LEVERSTOCK GREEN WOMEN'S INSTITUTE
OUR April meeting gave us an insight into the work of the Keech Cottage Children's Hospice. The Keech Cottage Children's Hospice was opened in March 2000, following a fundraising appeal which raised £3m in just 20 months.
Keech Cottage cares for life-limited children and their families who live in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
They provide planned respite care, emergency respite care, palliative/terminal care, day care and they also have a bereavement suite.
Facilities at the hospice include a multi-sensory room, computer room, soft play area, games room and outdoor play areas which have specially adapted play equipment. They also have a hydrotherapy pool and jacuzzi.
The hospice is staffed by a team of specialist children's nurses and nursery nurses, play specialists and experienced carers.
There is also 24-hour medical cover for adult and child patients. The love and care that the children and their families receive at the hospice was very evident during the talk and we all appreciated being given an insight into the life and times of the hospice. Many members took home collection boxes to put spare coins in as a valuable way to help raise money for the hospice, which has to be entirely self-sufficient.
Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 11 at 7.30pm in the Leverstock Green Village Hall when we will discuss and vote on the WI resolutions for the coming year. We are always pleased to welcome visitors and new members.

BERKHAMSTED AND DISTRICT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BARBARA Hurman was the guest speaker at the annual general meeting held in April.
Ms Hurman is an expert in the identification of pottery and ceramics and she spoke to the society about her work at the Roman city of Nicopolis ad Istrum in Bulgaria.
The country is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea.
The City of Victory near the River Danube was founded by the Emperor Trajan c AD 110 and the British excavations were carried out within the late Roman city.
Near the Roman site there is a Byzantine town and by selective excavation and geophysical surveys it has been possible to trace the history of the city's physical and economic development over 500 years.
The work has been carried out with the support of the British Academy, the University of Nottingham and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
During the excavation seasons carried out over 15 years up to 100 students from various universities have worked on the site. For the last five seasons Barbara has worked on the site for five weeks each summer in not always ideal conditions.
She and her colleagues live in a small Bulgarian village where the hospitality of the local people more than makes up for the lack of amenities.
Bulgaria is just beginning to come out of its isolation after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. The things that we take so much for granted are often lacking there.
An economic reform programme introduced in 1991 saw the removal of subsidies from food and other basic commodities, which caused hardship to the local population.
Tourism is now becoming a significant source of revenue for this beautiful country.
The society will next meet on Thursday, September 23, when Dr Judith Swaddling from the British Museum will be speaking on the Ancient Olympic Games.
Guests are welcome at all the society's meetings. For more information on the society please contact the secretary on 01442 864441.

AIRCREW ASSOCIATION CHILTERN BRANCH
NEARLY 50 members turned out for the monthly meeting on the third Wednesday, held as usual at the Camelot Rugby Club, expecting to hear a talk from representatives of the Handley Page Association on Handley Page aircraft over the years.
Sadly the dreaded bug struck and they were indisposed but very kindly arranged for one of their members to stand in, at short notice, to give us a talk on the Australian Flying Doctor service.
First we had the usual business to conduct and we were sad to hear from our welfare officer, Les Calvert, that George Biggs and Harry Collier were both rather poorly, we all wish them a speedy recovery.
We learnt also that one of our past members, Max Hageman, who had left the district to be near his family in Dorset passed away in February of this year.
Les told us that all his other clients were on medicine and duty.
After our chairman Geoff Hulett had told us that we still had a couple of bob in the bank it was time for him to introduce our guest speaker, Jerry Cullen, who had for many years been a pilot in the Flying Doctor service in the outback of Australia.
This service covered a large area of inhospitable countryside bringing much needed medical services to widely scattered homesteads. His description of the primitive flying facilities that were used to provide this service were graphic and well illustrated by his collection of slides. It was easy to spot the pride in his voice when he was describing his favourite aircraft for the job, the de Havilland Dominie, a twin engine, seven-seater biplane aircraft designed in the early 1930s.
It was a tough, durable aircraft which in Jerry's words ‘was a joy to fly' and a type that saw service throughout WWII, some still flying today.
A vigorous question and answer session took place before Peter Woodard proposed the vote of thanks which received the customary round of applause.
Next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 19, for a Harry Archer video show. Also on May 10 there is a pub lunch at the Red Lion, Haddenham, Bucks, meet at 12noon for a flying breakfast.

THE TRING GOOD COMPANIONS CLUB
ON April 13 the club was entertained by Mr Ron White and Rosemary on the piano.
Very well known tunes were sung including songs from Oklahoma.
The entertainment was followed by a parade of Easter bonnets. They were delightful and much admired. Ron and Rosemary judged the bonnets and first prize was won by Mrs Ivy Mills, the second by Mrs Doris Greenhalgh and third by Mrs Gladys Hull.
Each prize winner was given an Easter Egg. We were entertained on April 27 by the Showtime Players. A very good programme was presented by the eight members.
Mr Eric Driver was the leader and Mr John Elton accompanied on the piano. Songs from the Sound of Music were sung and many other well-known tunes.
A monologue was given by Barbara entitled Cling to Nigel which caused much laughter. Mrs Margery Chambers gave a vote of thanks. A new member was welcomed to the club.
Tea followed served by Red Cross members.

ABBOTS LANGLEY WOMEN'S INSTITUTE
WHEN president Mrs Rosemary Burrows welcomed our new member, Mrs Pamela Lewis and the other ladies to the Henderson Hall, the afternoon speaker had already arrived.
Like so many actors, his face was familiar, although he was not famous.
Jonathan Fryer had had a lengthy career in films, radio, theatre and television, and worked with many celebrities such as Jimmy Edwards, Betty Marsden, Tom Courtenay and even Old Mother Riley.
While ‘resting' Jonathan had taken all sorts of jobs to earn a living. At one most unlikely venue for romance, when he was a caller in a bingo hall, he was bedazzled by the young lady selling tickets, who shortly became his wife.
However, his first time at a women's institute meeting was not a happy experience. When he ventured to ask the formidable chair lady how much he could expect for his fee, she replied: “How do I know? We haven't had the raffle yet!”
A true professional, Jonathan selected the jokes that would appeal to his audience. As usual the old ones were the best.
While tea was served, president Rosemary reminded members that Abbots Langley WI would be selling cakes and preserves on June 14 at the village carnival.
At the May 19 meeting the resolutions for 2004, including the recommendation for a national air-ambulance service, will be discussed.

ADEYFIELD TOWNSWOMEN'S GUILD
OUR meeting was held on Wednesday, May 5.
This was a very special meeting as it was our 52nd birthday party.
Our meeting was opened by our chairman Mrs Gwynneth Wood and apologies for absence were read.
A very warm welcome was given to the members of Gadebridge Townswomen's Guild who had joined us and we are always very pleased to welcome them on our special occasions. The secretary gave her report and this was followed by the treasurer.
The entertainment then followed which was given by Janet Naylor which she called Verse & Worse. She certainly had so many verses to read with a terrific variety involved all of which was very entertaining keeping everyone well entertained.
There was a quiz form on the table so we could do it in between the activities this being organised by Mrs Margaret Groome.
Our president Mrs Joan Wilson gave a speech welcoming everyone and Gadebridge Townswomen's Guild and the fact we were now 52 years old.
This was followed by her kindly cutting the birthday cake and serving wine etc.
The raffle followed and was won by some members from Adeyfield Guild and some from Gadebridge Guild. There was a very large sales table which was organised by Mrs Joyce Catchpole.
She certainly was kept busy and sold quite a lot of items which was very rewarding. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the birthday evening.
Our next meeting is June 2. The speaker being Yvonne Jeacock (the charity we collect parcels for at Christmas).

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD LOCAL HISTORY AND MUSEUM SOCIETY
AT our April meeting, the chairman Elizabeth Buteux reported that as a director of the Dacorum Heritage Trust, she had attended the preview of the trust's exhibition, John Dickinsons 1804-2004, held at Frogmore Mill, Apsley.
The exhibition will be open to the general public on certain Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer, and as usual members of the society would be helping with the stewarding. Elizabeth Buteux was then delighted to welcome Eric Edwards who is a director of the trust and the editor of the DHT newsletter.
Last year Mr Edwards spoke to the society about his most recent publication Hare and Hounds, and on this occasion he gave an excellent talk on his book A New History of Flamstead. Illustrating his talk with slides,
Mr Edwards told many amusing stories and anecdotes about the pubs, buildings and the villagers in general of Flamstead. Derek Tarling, a committee member, then expressed the appreciation of the society to Eric Edwards for providing the society with such an entertaining evening.
Roy Wood, a committee member, reported to the society that the Herald Express newspaper (sister paper of The Gazette) had featured an article on his project Street Names. Helped by Margaret, his wife, Roy had replied to an amazing number of inquiries about the town's streets on the internet.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 26, when the Hemel Hempstead Movie Makers will be showing their latest films. All meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at the Carey Baptist Church Hall, Marlowes, at 8pm. New members and visitors welcome. For further details call 01442 245866 or visit hhtp://hemel history.mysite. freeserve.com/

WEST HERTS PARKINSON'S DISEASE SOCIETY
The story of two American folk heroes who headed an expedition into the new territories of America was told by Isobel Leek, WI Member Harpenden and National Trust, when she addressed the Branch at St Thomas Church, Langley Road, Watford on May 6.
The Louisiana Purchase from the French in 1803 for $15,000,000 more than doubled the existing territory of the United States and President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark into the new territories with instructions to find a water bound course along the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean A party of 30 men and a dog plus Indian interpreter and his three wives one, Sacagawea, was invaluable to the party for her knowledge of Indian dialects, set out in a keelboat and two canoes on May 14, 1804, on a perilous journey. Isobel Leek brought to life the struggle, deprivation and hardship endured by the party during their journey west.
Her coloured slides illustrated her talk to perfection giving her audience a sense of the terrain which had to be overcome by the expedition.
The dog played its part in bolstering the morale of the party during some difficult times but when crossing the Rockies on Indian bartered horses they ran out of food and had to kill the horses to survive.
Thereafter there was no mention of the dog in their subsequent report. They finally reached the Pacific in November 1805 built a fort and spent their last winter. When the expedition returned the following year to St Louis they had travelled 8,000 miles.
The results were the first map of the Pacific route, 50 Indian tribes were noted and over 200 botanical species were found and recorded. There was one death counterbalanced by Sacagawwea giving birth to a baby boy. Isobel Leek brought her talk to a close amongst warm applause from her audience and thanks from the Chairman Russell Willson. Notices were now read out.
The Chairman has entered the Rotary Clubs of St Albans Charity Cycle Ride on May 16 over the distance of 20 miles which should raise a substantial sum for the group. More outings have been arranged.
Kentish Hop Farm Wednesday, July 14, and a 40's Music Hall called ‘Kiss me goodnight Sergeant Major' at Burley in the New Forest on Wednesday, October 13. The number of seats are limited. ‘Talking it through' group meeting will be Wed-nesday, May 19, 7pm-9pm, phone 01442 247230. For information on Harpenden Support Group phone 01582 715668. For St Albans Support Group phone 01727 867439 Our thanks to Duncan Gardiner for producing ‘Michaelmas Daisies', a booklet of poetry, on sale at £2.50. The next monthly meeting will be June 3 at 7.30pm.
Guest speaker is Dr Ray Chaudhuri consultant neurologist, King's College Hospital. His subject: How we can improve the quality of life in Parkinson's Disease. The chairman declared the meeting closed.