I've been very bad and cheated with this report of our meeting and copied bits of it (in italics) from a report of the same speaker but at another WI. The speaker has done the same presentation at many WI's around Suffolk and Norfolk as she now lives in the north of the county after 40 years of working in London. She's also a WI member and a recent issue of the National WI magazine did a big feature about her job.
The June meeting of Bacton WI was a meeting with invitation open to anyone. We listened to a fascinating talk entitled Blood, Sweat and Fears by Mary Newton, a forensic scientist whose career lasted for forty years, mainly based in London. Contrary to our expectations of a male dominated profession, she assured us that women are well represented in forensic science because of their tenacious and meticulous personalities. She explained about the awfulness of complete PPE, whatever the weather.
Her career involved the forensic investigations of many murders and rapes. Her enthusiasm for the information to be gained from blood spatter patterns was infectious and when she demonstrated with a hammer we could all imagine the way the hammer would throw out droplets!
Mary told us about the power of DNA profiling and how it's changed forensics. She became an expert on rape cases and told us how rapists were caught and explained the reality of exhumations and why she always had a jar of Vicks Vapour Rub in her pocket whenever she attended.
She'd been involved in many high profile murders including the Stephen Lawrence trial and told us some quite horrific details about the serial murderer Dennis Neilson. She said that when she saw David Tennant playing the part of Neilson in a TV drama he was incredibly true to life.
The Village Hall was packed - and then we served up tea, coffee and cakes to many more people than we were expecting! and I seemed to wash up quite a lot of cups and saucers!
I'm not sure how much we charged for all the guests or how much Ms Newton charged for her talk but I reckon it must have been a good fundraiser.
That sounds utterly fascinating! I love your new header picture
ReplyDeleteThe header is a photo of a postcard of a painting. Not how I look when reading!
DeleteIt sounds absolutely fascinating as well as a bit gruesome at times.
ReplyDeleteI love the header too. xx
She was an excellent speaker.
DeleteHorrifically fascinating. Neilson sounds the sort of person who really shouldn't be allowed to draw breath . . .
ReplyDeleteHe was a Very strange person .
DeleteFascinating subject. Not for the faint hearted, I'm sure. David Tennant is one of our finest actors. In "Litvinenko" he was superb, and can switch to roles such as Crowley in "Good Omens" without batting an eyelid. Could anyone have bettered him in "Broadchurch"? He will always be "my Doctor" of the new generation of reincarnations. Sorry, DT fangirl! lol
ReplyDeleteAnother programme trailing on TV at the mo with him as a main character. I'm not a huge fan except for his Dr Who
DeleteWow, quite a dramatic speaker! Bit of a change from jam.
ReplyDeleteWI is completely different to Jam!
DeleteYes, Tennant playing Neilson was superb. He really got into the part.
ReplyDeleteNot something I would watch but the speaker was excellent
DeleteNot sure this is for me now that I live alone but sounds fascinating
ReplyDeleteIt was a very good evening
DeleteI miss the Ceanothus!
ReplyDeleteThe blue has completely gone from my Ceanothus now - all on the ground beneath
DeleteI have a secret addiction to murder mysteries. Shh...don't tell. Did I live nearby, she'd have been washing my teacup and saucer as well!
ReplyDeleteThere was plenty of washing cups and saucers to do with so many people there. We soon got the job done
DeleteSounds fascinating and right up my street, agree with other comments that David Tennant is excellent on all his acting roles.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
We were amazed at how many people came
DeleteThat sounds like a fascinating talk-no wonder the group had plenty of visitors. Catriona
ReplyDeleteSomeone had advertised it on the local Facebook page - a huge turn out!
DeleteSounds like an exciting career but I don't think I would have the stomach for it! Made me think of the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths, altho she's usually looking at old corpses.
ReplyDeleteShe enjoyed her life I think and went on to training others too
DeleteMary Newton sounds like a very remarkable woman. Her presentation sounds outstanding and she shared some very interesting details about her life as a forensic scientist. The WI is an impressive organization with keen ability to bring people together for social gathering as well as providing excellent speakers. Add the tea and cake and this makes for perfect social gathering.
ReplyDeleteNow that would be fascinating to listen to.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.