AofA's Hot To Trot Talking Points
Every Friday
We always love to celebrate our AofA members. And this is Marisa Mendez - who has been having a tough health time recently - in one of her wonderful outfits. Marisa was the joint winner of our Style Queen award 2025 and she deserves accolades for what she creates in terms of clothes and looks. She often makes them herself. Marisa, you are a star.
Happy Birthday Sheila Hancock - what a woman and 93. It turns out that presenter, Amol Rajan is a pal of hers and this is what he said on Insta. I agree.
‘Did you know that Sheila was born, in 1933, into a working-class family on the Isle of Wight, grew up above a pub in Kings Cross, and passed the 11+ - but like so many women of her generation had her intellectual ambitions thwarted? When she arrived at drama school in 1949, she was a total outsider to an acting Establishment that was mostly male, posh graduates.
Yet so mesmerising and brilliant was her acting that she became a pioneer in comedy, for women, and for the working-class. From ‘The Rag Trade’ (1961) to ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘The Sixth Commandment’, Carry On films and Eastenders, via countless great stage performances and being the first female Director of the RSC, she is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats in British acting.
That she has survived cancer, lost two husbands, and writes beautifully about it all is the core of it, though. Did you also know that, far from social media and our culture of voyeurism and constant validation, she spends much of her time in prisons now, doing drama workshops to help inmates?
And to think where it began, and how it might have ended. On the anniversary of VE Day, she wrote, magisterially, for The Guardian: “in [May] 1940, a silently weeping seven-year-old lay on a cracked leatherette sofa in urine-soaked pyjamas, looking through an alien window, praying that that same moon would protect my mum and dad from the killer bombs falling in London. That morning, my dad had tied a label to my gas mask strap with my name and address written on it, and waved me off from the platform barrier after making me recite, yet again, my identity number in case I became detached from my group of evacuees…”
I think it’s mad we wait for people to shuffle off their mortal coil before we celebrate them. Let’s update our culture.’
I’ve worked with Jan Day, the UK’s top Tantra Teacher for years organising events and doing her press. This is a very special event in Bristol on April 26th at 5pm at the Alma Tavern Theatre. It is a conversation about the intricacies of Modern Love and Tantra, about the challenges too. This is a conversation between Jan and Marianne Power, best selling author and journalist. It will be riveting, the one they did last year with Monique Roffey at the Vagina Museum was brilliant. Book your tickets here - Love and Tantra: A Conversation with Jan Day & Marianne Power
Sun 26 Apr 2026 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM BST Alma Tavern and Theatre, BS82HY
[Buy Tickets](https://www.tickettailor.com/.../id/7559329/chk/a72f/...)
Tracey Emin as Frida Kahlo! It’s all part of the huge retrospective for Tracey Emin at the Tate. We’ll be there.
Tracey Emin is set to open her largest-ever retrospective exhibition, Tracey Emin: A Second Life, at the Tate Modern in London on February 27, 2026
Here is Tracey Emin as Frida Kahlo by photographer Mary McCartney
5. There was a piece in the New York Times - photo from there - about Olders in their 60s, 70s and 80s on how they were living as they got older. One older woman had created a community in a house with five other women. Others are care givers. ‘Traditionally, that planning has focused almost exclusively on money — making sure you have enough to get you through your later years. But during extensive interviews with several people who are actually aging in their homes, it became clear to me that the financial piece is just the beginning.
Over and over, I heard that the biggest challenge people faced was whether they had access to a community. Essentially, they all told me that connection with others is a key aspect to ageing well at home.’
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/seniors-share-aging-in-place-plans
It’s National Funeral Planning Week this week - have you planned yours? I have planned some of it. Here’s what Dandelion Farewells say - ‘It’s
National Funeral Planning Awareness Week ~ 23rd February - 1st March 2026
This week encourages open and honest conversations about funeral wishes ~ conversations that can feel difficult, but often bring great comfort and reassurance.
Planning ahead allows your wishes to be known, helps ease the emotional and practical burden on loved ones, and gives families the time and space to focus on remembering, rather than making decisions under pressure.
At Dandelion Farewells we’re not big fans of the conventional, structured ‘package’ approach of traditional funeral plans, choosing only to partner with Open Prepaid Funerals Limited, but in support of the intentions of this focused week, we’ll be sharing what we hope is practical, helpful resources.
