The University of Leeds Ladies' Club
Summer 2021
University of Leeds Ladies’ Club
Monthly Newsletter - July 2021
At the end of June we reached the end of what has been a very unusual, not to say difficult, year in the history of the Ladies’ Club, as indeed of so many other organisations. Covid 19 restrictions have prevented us from holding any face to face meetings and we have been unable to hold any social gatherings although many of us have become quite adept at attending meetings on Zoom.
Because of the restrictions the committee has been unable to hold an AGM this year and thus has not been able to arrange a formal hand-over of offices on the committee. Nevertheless, the committee has met (on Zoom) and approved the membership of the incoming committee for 2021/22.
Message from the Incoming President : Mrs. Carole Tabbron
As the incoming President, I would like firstly to thank the outgoing President, Mrs Moira Wallace, for all her hard work over the last two years and for steering the Club through the uncharted waters of the pandemic. I am delighted that she has agreed to remain as a member of the committee and I look forward to working with her again in the new academic session. I would like to thank also all the members of the committee for their hard work through this very strange year, it has been quite a learning curve for us all.
Now that the restrictions have been lifted and we are at last allowed to meet in person, the committee have made some tentative plans for future meetings in the autumn term. However, we are hampered somewhat by having to wait for a decision from the University as to when we will be able to make bookings for both University House and Devonshire Hall. We are in discussion with the University about how to proceed for the new academic session but are unable to make any of our normal arrangements for the time being. However we have made some provisional arrangements for a couple of meetings, the details of which will be shown later in the newsletter.
I hope that this new found ‘freedom’ continues and that we are able to all meet again in person before too long and that we are once again able to enjoy the friendship and company of the University Ladies’ Club as in previous, covid free, years.
Dates for your diary
As we have not met for some time we have decided that the first get-together of the new session should be a very informal one so that friends can meet up again, socialise and catch up with all the news they have missed over the last sixteen months.
Owing to a rescheduled operation, the Garden Party has had to be cancelled. Please refer to your email copy of the newsletter .
Tuesday 7th September at 11am at the Lawnswood Pub/Restaurant, Otley Road, Adel.
As we are unable, as yet, to book any University accommodation we have arranged for a very informal ‘Drop-In Coffee Morning’ to take place at the Lawnswood Pub/Restaurant on the Otley Road in Adel at 11am on Tuesday 7th September.
This will be a ‘drop-in’ session for which there is no charge. Coffee/Tea and other drinks are available to purchase and for those who wish to stay on and have lunch afterwards this also can be purchased, again at own cost.
For those who do not know the Lawnswood it is a very friendly and welcoming Pub/Restaurant and we will have sole use of one section of the dining room. There are no steps to this section of the dining room. There is plenty of parking with a number of blue badge spaces.
I hope as many members as possible will be able to attend this first meeting of the Club and I and the other members of the committee will be there to welcome you all. If you would like more details please don’t hesitate to get in touch, my contact details are at the end of the newsletter.
Wednesday 22nd September at 2pm.
Zoom talk on research into Artificial Intelligence.
This talk has been arranged by Dr. Margaret Wilkinson and we are grateful to her for all her efforts in organising the event. She has sent the following information.
A Zoom talk has been arranged on Wednesday 22nd September 2021 at 2pm of a National initiative based at the University of Leeds that will speed up the diagnosis of diseases. It will collaborate to establish the biggest database of pathology images to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence in medicine.
By 2022 the Northern Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) will have made digital pathology widely available in hospitals throughout the north of England and will be developing automated image analysis to improve the efficiency and reliability of diagnosis, especially for cancers.
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Words of the Month.
Dr Diana Wetherill has very kindly sent in the following, which we hope to make a regular feature in forthcoming newsletters. So for all you wordsmiths - Words of the Month for July.
Exsibilate (verb) – To hiss off the stage
Epinicion (noun) – A song or ode in celebration of a triumph or victory
Acephalous (adjective) – Lacking either a head or a leader
Daddock (noun) – A piece of rotten wood; a decayed tree or log
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Book Group 2
The Book Group met on Thursday 24th June 2021 and Chris Roy has sent the following report.
Six of us managed to meet for our June meeting to have our much-postponed discussion of A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. It was a shame that Carole was still trapped in beleaguered Bolton and we hope that she will soon be permitted to join civilisation again! Tina was also missed but was hopefully enjoying her day out at Ripley.
Although it is some time since most of us had read the book, we mostly agreed that it had been an enjoyable read. Thanks to Jean who introduced the book, reminding us of plot and characters and providing some historical and cultural background. This enabled an interesting discussion. We mostly agreed that it had been a good book to have read. We had found the characters interesting and (for the most part) convincing. Several of the incidents were amusing and we agreed that the proposed film will probably focus on many of these. The Count was thought to be a sympathetically presented character and there was some admiration of his ability to adapt and survive. Some reservations were discussed. For example, as with so many American novels it was just too long and drawn out. (Where are their editors over there in the USA?). There was some doubting of the historical accuracy of some parts and we felt it did portray a very privileged aspect of Russian life at what was a dark and dreadful period of their history. However, an interview with the author did make clear that this was his intention and did cite evidence that the Metropole Hotel was such an island of privilege at that time.
According to my sources (i.e. Google!) the idea of a film has been abandoned in favour of a limited series of about 16 hours produced by and starring Kenneth Branagh and directed by Tom Harper (Peaky Blinders and War and Peace). It seems it will be on one of the streaming services.
Candy has read Towle’s earlier book, Rules of Civility and recommends it as a good read. Amor Towle’s next book is published in October 2021 and is called The Lincoln Highway. It is set in 1950s America and is about two brothers venturing across America to New York.
Thanks to Candy for hosting us and for the exceedingly fine yoghurt cake.
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News of Members.
Congratulations: We send belated Congratulations to our Vice-Patron, Mrs Margaret Roberts and her husband, Colonel Alan Roberts, on the occasion of their 65th Wedding Anniversary on 19th May.
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Deaths: Sadly we have to report the death of a former member, Mrs Margaret Goldie, who has died at the age of One Hundred. Margaret Goldie was the wife of Professor Goldie, a former head of The Mathematics Deprartment at the University. She was a member of the Ladies' Club for many years and will be sadly missed. Her funeral took place in Leeds on Wednesday 9th June but due to Covid restrictions the numbers allowed to attend were limited and the Ladies’ Club were not able to send a representative to pay the respects of the Club as we would have wished. However, President Moira sent the family a message of Sympathy on behalf of the University of Leeds Ladies' Club.
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Other news: I am pleased to report that President Moira continues to make good progress following her recent operation on her ankle and Gill Lydon is continuing to improve during her ongoing treatment.
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Quiz Results
I have had some feedback from members for the June Quiz and congratulations are due to all those quizzers who took part. I hope you enjoyed the quiz. The next quiz, will be going out on 16th July and will be another from the Tabbron stable. If anyone has a quiz they would like to submit I would be delighted to hear from them.
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And finally
Advanced Notice: In the fervent hope that Covid restrictions will be lifted on 19th July, Gill Lydon has kindly offered the use of her garden for an informal summer ‘picnic’ at a date yet to be decided in late July or early August. She has sent a note to everyone with details of what she is planning and hopes that as many as possible will feel able to attend. Further details will be sent out when the situation regarding the Covid restrictions is made clearer and when arrangements have been finalized.
From Gill Lydon: Hello everyone
I would be happy to hold a picnic in our garden for members, sometime during late July or early August, dependent on the weather forecast nearer the time (as discussed and agreed at the last committee meeting). As COVID regulations stand at the moment, this would be for a maximum of 30 people on a first to apply basis - no minimum number. I’d give a few days notice (this note is just an early warning) but just to give you some idea.....each person to bring their own plate, cutlery, cup + saucer (mug??) glass, napkin and food plus you might like to bring a little extra to share? I would supply tea, sugar, lemon, coffee, hot water, elderflower cordial plus all teapots. You would need to wear a mask if going into the house ie for hot water or to the bathroom. I think we can provide enough chairs + tables plus even the odd tablecloth! It would good to meet up as a group, I do miss you all.
Best wishes
Gill
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I hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter. The next newsletter will be sent out on 31st July by which time I hope that we will be relieved of all the restrictions which have plagued us in the last 18 months. If you have any items for inclusion please could you let me have them by no later than 28th July.
Take Care and Keep Safe
Carole