JANUARY

 

As January is drawing to a close it's heartening to be reminded of the coming Spring season, with new shoots in the borders and ever increasing longer days.  Barbara was the first of our members to spot and photograph snowdrops growing in the hedgerow at Tadhill.

And at the beginning of the month this Azalea was seen in bloom at Stourhead.  It shows we can begin to live outdoors a little, enjoy our lush green surroundings, meet up with friends again and perhaps follow up our new resolves!  Say 'Goodbye' to the January Blues.

We began our meetings this year with a lively picture quiz.  Great fun and a good way for members to get together.  Thank you to the Committee for putting this together.  We are, of course, still following Covid guidelines, especially for our current indoor events.

At the end of January we celebrated our 73^rd Birthday!  

An evening in The Bell Inn with skittles.  Great fun enjoyed by all those who played and watched.  For some it was a 'first' to play Somerset Skittles.  We must do it again!   A few members enjoyed an early supper pre-skittles and part way through the evening we all had a generous slice of our celebration cake.  Thank you Edwina.  Delicious!

We are looking forward to our Programme of Events for the coming year with a wide variety of topics to enjoy – including, a talk on art at the National Gallery, a medical detection dog trainer, an ex-international fashion designer, an expert from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and later in the year a Christmas themed cookery demonstration.  We'll also have lots of other 'home grown' events in between, including a Line-Dancing session.  Altogether a good mix of entertainment and interests for us all.

At County level 400 shoes boxes were donated to the YMCA Christmas Appeal.  Everyone involved gave generously of both time and gifts.  We are also running a tea tent at the Bath & West Show this June.

As a wider organisation we are very involved with reaching out to Charities, Communities and Causes, chiefly those concerning women.  Each year at the NFWI AGM there is a final vote on the Resolution that each of us has had the opportunity to vote on in the previous months.  This then forms the basis of the new campaign.  It is a very uplifting, powerful and worthwhile way to make a difference.

Our Speaker in February will be Bex Band.  She is an award winning author, adventurer and conservationist.  She founded the organisation 'Love Her Wild' which encourages women to build friendships through discovering nature and adventure together.