Meeting 8 July 2019

We had a brief recap of the fete at the July meeting, no overall profit figure at that point but Mary thought both the ice creams and tombola had done well and there should be a reasonable pay out as both the weather and footfall had been quite good.

Members had enjoyed the Kilmersdon supper evening and the re-located first Friday lunch, the latter due to be back in the Bell on 2^nd August. Numbers had been down for the last coffee morning and Barbara would monitor these to check if worth continuing.

Final reminder for the ACWW walk on Friday 9^th August, meet at 2pm at the Hall for about an hour’s walk followed by tea and cake at a member’s house. We then have the Presidents evening on Monday 12^th from 6pm on the Rec Field, with a chance to try golf croquet. Please bring along a plate of finger food to share, sweet or savoury, which we will probably eat around 7.30pm, the drinks will be provided by the committee.

Our entertainment was a tasting session which committee members had spent a long time putting together. It was worth their efforts, providing an enjoyable and informative evening. The categories included items such as digestive biscuits, sausages and chocolate. Nearly all had a choice of three samples, mainly with one popular brand item and two different own supermarket’s offerings. We had to choose which one we preferred in each section, not knowing of course which was which. Many of the more expensive brand options did come out of top but there were also some surprises, not least the tap water beating both the bottled offerings. So we can sometimes save some money without sacrificing the quality.

Meeting 10 June 2019

Mary gave us a brief update in June from her visit to the National AGM and will give a fuller report at a later date. We had given her the freedom to decide how to vote on the rural bus issue and although the arguments for it had not been conclusive she did vote for the resolution as those against were not strong enough and it was passed. The Resolution “Don’t Fear the Smear”, already voted in favour of by us in May, was passed with a large majority. It was interesting to know that Resolutions made many years ago are still being worked on and results achieved on many different topics.

Another reminder that the belated ACWW walk would take place in August on Friday 9^th from 2pm, starting at the Hall  and the Presidents evening on Monday 12^th from 6pm on the Rec Field, with a chance to try golf croquet. Please bring along a plate of finger food to share, sweet or savoury.

Our speaker was a puppy walker from Guide Dogs and brought along her current trainee, Grace. There was so much more involved in the training of these dogs than I think most of us realised with many of the candidates not making it in the final selection due to being either too boisterous or too timid or the discovery of possible health problems. It was particularly interesting to hear about MP David Blunkett’s dogs who have to be black to avoid hairs showing on black suits, to be calm around sheep where he lives in the North, cope with his commute to London by train and then with the busy road traffic in the city, so very special dogs.

The entertainment for our next meeting on July 8^th will be rather unusual, as we will be blind tasting various products and comparing our thoughts on them, so maybe only a light dinner beforehand!

WI Outing

On a rather chilly evening in May an outing was organised to the Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury.





This horse is an amazing sculpture made from old farming implements and machinery.

We had a very interesting tour led by one of their Staff and learnt so much about the history of the buildings and farming from the 1800s onwards.

The museum is on the site of the former Abbey Farm.  The magnificent 14th century Abbey Barn is among the West Country's finest buildings and the centrepiece of the site.

A great time had by all - including refreshments on the way home!  Thank you to Barbara for organising our trip.

Meeting 13 May 2019

What a busy evening we had at the May meeting. There were the usual business items, the discussion of the Resolutions, the election of President, a show and tell session and refreshments, including savoury nibbles, provided by the committee.

Outings had been enjoyed to the Rural Life Museum and the Spring Road Show and Barbara encouraged members to attend one of these interesting shows if they get a chance. Looking ahead the Frome Group social would be held on Thursday 4^th July from 2 to 4pm at Buckland Dinham, your £4 entry charge would include tea and cake and a chance to try golf croquet, names to be taken at the June meeting. In August we would have two Leigh events. The belated ACWW walk would take place on Friday 9^th from 2pm and the Presidents evening on Monday 12^th from 6pm on the Rec Field, with another chance to try the golf croquet.

In the Resolutions section we heard about the decline of bus services in rural areas and the importance of having smear tests. We had interesting discussions on both topics resulting in giving Mary the option to decide our vote at the National AGM for the buses but to vote in favour about promoting the smear test.

The AGM included a review of the year from Secretary Jan Pattison, presentation of the accounts by Treasurer Caroline Harris and a short summary of her first year as President from Mary Mears. We then confirmed committee members for the coming year and voted on our choice of President which was won by Mary who agreed to stand for another year.

We then had our “show and tell” session with several members telling us what the object they had brought in meant to them.

The meeting on June 10^th will have stories from a puppy walker.

Leigh on Mendip Summer Fair

TOMBOLA STALL

The WI are running the Tombola Stall at the Summer Fair (Saturday 15 June 2019).

Please ask your friends and                            
neighbours if they have any bottles they would like to donate towards the Stall.

Funds raised are divided between all the Village organisations who take part in this event.

Thank You!

Meeting 8 April 2019

In April there were positive reports of several recent events including the coffee morning, first Friday lunch and the Hall quiz. Mary thanked everyone who had taken part in the village clean up, although there was less rubbish this year, mainly due to the very welcome regular collecting by some villagers.

There had been some changes to the structure of the Frome Group with both Mary and Caroline resigning from their positions as co-ordinator and treasurer respectively. One institute had left the group and the remaining 5 had decided to conduct matters in a more informal way, including each choosing the format of their own group event to host on an average once every 2 years. We are due to run the summer social in 2020.

Planning ahead, for the fete in June we were reminded that both prizes for the tombola stall and volunteers to staff it were needed, so do sign up to the rota if you can when asked.

Finally another reminder, this time about the meeting in May. This is our AGM when we would be discussing the Resolutions. One is a call against the decline in local bus services and the other is titled “Don’t fear the smear”. Both need to be voted on, lots of information in WI Life to help you make up your mind. This will be followed by a “bring and tell” session, with anything interesting you would like to bring along, the telling part not compulsory!

We then had a talk about her work as a Registrar from WI adviser June Greenway who had stepped in when the booked speaker had to withdraw. She told us many amusing and interesting stories about her work including how inflexible the rules are about the right paperwork etc., something many applicants don’t understand.

The meeting on May 13^th, Resolutions etc., see above.

Meeting 11 March 2019

Final names were being taken in March for our outing to the Somerset Rural life museum in May and Mary was pleased to announce that as this is an educational trip the cost of this for members would be taken from WI funds which were currently at a good level. We were also asked if we wanted to take part in the annual Tarmac Trophy quiz taking place in the Hall on April 6^th, although it was unclear how many had volunteered for this. Before then our annual litter pick was due on Saturday 16^th March and members were encouraged to join in with this and the refreshments afterwards.

Various events, including these, were listed on a printout attached to our County News copies so do check this if you are unsure of any dates. Looking ahead to the Resolutions for the National AGM, it had been decided to have two topics, the first about the decline in local buses and the second on fear about smear tests, so both would need discussing.

Our entertainment was a session of belly dancing led by Wafaa Powell.  She had held a similar evening 11 years ago which some of us did remember. She told us a little about the background of belly dancing, originally developed to improve health, not to entertain men as some think and even now is mostly done amongst women. Those who could joined in and others sat and watched while she built a simple routine for us by putting several moves together. It was good fun plus some exercise at the same time. Finally she did a demonstration dance to show us how it really should be done.

Our talk on 8th April is called “Grumpy travels the Americas” .