See the other prize-winning photos inside plus: details of 22 events in the region in November; read a beanie adventure; meet Judy Barker; and have a go at our wine-themed quiz.
At the time of writing I'm ready to set off for the Diamond celebrations so my regional news column is going to be short. I'm delighted to say we had 543 registrations at our closing date with members attending the Diamond from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Eire, France, Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Greece, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Look out for reviews and photos in the coming months.
And talking of photos . . . Thanks to everyone who entered our photographic competition that ran over the summer months. There were some excellent entries depicting life in the East Midlands region and the judges had a tough decision. The final result was Richard Allen (1st prize), Ian Sargent (2nd prize) and Helen Whittaker (3rd prize) who won £30, £20 and £10 Leisure vouchers respectively. Congratulations! These winning entries are in this newsletter and most entries were displayed at the Diamond.
As usual we have an array of social events for you to join this month so please pop along and support your local host if you can.
Maxine Bates
Regional Officer
'AwayDay' meeting organised by Herts and South Beds LocSec, Richard Allen. For details please see Herts and South Beds meeting notices below.
Bombay Palace is a popular and well regarded Indian Restaurant on Crendon Street in the town Centre. Handy for the railway station and Easton Street car park. Join me for excellent cuisine and conversation.
We have two meetings in South Bucks this month. First of all my fellow East Midlands LocSec Richard Allen will be organising a visit to the Amersham Fair Organ Museum on Sunday 5th November. Our last event in Amersham was well supported and hopefully this will be too. Richard is responding to calls for "something different" and also "something at the weekend". I hope to support this event. Why not join me?
Secondly, again in response to requests from members, I am organising a visit to the very popular Bombay Palace Restaurant in High Wycombe on Thursday 16th November.
This restaurant is comfortable and prides itself on excellent food and friendly service. Please join me if you can. If at all possible please ring in advance on [Phone Number] by Tuesday 14th November so that I know whether to book for two or twenty!
Alistair Blackett
Regular first Thursday of the month meeting at the Old Bull, High Street, Royston. Good food and good beer both available! Call Dan Ormsby on [Phone Number] or Richard on [Phone Number] for more details and encouragement. The pub is about ten minutes' walk from the railway station and is also handy for local bus routes.
And now for something completely different! If you like the wonderful sound of fairground organs, join us as we visit the Amersham Fair Organ Museum. It's about a 15 minute walk from the station and we'll have a pub lunch afterwards. Ring me on [Phone Number] for details, encouragement and transport.
We compete at the monthly quiz at the Plume of Feathers, Little Wymondley. Why not come and join the fun? Food available. Little Wymondley village is served by bus 101 (Luton - Hitchin - Stevenage). Ring Helen on [Phone Number] or Richard on [Phone Number] for further details and encouragement!
We're back at the Plume of Feathers for our meal and bring a board game or two as well! We'll have an Mblem and Mag on the table. Ring Helen on [Phone Number] or Richard on [Phone Number] for further details and encouragement!
Join us in the lounge of the White Horse to chill out at the end of the month. The mag will be on the table. Ring Gwen on [Phone Number] or Richard on [Phone Number] for directions/encouragement. Meals are available. This will be our last such meeting of the year as we will be having a rest over Christmas.
Helen goes to the cinema (Cineworld) in Stevenage Leisure Park on Friday evenings. With 16 screens there is usually plenty of choice! If you wish to join her please call her on [Phone Number] or [Phone Number].
Richard Allen
Come and experience Dunstable as it was in Tudor times, events going on all day. Contact me on [Phone Number] or [Email] to make arrangements to meet for a coffee or some lunch. Or find me among the archaeologists! For more details of what is going on throughout the day check out this website: http://www.dunstable.gov.uk/pages/tudor%20festival.htm
Tara Morgan
Our usual third Wednesday meeting in the non-smoking area of the Standing Order on Irongate. Everyone welcome. Bring a friend if you wish. Hot and cold food is available with a good selection of drinks.
Strictly speaking, not in the Derby area but I fancy trying The Picture House (Wetherspoons) on Fox Street and it's not far for me to drive home if no one turns up. Magazine on the table in the non-smoking area. The usual Wetherspoons food, cheapish drinks.
More info on [Phone Number] or [Email]
Bernie Briggs
Join us at The Star in Thrussington for a friendly drink and a chat. The pub offers a selection of traditional foods until 9pm. Optional games of pool or darts. We intend to sit to the right of the bar by the pool table - look for the magazine. All welcome! An idea of numbers would be appreciated so please let me know if you're coming along by Saturday 11th on [Phone Number] or email [Email].
Rebecca Mawby
It's the 2nd Thursday of the month and there's a meeting at The Dusty Fox in Harlestone. What more is there to say? Head north on the A428 from Northampton to join the regulars.
Kettering is on this month's rota to host the Roadshow. Once again it's at the Talbot Inn in Meadow Road. We'll be in the Lounge.
Details and directions from [Phone Number] or [Email]. Look for the Mensa mag on one of the tables.
Ian Sargent
Remember remember the 5th of November. and join us at the Vat & Fiddle pub on Queensbridge Road for a drink and chat. The venue is near the railway station, Broad Marsh bus station and has free parking right outside. Look for the yellow Mblem on the table, usually to the left of the bar. New faces always welcome.
Meet inside the main doors of the Cornerhouse complex in the city centre. There we'll decide which film(s) to see at Cineworld, buy tickets for later then head around the corner for an informal meal at Nando's Portuguese chicken restaurant. There's 10% off the meal and 2-4-1 cinema tickets. A bargain night out! Contact Andy on [Phone Number] /[Email]
Come to my home in Langley Mill for an evening of boardgames and chat. I've a selection of fun team games or bring your own. Tea/coffee/soft drinks and nibbles provided or BYOB. Call me on [Phone Number] for directions and to let me know you'll be there.
Join us for our regular "Postcode Pubcrawl" event combined with an early Christmas celebration. We're going for some festive fayre at The Miller's Barn Beefeater pub/restaurant near M1 J26. Three course meal for £14.95 plus a free glass of wine. Please contact me on [Phone Number] or [Email] for menu and to check availability.
Ciao for now!
Maxine Bates
Continuing our First Thursday Eating Meetings, at La Hind Indian restaurant, beside MK railway station. Booking essential by Tuesday 31st - contact Jo at [Email], or [Phone Number] / [Phone Number] for directions/ encouragement.
Due to growing dissatisfaction with our previous 3WOTM venue, we're moving to The Suffolk Punch in Heelands. Saxon Street (V7) between H4 & H3, beside Novotel - drive into Heelands and approach pub from back. Real ales and good value food - look for Mblem in the lounge bar.
New members (or those who don't normally come to meetings) are particularly welcome to join us for an evening's bowling at City Limits in Xscape. The price of £8 (subsidised from regional funds) includes two games and a basket supper. Booking and £3 deposit to Jo by Friday 10th November. Contact Jo as above, or Colin on [Email] / [Phone Number] / [Phone Number].
Jo Sidebottom
Join us at the recommended 'Morning Star' on Greetwell Gate for drinks and lively chat. For more details/encouragement please ring me on [Phone Number].
Jacquie Harrison
Do come and chat, eat, or drink and be merry. The White Horse pub, Bourne End on the Hemel Hempstead Road (the old A41) half way between Hemel and Berkhamsted. Any queries please phone me on [Phone Number].
Jenny Habib
Having done a small opinion poll amongst Mensa friends as to what should be the souvenir gift for attendees booking the "Diamond pack" for our 60th anniversary celebrations we decided that a beanie bear wearing a Diamond logo T-shirt would be something novel.
The museum is on 2 floors with an attractive herb garden to the rear where it was possible to sit and relax.
Once early bookings closed in March the required number were ordered and hence "Di" (as I named my own beanie bear) was born. The beanies had travelled from Derby to Wolverhampton to Nottingham before being put safely into storage. But not wanting to wait until September to show mine off I took it to work where it sat happily on my windowsill. Until disaster struck on 4th June.
My company suffered a major fire to the extent the building had to be demolished. We managed to salvage some sooty files but "Di" had disappeared. Perhaps rescued by a hunky fireman? It was only when we were given one last chance to retrieve personal belongings before the bulldozers arrived that my boss appeared waving one very sooty and very smelly beanie at me. It looked like "Di" had a wonderful suntan; black in the visible parts but still beige under the clothing! After much washing and bleaching and scrubbing - plus a squirt of perfume! - "Di" is almost back to former glory albeit with a faded Diamond logo. What an exciting life for a beanie before the Diamond celebrations had even begun!
[My workplace will not be rebuilt and business has been transferred to another site so I've been made redundant. But every cloud has a silver lining and a whole new career may await me!]
Maxine Bates
Did you guess the film quotes in the September issue? They were from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Good Will Hunting, Back To The Future, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, Blade Runner, Rain Man, A Beautiful Mind, The Fly, Spiderman 2, The Wizard Of Oz, Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb, Dr No, Young Frankenstein, The Nutty Professor, X2, The Incredibles, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Artificial Intelligence: AI and Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. Entries were received from Geoff Ward of Lincoln, Ron Britton of Notts, Andy Cole of Cleethorpes, Catherine Kirby of Watford, Alex Foster of Derby, Michael Warren of Derby, Colin Buck of Welwyn Garden City, Rita Beeson of Kempston, Paul Henchliffe of Nottingham and Philip Abbott of Watford with Geoff being first out of the hat. Well done!
Judy Barker lives near Milton Keynes. The photo is of Judy and her daughter at a 60s party!
My earlier life was a patchwork of living in different places, although it didn't seem so at the time, and now I've lived in the same village for over 30 years and in the same house for 26 of them!
I was born in Leeds and spent my teenage years at boarding school in Kent. I graduated in geography and maths at UCW Aberystwyth in 1970 and did a year's post-graduate teacher training at Birmingham University. I then taught for two years in Nigeria as a VSO and for a further two years in Luton. This was the era of big pay rises, and when teachers got a (much-needed) rise of 33%, Bedfordshire had to close some schools as it couldn't afford to pay such an increase - I was on the point of transfer to a small village school and got made redundant overnight. Although I remained on the supply teaching register for Bedfordshire, my career since then has mainly been in public relations: two-and-a-half years as Information Officer at Woburn Abbey and Safari Park, more than seven years as Assistant Press Officer with the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) and, since 1984, running my own business (from home) as a freelance PR consultant and copywriter. I still teach regularly, mainly music as I play guitar and sing, and I also took specialised training as a dyslexia teacher, qualifying in 1999, and have some private pupils.
On the personal side, I am married with three children: two boys, who have both now graduated from Brighton University, and a girl with Down's Syndrome - Joanne, who is just the most wonderful little person anyone could hope to meet. I have to say that being the mother of a handicapped child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I had to fight some battles with education authorities, but we managed to keep her in mainstream education in spite of the best efforts of some in the LEAs to channel Joanne into special schools. This has proved highly effective in developing her academic potential and her social skills - she has two GCSEs in Art and Drama, and she went on to Moulton College in Northampton to study Rural Skills. Since she left college last summer, she has been looking for a job and was lucky enough to work temporarily for Marks & Spencer before Christmas, and is now working as a kitchen assistant (clearing tables, stacking crockery, washing up etc) at Frosts Garden Centre Restaurant in Woburn Sands. She absolutely loves it! So, as a family, we are just as proud of her achievements as we are of our two graduates.
And what of the Mensa angle? I had toyed with the idea of doing the entry tests for many years but had always been afraid I was not clever enough. However, when I noticed the Mensa session in Milton Keynes, I decided to go for it. (As it happened, it was on a rare Saturday when I was not involved in any of my normal weekend activities apart from housework!) I was surprised and delighted to be accepted, and I find the Mensa Magazine extremely interesting. I'm just getting to know my local group in MK.
However, it was not just for the academic justification that I decided to try the tests - I often feel quite out of step with the banality of 'popular culture' and the so-called dumbing down of the media, and I was also looking for a more interesting forum for exchange of ideas. Hence my enjoyment of the Mensa Magazine which contains a very wide cross-section of ideas and discussions.
This month we have a wine themed quiz for you. Send your entries to arrive by 20th November to '20 Questions (No. 62)', [Address] for your chance to win a Diamond logo mug.
1. In which country is the Hunter Valley?
2. Which grape is used to make Chablis?
3. In what decade was the first vineyard planted in South Africa?
4. What colour is 80% of the wine produced in Provence?
5. Which country produces Barolo wine?
6. What are cordon de royate, guyout, gobelet and vertical cordon?
7. In which month is Beaujolais Nouveau released?
8. Piesporter is produced in which region of Germany?
9. Mission Hill is a wine producer in which country?
10. What is the name of the only French chateau to be upgraded to a Premier Cru since the Bordeaux Classification of 1855?
11. Which country first introduced screw caps for bottles of wine?
12. How many grape varieties are permitted in the making of Bordeaux wine?
13. Tokaji wine is produced in which country?
14. Romans stored their wine in jars with a layer of what?
15. Which country is the largest wine producer in South America?
16. Which district of Paris has its own vineyard?
17. Zinfandel is a grape variety predominantly used in which US state?
18. 50% of all English wines are produced in which county?
19. What is the most widely planted grape variety in South Africa?
20. What is the name of the only vineyard on the island of Jersey?
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