Well I feel a bit self conscious standing up and telling you what a great job I’ve done this year. It’s mainly thanks to the Gazette who are very good to us and have published 19 of our reports so far this year. We’re getting known locally and several people tell me they enjoy reading them even though they don’t believe in dowsing! We also get a mention in sundry local magazines such as the Slimbridge Village Newsletter, What’s On and Vale Vision, both put out by the local councils.
Thanks are also due to Simon Olley who is Peter Golding’s son-in-law to be, and our webmaster. He does a great job and puts our reports and photographs on the website. If you haven’t visited the site, do take a look.
Our Newsletter has been very well received and we go into our third year with the next issue in January. Printing in colour is quite expensive, 50p each, so we have to consider reproducing it in mono – black and white, which would be quite a saving. We would still e-mail PDFs of the colour version. I quite like mono, it has a charming retro feel to it. We might give it a try.
Peter Golding, our Chairman, believes publicity is the oxygen of any organisation and is keen to maintain our presence at local shows such as the Slimbridge Horse Show in July.
Because our Gazette reports have become something of an institution, I am considering reproducing them in book form. I think my first report appeared in January 2007, so we have four year’s worth, and I will get permission from the Gazette to use their logo on the back. I also have a title. Some of you may remember Ann Lodygowski’s talk recently about animal healing. One member brought along some fur from his ailing rabbit, and Ann dowsed it and announced in ringing tones, "This rabbit is constipated!" I thought that would make a great title for the book.
Also as a result of our Gazette reports, we have been approached by people in the community for help, which is a wonderful form of recognition. Interestingly, mostly farmers, who are after all most in touch with the land. One farmer was planning to use some of his land for a green burial site but when he applied for planning permission, Stroud District Council said he had to have a survey to make sure there was nothing important there. Enter Slimbridge Dowsing Group! We found quite a lot for him and gave him a free report which hadn’t involved any expense at all.
Another farmer called us in to dowse the history of one his fields and we discovered there had been several grand houses built on the same site virtually since time began. And yet a third farmer called us in because his cattle were dying and he needed to know why. We dowsed and discovered that long-buried WW2 fuel tanks were now leaking. And some of us were fortunate enough to spend a fascinating day on the farm of one of our members that is the site of a medieval village.
Finally, I want to comment on the forthcoming programme for next year. As you know from the Treasurer’s report, times is ’ard and, like the government, we are trying to make spending cuts. We are therefore turning to the membership for talks and ideas, in order to save the cost of paying outside speakers. However, this does not mean a lack lustre programme. After four years plus of listening and learning at Peter’s knee – and other low joints – some of our members have discovered they have great aptitude and become excellent dowsers. They’ve been on courses, learned a lot, discovered new things, visited new places. So come along to their talks with an open mind, and consider whether you can perhaps make a contribution yourself. We all have interesting stories to tell. There's a lot of talent here and it's our chance to give something back.
JULY NEWSLETTER
