LATEST NEWS
The Court Room was the scene of our August Social Evening talk presented Mr John Davies, a local magistrate. He informed us that magistrates were first appointed in 1361 under the reign of Edward iii, before then and since 1195 they were known as Keepers of the Peace. Initially, magistrates were appointed to supervise the building of roads and maintenance of bridges. Normally, they would be friends of the King, however during the last century, magistrates were appointed from all walks of life. Once a potential magistrate has passed the interview stage, one in the Ministry of Justice in London, and has been sworn in by the judge, they then take the Judicial Oath and Oath of Allegiance to the Queen and then undergo an element of training. Women magistrates were first appointed late 1919 and first sat in January 1920. It is felt that women magistrates are more severe then men when sentencing. Today, roughly 50% of the bench are magistrates. (In court, a magistrate will sit with 2 others and the 3 of them are known as a "bench").
Magistrates do not get a salary but they are able to claim their expenses. The cases they are mostly involved in are driving offences, low level crime, TV license, appeals for a taxi license. Normally the sentence would be a fine, conditional discharge (for first time offenders), community sentences; prison is very rarely used.
Magistrates are not required to know the law as they have a legal advisor in court who will advise accordingly.
This month the raffle of two tickets to see Love's a Luxury was won by Mrs Mattie Danielson.
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Derek Warren visited us at our July Social Evening and delivered a very interesting talk on "The Day I Burnt One Million Pound". Derek explained that he used to work at Battersea Power Station - the largest brick building in the world. At the end of World War Two the government decided to withdraw all our currency (apart from the £5 notes) and replace it with new currency. Once the money was collated, it was taken to Battersea Power Station to burn. Whilst the money was in sacks, the workers in the power station were not aware of the contents. After the furnaces were lit Derek was there all day throwing the sacks on the fire. The next day he went into work and there was a mad panic. He noticed that two Biffa Waste lorries were parked up not doing anything. It transpired that the crane driver could not be found. After some time they noticed that the money which had been put on the fire had not burnt correctly and was dropping through the furnace into the water and floating on top. AS the crane driver was the first to report for work in the morning speculation has it that he had entered the water and retrieved some money and had "done a runner". He never reported to work again and to this day no-one has ever seen him. From this point onwards and until all the money had been cleared, Derek had to break the piles on money up to ensure that this did not happen again and over the following two days, it was cleared. Derek advised that the amount could well have been over one million pound - he simply does not know just how much he burnt.
Our raffle was won my Mrs B Warren - two tickets to see the ELO Experience - congratulations.
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We have some exciting news for you - visit our events page for details. So you want a clue .......................
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We were visited in June by Captain David Jones who spoke to us on "The Enemy We Killed, My Friend".
Captain Jones was called up to join the Navy the day after the Second World War was declared. 48 hours later his widowed mother was waving him off High Street Station with the words "Promise me you will be a good boy". From an early age he had had a nautical career and was a young navigational cadet. During the war, Captain Jones' ship was torpedoed. At this time he was having a shower, so appeared at the assembly point on the ship in the nude. There had simply been no time to dress. For the following 30 days, Captain Jones had no clothes to wear. 76 shells hit is boat. A lot of photographs were taken at this tome (one 30 seconds after the torpedo was fired) but access to the photographs was declined for 48 - 49 years. The reason for this was that Russia had control over the German archives for this time and when this changed access was allowed. Captain Jones had many slides to show us and he talked us through each one. He explained that when he left his ship in the lifeboat he had damaged his leg. Whilst in the lifeboat (18 days) the only fluid they had was 6ozs of water EACH, (2ozs at sunrise, 2ozs at midday and 2ozs at sunset). They simply had to remain disciplined whilst in the boat. Captain Jones was first to spot land and they eventually arrived in Niberia. It was some 6 or 7 days later that they were spotted and supplies were dropped to them from parachutes. They shared these with the villagers with whom they had befriended and finally after being on land for 10 days, a RAF ship rescued them. It was at this point that Captain Jones collapsed due to his leg injury and some 3 days later he woke up on HMS Caernarfon Castle. The medics has tried to stop gangrene getting to his leg. His family had not heard anything from Captain Jones for 6 months. When he eventually got back home he was welcomed by Sian, his beloved dog. It was not long before he was summonsed to join his new ship in Barrow in Furness.
Captain Jones has written 2 books, the first is an English edition and the second is a German edition. He has obtained more information for this edition as after 48 years access to the East German archives was allowed.
After the talk our monthly raffle was held and Mr J Callister won 2 tickets to see Dancing Queen.
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Our Social Evening in May was held in the Rear Studio and our guest speaker was Rev Lionel Hopkins. Lionel is currently the Chaplain in Swansea Prison. Before 2000 his position was a joint role with Christchurch Parish. Lionel was previously a parish priest for 39 years and this year he will have served 14 years in HMPS Swansea. He explained that prison ministry is different from parish ministry.
When Lionel became Chaplain the UK had some 42,000 prisoners, now there are 84,000 prisoners - 35 of these will never be released. Swansea Prison is one of 140 in the UK. It has 402 inmates at the moment, all of which are over the age of 21. The prison houses a high level of murderers to the somewhat minor charge of absent TV license. He explained that to keep just 1 inmate in prison for 1 week it costs £1,000.
His daily duties start just after 8.00 a.m. After a series of phone calls Lionel then begins his rounds. On the day of our talk he visited 9 men who had come in the day before. 4 of these were license recalls. An hour later he went to the punishment block and explained that when the weather is fine these inmates have only 1/2 hour exercise and they are in cells alone completely isolated. At the moment there are 3 inmates in punishment block. Lionel then attends the visiting area and observes prison visits. After a short lunch he then retires to the chapel which is the quietest place in the prison. It is quite common for Lionel to baptise inmates whilst they are detained - the last being on Maundy Thursday. After a short computer session dealing with emails etc. at about 5.00 p.m. Lionel attends the fellowship classes. The day ends with a short check to see whether anything has been missed during the day and at about 7.30 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. he heads home.
Every Sunday morning Lionel takes his Sunday service. he told us that no-one ever talks to spoil the silence because they all respect it there.
Surprisingly, Lionel does not have to tell anyone where he is going within the prison. He does carry a radio and his call sign in Charlie!! Lionel explained that prison is a very dark place but the role of the New Testament is to bring light to dark places and that is what he strives to do.
Our evening's raffle was won by Mrs Maureen Hayward who had two tickets to see Piaf - congratulations.
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Please visit our events page for forthcoming Meet the Cast Parties.
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May I, on behalf of all the Executive Committee wish all our members a Happy New Year. We hope 2010 will bring you all good health, good luck, happiness and many hours of fun and laughter at The Grand.
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Our November Social Evening was in the form of a Quiz with David Preston as our Quizmaster. As the Quiz was being held on the eve of Guy Fawkes Night, as well as having some questions on Halloween and general knowledge, David had also prepared some on the events which took place in London in 1605. Some 55 questions, reviving old brain cells and 4 tie break questions later (!!), we finally had our winning team. Please visit our gallery page for photos. We were also very honoured to have 6 members of the Sir Harry Secombe Trust Singers come along to sing for us for about 30 minutes. It is so lovely to see the talent we have in Swansea and it was a complete joy to listen to these youngsters entertain us. What a perfect end to our year. The winner of the raffle (two tickets to see Cappuccino Girls) was Gillian Ricks. |
Please visit our Gallery page to view photographs of our recent Back Stage Tour.
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Our speaker for September was Val Newton who gave us a very interesting talk of the Third World. Both her and her late husband Bill became involved after seeing the Anneka Rice programme some 18 years ago. They held charity dinners in Carmarthen and managed to raise £2,500 and a free bus. The bus was filled with goods and trips were made to places like Romania, Bosnia, Kosovo etc. where aid was needed. After Bill passed away Val dispensed with the bus as she found it too much for her to hope with and now she has a lorry which goes over 5 or 6 times a year. Val's hard work and dedication has seen many families lives benefit directly from building new houses, providing electricity, taking children on holiday, placing some children in university with the help of a sponsor in Ireland, buying cattle for families, to buying washing machines. Everything that you and I take for granted. Val talked us through many many different stories, all of which ended in deprived families benefitting directly from monies raised.
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Due to circumstances beyond our control, all content of our July Social Evening has had to be removed from the site. Our sincere apologies to our site visitors.
The winner of our July raffle was Jeffrey Ricks who won two tickets for Doctor and the Devils, a Dylan Thomas Production.
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The lucky winner of our recent quiz competition is Mrs. Dorothy M. Sparrow from Tairgwaith, Ammanford. She will receive a year's free membership. Congratulations.
For the correct answers to the quiz, please visit our competitions page.
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If you have anything which you feel may be of interest to other club members then please either use the contact button to the left of this screen and email us or alternatively contact any member of the committee and we will update our web site accordingly. You may have a new addition to the family, passed an exam, run a marathon, organised a charity event or even got married, whatever your news is please feel free to share it with us.
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This year our Annual General Meeting was held prior to our April Social Evening. 28 members attended and the raffle of a years free membership was won by Mrs Ann Harris and Ms Davina Preston.
The Social Evening consisted of an interesting talk on The Cruise That Never Was and our speaker was Mr Bahari. Mr Bahari, you may recall, is a retired ear, nose and throat surgeon who practised in Singleton Hospital.
He told us that 18 years ago his son emigrated to Australia and there he met and married his wife and Mr Bahari is now a proud grandparent to 2 children. It was these grandchildren that gave him the incentive to embark on a trip of a lifetime to visit them in Australia. Mr Bahari's chosen method of transport for this trip was by sea. He had originally booked the Saga Rose Cruise which required a deposit of £1,000. However, after having a chat with a friend he decided to cancel the Saga Cruise and book a cruise on the newly built Aurora which also took in Patagonia and Japan which also appealed to his friend. The Aurora weighs 76,000 tons with a maximum passenger capacity of 1950 and 850 crew and stands 13 decks high.
On Sunday 9 January 2004 all passengers embarked for their trip of a lifetime at Southampton. However, the launch was delayed as there appeared to be problems on board with the engines. On 10 January all dockers were on strike due to a pay dispute so they finally set sail on 11 January. On 12 January the Aurora was forced to return to Southampton as the engine was still playing up. As the problem was bigger than expected the Aurora was still docked in Southampton 3 days later. During this time, passengers were given lots of options to compensate, (i.e. free run of the ship, entertainment, excursions to Portsmouth, London and Winchester). Finally, on 16 January the Aurora sailed out of dock. Unfortunately they never got beyond Portsmouth and had to dock once more. At this point some 385 passengers decided to leave. On 19 January, once again, the Aurora set sail but returned to Southampton on 20 January. All passengers disembarked on 21 January.
All passengers received vouchers for further cruises and a full refund. The final compensation bill was £20 million. Some passengers had paid £42,000 for their cruise.
Mr Bahari told us that he had never taken a cruise before and it certainly has not deterred him. Incidentally, the Aurora is currently in New Zealand but its propeller has broken down. Certainly a jinxed ship.
Our free raffle of two tickets to see the premier of The Thornbirds was won by Mrs Gina Gammage.
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Our October speaker was Nessie Isaac who spoke to us about her relative, Dame Nellie Melba. She was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne, Australia in May 1861 and died February 1931. Her family was musical and Nellie's musical talent came to the fore when she attended school. She was a legendary Australian opera soprano and probably the most famous of all sopranos and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition in the form.
She married Charles Nisbett Frederick Armstrong, the son of a baronet, and had one son. She travelled to Europe with her family to begin a musical career. Having not had any success in London, she travelled to Paris and Madame Mathilde Marchesi agreed to tutor her. Dame Nellie Melba's first starring role was at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels. She returned to London ensuring her success with the audience at Convent Garden. Thus began a professional career in Australia and England and soon she became a prima donna at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden through to the 1920s. She was distinguished by royalty and always earned at least one shilling per performance more than any other singer. It was Madame Mathilde Marchesi who persuaded her to adopt a stage name and Melba was chosen as an incongruity of her native city. Dame Nellie Melba also sang in New York and Chicago and also at Oscar Hammerstein's opera house. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918 for her charity work during World War I, and was elevated to Dame Grand Cross in 1927. She and Dame May Whitty were the first entertainers to be awarded the honour of Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE).
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Brian Quick entertained us in June with his talk on Nicknames saying that they go right back to biblical times - Simon nicknamed the Rock, John the Baptist and Thomas Didymus just to mention some. We have also had Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror. A well-coined nickname is supposed to summarise an individual's reputation, personality, or principal characteristic and if it's good, or funny, it will stick like these few mentioned. A thoroughly entertaining evening was had by all with Brian taking us on our travels through Swansea and the surrounding area filling us in on the village nicknames of certain people.
The raffle was won by Gina Gamage who had two tickets for Westenders
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DID YOU KNOW ........... ?
Posters are dotted around the theatre on all floors informing you of various Club events?
Tours of the theatre are organised throughout the year?
The Arts Wing have some excellent shows throughout the year if you don't fancy what's on the main stage?
There are 8 seats designed for the larger person situated as follows:-
Stalls - Row H Seat 1, Row J Seat 1, Row M Seat 30 and Row N Seat 31
Grand Circle - Row B Seat 35, Row C Seat 41, Row E Seat 1 and Row F Seat 1
You can call into Footlights for a coffee to get away from the busy crowds out shopping?
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Our Meet The Cast Parties are a great opportunity to meet the stars of the shows and are held after the evening performance in the Grand Circle Bar.
There is a small entrance fee, (£2.50 for members and £3.00 for non-members), for which you receive either a glass of wine or a soft drink and a visit to our well-stocked buffet table. The bar will be open for all other drinks.
Cast members are very happy to sign autographs and have their photograph taken with you. A raffle is usually held with various prizes on offer.
Next Party - see events page
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Please visit our Links Page to take you to the Grand Theatre web site and also visit our Events Page to see details of forthcoming trips we have planned.