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WI

December and January reports






Our Secretary, Linda, welcomed members and some visitors from Houghton WI on behalf of President Sarah to our Christmas Party evening in December.


Following a few notices and official business Linda then welcomed our speaker for the evening and his troop from The Hyde Pipers.


We were treated to a very informative session introduced by Paul Tabbush and Jon Shurlock (who played a duet) and Ian Richardson (who played Highland Pipes) to allow us to hear the sound of the Northumbrian pipes and compare them with the better known Scottish pipes. Then they explained the history and playing technique of the Northumbrian Smallpipes.


These are bellows-blown bagpipes from North East England, where they have been an important factor in the local musical culture for more than 300 years.  The Northumbrian smallpipes’ chanter (melody pipe) having a completely closed end, combined with the unusually tight fingering style (each note is played by lifting only one finger or opening one key at a time) means that traditional Northumbrian piping is staccato in style (said to be like ‘popping peas from a pod’).  Because the bores are so narrow, (typically about 4.3millimeters for the chanter), the sound is far quieter than most other bagpipes.


They mentioned many smallpipe artists including Andy May, Pauline Cato and Tom Clough and then all the Hyde Pipers played a few of their favourite pieces.  Finally we all joined in with Silent Night to end the presentation.


If you fancy finding out more and listening to The Hyde Pipers they perform in the Hyde Tavern Winchester on the 2nd Saturday of each month at 2.00pm.  You can contact them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/HydePipers


The music was followed by a Christmas Table Quiz compiled and compared by our very own quiz master Marilyn Bolton.  We all enjoyed Prosecco and Nibbles which helped us answer the questions.  It was a jolly evening full of happy chatter.


At our January meeting, we welcomed one of our members Louise Causer to share her experiences as a nurse.


Louise Causer trained 40years ago in Canterbury.  After qualifying, she had many roles as a cancer nurse and helped set up the cancer centre in Kent.  She explained how she and her team looked after patients and their families from diagnosis through treatments and then onto supportive care.


When she and Andrew moved to the village 23 years ago, she worked in Nuclear Medicine (a diagnostic scanning department) in Southampton General.  The Consultant there recognised her skills and when the Consultant moved to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to carry out research on cancer treatments, Louise moved with her.


This special treatment uses the principles of the scanning techniques to be used as a medicine for treatment.  This is called “Targeted Radionuclide Therapy”- specific chemicals are used for different tumour types, these chemicals know where to find specific tumour cells - the targeted nature of the treatment.  The clever bit is they are mixed with a radiation which is released once the medicine has found the tumour.  This treatment is not suitable for all but the research is moving forward so that eventually all cancer treatment will be individually designed for each individual.


Louise had a multi-faceted job, not only working on these very advanced types of treatment, she spent most of her day with a very large team talking and caring for the patients and their families.  Support was required through diagnostic tests, treatment pathways, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and in lots of cases through further situations as they occurred once the patients were discharged home to the community.


She was also responsible for teaching other nurses, writing research papers and presenting them at conferences, and editing books on the research work.  She found the work exciting and rewarding and felt privileged to be able to be a part of the lives of her patients and families when they were going through such difficult times in their lives.


Our next meeting is on Wednesday 12th February, the speaker will be Ruth Kerr on “Up at the Big House”, in the Jubilee room. Visitors always welcome.


 




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