Ladies Works League
I had a lovely long chat with Millie a couple of weeks ago. Most of you will know who I am referring to but for those of you who don't let me tell you a little about her role in the Works League. Millie House played at Canalside and was the Secretary for 21 years from 1990's to 2010's.
This photograph is of Millie presenting an internal competition trophy to members
at ICI around 1990. (Thanks to Christine Wilkinson for the photograph)
Millie was instrumental in promoting and developing the league. In particular she organized and ran the drawn pairs competition at ICI (now Canalside) when it was in its heyday. Not only did the competition provide much entertainment and challenges for the players but it was also a marvellous charity fundraising event. I know that many of you will have vivid memories of playing in this competition. For a start Millie never published the draw before the day of the competition, this was a deliberate tactic to ensure that those who had drawn a less able player did not suddenly decide they were unavailable! Once you had seen the draw the challenge was then to find your partner such were the numbers who had entered and many were playing with someone they had never met.
These pairings provided for many unique partnerships, lasting friendships and on many occasions victory where none was expected. Played on both the front and the back greens you were constantly switching around if you were lucky enough to be still in whilst finding time to have the prebooked lunches that were very popular. Very happy days.
Millie informed me that the Pairs Trophy is called the Joyce Lang Trophy named after a former Treasurer. There will be more to say about the trophy and former officials in a later posting.
We talked at length about the league in Millies time as secretary and she was very keen to know what was happening now. You may recall that Millie was always tech-savvy and she was particularly interested in our HuddWeb involvement. As many of you will know Millie is not in the best of health however she is still an avid bowling fan and delights in talking about the game.
Many of you who I had spoken to recently asked me to give Millie your best wishes which I duly did and finally she sends all her best wishes to everyone involved in the league. 21 years as secretary, Millie we owe you an awful lot, thank you.
Hazel Rangeley November 2020