Weekly meeting

At this evening's meeting we were entertained by a talk from Rotarian James Edwards, with whom our own Peter Semlyen has had a friendship lasting 80 years, dating back to the time Peter and his two brothers were evacuated to a farm in rural Wales, where James lived, during WW2. Among this evening's attendees were members of James' family and another visitor from Newmarket club, at Ivan's invitation.

It was a fascinating evening of reminiscing by Peter and James. We heard that it was unsure if Peter's father knew where he was evacuating his children to, he just left London in his car and headed west!

We were treated to photos of those wartime years on the farm, when life seemed very little disrupted by war, and James told us many stories about life there in the 1940's, including tickling trout and catching salmon as they came upriver to spawn. James also told of his life subsequently in agriculture. He studied at Cirencester Agricultural College. and accepted a number of work placements abroad, including Minnesota, Finland and Israel.

It was a very interesting talk from James, with assistance from his brother and also Peter. A very well travelled man, we are hoping James will come back and talk again in the New Year.