This month's group meeting was very different as we were joined by Fiona P in Cambridge and our guest speaker James Haddow, The Taxi Driver Poet. He also came to our pre-talk chat and soon joined in with our banter where he admitted he'd been following us on Instagram! We also welcomed members from Lockside WI and Daphne Atkinson from Wiltshire Federation. Daphne has seen James several times before and was keen to see how he performed via Zoom, so he could be awarded a coveted "Z" on the official speakers list.
It soon became clear that James was no ordinary taxi driver and that his title of The Taxi Driver Poet did “exactly what it says on the tin”, although sometimes it still needed further
explanation. On one occasion James, wearing his “The Taxi Driver POET” logo top, was having a coffee when some other customers asked him what P.O.E.T. stood for!
James told the group that he had been a taxi driver for many years in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas and used the opportunity to recite his poetry to entertain his passengers. Sadly, a seizure in 2013 forced him to retire from driving but allowed him more time to continue writing and performing his poetry.
Through James poetry we learnt a little about his life and lost loves, then how he found happiness. If that sounds a little downbeat, not a bit of it, there were plenty of giggles as well. We've had lots of positive comments from the evening, which restored faith in virtual WI meetings for many of us. It shows even the most Zoom weary attendee perks up when it's the right speaker.
Kim has a list of James's favourite 100 poems and seeing today is National Poetry Day, here are some of those he mentioned at the time:
Macavity the Mystery Cat - T.S. Eliot
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven - W.B. Yeats
The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes
The Walrus and the Carpenter - Lewis Carroll
The Owl and the Pussycat - Edward Lear
Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds - William Shakespeare
The Listeners - Walter de la Mare
Elsewhere this month, the Walkie Talkies enjoyed a sunny circular walk from Pewsham via Westmead, Monkton Park (with a stop at the 10th Hole Tea Room of course!) and the cycle path (see the route below); the Happy Hookers added a matching button-through scarf to last month's beany hat; and Our Town got to grips with the Museum's QR codes they'd installed along St Mary Street for this year's Heritage Open Days. The John Aubrey Group also met virtually, where they were entertained by Jan McNeill.
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