ROWHILL WOMEN'S INSTITUTE

A splendid start to the new year for Rowhill with several visitors and two new members being welcomed to the January meeting. Eileen Mills was thanked for organising the trip to London the previous evening when members enjoyed the wonderful ballet Sleeping Beauty'. A good start to the outings programme - lots more in the offing too!

Members then welcomed the speaker for the evening - Jack Denness, a very fit 70 year old who for many years has been accomplishing feats which the majority of people would find horrific!

Mr Denness is a runner, but a runner with a difference, as he likes nothing better than to spend his summer holidays running across the scorching earth of Death Valley in California.

Not for him the gentle stroll of the London Marathon (he's done that of course) - no he likes to run in heat of approx. 120 degrees F and for a distance of 135 miles. Mr Denness showed newsreel and film clips of his various races with all the pain and suffering involved.

Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest locations on earth and is the setting for the Hi-Tec Badwater Race, the ultra marathon, which has to be completed in 60 hours. What achievements this man has made and he still intends to keep on running. However, the running is not just for self satisfaction, but also for charity as Mr Denness has raised funds for many good causes. He certainly made our own Rowhill Ramblers' fell they had better start strolling a bit faster!

We ended our meeting with a raffle of assorted winter warmers' - very apt for January. Come and join us on the third Thursday of the month at St Peter's, Hextable.