Ewyas Harold & District

Monthly Meeting

Fool's Gold

Following their successful visit in September 2017, Steve and Carol return with their musical story Beat The Drum -
Originally produced for Help for Heroes and The British Legion, the show Is a commemoration of The First Great War, this show examines the conflict through the eyes of a newly married couple, who are caught up in the events of 1914.

Monthly Meeting

My Life in the Civil Service by our member Lynda Cecil

It will consist of 4 sections:

1. Entry to the Civil Service- the structure of a Department.
My first post and "learning on the Job" how the system works.

2.The expansion of the CS in the 70's and the rise of the super ministries ie Department of the Environment(DoE}.
My role as Head of Prosecutions,London Enforcement Office, including managing a large office of 75 staff.

3.Policy Work in Whitehall. The culture shock of the transition from the executive arm to the policy-making elite.
Developing policy on Environmental Protection with particular reference to contaminated land and to protection of rivers and the marine environment.

4.The relationship between Ministers and civil servants. A selection of anecdotes.

Monthly Meeting - BRING and SHARE XMAS Party

Monthly Meeting

Every Picture Tells a Story by Peter Preece

The presentation includes how Peter attracts wildlife into situations to obtain good images and there is a sequence of action pictures of kingfisher to begin with. The talk also covers butterflies/insects, many mammals, amphibians and snakes, mice etc.

Monthly Meeting

followed by a presentation War Diary ~ story of a WW1 soldier by Mike Watkins.
The story of a Canadian soldier who started the war as a private, ended the war as a lieutenant with a Military Cross and a German wife! It’s a fascinating story of his life and fellow soldiers in and out of the trenches.

Monthly Meeting

Philip Caine (Author of the Jack Castle series of novels) presents
BARROW TO BAGHDAD & BACK (My career story )
My talks starts with me leaving school and ends with the writing of my first novel.
• I talk about my time as a chef and manager in the hotel industry (10 yrs ).
• Then talk about my time working in the oil business on rigs in the North Sea (17 yrs ).
• Then about my time in Algeria – in the oil business (1 yr )
• Then about my time in Nigeria – in the oil business (1 yr )
• Then about Kazakhstan and Russia (7 yrs )
• Then about my time in Baghdad working for the American Military (7yrs)
• Then about my time running companies in Dubai and Iraq (4 yrs)
I talk about things that happened to me in the various places I have worked, with plenty of interest and humour.
Finally I talk about my factitious adventure / thriller novels (currently 5) all inspired by my ten years in the Middle East.
See Philips website - link on the right

Monthly Meeting

Hopes of Longtown - The story continues - Following on from last year’s presentation Christine will update us on her fascinating life and progress.

Monthly Meeting

Presentation by Don Balkwill - Forgotten Gadgets
Don gives a unique presentation that has evolved from regular articles called “Grandma’s Gadgets” which have appeared in the local Abergavenny newspaper for the last 5 years.

Monthly Meeting

Dean Powell - The Incredible Life of Dr William Price
Dean enjoys a first-class reputation as a guest speaker in a wide variety of events ranging from after-dinner appearances and public lectures.

Chartist, surgeon, heretic, Archdruid and pioneer in the legalisation of cremation in the British Isles, Dr William Price was undoubtedly one of the most flamboyant, romantic and eccentric characters in Welsh history. Famed healer, crusader of reform, exiled political activist and a sparkling, dynamic, eloquent man who blazed progress and controversy by outraging a conventional society, there was much more to Price than his radical attitudes to cremation. Poverty-stricken in his youth, his father was an insane priest, although Price remarkably became a surgeon by the age of just twenty-one. He created an embryonic national health service, masterminded the first Museum of Welsh Life, launched Wales's first cooperative society, had visions of a new massed druidic rising and was exiled to France as a Chartist leader. Calling his first son Iesu Grist (Jesus Christ) Price, claiming he was a druidic Messiah, he cremated the child after its death aged just five months. The landmark court case led to the passing of the Cremation Act in 1902. He fathered illegitimate children with a housekeeper sixty years his junior and died sipping a glass of champagne at the age of ninety-two.

Monthly Meeting

Tax, Care and Toyboys presented by Oliver Hill
Protecting your family's nest egg-
Inheritance tax -
Stopping sideways disinheritance -
Lasting Powers of Attorney -

Our speaker will introduce the above issues, and explain what steps can be taken to plan for the future.

Summer Party - Bring and Share

Monthly Meeting

Presentation by Dexi Garman -

Monthly Meeting

Roger Curtis will continue with his talk on the Kennedy Assassination of Friday Nov 22 1963.

Monthly Meeting XMAS Party