JUNE

Hooray.  A good start to June.  The weather improved and the sun came out!  AND we were able to have our long awaited picnic.  22 ladies came and what a great lunchtime.  We all brought our own picnics – with cold drinks and cakes provided.  Lots of chat and a good time had by all.  We even had a Raffle!  Final clearing up all done by 4pm.  Thank you to everyone who helped.

On 8 June Mary joined in with the first ever virtual virtual NFWI Annual Meeting! The event was live streamed from the beautiful RSA House in London while the audience tuned in from home. There were three outstanding guest speakers; HRH The Countess of Wessex, Baroness Hale and Dame Cressida Dick. All three delivered inspiring speeches covering strong women and empowerment, the need for more diversity in all areas of public life and the issue of domestic violence.   There were also speakers for the proposed resolution, which this year is 'a call to increase awareness of the subtle signs of ovarian cancer'. Delegates will now have until the start of July to vote on whether to pass this resolution and make it a WI Campaign.  In Leigh on Mendip we held a Zoom meeting on 28 June to enable members to discuss this resolution.  We'd had the opportunity to listen to the speakers via a link that had been sent to members.  9 ladies attended the Zoom meeting and we had an interesting discussion.  We felt we now know more about what to look for ourselves and felt that individually we should talk about it to family and friends.  We all voted in favour of the Resolution.  Mary will be contacting all members to ask for their vote.

Our speaker at our Zoom meeting on 14 June was John Burgess who gave a talk and delighted us with pictures of "Beautiful Somerset".  

He grew up in Bicknoller and has had a life-long love of the local countryside.  He has also written 3 guide books covering Somerset, Devon & Cornwall.  

We travelled in the photos from the open spaces of the Quantock Hills and Exmoor to the more built-up areas of Bath and Wells and also to the ancient Abbey at Glastonbury.  

We saw ponies, herds of deer, a murmuration of starlings and steam trains plus samples of local cheese and cider.  

This was followed by a brief business session and a chance for members to have a chat and catch up.

Tai Chi has resumed for those members who started this class last summer.

On Monday 5 July there is an informal gathering at the Rec at 4pm for members to meet and celebrate "NHS Frontline Day".

Our speaker on 12 July will be a Zoom session with Wafaa Powell on "Food Facts and Fibs".  We await further Government announcements in July to see if our meeting on 9 August with Emma Britton on "From Radio Shows to Funerals & Weddings" will be able to take place in the Hall.