The first business meeting of 2015 for the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Seniors Association was held on Jan. 15, following a delicious and varied pot luck lunch which I am sure everyone enjoyed very much - all the plates were well scraped clean, anyway.
Lunch was followed by an informational talk by Dave Durksen about the progress made by the Interior Health Forum, between our Focus Group and our Interior Health Region officials. From what he told us, there have been some very productive meetings and talks, and we were all very pleased to hear that such progress was being made. We are all right behind you, Dave!
After that, Alice Durksen brought to our notice an open invitation to visit the Art Club on Jan. 21 from 11am to 1pm to see how they go about producing the wonderful effects that appear on their canvases. As a non artist I am intrigued by all the tricks and techniques they practise to get their desired effects.
Our meeting then attended to the normal business that turns up once a month - reports from different sections of our group such as Finances, Kitchen, Bingo, Carpet Bowling, Crafts, Card Games and Bridge, all of which are progressing well and keeping us happy.
A Carpet Bowling Tournament to be held in Cache Creek Hall on Tuesday, May 5 is in the planning stages, and use of the hall has been granted by Cache Creek Council. Our annual Strawberry Tea will be held on April 25 from 1-3pm and there will be the usual door prizes awarded after we have enjoyed the strawberry shortcake and cream.
When I was rummaging amongst our Christmas “stuff”, an old letter dated 2002 came to the surface. It was from a woman aged 96 whom I had known all my life. She wrote affectionately about her children and their families and how she knitted slippers for all her grandchildren and great grandchildren as she sat in her doorway and conversed with passers-by. After she was widowed, and her children all had left home - a son to BC via Ontario, a daughter to North Bay, Ont. and her other son to England - she firmly took on the task of re-making her life. She had occasionally written for the local newspaper, taken part in a radio show called “Bothy Nichts”, a sort of sing along and story telling program (net ref Bothy Nichts), had been a photographer and now was writing POETRY! She had written a poem called “A’ Jock Tamsen’s Bairns” for which she had won a prize and which had been published, as she said “In three books!” If you look up the title on the net, there is a translation for a similar poem from the Scots and a glossary. It says more or less that we are all born with potential and what we do with it is what makes the difference, so we should try to be receptive of others and help each other.
It is quite an example she sets us, and I know there are many in our communities who have taken the bull by the horns as my friend did. They have tried to be the best they can be - all with different approaches and results! Next time, I’ll introduce you to some of our members and friends whose paths have diverged greatly over the years before they landed here in Ashcroft. Mind boggling at times, isn’t it, how different and yet how much the same we all are?
Joyce West