Published at 11:08, Thursday, 01 December 2011

OUR November speaker was Mrs Pat Larkin from the Helena Thompson Museum in Workington, who spoke about Victorian author Mrs Beeton.

Isabella Mary Beeton (née Mason) was born on May 12, 1836, in Cheapside, London, the eldest of 21 children which in Victorian times was standard and a sign of wealth and prestige.

Even as a child she always had to learn about everything she could. She knew from early on in her life women were not only housewives but they had a brain and could and should use it.

She did not like the way some households ran their lives. Some women did not know how to do any chore or task without help. Mrs Beeton’s book Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management was a guide to all aspects of running a household in Victorian Britain. The book has 2,751 entries, including tips on every-day scenarios. However mundane it might have seemed, it sold 60,000 copies in the first year and nearly two million in 1868.

Her life was very rewarding to her and her family.Her early death, at 28, was a tragic loss to all.

A vote of thanks was given by Mrs Cissy Sanderson.

Raffle winners were Lawrence Graves, Marjorie Dickenson, Elsie Hetherington, Grace Wordsworth, Cissy Sanderson. Our big raffle was won by Mary Brannon, Judy Yeowart, Ross Beattie, John Brannon, Iris North, Fay Crawford , Yvonne Walker, Ethel Mower, Cissy Sanderson, Maureen Sharpe, Muriel Pickering and Ted Biggins.

OUR October speaker, Maurice Steel, spoke about Hadrian’s Wall from Newcastle to Bowness-on-Solway.

Thousands of people of all ages do this walk every year, year after year, in all weathers.

A vote of thanks was given by John Alonby. Our free bingo was won by Irene Sharpe and Grace Leech. Our big bingo was won by Cissy Sanderson, Muriel Wright and Mary Shepherd.

In October 42 members boarded a coach for a ride to Dobbies Garden Centre near Carlisle.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk