The October Coffee Morning was the last of the year, so we were hoping for a good turn out. Things started very quietly, but gradually people filtered in and by the end, we had a fair sized group who didn’t seem to want to leave! There was a lot to chat about and, as ever, the world was put to rights on a number of occasions!
Book Club
At the October meeting, the book under discussion was The Dry, a debut novel by Jane Harper. The group had enjoyed it, but as we have a number of crime fiction aficionados in our midst, some had worked out the plot twists and identified the murderer long before they were revealed in the book!
Character comparisons were made with other detectives such as Rebus, Perez, Cormoran Strike and others. We all enjoyed the well-portrayed images of the setting in small town Australia during a fierce, lengthy heatwave, and a real feeling of the oppressive heat came across the descriptive passages. Such a contrast to Scottish crime fiction, where bodies are usually discovered in the cold and damp back streets of Scotland’s main cities!
The chosen book for discussion at our next meeting on the 8th November is: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katrina Bivald. It is about Sara, who arrives from Sweden to visit a friend. All she wants is to share the books she loves with the citizens of Broken Wheel and to convince them that reading is one of the great joys of life. But she makes some unconventional choices that could force a lot of secrets into the open and change things for everyone in town.
This book comes with its own warning – “once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen…….”
This phrase must have reverberated somewhat with the partner of one of the Book Club members when he discovered her latest bedtime reading……………
Better keep off the crime fiction for a while!
Forthcoming Events
Remembrance Sunday: There will be a short service of remembrance on Sunday Nov 12th at 11.00 at the War Memorial. Afterwards, the FVA will be serving tea and coffee in the village hall. All welcome.
Mulled Wine & Mince Pies: This year’s Mulled Wine & Mince Pies is on Saturday 2nd Dec from 15.00 – 17.00. Come and enjoy some seasonal goodies and good company.
Winter Pudding Night: The 2018 Winter Pudding Night is on Saturday 17th February at 6pm. The perfect antidote to wintry weather! A convivial evening with the best choice of puddings you will find anywhere, ever! Whether you prefer childhood favourites like treacle pudding, jam roly-poly and rice pudding, or more sophisticated tarts and sweets, there’s something for everyone. Live music. Come hungry!
Fearnan Village Association 
The words of this song express the sentiments shared by many families in the UK during WW2. It was one of Mother’s favourites during the war, and for many years after. I’d like to share this old familiar rendition sung by Vera Lynn as our thoughts take us back to Fearnan 1945 — our wartime refuge — on this Day of Remembrance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsfbp5aEAQE
My Father visited Fearnan on leave only once as I recall, around 1941. My memory is of him, in uniform, shooting an Aspirin bottle off the branch of a tree on the shore at Springbank in a friendly competition with Sandy Butters. I was only four but remember a tremendous surge of pride at his accomplishment. (Sandy claimed he “couldnae” see the bottle) Father was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers and served in Italy, North Africa, Dunkirk, and Greece. He and his comrades in arms who never returned, are remembered today with pride and gratitude.
Thank you for allowing me to share this memory.