We are still collecting Happy Bags, a scheme where our unwanted handbags are given to vulnerable women and more are needed please, along with toiletries if possible. We have a monthly coffee morning at 10.30am at The Roastery in Quedgeley and our next one is coming up soon and all are welcome to come for a drink and a chat. It is our AGM in November followed by wine and nibbles and our Christmas meal at Owlpen Manor at the end of November and soon it will be our Christmas meeting when we will be having a Christmas Evening Social and American Supper, with carols by Christmas Ensemble. At this meeting we will have one of our occasional competitions which may prove rather challenging as we have to describe “My Ideal Man” in a maximum of ten words – start thinking ladies! Our speaker for the evening was someone we had heard from before, Peter Preece with the second part of his Wildlife Photography talk when he showed us many of his beautiful slides. An artist and nature lover Peter, along with his wife Margaret, travel around the UK and abroad photographing animals, birds and insects and anything they find of interest. Peter has won many prizes for his photographs and some have been made into calendars and cards. This was another enjoyable and relaxing evening. Quedgeley WI meet at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of every month and always welcome visitors and new members.

Our September meeting began on a sad note when we heard from Caroline Meek about another of our longest serving members, Myrtle Nash, who had recently passed away.  It was lovely to hear a short life history of Myrtle who had joined Quedgeley WI in the 1950s and had lived in the area all her life.  After one minute’s silence to remember Myrtle we continued with the usual business.  We had enjoyed the Group Meeting and the August outing to Westonbirt and our recent manning of the Rikenel car park had raised over £300 for our funds.

One of our members has proposed a resolution for all WIs to vote on,  “Women under 40 to be offered breast screening”and hopefully it will go through to the final vote next year.  We still have our monthly coffee morning, the Christmas meal and Christmas concert as well as the second part of Peter Preece’s talk on Wildlife Photography in October to look forward to.  We didn’t have a speaker for our September meeting, we had singers!  Carole and Malcolm Brown entertained us with their Singing for Pleasure and we heard a range from Phantom, Cats, West Side Story and other well-known songs.  Malcolm performed an entertaining comedy song called The Spreader and we all joined in with ballet arm movements!  Carole and Malcolm sing with expression and real feeling which made the concert even more enjoyable.   If anyone would like to come along to a meeting either as a visitor or new member they will be made very welcome. We meet on the second Wednesday of every month at Quedgeley Village Hall and further information can be found on our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk or www.facebook.com/quedgeleywi .

August to our WI members means the annual outing when we have a pleasant time going to various places around the area.  Previous outings have included a meal at Fromebridge Mill and a visit to the Elgar Museum in Worcester.  This year we will be visiting Westonbirt House and Garden with a tour of the house and afternoon tea.  It’s back to normal in September when we will hear Carole and Malcolm Brown talk on Singing for Pleasure.  There will be a competition at this meeting when members can enter a programme from a show or musical.  In October we will be having a return visit from Peter and Margaret Preece with the second part of their talk and slideshow on Wildlife Photography.  They have been to many places around the world photographing animals, birds and insects and Peter has won prizes for his photographs so we are sure of another enjoyable evening.  In November we have our Annual General Meeting and December will be a Christmas Social Evening and American Supper, with carols by Christmas Ensemble.  There will be another competition at this meeting which may prove a challenge when we have a maximum of ten words to describe “My Ideal Man”.   Hopefully there will be many interesting entries!

If any of these meetings have been of interest please come along, either as a visitor or new member when you will be made very welcome.  We meet on the second Wednesday of every month at Quedgeley Village Hall and always look forward to seeing new faces.  For further details please visit our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk or www.facebook.com/quedgeleywi.

The evening was hot and the roads were empty, (something to do with football perhaps) when our July meeting began with the singing of Jerusalem followed by the usual business. The recent walk on Cleeve Hill and outing to Trioscope had been enjoyed by those who went and hopefully our August outing to Westonbirt will be just as good. It wasn’t long before we were introduced to our speaker Jill Ruiz and her friends Cynthia and Pat, all supporters of Gloucester’s Waterways Museum and all dressed in period costumes and elaborate bonnets for the talk about canal boat women, their children and crafts. All three played their part in telling the history of canals, the boats and the people who lived on them. It was hard for the wives of the boatmen as they only had a small room to live in and we were shown decorated plates, horse brasses, crochet and rag rugs that were used to brighten the tiny space that they all shared. It was very hard work for the women and sometimes the children as they were expected to steer the boat, help to load and unload and deal with the canal locks. This is a very informative and entertaining talk and is highly recommended. As it is our outing in August there will be no meeting but it’s back to normal in September when we will have a musical evening with Carole and Malcolm Brown telling us about Singing for Pleasure. The competition is a programme for a show or musical. Anyone who would like to come along as a visitor or new member will be made very welcome. We meet at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of every month at Quedgeley Village Hall. For more information please visit our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk or find us on facebook.com/quedgeleywi.

It was a lovely warm evening for our June meeting. After the usual singing of Jerusalem we were reminded that the Happy Handbags collection was still on-going and more large bags and contents were requested to distribute to vulnerable women. Although most of our monthly talks have been interesting a few members had questioned the length of some of them so in future speakers will be given a limit of around 45-50 minutes. This will give more time for refreshments, general conversation and time to browse and hopefully buy at the fundraising barter stall. We have a mid-week walk and lunch at Cleeve Hill, our usual monthly coffee morning at The Roastery as well as a Trioscape Lunch all planned for June so plenty of things to look forward to. In July we will be attending the Group Meeting and at our meeting we will be hearing from Jill Ruiz who will tell us about the lives of the narrow boat women, children and crafts. Anyone who is interested can come along as a visitor or new member and they will be made very welcome. Further details can be found on facebook.com/quedgeleywi.

The month of May means Resolutions in the WI World when members choose and vote on important issues that they want to see the WIs National body campaign on. This year the Resolution was Mental Health Matters and after a brief summary of the details we voted in favour. Some of the bags that were donated by members for the Happy Handbags appeal have been given out to vulnerable women who were thrilled to receive them. As this is an ongoing initiative it is hoped that more handbags will be donated, along with toiletries to go inside. Members were given tags on which they put their name, this is a new idea which will be helpful for visitors and new members and even some old ones who know the face but can’t remember the name of someone they have known for many years! We are looking forward to our lunch outing in June and several members will be going on a midweek walk from Cleeve Hill. We were very successful in a recent quiz for MS when we came 1st and hope for more success at other quizzes. While we enjoyed our usual post-resolution wine and nibbles we heard from Bob Scett with his very interesting talk and slide show about Bletchley Park, a place that had been a state secret for many years but is now very well known and which we were urged to visit. Our speaker for June will be Liz Spurway with “An Introduction to Fused Glass” and there will be items for sale. There is also a competition for “an unusual craft item” which it is hoped some of our members will enter. If anyone would like to come along to this or any other meeting they will be made very welcome. Details can be found on our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk

The Village Hall was full for our April meeting when we welcomed members, visitors and our speaker. We started with the usual business and apologies. Unfortunately our entry for the GFWI skittles competition was too late to be entered in the draw but we hope to organise a skittles evening later, to be held at The Anchor. We heard that items are still needed for the Happy Handbag scheme for women and babies in crisis and fifteen members had seen an excellent floral demonstration of an altar arrangement and a table decoration using lilies at the Ivy House Florist in Tuffley.

Many of us had attended the funeral of one of our members, Hilda Fleet and donations were collected in her memory. We heard our delegate’s report on the Annual Council Meeting in Cheltenham when WI business is discussed followed by some interesting speakers, one of which was Adam Henson of Cotswold Farm Park. Members were urged to go to other meetings as they are always very interesting and informative. After learning about Henry VIII and his first two wives at our March meeting we had a complete change when we heard another very interesting talk with slides about Birds of the Forest of Dean by Barrie Mills.

The next meeting in May always means discussing and voting on the Resolution. Every year WI members have the chance to put forward issues that they want to see the national body campaign on. This year the Resolution is “Mental Health Matters”. Following the vote  we will have wine and nibbles and will be hearing from Bob Scott with his talk on Bletchley Park. If anyone is interested in either joining our WI or coming along as a visitor they will be made very welcome. We meet at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of every month at Quedgeley Village Hall. Further details can be found on our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk and on facebook.com/quedgeleywi.

There were so many members at our March meeting that we had to put out extra chairs which was due to the attendance of another new member and two visitors and we look forward to having to put out more chairs in the future! It was a sombre start to the meeting when we heard of the recent death of one of our members, Hilda Fleet and those attending her funeral will all be wearing bright clothes as requested. On a happier note a birthday bouquet was presented to Joy, another of our members. Our skittles team is being formed ready for the GFWI Skittles competition, we are still being asked to donate handbags and contents for vulnerable women and the homeless and a request was made for anyone who would like to make bonding squares. These are knitted or crocheted and the same size and colour and are given to mothers and premature babies in hospital and are regularly swapped between them to create the bond between mother and baby. We have our regular coffee morning at The Roastery and a floral demonstration to look forward to as well as the Group meeting, a quiz and an outing later in the year.

Our speaker was Reverend Henderson with his amusing talk with slides entitled Fortitude and Fancy of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, the first two wives of Henry VIII. We learned that Henry’s mother was 12 when she gave birth to him, Henry didn’t write Greensleeves and also about the wedding night Blessing of the Bridal Bed! There were many fascinating facts to keep us interested and we all know a lot more about Henry VIII and his divorced and beheaded wives.

If anyone would like to come along to the next meeting they can listen to a talk on the Birds of the Forest of Dean by Barrie Mills and perhaps they will enjoy what they hear and decide to join our friendly WI. Further details of when and where we meet can be found on our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk or facebook.com/quedgeleywi

There was a lovely smell of cooking at our February meeting which could only mean one thing – our 93rd Birthday Supper! Quedgeley WI was formed way back in 1925 but that was several years after the very first Women’s Institute which was started in Canada in 1897. The first WI in Great Britain was in Anglesey in 1915 and since then the organisation has grown to over 6,000 WIs. Women join to meet new friends, learn new skills and make a difference on matters that are important to them. Important to us was our Birthday Supper and the lovely food that had been cooked by some of our members but first we sang Jerusalem followed by the usual business. We welcomed three new members who had joined last month, we will be forming a skittles team and entering the Gloucestershire Federation Skittles Competition, we still meet for a chat at our local coffee shop and will be attending a floral demonstration in March. Several times a year we have competitions at our meetings and prizes were presented to the winners and runners up for the highest numbers of points. Finally, we were able to enjoy a choice of meat and vegetable casseroles with crusty bread followed by the always scrumptious puddings! It will be back to normal in March when we will be hearing from Reverend Henderson with his talk entitled “Fortitude and Fancy of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn” which is sure to be very interesting. We can’t guarantee tasty food at every meeting but we can certainly quarantee a warm welcome to anyone who would like to come along, either as a guest or as a new member. We meet at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of every month at Quedgeley Village Hall and further details can be found on our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk or www.facebook.com/quedgeleywi

It was a remarkably full Village Hall for the first meeting of the New Year considering it was a very foggy January evening . After the singing of Jerusalem we agreed that our American Supper in December had been every enjoyable where we had food, drink, carols and a quiz. One of our teams had come 3rd in the Community Trust Quiz and we are hoping for better luck next year and a bouquet was presented to Pam Scarle, one of our more senior members, in celebration of her birthday.

We have plenty of things going on this year including a demonstration at a local florists shop, the forming of our own skittle team and more of our regular coffee mornings every month at The Roastery in Quedgeley. Our 93rd Birthday Supper is in February and we will be having one pot meals with crusty bread and butter followed by scrumptious puddings which are always “naughty” but much enjoyed. In March we will hear about Henry VIII’s first two wives and in April it will be the Birds of the Forest of Dean. With talks every month on various subjects we are sure of another enjoyable year.

Our speaker for the evening was the “Breakfast Bard” of Radio Gloucestershire Peter Wyton who gave readings of just some of his amusing poems that covered libraries, babysitting, Dad’s taxi Service and politics, to name just a few. Another good start to the year!

If anyone would like to come along to our friendly, fun and enjoyable meetings, either as a guest or new member they will be made very welcome. We meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at Quedgeley Village Hall. Details can be found on our website www.quedgeleywi.co.uk on www.facebook.com/quedgeleywi or ring our President Pat Watts on Glouces