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Literary - Trio of Surrey Ladies
At a recent meeting of the Society we welcomed Bronwen Mills; the subject of her talk “Trio of Surrey Ladies”. A very lively speaker, without notes she gave us an insight in the lives of firstly Fanny Burney, born in 1752, who was painfully shy and did not talk till 5 years old, and was short-sighted, but had a wonderful eye and ear for mimicry. Unfortunately we are not able to ascertain what her early writing was about, because she burnt all her writings following her father's second marriage. She had her first work published when she was 25 years old, and became a prolific writer
The second lady was Gertrude Jekyll who had poor eyesight, but nevertheless had a good eye for colour. She went to Art School at 15 and became a wonderful garden designer and expert working with Lutyens.
The third lady was the Hon Mrs Ronald Greville, a well known Edwardian hostess noted for her celebrated house parties, and the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth spent part of their honeymoon at her home at Polesdon Lacey in 1923.
At our last meeting of the year we welcomed a return visit of Chris Howkins to tell us the story of holly.
Each autumn, as the nights begin to “draw in” and we “put the clocks back” so little sprigs of holly start to appear, for Christmas is coming. More pertinently, the end of the year is coming, for holly was used as a vital plant at this season for thousands of years.
The essential quality that has brought holly such long lasting and international renown is its evergreen nature. Since its leaves do not die and fall off at the end of the year it seems to defy death. Therefore, it is used symbolically to carry the fertility of the old year over in to the New Year.
Chris Howkins continued in much detail the story of a tree for all seasons interspersed with humorous comments which the audience enjoyed.
After the Christmas recess we meet again on January 7 th when Michael Carrigan who qualified as a fingerprint expert will tell us of his experiences.
Kenneth Bridger
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