Maggie Taylor, our Speaker was warmly applauded for a most interesting morning.
She told us the story of the Donkey sanctuary founded by Dr Elisabeth Svendsen MBE, in Sidmouth Devon in 1973. To date over 12,500 donkeys have passed through the gates in the UK and Ireland.
We were a captive audience from the start. Everyone of us has happy memories of seaside holidays and donkey rides, donkey stories and donkey poems.Remenber this one of Walter de la Mare?
THISTLE and darnell and dock grew there,
And a bush, in the corner, of may,
On the orchard wall I used to sprawl
In the blazing heat of the day;
Half asleep and half awake,
While the birds went twittering by,
And nobody there my lone to share
But Nicholas Nye.
Nicholas Nye was lean and gray,
Lame of leg and old,
More than a score of donkey's years
He had been since he was foaled; etc etc
The sanctuary is open for public visits free of charge .
The work of the sanctuary is nationwide with a network of welfare officers checking out donkeys at the seaside ,donkey derbies and markets and giving advice.
The Donkey Sanctuary also works throughout the world helping to improve conditions for working donkeys providing free clinical treatment and advice on management, husbandry and nutrition in donkeys.
Another big area of their work is visits to schools, hospitals and Residential homes where donkeys are used to comfort and delight.
Victorian Way of Death Kevin Varty
For an audience of mature years, the Victorian Way of Death might seem an unappealing subject but told by Kevin Varty with humour and affection, we enjoyed an engrossing hour's talk.
There were two main threads: the history of the place of burial and the protocol which grew up in Victorian times governing the behaviour of the bereaved.
Until the late 18th century, all burials were within the grounds of a church but with the increase in population, the chrchyards became full and various ingenious resting places were developed. In London,Between 1823 -42, 12,000 bodies were disposed of in a cellar beneath a chapel; in Paris the Catacombs housed 4 and a 1/2 million remains harvested from churchyards to make space. The various body parts were neatly stacked in artistic arrangements: in Barcelona, they favoured a 'shelf' scheme where a ladder was provided for the relatives to climb up and lay flowers.
By 1830's in UK, private cemetries were developed often outside towns and cities on greenfield sites. In London, seven 'Garden' cemetries were built based on the Père-Lachaise cemetry in Paris. Kensal Green became very popular with the rich and famous after the son of George 3 was buried there.
The protocol followed by the Victorians in bereavement was strictly adhered to and a chance to show off wealth and position.There was long periods of mourning lasting up to 3 years during which, clothing would lighten from total black to mauves and greys and adornments would be in jet. For men, the width of black ribbon was prescribed according to closenes to deceased. It was not only clothing, the stationery manufacturers did a roaring trade in black calling cards, bereavement notices etc.. The funeral itself was elaborate with black horses adorned with black feathers and the number of horses would also be an indicator of social position.
In the Great War ,3/4 million died. Many were buried in mass graves and everything changed. In a way, Mr Varty said, our War memorials are like a collection of headstones.
