January & February meetings

We’ve managed to kick start the year with a couple of interesting meetings so far. The January meeting saw only 11 attendees due to weather and illness but they included two new members, Mr. & Mrs. Hale, who we’d like to welcome to our group. The group spent the afternoon chatting over cups of tea and biscuits about a number of topics of interest including experiences at Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the concern at the delay in rolling out a National Strategy to combat COPD.

By contrast the February meeting had two speakers and a good attendance. We welcomed back local historian and film archivist Tony Blake who gave us a brilliant show covering Whitstable and Tankerton from the 1900s to the 1990s. We saw extraordinary 1910 film of the back breaking work involved in landing oysters, dramatic footage of the 1953 floods, and, more recently Peter Cushing’s moving funeral passage through the town. All this alongside film of carnivals, regattas, and other regular highlights of Whitstable town life. Tony stayed for the entire meeting and we are very grateful to him for refusing a fee.

After the tea break we welcomed our second guest Dr Ian Morrison from the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts & Health. Ian wants to set up singing groups with Breathe Easy members in East Kent as part of a research project into the benefits of singing for people with lung disease. We had a lively discussion and members were very enthusiastic. The singing starts in September, so if you are interested or want information, call us or come along to a meeting. You don’t have to have a great voice or any singing experience.