Watton Society May Meeting

Our May meeting by Andrew Clarke was on Antarctica, Andrew gave a very interesting talk on when Antarctica was discovered and by whom, he then went on to explain its geography and make up.

His roll in the scientific research over the last 30 years and how it had changed, both during the winter months and in its summer when the number of workers increased from 1,000 to over 4,000 and the various nations operating there and the close contact with them.

He then went on to talk about the wildlife, including whales and penguins. His talk was accompanied by images of the landscape and accommodation along with some of its wildlife.

Next Month we have Stuff and Folly coming to the Methodist Hall on Wednesday 15^th June. A local based entertainment group, that stage fully scripted original short plays and sketches, specialising in humour and a variety of themes.

The Bayeux Tapestry

Mia Hansson gave a talk about her project over the last ten years of embroidering a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry. She brought along two of her four nine metre rolls of work she has completed, which were displayed around the hall.

She started the project in 2016 and is ahead of her estimated time for this task.

She told of some of the difficulties she has encountered along the way with getting materials that will match with the original tapestry, and of TV programmes that wished to come to her home to see the project in progress, but not having sufficient space at home to show this and the tapestry she approached her local library who were happy to provide the required space. The TV company has returned to film the progress and is hoping to be able to view the finished item in the next year or so.

On Wednesday 16^th March Roger Pugh came and gave us an illustrated talk entitled “The Most Secret Place on Earth”. This was the story of how the Military Tank was invented, and the first Tank force was created at Elveden, close to Thetford, in the utmost secrecy and despatched to France in 1916 to take part in the Battle of the Somme, resulting in the ultimate victory.

Roger gave some interesting information, like why it was called a Tank, this was to prevent information getting out to the public of what was being developed, as they also constructed Water Tanks for the army at this site.

At our February Meeting We were treated to a talk by Malcolm Trayhorn entitled “My career in the Police.” This started with his time at training college then progression as a constable to sergeant.

He passed round a paper with various topics and asked the audience to pick one which he would then talk about. These included the Brixton riots, the miners’ strike, and many more, some of a humourous nature. Malcolm also brought some items of memorabilia from his time in the service along with a copy of a book he has written during the recent lockdown about his time in the Metropolitan Police. A very informative and interesting evening.

Watton Society Meeting January 2022

Our first meeting of 2022 was held on Wednesday 19^th January, when Simon White from Peter Beales Roses gave a very informative talk along with photos of the setting up and images of the completed displays at both Chelsea Flower Show and the Hampton Court Show. He also gave an insight to the budgets involved in the setting up and running of both the displays and the show gardens, along with the dismantling to leave site in condition it was before the start. He also brought along some plants and gardening accessories which were for sale at a discounted price on the night.