Our General Meetings open at 10am and include a talk from an invited Speaker starting at 11am.

Monthly General Meeting Talks

Monday 10th March

Slowly down the Ganges

A Talk by Ian Gasper

‘Slowly down the Ganges’ is the story of Ian and his wife’s journey from near the source of the river in the Himalayas to the Sundarbans, at the mouth of the Ganges and the Indian Ocean.

Travel was by overnight rail, bus and a three day boat trip on the Ganges camping on the sandbanks. On route was Rishikesh, of Beatle fame, Varanasi and its famous steps. Allahabad and Kolkata, the conclusion of the visit being Ian’s birthplace. Off route were visits to Delhi and Agra and the Taj Mahal.

Monday 14th April

The Ethnobotany of the Amazon people

A talk by Professor Sir Ghillean Prance

Professor Sir Ghillean Prance has had the opportunity to study the ethnobotany in eight different tribes of native people in Amazonia. The talk will be about their uses of plants to sustain their life and to manage the forest sustainably. It will include details of such things as their arrow and fish poisons, medicines, food plants, narcotic stimulants and house construction, illustrated by many photos through Powerpoint. 
 
What is ethnobotany?
Ethnobotany is the study of how humans use plants, and it combines knowledge from botany, anthropology, and other fields.

Monday 12th May

Hearing Dog

A Talk by Glen & Hannah Bird and Nacho

Glen starts the talk by explaining how they became aware that Hannah was deaf and the effect this had on the family. Then Hannah takes over with her hearing dog Nacho. Hannah & Nacho normally come amongst the audience demonstrating what Nacho does for her on a daily basis.