Bill Baker – “The Lighter Side of Banking”

On the 4th of March we welcomed Bill Baker as our guest speaker. 

Bill is well known locally as a regular presenter on Tempo FM but his chosen subject for his talk reflected his long career with the Yorkshire bank and was titled “The Lighter Side of Banking”.

On leaving school in 1961 Bill joined the bank after a series of five interviews, including a visit to his family, and became a junior clerk at the Head Office in Leeds.  At that time the most sophisticated piece of equipment used was an adding machine with a paper roll.  He worked in many of the small branches in and around Leeds and he told us about some of the characters he came across, both customers and colleagues.

He was the first manager in the Yorkshire Bank to be held up at gun point and he told us about this and other botched robberies from the Bank.  Bill was promoted to open a new branch in Newcastle which he enjoyed after he had learnt the dialect and had survived a brush with the Geordie Mafia.  He moved back to Leeds as the bank’s marketing manager which was his least favourite role and was involved in the setting up of an insurance unit.

Questions from the members included the mis-selling of PPI and the takeover of the bank by the National Bank of Australia.

Our Chairman Mike Earle proposed a vote of thanks to Bill for keeping us amused on a cold morning.

Training Guide Dogs for the Blind

On the 4th of February 2015 the Forum welcomed representatives from Guide Dogs for the Blind for a presentation entitled Training Guide Dogs for the Blind.

We welcomed Belinda Hunter and Andrew Dixon accompanied by Eaton and Sam who are both Golden Retriever Labrador crosses and are guide dog puppies in training.  Belinda and Andrew are both voluntary guide dog walkers and their function is to take prospective guide dogs into their homes at seven weeks old and provide  basic training to the age of 14 months.  The dogs then go to a full time training establishment before meeting their blind owners who take over the dogs at two years of age.  They stay with their owners for six to eight years before retiring to become family pets.

Around 70% of dogs successfully complete their training, those unsuitable can become hearing dogs for the deaf, help dogs for disabled people or buddy dogs for young people with special needs.  Belinda described how dogs are selected for breeding and told us of the histories of the dogs she has had in her care.  She demonstrated with Eaton the stage of training that he has reached which involved responding to basic commands and the receipt of lots of treats.  Guide Dogs for the Blind is a charity completely funded by donations and two thirds of the dogs are funded by legacies.  After a lengthy question and answer session Colin Gaden proposed a vote of thanks and a collection was taken for the charity.

RAF Linton on Ouse – Alan Mawby

At the start of the Forum’s meeting on the 14th of January we stood for a moment’s silence in memory of member Frank McGuiness and former member Geoff Ward who had both recently passed away.

Our guest speaker was former Wing Commander Alan Mawby whose subject was “RAF Linton-on-Ouse” where he is the honorary curator of the RAF Memorial Room.  The establishing of the airfield was bound up with the lead up to the Second World War when in 1937 it was opened as a base for two bomber squadrons to combat the build-up of the Luftwaffe.  One of the first station commanders was Air Commodore Arthur Harris who went on to lead Bomber Command.

Alan related the war-time history of the station including the different types of bomber and various people who served at the station.  The first raid from Linton was a leaflet drop over Germany but many more destructive raids followed involving many fatalities to both aircrew and those on the ground.

After the war the station was handed over to Fighter Command which saw the first jets to fly locally and in 1957 it became a Flying Training School which it has remained to the present day.

Mike Cook proposed a vote of thanks for a most interesting talk.

Rex Stott – Magic Mirth and Mystery

On the 7th of January 2015 the Forum re-gathered after its winter break and we started our meeting by standing in silent tribute to one of our members, Paul Lerch, who had sadly died during the Christmas break.

Duncan Verity then introduced our guest speaker Rex Stott who had spent his career in education but whose interests now centred on British Music Hall, music and sport and he is a member of the Hull and York Magic Circles.

His talk was titled “Magic, Mirth and Mystery” in which he described his childhood in Birstall.  When a young boy he received a Rupert the Bear annual which included how to make a paper boat and this gave him an interest in origami which expanded to include magic tricks.  Along with his younger brother they devised a magic act which toured the Church Hall circuit in his home area and the Forum members were treated to a selection of his tricks, some of which he explained.  Although he abandoned magic during his working life he has recently renewed his interest principally for the benefit of his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Geoff Curd proposed a vote of thanks for a thoroughly entertaining presentation.

“Words and Music for Christmas”

On the 3rd of December the Forum held its last meeting before Christmas.

We welcomed our guest speaker Ken Humphreys for the eleventh time.  Ken is an ex-schoolteacher from York who specialises in a mixture of poetry, amusing tales and songs sung in a fine light tenor voice with piano accompaniment recorded by one of his ex-colleagues.  He titled this presentation as “Words and Music for Christmas” starting with Winter Wonderland with the Forum members joining in the chorus.

He revealed that he had written most of the poems he recited for school nativity plays and had recently been persuaded to have them published.  No presentation by Ken would be complete without a musical quiz and this one was about Oscar winning songs with the members answering all but one of his questions correctly.  John Spinner proposed a vote of thanks for a splendid entertaining talk.

 

Tales from the Charity Shop

On 19th November we welcomed our guest speaker Miss Val Howson, the manager of the Salvation Army Charity Shop at Meanwood Road Leeds.  The title of her talk was Tales from the Charity Shop in which she described how her life resulted in her current post and then related some amusing and touching stories from her work.

Val described her childhood being brought up in a terraced house in Hunslet, Leeds and regularly attending the local chapel.  At the age of 15 she left school to work in Marshall and Snelgrove’s department store and, after many varied jobs, the organisation she worked for suddenly folded leaving all its staff redundant.  At the age of 52 she had great difficulty in finding another job, being unemployed for a full year, until she talked her way into her present position.

Her shop is in a converted chapel in a socially deprived area with many foreign students and immigrants living close by.  She explained the philosophy of the charity shops which is to make money for something outside themselves.  Her shop’s policy of one price for all similar items enables her customers to shop with dignity.  Val’s talk concluded with a number of amusing anecdotes including a story of how a school in a remote part of Zambia became equipped with a pristine set of Leeds school uniforms obtained through her shop.

Mansel James proposed a vote of thanks for a very entertaining talk.

A Lifetime in Gardening

On 12th November,  Duncan Verity introduced our speaker Martin Walker, who described a lifetime in gardening.

On leaving school Martin joined Leeds City Council parks department as an apprentice gardener.  In a long and distinguished career he worked at all the civic parks and gardens in and around Leeds before retiring as a senior manager.  He is still involved in the horticultural world including acting as a judge in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition.

He presented a slide show featuring a variety of the gardens he had worked in or designed including Golden Acre Park (where he started his career), Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall and mentioned the sponsored roundabout scheme which was initiated in Leeds.

Towards the end of his time with Leeds City Council he became involved in presenting displays for the Chelsea Flower Show and he explained the reasoning used by the judges in assessing the exhibits before awarding medals.  We saw Leeds’ efforts over the years which culminated in the award of two gold medals.

After a short Gardeners Question Time Paddy Tyler proposed a vote of thanks complimenting Martin on the delightful gardens around Leeds which his work has provided for everyone.

My Life & Work as Chaplain at Harrogate District Hospital

On 29th October the Forum welcomed the Rev. Jim Grebby as our speaker.  Jim has for some time been the lead chaplain at Harrogate District Hospital and he described his career, first in the engineering industry and then as a jeweller, before stress in his private life led to a crisis which lead him to find solace in the Methodist Church.

He became a Christian and felt called to be a preacher before becoming a minister at the age of 48.  His first post was as a minister in Newcastle but he wanted to become a chaplain and in 2006 obtained a post as a hospital chaplain in Leeds before moving on to Harrogate.

Jim described the role of the hospital chaplain which involves much more than providing religious support and outlined a number of personal experiences to illustrate the provision of spiritual care to patients, relatives and staff before inviting questions from the Forum’s members.

After a lively question and answer session Jim Fussey thanked Mr. Grebby for a most interesting talk which all the members had enjoyed.

Operating and Marketing Public Transport

The Forum’s guest speaker on the 15th of October was Scott Hellewell from Wakefield, a civil engineer  who worked in the public transport industry involved in both rail and bus services.

He gave a short summary of the history of public transport from stage coaches to the present day.  He then gave us an insight into the problems encountered when devising a transport system including the different ways of establishing transport routes and timetables which are easy to understand and operate to give a safe, frequent and comprehensive service at reasonable cost. 

Scott then talked about modern developments in the rail and bus industries and the way that politics has intruded, not always to the benefit of the travelling public.  The principle of competition in the transport industry fails to recognise that the real competition comes from the private car and for this reason we do not benefit from an integrated system where the different forms of transport complement each other. 

During a lively a lively question and answer session the subjects of the HS2 link, park and ride schemes and driverless buses and trains were raised.  Gordon Wilson proposed a vote of thanks for a most interesting talk.  

The Secret Life of Charles Dickens

On the 8th of October the Forum welcomed Pat Osborne as guest speaker for the fourth time in the last five years.  Pat researches into the lives of literary and historical figures as a basis for her talks and the subject for this talk was The Secret Life of Charles Dickens.

Dickens was born in 1812 as the second of eight children.  The family enjoyed periods of relative prosperity interspersed with times of hardship including spells in a debtor’s prison and, although he did receive some education,

Charles began his working life in a blacking warehouse.  Many of the darker incidents in his books are derived from the experiences of his childhood.  He became a court reporter before entering journalism and began writing stories in serial form.  He married Catherine, the daughter of his employer, although he also developed an affection for her two sisters.  He became involved in the theatre both reciting from his own books and producing the works of others and. after twenty years of marriage and nine children he fell in love with a young actress called Ellen Ternan which resulted in the breakdown of his marriage.  He was also rumoured to be involved in a relationship with one of his sisters-in-law.  The stress of his working and private lives caused Dickens to suffer a stroke in 1870 and he died without regaining consciousness.

Howard Upton thanked Pat for an entertaining talk and the fifty members present responded with warm applause.