EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

AUTUMN TALKS

15 October 2025 - Jo Cromarty - ‘How can Mindfulness Help us Live Well in a Frantic World?”
Jo is an Occupational Therapist and a Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy teacher/trainer. She has worked in NHS mental health services for 30years. In the last 10years Jo has set up, developed and managed a unique NHS mindfulness service for public health care staff, service-users living with depression and stressed carers of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities. She also trains MBCT teachers nationally and internationally.
This cafe talk will explore what mindfulness is/isn’t, who it can benefit and how.

All talks start at 7:30pm and will be in either the main hall or cafe, depending on numbers.

Entry : £4.00 (includes glass of wine / soft drink)

If you have a story that you would like to turn into a Cafe Talk, please contact: Judy O’Shaughnessy – tel. 01765 658728 or judy@grewelthorpevillagehall.co.uk

Previous Events

15 January 2025 - Alison Sutcliffe - ‘Life as a trailing spouse in Indonesia –a few years of living dangerously!’
What’s it like to find yourself unexpectedly required to uproot from a quiet village life in Aberdeenshire to the hustle and bustle of Jakarta, Indonesia?
Alison talked about her life as a ‘trailing spouse’ following her husband’s job in the oil and gas industry. She shared some of the ups and downs of life in the Big Durian from living with a small army of helpers to learning how to navigate the traffic in Jakarta. Why is it always ‘macet’? What is a ‘kaki lima’? Who is the ‘jamu lady’?
She cover life from the early 90s up to the end of the collapse of the Suharto regime and their flight fromthe Big Durian in 1999.

19 February 2025 - Andrew Cromarty - ‘Travels on Three Continents’
Andrew chated about his travels, spanning 30 years, as he related to stories of work and holiday trips to East Africa, Malaysia and Mexico. We experienced something of the colour, the vibrancy, nature and culture of the locations, as the slides are complimented with music, clothing and artefacts.
Andrew, Jo and family have lived in Grewelthorpe for 18 months, through his work as Associate Priest in the Fountains Benefice and have greatly enjoyed getting involved in the life of the community.

19 March 2025 - Judith O’Shaughnessy - ‘A Walk in the Park? - Everest Basecamp - Altitude with Attitude’
The Everest Basecamp Trek is probably the World’s most famous trek.  Reaching an altitude of 5364m, it is both physically and mentally challenging.  In March 2024, Judith, together with her son, undertook (and survived) the challenge.
In her talk Judith talked about the experiences of preparing for the trek and then undertaking it, explained about the equipment required, how far one walked each day, the issues of high-altitude tracking, the food and of course the toilet and shower facilities.  She also explained about the challenges of charging cameras and mobile phones along with a host of other interesting issues.

21 May 2025 - Chris Knopp - ‘Flying without an Engine’
Gave an illustrated talk, and explained how and why he became hooked on flying gliders. He covered topics such as how gliders work, how they get thrown into the air and what keeps them up once they are airborne. Also, the camaraderie in the gliding movement that inspired him to try and emulate some of the achievements of the people in whose company he found himself. Flying gliders has been likened to flying like a bird and it was this that first caught Chris’s imagination. Consequently, he took his first gliding lesson in 1995 at RAF Dishforth in North Yorkshire.

25 June 2025 - Iona Taylor - ‘The Life and Times of a Local Parish clerk’
Iona gave an interesting insight into what goes on behind the scenes of a Parish Council, with tales from the smaller parishes around Grewelthorpe, to what’s been involved in setting up the newly formed Harrogate Town Council

17 September 2025 - Helen Hays - ‘An Audience with His Imperial Majesty’ Encounters with Ladies, Dukes, Emperors and Admirals on a quest to see every British butterfly 
Helen Hays is on a mission to see all 59 British butterflies. It is a quest which has taken her to places she’s never been before, from the Chalk Downlands of Hampshire to the Lakeland Fells, via the West Country and the Norfolk Broads. Along the way she has made new friends, had a few scrapes and massively increased her step count, in the search for some of Britain’s most beautiful insects. Helen talked about some of her most memorable journeys and revealed how many of the 59 she has managed to track down.