JANUARY 2011
Jane Narborough, President, welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Rhayader WI member Gwen Jones who was to be the 'guest president' for the evening - this was part of the celebrations for the Institute's 80th Anniversary and previous presidents would take the chair for an evening throughout 2011. Gwen explained that she had been president in the 1970's and oversaw the move from the old Congregational School rooms to the Leisure Centre. Gwen then went on to welcome members, guests and new members.
The competition was a Decorated Easter Hat, this would be used for the County Show where it would be one of the classes - 1st Shirley Jones, 2nd Morfa Shaw. The room raffle was won by Ruth Hide.
The speaker was one of our members, Sylvia Richards, who had brought a slide compilation of her holiday "Following the Oregon Trail" in North America.
Sylvia opened with a very pretty view of, appropriately, "Lake Sylvia". Sylvia and her husband Dave started in a hired car from Seattle after arriving by plane form the UK, travelling along the coastal route, which was quite foggy and wet in September 2010.
Along the way they kept seeing Tsunami warnings with escape routes marked and then when they went inland, where temperatures were up to 80F, these changed to "Volcano warnings"! Again with escape routes shown! Sylvia was very impressed with the interpretation centres along the way and felt Wales could benefit from following the US examples as we have nothing like them here. She showed beautiful scenic views, visiting the Giant Redwoods in California, lots of little fishing towns, where there were myrtle wood factories and despite the misty rain, beautiful views. The volcanic hinterland was terrific and remains of snow could be seen high up. The lakes were also spectacular and meadows and woods of wild flowers even in September. Sylvia was thanked by Jane Narborough for a wonderful talk and slides.
Members were reminded that it was the 80th Birthday on 22 February and names had been taken for the buffet.