On Wednesday 8th February at Ditchingham W.I. meeting, we had a fun afternoon along with a very delightful & interesting lady speaker, named Maria Pennington whose topic was 'Pearls are my passion'. She had been in the jewellery business for 37 years, but loved pearls. We learnt about natural, cultured & fresh water pearls.
Maria said that a Pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shell, like the shell a pearl it is made up of calcium. The ideal Pearl is round and smooth but many other shapes of pearls occur. A "natural pearl" or "wild pearl".is one that form without any human intervention at all. There are also Freshwater and saltwater pearls, may sometimes look similar but they come from different sources like lakes and rivers.
Maria also said these days most pearls come from "pearl farming" This limits the number of pearls at a harvest period as usually only one is grown at a time.
Our meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month between 2.30 - 4.15 at Ditchingham Village hall, where you will be most welcome. Why not come & give us a try. We are a friendly, happy, bunch of ladies.
Our next meeting, on 8th March is a 'Scrabble Day'. So if you fancy a game of scrabble (nothing serious) with lunch, do come along.
Pam Lack
Blog Editor.
