Leigh on Mendip WI
Meeting: Monday 13 May 2019 at 7.30pm in
the Memorial Hall
Mary M welcomed all our members plus one visitor Tina, who has
recently moved to the village. She
thanked the members who had set up the Hall and provided flowers.
Apologies:
HW, SB, KS, MCh, TP, FB, RS, JB, JH, BM, ZL, SS
AGM: Mary M explained that tonight’s meeting was a different format to
our normal monthly meetings. Although we
currently have 8 Committee members we could do with more, especially as the
Institute has increased in numbers. She
asked all members to consider this and have a chat with an existing Committee
member.
Minutes of April meeting: The minutes having been read by
members, were agreed as a true record and signed by Mary M.
Matters Arising & Feedback from
Events:
Spring Roadshow – 9 April. Barbara gave a brief but
informative report on the day she and Marguerite had enjoyed. The various County Committees gave a talk and
there were 2 speakers. There is a Flower
& Produce Show on 6 July in Taunton which should be a good day out if any
members are interested. After the great
success of Oncology Cushions the next project is to make small lap blankets for
dementia patients.
Lunch at The Bell – 3 May. Possibly a record number
with 13 ladies attending.
Community Coffee Morning – Monday 6 May – 16 people came.
Rural Life Museum – 7 May. Many of our members
attended. We had a very interesting tour
and talk by one of their Staff and were then given free time to look around on
our own. We stopped for refreshments on
the way back. Thank you to Barbara for
organising it.
Forthcoming events:
Coffee Morning – 3 June. You are very welcome to
attend.
Monthly Lunch – 7 June. 12.15pm at The Bell.
Village Fair. General plans are going well. For our Ice Cream and Tombola Stalls we need
help on the day – just one hour each please.
Raffle tickets were distributed tonight (2 books per member). Please try to sell them – return money, stubs
and any unsold tickets to our June meeting or to the Fair on the day. Tombola items to Mary’s house or at our June
meeting at the latest. If each member
was able to donate 2 or 3 items that would be great. Tickets also on sale for the Barn Dance on
Friday 14 June - £10 each to include food.
Frome Group Social – Thursday 4 July.
2-4pm at Buckland Dinham. Games
& tea. £4. Names next month.
ACWW Walk. This is usually at the end of April. Didn’t go ahead but decided to do a walk on Friday 9 August. 2pm start from the Village Hall. About an hour. Refreshments back at Helen’s house. All monies raised go to ACWW (see your County
News for updates on the work they do).
President’s Evening – Monday 12 August.
This year decided to have a Golf Croquet evening starting at 6pm. We can use the hall on the Rec Field – and if
the weather is good we can sit outside.
Please bring a plate of Finger Food to share. Committee will provide the drinks.
Frome Group Christmas Event. This will be held on
Monday 16 December in the evening.
Details to follow.
County News:
County Quiz – 24 July. To be held in Frome. 5 members already interested. Teams of up to 6 people (all WI
members). £8 to include a supper. Names and money please at June meeting. If enough interest we could enter 2
teams! Good fun last year.
Correspondence:
Calendars (£4), Dairies (£5). Please see Caroline
tonight or at the June meeting if you wish to place an order.
2021 Calendar Photo Competition. Theme ‘Stunning
Somerset’. Jan P has more information.
Short Mat Bowls Competition. Saturday 12 October at
Ashcott Village Hall.
Plastic Soup and Climate Change. More information
available on these topics. Climate Lobby
– 26 June in Westminster.
Birthdays:
ED, GB, CH, MM & JW.
Arrangements 10 June:
Speaker – Guide Dog Puppy walker.
VOT: Ann O. Refreshments – Jane and Sue S & Iris (to
be confirmed).
AOB:
Murder Mystery Supper, 18 May (FOLC).
Open Gardens (Pauline’s house at Ashwick) in aid of Dorothy House
– Sunday 19 May, 2-5pm.
Resolutions:
Two resolutions have been put forward for us to vote on
separately. They are: A call against the decline in local bus
services and Don’t fear the smear. Both discussions were led by a member of the
WI and a quiz and the powerpoint presentations were used to enable all members
to discuss the topics and consider how they wish Mary M (our delegate at the
AGM) to vote. For the “bus services” it
was an overwhelming vote for Mary to have a discretion vote after hearing the
speakers and debate at the AGM. One member
was “For”, one “Against” and one abstention.
For the “Smear” resolution the overwhelming majority was “For” with 2
“Discretionary” votes.
Treasurer’s Report:
Caroline presented the Financial Statement from 1/1/18 to
31/12/18. The Accounts have been signed
off by an independent examiner. The
surplus for the year is £126.3 and with total funds brought forward from last
year of £1254.36 gives a total carry-forward at this year end of £1380.79. Members were asked to adopt the accounts –
Proposed by Pauline and Seconded by Shelagh.
Secretary’s Report:
The report on our last year’s activities was prepared and read by
Jan P (see attached). Members were asked
to adopt the report – Proposed by Jo and Seconded by Marguerite.
President’s Address:
Mary M read her report – thanking everyone for their involvement
and support. Membership has increased to
36. (see attached).
Re-election of Committee:
All members of the Committee were happy to stand again and members
were in agreement.
Ballot for President:
Barbara conducted the Ballot.
3 members were nominated. 2
declined and Mary M accepted the role.
Other WI Roles:
There are sufficient Committee members to fulfil the roles of
President, Correspondence Secretary, Minutes Secretary and Treasurer.
Press Write-Up (Sue V)
Raffle (Marguerite)
Get Well Cards (to be confirmed)
Hall Rep (Gill)
Fair Rep (Jo & Helen)
Flowers (to be agreed for each meeting)
Blog (Jan P & Mary M)
Archive Material:
Mary M confirmed that the Archives, table cloth, etc. are stored
at her house and she is happy for this to continue.
Mary M then asked members to take a look at the items that had
been brought for the Show & Tell and the owners were happy to say a few
words as to why they had brought these objects and why they were special to
them. It was very interesting and much
enjoyed by our members. Refreshments and
savoury snacks were served by the Committee.
Signed by: _______________________________________ Date: _________________
LEIGH ON MENDIP WI
SECRETARY’S REPORT – MAY
2018 TO APRIL 2019
This
time last year at the AGM we discussed the Resolution on ‘Mental Health
Matters’ which we voted to support and was taken to the National AGM by our
delegate from Shepton Mallet. On the day
there was an overwhelming majority in favour.
Due
to our increasing membership the President’s evening was held in the Village
Hall in August – which was very pleasant with members bringing food to share.
Christmas was celebrated with an evening meal at the Mendip Inn near
Oakhill. Some members also attended the
Group carol service at Beckington and the County Service at Wells
Cathedral. We decorated a Christmas tree
on the theme of “Loneliness” for the display in our local Church in December
and won “The Best Themed Tree”. We also
remembered those less fortunate than ourselves and collected items for the YMCA
Shoe box Appeal as well as seasonal donations to the Food Bank in Frome (which
members very kindly donate to throughout the year). Our Birthday celebration
was at The Bell where we had great fun playing skittles. Thank you to those who took charge of
organising the games and keeping score.
Members
have attended a number of Group events as well as their meetings. We had a visit on a beautiful evening to
Stoberry House Gardens in Wells and also took part in the Quiz Evening at
Frome. We ran the Group Meeting here in
September – thank you to all our members who helped. We also went to the County AGM held at
Westlands in Yeovil – an interesting day out with good speakers. Two of our
members helped at the Bath & West Show in May in the WI Refreshment
tent. Do look at your County News and
let one of the committee know if there are any events you would like to
attend. They can be great fun and it is
good to have the chance to meet new people or catch up with old friends.
Visits
have included doing a High Tour at Wells Cathedral (well worth climbing the
steps) and we recently had a theatre trip to The Merlin in Frome to see “Allo
Allo” which was very amusing.
Speakers
have included Wendy Worley – a local author who is enjoying being able to spend
more time on her writing now she is retired.
We heard from Sandy Bateman about the history of the Minack Theatre in
Cornwall and also her own involvement in productions. Another speaker, Tiggy Trethowan, gave us a
very interesting insight into her life behind the scenes in TV. Our WI Adviser, June Greenway, stepped in at
the last minute for our April meeting and talked about her work as a
Registrar. We have also learnt about the
Life of Elizabeth (Garrett) Anderson who was the first female physician in
England and had a Talk on the Properties of Aloe Vera and how it could perhaps
improve our well-being. In September we
had an amusing talk from Derek March followed by a tasting on the ‘Story of
English County Cheeses’. Remembering
those less fortunate we have heard about the work of ‘Save the Children’. We started 2019 with a talk on Climate Change
which made us think what each of us can do to help with this problem. This was followed in February with a talk
from a local gardener which I think gave inspiration to us all as well as
learning about how a display is put together for events like the Chelsea Flower
show. March was great fun with learning
about the art of Belly Dancing and then joining in a routine before watching
how the professionals do it!
We
continue to support local Village events.
Our main fund raiser is running Stalls at the Summer Fair in June –
where this time we sold ice creams and Pimms as well as running the
Tombola. We also continue to organise
the Village Clean early in the Spring – and always welcome support from other
people living in Leigh on Mendip.
Members
enjoy the Monthly lunches at The Bell and the Coffee mornings in the Hall. Both of these events are another good
opportunity to catch up with each other.
Thank
you to everyone who helped with the Programme last year and we hope that you
have all found something to enjoy at our meetings. Please let us know if there
is anything that you feel may be of interest to us all.
We
look forward to the year ahead.
Presidents Report
2019
Thank you Jan for such a lovely summary of all we have
enjoyed and been involved in over the last year.
This has been my first year as President, despite many years
in other roles and I must thank all the Committee for their support and their
hard work in doing the regular jobs as well as taking over some of the annual
tasks from me. Thanks again to Sue V and Marguerite who are fabulous extra
helpers organising our press reports and Raffle each month.
This year our Membership has increased to 36, which is
fantastic and makes a huge difference to the atmosphere each month, help and
ideas and more lovely ladies for us all to get to know. Special thanks to the Ladies previously from
the closed Oakhill WI who tried us out and have all joined, so we must be doing
something right! Also to the ladies from both sets of “New Houses” who have
been so keen to get involved in both WI and village life in general – you are
most welcome.
We hope over the coming year you will also take the chance
to attend something WI outside of LOM – there is plenty to enjoy or get
involved in if you want it, at all levels.
Please do all continue to encourage new neighbours,
colleagues and family to come and meet us and find out what OUR WI is about.
We look forward to the rest of our 2019 programme with a wide range of Speakers and activities as well as some fun events over the summer. I would encourage our newer members to help us set the programme for next year so that you can have a say in the topics we can include. We also welcome more members onto Committee so we can keep things fresh and hope to hand over the reins of the Officer roles in a year or so, as we’ve all been doing it far too long!
So please do get involved – your WI membership is your choice
of what you want to put into it and get out of it. Most of all make friends,
share stories and learn new things.
Mary Mears
13.5.19
No comments:
Post a Comment