‘Zoom has has its benefits for our monthly meetings’

IT’S amazing to realise that it’s over a year since we were able to meet up face to face. We have tried to stay in touch with phone calls, newsletters, the odd goody bag and of course Zoom!

Although we would prefer to meet in person, using Zoom has had definite benefits. We’ve been able to have speakers from much further afield and who are considerably less expensive on Zoom than they would have been in person.

Last month Tim Mitchell spoke to us from his home in Stratford -upon-avon. He used a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate his work as a theatre lighting technician, a career that had taken him all over the world. It was fascinating to see how different moods were achieved by altering the lighting of a set.

Our April speaker James Haddow entertained us from his home in Bournemouth. He is known as the taxi driver poet. He used to drive his taxi between Nottingham and Derby and would regale his passengers with his poetry. He became quite a celebrity featuring on numerous radio programmes and T.V.

He began our evening by asking if any of us had a favourite poet. Various names were offered and for each one he was able to recite a poem. He has written over 1,200 poems with a huge range of topics from love to Andrex loo rolls! He read a selection of these for us and explained why he had written each of them. It was a really feel good evening.

May 10 will be our annual meeting – again on Zoom. Subscriptions have just been collected and we are delighted that all our lovely ladies have joined for the next year, so let’s hope we’ll soon be back to sharing fun and friendship face to face,. Lynda Wakeham

Woodcroft WI