The Buzz

On October 20, we welcomed Rev Bill McKenzie, who showed slides from his trip Around the World in 90 days. He and his wife flew out to Dubai and stayed in a youth hostel, before going on to Bangkok, which is very run-down and full of slums. The city has many market stalls, and you have to find the best food when you are self-catering. Buildings in Thailand are on stilts to protect them from flooding.

They flew on to Perth in Australia, sailing on the Swan River and Murray River, spotting wildlife in Fremantle including koala bears and kangaroos, before going on to Adelaide and going on a bus journey into wild country – including seeing opal mines where you can go to purchase lovely jewellery.

On November 3, we had Remember Remember with Isobel and Les. We all had photographs from our younger days and had to try to guess as many as we could correctly. Les told us about his younger days, when his father was a signalman on the railways and they lived in Helensburgh.

We listened to old music and songs and looked at old household gadgets from wartime, trying to guess what they were.

We welcomed Rolf Buwert on November 17 for a talk on Tear Craft and Tear Fund. Rolf was a police officer for 30 years, but after retiring he wanted to put his spare time to good use. Being an Elder, he was aware of Tear Fund and wanted to find out more. Tear Craft is a smaller Christian organisation getting churches involve. When we buy Fairtrade products, they people who make them are being paid fairly. They were all interesting afternoons.

For details of forthcoming meetings, see the diary.