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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