Mother of Pearl
Talk by George Hook
I must confess that when I looked at my programme card for the December meeting I didn't feel any great expectations for the afternoon.
How wrong I was!! From the minute that George introduced himself, in his lovely 'Brummie' accent, as being the managing director of the largest button making firm in Birmingham
and quickly qualified this by revealing the he was the sole employee of the only button making firm in Birmingham, you just knew you were in for a treat.
The talk was very instructional and we quickly learned that only oyster shell should a
really be referred to as mother of pearl shell.
As we handled the samples we were surprised at the weight of the shells
The amazing colours to be found in abalone shells was a surprise to many of us and we learned that there were beautiful aspects to sea snails shells also.
You can see the size of this snail shell against my mobile phone placed beside it.
As George talked about his materials and showed us some samples (the one below was prepared as example of economic cutting from a shell) he had a continuous commentary which was at once informative and very amusing. It would be foolish to try to repeat any of his banter because it comes best from the Horses mouth, so to speak.
Suffice to say that we were all totally amused, educated and keen to learn more.
At the end of his talk we were given the chance to shop and many people were delighted to buy the very beautiful and reasonably priced items on offer.
Although the talk was over many were still eager to speak to George further and he was happy to oblige.
George Hook"s talk would be suitable for many different organisations and I could thoroughly recommend it.
A real treat
