EMPRESS

Regional News

It was lovely to see a few of you at the Annual Gathering in Manchester. The best bit of the weekend for me was seeing so many friends I hadn't seen for so long. Huge thanks should go to Hannah Eisenberg who led the volunteer organising team and Bobby Raikhy from the Mensa office who ensured the hotel re-opened following the pandemic just in time for us descending on them! A remarkable achievement and well done to all involved. The next Annual Gathering will take place autumn 2022 in Southampton. Watch this space as details are finalised.

Gradually life seems to be returning to normal. What have you enjoyed the most since the lifting of COVID restrictions in the summer? What are you looking forward to seeing and doing in the coming months? Plans that were in the pipeline pre-COVID and subsequently cancelled are starting to be rescheduled. But what activities would YOU like to see on our events programme in the coming year? Myself and your Local Officers would dearly love to hear your thoughts.

Don't forget, if you are still wary of venturing out you can read Mensa Magazine and all the regional newsletters online, join a multitude of Special Interest Groups, take part in discussions on the Brightspace or East Midlands Mensa Facebook groups, all from the comfort of your own home.

I'm on [Phone Number] or [Email] and happy to hear from you.

Maxine Bates

Regional Officer

Editorial

Welcome to the November edition of Empress. I hope you're getting used to Empress not being printed any more. If you are feeling creative, I'd love to receive any articles and/or pictures from you at empress@mensa.org.uk. Remember it is your newsletter. With the print deadline no longer applicable, it means the newsletter can be added to with pictures and events much closer to when they occurred, so making the newsletter much more relevant. If you have not already done so then please let the office (membership@mensa.org.uk) know your email address. The regional newsletters are now sent electronically, so it is vital that the office can contact you via email.

Mark Sloan

Obituary for John Page

John and his wife Rosemary used to come to our last Saturday of the month Leicester Mensa meals. John was always cheerful and often talked about his career and his travels and would bring the photos of his latest trip, blown up to A4 size, and pass them around for the group to look at.

John gained a 1st class Honours degree in mechanical engineering in 1971 and married Rosemary on 25th September 1971. He worked on equipment for nuclear submarines and then designed equipment for the drinks industry. Eventually he became a director of an international company designing and building factories all over the world, including 3rd world countries. This gave him his taste for travel.

John joined Mensa in the early 70's in Kent and played Postal Chess. In 1977 he moved to Hereford where he was an active member of the society. In 1989, he moved to Oakham and was less active as he was working abroad a lot but when he retired in 2001, he became an active member again and regularly attended Mensa at Cambridge.

As well as his interest in photography, John was an aeroplane enthusiast and on retirement, he gained a pilot's licence and joined an aeroplane syndicate. He also became a volunteer STEM Ambassador working in schools to promote Science and Maths. Additionally, he ran an after-school club building model aeroplanes. He built a few radio-controlled aeroplanes too.

John was skilled at giving talks on aircraft history or about his travels to local clubs and societies and he often wrote articles for various publications. He was a member of Travel SIG and wrote articles for Visa about his trips, including Madagascar, Philippines, S.E. Italy, South Africa, Portugal and Myanmar. It was in the latter article that his photograph 'Winter Angler Anglering' was published. You can see this in Mensa's 75th Anniversary Special Issue as he won the British Mensa Photography competition for this year. He learnt about this latest achievement just before he sadly passed away, due to stomach cancer, at the age of 72 on September 3rd. As well as his wife Rosemary, he leaves behind a son and 2 granddaughters.

Pen Penny

Seaside Shenanigans!

We arranged a get together in Skegness for Sunday 19th September. Four of us made it into a mini-weekend by staying overnight on the Saturday, although this turned out to be a few miles away in Wainfleet as there was no accommodation available in Skegness itself. Well, only two hotels with awful reviews! But we had a lovely dinner and drinks and only had to stagger upstairs at the end of the night as we stayed in a pub!

Next day a dozen of us met at Natureland on the promenade and I managed to blag us a group discount. Although primarily a seal sanctuary there were lots of other cute animals such as fairy penguins, meerkats, rabbits, alpacas and Henry the greedy goat who ate anything in his vicinity given the chance! Guests could buy bags of feed from the shop though he was only allowed to be fed a certain amount each day. Shortly after arrival it was feeding time for the seals and penguins with a talk by the keepers. We could also stroll through the tropical house with butterflies and peer into the hospital where rescued seals were recouperating. Cuteness overload! As all profits go towards the upkeep of the sanctuary we didn't feel too bad claiming our discounted entry as most of us purchased food and/or drink and sat outside their cafe for lunch. The attraction is ideal for all ages, wheelchairs and pushchairs. We agreed a time to meet so we could wander at our leisure and left after a couple of hours feeling we had good value for money.

Next stop was a walk on the Victorian pier with some of us buying ice creams. Salted caramel seemed to be a popular choice of flavour. We couldn't leave without playing on the two penny arcades and between us managed to win two lollipops, although it was almost a Mensa puzzle trying to figure out how we swapped our tickets for prizes! Walking a little further we entered the Pleasure Beach and some of us rode on the giant wheel. A bargain £2 per person as there was nobody waiting to board so we were sent round a couple of extra revolutions so could admire the views from the top a bit longer. We continued along the promenade to the famous 'Jolly Fisherman' statue with some of us posing in the same stance, possibly to the amusement of those sitting in the gardens nearby. Then it was time to walk to the seafront to look at the wind farm out at sea via the donkeys on the beach. At this point the Skegness motto of "It's so bracing" was quite apt!

Our final stop of the day was an early dinner at The Red Lion, a Wetherspoon venue so we could opt for light bites or a full meal. Dining early meant we could get a large table and sit together and also wasn't a very late finish for those having a long drive home. The rain that had been forecast all day didn't materialise until we were all on our way home. Perfect timing!

Skegness has really smartened itself up since I last visited years ago with new street lights and manicured flower beds. It was a fabulous day out with a lovely group of people and we hope to make a seaside trip an annual event. The only thing that marred the day was it had been planned in order to meet Frank, the oldest member in the East Midlands, who unfortunately found himself in hospital and couldn't join us. However, our lollipops were posted to him so he knew he had been in our thoughts! Thank you to everyone who came from Lincs, Notts, Derbys and Beds. Watch this space for more fun at the seaside in 2022!

Maxine Bates

Treasure Trail

Here are some pictures from the Treasure Trail event organised by Maxine Bates on Sunday, the 10th of October, set around Edwinstowe and Sherwood Forest. It was a lovely day for it. The objective was try and find where Maid Marian's Sword was hidden, by eliminating all the places it wasn't. The Major Oak looked magnificent. I did get the right answer in the end but not before losing a couple of pens along the way!

Mark Sloan

Hughenden Manor

The exhibition covering the role of Hughenden as a centre for map-making during World War II has been expanded and moved out of the basement into the west wing of the manor.

New displays have been installed and the former map making room recreated and furnished to look much as it does in photographs taken during the War.

A lovely afternoon - even the weather was kind!

Val Hinkins

Museum of Making

Susan Graves led a visit to the Museum Of Making at the Silk Mill in Derby on Saturday, 16th October. Little did we know that a Steampunk market was also been held, so a lot of costumed visitors were there as well! First time I've been since all the refurbishment. The railway model, which I always try to visit when I come, has now moved from the basement to the second floor. Still a work in progress. The main museum is free to enter, so well worth a visit.

Mark Sloan

20 Questions (No. 241)

The answers to our September competition were bird, Edith Piaf, triceratops, snake, Napoleon, 4 years, The Osmonds, Scout, capybara, Boot, Deputy Dawg, crocodile, Laika, leatherback, a mob, Chimera, Tibet, 4, Sandy and shrike. Several entries with 20 out of 20 but David Crozier of St Albans was picked 'out of the hat'. Congratulations!

Many thanks to Barry Grossman for compiling this month's competition on the subject of comedy in all forms - cinema, theatre, TV, radio and stand-up. Send your entries to arrive by 20th November to '20 Questions (No. 241)', 80 Milnhay Road, Langley Mill, Nottingham, NG16 4AW or [Email] remembering to include your name and address so we know where to send the £10 One4All gift card if you win.