26th March 2024 - Gemma Williams and The Little Cheesemonger
Gemma drove all the way from Prestatyn to take us on a journey through the whys, wherefores and hows of cheese. She began by taking us on her journey from home in North Wales via glass blowing in Edinburgh, an apprenticeship in cheesemongering and finally to her own business in Prestatyn. What began as a means to pay her way through art studies became a way of life. As she handed cheese samples around, Gemma chatted about the practicalities and costs of making cheese, the joys and troubles of running a shop-based business and discussed different types of cheese and biscuits. Members asked lots of questions as the evening progressed, ranging from ‘what is rennet?’ (an enzyme) to ‘what is her favourite cheese?’ (Roquefort). Gemma and her business champion local community and the skills and produce that can be found there.
With people like Gemma and the produce that she brings to us we can hope that the many skills surrounding us will continue to thrive. Let’s keep supporting them! Thank you Gemma!
28th February 2024 - Zoe talks us through a Spring Detox
Zoe, our friendly neighbourhood holistic nutritionist, came to kick start our Spring clean with some ideas for a Spring Detox. Holistic nutritionists are specialised nutritionists who seek to understand and treat the whole person rather than cure isolated symptoms. They help their clients prevent illness and promote good heath through the use of natural foods and remedies and a heathy lifestyle. Zoe was a lovely, bouncy speaker who mixed a straightforward explanation of the biology behind the therapy with everyday examples to give us a brief insight into how we can help our body to help itself and keep us on top of the world. Or at least in control of it! Once we had overcome the shock at the recommendation NOT to down several cups of tea or coffee first thing in the morning. Zoe gave us lots of ideas and lots of food for thought.
30th January 2024 - Heidi Pritchard takes us line dancing!
It was our first meeting of 2024 & what a fun evening we had!
We were introduced to Line Dancing by Heidi Pritchard, a dance teacher who runs Feel the Rhythm Fitness classes.
This was a new activity for many members but our enthusiasm outweighed lack of experience.
Heidi very patiently led us through the main steps, whilst many were trying to work out our left from our right foot!!
By the end we had completed several dances, all very enjoyable.
A brilliant session full of laughter and many wanting to continue their new skills.
Thank you Heidi
12th December 2023 - Ali the CakeDoctor helps us make a Christmas gnome
Ali the cakedoctor led us through a Christmas gnome workshop as we travelled from scepticism (‘I’ll never be able to do that”) to total absorption, whether we were rolling the icing paste, texturing the facial hair… or just laughing! A better way to celebrate our final meeting of 2023 I cannot think of. We all went home with a gnome to take pride of place on… our Christmas cake or on our mantelpiece (if we don’t eat the constituent parts first). And we even managed to restrain ourselves from eating the chocolate oranges (although the same cannot be said of the Ferrero Rocher)!
28th November 2023 - Aleta Doran on artist Trena Cox (1895-1980)
Aleta, herself Artist in Residence at Chester Cathedral and a postgraduate researcher at Chester University, entertained and educated us with her enthusiasm for and knowledge of stained-glass artist Trena Cox. Trena, a remarkable artist and ground-breaking woman of her times, was born on the Wirral and attended the Laird Art School, a school which aimed to help artists make a living from their art. Earn her living she did throughout a long career, making her last window in 1972 at the age of 77. Trena’s style continued to evolve throughout her life, moving from a minimal design during the 1920s to her trademark use of vibrant colour in the 1930s and 40s, until in the 1960s she began to take a more modern direction. She was also a good business woman, one who knew how to market her art. Aleta has catalogued over 68 sites where Trena’s work can be viewed, most of which are in the north-west of England and which include works in Chester Cathedral, St Werburgh’s Chester, St Michael’s Shotwick and St Chad’s in Farndon! Aleta showed us images of Trena’s work and intrigued us with little snippets of knowledge, such as the fact a snail is featured in every window and that there are no known photographs of Trena herself! A resident of Chester from 1924 to the end of her life, she was passionate about promoting Chester’s historic architecture and Aleta’s talk certainly inspired many of us to find out more about Chester, our local area and visit some of Trena’s works. There are two exhibitions in the new year curated by Aleta: Chester Cathedral 7th October to 8th November 2024 & Grosvenor Museum Spring 2025.
31st October 2023 - OUR ANNUAL AGM
October was our AGM. Following the business (full minutes in AGM record) we enjoyed wine and socialising over a beetle drive. The beetle drive did a fantastic job of encouraging us all to mix up a bit, meet less familiar fellow members and brush up our drawing skills. Jocelyn was the winner and received a box of lovely Lindt chocolates and… Sarah came a definitive last, receiving a seasonal (halloweeny) ‘wooden’ spoon!
26th September 2023- Simon McCleave, Author.
Local author Simon McCleave joined us to take us on an adventure through the rise and rise of a new author. London-born and bred, now married into and living in Wales, Simon McCleave’s crime thrillers are set definitively in the land of the Welsh. Simon gave us a resume of his life and career, whisking us through finessing and developing scripts for the ITV and the BBC on productions such as Midsomer Murders, The Bill and Silent Witness through Hollywood and into teaching. The encouragement of friends and family persuaded him to direct his experiences and talents into his first love, story telling. He started us on The Snowdonia Killings, introducing two characters and kicking off a successful series of crime thrillers. He set up his own publishing company to get this first book off the ground and.... it sold. In thousands. So he wrote another. And another. His ability to write at speed he attributes to his early training in scripts and script production (6 weeks for a book!).
Perhaps it was the easy influence of his experience as a teacher that 'facilitated' an excellent question / answer which was a lovely way to get us all to join in as speakers! These gave us the greatest insight – one tailored to our own interests – into the way he has enthralled us, his target market: the attraction of crime with a spectacular setting, a grounding in fact, and the mystery, beauty and atmosphere spirited up by the myths of Wales. The modern technology that has given us the Kindle, along with the speed of his production enables us, his target market, to buy another one now and to indulge ourselves without filling the house with paper. And now a major publishing company has commissioned him to write while an actor has bought the film and television rights for his Snowdonia series. He is definitely doing something right – as the number of us who went off to download the next in the series or to take up their first Simon McCleave.
August 2023 No meeting
27th July 2023 - Tom Jones and The Rows of Chester
Tom Jones, a Chester tour guide, took us on an historical and photographic ‘tour’ of The Rows in Chester. The Rows, a 2-story set of shops that align the main shopping streets of central Chester, attract many visitors. Tom used his photos, knowledge of the history and his own anecdotes to bring into clearer focus the buildings that provide the backdrop for our own visits to Chester when perhaps we rather take them for granted, absent-mindedly wondering why or how…
Edward I’s need to protect his kingdom from marauding Welshmen brought work and business opportunities for the influx of people – carpenters, stonemasons, blacksmiths, their families – who arrived on the back of Edward’s castle-building boom.
They provide evidence of the skill of the workers and the evolution of building techniques (Gothic arches supporting lower levels, Tudor wood, Georgian stone, Victorian frontages) and need (shops in which to sell wares). Why two levels? Initially digging cellars the excavators hit a snag in the form of solid rock. The cellars being only half built they work seconded for shops and … with accommodation built on top.
The inhabitants of The Rows continue to evolve to use their space according to need. The two main uses – shop and accommodation – are still active today, with the stall boards, created to provide headroom for the entrance to some of the lower spaces, once again are being used to display goods and to hold tables and chairs for the very many coffee shops that we use today.
Used then as now for retail, accommodation and café frontage, The Rows have proved a resilient portfolio of buildings.
27th June 2023 - Paul Harston “Park in the Past”
“Park in the Past” is a former quarry in which Paul has realised a dream. His father planted the idea of building a Roman fort in the 6-year old Paul and today, after 20 years of ploughing through planning and red tape, the dream is in full flow. Illness forced Paul to leave full-time employment, but he seized the day and began on a life centred around centurions. He founded Roman Tours, taking children and tourists around Chester, and in his ‘spare’ time, he and Roman Tours have initiated Park in the Past. From the idea of a Roman fort, the project has grown… and a vast number of passionate volunteers have transformed a 420-acre site of virtually sterile quarried land into an ecological delight of rewilded birch, alder and oak woodland which provides an ecological renewal of the local area, a site for wellbeing and fitness and the full reconstruction of a Roman Fort.
Paul’s passion for this project and all things Roman has similarly inspired his son, and to the joy of many of our members present, Kathlan, a Thracian mercenary complete with helmet and tattoos, joined us for the evening. Many people prefer to focus on the rewilding and wellbeing aspect of the park, both of which are flourishing with numerous species of plant, animal and reptile finding homes there as well as visitors who walk, run, swim and paddleboard, but it is the passion of many volunteers and Roman experimental archeaologists around the world that provide the real fun and fire – as well as much of the financial input and… work. Thank you so much for joining us!
23rd May 2023 - Sarah Hughes “Protect your nest egg”
Sarah and James, the team from WillConsultYou Ltd, arrived ready to use flip chart and personal presentation skills to help us understand a bit more about a very sensitive subject. Ensuring that our wishes are followed when we die and / or if we become incapacitated is not something many of us like to think about, and consequently many of us choose to ignore it. They explored some of the different ways that we can construct our wills to ensure that we get what we want (which is usually to pass on our assets to our loved ones). Many changes take place during our lives - more children? Grandchildren? Divorce? - and our wills need to reflect these. They looked at the importance of putting in place a Power of Attorney (and activating it, both to ensure that we are looked after as we would wish and to make the lives of those responsible for us as easy as possible. Both for our elderly relatives but also for ourselves – however young at heart we feel.
Feedback from members was overwhelmingly positive, both for the content of the talk and the sensitive way that James and Sarah tried to make complex legalities relevant and approachable.
23rd April 2023 - Bev Davies from Botany House "Carpe Diem"
Bev’s talk took us through an affirming vision of her transformation from overworked career woman who has lived behind closed doors in Farndon since 2002 to – probably still overstretched – loved member of the everyday and the High Street that we know today who finds, researches and sells furniture and more to anyone who loves them. Not an easy voyage, it has thus far been a voyage characterised by the unexpected blusts that life and the world blows our way. But one also vivid with the chance opportunities that the world offers. She has come through unexpected family bereavement, heavy caring responsibilities not accommodated by work, the pandemic and the black dog of depression to enter the challenging fascinating learning that is the antiquarian business. She entered the world of retail by selling items left by departed relatives on ebay, and has transformed the building that housed Paul Burrell’s Flowers from a shop window for Bev’s Bits (‘borrowed by agreement’ from Paul Burrell) to what is now a respected antiquarian business Botany House. A business visually know for Humphrey Bogart, her mascot who stands in the window and surveys the High Street. Bev was not shy of weaving her trials by depression into her talk, as she has become aware of the vital need for us to share rather than hide behind closed doors.
She finished her talk with a splendid illustration of the fun and challenge of the pre-loved / vintage / antiquarian business with a touch of Antiques Roadshow’s Good Better Best. Could we identify the vase or the tray that would pay for our next cruise or merely our next coffee. Bev gave us another talk that brought the wider world and our own local Farndon world together with humility, fun and honesty.
Gemma drove all the way from Prestatyn to take us on a journey through the whys, wherefores and hows of cheese. She began by taking us on her journey from home in North Wales via glass blowing in Edinburgh, an apprenticeship in cheesemongering and finally to her own business in Prestatyn. What began as a means to pay her way through art studies became a way of life. As she handed cheese samples around, Gemma chatted about the practicalities and costs of making cheese, the joys and troubles of running a shop-based business and discussed different types of cheese and biscuits. Members asked lots of questions as the evening progressed, ranging from ‘what is rennet?’ (an enzyme) to ‘what is her favourite cheese?’ (Roquefort). Gemma and her business champion local community and the skills and produce that can be found there.
With people like Gemma and the produce that she brings to us we can hope that the many skills surrounding us will continue to thrive. Let’s keep supporting them! Thank you Gemma!
28th February 2024 - Zoe talks us through a Spring Detox
Zoe, our friendly neighbourhood holistic nutritionist, came to kick start our Spring clean with some ideas for a Spring Detox. Holistic nutritionists are specialised nutritionists who seek to understand and treat the whole person rather than cure isolated symptoms. They help their clients prevent illness and promote good heath through the use of natural foods and remedies and a heathy lifestyle. Zoe was a lovely, bouncy speaker who mixed a straightforward explanation of the biology behind the therapy with everyday examples to give us a brief insight into how we can help our body to help itself and keep us on top of the world. Or at least in control of it! Once we had overcome the shock at the recommendation NOT to down several cups of tea or coffee first thing in the morning. Zoe gave us lots of ideas and lots of food for thought.
30th January 2024 - Heidi Pritchard takes us line dancing!
It was our first meeting of 2024 & what a fun evening we had!
We were introduced to Line Dancing by Heidi Pritchard, a dance teacher who runs Feel the Rhythm Fitness classes.
This was a new activity for many members but our enthusiasm outweighed lack of experience.
Heidi very patiently led us through the main steps, whilst many were trying to work out our left from our right foot!!
By the end we had completed several dances, all very enjoyable.
A brilliant session full of laughter and many wanting to continue their new skills.
Thank you Heidi
12th December 2023 - Ali the CakeDoctor helps us make a Christmas gnome
Ali the cakedoctor led us through a Christmas gnome workshop as we travelled from scepticism (‘I’ll never be able to do that”) to total absorption, whether we were rolling the icing paste, texturing the facial hair… or just laughing! A better way to celebrate our final meeting of 2023 I cannot think of. We all went home with a gnome to take pride of place on… our Christmas cake or on our mantelpiece (if we don’t eat the constituent parts first). And we even managed to restrain ourselves from eating the chocolate oranges (although the same cannot be said of the Ferrero Rocher)!
28th November 2023 - Aleta Doran on artist Trena Cox (1895-1980)
Aleta, herself Artist in Residence at Chester Cathedral and a postgraduate researcher at Chester University, entertained and educated us with her enthusiasm for and knowledge of stained-glass artist Trena Cox. Trena, a remarkable artist and ground-breaking woman of her times, was born on the Wirral and attended the Laird Art School, a school which aimed to help artists make a living from their art. Earn her living she did throughout a long career, making her last window in 1972 at the age of 77. Trena’s style continued to evolve throughout her life, moving from a minimal design during the 1920s to her trademark use of vibrant colour in the 1930s and 40s, until in the 1960s she began to take a more modern direction. She was also a good business woman, one who knew how to market her art. Aleta has catalogued over 68 sites where Trena’s work can be viewed, most of which are in the north-west of England and which include works in Chester Cathedral, St Werburgh’s Chester, St Michael’s Shotwick and St Chad’s in Farndon! Aleta showed us images of Trena’s work and intrigued us with little snippets of knowledge, such as the fact a snail is featured in every window and that there are no known photographs of Trena herself! A resident of Chester from 1924 to the end of her life, she was passionate about promoting Chester’s historic architecture and Aleta’s talk certainly inspired many of us to find out more about Chester, our local area and visit some of Trena’s works. There are two exhibitions in the new year curated by Aleta: Chester Cathedral 7th October to 8th November 2024 & Grosvenor Museum Spring 2025.
31st October 2023 - OUR ANNUAL AGM
October was our AGM. Following the business (full minutes in AGM record) we enjoyed wine and socialising over a beetle drive. The beetle drive did a fantastic job of encouraging us all to mix up a bit, meet less familiar fellow members and brush up our drawing skills. Jocelyn was the winner and received a box of lovely Lindt chocolates and… Sarah came a definitive last, receiving a seasonal (halloweeny) ‘wooden’ spoon!
26th September 2023- Simon McCleave, Author.
Local author Simon McCleave joined us to take us on an adventure through the rise and rise of a new author. London-born and bred, now married into and living in Wales, Simon McCleave’s crime thrillers are set definitively in the land of the Welsh. Simon gave us a resume of his life and career, whisking us through finessing and developing scripts for the ITV and the BBC on productions such as Midsomer Murders, The Bill and Silent Witness through Hollywood and into teaching. The encouragement of friends and family persuaded him to direct his experiences and talents into his first love, story telling. He started us on The Snowdonia Killings, introducing two characters and kicking off a successful series of crime thrillers. He set up his own publishing company to get this first book off the ground and.... it sold. In thousands. So he wrote another. And another. His ability to write at speed he attributes to his early training in scripts and script production (6 weeks for a book!).
Perhaps it was the easy influence of his experience as a teacher that 'facilitated' an excellent question / answer which was a lovely way to get us all to join in as speakers! These gave us the greatest insight – one tailored to our own interests – into the way he has enthralled us, his target market: the attraction of crime with a spectacular setting, a grounding in fact, and the mystery, beauty and atmosphere spirited up by the myths of Wales. The modern technology that has given us the Kindle, along with the speed of his production enables us, his target market, to buy another one now and to indulge ourselves without filling the house with paper. And now a major publishing company has commissioned him to write while an actor has bought the film and television rights for his Snowdonia series. He is definitely doing something right – as the number of us who went off to download the next in the series or to take up their first Simon McCleave.
August 2023 No meeting
27th July 2023 - Tom Jones and The Rows of Chester
Tom Jones, a Chester tour guide, took us on an historical and photographic ‘tour’ of The Rows in Chester. The Rows, a 2-story set of shops that align the main shopping streets of central Chester, attract many visitors. Tom used his photos, knowledge of the history and his own anecdotes to bring into clearer focus the buildings that provide the backdrop for our own visits to Chester when perhaps we rather take them for granted, absent-mindedly wondering why or how…
Edward I’s need to protect his kingdom from marauding Welshmen brought work and business opportunities for the influx of people – carpenters, stonemasons, blacksmiths, their families – who arrived on the back of Edward’s castle-building boom.
They provide evidence of the skill of the workers and the evolution of building techniques (Gothic arches supporting lower levels, Tudor wood, Georgian stone, Victorian frontages) and need (shops in which to sell wares). Why two levels? Initially digging cellars the excavators hit a snag in the form of solid rock. The cellars being only half built they work seconded for shops and … with accommodation built on top.
The inhabitants of The Rows continue to evolve to use their space according to need. The two main uses – shop and accommodation – are still active today, with the stall boards, created to provide headroom for the entrance to some of the lower spaces, once again are being used to display goods and to hold tables and chairs for the very many coffee shops that we use today.
Used then as now for retail, accommodation and café frontage, The Rows have proved a resilient portfolio of buildings.
27th June 2023 - Paul Harston “Park in the Past”
“Park in the Past” is a former quarry in which Paul has realised a dream. His father planted the idea of building a Roman fort in the 6-year old Paul and today, after 20 years of ploughing through planning and red tape, the dream is in full flow. Illness forced Paul to leave full-time employment, but he seized the day and began on a life centred around centurions. He founded Roman Tours, taking children and tourists around Chester, and in his ‘spare’ time, he and Roman Tours have initiated Park in the Past. From the idea of a Roman fort, the project has grown… and a vast number of passionate volunteers have transformed a 420-acre site of virtually sterile quarried land into an ecological delight of rewilded birch, alder and oak woodland which provides an ecological renewal of the local area, a site for wellbeing and fitness and the full reconstruction of a Roman Fort.
Paul’s passion for this project and all things Roman has similarly inspired his son, and to the joy of many of our members present, Kathlan, a Thracian mercenary complete with helmet and tattoos, joined us for the evening. Many people prefer to focus on the rewilding and wellbeing aspect of the park, both of which are flourishing with numerous species of plant, animal and reptile finding homes there as well as visitors who walk, run, swim and paddleboard, but it is the passion of many volunteers and Roman experimental archeaologists around the world that provide the real fun and fire – as well as much of the financial input and… work. Thank you so much for joining us!
23rd May 2023 - Sarah Hughes “Protect your nest egg”
Sarah and James, the team from WillConsultYou Ltd, arrived ready to use flip chart and personal presentation skills to help us understand a bit more about a very sensitive subject. Ensuring that our wishes are followed when we die and / or if we become incapacitated is not something many of us like to think about, and consequently many of us choose to ignore it. They explored some of the different ways that we can construct our wills to ensure that we get what we want (which is usually to pass on our assets to our loved ones). Many changes take place during our lives - more children? Grandchildren? Divorce? - and our wills need to reflect these. They looked at the importance of putting in place a Power of Attorney (and activating it, both to ensure that we are looked after as we would wish and to make the lives of those responsible for us as easy as possible. Both for our elderly relatives but also for ourselves – however young at heart we feel.
Feedback from members was overwhelmingly positive, both for the content of the talk and the sensitive way that James and Sarah tried to make complex legalities relevant and approachable.
23rd April 2023 - Bev Davies from Botany House "Carpe Diem"
Bev’s talk took us through an affirming vision of her transformation from overworked career woman who has lived behind closed doors in Farndon since 2002 to – probably still overstretched – loved member of the everyday and the High Street that we know today who finds, researches and sells furniture and more to anyone who loves them. Not an easy voyage, it has thus far been a voyage characterised by the unexpected blusts that life and the world blows our way. But one also vivid with the chance opportunities that the world offers. She has come through unexpected family bereavement, heavy caring responsibilities not accommodated by work, the pandemic and the black dog of depression to enter the challenging fascinating learning that is the antiquarian business. She entered the world of retail by selling items left by departed relatives on ebay, and has transformed the building that housed Paul Burrell’s Flowers from a shop window for Bev’s Bits (‘borrowed by agreement’ from Paul Burrell) to what is now a respected antiquarian business Botany House. A business visually know for Humphrey Bogart, her mascot who stands in the window and surveys the High Street. Bev was not shy of weaving her trials by depression into her talk, as she has become aware of the vital need for us to share rather than hide behind closed doors.
She finished her talk with a splendid illustration of the fun and challenge of the pre-loved / vintage / antiquarian business with a touch of Antiques Roadshow’s Good Better Best. Could we identify the vase or the tray that would pay for our next cruise or merely our next coffee. Bev gave us another talk that brought the wider world and our own local Farndon world together with humility, fun and honesty.