Minutes of our meeting at Coral Star Taverna 28th March 2024

At Venue: Rick, Mike, Patti, Irene, Jackie, Glen and Stephen Postgate.

On Skype: Bobby, John G, and Bob

 

Stephen was visiting Cyprus to arrange the shipping of his paintings and called in.

Bobby – Ch. 19 Wings.

Bayen sets up his new council for the flock. Once established, they proceed with the trial of the three brothers for the murder of Bayen’s father. The fox says that he saw him on the day but didn’t see the murder. A witness speaks up and testifies that he saw the whole thing. The brothers all blame each other. Sentencing will be the following day….

 

Mike – Ireland Back in the Day.

A story from Ireland before it joined the EU, how free and easy it was, with little regard for rules and regulations. An overloaded furniture van gets on the ferry back to the UK, where rules are rules…….

 

Patti – The Generation Gap.

The advent of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley and the effect on the post war generation in the UK. A new way of life  against the wishes of their parents The generation where women took jobs and had careers  instead of being just housewives. A personal view of what it was like for Patti.

 

Irene – Back in the Day

Irene has memories of the days in the fifties before computers, when children made up games in the street, scrumped fruit, built sandcastles at the seaside, and generally had a great time. A much more innocent and safe time for kids to grow up in. Another true personal view.

 

Glen – A new Dad

Glen’s experience of being a new dad, shopping trips to buy a pram, and all the baby paraphernalia, not knowing the gender of the child. The well-meaning advice of his relatives, learning how to put a nappy on, Washdays!!

Compared with the present day, where the gender is known early, online shopping, disposable nappies and the social networking of good news. They don’t know they were born!

 

Rick – Summer Picnics

In Manitoba during the fifties, Rick’s dad worked at the Steelworks and was in the Union. Each year, the Union arranged a grand day out for its members and their families to Lake Winnipeg on a special train just for them. It was a great time for all the kids and parents alike, all falling asleep on the train back home. It all stopped when the train service was withdrawn, so they went to a local park instead. Another truly memorable story.

 

Jackie – My Sadie Hawkins Day

Memories of the motor cycle shop fifty yards down the road from her house. She met a lad who was having his bike repaired, Paul. They met up regularly, but her father intervened. They met again two years later at work but never got together. Each got married and grew apart, only to be reunited by a mutual friend many years later. Paul and his wife came to visit her in Cyprus. Then, they returned on holiday a few years later in Paphos. A long term friendship that is still ongoing. Another personal tale.

 

John G – High anxiety at a church in St. Johns Wood

John is called out to dismantle scaffolding to enable a church spire to be dismantled in sections, only to find that the demolition crew had taken the whole tower down, leaving an unsupported scaffold a hundred or so feet high. Dangerous job, climbing up the gib of a crane with no way back down. He lived to tell the tale.

 

Stephen – A Tale of Long Ago

The family lived in Whitstable, in a house on the seafront, with tales of small creatures watching them all night. They moved to Red Lion House near Canterbury, where their father took them to places where they acted out fantasies and let their imaginations run wild. Leading to their father writing The Clangers.

As is usual from Stephen, an off-the-wall story, makes you think.

 

It was a nostalgic meeting for everybody, I think.

 

Next week’s theme is April Fool’s Day. Coral Star 10.30-12.30 April 4th 2024