MARCH

 

We welcomed a number of visitors.  It is always lovely to meet new ladies and there is no pressure to join immediately.  Do come along and see if we are right for you!

We would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our long time member, Marguerite Cockroft.  We were saddened to learn of her recent death.  She will be missed by us all, very much indeed.

Our speaker in March was Richard Bruce. He is now retired from designing for the Fashion Industry but still involved with lecturing and mentoring to students. He talked through his phenomenal career, from his early days designing for Couture Houses in Rome and Paris, on to working for many years in Pret-a-Porter (Ready-to-Wear), in Milan, Munich and Frankfurt. He spoke about his years in Milan, working also Freelance and running his own Knitwear Brand - always keeping open to new ideas and trends. Finally he returned to the UK to work at High Street level, taking up a job with M&S where he designed across the Women's wear area, for Formal jackets/suits, Autograph and latterly, Classics.  

His main point throughout was to show the difference between these levels and above all the way a designer, working for an elevated brand in Europe has all the authority and responsibility. Whereas in the UK, High Street brands are run through teams, with a buyer and merchandiser at the helm, designer and technologist providing the aesthetics. Very informative and enjoyed by all!

Looking at the unfolding disaster in Ukraine and deciding what we can best do to help, we made a decision, for those who wish, to donate directly to DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee). Caroline, our President, will forward the funds on.  £60 was donated at our meeting.

At County Level, one of our crafting ladies produced a length of beautiful Jubilee Bunting, which will be shown, along with many others, at the County Celebrations and the Bath & West Show in June.  We had 4 members attend a Craft Taster Day near Street recently. They had the opportunity to try crafts they hadn’t attempted before. Some great results were shown. Well done all!

At National level, the wider WI organisation gives us opportunities to have a voice in many women’s matters. The resolution for this year, is "Women and Girls with ASD & ADHD – under-identified, under-diagnosed, misdiagnosed, under-supported" - looking at the long term, damaging effects in some Women and Girls. It is apparently extremely common for females to be discounted in many studies and treatments. The aim is to redress the balance and give women the focus needed.  More information will be sent to members over the coming months and we will have the opportunity to discuss this in greater detail.

The WI, as with other Village groups and committees, are in full swing making preparations for both the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations and the upcoming Summer Fete (Saturday 16 July).  We are running the tombola stand, (donations gratefully accepted!).

We were very much involved in the Village Litter Pick on Saturday 19 March.  It was great to see so many young and "not quite so young" people from the village who had joined in this event either litter picking a few days earlier or on the day.  It was also very encouraging to find less litter than on previous years.  Either people really are getting the message to take their litter home or I think we need to be grateful for those who on their regular walks are helping to keep our lanes and footpaths clear.  

It is so much nicer to see the snowdrops, daffodils and primroses in the hedgerows rather than empty cans & bottles and food containers.  We then returned to the Village Hall where welcome tea and cakes were available – again we asked for donations for Ukraine and another £50 was raised and has been sent to the DEC.

On Saturday 23 April, some of us will be joining a charity walk for the ACWW, (Associated Country Women of the World) an international organization that the WI has close links with. It helps fund small-scale, women-led projects mainly in rural areas.  This walk is open to non-WI friends as well.  Watch our Blog and the Village Facebook for more details.

In April we will be polishing our Cowboy Boots for a session of Line Dancing with Rosita. Looking forward to it!  Save the date – Monday 11 April at 7.30pm.

Denman courses are still available on-line and are now offering pre-recorded sessions for those who can’t attend at the time. They are open to all at just £5 per session and offer a huge variety of creative and educational subjects. Well worth taking a look.

https://www.denman.org.uk/whats-on

If there are any ladies in the Village who would like to join in, get to know others and meet us, you are very welcome to come along to our monthly meetings. Second Monday of each month, in the Memorial Hall from 7.30pm.  Contact Caroline on 812889

 

FEBRUARY

 

There is an energy as we move out of February into March that is unlike the start of any other month.  For us, the move into longer days, brightening skies and warmer temperatures, gives the impetus to put all of our dormant resolves into action!

On a similar theme, our speaker in February was Bex Band. A self-styled adventurer, author, organizer and business woman.  She was a joyous, uplifting and invigorating presence on a particularly cold, wet February evening.  She runs an extraordinary women’s adventure business, ‘Love Her Wild’, which she founded 5 years ago and developed, based purely on her own searching for a way to feel fulfilled and truly happy.

It all started, in 2016, (from a small flat in South West London, unhappy and stuck in jobs she hated), with an idea to trek the Israeli National Trail, a 1000 km route from the North to the South, taking in forest, mountains, coast and desert. An arduous task for anyone fit and used to ‘roughing it’. She was neither but she, along with her Israeli husband, did it anyway!

Her book, ‘Three Stripes South’ (a reference to the markings used to mark the trail), which recounts the journey, was published in 2021. Her business now employs 50 staff/volunteers and has 30,000 members.  Amazing achievements all round! She is now a mum to baby Rivi and along with husband Gil, continues to seek out new adventures they can all enjoy together.  It was so inspiring to hear of both the physical and mental changes she went through. From everything she talked about, these were what we all took away.

Our meeting was on Valentine's Day so we had some suitable refreshments!

Next month we are organizing the Village Clean Up/Litter Pick. It will be on Saturday 19 March, 2–4pm.   Assemble at the Village Hall to collect fluorescent jackets, bags and litter pickers (supplied by MDC).  There will be tea and cakes in the Hall, afterwards. An opportunity to appreciate the Village and to meet others. Everyone welcome!

We will be taking part in the Village Picnic Day on Sunday 5 June, for the Jubilee Celebrations, offering a couple of free games for both children and adults. With everything that’s in the planning, it should be a great day for the Village all round!

We will also be running the Tombola stand at the Village Fete on Saturday 16 July. We’ll start to collect suitable prizes very soon so any offers will be gratefully received!

At County Level we will be part of creating WI Bunting for the Jubilee. One of our very talented ladies, a wiz with crafts and sewing has volunteered to make a length. It will be amazing to see the whole finished piece.

The WI is also taking part in the Bath & West show, from Thursday 2 – Saturday 4 June.  We will be running the tea tent and are looking for offers of homemade cakes and any volunteers who’d like to help out on the day. So far, Caroline, our president is keen to go.

Leigh on Mendip WI are planning to meet up on Saturday 11 June, from 10.30 – 4.30, in the Village Hall, to watch our NFWI AGM, live from Liverpool via Zoom. It’s a chance for all members to understand better how we operate, hear the views of the national committee and importantly the debate around this year's resolution. It's also a great opportunity for us to drop in and make a more social day of it.

Our speaker next month, Monday 14 March, will be Richard Bruce, a retired fashion designer who comes with a wealth of experience and many tales! He has worked at top designer level throughout Europe, with both Valentino and Dior as just 2 of the illustrious companies he’s worked for. He spent the latter years working back in the UK for Marks & Spencer. Broad and vastly different experiences which he will no doubt highlight.  We may also learn some little known inside secrets! It should be an entertaining evening.

Denman courses are still available on-line and are now offering pre-recorded sessions for those who can’t attend at the time. They are open to all at just £5 per session and offer a huge variety of creative and educational subjects. Well worth taking a look.

https://www.denman.org.uk/whats-on

If there are any ladies in the Village who would like to join in, get to know others and meet us, you are very welcome to come along to our monthly meetings. No commitment! Contact Caroline on 812889.

LITTER PICK

 

SAVE THE DATE!!

SATURDAY 19 MARCH

Litter Pick in the Village

Starting from the Hall at 2pm

ALL Welcome (NOT just WI members!)

Tea and cake afterwards

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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Wishing all our members a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Looking forward to a good 2022 with our regular meetings in the Hall and keeping in touch with each other.

DECEMBER

 

We started our Christmas celebrations early with a lovely evening meal at our local pub The Bell.  Good food and good company and everyone enjoyed being together, especially having missed out on this occasion last year.

Usually we give a small gift to the member who has had the best attendance during the year.  Obviously, this wasn't a possible scenario with a large number of meetings having been held on Zoom.  Instead we felt it would be a lovely idea to recognise those ladies with a 'Long Service' - here in Leigh on Mendip and other Institutes.

We couldn't be sure of the exact number of years but Certificates were handed out to:

Gwen             60+ years             Hazel              60+ years

Barbara          56 years               Pauline          48 years

And at our meeting the following week:

Shelagh         38 years

What a wonderful record and a Big Thank You to them all for their contribution, support and friendship over that time.

Our meeting in December was able to go ahead but members were reminded to wear masks where possible to keep us all safe.  Karen demonstrated and then we all made some wonderful table decorations to take home.  

We had great fun at our tables, seated in 2s & 3s.  Thank you to all those involved for their hardwork in finding & picking greenery and providing other small decorations.

Wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year.  Looking forward to our new Programme of Speakers and Events.

NOVEMBER

 

We have arrived nearly at the end of 2021 and Leigh on Mendip WI after a year of uncertainty and a feeling of waiting for life to return to normal have somehow got through it all! With Christmas just around the corner there is the happy prospect of spending time with friends and family. This year especially, our WI group is very much looking forward to being together for our annual Christmas meal on Monday 6 December at The Bell Inn. Time to enjoy each other's company.

We in the WI, no doubt like everyone else, have found this year challenging but have also realized how much we’ve appreciated each other’s friendship, help and support. Some of our key principles stem from care and responsibility for our community; kindness, sharing and friendship. 

This year we have supported, the YMCA Christmas shoebox appeal and the Frome, family Christmas food bank. Everyone gave very generously and we managed to deliver 12 packed shoeboxes and a table full of Christmas treats!

As a wider organization, we were present at Cop26 and feel strongly that we have a voice. The preservation and appreciation of our beautiful surroundings is important to us Nationwide and at a local level too.

Our speaker in November was Neil Clarke, a local Somerset man who turned his photography hobby into a real interest in digital film and combined this with his passion for uncovering more about his surroundings. He echoed some of these ideas with his captivating film, ‘The Bristol Channel Islands’. 

Focusing on their wild beauty and mystery, their indigenous wildlife, and the roles the islands have played throughout history. The presentation took us around the 3, hidden and little known islands, off the coasts of Somerset, (Steep Holme) Wales, (Flat Holme) and North Devon, (Lundy).He spoke of evidence of Roman, Norman and Viking invasions through to being used as military bases during Victorian times and strategic defence sites throughout the first and second world wars.

For our meeting in December, we have decided to entertain ourselves in making a Christmas table decoration. Much preparation and the gathering of suitable materials going on at the moment! It should be fun and we’ll make sure to have plenty of mince pies on hand!

Denman courses are still available through ‘Denman at Home’, open to all at just £5 per session, offering a wide range of interesting and creative classes. https://www.denman.org.uk/whats-on/

If there are any ladies in the Village who would like to join in, get to know others and meet us, you are very welcome to come along to our Meetings. Second Monday of each month in the Memorial Hall from 7.30pm. No commitment!