Monthly Archives: May 2019

May 2019

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Liz Barrett.  Liz had always been a very good friend and support to Papworth W.I. from its very beginnings and was always ready with a friendly greeting and big smile to give us help where it was needed.  We will forever be grateful to her for her support of our W.I. over the last 11 years.   Liz obtained permission for our W.I. to have a small part of a bed near the library in which we have planted roses in memory of the Members we have lost and we felt it would be fitting that, although Liz was never a member, we would add a rose there in her memory.  The rose we are purchasing is called Lovely Lady which is how we all remember Liz.

Beware Sharks!  Keyth Rooney, who was our speaker at our May meeting, certainly came with plenty of advice to help us make good decisions with estate planning, wills and Powers of Attorney.  Keyth lives locally in Willingham and is an Estate Planning Consultant.  He, himself, has had personal experience of dealing with the estates, wills and PoAs for his own family members.  His own mother suffered with Alzheimers and we are delighted that his “fees” will be passed on to Alzheimers UK.  Despite the negative nature of this kind of planning, Keyth assured us that we would feel a sense of relief when we had put plans in place.

His talk gave us an overview and basic advice and covered the problem of the fact that with rising house values, probate costs have been increasing year on year.  He illustrated the differing probate fees depending where properties are located and other factors which can cause fees to escalate.

He encouraged us all to make sure we had up-to-date Wills and gave advice as to who to appoint as Executors.  Will writing is unregulated and he related some warnings where fraudsters had stripped assets from an estate and related some stories of contested Wills such as Prince Rogers Wilson whose estate of $100 plus $200 in unpublished music attracted 700 claims and advised us to be like David Bowie who had an excellent Will and probate easily obtained.  His talk also covered Inheritance Tax, Sideways inheritance, and ownership of a property, Care Home costs, Gifts made before death, and funeral planning. All serious subjects but Keyth put it over in a very interesting way with excellent slides and examples.

Beware Sharks – Talk by Keyth Rooney

Members have also been asked to vote for the Resolution which they would like the Federation of Women’s Institutes to take forward from the short list of two: Don’t Fear the Smear and Call Against the Decline in Local Bus Services.  Both are important issues and it will be interesting to see which gets the top vote.  Whichever it may be, I am sure both issues will be progressed further.

Other activities in May included some of our members attending the Centenary Annual Council meeting at which Baroness Foella Benjamin was the speaker and our monthly lunch which was held at the Three Horseshoes in Gravely where members enjoyed chatting as we relaxed over our lunches. Next month we are off to Bourn Golf Course for lunch.

 

Members enjoying lunch at the Three Horseshoes Graveley
May 2019 Lunch at Graveley

April 2019

Love Hearts, Candy sticks (once known as Sweet Cigarettes), wine gums, dolly mixtures, sherbet fountains, flying saucers and other old fashioned confectionery were the prizes at our April meeting which our guest speaker, Bob Jones, handed out. Bob had us racking our brains to remember faces, shows or catch phrases and there were plenty of cries of “oh what was his name”.

Bob Harding-Jones, to give him his full Equity title, came along to remind us or, for the younger members, tells us about the greats of British comedy.

 

Bob’s talk entitled “A Personal Pick” and illustrated by photos or film clips, started with Tommy Handley and a recording from ITMA of “That’s my weakness” from September 1928 and included “Can you hear me Mother” (1930), “The day war broke out” 1940, Arthur Askey, Richard Murdock, Hattie Jacques who played in so many comedy shows (1944), Much Binding in the Marsh, The Glums, Percy Edwards, The Goons, Fawlty Towers and not to forget Dad’s Army.  There were plenty of others and the list is a long one.   And Bob kept us so well entertained and amused.

Our Easter Bonnet parade and competition followed with Yvonne Gover’s hat being voted the best and Yvonne received a pot plant as her prize.

At the end of the evening all the members received a chocolate bunny so no one went home empty handed.

Some members are attending the Centenary Annual Council meeting at which Baroness Foella Benjamin will be speaking.  Most of us remember her from Play School but these days she is busy looking into primary education on behalf of the Liberal Democrats and lending support to many children’s and health charities.

Our April lunch held at the Wheatsheaf at Perry was again a great success and as always we were well looked after there. For the May lunch we are returning to the Three Horseshoes at Graveley who are under fairly new management and feedback reports tell us they serve one of the best Sunday lunches locally so it should be good.

The choir continues to rehearse ready for the ‘Afternoon of Music and Song’ to be held in the Village Hall on 9th June.  Tickets £10 each are on sale now and children under 12 are free.