CENTRAL METHODIST LADIES FELLOWSHIP

JOANNE Halliwell entertained the Central Methodist ladies with her character ‘Betsy the Scullery Maid’, a scatterbrain chatty servant.

She came to recruit extra staff for where she worked and several of the ladies were chosen throughout the performance.

Betsy, the humble scullery maid, turned up in mop cap and clogs, and told scandalised gossip of what life is really like in the ‘big ‘ouse’!

She finds her simple tasks a challenge, and makes up with enthusiasm for what she lacks in common sense.

She managed to recruit a cook, who offered to make potato pie. Betsy was shocked and said they wanted quails eggs wrapped in smoked salmon.

One of the ladies was shown how to milk a cow with the hope she would be taken on as dairymaid.

It was inevitable Betsy would pick on various ladies from the front row, and they went along with her comments in good humour.

She also said she had a sweetheart called Thomas, who had a wonky eye, and she couldn’t tell when he was winking at her.

Joanne is an actress/ comedienne who writes her own scripts, and is also a guide and character performer at Samlesbury Hall.

The ladies had visited the hall recently, so unfortunately the last meeting of the current season had a downside as the performances were similar, and so the majority of the group had heard Joanne before.

The new season’s meetings will start in September, and the ladies and friends end this year’s meetings with an evening meal at the Moorcock, Blacko, on June 13. BACUP NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OUR next Thursday evening presentation will be given by Coun Alan Neal, an ex-mayor of Rossendale and current mayor of Whitworth, who will talk about ‘Community First’ at 7.30pm on June 15 at our Yorkshire Street premises.

All are welcome, free entry. Two days later, in addition to our scheduled Saturday open day, we will be running a book/ bric-a-brac stall on Bacup Market to both raise funds and publicise our activities.