AFTER the summer break, members met at the Village Hall and were warmly welcomed by Chairman Bob.

Details were given out for the Christmas Dinner on December 10 and choice of menu requested by next meeting.

He thanked Chris Phillips for doing the Press Reports and said that owing to the resignation of Nick due to moving away from the area, that Chris would be taking on his duties as Secretary.

Members were reminded that the AGM would be on October 29, followed by a Quizz.

Dave Camm gave details of the Macmillan Coffee morning being hosted by Leonard Stanley WI on Saturday morning from 10.00 – 12 noon and asked for support.

He had also brought along a ‘large’ Squash which he had grown and members were asked to guess its weight.

The proceeds for this competition would go to Macmillan Nurses and the lucky winner would receive a Bottle of Champagne donated by himself and Christine (plus the Squash!).

Bob introduced our speaker, who was Noel Baker a member of the Club.

Noel said that his presentation would last exactly 45 minutes and that he would just do this sitting down and pressing buttons.

What an understatement – we sat and were enthralled to learn about his well packed interesting life.

It started with photographs of him as a young fair curly headed child who sang in the choir at Cirencester Church.

He then moved to Stroud and went to Marling School, leaving school to work with a local builder and joining TocH.

The latter would play a large part in his later life.

Due to an eye defect he was not accepted for National Service and decided to go to Canada working for a bank.

We enjoyed seeing photographs of his journey and the mining community of Flin Flon where he ended up.

Noel found that banking was not his thing and decided to become a miner.

He led a full life as a young man, ranging from driving flash cars, canoeing and even parachuting.

It was interesting to see how his career changed and evolved with him entering into the world of data processing.

He eventually moved back to England where he met his wife Brenda and with whom will soon be celebrating 50 years of marriage.

He worked for TocH at Southampton and was selected by IBM to work as a data processing section leader in South Wales, then head hunted to become a systems analyst in another company.

He spent some time in this industry and then in 1971 decided to offer himself as a candidate as a Minister for the Church of England, spending two years training.

At the age of 35, he and Brenda moved to a parish in Cheltenham and after moving to several other places, his last placement was at Standish when he retired in 1998.

We enjoyed seeing the many photographs of his life as a Vicar and the happy and sad occasions that they covered.

What impressed us most, was what a wonderful life he had led, not only helping others but suffering tragedy of his own.

Brenda had always supported him and had played a pivotal role and is truly his helpmate.

We all felt humbled and proud to know him and never realised behind that quiet gentle facade, was this truly inspiring man who had led such a full life.