TREFOIL GUILD, MATLOCK

The March meeting was billed as a ‘Coffee Evening‘ – but not as you know it!

Currently, due to the building work at the Church Hall, meetings are being held in the church itself and there we gathered wondering what was in store for us. The evening began with the usual notices, business and arranging car sharing for the eleven of us booked to attend the Derbyshire Trefoil Activity Day at Ashover the coming week

Then to coffee – firstly a coffee quiz, quite challenging but really interesting and we all learnt a lot when the answers were given. Could you name six of the top coffee producing countries in the world? Or guess how many cups of coffee are drunk worldwide each year? Many of the questions were multi choice but still provoked a lot of discussion in each group. Who would have thought that Finland was Europe’s chief coffee consumer!

Members were then given pots of water, paint brushes and a little pot of coffee granules and were challenged to paint a picture using just coffee as a medium. The results were very varied but interesting.

The rest of the evening was spent chatting over a well earned cup of coffee and of course cake!

On the first Sunday in April members headed for Ashover Parish Hall to join some 90 other trefoilers from across Derbyshire for the Activity Day. The morning speaker was Danny Wells with his talk ‘Romance of the Derbyshire Dales’. A history enthusiast, Danny qualified as a history teacher in the 1970s and has since spent 40 years working with the ILEA, Oxfam and Save the Children and ‘Breathing Life into History’ was established in 2004. Danny describes The Romance of the Derbyshire Dales as ‘Unmitigated horror or Fairyland?’ His talk looked at how the area has been perceived over time, in literature and other accounts. A fascinating talk that gave everyone a different insight into this beautiful area in which we live.

The afternoon programme offered a whole range of activities to choose from, both in and outdoors – a guided walk around Ashover led by a local enthusiastic historian, flower arranging, archery, watercolour painting, cardboard box cooking, cross stitching or decoupage.

Everyone joined together again at the end of the day and shared the results of their afternoon activities. A great day.

If you would like to find out more about the Trefoil Guild visit www.trefoilguild.co.uk or call Ann on 07790 123429.