THE meeting was held on March 3 at Arkendale Community Hall with 20 members present.
The list for extra activities had been considered by the committee and two items decided upon for March and April. Pat had been asked to book seats at Harrogate Theatre on Friday, April 23 to see Oliver by Ripon Operatic Society. The lunch on March 1
9 would be at The Hare and Hounds, Burton Leonard and those who wished to go should meet there at noon for 12.30pm.
The Yorkshire Show is in July and helpers are needed. There would be an exhibition of knitted baby clothes which will be donated to the Special Care Baby Unit at Harrogate Hospital. Patterns for the tiny garments were available from Alma House and the secretary would collect them in time for our next meeting.
Details of a conference for forward-thinking women entitled Food for the Future were given. This is at Askam Bryan College on Monday, March 29.
Our summer outing would be to the lavender farm near Terrington with lunch in Helmsley. The coach would be free and also entry to the farm free. Pat will obtain specimen menus before a decision is made as to where we will have lunch.
Our speaker was John Shackleton, well-known to many of our members. Since he first began his aid missions, he has equipped and taken 22 ambulances to eight countries.
It all began when he attended a coffee morning for orphans in Romania and was persuaded by a doctor to take a truck over there. After seeing the terrible conditions he went on various courses that enabled him to carry out plumbing, electrical work etc whenever he visited an orphanage.
John cannot undertake the long journeys by himself so various friends devote some weeks of their holidays to travel with him, usually he takes two others. They have installed new toilets etc and decorated, amongst other jobs.
A large American ambulance was parked outside Arkendale Hall and we were told that it would be leaving in three weeks time for the borders of Maldova and Russia. When asked what made him carry on with the travelling and all that it entailed, John said that he was a Christian and his faith enabled him to carry on into some dangerous places in order to help those who needed help. We were shown slides of some of the places that they had been to and the work undertaken including the children and the appalling conditions.
Diane thanked John and members made donations. Supperwas served by Vivienne and Marian.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 7 at 7.30pm in Arkendale Community Hall when our speaker will be Ann Thompson who will tell us about Florence Nightingale. All welcome.
