Litter Pick

Not the prettiest of photos!!

But thank you all so much for helping with our village Spring Clean this year.

Over 30 people were involved in picking, collecting, baking and serving refreshments afterwards.  This resulted in this pile of bags and a few items to be collected by Mendip.

Many thanks for your support with this venture.

Coronavirus upate for WI Members

Please note that due to the current situation with Coronavirus, we have cancelled all WI events for March and April.

We will keep in touch with members by email and telephone and let you know as soon as we can safely resume meetings and events.

In the meantime, stay safe and DO ask others for any help when needed.

Mary Mears

Meeting 9 March 2020

There were so many forthcoming events to note at our March meeting we had a slip attached to our WI Life listing them all! Mary thanked everyone who had completed the questionnaire in February and said she was pleased how positive most of the answers were. She had spoken to most people about the possible name change of the Institute and as no one was completely against the idea it had been decided we would investigate this further. So if you haven’t already done so, put your thinking caps on and send any name suggestions to Mary, either by e mail, a note or bring to the next meeting. 

Members had enjoyed the outing to Camerton Court, an extensive garden with so much more than just the snowdrops we went to see. It would be beautiful at any time of the year but unfortunately is not open to the public on a continuous basis for security reasons. They do open for guided walks on various specific dates during the year so worth checking their website if you are interested.

Mary and Caroline had recently been to Denman and Mary brought along a very impressive wicker pig she had made to show us. We can look forward to seeing Caroline’s “modular knitting” from her course at the April meeting. Mary once again urged us to consider a Denman course, especially if we have never been. A bursary is available.

Our speaker was Christine Clinch from the Ammerdown Centre near Radstock. This is situated in the stable block of Ammerdown House which is owned by Lord and Lady Hilton. There are a huge variety of courses available plus the chance for personal retreats all for very reasonable fees. There are both residential and day sessions which all include meals.Their mission is stated as Hospitality, Peace and Reconciliation with the courses falling into three categories, spiritual, handicrafts and inter-faith. We had the opportunity to take away a course brochure and there is more information on their website www.ammerdown.org

Meeting 10 February 2020

There was some positive feedback in February on the different meeting format in January and also the birthday party afternoon. Those who had missed giving their opinions about the choice of Resolution and the possible name change of the institute plus the chance to make a name badge were encouraged to do so.

Forthcoming events included the village clean up on 14^th March from 2pm. Meet at the Hall where you can choose a section to cover and afterwards enjoy tea and cakes This is open to anyone who would like to help, not just WI. On the 21^st March we will be putting in at least one team for the Hall quiz which starts at 8pm. If you have not already put your name forward for this and would like to take part do let Mary or a committee member know.

Looking further ahead we have a visit to the garden and farm of member Pauline West on the 22^nd of May at 2.30, charge probably £4, profits to go to the Dorothy House Hospice. Also in May we will once again be helping to run a refreshment tent at the Bath and West show. Volunteers are only expected to work for a few hours giving plenty of time to look round the show. If interested contact Jan Pattison. Another garden outing will be for the group social which Leigh are running on Tues 30^th June in the evening, more information later.

Our speakers were enthusiastic explorers of the Frome Tunnels. They explained these could be divided into four categories: those made for drainage and to carry water, industrial tunnels, often made for storage, those made for people to access various sites and finally the “Serious” tunnels which led from local stately homes and similar buildings. They were currently looking forward to exploring the Wheatsheaves pub which in addition to tunnels was well known for many ghostly happenings.

Meeting 13 January 2020

A very different WI meeting in January. When we arrived instead of the usual rows of chairs there were tables set out at intervals in the Hall with a few chairs at each. One had a questionnaire to find out what we would like from our WI going forward, another had sheets in quiz format where we had to find out who fitted the various questions such as who had been a hairdresser, who was in a choir etc., all designed to get us talking to ladies we may not usually socialise with and get to know each other a little better. This worked brilliantly and members had some really interesting conversations.  The other tables had the makings of name badges which we are going to wear at future meetings, some of the photo albums to look at and facilities to pay various dues such as money for the snowdrop outing and our annual subs.

Then after refreshments we turned to the business matters. Ideas are needed for the format of the Group Social which we are hosting on Monday 29^th of June. Various items were pointed out in the County News with events such as a Broadway songs revue and supper, a crime mystery dinner and a WW1 Social History lunch, see your copy for details. Nearer to home early notice was given for the Hall quiz on Saturday 21^st March which Mary hoped we could raise at least one team for. Also local was the suggestion of a WI book group so if anyone is interested in any of these do let a committee member know either before or at the next meeting. Finally it looks as if there may be a small change to Leigh on Mendip WI. Evidently many institutes have changed their name to try and give a more modern and representative impression of who they are and members voted in favour of taking this idea further.

Happy New Year

We wish all of our current and prospective members, friends and followers a very Happy New Year.

We look forward to seeing you at our meetings and events over the coming year.

Take a look at the Programme and Information link to the right to find our 2020 Programme and Committee List.

See below for a summary of our recent events and many photographs.

If you are new to the area, or just never been to WI before, please do come along to a meeting as a visitor and meet us before you decide if you would like to join. Details are posted here and on the Village Website What's On page.

We are here to offer friendship, share skills and new experiences and have fun together.

We hope to see you soon.

Mary Mears and the Committee

Meeting 9 December 2019

We had enjoyed our Christmas meal in early December at the Mendip Inn and Christmas was still on our minds with reports of 8 YMCA shoe boxes having been delivered to the ACM in Taunton and still more donations arriving for the Food Bank at the December meeting. However we were looking at social occasions ahead too with bookings being taken for a morning outing on Monday 17^th February to Camerton Hall Gardens to see the snowdrops. This would cost £8.50, tea and cake available for an extra £1.50.

We are also working towards the choice of next year’s Resolutions. The list to make our initial choices from is available in the current copy of WI Life and Mary asked members to have a look at this with a view to discussing our preferences at the January meeting when there would be a few other things to remember. Our subs for the year will be due, £43 this time and Caroline mentioned we can pay by bank transfer if we prefer, details will be sent to members. We need to bring a small prize for the raffle and finally for January don’t forget we have the Leigh WI birthday party on Saturday 18th in the Memorial Hall from 12.30, bring a plate of food to share and come and enjoy a chat and a film, which members voted they would like for the entertainment.

Our entertainment for the meeting was in two sections. Firstly the stage was set up with a table full of cake ingredients and Caroline and Jo proceeded to make a cake pantomime style. Mary read out the recipe which included several instructions to “test the vodka to make sure it was all right” with the predictable results! Very funny, maybe they should join an amateur pantomime group next year.

The main entertainment was a talk from author Barbara Spencer. She had led a very interesting life living in many different places, initially sparked off by following the West Indian cricket team. She had written many books for children and given talks in schools on them but now in semi-retirement had started writing for adults.