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APRIL 2006 |
Robyn writes: "This exciting photo shows our two younger members at their first Conference: SI Helena Club President, Naomi Allan and Kim Kennedy with SISWP President Lorna Mead. You can see how happy they were."
"You probably think we just took photos! We did take a lot! As you can see on the photo below - no one was interested in the TV."
"I should tell you a little about our time in Brisbane. Firstly you will see that it is a beautiful city, it is also wonderfully clean and tidy and full of the most friendly people. There were four of us staying at The Oaks Apartment in interconnecting rooms on the 9th floor. Myself, Joy Clark, Joan Gaudin who know each other well, having had a similar share arrangement in Sydney. We were joined by Verity Smith Loretz from Papua New Guinea but who is NZ born.
"Down on the 7th floor were Raye Boyle from Wellington and Kathy Glass from New Plymouth. Apart from Kathy, we all arrived 3 days before Conference so had time to explore etc. On one of our trips into the city centre we were lucky to catch the end of one of the free lunchtime concerts held in the City Hall every Tuesday. The one we caught was given by some of the young stars of Queensland Opera and we enjoyed all the lovely songs from Die Fledermaus.
"Next day we had a lovely trip up the river to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where we then caught the Birds of Prey Show with large owls, falcons and eagles all flying free and giving us displays of their flying prowess. We lunched there and then back on the boat to the city around 3.00 p.m. Also on the boat trip were Int President Lynn Dunning and her husband Brian, Elizabeth Hughes and one or two of the other visiting UK Soroptimists. Deciding on an early meal, we went back into town, where we were lucky enough to enjoy a half hour concert given by the band of Geelong Christian School. This was in a mall in the city where they frquently have performances of various kinds. What a talented group of musicians these youngsters were playing jazz, Cole Porter, etc. plus some young singers doing the Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan numbers. In talking to one of the accompanying people with the band afterwards, to our surprise we discovered we had a mutual Soroptimist friend in Geelong.
"Chris has already told you about our outing to see Topol in Fiddler on the Roof. It was especially poignant for me as several years ago I had performed in the show with an amateur group. Also my grandparents were Russian Jews who left Kiev early in 20th century in very similar circumstances to the characters in the story. My grandfather apparently was a very outspoken student at the university who attracted the attention of the Tzar's police. (My friends will tell you that I just may have inherited some of his traits!!)
"The significance of the window has probably more to do with the church itself. Suffice to say that the original museum was in New Barnet, Hertfordshire where I was born and it was quite a surprise to hear the history of how it eventually arrived in Queensland, Australia. The church has the most wonderful collection of medieval stained glass windows, which you will see from the website was gathered from some of the oldest cathedrals and churches in England. However, the biggest surprise was the window behind me in the photograph (above left), which includes St Alban.
[Here are links to some web sites that will give you more of the story:
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/alban.html http://www.abbeymuseum.asn.au/research.htm
http://www.abbeymuseum.asn.au/stained_glass.htm Sheilah ]
"Now you have to bear with me when I explain that ever since I was a small child I have been a history addict. Growing up in Barnet and the surrouding district, the area is steeped in early Roman history. In fact the main road leading north from London which goes through Barnet was built by the Romans and I believe still lies under the modern road which now exists.
"St Albans Abbey was quite close to us, and was a favourite school outing when we studied Roman history. So I know the abbey quite well, and in fact I visited it and the President of SI St Albans after the Helsinki Conference. So I was a bit stunned to discover a piece of the abbey in Caboolture.
"I have included a photo which I took (shown here on the right), not so much for the central figure but for the fascinating glimpse of medieval houses in the top left hand corner. Also you may notice that much of the bits of glass surrounding central figures is just a mish mash of the bits and pieces that the glazier collected from broken windows that he restored or replaced. He just appears to have used odd bits to fill up the window.
"So if anyone ever visits Brisbane and wants an interesting outing, that is the place to go. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and as you can imagine, I had to be dragged away.
"Afterwards we drove
out to Bribie Island, had wonderful freshly cooked fish and chips outdoors
in the sunshine, fitted in a quick visit to a little antiques shop, then
time for an ice cream sitting by the beach. Then the most wonderful thing
happened, as we were sitting there a dolphin came up out of the water in front
of us and continued making his way up the beach. Truly great.
"Then all too soon it was our last day and you have seen Chris's photos of our final last fling at the shops. An absolutely great shopping centre about 10 mins from the airport - as they say, just perfect for those last minute gifts! After lunching there Chris took us to a lovely wildlife reserve where we enjoyed the birds and the waterways before she dropped Raye and I off at the airport. Our 10 days just flew by, but we enjoyed every minute."
