Helmdon Branch WEA – Secretary’s Report 2004

Helmdon Branch WEA – Activities
Charity reg. no: 1112775

Secretary’s Report Spring 2004

The Helmdon branch of the WEA has had another very good year, culminating in the inspection that never was.

Autumn 2003 saw us at the Old Glebe again. After we had tucked into fish and chips, Rudi Parrish from the Derngate Theatre talked on the subject, Behind the Scenes at the Derngate. She demonstrated that there is never a dull moment when she goes to work, and entertained us with stories of the stars who tread the boards there. Another enjoyable evening – thank you, Will, for letting us have the use of your lovely home again. We are due to go there in June again when Cheryl Waller from the Herb Society will be the speaker and hope to have another lovely sunny evening for the occasion.

December saw Judith Hodgkinson’s architecture course come to an end. Her presentation had warmth and enthusiasm combined with detailed research and up-to-date technology, and she expertly shepherded us through the different styles of buildings. Nest Saturday a party of us are walking round Warwick, and with Judith Hodgkinson’s help, will get to understand even more about the buildings in that historic town. It is not too late to join – speak to Judy Cairns if you would like to go along.

This term’s jazz was a bit like stepping into the unknown. Although as a group we have a say in what our courses are going to be, when it came to it, jazz might have been a bridge too far for some. But this has not proved to be the case. We were thrilled to listen to excerpts of jazz as Owen Bryce recounted its history, and indeed, to listen to his tales! Indeed, Owen has joined the band of lecturers whom some of us will never forget – Mary Mountain who went to the wrong car park and we had finished looking round the garden we had come to visit before she found us all – and the lecturer who at the end of one session started to recruit us all as Betterware representatives, to name but two.

Our web site www.helmdon.com contains news of WEA courses and activities, so if you want to catch up with anything you have missed, please do log on. A photo that went up a week or so ago showed Owen with Margaret and new member, Jane. I hope that you have seen it. The historical section is now a resource to be proud of, and if you have any photographs or articles to contribute, please let me know.

Look out for our next Aspects of Helmdon. Little did the local studies group think whilst going through the trauma of publishing our first booklet in 1997 that we should be presenting a fifth edition, but it should be ready in the summer if all the promised articles arrive on time. We have a grant from a historical trust for £300 towards the printing of this, for which we are very grateful.

I am now retiring as secretary after nearly eleven years, although I shall still be editing and helping with the web site and editing the next Aspects booklet.

I never envisaged that the job of secretary would grow so much. At the beginning it was just about getting enough people to come on a course, and such decisions as – had we enough money in the kitty to pay for the coffee and biscuits at the break or should be continue to ask the class to pay 10p or whatever?

But then came the formation of a local studies group, four publications of Aspects of Helmdon, many visits and walks, a film “A year in the life of a Village”, six or seven visits to the Old Glebe, the transcribing of the memorial inscriptions in the church yard and elsewhere in the village, and the creating of a web site www.helmdon.com. All this has meant considerable work, which is why in a few minutes we are attempting to parcel out the various responsibilities to make the job of secretary more manageable.

I would like to thank all who have helped me in the eleven years I have been secretary – Stewart Moir was my partner in crime for several years before we decided that we had to have help. This came in the support of Judy Cairns and Cec Harrold, with Val Moir, Arthur Howes and Ann Smith helping at various times. Later we were joined by Kate Moody as treasurer, Ann and Peter Mackness, and David Powell became our first chairman. Thank you, all of you, for your warm support.

Thanks also go – in abundance – to Bob Chapman who is retiring as WEA organiser for Northamptonshire at the end of the summer. He has been a wonderful support over the years, is never too busy to answer e-mails or queries on the telephone. It is so good to be able to speak to someone who is unfailingly co-operative and cheerful and is not fazed by anything. We hope that you will have a very enjoyable retirement. You will be coming in the summer to the Old Glebe, won’t you, Bob – we shall say goodbye again there.

Now it is time for another secretary and committee members to come forward to continue the necessary business of the branch. This will be in a new district, East Midlands and Bob is going to say something about this in a moment. It is a wrench leaving the Eastern District whose staff have always been so helpful but it is the beginning of a new era all round and I am sure that new challenges and new ideas will carry the branch to new heights as it enters the 46th year of its being.

Audrey Forgham
Secretary
Helmdon Branch WEA