There was a good turnout for our first meeting of 2016 to hear Kay Oxford telling us about how to look after our hands and nails and showing a small group how to give themselves a basic manicure.

Kay began by telling us a bit about herself. She trained at Suffolk College, and did her work experience at Shrubland Hall, near Ipswich. Later she was asked back there to work over one summer, and ended up staying for five years.

She also worked at a gym in Manningtree doing aerobics and step classes as well as beauty therapy. For a while she became a mobile beauty therapist in the Ipswich area but as this involved a lot of evening sessions she gave it up and decided to open her own beauty salon in Ipswich – “The Gentle Touch” in Crown Street, where she has been for the past fifteen years.

Kay began by getting us to name all the different parts of the nail by filling in the labels on a quiz sheet, and then talked about the different ailments affecting nails. She went on to describe step by step how to give yourself a basic manicure, and a small group of us (chosen by names in a hat) worked through each step as she talked.

It was a very relaxed and informative session, and I’m sure all our nails will benefit from this gentle and correct treatment if we follow Kay’s advice.

On the same evening Magdeleine Hunt was selling her own handmade jewellery and crafts, and many of us bought necklaces and other pretty items from her in aid of AGE UK.

Future speakers include a lady woodcarver, a wildlife expert and a theatrical costume designer, and we have trips out to the Ipswich Records Office, The Brook Inn for a meal, and Stowmarket Rural Life Museum. Why not join us?