Stoke Gifford WI
President Sue Grimsted celebrated her 80th birthday on 27 August with lots of friends and family popping into her home to bring presents and cards, but what she didn’t know was that some members of the WI committee had arranged a surprise afternoon tea for her at Snack Attacks in Patchway.
It was difficult to keep it a secret and make arrangements with members who wished to attend, but in the end we managed to get 26 members sitting down at 2pm waiting for Sue to arrive. To see her face as she walked through the door was priceless.
Snack Attacks had kindly decorated the
café with banners and balloons and made everyone proud with so much food beautifully set out. Two of our members had also made two fantastic cakes.
Deputy President Margaret Robbins gave a speech reminding everyone how much Sue had done for this WI branch as President for
the last 15 years, adding what a hard act she will be to follow.
Sue has said she will not be looking to be re-elected this year which has received many groans and cries of “you don’t really mean it”.
Sue will, of course, remain a member of Stoke Gifford WI, hopefully as a committee member, as everyone will value her expertise and knowledge to aid whoever takes on the task in the future.
We all had a lovely afternoon and were able to show Sue how much we appreciate the years she has served as our WI President.
Back at our regular meetings, Sue welcomed members and visitors to the Trust Hall on 3 September.
Our speaker that evening was Lottie Dale who told us all about her escapades in ‘Falling with Style’. Although she worked as a District Nurse/Health Visitor, Lottie decided to take to the skies and learn how to fall out of an aircraft by joining a parachute club.
Her first jump was on 13 September 1982, she then did a second one on 3 October. Having got the taste for the excitement of this hobby, Lottie decided she would learn how to free-fall. She volunteered to do a wing-walk and also took part in formation free-falling.
Altogether she did 1,200 sky-diving jumps but now prefers to watch her son, who is following in her footsteps by taking part in parachute jumps.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 1 October when our speaker will be Jane Duffus who will be telling us about her books in ‘The Women Who Built Bristol’ series.
Visitors will always find a warm welcome at our WI group which is held on the first Wednesday of the month in the Trust Hall, Stoke Gifford, so please do come along and join us.
Little Stoke and District Ladies’ Club
We have had two events since I last wrote. In August, there were no meetings but 18 of us went on a coach to Babbacombe to see a variety show. It was a two-hour show and was full of comedy, singing and dancing and all done very professionally. Before the show we had a carvery. It was a full day out and everyone wants to do it again!
In September, we had a tai chi lesson from Louise which we did seated.
We meet twice a month on Tuesdays. Please see our Facebook page or contact Julie on 0117 9315007.