Before starting the Meeting I advised Members of an error on their programmes where I had put our September Meeting as being Thursday, 17 September whereas I should have put Thursday, 15 September, luckily the speaker has been booked for the 15th. (I would like to thank the person who made this known to the Editor of The Egmanton Villager but maybe that person should have contacted me as it was my mistake.)
However, being January there was very little business to cover but our Treasurer, Julia Smith was kept busy taking subscriptions and payments for the April visit to The Robin Hood Theatre, Aveham to see ‘Gaslight’ a Victorian Melodrama (guests are also welcome to join us at the theatre, tickets are £10, numbers and payment required by our February Meeting). We had an invitation to East Markham WI’s birthday party in March and were advised of an alteration to Sutton on Trent WI’s birthday party in February.
We then took nominations for the Committee for 2016 to be voted on at the AGM on Thursday, 18 February.
Following this, our speaker for the evening, John Devlin of Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes, was introduced. John gave us a slide presentation and talk on the history and work of Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes. They take blood, frozen mothers’ milk, and a variety of other medical items from hospital to hospital entirely free of charge on a volunteer basis. We were told that the original blood bikes was created in the 1960s and now covers most of the country, organised by county groups. They are a little known organisation which has now achieved a charity basis as it is entirely run on donations. At the moment Notts Blood Bikes have three motorcycles and the cyclists have to undergo advanced training. Items can be transported from one end of the country to the other, taken by members from one county to the borders of another where the items are transferred to another member for onward transportation, until the items reach their destination, maybe Yorkshire to Devon. John said that they have stands at various events throughout the county including Truck Fest at Newark and were heavily involved in the toy run for Kings Mill Hospital this last Christmas. Members were very interested as many of us were unaware of this happening and had further questions for John and we thought that this was a very worthwhile talk. (Further information can be found on www.nottinghamshirebloodbikes.org)
The competition for the evening ‘something red’ was won by Emma Olechnowicz with a pair of ‘sparkly red shoes’ Members must be thanked for the great variety of ‘red’ objects displayed. The competition for the AGM is ‘a cheese recipe’. The raffle was won by Shirley Isard.
If you feel like joining us please do so, you will receive a warm welcome from our friendly Members. You can join us as a guest at any Meeting for £4 including refreshments and a raffle ticket.