Counting down.....

Probably one of our most enthusiastic speakers this month at our penultimate meeting – Dave the Bee Man as he will be forever known, clearly enjoyed his subject as much as we enjoyed hearing about it. Us WINGs ladies could now sit in the Mastermind chair I reckon, with the facts and figures on beekeeping that we have at our fingertips. They’re so clever, it’s amazing, and we kept Dave busy with our questions for ages. Did you know that a bee can fly at 15 – 20 miles an hour. Given the puny size of their wings compared to their bodies, that’s a fair old speed. And, apparently (although this wasn’t necessarily scientifically proven) if you suffer from hayfever, you should eat local honey.

Cue – sales of local honey by our trusty bee man! (and very tasty it is too). I could go on, but I won’t. If you’d wanted to know more, you should have been there!!

Our ‘guests’ from the Federation arrived without warning again. This time wielding their ‘suspension’ tool. I have to say they gave the impression that somehow we’ve done something wrong and that we are being suspended from the W.I., much like being suspended from school. I very much have the feeling that we’re on the naughty step, rather than there being an understanding that we are just very busy ladies who can’t commit to the time needed to run a branch of the Women’s Institute.

There is hope for the future! Several people have enjoyed getting to know each other enough to try and keep some kind of friendship group going in the new year so hopefully we will keep in touch. We still have our December jewellery making session on the 8th and we have arranged to meet for a drink and a chat about possible future events or get-togethers in the new year.

I didn’t manage to get any photos of our bee man on the night, but I have got hold of some ‘library pictures’ (as they say). Here he is in action.

Hope to see you in December

Cheers

Mandy

Anarchy in the W.I.

Well, I think I’d be safe in saying October 13th was the most interesting meeting we’ve ever had. But not necessarily in a nice way.


We were joined by 2 ladies from the Federation. I’m afraid I didn’t get their names but one of them was Pat, our ‘new’ Adviser. They kindly pointed out all the things that Yours Truly and the Trusty Committee either hadn’t done, or had done incorrectly in advance of the AGM. Hey ho – moving swiftly on. I reiterated my intention to stand down as President, taking Ros, our Treasurer with me and our Federation ladies took over for the vote. They tried to persuade us into staying on, and the attendant members into taking places on the committee with little luck. Out of the blue, a voice from the crowd suggested we kick the W.I. into touch (sorry – World Cup fever) and take ourselves off as a maverick group of women, just getting together when we fancy it without the shackles of committee meetings and annual reports, but continuing with the now expected, inclusion of wine at every possible opportunity.

Members liked that idea so Doodle Poll is now doing the rounds. We need 75% agreement to suspend WINGs. (Not sure what will happen if we don’t get that, as we still have no President or Treasurer and as far as I can make out, even the Force that is the W.I. can’t make you rejoin next year, or stop us getting together if we so choose). Anyway, watch this space. I’ll keep you informed as and when there’s news.
Then we moved onto the good stuff. VINO!

Sorry about the red-eye Lou!

Lloyd Pietersen and his glamorous assistant Sheila (also Pietersen!) had been waiting patiently in the wings (no pun intended) while the argey bargey was going on in the main hall. Chez Lloyd’s mission is to bring wine tasting to folk in a relaxed and friendly way and they certainly managed that. We had a tutoring on tasting to start with – most of us chomping at the bit to actually be allowed to start the drinking part (well, I was. I shouldn’t tar you all with my brush). First up, we were treated to a Picpoul de Pinet from France, we had a viognier, also French, and finally, a Riesling – the most expensive of the 3 which we discovered after we’d played guessy games about how much they each cost. Much chomping of cheese and crackers, sloshing of water in glasses and it was onto the reds.

In true W.I. fashion, we asked good questions, and sometimes even stopped talking long enough to listen to the answers and actually learn something. Our reds were from South Africa, New Zealand, and Chile. The first, a cinsault, was terribly quaffable (IMHO) even for a confirmed white wine chick like me. I can’t remember which was the cheap one and which the expensive of the red. Must have had too much of it by then.

Anyhoo, a good time had by all. Certainly a brilliant way to diffuse some of the tension caused by the meeting, and a jolly nice way to bring my blood pressure back down. Heartily recommended!

Mandy xx

10 'green' W.I. members sitting in a church hall.....

It was a bit like buses, only the other way round. One minute I had 2 speakers for September, the next minute there were none. A bit of rearranging of the programme and Kate Rowen kindly stepped in to do her talk on how easy it is to be green – thanks for that at short notice. However, this now leaves us no speaker for November! Deal with that one when the time comes.

It was a fortnight ago so apologies for the lateness of the post. We were a select group that week – small but perfectly formed (actually only 9 of us, despite the title of the piece)! Hope that meant that the rest of you were doing hugely exciting stuff and not just drowning in work and household chores.


I found out some interesting facts about which products aren’t the best to use, and now know how often my fellow W.I.-ers take their make-up off, and that not many of us fancy a hemp wedding dress!


At that time, I was still waiting for final confirmation from Waitrose who had written offering to do a cheese and wine tasting for us. We had chosen our October meeting, straight after the voting bit of the AGM. I’ve now heard that they aren’t coming after all, so for the second month in a row, we are without a speaker (this time with only 2 weeks to go).


It’s nailbiting stuff..... watch this space.


Mandy x

Glam Gran!

Congratulations to Kate S on the birth of her grandson Freddie.  Is she our youngest granny at the tender age of 43??

Midsummer (!) stroll

8 brave souls: me, Catrina, Roz, Di, Nicky, Sandy, Mary, and Jenny, decided that a bit of rain wasn't enough to deter them from taking part in the inaugural WINGs summer walk.

We met at the Lock leeper in Keynsham and set off at 7:50 in light drizzle. We walked under the bridge and along the river, past Fry's and past quite a few people fishing. The path was good and it was a nice easy, level walk. (if a bit snail and cow pat littered).

We arrived at the Lock and Weir just after 8:30 and enjoyed a drink and a sit down whilst watching a heron fishing on the weir. Unfortunately there were no other WINGs ladies waiting at the pub to greet us.

As it was getting dark and raining again, we headed back at about 9.

Thankfully some had brought torches as it was quite dark by the time we got back to the Lock Keeper.

We mostly all had very soggy wet feet but we all enjoyed it.

Next year we should go earlier in the year and remember to wear wellies if it's raining!

Kate S

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

Except in this case it was the other way round. One by one the takers for our trip round Hanham Court gardens had to drop out until by Sunday (the day of the event) it was down to me. So I went. (On Monday). And I’m jolly glad I did.

We lived in Hanham when we first moved to Bristol and I’ve always been fascinated by that gothic house. Tragically the wall is high and I am not, and I’ve never really been able to get a good look at it until this week. It had crossed my mind to contact the estate agents and present myself as prospective buyer but I had a sneaking suspicion they might suss that I didn’t have a couple of million quid in the bank. Anyway, I digress.

The house, what I saw of it, is stunning, and the grounds go on for miles. There’s a lovely central area when you first go through the archway with tons of flower beds and pots, then there are other little walkways and a 15 minute walk where you end up in the hills with fantastic views.

There’s a sweet little church, a pond and a little waterfall, a couple of gypsy caravans and 2 lush dogs – a fantastic place to live if you were either a kid or a canine I should imagine.



You have 2 more opportunities to visit – this Sunday and Monday afternoon, 2.30 – 5pm. I’d recommend it if you get a chance.

Mandy x

Ay Caramba!!

We were birthday girls on Thursday night. One whole year! A Mexican theme was chosen, mostly because I had a couple of spare Mexican hats and a blow-up cactus in the loft that wasn’t getting a lot of usage. Also, it meant there’d be loads of scope for the food for our shared supper (which everyone took advantage of). The feeding of the five thousand didn’t get a look in, I’m sure we could have fed  an entire South American country on what we all brought to eat.

And then there was the entertainment – we tried to keep it a secret, so hopefully it was a surprise to most. Claire and Anna from The Showgirl Academy came along to show us the Mexican Hat Dance. Laugh!! - I’ll let the photos do the talking.

A really fun night I thought.

The margaritas were excellent, and we had a fantastic birthday cake.

I suspect there were plenty of families eating leftover chilli and enchilladas on Friday night.

Mandy x

Book group news

Hello all
Just a note to say that the next meeting of the book group will be 7.15pm on 21st July at the Ship on Keynsham High Street.
 

This month's read is: The Bolter by Frances Osborne (subtitle: Idina Sackville - The Woman Who Scandalised 1920s Society and Became White Mischief's Infamous Seductress ) 

Sounds like my kind of gal!

Happy reading
Cheers

Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!

Not sure how many husbands and flatmates will be suffering this morning having been practised on when we got home. Although we were short on numbers this month, it made for more space to try out our self-defence techniques as Rita and Tracey showed us how to fend off would-be attackers. A bit of basic guidance to start with (such as, try not to put yourselves in a vulnerable position in the first place - walk down the main road, not down the lane) and then straight into some easy manoeuvres to extracate yourself from unwanted clutches. It’s a serious subject but our teachers gave us plenty of laughs, and no doubt got a few of their own from the grimaces on our faces as they gave us ‘hands-on’ tuition. Only one snap I’m afraid as all the photos Roz took have been taken by technology gremlins.

Our new monthly book sale got off to a good start. We’ve salvaged the best of the leftovers from the Spring Fayre and are flogging them at 50p a go – every little helps as they say.

There weren’t many notices this month - reminders about the Mexican Party, October ball and the sign-up sheet to help with registration at the door each month.

Don’t forget Book Club is next Thursday starting at 7.15pm at the Ship Inn on the High Street. If you’re a quick reader you could just about get through Chris Brookmyre’s Sacred Art of Stealing before we meet. Finally, this Sunday we’re meeting at Hanham Court at 2.30pm for a look round the gardens, followed by a swift half at the Lock and Weir if the weather is clement.
Hope to see you there

Cheers

Mandy x

Clay Shoot - Mill Farm, Dundry

The first challenge was finding the place and we nearly failed that. Somewhere between Dundry and Winford turned out not to be quite enough instruction. The next challenge was arriving without divorce proceedings being in place. Only just managed that one as well. We managed to lose one of our number along the way. In her own words, she wasn’t in a fit state to be handed a gun after she’d been driving, lost, round country lanes for an hour.

Anyway, 8 of us got there (me, Vic, Sheila and Elaine and our respective ‘others’) just in time before the bacon sarnie ladies packed up for the morning. Free cups of calming tea much needed and appreciated.

2 jolly nice chaps, Tim and Marcus gave us our safety talk, our earplugs, and our glasses, and then, most importantly our guns!! The presidential husband was up first and fortunately didn’t disgrace himself (or me) having already admitted to having prior experience. Private wagers were suggested by the guys from the shoot, but if there were any, nobody was giving any clues as to what was being offered by the loser.

We were there for about 2 and a half hours and it was a great laugh. The girls got private tuition round the back of the van from Marcus, and the boys got to play with heavy artillery so I think everyone was happy. Malcolm (Mr Elaine Holgate) was the overall winner with the most clays hit, and we managed to leave the scorecards behind so I don’t know how everyone else did (except I know I didn’t win).

I’d certainly recommend it for a morning’s entertainment, but make sure you ask for a map before you go. We went over time as we were late getting started and had half the gun club watching our pathetic efforts for the last 45 mins. And be prepared for the shoulder ache the next day (and the next!)

Mandy x

These boots were made for walking….

Congratulations to Michelle Tarrant for successfully completing the Moonwalk this weekend. 26 gruelling miles in 6 and three quarter hours and only one horror story of exploding blisters (not hers, fortunately!)

M x

What? No Dancing??

Well, if you didn’t make it to the WINGs meeting this month, you didn’t miss much. In fact, you didn’t miss anything- literally! Zumba lady was a no-show. Yours truly spent the time alternating between gazing wistfully out of the window in the hopes of seeing a car turn into the carpark, and hiding out in the kitchen with a glass of wine wondering what to do next (great leadership style!!).



Anyway, it was a good chance for all to have a bit of a natter, and we had lots of new folk who seemed to enjoy themselves enough to want to come back so all was not lost.


Clay pigeon shoot this Sunday so watch this space for photos…..

Cheers


Mandy

**** STOP PRESS ****

Another WINGs Baby!!  Congratulations Adele.  It's a boy - 7.4lbs. 
Mandy x

WINGs Book club first outing

The venue was where we started with our launch – The Wine Bar on the High Street (funny how it all seems to revolve around alcohol). There were 5 of us at the first meeting, thanks to Lou for arranging it and we sat outside in the lovely ‘summer’ evening sunshine. It seems to me that we spent about half an hour chatting about the books, and about 3 hours just chatting. I suppose that’s what happens when you put a group of women together and stick a couple of glasses of vino in front of them. So, we’ve picked the first 3 books, and the venue for the next meeting (look out for an email from Lou). First book will be The Sacred Art of Stealing by Chris Brookmyre (thanks to my cousin Jude for the recommendation). 

The evening was brought to a rather abrupt close by the arrival of the (very large) wine bar dog who promptly turned his back on us and treated us to a rather impressive toilet dispay (she said delicately) right next to our table. It took a bit of the shine off what had been rather pleasant surroundings so we took ourselves off. I suspect Amazon will be doing a roaring trade from us all today.

Cheers

Mandy

Spring Fair 2011

The long anticipated Spring Fair on the 16th April marked the full awakening of the season,  with a clear sunny day to mark the occasion.  We dusted the cobwebs off ourselves after a winter of hibernation and arrived fresh faced to greet the good people of the town.    Crafts folk and makers came from here and yonder to show off and sell a glut of fresh produce and bespoke delights.

Preserves, chutneys, pastries, plants and other such fancies filled the hall.  It was  like a scene from Lark Rise To Candleford, (except in the modern day set in the West Country,  Fear Hall, Keynsham).    Produce came from as far a field as the Borders in Abergavenny and help came from places as far flung as Newcastle.  It was quite an affair. 

Three sellers even came that hadn't even booked a table but we accommodated them with stands.  There were over 100 people that came through the doors and at one stage the cake stall queue was out through the door due to its popularity and also the fact that we were selling them on the cheap in the final half hour!  I'm sure they will be back next Spring to stock up again!

We raised £300 after expenses for WINGs which was a good result.  

By Victoria Edwards

The cat sat on the mat...

You wouldn’t believe what goes on in the filthy minds of WINGs ladies. Asked why , when 2 cats on mats were separated by a front door, one looked happy and the other looked grumpy, one response was that one of the cats was in heat. Not what you expect from the W.I.

We had loads of fun tonight with pics of scary monsters, and smiley happy little boats and their friends and learned a bit about why not to marry a children’s illustrator if you want to make sure your mortgage gets paid! Many thanks to Thomas Docherty http://www.thomasdocherty.co.uk/ for sharing the secrets of his trade with us, and allowing us a little bit of playtime as we drew our own illustrations for what can now be our now secret catchphrase ‘Eating beans on toast makes me happy!’ 

Clare Blackwell gave us an update on the proposed new area in Keynsham around the library and clock tower having been coerced into giving up an afternoon of her time to go and attend some workshops and consultation exercises on our behalf. And Sandra Parfitt shared her experience of a W.I. day out at the Winter Gardens in Weston at the Avon Federation AGM. (top tip – don’t go to the pier for your afternoon tea – the tea shop’s closed)

In other news.....


Less than a fortnight until Spring Fair. Get in touch if you still think you can make a contribution or if you have time to do some leafleting in your street or area. We will be at the Fear Hall from 9.30am on 16th April if you want to drop anything off. If bringing cakes, please bring a plate or something to display them on.


Money for clay shoot due next month - £25 per person please. If you’re not going to be at the meeting but still want to go on the shoot, let me know and we’ll have to make other arrangements for passing the cash.


Dinner dance in October – date has been set for october 15th. Partners welcome. We have a menu (4 course) and cost is £36 per person. Venue is Old Manor House, Keynsham.


First bookclub will be at the Wine Bar on the High Street on 21st April at 7pm.


Further to my last post about vouchers, apparently you can’t bring clubcard vouchers as you have to have the matching clubcard. Hey ho – there are plenty of other vouchers out there.


And finally, loads of new guests tonight. Let’s hope they enjoyed themselves and felt welcome. Hope to see you again ladies.


Pics to follow.


Night night


Mandy x

Voucher Swap

Sometimes, Ladies, I think my brilliance knows no bounds. (other times, there are definitely bounds!). Today I bring you ‘voucher swap’.

How often do you get your Tesco Clubcard statement, wade through the bumf, take the 2 vouchers you think you might use, and bin the rest?? How many times have you said ‘no thank you’ to the offer of Sainsbury’s computers for schools vouchers??

And now, the answer – our purple file! A new section in there with plastic wallet for vouchers. Bring the ones you don’t want, have a wade in there and see if there’s anything you do want. As they say in insurance adverts, “simples”.

Looking forward to having a good old delve in the wallet next month.

Mandy x

A bit of hard selling...

Feeling very W.I. inspired this morning after a fun evening yesterday with Michelle at the Wellsway School Ladies’ Pamper Evening. Met up with a couple of our own ladies who had stands there, spent some money, drank some wine (unusually for us), and managed to hand out some leaflets for our group and a bit of propaganda for the Federation. Hopefully it will lead to some new members.

The Spring Fayre is still consuming my every waking hour! I’ve got some posters and flyers made up (thanks Vic for the design) and will be doling them out at the next meeting. Get your thinking caps on about where we can advertise.


And finally for now, there are changes afoot in the committee – more on that later…..

Mandy

Getting plastered!

The hall at our new venue proved to be a perfect size for rolling around the floor which is what we seemed to spend quite a bit of time doing at our last meeting. Nigel Braybrook very kindly came along to get us plastered – well, bandaged, rather than plastered if you’re going to get technical.

We put ourselves in the recovery position, we put slings on and bandaged very lifelike plastic wounds. All good fun and served alongside our usual refreshments and a slice or two of cherry cake.

Having said that, a few of us did manage to get rather close to plastered in the Ship on the following Thursday....

Spring Fayre is really high on the agenda. Need loads of help!

Watch this space for more on that.

Mandy

WINGs baby

As promised - here he is - Toby  Husband.  Our brand new WINGs baby.  I met him at the train station on Sunday (with the rest of his family, he wasn't there on his own!).  Congratulations Lou.

Next one due May - over to you Adele......

Eat your heart out Bacchus!

When I was a kid I wanted to be a journalist (bit of a preamble, but stay with me).  It’s all I ever remember wanting to be;never anything in the caring professions (missed that whole ‘I want to be a nurse’ thing) -just a journalist. Then at some point I became aware that being a journalist involved deadlines, and I realised I’m just too lazy. Have been thinking for 3 days what a great night we had on Thursday, but just couldn’t get round to writing it down. Just as well I never followed my dream. I’d have to work for something like the Kingswood Observer where they have the news 3 weeks after it happened (apologies to the Observer or they may never advertise our meetings again!)

Anyhoo – I should be telling you about Thursday night. Keynsham contingent met up in the Ship for a swift one before the taxi arrived. Note to self – occasional beer in the pub with other WINGERs should be on the agenda; very pleasant. And while I’m on a roll, do you mind being WINGers? I quite like the sound of it. Sorry – drifting off from the point again. Have one eye on the rugby, and half an eye each on my wine glass and the computer screen so you’ll have to excuse me if I drift off topic now and again.

So 12 of us turn up, reasonably on time, drinking hats on, and having had our tasting glasses filled, the first thing we are told is that we can’t drink. It’s like watching the starting block of the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games. We’re all sitting there, staring at our glasses, hardly listening to our host and wine mentor, just waiting for the ‘ready, steady, go’. But we did wait, and it was worth it. We learned stuff. We learned that tasting isn’t about whether or not you like the wine, but whether you can appreciate it being a good example of the grape. We learned that there are only 2 tastes, acid and sweet, and that everything else is flavour. We learned that nobody who knows about wine give 2 hoots about legs! Personally I also learned that there are red wines that aren’t totally revolting, and that some wine goes particularly well with bacon sandwiches – which to me says ‘breakfast wine’!! (Chateau Val Joanis 2007, Cotes du Luberon, in case you’re wondering – go easy on the brown sauce!)

Wine of the night? (you can tell I’m watching the rugby) I think Karri Oak Cabernet Merlot 2007/ Mt Barker, Western Australia. Liked by all – around a tenner a bottle – more than your average trip to Asdal, but then, we were on a night out. More than one of us thought it worth taking one home and it’s just seen us through a lovely Sunday dinner of roast beef. Highly recommended

As was the entire evening. £15 well spent I reckon. Let’s make it an annual event.


Mandy x


p.s. anyone interested in the other wines we tasted (new world vs old world) – let me know and I will send you the list.

Farewell to Fear!

Tonight was our last night at Fear Hall and I can’t say anyone will be losing any sleep over it! I’ve come back from the meeting on a high. It wasn’t the best attendance we’ve ever had, but I finally feel like I’m getting to know people and we’re starting to form as a group (the Educators that I work with would be so proud of me!)


We had a mini crisis at 2pm when our speaker for the evening rang me (brave man – didn’t just email) to say he would be spending his evening with his head down the toilet so there was about 5 hours to find someone else. Unfortunately for her, Adele happened to be working in our building that afternoon and allowed herself to be persuaded to shift her talk up a bit from September to this evening (around about an hour and a half after she was due to finish work).

Mini crisis number 2 at 6.50pm when we realised Ros’s husband had driven off into the sunset without a mobile phone, but with the laptop still in his car! Poor Kate - the only person whose number we had who was close enough to home to turn around, go back, collect laptop, and walk back again to the hall so we could get the presentation equipment sorted. Still, it was Clare’s birthday so we were treated to proper W.I. chocolate cake (not made by her, she hastened to add) for our meeting, so you can’t complain.

Big news of the night is the move to our new premises!! More of that later, but don’t turn up at the Fear Hall in March....

Adele’s talk was really interesting. We got some top food hygiene tips – useful for when we’re doing a bit of W.I. baking for the masses and trying not to kill anyone, followed by some great stuff about her experience as a Food Safety Officer at Glastonbury, and some beautiful pics to go with it (although I have to say, my favourite slide was the loaf of bread with half a mouse baked into it!)

If you haven’t already joined up, I would say you don’t know what you’re missing – but now you do!!

Mandy x

p.s.  pics to follow

Busy week in Wings World

Committee meeting last week, closely f ollowed by a meeting to arrange our Spring Fayre.  Date and venue sorted (16th April at the Fear Hall) and now we're up to the bit where we get some folk to pay us money to have a stand.  We've spent the last couple of days emailing all sorts of folk and have been rewarded with our very first booking form and cheque today!!

Sally and I have been to look at another venue for our meetings (well done Kate for sorting this out) and it's looking very hopeful.  Watch this space folks - we may be moving as soon as March.

We've rearranged the programme a bit.  I'll be sending out a new version hopefully next week, but what's on the blog is now as up to date as it gets.

Feeling very excited about all the good stuff we've got coming up this year and the potential move to our new home (with noticeboard AND cupboard - what more could a W.I. ask for)

Look forward to seeing loads of you in Feb.

Cheers
Mandy xx

Some January stuff

Really late this month to chat to you all.  I've had the dreaded lurgy that I was so smug about avoiding at Christmas, but have been over that for a couple of weeks so no excuse except laziness. 

We have some great snaps from our January meeting.  Will attempt to attach them to this page.  Apologies in advance to Keron if you don't want the world and his wife to see your forehead, but I suspect not many people read this blog!  Jackie, the colour consultant, did a great job for us again.  I wonder how many of you spent the weekend clearing out your wardrobes??

Committee meeting tonight, programme planning and planning for the spring fair on April 16th.  We will be looking for more volunteers for the fair - stall personning, cake-making etc etc.   Keen though we are, there's only so much the committee can do alongside full time jobs!

See you all soon,

Mandy x

p.s.  Sally is working on our new Facebook page and we'll put the rest of the photos up on there