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Craster WI |
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COMMUNITY TRUST
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Report of Meeting held in March 2012Our president opened the meeting with the sad news of the death of one of our members, Pete Green, who will be much missed. Next month many of us will attend a party and exhibition to celebrate her life and work, with paintings and drawings being made available for donations to the RNLI and the Marie Curie Hospice. She has left an artistic legacy to Craster WI in her contribution to the 80th Birthday Banner. The business was completed quickly. This included plans for visits, including the Embroiderers Guild exhibition at Woodhorn Museum and consideration of the plans for alterations to the village Memorial Hall. Food Safety Certificates were presented to Pat Jones, Shirley Harrison, Marion Gallon and Gill Twyford and ‘Coins for Friendship’ were collected. The president then introduced the speaker, Professor Reg Hall, who was a consultant surgeon in urology at the Freeman Hospital, and is director and chairman of Cancer Connections, a charity which gives help and advice to cancer sufferers and their families. His talk, entitled ‘Northumberland in Sickness and in Health’ was wide ranging, and focused on changes in life expectancy. He began with the prehistoric settlement at Howick where life expectancy was about 25-30 years and brought us through to the present day. He made the point that despite attempts to improve medication and treatment, records show that it is only in past hundred years that life expectancy has become significantly longer Advances in medicine did not make a significant difference until relationship between health and cleanliness was fully understood. It was only after civil engineers worked out how to solve sanitation problems at the beginning of the twentieth century that doctors were able to make great strides in medical practice. Throughout his talk he referred to Northumberland doctors and scientists who have made contributions to medical knowledge, and he rounded off his talk by forecasting that in the next ten years it will be genetic research led by Professor John Burn, a Northumbrian, based at the Centre for Life in Newcastle University, which will provide the most important advances in medicine. Joyce Shaw thanked Professor Hall for an interesting and informative talk. The competition was won by Shirley Harrison, with Heather Lee second and Doris Clarke in third place. We look forward to our next meeting on Thursday 5th April when Pat Wright from the Wansbeck Matters will give a talk about the history of proggy and hooky mats. Meeting Reports |