What we got up to in 2025.

It seems impossible to think we are nearing the end of 2025 and we are gearing up for our annual meeting in November.

We continue to enjoy our 'Tea and Chat' afternoons which are very informal and not at all structured.

We decided to change the format of our main meetings so after the President's welcome and any birthday announcements, the meeting is then handed over to our speaker. We then have tea and biscuits (sometimes cake if there's a birthday that month) followed by the business and ending with the raffle.This has worked well and allows the speaker to leave before the business part of the afternoon if they wish.

The programme this year has been varied, The year started with a local speaker who had joined the Met police as an apprentice in 1960! He gave an excellent talk illustrated with slides and described how different policing was then and now. The hall echoed to music and birdsong in February, and laughter was the order of the day in March as we heard about the life of Charlie Chaplin.

We travelled to South Africa in April, crossing the Sahara Desert and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Everyone enjoyed the experience so much that the speaker has been invited back for part 2 in 2026.

In June we heard about the speaker's journey from graphic designer for a cereal company to pet portrait artist. While she was talking we watched as a pastel picture of a donkey gradually appeared replicating a photo. Dual tasking is alive and well!

In a change to the advertised speaker for September, Cindy Brookes told us of her journey to becoming a British Citizen. It costs both time and money and there is a lot of paperwork to fill in and tests to pass. We had a selection of 10 questions that have been asked to have a go at ourselves. None of us would have made the grade as we didnt read the instruction at the top of the page! We ticked boxes instead of circling the letter of our answers - instant rejection!

We have also enjoyed a meal together at a local venue, and for our August meeting we enjoyed an afternoon at Wroxham Barns, culminating in a delicious cream tea. In August we also could be found in the kitchen at the Village hall, providing tea and cake for visitors at the village fete and also had a publicity stall on the field to let the village know we exist!

Still to come we have our birthday meeting and Christmas party.

That was 2025, we start 2026 with a visit from the Air ambulance to give us CPR training and look forward to 'Africa part 2" later in the year.