Our annual Summer Social in the Vine Lounge was well attended as usual, and there was the delicious spread, provided by everyone’s contributions. There were quizzes and a raffle, and a good time was had by all.
Capel Fun Day on the 6th was bright and sunny, and Capel Ladies volunteers ran our usual cake stall with some games, and raised over £50 for club funds.
The intriguing title on the poster for our May meeting encapsulated the names of the speaker’s three novels, and Liz Trenow’s talk about her life as a writer proved equally fascinating.
Liz was born and brought up in Sudbury, in the house next to the mill where her father followed the family business of silk weaving, producing silk for top-end fashion houses and Royal commissions. Although Liz had holiday jobs in the mill, she always wanted to write. Continue reading
I think it is fair to say that we’d all made a bit more of an effort than usual in getting ready for our April meeting. The guest speaker was Brian Piccolo, a self-taught couturier, who himself came immaculately suited and booted to tell us about his life and work. Continue reading
Phil Hadwen gave us a very entertaining talk at our March meeting on the History of Felixstowe. What made it special were all the old black-and-white photos of Felixstowe in the past 150 years, many of them taken by local photographers the Emeny brothers, who had a studio in a two-storey wooden hut in the Walton area. Continue reading
Trust members working on the Lock at Pipps Ford
Our first speaker of 2015 was Lewis Tyler, who came to give us an illustrated talk about the history of the River Gipping.
Lewis is a member of the River Gipping Trust*, an organisation which aims to preserve the historic heritage of the Stowmarket Navigation by restoring the structures that enabled navigation of the River Gipping from the centre of Stowmarket to the docks in Ipswich, whilst caring for the flora and fauna of The Gipping Valley and making the footpath more accessible for the less able to enjoy the river. Continue reading
Our AGM in January was quite well-attended and produced one or two volunteers for the new committee. They were Liz Gulliver, Lorraine Goldsworthy and Sue Woolgar, joining committee members Linda Evans, Jean Rollings, Sue Gilson and Maureen MacNeil who are staying on for another year. Those leaving the committee were Penny Thompson, Molly Johansen, Pat Bradford and Wendy Keeble, who were thanked for their hard work during their term of office.
After the main business of the evening we had a lively Beetle Drive, which was won by Jacky Lloyd. Retiring committee members provided delicious home-made cakes for our refreshments at the end of the evening.
You could have been forgiven for thinking that Santa had come early to Capel on Thursday 4th December – especially if you’d heard the sound of sleighbells! It was, in fact, the very harmonious and mellow sound of the Phoenix Handbell Ringers who had come to perform some seasonal songs and tunes for us at our Capel Ladies December meeting! Continue reading
The guest presenter at our November meeting was Geo Fradgley, who kindly stepped in at the last minute when our booked talk on China was cancelled by the speaker.
The subject of Geo’s talk was the Republic of Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the S.E. coast of Africa. It was discovered in 1598 by the Dutch, who named it after their own head of state Maurice Prince of Orange. Continue reading
Shoomi Chowdhury
Our meeting in early October was something rather different.
Whilst on a visit last year to the Ipswich Mosque, we met Shoomi Chowdhury, a Human Rights law graduate and Muslim who works as an Education Officer for Amnesty International. She said at the time she would like to meet up with us again, and she agreed to come to one of our meetings to answer questions about Islam and the position of Muslim women in today’s world. Continue reading
The dreaded “C” word reared its ugly and somewhat early head at the Capel Ladies meeting on September 4th! The lady who uttered it was our speaker for the evening, Marilyn Coates, and she was telling us about “Operation Christmas Child”. This is the world’s largest children’s Christmas project, run by the Christian relief and development organisation Samaritan’s Purse. Continue reading
Capel Ladies Club 