: Press Secretary to HM The Queen

Photograph © Dickie Arbiter

My first impression of Dickie Arbiter was that he had a good sense of humour, as he immediately referred to his brightly coloured and eye dazzling hand-made silk tie - this was apparently one of a large collection of flamboyant ties for which he is well known.

Dickie retired in the year 2000, after nearly 50 years as a journalist, royal commentator and as press secretary to HM The Queen. He has a vast knowledge of the Royal Family and now gives talks about his experience of working for the family. After giving us a brief history of the monarchy, he told us how much he respects Her Majesty for her continuing hard work and her devotion to her duties.

The Queen is now of an age when most members of the public would have long since retired, yet she still attends many events and rarely shows signs of fatigue. Dickie told us that she is a very down to earth person who loves her corgies, being in the countryside, driving her land-rover and riding her horse whenever time permits. When she stays at Balmoral, she and the family get together and have informal barbecue lunches in a log cabin. There was one occasion when Dickie was invited - after the meal, he was about to wash the dirty dishes; he then sensed somebody was behind him and thinking that it was one of the family, said “You wash and I will dry.” He was embarrassed when the Queen replied, “No, you wash and I will dry.”

Both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were really upset when the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned: it showed on The Queen's face, as tears welled up in her eyes. They had spent so many happy and private times with their family when they were on board with no prying cameras or journalists spoiling their special occasions. Britannia sailed worldwide and was not only used by the Royal Family, but also by business people and ambassadors with many important and valuable contracts being signed on board.

Disaster struck the Family in 1992, when three of the Queen's children got divorced within a short time of each other and there was much scandal reported in the press. Then this was followed by the fire at Windsor Castle, causing much damage to valuable assets and the building. The Queen kept her feelings hidden and rose above all of these problems but could not avoid referring to the annus horribilis in a speech at the London Guildhall marking the 40th Anniversary of her accession to the throne. She later had to cope with the death of Princess Diana and the resulting frenzy of media coverage.

The Queen is patron of numerous charities but she is now reducing the number with help from the younger members of her family. She has shaken hands with numerous people over the years, smiling most of the time and often standing outside in all weathers. Dickie said that she is driven by duty and will not step aside, as she made her vow to the country as a young woman and declared her whole life would be devoted to her people. 

Dickie ended by telling us how much he had enjoyed working with the Royal Family and sharing his numerous royal tales, without stepping out of line.

Christine Robinson: The Housekeeper's Tale

Photograph © Christine Robinson

Christine Robinson is a very good storyteller. From the start, she had us listening to every word about her forty years as the housekeeper at Chatsworth House, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. While she was a student, she lived locally and had a Saturday job helping in the estate shop and became intrigued by the house and its occupants. This lead to a permanent post, learning from Dorothy Dean the housekeeper at that time.

Christine told us that Chatsworth House has been the Devonshire family home for 500 years and the archives hold details of many historical events. The 11^th Duke and Duchess loved to entertain and there is a warm atmosphere in this very grand house with the staff working as a team to ensure it is so. She described how everything is vacuumed and dusted every day with half a mile of corridors to be kept tidy. Books, of which there are more than 17,500, ceramics, sculptures, ornaments and carpets are all deep cleaned regularly. The chandeliers are taken down piece by piece and then carefully reassembled after cleaning with one containing a staggering 2763 pieces!

Sometime after the death of the Dowager Duchess (the former 11^th Duchess), Christine was surprised to be bequeathed a beautiful Delft pot and which contained a small box. On opening this, she found a ring with the initials “DD” which she recognised as one worn by her predecessor Dorothy Dean. Apparently this had been left to the Duchess because her initials were the same. In turn, the Duchess had thought that Christine might like it by which to remember her.

After the talk, Val McMinn proposed a vote of thanks to Christine and her dutiful husband, so called by Christine, who works quietly behind the scenes as all good husbands should! This was followed by a prize draw. There was a small jar of preserve from Chatsworth on each table and under it was a raffle ticket. Each guest had been allotted a ticket under their individual cup and saucer and there was therefore a winner on each table.

Lars Tharp: The Antiques Road Show

Photograph © Lars Tharp

This month, we welcomed one of the most popular and long-serving members of the Antiques Roadshow, Lars Tharp, as our speaker. With his unusual, Danish name it's no surprise that people are confused about how to spell it. His favourite misspelling appeared on a letter addressed to Mr Large Carp, which made us all laugh.

The ceramics and oriental specialist explained about his love of antiques, how he is enthralled by the shapes, designs and colours of the items brought to his attention by members of the public and that having physical contact with the objects helps him to generate an empathy with the makers. The action of handling the antiques, in order to closely examine possible identification markings, introduces and element of excitement for both the owner and Lars himself.

Queues at the Roadshow are often very long and Lars is amazed at the length of time that many people are prepared to wait before their objects are seen and valued. As there are so many fakes on the market, this can often lead to disappointment but occasionally, a treasure is found and many of these end up in museums for safe keeping.

Lars told us that he is an admirer of William Hogarth, the English painter and engraver, and has studied many of his prints and pictures in detail as a hobby. We learned that Hogarth was effectively a reporter in his day with his pictures and cartoons showing images of everyday household events. Lars is also particularly interested in designs by Picasso, one of which is shown in the above photograph.

Lars was thanked for not only entertaining us but also showing slides of interesting and decorative items and for explaining how it all began with ancient man discovering patterns and shapes before discovering uses for what he found or made. After his fascinating talk, we all left intending to look more closely at items in our own homes, with the hope that we can find something to take to the next local Roadshow!

Keith Cattell: 1000 years of Stained Glass:

 Chartres cathedral

On one of the coldest days of winter with a temperature of -2°C, 63 hardy members braved the weather to attend our February lunch. Unfortunately, our scheduled speaker was prevented from attending due to the adverse travelling conditions and local architect and historian, Keith Cattell, stepped in at short notice, to save the day.

In his illustrated talk entitled 1000 years of stained glass, he explained that there is evidence of stained glass in Britain dating from 675AD. This was installed in churches and monasteries and came mainly from France because the glass was of a superior quality. The windows were mainly paid for by rich benefactors who were often depicted in the art work as were picture narratives from the Bible, of historic events and from literature.

It took great skill to produce the required colours of glass and the pigments were very expensive. This was achieved by adding metallic salts to the glass and then heating in it kilns to fuse the colour. After cooling, the coloured glass was cut into shaped pieces which were then held in place by strips of lead and secured by a rigid frame.

One unusual window was of Saint Apollonia who is regarded as the patron saint of dentistry and is shown holding a pair of pincers in her hand; this window can be seen in the parish church of Kingskerswell in Devon. Most of us had no idea that there was such a saint and the mere thought of tooth extraction made us shudder!

We learnt that Chartres cathedral has magnificent windows including some of the earliest examples of cobalt blue and Coventry Cathedral houses fine examples of modern stained glass artwork. One modern artist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was prolific in producing stained glass and a fine example was installed in a chapel St Blaise des Simples at Milly la Foret near to Fontainebleau in France where he lived and is interred. It is a very modern, mainly blue, design named Seen and not seen which when viewed upside down, reveals a hidden face.

Keith was thanked for attending at such short notice and for his very interesting talk.

Judith Hibbert: Round the Radio

Photograph © Judith Hibbert

We were honoured to have the Mayor and Mayoress of Wolverhampton as special guests at our October lunch.

Other guests included the husbands and partners of some of our members, who were brave enough to accept an invitation to our annual open event and see what we get up to each month! 

Our post lunch entertainment was provided by Judith Hibbert, who has worked extensively in both stage and screen. Judith is part of the Good Old Days Company and has two talented theatrical children, one of whom is Eleanor Tomlinson, perhaps better known as Demelza in the BBC series Poldark.

Using only a few simple props, such as hats and scarves, she showed her versatility imitating the voices and mannerisms of various theatrical ladies including Joyce Grenfell, Julie Andrews and Gracie Fields. She soon had us laughing and joining in, although she wasn't too impressed with our singing!

Her presentation was much admired and so was her skill at being able to change characters by just wearing different hats .She was thanked for her amusing performance, which evoked pleasant memories from the past.

Cameron Addicott: My life as an Undercover Agent

Photograph © Cameron Addicott

We restarted our meetings after the summer break with 75 members present. We all had a lot to talk about and there was much catching up to do over lunch. 

Our speaker this month was Cameron Addicott, who spoke to us about his exciting and sometimes dangerous life as an undercover agent. He told us tales of his former career as a criminal investigator with HM Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency and described how devious criminals have become when motivated by greed. Unsurprisingly, crime has now spread out to smaller towns and villages in order for them to target unsuspecting victims.

The main focus of this talk was on drug dealers and how in these circumstances, the investigators' work is often like cat and mouse: waiting, watching and then pouncing at just the right moment to catch their prey. The dealers have become very clever in trying to disguise the drugs, using different ways of transporting them from where they're grown and doing their best to try outwit the authorities.

We learnt that undercover agents, like Cameron, spend months of intelligence planning using three main methods: interception of all communications including texts, emails and phone calls; surveillance watching suspects from unmarked vehicles and neighbouring buildings and infiltration using informants with access to information. At times we felt we were in the middle of a TV thriller, as much of what he said reminded us of programmes we have watched. It's certainly reassuring to know that there are people like him who are endeavouring to keep the public safe.

Cameron left SOCA in 2008 and has written several books on the subject of crime. He is currently working on two others and also acts as a consultant or on-screen expert on various crime-based TV programmes.

All of our members were intrigued by his stories and an interesting time was had by all.

Alison Snowdon: Life on the Auction Floor

Photograph © Alison Snowdon

It was a cold, damp, mid-summer's day when we lunched at Linden House on 28^th June, but it was lovely to meet up with friends again. There were 63 members and 6 guests present; we were pleased to have so many as sometimes, at this time of the year, people are away on holiday.

Our speaker was auctioneer and valuer, Alison Snowdon, who told us about her life on the auction floor. Alison first became interested in antiques as a child when she lived in London and often visited museums and art galleries as her interest grew. She is now based at a small, local salesroom in Stourbridge and is passionate about her work.

Her enthusiasm showed as she shared her stories about some of her finds. It was rather like having our own Antiques Road Show as she explained how fashions change, which inevitably alters the value of certain items; Lalique glassware, Rolex watches and certain toys in their original boxes still hold their value, yet Royal Doulton figurines, Imari-ware and solid wooden brown furniture are currently worth very little.  Lowry paintings are renowned for their fakery but if there is provenance which can be proven, their value obviously rises - a small Lowry sketch in a note book recently sold for £26,000.

Alison told of the excitement in the auction room before a sale as no one really knows how the punters will bid. Of course, the internet has changed things dramatically, as people now have instant access to information and online bidding.

We were all interested to hear how many items have been bought cheaply at car boot sales and then found to be worth far more once they have been cleaned up. Alison's best finds were two sauce boats, made in 1746 (pictured above), which were found in the back of a cabinet covered in dust and dirt and fetched £34,000 at auction. She was thrilled with these and so were we, as we shared her enthusiasm. We all vowed that we would look in our attics, cupboards and drawers as we must have something of value hidden somewhere!

Julie Peasgood: From the RSC to Birds Eye Peas

Photograph © Julie Peasgood

This month saw four new members joining us, bringing the total membership to 103. After lunch, we enjoyed a rather brief - but nonetheless entertaining - talk by actress Julie Peasgood. Even if you don't recognise her name, you'd recognise her face and voice from numerous TV shows and voiceovers...

"Julie Peasgood is a versatile actress, TV presenter and journalist, with a career spanning 40 years of prestigious theatre and television. She spent five years with The Royal Shakespeare Company and her numerous TV credits include Casualty, Taggart, Doctors, September Song, First Born and Holby City, but she is probably best known for her roles in Brookside, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. Good Turn Productions, (owned by Julie) is now producing the fourth series of Crafty Beggars In The House! on Community Channel, which Julie co-presents, and she has regular bi-monthly show on Create & Craft TV (on Tuesdays at 1pm)." 

Julie spoke about her childhood ambition to be on the stage and told us how she had loved dressing up and pretending to be different characters. She also showed us photos of her dressed in different costumes, which reminded many of us of our own children and grandchildren.

Gradually, as her career took off, she became well known actress, starring in the aforementioned programmes as well as doing voice overs for various advertisements, including one for Birds Eye peas. The talk finished with us putting our forefingers into our mouths and trying to make the sound of the peas going pop, as in the advert. As you can imagine, we all had a fit of the giggles!

Keith Holmes: A Taste of Cornwall

Photograph © Keith Holmes 2016

At this month's meeting, 87 of us sat down to lunch at Linden House. We were entertained with an illustrated talk about Cornwall by Keith Holmes. From the towering cliffs and surf of the north coast to the pretty coves and harbours in the south, this talk was an epicurean journey through England's most westerly county.

Keith told us all about his experience wine tasting at the award winning vineyard in the Camel Valley; we also learnt that Tregothan is the only place in England to grow tea commercially. We took delight in the magical Lost Gardens of Heligan where productive  gardens are still worked in a time honoured way. Later on, he showed us how Cornish pasties are still being made by hand (in their hundreds during the summer season). The scenic trip ended at a fishing village Portloe with a traditional cream tea..

By the time  he had finished his  talk, we all had a longing to be there to see life in Cornwall as it is today and sample some of the local delicacies.

Tricia Stewart: A Calendar Girl’s Story

We have just launched our brand new blog, which we hope will keep you up-to-date with all of our events and give you a taste of the range of speakers who we invite along to the Wolverhampton Women's Luncheon Club.

Our speaker in February was Tricia Stewart who entertained us with her story of the alternative Women's Institute calendar. You may have seen the film, Calendar Girls, starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, which was based on the making of the calendar.

Tricia joined the Rylstone and District WI in 1985 and became friends with Angela Baker whose husband was later diagnosed with non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Sadly he died at the age of 54, so the women decided to launch a calendar to raise funds for research into blood-related cancers, in his memory.

She had us in fits of laughter when she described how they all reacted when they realised they would actually have to bare all and take off their clothes to be photographed! She also spoke of the many famous film stars and important people they have subsequently met. Little did they know that the story would become so well known, that they would be portrayed on both stage and screen. To date, they have raised £3.5 million for charity.

Her amusing, yet poignant talk was inspirational and enjoyed by all.