Rutland & Melton Cancer Support Group
NEWSLETTER – July 2013
June Oakham Meeting
Marjorie welcomed everyone to our Oakham meeting telling us all about the wonderful donation which the Group had received following the Bank Holiday Open Gardens Event in Oakham which raised a fantastic amount of £1002.91p. in aid of Group funds. She told us about her visit with John and Jane to Dove Cottage, also details of the car boot sale held in Oakham.
We all enjoyed listening to our speaker, Mr Peter Baker who talked about the background and valuable work of the Royal British Legion.
The History of the Royal British Legion
The Royal British Legion was formedon 15 May1921bringing together four National Organisations of ex-Service men that had established themselves after the Great War of 1914-1918.
The main purpose of the Legion was straightforward: to care for those who had suffered as a result of service in the Armed Forces in the Great War, whether through their own service or through that of a husband, father or son. The suffering took many forms: the effect of a war wound on a man's ability to earn a living and support his family; or a war widow's struggle to give her children an education.
But even those who had come through the war relatively unscathed struggled with employment. As a result of the war, Britain's economy plummeted and in 1921 there were 2 million unemployed.Over six million men had served in the war - 725,000 never returned. Of those who came back, 1.75 million had suffered some kind of disability and half of these were permanently disabled. To this figure then had to be added those who depended on those who had gone to war - the wives and children, widows and orphans as well as the parents who had lost sons in the war, on whom they were often financially dependent.
The situation so moved Lance Bombadier Tom Lister, a Lancastrian, that he decided that if the Government was either unable or unwilling to do anything to improve the lives of ex-Service men, he would do something about it himself. This eventually led to the formation of The Royal British Legion.
When the Legion's leaders looked around them in 1921, not only did they see a gigantic task in front of them looking after those who had suffered in the recent war, they also sought to prevent further sacrifice by reminding the nation of the human cost of war and to work actively for peace.
By the time of the Legion's formation in 1921, the tradition of an annual Two Minute Silence in memory of the dead had been established. The first ever Poppy Appeal was held that year with the first Poppy Day on 11 November 1921.
We were granted"Royal" status in 1971, and extendedour membership to serving members of Her Majesty's Forces, as well as ex-Service personnel, in 1981. Now, anyone canbecome a member of The Royal British Legion. We welcome men and women of all ages, whether they have served in the Armed Forces or not.
Barry thanked Peter for his interesting talk and presented him with a donation from the Group towards the valuable work of The Royal British Legion.
John M. reported Tony Kenning’s sister had been in touch and offered the Group 3 items to sell for Group funds – a walker, also a piece of equipment which would carry an oxygen cylinder. There is also a stair lift available – please contact John M for further information. (01572 722896)
Next month – our July meeting is our Annual BBQ which will be held at our President’s Home, The Dower House, Preston, if you are unsure how to get there please give John M. or Marjorie a ring and they will give you directions. If you would like to go to the BBQ and have not given your name to John M. please ring him ASAP (01572 722896), we do need to know numbers for catering. Please pray for a warm sunny evening X
Gwen ☺
June Melton Meeting
Eileen welcomed everyone to a noisy coffee morning and especially our new member Beverly. Apologies were from Cynthia, Brian and Jenny. Member’s news update: Michael had had a fall and broken his arm; sad news about Olga – her daughter, Gerry, had written a letter to thank the club and to give us Olga’s parking ticket for the clubs use.
The Voluntary Action Group now has funding so can take on new clients to provide transport to the Royal Hospital for their appointments.
The MacMillan contact number is 854818.
John Marlow reminded everyone about the BBQ at Preston on the 10th July at 7 p.m. (The Dower House is the first property on the right hand side of the road opposite the 30 m.p.h. road sign).
Marjorie read a letter from Cynthia thanking the group for the flowers we sent her.
The Oakham open gardens weekend donated £1002-91p to the clubs funds, visitors came from all over the area – the turnout was amazing. There was a Country Garden, an Edible Garden and a Patio Garden, teas, cakes, eggs, marmalade, cards, paintings were all on sale and if you felt lucky there was a Tombola. They were very lucky with the weather and John interrupted Marjorie to say the group had a lot of helpers and friends who would rally to help anyone.
Dennis has had his operation for his new hip, he is recuperating at home – Jane is taking him out tomorrow for lunch and Marjorie was to check if he needed any shopping done.
Marjorie, John and Jane Micklethwait went on a visit to Dove Hospice, they had a look round and saw Mary and Sue from the group. Dove has 18 patients all day visitors.
Many Age Concern leaflets were available with phone numbers for advice and groups meetings. Tony’s walking frame and chair stair lift have been given to the club for us to sell to raise funds. There is a car boot sale on Sunday the 9th in Oakham and John and Marjorie are collecting items to sell.
Roger said he had vacancies on the canal boat trip on the 5th July from Loughborough through Zouch to Kegworth. Roger offered to sponsor the 3 couples who opened their gardens to thank them.
Thanks to Jane for organising the refreshments, Jennifer and Mavis for doing the raffle. Margaret booked a table for 8 at the Flying Childers – where in a quiet ambience unwound from a hectic meeting.
Margaret ☺
Open Gardens in Oakham/Car Boot Sale
Report from Marjorie..
After a great deal of planning and generous coverage in the local press and radio the three Open Gardens event was an outstanding success.
All through the weekend the sunshine bathed everyone in good humour! Teas were poured, coffee was brewed and cakes were baked and sold in the most delightful surroundings. Tombola tingled the inquisitive minds of the players and art lovers were involved innature’s footsteps on canvas. A handkerchief tree amazed us by waving an incredible welcome! Calming music soothed our brows as we settled in garden corners decked with memories of yesteryear.
Visitors hailed from afar and near, thenblended into an admiring caravan of happy garden enthusiasts who wandered slowly from garden to garden to garden!
Paths that led from Sheffield, Stamford, Norwich, Wigston, Leicester, Peterborough and Fleet in Hampshire finally met up in Oakham’s triple garden oasis.
Iryna was a very special visitor who dropped in from Minsk in Belrussia and said: “This is my very first time in England and this is just how I imagined England to be. Everyone is so warm and kind; I will never forget this experience. Thank you.”
The Group must thank Mavis & Frank Wolloff, Joyce & Bob Lucas, Erica & Rex Merchant, for this fabulous three day event which was a great publicity boost for us. The biggest surprise of all was that these wonderful hardworking couples and their helpers raised an amazing sum of £1002.91p for The Rutland and Melton Cancer Support Group
The generosity of these wonderful people who opened up their homes and gardens for the benefit of us will live long in our memories. Thank you.
A Car Boot Sale jaunt was manned by the Group in the Burley RoadCar Park, Oakham a couple of Sundays ago. Thanks to donations from Melton and Oakham members a variety of knick knacks were on show. There were forty car booters displaying their wares but not too many of the public showed up.
However the Group’s funds were raised by £73 - a really good effort. Even more important was the fact that two new cancer sufferers discovered our special group.
Sad News..
We are sad to report that Jean Fettes passed away recently; Jean was an early member of the group and enjoyed our Sunday lunch meetings when her health permitted.
Roger writes:
Jean was a Melton lady who despite her chronic problems liked to
socialise with close past work and Chapel friends including Gladys
Cross ourselves and others. She had an infectious happy nature and liked
'bright' fashion, earrings and handbags of all shapes and colours. She
had been a guest at Dove Cottage Day Hospice for many years as her
health changed, so it has been sad for us all and her character will be
sorely missed.
Greeting from my side of the street!
I would like to thank everyone who contributed their items to the Burley Road, Oakham Car Boot Sale of last Sunday.
After Thursday’s Melton Mowbray meetingMarjorie and I called on various homes in Melton to collect items.
With the items which were brought to the meeting and the items we collected, our Melton colleagues were more than generous.
Thank you all.
We trundled back to Oakham with the boot more than full; then sorted out the stock which Oakham had donated.
We had a pile – I can tell you!
Sunday found us at the Car Boot Sale and although it was not very well attended from the public point of view; there were 40 odd Car Booters in attendance – we did very well.
£73.00p was the result.
See you at our Wednesday 10th July BBQ meeting at Jane’s home in Preston - to share more merriment.
Keep smiling ‘cos summer must be just around the corner!
John
Canal Boat Trip….It may not be TOO late!
It may not be to late to book a place on the Loughboro' Canal Boat Trip on 5th July, don’t be disappointed if you would like to go you may be lucky and get a seat so contact Roger asap.
Forthcoming Trips
Marjorie has booked Mini Buses for outings to Chatsworth House on Thursday 14th November, and a visit to Waddesdon Manor on 12th September in Buckinghamshire, we are also thinking about an outing to The National Memorial Arboretum – watch this space.
To make you laugh..
Painting the Church
There was a painter named Smokey MacGregor who was very interested in making a penny
where he could, so he often thinned down his paint to make it go a wee bit further.
As it happened, he got away with this for some time. Eventually the local church decided to do a big restoration job on the outside of one of their biggest buildings.
Smokey put in a bid; and because his price was so low, he got the job.
So he set about erecting the scaffolding and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine.
Well, Smokey was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down, washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Smokey clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.
Smokey was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he got down on his knees and cried,
"Oh, God, Oh, God, forgive me. What should I do?"
And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke,
"Repaint! Repaint!
And thin nomore!"
Postage stamps
Please remember to save your postage stamps for the ‘Hearing Dogs for the Deaf’. VAR have volunteered to collect them so please bring any you have to the Oakham meetings and we can pass them on.
Parking Ticket for LRI
If you have an appointment due at the LRI don’t forget the parking tickets we have purchased for current members use. Occasionally we are approached to borrow the ticket from members of the public who do not come to the Group –unfortunately we do have to restrict the ticket to current Group members only. It does not appear to be commonly known that anyone can purchase a ticket from the SERCO office at LRI for £25 which covers them for £50 worth of parking.
Eileen holds the Melton pass and Marjorie/John M. holds the Oakham pass.
Group Meetings
Oakham evening meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7.00pm at Voluntary Action Rutland, Oakham (behind Rutland College on the Barleythorpe Road)
Melton Mowbray daytime meetings are held on the 1st Thursday of each month between 10am and 12 noon in an upstairs room at the Samworth Centre in Melton Mowbray.
Items for the Newsletter
If you have any items of interest for the newsletter, please could you let me have them by the 20th of the month.
Contact details are as follows: E-mail:
You are very welcome to attend our meetings and social events to meet old friends and make new ones, or just ring us for a chat!
Melton Macmillan Advisor
Kalpna Khatri is the Macmillan Benefits Advisor for the Melton area. Contact details are 01530 551412 (Mobile) 07903891700 e-mail address
Next Committee Meeting
Our next Committee meeting is Tuesday 10th Sept 2013 at Marjorie’s house – 2 p.m.
R & M Group Contact
Marjorie 01572 722311 -Eileen 01664 850226 Jenny 01664 852138
Bridget 01572 768462
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