I am uncertain about Mum’s precise involvement in Inner Wheel during the 1970s, but one area in which I was involved was her Overseas work. She was International District Chairman [sic]) in 1977, and Vice-Chairman of District 18, which covered Wirral, Chester and North Wales. My involvement arose because I drove her into North Wales for a number of events.
The cause for which she spoke, and for which money was raised, was a British-based charity with a scheme in Madras, India that has since been the subject of controversy (and would become so in Mum’s time), but she did not know anything of this at the time, and her efforts then were sincere.
An early meeting was at the then Bangor Normal College in the summer of 1975; it was shortly after the Indian Emergency had been declared, and we watched a speaker from Sandhurst explaining what he thought were the consequences. Mum did not draw much from this. The second speaker, who was from South Wales, highlighted the poverty of young people on the streets of Indian cities, and the prospects for amelioration. Mum went up to talk to him, but although they had corresponded, he seemed not to know who she was, and she was quietly displeased. It all seemed somewhat inconclusive to me.
In the early spring of 1977, having passed my driving test in the previous year, I ran Mum to three Inner Wheel meetings, in Conwy, Colwyn Bay and (I think) Pwllheli. I have the impression that she had been somewhat disconcerted by Dad’s approach to speaking, which (like mine) was to just write down headings and talk around these. Mum preferred to write out every word. I have few memories of the journeys involved – ones that I have repeated many times, albeit along a much improved A55. One clear recollection is of stopping at a Little Chef that was located on what was then the main carriageway of the A55, but which was later used as a slip road to an enlarged highway. This would close later, and the building was then seemingly used for rough storage, and eventually demolished. Every time that I drive past there – I have done so on many occasions – I have thought of that evening, and that element of trust by a mother in her only son.
I did not attend the Colwyn Bay meeting, which was at the Metropole Hotel, in Penrhyn Road; I only recall going to pick her up, when an older lady, presumably a leading member, was talking to her and congratulating her. It was at the meeting at Conwy, in the Guildhall on 14 March 1977, that I was invited in, and thus got a rare view of Mum speaking (another would be at the Inner Wheel conference of 1992).
Her audience then was 20 women, and her style was to read everything, but in such a way that this was not obvious. She had a reputation for making people laugh, but on this occasion was very serious. In March 2019 I managed to locate the minutes of that meeting, and will let the report of the meeting take up the story:
Mrs Boughey said that she hoped her talk would inject us with new enthusiasm for Overseas Service. She stressed that help to the underdeveloped countries should be given through the recognised channels and that a full and clear explanation of the Service Committees of all levels of Inner Wheel should be given to the members. Inner Wheel had the advantage of being an International body and belonging to a non-sectarian and non-political organisation. Help to the underdeveloped nations or 3rd world could be given in many different ways such as the recycling of waste products, support for Self-Help schemes, through the health service, aids to nutrition – agriculture, sinking of wells, and clinics for birth control.
This concluded with an appeal to the Madras charity, “a splendid example of a Self-Help project“, dealing with orphans and abandoned children to “set them on the road to live a useful and independent life.”
The treasurer gave her a cheque for £45 (equivalent to over £250 at 2019 values) for the charity.
I won’t comment too much on this – the somewhat archaic language has now been superseded. The intentions were sincere – to raise awareness and provide some practical help. It is odd today to read that Mum, brought up a strict Roman Catholic, would be endorsing birth control!
I recall her being very solemn and serious during this talk. She was adept at concealing the fact that she was reading it out, but she was well-rehearsed.
The Colwyn Bay club continues, but that at Conwy disbanded in 2000. Not too long ago I went round the Guildhall in which she spoke, and thought of her. The Metropole still stands, but has been converted to flats.
I have not been able to trace when the Pwllheli Inner Wheel club disbanded, but Pwllheli Rotary continues.
I helped at an event at Oldershaw School in Wallasey, at which a slide show by the charity’s founder, with his recorded commentary, was shown. This was also in the mid-1970s.
Begun 2 April 2019, further work 31 August 2019, slight amendments 22 December 2019 and 5 March 2020
Joan Boughey Recalled 