East Midlands members enjoying walking in Campbell
Park (Milton Keynes), Bradgate Park (Leicester), the
Nene Valley (Northampton) and along the Erewash
Canal (Nottinghamshire)
Regional News
What can I say? We're now heading into autumn and at the time of writing there's no end in sight to this corona craziness. Venues are slowly re-opening but perhaps with limited hours, table sizes and other restrictions. It is therefore very important that you check with the host that the event is going ahead and that they are able to accommodate you. Local lockdowns, the host having to self-isolate, the weather if the event is outdoors, etc, may mean a last minute change in plans. Thanks to those who have hosted physical or online events and to everyone who has attended them. Please be patient as hopefully normal service will be resumed at some point!
This year it was my intention to host an event at somewhere I'd never been before each month. We managed the new Silverstone Experience in February then it all went pear-shaped as our visit to the National Horological Institute was cancelled and we went into national lockdown. If you do have suggestions for events - either online or in person - that we could do during the winter months, myself or your Local Officer would love to hear from you. In the meantime, this month we have several walks on offer to try to take advantage of the remaining good weather as well as some meals, a quiz night, a re-scheduled distillery visit and family friendly afternoon at a farm park that, fingers crossed, will all actually happen.
I'm on [Phone Number] or [Email]. Do feel free to drop me a line to say hello if this madness is getting too much as we're all in this together and need to support each other. Mensa really can be like a second family in times of need. Stay safe and in your comfort zone.
Maxine Bates
Regional Officer
Editorial
Welcome to the October edition of Empress. I have normally created my Empress editions using Microsoft Word and then saving the resultant document to PDFs. But this time I am using LucidPress, taking advantage of the group license obtained for the Editors of the newsletters. A big thank you to Carole Pollard for being an excellent editor for the last three months. I think she has done a sterling job and has earned some time off. At the time of writing, we're all still in the middle of a pandemic (no, it hasn't gone away like some people seem to think). It is a matter of necessity that we have to write the newsletter in advance so we can't reflect the current situation when you're reading this. At least October is looking like it is going to be a busy month for members, with plenty going on. Be sure to check out this month's Regional Events.
Mark Sloan
Events and Meetings
Derby Diary
On Sat 17th Oct at 2:15pm - Distillery Tour
This is our rescheduled (from April) tour of White Peak Distillery (whisky and gin) with gin tasting included. Tickets are £12, numbers are very limited. The address is Derwent Wire Works, Matlock Road, Ambergate DE56 2HE. We must be there by 2:15pm so we can be taken to the start of the tour for 2.30pm. Contact Susan on [Phone Number] or [Email] to book and arrange payment.
On Wed 21st Oct at 7:30pm - 3WOTM Online
Hear what people have been up to and have a general chat at our monthly Derby meeting on Zoom. We aim for it to last around an hour and twenty minutes. Have a glass/mug of a drink of your choice to hand. Please contact me for the Zoom link and with any questions. Contact Susan on [Phone Number] or [Email]
Susan Graves
Contact [Email] or [Phone Number] / [Mobile Number] for details
Hertfordshire Happenings
On Thu 1st Oct at 8:00pm - FThOTM
Once again, we are hoping to be at the Three Magnets, Leys Avenue, Letchworth. Thursday is traditionally curry night, but other food is also available (standard Wetherspoons fare). Leys Avenue is the main shopping street in Letchworth and is just a few minutes' walk from the rail station (Kings Cross to Cambridge line). Please call me on [Phone Number], or email [Email] for details.
On Fri 30th Oct at 8:00pm - LFOTM
As ever, we are planning to be at the Cowper Arms, Digswell. The pub is next to Welwyn North station and is served by stopping trains from Kings Cross to Cambridge. Good food, beer and conversation guaranteed! Please call me on [Phone Number] to confirm whether this meeting is still taking place, dependent upon the COVID-19 situation.
Steve Thomas
Contact [Email] or [Mobile Number] for details
In Leicestershire
On Sat 3rd Oct at 2:00pm - Park Walk
Come and join me for a walk in Leicester's beautiful and historic Abbey Park (postcode LE4 5AQ). There is a car park by the Abbey Park road entrance (Gate B, charges apply). Please meet me by the Park House (Gate A) and bring your own refreshments or a face mask if buying them from the park cafe. More information on [Phone Number] or email [Email].
On Mon 19th Oct at 8:00pm - Pub Social
Join me for our usual convivial third Monday of the month gathering at the Cradock Arms, 201 Knighton Road, Leicester, LE2 3TT. You are welcome to bring a friend or partner. Look out for the Mblem or Magazine. If you need any directions or encouragement, please contact me on [Phone Number] or at [Email].
On Sat 31st Oct at 7:00pm - Pub meal
This month's last Saturday of the month meal is at The Britannia Inn, 47 Main Street, Queniborough LE7 3DB. Booking ahead is essential so please contact me by 19th October if you would like to join us. Either e-mail me at [Email] or telephone me on [Phone Number]
Haydn Starkie
Contact [Email] or [Mobile Number] for details
Lively Lincs
On Sat 10th Oct at 12:00pm - SSOTM pub discussion
Topic this month: "Are young people in the 21st Century more emotionally articulate than they were in the 20th Century?" Contact Jacquie in advance to confirm whether pub or online meeting. An online meeting will use Zoom, please request the link. Alternatively, the pub venue is the Adam & Eve Tavern opposite Pottergate Arch, all welcome and you can bring a guest. Contact Jacquie on [Phone Number] or [Email].
On Sun 18th Oct at 2:00pm - Cancelled - Beach walk
This event has been Cancelled
Join us at Anderby Creek, near Alford, for a breezy autumn stroll on the beach and maybe some kite flying. Large car park and conveniences nearby. You are welcome to bring family/guests. To confirm this outing can take place under current restrictions, or current weather, please email Helen beforehand at [Email] or ring [Phone Number].
Jacquie Harrison
Contact [Email] or [Phone Number] / [Mobile Number] for details
Mid Bucks
On Sun 4th Oct at 2:00pm - Games Afternoon
Please join Dave and Alison on-line for a relaxed and informal afternoon of board games and chat. All members and friends are welcome. We will be using www.boardgamearena.com and Skype for discussion. For further dates, information, directions &/or connection details please contact Dave a few days beforehand. Either telephone him on [Phone Number] or e-mail to [Email]
On Sat 10th Oct at 11:00am - Chiltern Walk
Meet on Wendover High Street for a walk up through Wendover Woods and then back along the Aylesbury Ring. Approximately 8 miles. We will stop for a break at the visitor centre and look for further refreshments in Wendover on our return. Please contact me a few days before for final arrangements on [Phone Number] or e-mail me at [Email]
On Fri 16th Oct at 10:30am - Coffee & Chat
Join me in the Pines Bar at Hazlemere Golf Club on Penn Road, Hazlemere, High Wycombe, HP15 7LR for relaxed conversation, cake and coffee. Plenty of free parking. Please contact me a few days before to confirm the meeting is going ahead on [Phone Number] or e-mail me at [Email]
For further details or encouragement contact me on [Phone Number] or e-mail me at [Email]
Val Hinkins
Contact [Email] or [Phone Number] for details
Mensans in MK & Bedford
On Sat 3rd Oct at 3:00pm - T@3
It would be great to get together again at Dobbie's for T@3, but we will need to check conditions nearer the time and will have to pre-book. Please contact me by Monday 28th September for updates and/or to book - [Email], or [Phone Number] / [Phone Number].
On Mon 19th Oct at 7:45pm - 3MOTM Quiz
Our monthly quiz outing to The Plough at Simpson. Meet from 7.45 for a 8.00pm start - cost is £1 per person. Please let me know if you are coming so I know if we will be one team or two. Contact Jo at [Email], or [Phone Number] / [Phone Number] for directions/encouragement. Alternatively this may take place via Zoom
On Sun 25th Oct at 10:00am - Breakfast
Join us at Brown's on Midsummer Boulevard from 10am for a full breakfast, a snack, or just a drink. Contact Jo at [Email], or [Phone Number] / [Phone Number] for directions/encouragement. Alternatively this may take place via Zoom.
Just a reminder about our M-MK & Bedford Facebook group - if you would like to join please search for the group and send me a request. I also keep an email distribution list for meeting reminders and any last-minute changes, so if you would like to be added to this please let me know.
We hope to see as many of you as possible at one or other of our events this month. Do remember that you're welcome to bring a guest with you, so if you've never been to a Mensa event and are a little nervous about coming along on your own, just bring a friend.
Jo Sidebottom
Contact [Email] or [Phone Number] / [Mobile Number] for details
News from Northampton
On Sat 10th Oct at 10:30am - Pub Walk
Lovely mixed walk through parkland, bridle ways, woods and canal. Meet at 'The Wharf Inn', Welford. NN6 6HW (644 807) 10km (3 hrs) Drink afterwards at 1.30pm at 'The Wharf'. For help or encouragement [Phone Number][Email]
Notts News
On Mon 5th Oct at 8:00pm - 5OTM
Please contact Maxine on [Phone Number] or [Email] to find out if we'll be meeting at the Vat & Fiddle pub on Queensbridge Road (NG2 1NB) as their opening hours are subject to change and the pub have been closing early on weekdays.
On Thu 8th Oct at 7:30pm - Natter & Nosh
The Cadland on High Road, Chilwell, is open again. We may be able to book a table for a limited number of diners. Please contact Maxine on [Phone Number] or [Email] if interested in this get together. Meal only. No option for just drinks this month.
On Sun 11st Oct at 10:30am - Walk
Join us for approx. 5 mile flat woodland walk around Thieves Wood, Mansfield. OS grid reference SK 54095587. Free car park. Please check this event is going ahead with Maxine on [Phone Number] or [Email]. Picnic lunch afterwards for anyone interested as plenty of picnic benches on lawn near the car park.
On Tue 20th Oct at 7:00pm - 3TuOTM
Fancy meeting the Newark group? Contact Pete on [Phone Number] or [Email] to find out the meeting venue this month. It's not top secret, but will be decided just beforehand depending on current COVID rules and weather.
On Tue 27th Oct at 7:30pm - Eating Meeting
A Nepalese meal at Royal Gurkha restaurant, Cromford Road, Langley Mill, NG16 4EW. Excellent food, reasonable prices, good service. Reserve your place with Maxine on [Phone Number] or [Email]
On Wed 28th Oct at 1:30pm - Farm Park
A visit to Floralands Farm Park in Lambley, NG4 4QL. Suitable for all ages. Llamas, alpacas, sheep, goats, pigs, ponies, donkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs, chipmunks, ducks and more. £3.50 per person. Animal treats available to purchase to feed the larger animals. Hand washing stations available. A timed slot will last 1.30pm to 4.00pm. Advance booking required. Contact Maxine on [Phone Number] or [Email] by 21st please.
Ciao for now!
Maxine Bates
Contact [Email] or [Phone Number] for details
"Florence"
A short (true) story
By Frank A Forster
When I first met Florence she was in her mid-sixties. It was on Easter Monday 1951, and over the next 18 years I came to know her well.
She was a remarkable lady, small, with long grey hair, tied in a bun. But it was her eyes that struck me, then, and many times after. They were very blue, and in repose somewhat sad. When something pleased or amused her however they twinkled.
Florence had a very even temperament, on occasion she might be annoyed or frustrated but I never ever saw her angry. If she was she never displayed it.
She was the daughter of an estate carpenter and had several siblings. Her parents would at that time have had a very modest lifestyle, though as the estate carpenter her father would have had a steady job.
She married very young to a farm worker and they set up house and over the next 20 years or so raised nine children. Sadly the eldest, a boy, died from illness brought on by a fall from a farm wagon.
Money was always in short supply. I doubt however that any of her children went hungry, though I quite believe that she may have. A consummate housewife, Florence produced the most delicious food, the greater part of which came from the garden behind the house.
In the living kitchen of that house she worked her magic at the scrub top table with an oilcloth cover on it. She brought in only what was absolutely necessary. Her busiest period would be pig killing time. There were always two pigs in the sty, and the salt cured result hung from the ceiling hooks.
As I said earlier she lost a son, not too long before the Second World War, and she often spoke of him in such a way that it might only have been a short while ago that it happened.
In that war, she had no less than four sons serving. One was in a heavy anti-aircraft battery. The second spent a long time in the Western Desert, a member of the Royal Engineers. His job was to detect and clear landmines. As a reward, if you like to put it that way, he then went to Italy where he took part in the siege of Monte Cassino. However he did meet up with a younger brother whilst in Italy. The brother was later to take part in the invasion of Europe, in the Bocage District of Normandy and in the siege of Caen.
The fourth member of the family lied about his age, joining the Royal Navy and serving on a minesweeper out of Sliema Creek, Malta, and the Far East. Added to that, two of her daughters were married to serving men, one in the Army, one in the Royal Air Force. A nephew, a navigator on heavy bombers was shot down over Germany, and in the latter stages of the war was to survive the notorious death march ahead of the Red Army. I told you she had grey hair.
Florence also did her bit for the war effort. Within earshot of bombers taking off and returning, she opened her house to many a serviceman to find some refreshment and rest.
She had two serious illnesses during her life, but I never saw her let anything get in the way of what she had to do. Her home, modest though it was, was never less than spotless.
Her family held her in the highest regard and her grandchildren worshipped her. Every Sunday they would visit her, and there might be as few as four or five, or as many as a dozen in there at any one time.
Florence took everything in her stride, and always thought the best of people. She seldom left the house, a few times she'd have a few days with one of the two daughters who did not live in the village.
Finally she was left on her own, and for the next few years she would be looked after by her family. By turn she stayed with them for quite long periods where she was cared for in the way she deserved. It was whilst staying with one of her daughters that she passed away in March 1969.
The End
Postscript: On All Saints, our priest was speaking on the qualities of a saint. What makes a saint, how an otherwise ordinary person might become one. In closing he looked at me, pointed, and said "Who knows, Frank? One day you may become a saint." I replied that it was highly unlikely, but I had once known one. That is how I came to write this.
Member Profile of the Short Story Author
Frank Forster is one of our oldest members and lives in Lincolnshire. Here he tells us
about hislife...
I felt an imposter as a member of Mensa. This is mainly
because I had such an appalling education, largely
down to a strategy which misfired when I was 10 years
old and to my father's intractability. He was told I
would pass the entrance for the grammar school of his
choice, but I wanted to go to the same one as my
friend and I deliberately messed up the first exam,
and my father forbidme taking the other.
I was apprenticed to a woodwork shop, where I could
learn to earn an honest living. In 1945 I joined the
Royal Air Force, a life I enjoyed immensely and could
have made a career, that is where a somewhat
Victorian upbringing came into effect oncemore. I was
never possessed with an abundance of self
confidence, once again I did as I was told. Although I
could think independently, I never pushed myself, though as a joiner, and later as a
salesman promoted intomanagement, I have always and still ama hands on person.
It was only in my 50s that I began to think I had a brain and when I was 58 I sent in a
newspaper test to Wolverhampton. You can only wonder at my astonishment when I
took the home test and was invited to take the entrance test. When I passed that I had
difficulty taking it in, after all, who was I to be accepted into Mensa?
I have been in my working life a qualified joiner, also foreman, a salesman for a builders
merchant, which I got into by applying for a job I didn't want, a manager for the same
company, and with my wife the owners of a trade and retail decorators supplies. In
addition I was a semi professional musician for many years, have written two small
books about all this, my interests have always been in the arts, and when I couldn't
play anymore I taught myself to draw, and have helped many others who have wished
to do so.
These days I can no longer play or listen to music, too many loud drummers no doubt.
My books are titled "A Yellowbelly Childhood" written when I was 80 and "A Short Walk
On A Bike" four years later. The first one was received very warmly by Brian Page, alas
when I sent him the second it never arrived. If sufficient interest was there I would
republish both. Today I content myself writing short stories.
20 Questions (No. 228)
Did you guess the famous Mensans from the August competition? They were David Edwards, Carol Vorderman, Norman Schwarzkopf, Adrian Moorhouse, Scott Adams, Isaac Asimov, Lucas Di Grassi, Garry Bushell, Geena Davis, Jeremy Hanley, Clive Sinclair, Leslie Charteris, Wubbo Ockels, Markus Persson, Nicky Piper, Charles Ingram, Brendan O'Carroll, Lucy Irvine, Donald Petersen and Jimmy Savile. Just four entries this month with Nigel Bryant of Bedford winning the £10 book token.
This month we have something to really test you Harry Potter fans! Send your answers to arrive by 20th October by post to [Address] or by email to [Email] for your chance to win. Don't forget to include your name and address. All members from all regions are welcome to take part.
1. What is Professor Dumbledore's first name?
2. How many mammals are on the Hogwarts coat of arms?
3. Who was best man at the wedding of Harry's parents?
4. What injury did Neville suffer during his first flying lesson?
5. In which village would you find the Riddle House?
6. What sort of dragon is Hagrid's pet?
7. How many secret passages lead from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade?
8. Who teaches herbology classes at Hogwarts?
9. What edible treats did Hermione send Harry for the summer holidays?
10. What is the name of the language used to speak to snakes?
11. Pansy Parkinson belongs to which Hogwarts house?
12. Which two words does one say to wipe the Marauder's Map clean?
13. What make and model was Mr Weasley's car?
14. In which month is Hermione's birthday?
15. What was the name of the driver of the Knight Bus?
16. Who manages to gain Harry's golden egg from Professor Snape?
17. How many different fouls are there in Quidditch?
18. What potion did Madam Pomfrey use to help cure colds at Hogwarts?
19. What is Dobby paid per week for working at Hogwarts?
20. What does WWN stand for?