Monthly Notices from September's Meeting

These are some notes from our September Monthly Meeting held on Monday 14th September 2026. The meeting was followed by a talk from Chris Truran about "Dabs to DNA"

Chairman's Announcements:

Pauline opened the meeting by welcoming all the members to this month's meeting and gave us all the usual safety announcements and reminded the members of the meeting place in the event of an emergency.

Pauline started by providing some fun facts in the form of Events on this day in History. 1752 saw the 3rd September suddenly become the 14th September as we moved to the Gregorian Calendar. In 1964 the Daily Herald became The Sun Newspaper. 1974 saw the two giant Pandas, Chia Chia & Ching Ching arrive at London Zoo.

Monthly Meeting

PR & Communications

Chris informed the members of a 'Come and Meet the Committee' session being arranged for 27th October in the Cafe in Ickenham from 2pm to 4pm with coffee and cake. Come find out what the Committee does and if you can help. Booking essential, contact Chris to secure a place.

Post Meeting Coffee & Chat

Adele reminded the members that she would lead today's walk to the post meeting coffee and chat.

Anniversary News

With three and a half months of 2026 left, Ann and the Anniversary team want us to keep celebrating. She also mentioned that Jim Hall had given us an insight to IT over the years in part 1 of an article in Buzz. Make sure you find part 2 of 3 in next month's Newsletter. Ann is also arranging for December's Slideshow to show some images of how we celebrated our Anniversary. Along with this, Ann hopes our newest Committee member Martin, will show us what we plan to do over the next 25 years.

London Walk

Brian was pleased for Pauline to announce on his behalf, the next London Walk. Titled "The Inns of Court", it'll be on Tuesday 29th September meeting at 10:45am at Holborn station and cost £11 per person (plus booking fee).

Interest Group News

Chris also gave us some information about the travel Group. Other than Pauline telling the group about her recent trip to Mongolia, the group have a guest speaker, travel consultant Keith Norman from Wendy Wu. The meeting is open to non-group members so contact Chris if you're interested.

Roger gave us an update on the interest Groups:

A new Marquetry group has been suggested and Zahra has arranged a visit to Harrow Marquetry Group in Watford for 29th September. It’ll be a ‘make-your-own-way’. Contact Zahra if you are interested.

• Creative Writing 2 still plans to start in October & meet on the 2nd & 4th Friday of the month at 2pm and has spaces.

• Book Group 4 will start in September & meet on the 1st Friday of the month at 2:15pm

• New group Singers and Strummers will start in September but are looking for more Strummers.

Alan gave us an update on the New Beginners Bridge group that's just about to start. If this interests you then contact Alan.

We are still calling on Group Leaders to take on the 'Table of the Month' in October and November.

Finally, it's time for Group Leaders to submit their hall booking requirements for 2027. Please email Judy with your 2027 group dates so she can start the planning process.

Visits

Pauline mentioned that there are still 3 places left on the Angel Costumes trip.

Roger announced a new Visit to see the Fuller Griffin Brewery in Chiswick. It's a 'Make-Your-Own-Way' on Thursday 12th November to meet at the Brewery in Chiswick at 10:45am. Cost is £24 per person (plus Booking fee)

After the Coffee break, Alan introduced our speaker Chris Truran who gave us a very interesting talk called "Dabs to DNA".

Pauline closed the meeting at 12pm