Our April 2023 Meeting

The Life & Legacy of George Peabody 

Christine Wagg

Thursday, April 20th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

Born into a poor family in Massachusetts, George Peabody moved to London established himself as a successful banker. In his old age, Peabody won worldwide acclaim for his philanthropy. He founded the Peabody Trust in Britain, providing housing for the poor. The Peabody Trust continues his work to this day.

Christine will outline the life and achievements of George Peabody, the history of the trust and some of the notable properties it owns.

Christine Wagg is the Peabody Trust’s historian and has a background in property law. 

 

Our March 2023 Meeting

Drop The Dead Donkey: Are the benefits of Chinese medicine e'jiao too good to be true? 

Dr Heather Maggs

Thursday, March 16th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

Wrinkles! Bleeding/Childbirth! Erectile dysfunction! Cancer! The reduction of nitrous oxide in the blood! “When you’re just feeling a bit shit!”

Sceptical already?

E’jiao, made from boiling donkey skins to form a collagen-based TCM, has been used in China for over three millennia by emperors and their elites. Clever marketing over the past 30+ years is generating increasing demand for this multi-therapeutic TCM, which is threatening global donkey populations as well as aiding and abetting illegal trafficking in pangolin scales, ivory and tiger bones – to name just a

few.

If you find this difficult to believe, Heather will share some of the results from both her recent doctorate and her sponsor, the Donkey Sanctuary. Please note, her presentation will contain images that some people may find distressing.

Dr. Heather Maggs is a local lass and registered veterinary nurse (RVN), Heather has a passionate and lifelong interest in animal welfare.

She has just completed a PhD by papers at the University of Reading, researching the value of donkeys in underpinning the livelihoods of poor rural farming communities in northern Ghana. Her three peer-reviewed papers focus on the study’s over-arching results, livelihoods and incomes and how children view and work with their donkeys.