Roundup
Our November speaker was Jill Sinclair from The Friends of Sheffield Botanical Gardens
Trust, Who told us about the history of the botanical gardens. Robert Marnock was selected as winning the design competition, he was appointed the first curator at the Botanical Gardens. The initial idea of the gardens was mainly for public recreation and ro experience nature, mainly plants, but a small zoological area was planned, but only the bear pit was established, and that only lasted a short while as looking after the bear proved to be more difficult than they imagined. At first only the rich could enjoy the gardens as entrance was by subscription, only later did it fully open for free public use. Some research into species from around the world was carried out, but not on the scale that it is today. Now the purpose of the gardens is more broad, still primarily for recreation, but research and education are much more important.
Cake Rota
December: Will be a Christmas buffet and everyone is asked to bring either a sweet or savoury dish (homemade or bought.)
January: Sue Coldwell, Nik Young, Carolyn Jenkinson.
February: Pat Roebuck, Margaret Harrop, Shelagh Harris, Penny Bradberry, Mary Gwinell.
March: Viv Esberger, Sue Sanderson, Sandra Gregory, Gill Ware.
Craft Corner
Thank you to those who made knitted items for sale on the market stalls. Any hats that were not sold went to Sheffield Young Carers (smaller hats) and Lowedges Library (Large adult)
As yet I have not received any requests from charities for knitted items.
For future dates see 'What's on'
Book Group
We reviewed November's book The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale. This was a marmite book. Most people agreed it took a while to get into the book but once you got over the first few chapters, that's when it turned into a love or hate book. For those of us that read it on Kindle we were surprised how big the paperback version was. The story unfolded from a fairy-tale that was not believable but that was sometimes the point to a dark rather alarming and creepy story. The book scored 6.5/10.
Next month's book is Hercule Poitot at Christmas by Agatha Christie.
NB: The next meeting of Book Group is moving forward to 13 December to avoid the
Christmas rush!
On Wednesday 29 November book group met at Rajdhani at Dore station for a festive get
together and a curry.. As usual we had lots of laughs and a really good time.
For future dates see 'What's on'
Outings
We have done two trips in November.
The first was a follow up to our last meeting’s talk about the history of The
Botanical gardens. On a very cold but lovely and sunny Saturday we met at
the Ecclesall rd gate and had a lovely walk around the gardens and
glasshouses, with the obligatory coffee stop mid route.
Our second trip was to The Chesterfield Observatory on a very cloudy rainy
evening, we were not very hopeful of seeing anything much. How wrong we were!
We had an interesting talk on the planets in our solar system and at appropriate
times visited the large telescope to view the moon and some planets. We could see
the surface of the moon very clearly, also the faint bands on Jupiter and some of its
moons. Finally after a bit of a wait we were able to see Saturn very clearly and it’s
unmistakable rings. This trip proved very popular especially with our ‘WI men’, so
we have booked it again for next November!
Future Outings
Haddon Hall Christmas market Friday 8th December Cost £9.50 please book your own entrance ticket for the morning session. Transport by car share where possible.
Eyam Hall April 2024, we have a date secured for Sunday 14 th April.
We know this is a long time away, but the hall is only open for a few weeks of the year.
The cost is £9 per person. Please sign up for this either at our next meeting or by contacting Gill or Jan and pay your deposit of £4.50.so I can secure our places.
Gill will be sending deposits on Monday 11 th December. We will only be able to refund you if you can be replaced. . If more people would like to join us after the deposits are paid, Gill will try and get more places.
For more details see 'What's on'
Charity
Saturday 25 November. Terminus road Millhouses and Holy Trinity Church Hall
We ran two very successful stalls at the Christmas markets. The Terminus Rd stall concentrated on selling cakes, preserves with a few crafts, whereas the stall at Holy Trinity
concentrated on selling crafts with a few preserves and cookies. Thank you to all who volunteered on the day and all those who made cakes, preserves and craft items. We will announce the total raised at our December meeting.
NB: In March we will be choosing a new charity to support for next year. Nominations need to be submitted to me by the end of January. I will need full details of the charity including their Charity commission number., also a named contact and their details.
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