Jill opened the meeting with verses about a smile being infectious and starting an epidemic throughout the world! A happy thought to raise the spirits in these difficult times. A letter from the High Wycombe Multiple Sclerosis Society, thanking the V.W.’s for the £60 donation to their funds, was read out by Jill, and she then introduced our speaker Amanda Raynor whose subject was “The Language of the Fan”.

To set the scene, Amanda had dressed in Edwardian costume complete with chatelaine around her waist, to hold her fan and other useful items. She opened her fan in a particular way to bid us welcome to her talk. Amanda described fans as basically simple and practical items that can also be beautiful and desirable objects, often given in the 1770′s as love tokens, also presented at engagements and weddings. There were many varying styles and qualities of fans but they always followed the fashion of the day. If the costumes had large skirts like crinolines then the fans were big and in the 1920′s with short plain skirts, they were small. Fans first appeared in the 14th century, although the language of the fan was only created in the 18th century and eventually died out by the first world war, as other communications developed. They expressed the language of the heart and could show every type of emotion merely by the position in which the fan was held, e.g. over the mouth, below the chin, towards the shoulder or at the side etc., even the way the fan was fluttered had a meaning. Young ladies of quality would be chaperoned and as discretion was the order of the day, the only way of communicating with the man of their dreams was by fan. It was said in 1770 that ladies could chat without the use of the tongue! Amanda has an amazing collection of over 500 fans and showed us some beautiful slides and photographs of them to illustrate the designs, the kinds of materials used to construct fans and the decoration of hand painting and embroidery. Very much works of art. Heather proposed the vote of thanks for a most interesting talk.

Our next meeting on 2nd March is an Open meeting entitled “Portsmouth to Barcelona Cruise” by Gordon Massie.

A few tickets are available for the Dinner and Concert on 23rd March. Please telephone Doreen on 564877 as soon as possible if you would like to come.

Members of 51m, the alliance of local authorities opposed to HS2, have served a formal letter on the Secretary of State for Transport asking her to rescind her decision to proceed with HS2 and giving notice that they may otherwise challenge the decision by way of judicial review. The Transport Secretary announced her support for the HS2 project on January 10.

Councillor Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, speaking on behalf of 51m said: “We are taking this stance with regret. We would far rather that the Government had listened to the people of this country who have decisively rejected this massively expensive project and instead opted for the far better, cheaper and more quickly delivered alternative put forward by 51m. Communities in the Midlands and the north of England risk being bypassed and left to decline by HS2. We should be investing in our existing rail and road infrastructure across the entire country to bring jobs and growth now when it is needed.”

Councillor Ray Puddifoot, Vice-Chairman of 51m and Leader of the London Borough of Hillingdon added: “The consultation process was unfair and inadequate in many respects. Ordinary people whose lives and livelihoods will be severely affected between Birmingham and Manchester and Leeds were not even given an adequate chance to have their say. The whole project represents extremely poor value for money for the hard pressed UK taxpayer and it is right that we challenge the Government’s decision to progress with this misguided scheme.”

51m are not against the principle of High Speed Rail in the UK but do not believe that the case put forward by the Department for Transport/HS2 Ltd is justified as it provides very poor value for money. 51m have proposed a much better alternative, the core of which is doubling the capacity of the current West Coast Mainline costing less than 10% of HS2. This would cater for the future demand predicted by Department for Transport, provide the capacity much sooner so that current crowding problems are addressed, and cause significantly less disruption to the existing network than HS2.

David, who has appeared abroad and in major London venues such as St John’s, Smith Square and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, has had his playing compared with “the maestro of pianists Maurizio Pollini” in Switzerland and Josef Lhévinne a leading virtuoso who was a contemporary of Rachmaninoff. An audience member of his recent London recital in aid of Cancer Research wrote afterwards: “It was truly an amazing and memorable recital!”

David said: ”Having recovered from the shock and sheer idiocy of the Government’s decision, and reading that a judicial review will cost at least £200K, I decided that I’d better do my bit towards it. As I know that even those who have never been to a piano recital before will probably know much of what I shall be playing and enjoy any they don’t yet know, I hope that we can raise some funds together, enjoy the music together and meet together in yet another show of solidarity against this horrendous environmental threat to our local communities.”

The recital will take place at 7:30 pm, on Saturday 25 February in St Mary’s Church, Amersham.

Tickets will be £10 in advance (students under 21: £7) or £12/£8 on the door available from the A40 Choir (Beaconsfield) page of www.a40music.com or via 01753 886005.

Jerry Marshall, Chair of the Campaign Board says “Deanne is the right person for the next stage of the campaign, as we take new legal and political action. Momentum against HS2 is building and the new business case is even worse than before, with a net benefit ratio under 50p for every £1 invested when up-to-date information and assumptions are used. It is only a matter of time before Government comes to its senses and begins to invest in our real rail needs, create jobs and growth, and abandons this vanity project.”

For more information please contact Jerry Marshall, Chairman, AGAHST (Action Groups Against High Speed Two) on chair@betterthanhs2.org or 07941 017236 (mobile).

Our next meeting is on February 3rd when Amanda Rayner’s subject is “The Language of the Fan”.

A small competition is to take place each meeting, so this time you are invited to bring an item of interest beginning with the letter S, which is to be judged by the speaker.

On 23rd March a Dinner and Concert by the “Greatest Hits Choir” has been arranged for our fund raising effort. Please come and bring husbands and friends. Tickets £22 from Doreen Bellamy, telephone 01494 564877. Doors open at 7 pm for 7.30pm start.