TOWNSWOMEN GUILD

At our January meeting we had a really interesting talk from Bill Laws about the 50 plants that changed the world.

Bill has written several books and one of them was on this subject.

At first glance you may have thought this was only for gardening enthusiasts, but you would have been wrong.

The plants he included in his abbreviated list were more those that have had an effect on history and became popular because of historical events.

One example of both categories is sugar which led to the rise of slavery as a much sought after commodity.

As we all are very aware now it has also led to a health crisis in many parts of the world.

Another example was indigo as blue has always been an important colour, indicating wealth and power.

This propped up the economy of India until a synthetic version was invented and made vast profits for Germany at India’s cost.

Bill gave interesting examples of other plants which gave the world food, rice, wheat, maize and sunflowers.

Some of these brought great wealth to towns and cities as well as putting towns on the map.

The meeting in February features a talk on garden birds with ornithologist Arthur Ball.

Visitors are more than welcome for a small charge of £3 at 7.15pm in Highbury Church, 3 Priory Walk.

For more information visit gloucestershiretownswomen.org.

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