The Buntingford NWR Group held their second meeting on 26 May 2022 and it was good to see some new faces. We met at the Buntingford Coffee Shop – thank you for staying open late for us!
We started off with a general chat to get to know each other then launched into the discussion topic “What are we allowed to do now that was not permitted in the 1960s/1970s/1980s and what could we do then that is not allowed now?”
We came up with quite a few things that we can’t do now that we used to do, and on the whole agreed that it was probably a good thing! They included: sitting in a car without a seatbelt, smoking on a plane, giving babies whisky to help with teething or children stout for the iron. We even heard how a doctor had prescribed menthol cigarettes to a child to help clear their cold. We can no longer see wild animals at a circus, legislation banning this was introduced in England and Wales only as recently as 2020. At this time two circuses still featured animals – between them were six reindeer, four zebras, three camels, three racoons, a fox, a macaw and a zebu. If you don’t know what a zebu is (we didn’t) click here to find out.
Our list of things you can do now included greater financial independence for women, same sex marriages and, with the invention of the cordless telephone, being able to have a private telephone conversation at home.
The Buntingford NWR Group meets monthly in the evenings towards the end of the month. New members are welcome – contact Cath at [email protected] to find out more.