14th DECEMBER 2023 - THE CHRISTMAS PARTY!

We had a good turnout today for the Christmas party, and much enjoyment of the quiz and the morning's activities.  There was a fine spread of delicious food, mulled wine, lots of chat and good company.  The pictures produced for the Chairman's project, 'Where on Earth are we Going?' were shown and explained, and the patchwork picture for this year was revealed...  Spot the 'photo bomber' below!  Thanks to everyone for the very good lunch, to Frances for the quiz (a difficult stretch as usual), and to Richard Court for the Carol music.  Maggie-Anne and Jackie made the Pictionary harder than last year, so that we could not guess the answers straight away, and to Lesley for keeping us to the timetable!

FORGOT TO SAY - LESLEY ANNOUNCED THE NEW CHAIRMAN'S PROJECT: 'LOOKING UP'
to be completed by April 2024

And thanks to Avril for sending me more pictures. she was much more diligent about it than I was!

Here Sally shows the finished patchwork pictures with the originals.  There will be more information on the Patchwork Pictures page shortly, but I must congratulate the members on the way they tackled this very difficult task.  The paintings are murals produced for the UN headquarters in New York and donated by the Brazilian government.  They fill an enormous space, as you can see, left.

So here are the Chairman's Project pieces.  I have given brief details where necessary for clarification of size etc.  We appear a gloomy bunch, as most of us interpreted this in a pessimistic way...

So, first a very tall (over 6 foot) collage from Diana - a chaotic road gradually smoothing out into harmony.  Next, John was struck by an image from a newspaper of a fireman rescuing a child during the forest fires in Greece. And then two views from Harriet, the choice of pathways for the future, and the deluge submerging a village if the right choice is not made.

In Josie's painting, the answer to 'Where on Earth are we Going? is somewhere else!
Ian J's picture is a postcard from someone careless sailing away from it all, obliviously!  And Sally T gave us Mellis completely under water.

From Freda, a more positive image, showing children being taught to grow food; thinking globally to acting locally, Jill's modern day Noah's Ark...and Jenny's 'End of the World' scenario...

Bea pictured 'The Last Polar Bear', And Avril gave us a turtle caught in plastic, while Sally P pictured a much-maligned lemming, which, like us, has at times to deal with over-population.

Lesley gave us a new version of Munch's 'Scream', Gaia in distress at the despoiling of the earth, and, more currently, the crumbling cliffs of Hemsby.

Ian C envisages the world after the waters recede, with no vegetation or people and Richard's inscrutable question. Frances gives us The Green Man as symbol of rebirth, together with fire and flood, with words from Milton and Gerard Manley-Hopkins (sorry about the reflections)...

Lastly, Angela pictured ruins and people walking towards their unknown  future over bodies of the dead.  Judith made a collage dealing with the inconsistencies of attitude in society, and my work (Hannah) is about the many, many wrong turns and false starts along the path of dealing with climate change.

Don't forget to navigate to the Christmas Greetings page (it will pop up if you hover over Messages From Members), to see the virtual cards.
Hope to see you back at the Bowls Club on 4th January 2024, when Sally T will be in charge.  In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year, and let us hope the world starts changing for the better next year.