ARTHRITIS CARE GRAYSHOTT OCTOBER 2 MEETING

**report of the arthritis care grayshott 2nd october meeting**
Chairman Sybil Saunders welcomed a hardy group of members, who had braved the truly miserable weather and started the meeting with several important messages. Christmas lunch this year will be on Tuesday 4^th December at the earlier time of 12.00 for 12.30, tickets must be bought in advance for this meeting to help with catering. Warm wishes were sent to Charles Guerrier (husband of Betty) on his recent 100^th birthday, to mark the 60^th birthday of Arthritis Care two founder members of the Grayshott branch had been nominated for an award but sadly neither Anthea Lockley nor Shirley Williams won an award however Sybil presented them with a gift in recognition of their hard work for this branch. There was also the gift of a jar of marmalade for Eve on her return to our meetings since she had provided the huge quantity of Sevilleoranges in the first place. Our speaker this month was Steve Harris making a welcome return and with a topic of ‘Half A Pint With The Mother In Law’ we suspected we were in for an amusing afternoon. In fact we learned a lot of very interesting facts about ‘pubs’ during this talk, the history of selling beer and about the origins of some common phrases in the English language. For instance to take someone ‘down a peg or two’ comes from the custom of selling beer in square tankards, with a peg which was shared amongst drinkers, who moved the peg down each time they took a drink. At one time ale was a ‘healthier’ alternative to water which was always polluted – now there’s a thought, tea was more expensive than ale and in the early days ale houses were run by the church until the effects of alcohol began to concern that organisation. Of course in earlier times the local hostelry was the place to go for entertainment, long before TV and the like, so a great variety of games could be found there and opening times often varied according to the locations – near the big food markets they would open very early to cater for the workers. Pub signs were important because few people could read and Steve had some lovely slides to illustrate the different types of sign. In the course of his research Steve told us he had visited 577 pubs and had obviously found them very enjoyable. We certainly enjoyed hearing about them. After a vote of thanks from Sybil members their usual tea and cakes. If you’d like to join us on the first Tuesday of the month please call Shirley on 01428 643625

Chairman Sybil Saunders welcomed a hardy group of members, who had braved the truly miserable weather and started the meeting with several important messages.

Christmas lunch this year will be on Tuesday 4^th December at the earlier time of 12.00 for 12.30, tickets must be bought in advance for this meeting to help with catering. Warm wishes were sent to Charles Guerrier (husband of Betty) on his recent 100^th birthday, to mark the 60^th birthday of Arthritis Care two founder members of the Grayshott branch had been nominated for an award but sadly neither Anthea Lockley nor Shirley Williams won an award however Sybil presented them with a gift in recognition of their hard work for this branch. There was also the gift of a jar of marmalade for Eve on her return to our meetings since she had provided the huge quantity of Sevilleoranges in the first place.

Our speaker this month was Steve Harris making a welcome return and with a topic of ‘Half A Pint With The Mother In Law’ we suspected we were in for an amusing afternoon. In fact we learned a lot of very interesting facts about ‘pubs’ during this talk, the history of selling beer and about the origins of some common phrases in the English language. For instance to take someone ‘down a peg or two’ comes from the custom of selling beer in square tankards, with a peg which was shared amongst drinkers, who moved the peg down each time they took a drink. At one time ale was a ‘healthier’ alternative to water which was always polluted – now there’s a thought, tea was more expensive than ale and in the early days ale houses were run by the church until the effects of alcohol began to concern that organisation.

Of course in earlier times the local hostelry was the place to go for entertainment, long before TV and the like, so a great variety of games could be found there and opening times often varied according to the locations – near the big food markets they would open very early to cater for the workers. Pub signs were important because few people could read and Steve had some lovely slides to illustrate the different types of sign.

In the course of his research Steve told us he had visited 577 pubs and had obviously found them very enjoyable. We certainly enjoyed hearing about them.

After a vote of thanks from Sybil members their usual tea and cakes. If you’d like to join us on the first Tuesday of the month please call Shirley on 01428 643625