For our first WI Meeting of 2015 our Guest Speaker, Alan Brewer, gave his terribly amusing and fascinating Humorous talk on Working for BOAC (the posh bit). Alan told of early home baking fun with his mother, of his four-year apprenticeship with a Master Baker and becoming a master baker himself, working with TV celebrity chefs Fanny and Johnnie Craddock all of which was followed by a wonderful opportunity to interview for BOAC. His acceptance by BOAC, the following eight-week training course and subsequent safety-first and health training were all undertaken very seriously indeed. BOAC took safety issues incredibly seriously and 90% of the eight-week training programme was about safety-first matters. . “It was the No. 1 priority, which if we failed, we lost our licence!” Training was followed by a one-year’s trial period.
Happily for Allan, all of his hard work plus BOAC safety-first and etiquette training led on to a forty-year career, caring for high-flying passengers on a wide range of well-known flying machines from 707’s to VC10’s, the Tri-Star to the Douglas DC10 “whose doors kept falling off”, 777’s, Jumbo’s and Imperial Airways planes.
Alan flew all over the world, at times with a programmed three-week tour and one week’s home leave, with all kinds of people to stars of stage and screen, politicians and government figures to members of our Royal Family. Alan must have enjoyed a very special connection to have been able to accompany so many royal flights around the world. Well done Alan.
Our business meeting went off very well in the hall of The Methodist Church. We discussed ongoing events and happenings and Caroline asked for help from those members who might like to be involved with fund-raising for Frank Wise School in February with our proposed Swishing Evening party: an opportunity to swap accessory items for new additions to your wardrobe.
Subscriptions for 2015 were collected and we all enjoyed a most enjoyable WI meeting. Our next meeting is on Thursday, 5th February at The Institute at 7.30pm when “A Lot like Amy” with her Handcrafted fascinators will be with us.
Just in time for springtime weddings!
Margaret Halstead