Stoke Ferry Ladies Group - April

STOKE FERRY & DISTRICT LADIES GROUP Minutes of the meeting held on March 6th Mrs Armsby welcomed 14 members, with a special welcome back to Janet Burns following her operation. The minutes of the last meeting were read & signed. CORRESPONDENCE Thankyou cards were received from Rosie O’Grady for our donation to Riding for the Disabled, & from Janet Burns for her card & flowers. There are no birthdays in March, & there will be none for April either. The April meeting will be a talk by Ian Grimes about his work with emergency blood bikes. ROTAS Door & raffle Jean Carter & Yvonne Self. Teas Sheila Smith & Claire Lankfer. VOT Carol Thulbourne. Mrs Armsby then introduced Peter Thorpe, who told us that he had always been a country boy. He was born in 1951 & lived with his parents in a farm cottage, where his father was a farm worker. They kept 2 pigs in the garden, which Peter helped to look after. One was sent to market, & the other slaughtered to provide pork for the family. Most of the work on the farm was still done with horses, & harvesting crops was labour-intensive. There was no money for holidays, but families would group together, & take the train to Hunstanton for a day trip. His first taste of real adventure was when he attended Downham Market secondary school, & joined a group of pupils on a cruise, which visited Spain, Gibraltar & Morocco. At 17 he enrolled at Easton College to study Agriculture. He also joined the local marriage bureau known as Downham Mkt Young Farmers Club, where he met his future wife Jane. In1971 he set up his own business doing contract work, but when this began to be unprofitable, he took a job on the Stradsett Estate, working for the Bagge family, & therein lies another tale! Peter was thanked by Carol Thulboune. The raffle was won by Gillian Smith, Hazel Hearne, Yvonne self & Janet Burns. The meeting ended at 9.45pm. Claire Lankfer (secretary)