December Meeting

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our Christmas Party. As usual we will be having a bring and share supper and some of our own entertainment. Members are asked to bring along a small Secret Santa present up to the value of £3
We have had a tremendous response for gifts of Christmas food and everyday food items and also winter hats and gloves so far. These will be taken, as in previous years, to The Community of the Church of St Paul. Don't forget there is still  time to bring items along to our December meeting. We look forward to seeing you all.
We have a full and varied programme for 2019 which will be published very soon so watch this space.

Birthday Meal at Michelangelos

For the last few years we have been having our Christmas meal in November in order to celebrate our WI birthday at the same time.

As it was such a success last year we returned to Michelangelos again.

The food was lovely and the staff served us very well despite the restaurant being very busy!

Many thanks Michelangelos

re

WI Skittles Charity Event

Our Vice President Beryl who organises the skittles matches held an evening of skittles to raise funds for All Saints Church Sandford. The event was  attended by many of the other WI teams in the area and also supporters from the church. The picture below show Beryl giving her helpers a gift as a thanks for all their hard work during the season

Armistice Centenerary

The Craft club have had a busy time this year knitting several of the poppies needed to decorate St James in Winscombe and All Saints in Sandford to commemorate the ending of the First World War. In addition to the red poppies they also knitted white poppies to remember the women who died.There was a lovely service at All Saints on Remembrance Sunday and our team of hand bell ringers played.

 

November Meeting

We held our AGM at the November meeting where the President Rowena Keane reviewed the past year's events. We had a minute's silence to remember all the members who had sadly passed away in 2018. After two very successful years with our  numbers growing to 54 she had decided to retire. We voted Viv Pixton as the new President and she was warmly welcomed by us all.

The picture shows Vice President Beryl Jenkins giving Rowena a thank you gift from all the members

Book Club December

The next meeting  will be on Sunday 16th December at Penny's where they will be discussing the latest book entitled "The Great Alone" by Hannah Kristin. The story is told by the daughter of a US veteran of the war in Vietnam who, because he is unable to settle, takes his family to live in a remote part of Alaska.

As well as discussing the book they will be watching the film "The Book Club" with a bring and share supper afterwards

Walking Club

In November our  group enjoyed a pleasant walk around the Cheddar Reservoir followed by hot drinks at the Alms Tearooms in Axbridge in November. This was the last walk of the season and will commence again in the Spring. After many years service Kay Ellis will be stepping down and Pat Gould has agreed to take up the challenge! Many thanks Kay for organising all those walks.

October Meeting

At our meeting on 8th October we will be having a talk by Sarah Harris entitled "The History of Knitting" which promises to be very entertaining. We will be asking our members to consider joining our committee as we will be having our AGM on 12th November.
Also we will be going to Michelangelos on 15th November for our Birthday meal so if you would like to come and haven't already put your name down there is still to time to choose from the menu.
A coach is being provided.

May Book Club meeting

The Book Club met in May to discuss their latest book entitled Eleanor Olliphant is completely fine. by Gail Honeyman. It tells the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose strange ways and wit make for an unusual story as it unfolds. The group enjoyed the book and there was plenty to discuss.
The next meeting will be on 11th July at Viv's house and the next book on the list is Sweet Caress by William Boyd.

Sweet Caress by William Boyd tells the fictional story of Amory Clay a photographer born in 1908 and spans several generations.

May Meeting

Our May meeting was a really good evening when we all dressed in red, white and blue in anticipation of the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. After enjoying a glass of Prosecco and nibbles we had an auction of several items donated by our members. Our auctioneers Barbara and Beryl, on the gavel, were able to sell nearly all of the lots and provided us with an amusing evening along the way! They raised £190.00 in total which was quite an achievement.

May Fair on the Green

The weather for the May Fair on the Green this year was glorious. Sandford WI ran a very successful Tombola stall and Guess the name of the teddy and also How many sweets in the jar. We made a donation to the Fair organisers and also raised more than £80.00 for Weston Hospice which is our chosen charity for 2018. Many thanks to all the members who contributed and helped on the day.

April Meeting

At the April meeting we all had the opportunity to try our hand at African Drums. We were instructed by the Girl Guide Drumming Group. This was great fun and we managed to drum along to quite a few different types of music.

June Day Trip

June is the month when we usually have our annual day trip and so there will be no meeting.
A trip to Sherbourne on 11th June has been arranged instead and we will be stopping at Street on the return journey. Members should contact Beryl if they would like to come.

May meeting

We will be celebrating the forthcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at our meeting on 14th May. Members will be asked to wear red white and blue and we will be having a glass of prosecco and nibbles. There will also be an auction and we are asked to donate any unwanted items.

There will be an opportunity to vote on whether to send the 2018 resolution forward at the Women's Institute Annual meeting in Cardiff in June. This year's resolution is stating that tackling mental health matters as much as physical health.

Several of our ladies are busy working on the poppies to be displayed in churches in Winscombe and Sandford.

Sandford Wi are running a Tombola Stall and members are asked to bring donations of prizes to the April meeting.

Programme 2018

Programme 2018

Jan 8	Weston Hospice Care &  Registration
Feb 12	Tax Care & Toy Boys
Mar 12	Royal Bath & West Show
Apr 9	African Drums
May 7	Auction & Social Evening & Resolutions Royal Wedding Theme
Jun11	No Meeting Day Trip (to be advised)
Jul 9	Glorious Mud – Musical Presentation
Aug 13	It Shouldn’t Happen to a Writer!
Sep 10	Harvest Supper
Oct 8	The History of Knitting
Nov 12	AGM followed by Quiz
Dec 10	Christmas Party

2nd May	Spring Group Meeting Hosted by Banwell.
22nd March	A.F.W.I. Spring  Meeting Somerset Hall, Portishead
6th June	N.F.W.I AGM - Cardiff.
27th September	A.F.W.I.  AGM BAWA Club Filton Bristol
October (tba)	Autumn Group meeting Hosted by Locking
December (tba)	Group Carol Service Hosted by Winscombe St James the Great, Winscombe

January Meeting

January is always a busy meeting as our members all register for the year. We were delighted to welcome several new members and look forward to seeing them every month.

Our talk this month was by Rachel Mansfield who is a community fund raiser for Weston Hospicecare. She told us all about their history since opening and the many services they provide to their patients and loved ones. They rely heavily on the fund raising efforts of the public and there are many different ways in which this is achieved. We voted to make them our charity for 2018.

Our walking and lunch group will be taking a break and will resume in March.