Leigh-on-Mendip WI

 

October has been a month of blue skies, sunshine, autumn colours and rain!!  I'm sure the rain is much needed to replenish our reservoirs which members have noticed being much lower than they have seen in the past.  It's a time to tidy up the gardens and plant out the bulbs, which members have ordered from the WI catalogue and elsewhere.

At our meeting on 10 October Val Vincent gave us a talk on her work history and demonstrated some dishes suitable for Christmas time. She made us 7 dishes from sets of well-prepared items and we were able to taste quite a few of them. Straightforward ingredients to make items for buffets or other times – all done so quickly! Her painting on Christmas cakes (using vodka and powder paint) was amazing!

We learnt a bit about the history of our WI.  Caroline had posted on the Village Facebook a short article on the WI Day and received a message from a lady whose mother was part of the original setup in 1949 when meetings were held in the school.

The Programme Planning meeting was held on Monday 17 October.  Thank you to those who either contributed ideas and/or came and helped decide on a good mix of speakers and demonstrations for the coming 15 months.  This programme will take us round to March 2024!!

The sub-groups are going well – although no-one was around for a walk on the first Saturday.  Just a reminder that the next walk will be on Saturday 5 November, meet outside the Hall at 11am.  Whoever turns up can decide how far and where they would like to walk.  Refreshments afterwards at The Bell.  5 ladies came to the monthly lunch on 19 October.  This is held on the third Wednesday each month – so make a note in your diaries and hopefully see a few more next time.

Our Christmas meal is on Monday 5 December at The Bell.  Don't forget to bring your menu choices and money to our November meeting.  As we have done for several years now we will be supporting the Fair Frome food bank with special Christmas goodies – a few treats for families who are in need of some extra help.  Donations please in November or drop off at Mary's house.

Many thanks for the wonderful donations for the YMCA & other Projects Shoebox Appeals.  13 boxes were taken by Sue to the County meeting on Saturday 22 October in Taunton.

This was Sue's first AGM.  Being reasonably new to the WI she found it interesting that we have 110 WI groups in our area with 3,165 members and an increase in member numbers of 727 this year.  The large hall at the leisure centre was decked out in swathes of colours for Ukraine.  Highlights from the morning session was an unscheduled performance from Jan McNeil from Misterton WI, who is an entertainer and singer who had everyone singing along to ABBA as the main speaker, Sarah Crew who is the chief constable from Avon and Somerset Police, had been delayed. A really  interesting speaker. Working class background, passed exams to get into Bristol grammar school and studied classics at Oxford. Went into the police because she wanted to do something practical to help people and has had a stellar career. Deep interest in providing safer environments and support for woman who've suffered from abuse and/or rape. Real shame that they ran out of time for questions.  The afternoon highlight, of course, was Kate Bottley. What a funny woman!  She touched lightly on her faith but it was obviously very deep and important to her and she told her story with a lot of one liners.  A great day out.

Our speaker next month on Monday 14 November will give a talk on the History & Work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

If anyone is interested in finding out more about our WI please contact Caroline on 01373 812889.