Last week we held our 1st proper meeting of 2026 having held our Planning meeting and had a lovely lunch prior to this. We picked a one word topic: ICE to get us started – loosely connected to Iceland (we will be covering Iceland in more detail later in the year) and as usual we had quite a variety of interpretations including:
ICE (In Case of Emergency) on your mobile phone. This informs the emergency services about any medical conditions and provides contact details of next of kin if you are incapacitated. Have you set up yours yet?
Dry Ice, the solid form of CO2 and its many uses including theatrical effects, shipping of frozen goods to medical uses such as preserving samples, donated organs, vaccines etc,
The many uses of domestic ice including watering plants, uncurdling sauces, removing dents in carpets.
Memories of a short visit to an Ice Bar. A handy tip – don’t wear sandals!
ICE – the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agency in the USA.
ICE – the Institute of Civil Engineers. We heard about a member’s husband who had been involved in the formation of this institution.
Ice Curling #1 and the origin of Bonspiels (or Grand Match) which in Scotland was last held outdoors on the frozen ice of Lake of Montieth in 1979. We learnt that Susan’s dad had taken part in this Bonspiel – see images below and that nowadays this competition is held indoors across many rinks of the same day.
Ice Curling #2 . We heard about the now famous GB Women’s team (skipped by Rhona Martin who is from Scotland) winning Gold at the 2002 Olympics and helping to promote Women in sport.
We heard from Margaretha about a Dutch Ice Skating Marathon which involved skating along frozen canals and rivers following a route through 11 cities. This was a big event at which members of the Dutch Royal family would attend as spectators. Sadly, (like the Grand Match in Scotland) this has not taken place for many years and probably won’t happen again due to lack of suitably thick ice due to global warming. See image below.
Finally Fiona recalled a visit to Glacier Bay national park in Alaska – a very icy place and a UNESCO world heritage site.
All images are with permission or are copyright free.