Christmas Lunch, 7 Dec ~ by Ann Kar
The venue for Christmas lunch on 14 December was once again St David's church hall, Thorpe End (where we expect to hold all meetings till further notice), and as usual a wonderful and varied spread of dishes appeared, including Leslie's excellent soups. (The soup bowls at Thorpe End are rather small, so second helpings are often called for.) 22 members were present and Joyce, our President, who has just celebrated her 92nd birthday, was in good voice as usual, cheering us on into 2003. Lunch and the raffle were followed by a short committee meeting, at which the dates for meetings in Spring 2003 were finally set.
Committee Meeting Summary
The society finances are in good shape and it was decided that £100 is to be donated
to Hillside Animal Sanctuary. There have been some changes to the dates of the
Friendly Lunches and the AGM next year. The up-to-date list is in
the diary. The building work for the new meeting room at
Mangreen has been delayed because the clay soil is currently too wet to be worked on.
This means that all the meetings at the start of 2003 will be at Thorpe End.
Peter is looking for more contributions for the next newsletter.
Friendly Lunch, 16 Nov ~ by Max d'Ayala
A strange day, I left in thick fog and arrived at Thorpe End in brilliant sunshine. Some people must have got lost in the fog as the turnout of fifteen was the lowest I can ever remember. The food was excellent, as always, with enough variety and choice to leave everyone satisfied and enough for seconds or thirds if you were still that hungry. I hope to see more of you at the Christmas spectacular, there is also a meeting afterwards for those of you on the committee.
Issue No 23 of the Veggie Newsletter should have landed on your doormat. Contact Jane if you haven't received your copy yet.
Friendly Lunch, 12 Oct ~ by Max d'Ayala
The first Friendly Lunch of the season was attended by nearly thirty people, including one person attending for the first time. St David's Church Hall is an excellent new venue so if you didn't go this time you'll get a chance to see it at the next lunch in November, or at the Christmas Lunch.
Pamela Prior gave us an insight into her work as a Nutritional Therapist with the Nutritional Cancer Therapy Trust. Director Chris Ashton founded this in 1995 and the therapies put together by Dr Lawrence Plaskett are based upon those pioneered by Dr Max Gerson. The main objective is to cure diseases by reducing environmental and dietary toxins. The dietary approach is often used in conjunction with surgery or radiotherapy where cancer is at an advanced life-threatening stage.
Only organic plant foods and filtered water can be used during the treatment.
The daily diet is based around rice and oats, vegetables, fruits, onion and garlic,
fresh juices and flax oil. Wheat, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and salt are all excluded.
In addition to this a combination of supplements must be taken daily,
along with coffee enemas to stimulate the release of toxins.
An alternative herbal remedy can be taken instead of the enemas although this
is not considered to be as effective. For people without a serious illness the
daily diet is not as prescriptive. Recipe ideas can be found in the
book "Vegetarian Cooking Without" by Barbara Cousins, published by Thorsons in 2000.
Pam is pictured (on the left) with NVVS Secretary Jane Johnson.
Old Vicarage Gardens, 8 Sep ~ by Ann Kar
East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens: Sunday proved an ideal day for visiting these extraordinary and very beautiful gardens. Rain in the morning left everything fresh, sun in the afternoon meant visitors had no need of rainproof clothing.
For a taste of what the gardens have to offer visit their web site They are open on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays from 2 to 5 pm until Friday 25 October. The phone number for enquiries is 01692 650432. Highly recommended, but one word of warning: Don't go looking for them in East Ruston village! Turn right immediately after the church. The green notice pointing to the gardens is easily overlooked if you are busy looking at the signpost.
Notcutts Garden Fayre, 31 Aug/1 Sep ~ by Peter Smith
The event was well supported as always by a very enthusiastic public. There were lots of
enquiries about leading a healthy vegetarian life style. Unfortunately we ran out of food to
sell. Our grateful thanks to all who organised, supported, and attended
the stall both Saturday and Sunday. (Click the image for a full size picture.)
EcoTech visit, 12 Aug ~ by Peter Smith
Eight members met up at the EcoTech centre near Swaffham in anticipation of an enjoyable day in each others company and to view once again the delights that the centre has to offer, and to wander round the organic gardens.
The weather made sure that the day was to be enjoyed being extra warm and sunny with a nice cooling breeze. Jane and John, Stewart and Cheryl, Joyce and Isabel, and finally yours truly and Jennifer made up the party.
All of the anticipations were met in full. John, Stewart and Cheryl made the long climb up to the viewing platform of the famous wind generator, whilst the not so adventurous sat it out in the lovely sunshine. All in all, an enjoyable day, in enjoyable company. It was just a pity the organic gardens were not so well kept as noted on previous visits.
Tropical Butterfly World Visit ~ by Ann Kar
The trip to Tropical Butterfly World scheduled for Saturday, July 27 did not take place. Only 5 people had put their names down for this visit, and in the event it turned out that 3 of them found themselves otherwise engaged. The remaining 2 were overwhelmed by the sudden heatwave, so that a visit to the tropics lost it appeal. This should,however, be an interesting venue, and maybe one or other of us will make the trip eventually and report back to the group.
National Vegetarian Week, 8-14 July ~ by Max d'Ayala
I set up a small display at Hethersett library for the week. The library staff were very helpful and even supplied a set of table top display boards and the self-adhesive Velcro stickers for the posters. This type of fixing may lead to a slicker appearance and be safer than drawing pins although I would still prefer to use the latter. Not only can you overlap posters more easily with drawing pins but you don't have to cut them off and throw them in the bin when it comes to recycling the posters.
Talking of recycling, the Vegetarian Society's leaflet was not very popular so most of these will end up in the paper bin. I was rather disappointed that there weren't many recipe booklets. The two supplied were labelled as for caterers and looked rather good. You had to read the small print in the leaflet to find out that by sending a stamp you could order a recipe booklet. The one recipe given in the leaflet was not very inspiring and consisted of chopped vegetables and herbs cooked in olive oil with real olives thrown in at the end. Catering to the public perception of the healthy Mediterranean diet?
With a bit of imagination they could easily have fitted in half a dozen recipes into the leaflet and then more people would have taken them. Who wants a leaflet that spends most of its space saying "We are the vegetarian Society send us all your money". Most libraries now have free Internet access so they could have made much more of this. The leaflet or a poster could at least have directed people to a free competition on their web site or something similar.
I'm glad I spent a bit of time printing up my own material to pad out the display, including leaflets and information about what we do locally. If I do another one I think I would try and get much more publicity for local vegetarian businesses, and maybe think of an interesting topic as a centre-point for the display.
Blickling Garden Party, Sun 2 June ~ by Ann Kar
We were extremely fortunate in having brilliant summer weather for this event. The whole Blickling complex was looking beautiful as usual. Although the plants in the herbaceous borders and beds were for the most part not yet in bloom, flowers were to be found on the rhododendrons and azaleas. The lake was alive with Canada geese. Music was provided by a small group playing jazz tunes - very pleasant in the open air.
Organised 'fun' didn't seem to
be greatly in evidence, but at one point something was going on for the
smaller children, which seemed to involve them all disappearing temporarily
under a large multi-coloured sheet. [The face painting was popular, although I
don't think any of us are still young enough to experience it! Max]
Eight NVVS members gathered in the sunshine for a picnic on the grass
and were joined later by four more.
[Group picture]
People who like searching for bargains among secondhand books would find it worth their while to visit Blickling even if they are not National Trust members. A large selection at very reasonable prices is to be found in one of the buildings. In the same area one finds racks of potted plants for sale, along with peat-free compost. Access to cafe and shop is also possible without membership.
Visit to Raveningham Gardens, Sun 26 May ~ by Ann Kar
In spite of uncertain weather, all those who had planned to come did turn up. John and Jane came from Sheringham, Sandra brought Joyce from Kirby Cane, and the remaining four members drove over from Norwich. Sunshine alternated with rain, so the umbrellas went up and down all afternoon.
The extensive gardens are well worth a visit, preferably in good weather, of course, and the trip can be made even more worthwhile if it is combined with a visit further along the road to the Raveningham Centre, where there are piano and furniture workshops etc. in renovated Victorian farm buildings and a 16th century farmhouse. These workshops are open daily 10am to 6pm, but if combined with the gardens the choice of days is limited. The gardens are open 31st March until 30th September on Sundays, Wednesdays and Bank Holiday Mondays from 2 -5.30pm. Teas, in aid of charities, are served on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays.
New Veggie Restaurant for North Norfolk
The Cafe at Whalebone House, High Street, Cley next the Sea is now completely vegetarian.
Check the websites given on the restaurants page for full details. The licensed cafe
is open for lunch, booking is essential for dinner. Phone 01263 740336
Organic Gardening Day, Sun 14 April ~ by Jane Johnson
John and I had a good day at Wolterton Hall, met lots of interesting and interested people and distributed a fair amount of literature. We sold quite a few of Gabrielle's recipe books and some jars of chutney, kindly donated by Ann Kar, and proceeds were just over £17. We forgot to take the plastic holders that the leaflets stand up in so we had to improvise and hold the leaflets down on the stall with stones and bits of old brick and wood. It did some good because several people thought we had fossils on our stall and came over then took some veggie leaflets! Several of our members called by the stall and the weather was very kind to us. Butlers provided their excellent hot and cold veggie food and I'm sure everyone enjoyed the day.
Annual General Meeting, Sat 13 April ~ by Max d'Ayala
The Secretary reported that current membership now stands at 60 people. There has been a steady increase in numbers from 58 last year and 55 the year before. The Friendly Lunches have proved popular this year with numbers often approaching the thirty mark and getting close to filling the Orchard Room at Mangreen.
Financially the Society is doing well and currently has a balance of £742. The main increase in expenditure over the past year has been for photocopying The Veggie newsletter. Previously this had been carried out for free. Two donations had been made during the year to Hillside Animal Sanctuary and to the Mangreen Trust. Members were in agreement that there was no need to increase the annual subscription.
John stood down as Chairman and with the total support of the membership was re-elected for another year in office. Joyce commented that she was fully behind him, now with two sticks and not just the one! She also liked to make it clear that the sticks were for support as well, not for use on humans or other animals! Frances Solder having moved to Essex has retired from the committee. The remaining committee members were all willing to stand again and were voted back on. Max d'Ayala (that's your webmaster!) was proposed as a new member for the committee and pleased to accept the nomination and vote of support from the members. Look on the About Us page for a picture of the new committee.
Orchard Room
There is excellent news with regards to the
replacement of the Orchard Room. A suitable building has been
found that can be used in the reconstruction to supply the roof
etc, while the brickwork will be new. This obviously makes the
building cheaper a completely new one. Provided that the final
planning application can be met then the current building could
come down at the beginning of July and construction commence on
the new building. Within the new building will be a coffee shop
hopefully with sliding doors onto a patio type area outside, a
kitchen, and the charity and veg shops. If all goes to plan then
the new building should be in use by December.
Events
National Vegetarian Week this year is from the 8th to
the 14th July. The rebuilding work means that an alternative
venue is required for the planned lunch on Sunday 14th July. The
stall in Chapelfield Gardens on the Saturday is still going ahead
and because of the number of visitors expected to the Lord
Mayor's celebrations we would like to make it a good event.
Volunteers will be required throughout the day to help on the
stall. The possibility of having an information display in the
Forum has been looked into but at £100 per day was
considered far too expensive. Many libraries are willing to let
people set up displays. If you would like leaflets and posters to
put in your local library contact Alicia.
Some events have already been organised although helpers are still needed for most events. In particular the Mind Body And Spirit event at Attleborough (Sat 11 May) needs somebody with a car to set up and take down the stall. Ann Kar passed round a list of possible trips to gauge which would be the most popular and is now finalising dates and venues.
Questionnaire
Ann did not have many replies to the
questionnaire that was circulated to all members so she took this
as a sign that members are happy with the work done by the
committee. One member had asked why people who were not strict
vegetarians could not join the Society. The issues were debated
and an overwhelming majority of members agreed that the current
membership criteria should remain unchanged. It was pointed out
that non-vegetarians are always welcome as guests at the Friendly
Lunches and other events.
Newsletter
The Newsletter editor pointed out the difficulty of
getting people to supply articles and it was voted on by a
majority to change the format from four full issues to two full
issues and two smaller news fliers each year.
AOB
Lee and Gabrielle are taking part in a 200 mile cycle ride
in the North of England from coast to coast. They set out at the
beginning of August and are collecting sponsorship money for the
Humane Research Trust and Viva.
Society Member Piers Warren has a book published called "How to Store Your Garden Produce". See the Books page for further details.
Joyce presented copies of her recently completed Brief History of the Norfolk and Norwich Vegetarian Society (The first 30 years). Copies were distributed to all members present and will be sent to the remaining members with the next newsletter.
Tea and Cakes
A special mention must go to the wonderful black cat birthday cake presented to Alan. I had two bits and it was delicious! It is lurking behind the flowers and looks a bit like an Egyptian sarcophagus.
Friendly Lunch, Sat 9 March ~ by Max d'Ayala
The last Friendly Lunch of the season was again a great success and with a bit of musical chairs for the late comers everyone managed to find a seat for lunch.
Jim of local company Simply Soaps gave a fascinating insight into the manufacture of their all natural soap and skincare products. In most commercial soaps the legal definition of "natural" means that just a few percent of the ingredients need to be from a plant source with the rest often synthetic substitutes derived from petrochemicals. The natural ingredients used by Simply Soaps are sourced from growers and producers of palm oil and essential oils such as rose and lavender. Being completely natural also means that unlike synthetic chemicals animal tests won't have been carried out in the past. Jim explained that while it would be ideal to use all organic ingredients in practice this would mean the end cost of the products would be about ten times that of commercial soap and would not be saleable. The ethical consumer shows the industrial chemist that price is certainly not everything and that an honestly produced local product brings much more satisfaction, both in its purchase and its use, despite costing a little bit more.
The January and February lunches were a great success, both events being blessed with bright sunny weather as well as scrumptious food. We almost ran out of table space and March will be your last chance to sample the delights of a Friendly Lunch, so make sure you arrive in good time to get a seat! There will also be a talk after lunch by Jim Jones from local skincare specailists Simply Soaps. See you there!
