With peaceful January now just a distant memory, the month of February has arrived and our calenders are filling up fast. Clubs have reopened after the Christmas/New Year hiatus, and with them, committee meetings. So we are back on the treadmill again. Today we attended our Probus group, and it was good to see such a big crowd in the hall for the first meeting of the year.
Our speaker was Linda Fletcher who spoke about her trip to honour the soldiers and nurses of WW1. Linda and her fellow travellers to Gallipolli and nearby places were gifted the nurses uniforms used in the four part TV series Anzac Girls. These were altered to fit, and the worn at various cemeteries and places of interest on their tour.
Piped along the beach while dressed in WW1 nurses uniforms
Linda Fletcher has long had an interest in this part of history and has recently researched and written a book which identifies all the casualties named on Horowhenua War Memorials. “Horowhenua and the Great War 1914-1918” details the lives and deaths of 188 men from the district who died in World War I, telling their stories through letters from the front and obituaries printed in newspapers.
Linda Fletcher’s book
We enjoyed our club meeting this morning, and meeting up with members not seen for a while. But our aim this year is to take longer trips away in the caravan for weeks on end, and hopefully overseas for a trip or two, while we are both still fit and healthy. Something has to give, and after quite some thought, we have decided to both give up our respective committees when the AGMs roll around shortly. That will give some relief from the feeling we were on a never-ending treadmill and we can plan our trips away without having to rush back in time for yet another committee meeting.
6 comments:
It would have been an interesting meeting with your speaker. Anzac Girls was a good series. It is nice to let someone else have a go on committees. Share the love, so to speak. In a couple of years time you may wish to participate at that level again.
It has been a bit of a wake up call when we think of so many caravan friends who have been ill lately and have to stop doing what they love. So we decided to "do it now" and enjoy tripping around sooner rather than later. IT will be fun making plans.
Jenny, I agree with your approach to getting on to the things you really want to do with your lives - as we age and see others around us losing their capabilities for independent living, it is a bit of a wake-up call. It was probably slightly early when David and I decided to get our narrowboat and spend the 5 months each year over in the UK, but we considered the timing based on how long we thought we would like to be able to manage it physically, and decided the opportunity had to be grasped and got on with. Like you, I think, we will keep doing it while we have the health, the fitness and the finances - and the desire.
And this is such a wonderful country to explore.
Happy adventuring!
Cheers, Marilyn
Thank you Marilyn, and David too of course. We are making plans of where we want to explore, and as you say, and know yourself, we live in such a beautiful country. Although we have travelled far and wide, there are still many places to see and explore. Especially those much smaller places which tend to get forgotten as we whiz by.
We can highly recommend hitting the road, we've been doing it for 5 years now and love every minute plus I have to say that in that time we have travelled all over this wonderful country, we have rally only scratched the surface of what there is to see and do!!! We too have seen too many people leave it all a little too late and only enjoy a short time travelling and having fun. All those committees will be there waiting for you when the travelling time is up. Look forward to seeing you on the road soon.
Hi Bernice
WE won't be on the road full time, just want to do longer trips than just a week at a time without other commitments calling us back home.
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