Long ago, when I was young there was a shortage of everything — and I suspect in particular money, plus after the War there was a shortage of everything so every one had to “make do and mend”.  The wrapping on parcels was carefully removed, any string wrapped up and the paper folded, all ready to be used again. Everything around the house was treated with care. Furniture and fittings were made to last and any spare food (although not a lot in my  house as there were five children) was recycled for another meal, and in fact, in our street was a bin which people put spare food, w ..read more

For many people, one of the scariest things in life is to stand up in front of a group of people and give a speech.  It doesn’t matter whether the group is friends - e.g. at a wedding – or whether it is a group of strangers, the feelings are the same.  We can prepare well and practise but it does not take away that fear.  Of course, the more one speaks in public the more confident one becomes but for many the occasion is a ‘one off’.  So how can we deal with these fears and positively enjoy the occasion?   ‘Fear’ or F.E.A.R. is simply ‘Future Expectations Appearing R ..read more

What do I write on a blog? Would other people be interested in what I have to say?  Who knows?  But here goes.  I joined POWERtalk GB many years ago — long before I had even heard of the Internet, webpages and blogs.  So I definitely did not join in order to become a blogger. When the Edinburgh Toastmistress club was started up again in 1971 I was working as an Administrator but had just landed a job as a Further Education lecturer.  It occurred to me that this might just give me more confidence to stand in front of a class of adults, some of whom could well be older t ..read more

First I would like to explain that one Japanese word usually implies various kinds of meanings and therefore they describe different Japanese words.  I assume this is the case with English words.  I would like to mention the various meanings of this word “Shibui” here, as follows:—   1.    Mouth-puckering Bitter (tea) Sour persimmon Rough wine 2.    Glum, sour, sullen Look glum (blue) Frown at/on Pull a wry face Grimace 3.    Quiet and simple Sober, austere Be tight, stingy, tight-fisted: (Don’t wait for Gillian to buy a drink — she t ..read more

The final day of the Rovers  Training Weekend started with a workshop on ‘Expanding your Word Power’ led by Vice President Iris Gibson. After a break for refreshments the second workshop  on writing was led by the President, Rosemary Low, and the Secretary, Laurence Coates. A brief evaluation session was followed by a vote on the venue for the Spring Meeting. The choice was between Liverpool and Harrogate and the majority voted for… Harrogate ..read more

The Rovers Training Weekend in Carlisle commenced with an informal meal at SannaS Sardinian Restaurant on Friday night. Members enjoyed a relaxed atmosphere and there were a lot of favourable comments afterwards about the meal. Saturday morning commenced with the AGM followed, after a short break by the speech contest. The winner of the contest was Yvonne Baker, pictured below receiving the Tibbie Brown trophy from club president, Rosemary Low. President Rosemary presenting the trophy to winner Yvonne Baker   After lunch the club parliamentarian, Ruth Maltman, led a workshop on P ..read more

 The Rovers Spring Weekend took place this year in the historic city of Chester, in Cheshire, NW England from 22nd to 24th April 2022. We were fortunate to have fairly good weather with little rain – always a plus for any area in the west of the UK! On the Friday evening, we all met for a meal at our city centre hotel which allowed us to catch up with all the news and to have a reasonably early bedtime, prior to a prompt breakfast before our first activity of the day – a private guided walking tour of the centre from Stephen Shakeshaft, one of the city’s Guild of Tour Guides who provided ..read more

Why are horses sometimes called "gee gees"? Read on and find out. Lots to see in Chester, of course, but how many visitors think of racing horses? The oldest race course still in operation in Britain and maybe even in the world is in Chester. It is consistently awarded the Gold Standard Award. In Roman times, the river Dee was just about up to the Walls and the area of what is now the race course was an important harbour on the river, enabling supplies to be delivered to the garrison of Deva, the Roman name for Chester. Some harbour anchor stones can still be seen at the present course site. T ..read more

    A relatively modern building, 1274 AD, in comparison to a Roman amphitheatre ..read more

  As we started the walking tour of Chester our tour guide, Steven Shakeshaft, showed us the statue of a baby elephant. Iris, who in one of her speeches admitted to “a passion for pachyderms”, is seen here sitting beside the statue. The plaque in front reads: “This baby Indian elephant is called Janya The bronze sculpture is a gift from Chester  Zoo to the people of Chester. To celebrate the strong friendship between the Zoo and the city. Janya means ‘Life’ in Hindi. It symbolises the Zoo’s global role in Wildlife conservation. She was gifted in 2010 by  the sculptress Annette ..read more