Turn back the years with Ballymoney U3A
Our monthly meetings are based around a talk given by a guest speaker, followed by questions and answers. These meetings are also an opportunity for committee members and group coordinators to pass on notices and announcements.
See information on meetings during the coming year (2017-2018) below: (Reports were written by Joan Shannon. Some or all of these reports were published in the Ballymoney Chronicle and Ballymoney Times.)
See information on meetings during the coming year (2017-2018) below: (Reports were written by Joan Shannon. Some or all of these reports were published in the Ballymoney Chronicle and Ballymoney Times.)
5th September, 2017: Liam Beckett - A Life in Sport
At the September meeting of the Ballymoney U3A, Marie Hegarty, chair, welcomed all members to the third year of the group and also the speaker, Liam Beckett, local sports personality and BBC commentator. The hall at the Old Courthouse was again filled with members so that latecomers found themselves searching for seats.
Liam Beckett thanked the group for the invitation to speak and pointed out that Jackie Fullerton was the grammar and spelling expert of the two of them. Liam often let himself down. One story involved the plural of the word ‘colossus’, which cropped up in a commentary; whether the plural was ‘colossuses’ or ‘colossi’. They eventually discovered, after many hilarious texts and phone calls, that both plurals were allowable.
His talk was humorous and anecdotal mostly about his career as a footballer and a commentator. Some difficulty arose with Liam’s pronunciation in a broad Ballymoney accent, and also his use of Ulster Scots words that were often not recognised in some places. Another pronunciation problem occurred when commentating on foreign matches, typically FC Porto versus Manchester United: for example the pronunciation of Portuguese names such as ‘Hulio’ for ‘Julio’ and ‘Horge’ for ‘Jorge’.
Liam was proud of coming from Ballymoney but he said that growing up had been tough. His father died when he was two so his mother took two jobs. And yet last year he was amazed to find himself having dinner with the Queen!
Getting him football boots was a problem when he was young so that friends and family had clubbed together for him. Back in the 70s he served his time as a plumber and was signed for Crusaders. That year they won the League and the Carlsberg Cup.
Drogheda were signing several Northern players and signed Liam too for what was good money in those days. However when he went to Drogheda, he realised that his name Liam had led the club to believe that he was catholic. In fact he was the only one of fivetransfers who was not. It became a bit awkward when on the first occasion they were paraded through the town and ended up in the chapel. On the second trip they were singing Republican songs and on the third week he discovered that the coach was smuggling butter over the border under the seats. By the fourth week he was pointed out as: “Yer man in the corner’s a Jaffa!” He was the only Protestant ever to play for Drogheda and they treated him well, but after a while he was sold back to the North at Coleraine.
After he finished at Coleraine he started to ‘do a bit for the BBC’, where he found Jackie Fullerton a good tutor. Liam gave the U3A many anecdotes, too many to be recounted here.
He has worn many hats in his life – plumber, footballer, manager, pundit, broadcaster and Black Santa. He is also well known as Robert Dunlop’s mentor and mechanic. He offered young Robert the use of a workshop at his house back in 1988, the start of a hugely successful working relationship that lasted until Robert’s tragic death at the North West 200 in 2008.
At one time he went on a trip to Monza with the Dunlop brothers. They took two vans as they preferred driving to flying. They drove from Stranraer to Dover to Calais then through Belgium to Germany, Switzerland and then into Italy. Joey went home early because ‘he did not like going in circles’. Then Robert did not come back from the 125 warm up. Robert proved to have damaged his pelvis and was to be flown home by air ambulance so Liam found himself drivinguncomfortably in the grid lock of the Milan streets on the way to the hospital with a van full to the neck with red diesel.
Liam Beckett thanked the group for the invitation to speak and pointed out that Jackie Fullerton was the grammar and spelling expert of the two of them. Liam often let himself down. One story involved the plural of the word ‘colossus’, which cropped up in a commentary; whether the plural was ‘colossuses’ or ‘colossi’. They eventually discovered, after many hilarious texts and phone calls, that both plurals were allowable.
His talk was humorous and anecdotal mostly about his career as a footballer and a commentator. Some difficulty arose with Liam’s pronunciation in a broad Ballymoney accent, and also his use of Ulster Scots words that were often not recognised in some places. Another pronunciation problem occurred when commentating on foreign matches, typically FC Porto versus Manchester United: for example the pronunciation of Portuguese names such as ‘Hulio’ for ‘Julio’ and ‘Horge’ for ‘Jorge’.
Liam was proud of coming from Ballymoney but he said that growing up had been tough. His father died when he was two so his mother took two jobs. And yet last year he was amazed to find himself having dinner with the Queen!
Getting him football boots was a problem when he was young so that friends and family had clubbed together for him. Back in the 70s he served his time as a plumber and was signed for Crusaders. That year they won the League and the Carlsberg Cup.
Drogheda were signing several Northern players and signed Liam too for what was good money in those days. However when he went to Drogheda, he realised that his name Liam had led the club to believe that he was catholic. In fact he was the only one of fivetransfers who was not. It became a bit awkward when on the first occasion they were paraded through the town and ended up in the chapel. On the second trip they were singing Republican songs and on the third week he discovered that the coach was smuggling butter over the border under the seats. By the fourth week he was pointed out as: “Yer man in the corner’s a Jaffa!” He was the only Protestant ever to play for Drogheda and they treated him well, but after a while he was sold back to the North at Coleraine.
After he finished at Coleraine he started to ‘do a bit for the BBC’, where he found Jackie Fullerton a good tutor. Liam gave the U3A many anecdotes, too many to be recounted here.
He has worn many hats in his life – plumber, footballer, manager, pundit, broadcaster and Black Santa. He is also well known as Robert Dunlop’s mentor and mechanic. He offered young Robert the use of a workshop at his house back in 1988, the start of a hugely successful working relationship that lasted until Robert’s tragic death at the North West 200 in 2008.
At one time he went on a trip to Monza with the Dunlop brothers. They took two vans as they preferred driving to flying. They drove from Stranraer to Dover to Calais then through Belgium to Germany, Switzerland and then into Italy. Joey went home early because ‘he did not like going in circles’. Then Robert did not come back from the 125 warm up. Robert proved to have damaged his pelvis and was to be flown home by air ambulance so Liam found himself drivinguncomfortably in the grid lock of the Milan streets on the way to the hospital with a van full to the neck with red diesel.
3rd October, 2017: Keith Beattie - "The 1798 Rebellion Around The Causeway Area".
As many of us know, the speaker Keith Beattie was the popular former manager of Ballymoney Museum and lived in Ballymoney for over 20 years. We were pleased to see him back as our speaker.
His talk covered the background to the 1798 rebellion with particular reference tothe involvement of people from the local area. Keith spoke about establishment of the United Irishmen and their association with the Republican movement in Ireland.
He stressed that in the North, the supporters were largely Presbyterian and the campaign was drawn from a mixed religious background which also includedMethodists.
The population of Ireland in the 1700s was 80% Catholic, yet the Anglican Church, the Established Church in England, ruled in all areas of life. This led to much unrest and dissatisfaction against British rule. In 1791 the ‘The Society of United Irishmen’group was formed in Belfast with cross community support. Many of its supporters were from North Antrim withlocal area men like William Tennant from Roseyards among the first supporters. In 1795 a group was formed in Ballymoney. The local magistrate McNaughton Beardiville wrote to Dublin for help as the movement gathered strength.
There was support in France for the movement and, in December 1796, a fleetof 45 ships, carrying 15,000 men, sailed to assist the campaign, heading for BantryBay. The landing was hampered by poor weather and the ships returned to France
On 7th June 1798 the forces of United Irishmen in the North marched againstBritish rule. Larne and Randalstown were taken without difficulty. A battle for Antrim was narrowly lost. The rebel forces went on to capture Ballymena.
The Crown forces exacted a terrible revenge. They sought out supporters of the United Irishment for execution, after destroying their homes and property by fire. Some managed to escape and flee to Scotland or further afield. One young supporter was Richard Caldwell, aged 18,from Harmony Hill near Balnamore. Hetook refuge in Scotland and was cared for by local families before being betrayed by the local church minister.
The campaign was largely over in the North by mid-June, with the battle of Ballynahinch on 12-13th June ending in a victory for Crown forces. It continued in the South until September 1798.
Many United Irishmen were betrayed to the Crown forces who took a swift revenge. Alexander Gamble was executed at the Town Clock in Ballymoney and buried in that spot, as ‘traitors’ were refused burial in consecrated ground. In 1883, when renovation work was takingplace at the Town Clock, a body was exhumed and declared to be Alexander Gamble. His body was reinterred in the Old Graveyard with one of the largest funerals ever seen in Ballymony. Another supporter William Dunlop of Priestlandwas arrested and hanged in Coleraine. His family went to Coleraine dressed as ghosts and recovered his body, which is interred in Derrykeighan Churchyard.
Another notable at the time was George (Bloody) Hutchinson, a magistrate in Ballymoney, who is remembered for his harsh role in crushing supporters of the uprising. Family members still reside in Australia.
There are a number of items in Ballymoney including the sword of Captain John Nevin from Kilmoyle near Dervock.
He exercised his men in a field called Drilly Knowe at Derrykeighan, where a house and antique shop now stand.
After many exploits, he died in Tennessee in 1803.
A book covering the events in 1798 was written: ‘Northern Iron’ by George A Birmingham, which, although now out of print, can still be found in some second-hand book shops.
Rev. Frances Bach thanked Keith warmly for the interesting and illuminating talkand the meeting closed.
His talk covered the background to the 1798 rebellion with particular reference tothe involvement of people from the local area. Keith spoke about establishment of the United Irishmen and their association with the Republican movement in Ireland.
He stressed that in the North, the supporters were largely Presbyterian and the campaign was drawn from a mixed religious background which also includedMethodists.
The population of Ireland in the 1700s was 80% Catholic, yet the Anglican Church, the Established Church in England, ruled in all areas of life. This led to much unrest and dissatisfaction against British rule. In 1791 the ‘The Society of United Irishmen’group was formed in Belfast with cross community support. Many of its supporters were from North Antrim withlocal area men like William Tennant from Roseyards among the first supporters. In 1795 a group was formed in Ballymoney. The local magistrate McNaughton Beardiville wrote to Dublin for help as the movement gathered strength.
There was support in France for the movement and, in December 1796, a fleetof 45 ships, carrying 15,000 men, sailed to assist the campaign, heading for BantryBay. The landing was hampered by poor weather and the ships returned to France
On 7th June 1798 the forces of United Irishmen in the North marched againstBritish rule. Larne and Randalstown were taken without difficulty. A battle for Antrim was narrowly lost. The rebel forces went on to capture Ballymena.
The Crown forces exacted a terrible revenge. They sought out supporters of the United Irishment for execution, after destroying their homes and property by fire. Some managed to escape and flee to Scotland or further afield. One young supporter was Richard Caldwell, aged 18,from Harmony Hill near Balnamore. Hetook refuge in Scotland and was cared for by local families before being betrayed by the local church minister.
The campaign was largely over in the North by mid-June, with the battle of Ballynahinch on 12-13th June ending in a victory for Crown forces. It continued in the South until September 1798.
Many United Irishmen were betrayed to the Crown forces who took a swift revenge. Alexander Gamble was executed at the Town Clock in Ballymoney and buried in that spot, as ‘traitors’ were refused burial in consecrated ground. In 1883, when renovation work was takingplace at the Town Clock, a body was exhumed and declared to be Alexander Gamble. His body was reinterred in the Old Graveyard with one of the largest funerals ever seen in Ballymony. Another supporter William Dunlop of Priestlandwas arrested and hanged in Coleraine. His family went to Coleraine dressed as ghosts and recovered his body, which is interred in Derrykeighan Churchyard.
Another notable at the time was George (Bloody) Hutchinson, a magistrate in Ballymoney, who is remembered for his harsh role in crushing supporters of the uprising. Family members still reside in Australia.
There are a number of items in Ballymoney including the sword of Captain John Nevin from Kilmoyle near Dervock.
He exercised his men in a field called Drilly Knowe at Derrykeighan, where a house and antique shop now stand.
After many exploits, he died in Tennessee in 1803.
A book covering the events in 1798 was written: ‘Northern Iron’ by George A Birmingham, which, although now out of print, can still be found in some second-hand book shops.
Rev. Frances Bach thanked Keith warmly for the interesting and illuminating talkand the meeting closed.
7th November, 2017: Frances Bach - Humourous Tales From My Life As A Minister
At the November Main Meeting of the Ballymoney U3A, Reverend Frances Bach gave a talk entitled “Humorous Tales from my Life as a Minister”.
When she told people in 1991 that she was going to Dublin to train for a Church of Ireland minister, nearly everyone was very polite but negative about women’s ordination. An exception was her 14 year old daughter Helen who said vehemently, “Mummy, there will be 3 clergy parents in our class at school and two of them will be mine!”
Dublin was the only place that C of I students could train so you got all sorts of political and theological opinions. Very early in the 1st term, there was a party at which a huge Union Jack was unfurled followed by singing of the Sash, then someone rushed away and came back with a huge tricolour and the Soldier’s Song was sung. Some Northerners were amazed that Protestants could be loyal to the Republic. There were theological differences, especially about women, but the college staff were pro women clergy.
Frances was ordained in 1994 and went to Ballyclare and Ballynure. She was woman number 11 in the Church of Ireland so still a rarity, but the parishioners took to her very well. The first funeral consisted of a sea of men in black so something of a test. Later one woman said, “I wouldn’t want to be buried by a woman”. Frances thought but did not like to say, “Well, you wouldn’t be there to know, would you?”
Next she went on to Larne as a curate, a placed used towoman ministers as Ruth Patterson, the first Presbyterian minister had been there. The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian minister was a woman, Lena Cockcroft, and the rector’s wife was Katherine Poulton, the first woman deacon in the Church of Ireland (now in Kilkenny). Larne churches were also very ecumenical. The five denominations: R.C., Church of Ireland, Methodist, Elim and Cairncastle Presbyterian used to run Alpha Courses together.
In 1999, she was appointed rector of Armoy, Loughguile and Drumtullagh as their first woman rector. People thought she would be like a male rector’s wife and run the Mother’s Unionand bake cakes. She felt at all times that she had to prove that she was as good as a man. To look at the bells, she once went up a 24 foot ladder inside the tower and another time found herself standing on ridge tiles in stiff wind.
Frances told the stories of the three times she considers that she was kidnapped: expected to get into a vehicle with a man without proper explanation as to why. But one serious side of a woman’s ministry is that many people feel they can talk to a woman but not to a man. She had more than her fair share of child abuse cases. Every case is hell for everyone even remotely connected with it and it tears families and churches apart. But then the child abuse should never have happened in the first place.
Before women were ordained, a lot of clergy thought that we would be strident feminist heretics, but of course they have not been like that. There are lots of lovely, down-to-earth, jolly, middle of the road, caring, capable women clergy out there including Pat Storey, the first bishop. Without older role models, women clergy tended to just remain themselves.
While Frances entered the clergy her children were in boarding school in England, followed by gap years, then university and work also in England. Her husband John remained university chaplain in Coleraine, with a church house in Portrush. When Frances was in Dublin it was soon clear that John required help in terms of a microwave, an answerphone and a cleaner. Then he was okay. At Ballyclareshe was away 3 days a week, but once in Larne it was 6 days. John said, “Think of it this way: we have a 7-bedroomed house; it’s just that 3 bedrooms are 48 miles away from the other 4.” John tried to come to Frances at the weekends but neither of them commuted daily, which would have been far too tiring. As a rector’s spouse John was a total failure, he neither made traybakes nor run the Mother’s Union, but he is a superb preacher and can fill in at short notice like no-oneelse.
When you have a dog collar you become public property: people think they can say anything to you. One man in Belfast walked past and said loudly: “No such thing as a woman priest, darling”. Driving back from Carnlough a man with a flock of sheep said, “Ye Mrs Bach? You’ve a very fair complexion; tis widely known.”
Frances included many more anecdotes in her talk, which greatly amused her audience.
When she told people in 1991 that she was going to Dublin to train for a Church of Ireland minister, nearly everyone was very polite but negative about women’s ordination. An exception was her 14 year old daughter Helen who said vehemently, “Mummy, there will be 3 clergy parents in our class at school and two of them will be mine!”
Dublin was the only place that C of I students could train so you got all sorts of political and theological opinions. Very early in the 1st term, there was a party at which a huge Union Jack was unfurled followed by singing of the Sash, then someone rushed away and came back with a huge tricolour and the Soldier’s Song was sung. Some Northerners were amazed that Protestants could be loyal to the Republic. There were theological differences, especially about women, but the college staff were pro women clergy.
Frances was ordained in 1994 and went to Ballyclare and Ballynure. She was woman number 11 in the Church of Ireland so still a rarity, but the parishioners took to her very well. The first funeral consisted of a sea of men in black so something of a test. Later one woman said, “I wouldn’t want to be buried by a woman”. Frances thought but did not like to say, “Well, you wouldn’t be there to know, would you?”
Next she went on to Larne as a curate, a placed used towoman ministers as Ruth Patterson, the first Presbyterian minister had been there. The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian minister was a woman, Lena Cockcroft, and the rector’s wife was Katherine Poulton, the first woman deacon in the Church of Ireland (now in Kilkenny). Larne churches were also very ecumenical. The five denominations: R.C., Church of Ireland, Methodist, Elim and Cairncastle Presbyterian used to run Alpha Courses together.
In 1999, she was appointed rector of Armoy, Loughguile and Drumtullagh as their first woman rector. People thought she would be like a male rector’s wife and run the Mother’s Unionand bake cakes. She felt at all times that she had to prove that she was as good as a man. To look at the bells, she once went up a 24 foot ladder inside the tower and another time found herself standing on ridge tiles in stiff wind.
Frances told the stories of the three times she considers that she was kidnapped: expected to get into a vehicle with a man without proper explanation as to why. But one serious side of a woman’s ministry is that many people feel they can talk to a woman but not to a man. She had more than her fair share of child abuse cases. Every case is hell for everyone even remotely connected with it and it tears families and churches apart. But then the child abuse should never have happened in the first place.
Before women were ordained, a lot of clergy thought that we would be strident feminist heretics, but of course they have not been like that. There are lots of lovely, down-to-earth, jolly, middle of the road, caring, capable women clergy out there including Pat Storey, the first bishop. Without older role models, women clergy tended to just remain themselves.
While Frances entered the clergy her children were in boarding school in England, followed by gap years, then university and work also in England. Her husband John remained university chaplain in Coleraine, with a church house in Portrush. When Frances was in Dublin it was soon clear that John required help in terms of a microwave, an answerphone and a cleaner. Then he was okay. At Ballyclareshe was away 3 days a week, but once in Larne it was 6 days. John said, “Think of it this way: we have a 7-bedroomed house; it’s just that 3 bedrooms are 48 miles away from the other 4.” John tried to come to Frances at the weekends but neither of them commuted daily, which would have been far too tiring. As a rector’s spouse John was a total failure, he neither made traybakes nor run the Mother’s Union, but he is a superb preacher and can fill in at short notice like no-oneelse.
When you have a dog collar you become public property: people think they can say anything to you. One man in Belfast walked past and said loudly: “No such thing as a woman priest, darling”. Driving back from Carnlough a man with a flock of sheep said, “Ye Mrs Bach? You’ve a very fair complexion; tis widely known.”
Frances included many more anecdotes in her talk, which greatly amused her audience.
2nd January, 2018
Entertainment: Karen Diamond and the Singing for Health Choir, Zara Hegarty on violin
Speaker: Lord Lt Joan Christie
Declan Donnelly (CC & Glens Council): ‘Recycling in the Scheme of Things’ and Jean Philps: ‘You can make a Silk Purse out of a Sow’s Ear’
SPEAKERS: Dr Jean Philp, member of Ballymoney U3A and
Declan Donnelly, Causeway Coast and Glens Council with
Kathleen Owen, Ballymoney U3A, who gave the vote of thanks.
The topic for the February meeting of the Ballymoney U3A was recycling. The first speaker was Declan Donnelly from the Causeway Coast and Glens council. Declan started by assuring us that his talk was not going to be about blue bins! He was more interested in the question, “Why on earth should we care?” He pointed out that the earth is a beautiful place and that we are not here alone: we have to share with other people and other animals. We should look at the planet as our home and as such we should care about it and take care of it.
The earth provides us with Food, Water, Air, Energy and Materials for shelter. By destroying trees for example, especially in the tropics, we are damaging our own home and bringing on Global Warming. We look for good value and the cheapest price, which often leads to pollution. David Attenborough’s programme the Blue Planet has recently highlighted the problem of plastic pollution especially in the sea, rivers and seashores. Waste on beaches includes a lot of plastic, polystyrene and things like nappies and wet wipes. Pieces of fishing nets and line are also common, and very dangerous for the fish and birds that get caught up in them.
In forty years it is estimated that there will be two billion more people on the planet. Although we currently produce enough food for our present population, problems of politics, storage, distribution and waste leads to hunger in many areas. Our large supermarkets insist on ‘perfect’ fruit and other produce so a lot of items, particularly vegetables, do not make the grade and often go to waste.
Food waste collections will be coming to houses in Ballymoney (and the rest of the council area) hopefully before September. Declan pointed out that nowadays food can come from a considerable distance: eg blueberries from Peru: 3,500 miles; rice: 7,000 miles; bananas: 5,000 miles, with resulting transport costs and pollution. In the UK a lot of food goes bad in the fridge, millions of slices of bread are thrown out and we all use far more water than we need: estimated at 150 litres per person per day! We are urged to think about our choices of food and materials; about what is going to form non-degradable waste and what can be recycled.
Much of our blue bin waste goes to a factory in Newry, although from the UK as a whole, much is still sold around the world. Food waste can now be made into energy in England. Items like bicycles are being repaired and renovated then sent abroad by charities.
U3A member Jean Philp was our second speaker. Her topic was, “Yes, you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. She considered recycling, up-cycling, Make do and mend and being Thrifty; all terms for making use of something out of something else. Brought up in the country in a fairly spacious house, she was used to having somewhere to store many items until they were needed again. This included jam pots, fabric, newspaper and other paper and cardboard, all of which had their corner, cubbyhole or shed.
Jean showed us many ‘crafty’ items that she had made out of waste materials: Christmas cards or decorations out of old Christmas cards, envelopes and notebooks and the old fashioned way of concertina-ing newspaper into fire lighters. She had made a decorative hedgehog out of a paperback book, a bag out of old denim jeans, a peg bag, a quilt made out of children’s clothes, a rabbit toy from a tea towel, yarn for knitting or rugs made out of cut up old tea shirts and tights. All items made out of ‘a load of old rubbish’.
Kathleen Owens gave votes of thanks to both speakers.
The earth provides us with Food, Water, Air, Energy and Materials for shelter. By destroying trees for example, especially in the tropics, we are damaging our own home and bringing on Global Warming. We look for good value and the cheapest price, which often leads to pollution. David Attenborough’s programme the Blue Planet has recently highlighted the problem of plastic pollution especially in the sea, rivers and seashores. Waste on beaches includes a lot of plastic, polystyrene and things like nappies and wet wipes. Pieces of fishing nets and line are also common, and very dangerous for the fish and birds that get caught up in them.
In forty years it is estimated that there will be two billion more people on the planet. Although we currently produce enough food for our present population, problems of politics, storage, distribution and waste leads to hunger in many areas. Our large supermarkets insist on ‘perfect’ fruit and other produce so a lot of items, particularly vegetables, do not make the grade and often go to waste.
Food waste collections will be coming to houses in Ballymoney (and the rest of the council area) hopefully before September. Declan pointed out that nowadays food can come from a considerable distance: eg blueberries from Peru: 3,500 miles; rice: 7,000 miles; bananas: 5,000 miles, with resulting transport costs and pollution. In the UK a lot of food goes bad in the fridge, millions of slices of bread are thrown out and we all use far more water than we need: estimated at 150 litres per person per day! We are urged to think about our choices of food and materials; about what is going to form non-degradable waste and what can be recycled.
Much of our blue bin waste goes to a factory in Newry, although from the UK as a whole, much is still sold around the world. Food waste can now be made into energy in England. Items like bicycles are being repaired and renovated then sent abroad by charities.
U3A member Jean Philp was our second speaker. Her topic was, “Yes, you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. She considered recycling, up-cycling, Make do and mend and being Thrifty; all terms for making use of something out of something else. Brought up in the country in a fairly spacious house, she was used to having somewhere to store many items until they were needed again. This included jam pots, fabric, newspaper and other paper and cardboard, all of which had their corner, cubbyhole or shed.
Jean showed us many ‘crafty’ items that she had made out of waste materials: Christmas cards or decorations out of old Christmas cards, envelopes and notebooks and the old fashioned way of concertina-ing newspaper into fire lighters. She had made a decorative hedgehog out of a paperback book, a bag out of old denim jeans, a peg bag, a quilt made out of children’s clothes, a rabbit toy from a tea towel, yarn for knitting or rugs made out of cut up old tea shirts and tights. All items made out of ‘a load of old rubbish’.
Kathleen Owens gave votes of thanks to both speakers.
Some of Jean's crafty recycling ideas.
It's good to talk.
Eat up your pasta.
