Andover Wine Circle
THE chairman, Keith Helsdown, opened the November meeting of the Andover Wine Circle, by reading the minutes of the October meeting which included the approval of the recent fish and chip supper and the excellent talk by Geoff Eddy, which was entitled ‘Free Tade’, and was in fact about the smuggling trade of Cornishmen in years past.
The main speaker for the evening was circle member David Laurillard and his subject was ‘Islands at War’. The islands being the Channel Islands and featuring World War 1, and with particular reference to Guernsey. The islands were not German occupied, as in World War 2.
Conscription of young men to the Armed Forces was effective, as in Great Britain and mainly to English regiments.
David’s hobby of stamp collecting enabled him to collect copies of letters and postcards for the area and period, which he portrayed on a screen via a projector.
These all proved very interesting and included messages from troops who were on active service in France in the years 1915-1918.
Most of the talk featured the island of Guernsey of which David had family connections.
He was warmly applauded for what had been a well co-ordinated talk and demonstration.
The evening concluded with the monthly raffle and a reminder that the December meeting would feature the grand Christmas draw.
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