Newsletter No 11

By Vic Lander

East Brighton Bygones Local History Society

"Newsletter"
 
Issue No 11 May 2009
Introduction
I start this newsletter with my very sincere thanks to all of you for your kind words and thoughts you gave to me and the concern you all showed during my recent spell of ill health.  It certainly helped me to know that I had some real and genuine friends rooting for me.  I have now almost returned to my normal self although I lack a bit of confidence.

I know you will join me in thanking Tricia for stepping into the breach and producing last month's fine edition.

News of members
At the time of our May meeting, the Chairman will have returned from his holiday in Spain, (he is the bright red sitting in the middle).

Beryl celebrated her .... birthday on the 30th of April and the editor forgot.  Sorry Beryl.  To celebrate this momentous event Tricia attended the party held for Beryl at Sidney Tidy House and showed the musical hall programme we produced for our Christmas lunch.  From reports, the show was well received by Beryl's neighbours.

Dear old Bob Nutley and his lovely wife Betty are in France until July, and we hope they will have a well-deserved rest.

Betty Netley is rather poorly is in hospital.  I have told Fred to give her our love and wishes for a speedy recovery.

General news

The tours of the Whitehawk School air-raid shelters have commenced.  Sheila and Charley Coverdale, Marion Devoy and Norman Foord are to be congratulated on their fine efforts with the tours.  Their involvement is most appreciated by the management committee and the school.

The tours are currently taking place and up-to-the present somewhere in the region of thirty visitors have attended.  All of the visitors have been delighted with their visits.

Hazel Bradley has done a brilliant job in producing the members' handbooks containing contact details of all members.  These will be handed out at the May meeting.
We have purchased our new computer.  This will vastly improve the speed of production of items for the web etc.

Recent activities
Reports indicate that the information given to members at the last meeting met with satisfaction.  Tricia and Keith did a fine job is showing members what we had in the files and were able to view their personal items.

Six members attended the April 'Char and Chat' afternoon.  The six consisted of lady members who apparently had a very humorous discussion.  One can only guess that the subject of 'men' was to the forefront.

External contacts

Our Chairman visited the 'Crew Club' before going on holiday and the following is his report:-

I visited the 'Crew Club' to see the valuable work that has been done for the youngsters of Whitehawk.

Special thanks must be given to Lorraine and Darren Snow for the wonderful work that they do.  I conveyed the best wishes of East Brighton Bygones and offered them our support in the future for any activity of mutual interest.

Vic gave a talk to members of the Shoreham-by-Sea branch of the Royal Air Force Association based on his brother's exploits during the war.  Part of the talk included his story 'My Two Heroes' that appears on our web site.  Reports indicate that the talk was a success and he has been asked to do another presentation in the near future.
  Forthcoming events  
The next 'Char and Chat' get-together will be on 27th May commencing at 2.00 p.m.

Members' Stories

There are no specific members stories for this issue but there is information on a future story.
Beryl has produced a story on her memories of using school air-raid shelters during World War 2.  This will become an item on the web and in addition Beryl will present her story as a brief talk at a later meeting.
Subject and date of next meeting

The next monthly meeting will be held on 10th June 2009 at the Whitehawk Valley Social Centre in Whitehawk Way commencing at 2 p.m.

The speaker will be Norman Foord on the subject of his National Service in the Far East.  He has entitled the talk 'A Slow Boat to China'.

And finally ......

A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered.  Upon their arrival, the midwife said she had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's labour pain to the father.

She asked if they were willing to try it out.  They were both very much in favour of it.  The midwife set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before.  But as the labour progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the midwife to go ahead and kick it up a notch.  The midwife then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer.  The husband was still feeling fine.

The midwife checked the husband's blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing.  At this point they decided to try for 50%.  The husband continued to feel quite well.  Since the pain transfer was obviously helping out the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the midwife to transfer ALL the pain to him.  The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain.  She and her husband were ecstatic.

On their return home, they found the milkman dead on the porch.

Editor's note:  Knowing what Brenda's profession was, you can guess the source of this story.

(Attached Issue No 4 Bygones on the Web)