A quick catch up with some of our main meetings in 2024 which you may have missed...
September - House of Colour
Bubbly Keri Johnson from Corsham introduced us to the colour and style concepts used by House of Colour consultants such as she, and we had a good time guessing our own natural colour combinations from Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. We correctly guessed Keri's own colour by her holding various coloured materials up to her face - Winter! Top tip: only Winters can truly get away with wearing black, and gold accessories don't necessarily suit everyone. If you do need to wear black (or any other colour not matching your natural palette), then wear it as a lower colour with the right colour on top, or wear striking accessories from the right colour range to lead the eye to focus on the non-black area(s).
She also touched on 6 natural styles to dress by: Classic, Dramatic, Gamine, Ingenue. Natural and Romantic. Michelle suggested a seventh, Scruffy!
October - History of panto
This was a whirlwind tour of how panto became that quintessential British treat at Christmas, starting with Harlequin et al. in Italy's 16th century commedia dell'arte, via mummers plays, masques, mime, music hall, clowns, opera and ballet. Each brought their own special influence to bear and initially there wasn't much a story, even though romance, and distinct characters were there right from the start. Clowning also had a particular part to play and can be seen in today's slapstick routines plus the over-the-top pantomime dame.
Who knew that speech was banned from theatre until the 1800s? It was pantomime that broke the mould, with two major London theatres - Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields - the only venues allowed to present spoken pantomimes until parliament lifted the restriction in 1843. It was during this time the plays offered more of a story like we see today, often drawn from European folklore and fairy tales. A related development from these times is the Punch and Judy show.
Key figures in pantomime history include John Rich (1700s), the clown Grimaldi (early 1800s), and theatrical entrepreneur David Garrick.
A good summary and source of further information can be found on Wikipedia.
December's festive meeting
We had a chocolate quiz in teams plus individual taste testing of popular foods at this time of year. The mega raffle was won by Pauline who had a huge basket of goodies to take home.
Here's a selection of the chocolate quiz questions (answers below, no cheating!)
Which popular chocolate brand is known as Dove in the USA?
Which chocolate bar had the slogan - A hazelnut in every bite?
Who provided the seductive voice of the Cadbury's Caramel bunny?
Which tennis star is the brand ambassador for Lindt?
Who is the lead actress in the film 'Chocolat'?
What are the Aero bubbles made of?
In which continent are cocoa beans most commonly grown?
Which brand of Cadbury's dark chocolate is named after a village in England?
How many segments are there in a Terry's Chocolate Orange - 15, 20, or 25?
Mondelez produce which popular chocolate bar sold in Ikea?
The taste test was instead of our usual Christmas buffet: Aldi versions vs Marks and Spencer for mince pies, shortbread, and caterpillar cake, plus Aldi vs Mars for Mars bars. Our discerning Belles really could taste the difference, identifying the more expensive version every time! It turns out the Marks and Spencer mince pies came top in this year's BBC Good Food taste test, so we really did have some top notch food to try.
NB - November's meeting isn't missing from the list, we made macrame leaves with our wonderful Crafty Crew, with full instructions here.
Keep scrolling for the quiz answers....
Chocolate quiz answers:
Galaxy
Topic
Miriam Margolyes
Roger Federer
Juliette Binoche
Carbon dioxide
Africa
Bournville
20
Dime
Comments