'Hong Kong to Southampton on Canberra' was the name of the talk Mr Taylor came to give about a memorable trip he and his wife took a few years ago on this luxurious ship. We saw scenes from Hong Kong with its skyscrapers and how the boat people live in the harbour, although these people are now greatly reduced in number due to the high charges made for boats by the government. We went to Singapore and had a glimpse into the elegant interior of the famous Raffles Hotel. When seeing the happy smiling people of Senegal it seemed hard to realise there is a sinister side, pirates still prey upon the wealthy in their yachts along its coast. In China we saw how basic a poor man's home is, everything seemed to be contained in one room and just a wok to cook with. It seemed incongruous in these countries that often a beautiful air-conditioned hotel with a swimming pool and exotic gardens should be situated near the hovels of the poorest of the land.
Mrs Breakwell came to give us a talk on natural stone jewellery. She was a metallurgist when she became interested in natural stones and when her children were small she started making jewellery at home. She gave us an in-depth talk about the stones and the countries of origin and also gave us the birth stones for each month, the ones given centuries ago by the Greeks. She asked us to handle the stones to feel the weight, some were surprisingly light. She had two large uncut stones which were blue in colour, one light like plastic, one heavy, and it was the light one which was the real turquoise. She brought with her a large selection of jewellery, pendants, earrings, bracelets and brooches. There was the lovely pale rose quartz, the rich purple amethyst, metallic hematite, the gold striped tiger eye and many others.
All the items on display were for sale and everyone was looking for Christmas gifts from this lovely collection. It was a most interesting evening and nearly everyone went home with a piece of jewellery.
written by the Ladies Group
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