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The Watermill in Lelant was the venue for the latest Meet and Eat lunch. In a lovely setting, with a varied menu, The Watermill is a popular choice with members to meet, eat and chat. See their website here: The Watermill

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.

Jojo, who is 53 years old, married and has three children, lives on a farm in Essex. She was a busy journalist who, after having three books rejected decided her fourth try,  ‘Sheltering Rain’, would be the last! That was in 2002.

Her Publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, didn’t want

‘Me Before You’ so she sold it to Penguin, and it’s not the only one of her books which has been adapted for the film industry.   

She invested £120,000 in the Quick Reads Initiative, which aimed to encourage 20–30 year-old reluctant-readers to discover the joys of the written world, and received a number of awards for her short stories.

The Giver of Stars, published in 2019 was Jojo’s first historical fiction work.

The story is simple but unfolds delightfully, as five women, from very different backgrounds, each discover freedom and friendship and a life to call their own. In its simplicity, it is a compelling read, highlighting the domination practices prevalent at the time but which would not be tolerated by English or American women today. It challenges gender stereotypes magnificently.

Jojo Moyes wrote: –

‘It’s big, bold funny and sad. The story is fictional, but it rests on a skeleton of astonishing facts.  I wrote it in a fever, through holidays, reluctant to leave it at night, and can honestly say I have never loved writing a book more or been more inspired by my subject matter. I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have loved creating it’.

Book Club is meeting monthly at the Queen’s Hotel, Penzance, then hopes to meet up in members gardens from June. Next month’s book is Murder on Mustique by Anne Glenconner.

This month the group learnt a little more about a topic we all have a great deal of experience of: our urinary systems and what can go amiss, from the merely inconvenient to the serious.

We started by looking at the anatomy of our “waterworks” system and finding out that it played a bigger role in keeping our bodies running smoothly than simply removing waste products. It also releases hormones that control blood pressure and red cell production, as well as calcium and phosphorus, essential for bone health.

Did you know?

All the blood in our body is filtered 400 times a day!

The kidneys can clean more than one million gallons of water in an average human lifetime – enough to fill a small lake.

If one kidney has to be removed, in two months the other will have increased in size by 50% in order to take over the whole work of filtration.

“Oh what a piece of work is Man” and Woman!

We then talked about what can go wrong, focusing mainly on cystitis and incontinence and shared “hints and tips”; self help measures for coping with a common problem.

As usual our talk was followed by a gentle exercise session and the welcome wind-down of relaxation. Partly as an offshoot of Living Well, Amblers is taking to the road again. This month we walked to the top of Rosewall Hill and enjoyed the glorious (really, it is the only word) 360 degree panorama from the top. Next month we will be walking in Tehidy Woods, when the bluebells should be in full flower. Why not join us? Everyone is welcome.

Well we had such an interesting and eye opening guided tour by Jeanette Ratcliffe, an archaeologist, who set up her guided walking business last summer.  Such knowledge of the area, we could have spent longer listening and being shown different, off the beaten track, places in and around Newlyn.

She spoke of the Spanish raids, the copper work apprentices, the various bridges and a ford that use to be at the bottom of Jack Lane (Jack Ford), now a well -used bridge. She told us about the farmers routes to market in Penzance and the building of New Road. We learnt about the Rosebud and visited the garden named after the boat. Extending the land into the sea to build what we see and use today. The goings on in the Red Lion in its day. We heard about the slum clearance in the 1930s and how the war put a stop to it. Car parks in Newlyn are the result of the slum clearance.

Jeanette gave us a taster of what’s to come in Newlyn too. There is a plan to make use of the old ice works to make it into a museum with all amenities, watch this space….. (Julie) 

Camera Club made the most of the recent beautiful weather and went to Hayle for their latest meeting. Concentrating around the Millpond area the vivid blue of the Early Spring sky made for delightful reflections in the water. The industrial heritage of the area with it’s ropework ruins and a sprinkling of seasonal flowers gave each photographer plenty of subject matter. Next month’s meeting will be at Tremenheere Woods, looking for some early bluebells.

At our Annual Meeting this month members voted for Wendie Leo to be our President for a futher twelve months. Supported by the committee, Wendie has ensured that Crowlas and Ludgvan WI sailed through the turbulence of the past year with all that Covid threw our way, and emerged fully prepared for all that the coming year has to offer. There was a fun twist to the evening with a song to accompany the slideshow review of the year, plus plenty of time to enjoy tea, cake and a chat.

Our Coffee Beans social group met this week for their regular monthly coffee and chat. The venue for the latest catch-up was The Cornish Barn, in Chapel Street, Penzance. Next month the group are going try somewhere different, so they have decided to catch the bus and go to Porthleven.

TThe Meet and Eat group have just had their March get together at Senara restaurant at Penwith College. As usual the food was delicious and of course excellent value. On the specials was lobster thermidor at £18, but many chose the sirloin steak. Also on the menu was grilled sole and a delicious vegetarian dish called thali. Desserts included coconut chai panna cotta and passion fruit meringue roulade. Next month’s meeting is at The Watermill, Lelant on Friday April 1st, and in May we should be at the Trevenson restaurant at Cornwall College .

Book Club met for lunch this month at the Tremenheere Kitchen, where they enjoyed lovely food and discussed the novel Summer in February by Jonathan Smith, which is described as a ‘love story of beauty, deprivation and tragedy’. The story is set at the end of the Edwardian era and based on the life of Sir Alfred Munnings and his contemporaries and was made into a film, released in 2013.

This month the Living Well group learnt about the role of gut microbial diversity in nutrition and health. This group meets monthly and is a joint venture open to our members and also members of the community.  It’s not a expert led group but a meeting where issues about health and well-being can be discussed, giving us the opportunity to then explore these further for ourselves . Each session also includes a short period of relaxation plus some general exercises .