Caribbean Wedding
Although Mrs Stone came to talk about a Caribbean Wedding she also had an unusual experience to relate. As her son was getting married in the Dominican Republic she decided, as she was president of the Methodist Ladies Network at Southampton, she would contact one of the leaders of the church out there to show her the work they were doing. On her first day in the Dominican Republic whilst relaxing at her hotel she was told someone was waiting to see her. A clergyman introduced himself and his two companions and said having received her letter they were there to show her around. Thinking she would only be away for a short time she went off, attired in shorts and tee shirt, with them in a dilapidated car that appeared to have no shock absorbers, and as she found out later, no lights. They first of all took her to see a refugee camp which turned out to be many miles away, for people who had escaped over the border from Haiti. She commented on the absence of young girls in this community and was told that at the age of about nine they either went as servants in someone's house or became prostitutes, they were looked upon as second class citizens. After staying the night at someone's house they took her to villages to meet the people who tried to eke out a living on the land. The next day they showed her schools and churches they had built. She found that out there there is no dusk, it is either light or dark. Still many miles from her hotel darkness suddenly engulfed them when they were in the bush with no car lights, so her companions found a primitive little shack and arranged with the owner for her to sleep there for the night. To her horror she heard the car drive away, but she need not have worried, at 5.am the next morning they suddenly arrived to take her on more travels. During this time she ate only fruit and drank coconut milk as she was afraid the unfamiliar food she was offered would make her ill. Surprisingly in spite of a temperature of over 100 degrees the milk in the coconuts was ice cold. Five days later after journeying to many places and learning so much about the Republic she arrived back at her hotel. The wedding took place on the beach but there was a slight hiccup, the two minute service was not conducted in English and the bride found she had married the best man by mistake. However, this error was quickly rectified and the bride was married to the groom.
Cartooning
It was an open meeting when Mr Feil came to talk about the History and Art of Cartooning and a number of husbands came with their wives. Mr Feil first started to become interested in art at the age of eleven and when he left school he went to Art College. He became interested in cartoons and soon found out how difficult it was to get cartoons accepted for publishing by the national press. He was asked by the Portsmouth Evening News if he would draw the cartoon for their Saturday editions and he did this for a number of years. He was required to submit three cartoons and they would choose one.
The first cartoons were drawn in the 1840's and many were about political topics. He showed us cartoons by recent cartoonists such as Giles, Vick and Mac and it was interesting to see how each artist had their own style. One would put in a few brush strokes so the cartoon had the minimum of detail whilst another, such as Giles, showed tremendous detail.
Mr Feil is a keen golfer and caravanner and he brought some of his own framed cartoons to sell showing these subjects as the theme for his cartoons. This was a most amusing and enjoyable evening.
written by St George's Ladies Group
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