Search

Gloucester Road WI

The WI for Bristol's most interesting and independent high street. Meeting the 3rd Tues monthly.

Open Search

We meet on the 3rd Tuesday each month at St Bonaventure’s Parish Hall, Friary Road, Bristol BS7 8AF for an 8pm start. Doors open at 7.45pm.

Meetings are free to members and we do accept visitors with a requested donation of £6.50 cash

Programme is subject to change but will be updated regularly on this site.  Sign up to the monthly newsletter

16 January

Swishing!  Start the year in style with a clothes swap – clear out the old and herald in the new.
And a talk on Sustainable Fashion by personal stylist Becky Barnes  https://www.beckybarnesstyle.com

20 February

Quiz night

Quiz night with a difference!

19 March

A fascinating, gory and glorious, insight into the life of a Victorian Surgeon with Geoff King

16 April

Tai Chi with Rob McKay                       https://nextdoor.co.uk/pages/rob-mackay-bristol-england-2

21 May

Mental Health Awareness – Anxiety causes and solutions, including hypnotherapy with Sally Hare https://healingroomsbristol.co.uk/amo-team/sally-hare/

18 June

A talk about Death and how women lead the way with Delia Ryding.   https://www.divineceremony.co.uk

16 July – Location TBC

Treasure Hunt

20 August

Walk around the Neighbourhood

17 September

Craft evening

22 October

AGM & Line Dancing

26 November

Christmas Wreaths.  Pre-booking essential. 

17 December – Venue TBC

Christmas Meal.

Additional charges may apply for extra events or activities.
Programme may be subject to change at short notice

Featured post

Where We Meet

We meet at 8pm on the third Tuesday of every month in the:

St Bonaventure’s Parish Hall

Friary Lane
Bristol
BS7 8AF

https://stbonsbristol.com/hall-hire/

Plenty of parking.  Find us upstairs.

Featured post

The Gloucester Road WI is a diverse group of women with some amazing skills and experience.

We formed in 2011, and currently have over 50 members who meet monthly and engage in an activity or listen to a speaker. We also fundraise for local charities and participate in the national WI campaigns and initiatives.

Find out more about us

Featured post

Membership for 2024/25

The WI membership year runs from 1st April to 31st March and the fee for the 2024/25 membership year is £48.00.

Renewals for current members:

Thank you to those of you who have already renewed. Welcome back!

If you’re still intending to rejoin, please do so as soon as you can.

You can renew at any time but if you haven’t done so by the April meeting, we will need to charge the £6.50 cash visitor donation. (Please note that there is no pro rata membership option if you were a member in the past 12 months)

For details on how to renew your membership or become a new member please follow each step of the instructions on the How to become a member page.

Women are welcome to attend up to 3 meetings as a guest, before joining. Guests are requested to make a cash donation of £6.50 when attending.

If you have any further questions about joining our vibrant and active WI please get in touch.

Find out more about being a member

Featured post

Our Next Meeting

  • 16th April – Tai Chi - Indulge in some self care under the guidance of Rob Mackay. To aid our appreciation ancient martial art Rob will provide an over view of the history of Tai Chi and why he has so passionately practiced it for the... Continue Reading →

Find out more about this year’s programme

Featured post

Our Last Meeting

Our previous meetings

Featured post

Get in Touch

Featured post

What we get up to

  • The summer fayre stalls.
  • Our fabulous centenary bunting (with 100 pennants) made by our Knit & Stitch Club.
  • showing our arm knitted scarfs.
  • Selling cakes at the Redland Fair.
  • The morph meeting.
  • Bangra drumming
Featured post

16th April – Tai Chi

Indulge in some self care under the guidance of Rob Mackay.

To aid our appreciation ancient martial art Rob will provide an over view of the history of Tai Chi and why he has so passionately practiced it for the past 30 years.

He’ll then lead us through some gentle warm-up exercises and into some of the sequence.
This can be done either standing or seated and will take about 40 minutes.

The system Rob teaches is called TMW (Tai Chi Movement for Wellbeing). Whilst traditional Tai Chi takes many years to learn, TMW was developed to make the benefits of Tai Chi accessible to all in a simplified form.  It can help anyone, of any age, regain and maintain some flexibility of the body and it promotes a state of well-being in both body and mind.

Above all, the movements are beautiful, wholesome and make one feel relaxed, enlivened and able to face life anew. What’s not to like!

Come ready in loose fitting clothing and light shoes such as trainers.

Please bring cash for drinks and raffle. 
If you are a visitor it will cost you £6.50 cash for this event.

Doors open at 7:45 pm

Review March – The Victorian Surgeon

This March, we immersed ourselves in a captivating talk by our guest speaker, Geoff King as he vividly brought to life the stark realities of Victorian-era surgeries, in all its gory glory !  
 
As promised this was an entertaining and informative evening.

Doors open at 7:45 pm

Review February – Quiz Night

In February our meeting was a Quiz with a difference.

Karina, one of our members will organised the quiz and there were some great prizes too. 

This quiz with a difference was really fun night … no boring sports round, no need to swot up on the news, no advantage for hardened quizzers.

Some fun rounds, some random rounds and some just weird – such a good nose needed for the Herbs and Spice Round.

Teams varied in size between 3 and 5 members and it was a great opportunity to make new friends by getting to know some members who you don’t normally speak to.

Doors opened at 7:45pm with a prompt start at 8:00pm and still we over ran slightly with the head scratching, laughter and chatter.

A terrific evening.

Review January – Swishing and Sustainable Fashion

In January we started the year in style with a clothes swap – clearing out the old and heralding in the new. Attendees brought along unwanted Christmas gifts and clothes or accessories they no longer wear, to our clothes swap event.

In addition, our guest Becky Barnes, a personal stylist, gave an informative talk on ‘How Your Wardrobe Could Save the Planet – the journey of a pair of jeans from cotton field to landfill.’

Review December – Our Christmas Get Together

In December, we booked a table at the Royal Oak for those members who wanted gather for a Christmas meal.   The cost was £19.50 for 2 courses and £22.50 for 3 courses.  A £10 deposit was needed to secure a place.  A sign up sheet was in circulation at our November meeting and subsequently, an email circulated requesting payment of the deposit and confirmation of meal choices.
So as not to exclude anyone from this get together, everyone was welcome to join us for a drink beforehand.   

We met from 7.30 pm for a 7.45pm start on Tuesday 12th December at The Royal Oak, 385 Gloucester Road. BS7 8TR.

We held our usual Christmas raffle with prizes of donated gift hampers and cookery books. An enjoyable evening was had by attendees.

Review November – Christmas Wreath Making

In November, we prepared for Christmas with a wreath-making workshop. Our committee organised and ran it using locally sourced and mainly compostable materials. The wreaths were on a moss base, allowing them to last throughout the festive season. We encouraged people to bring along fir cones, rosemary sprigs, bay leaves, holly etc that they may have had in their garden, to share or add to their own wreaths. Ribbons were provided but some people brought along their own.

As expected, this was a popular event and the evening had a great buzz to it. Pre-booking was essential as spaces were limited. Visitors were welcome but needed to email in advance to secure a space. The cost to visitors was £15. The event was free to members but booking was required. We confirmed reservation requests by email.

Review October AGM & Boardgame Evening

We said goodbye and thank you to Claire-Louise Partridge who has been our President for 3 years. She will now be taking on the role of Treasurer. Catriona Irvine will be taking over as President. All other committee members stay the same, with the addition of Maura Hannon as the new Online Manager. Claire-Louise took us through the President’s report and the Treasurer’s report. Natasha Lee read out the Secretary’s report. We all raised a glass of fizz to celebrate the continuation of the Gloucester Road WI!

As our initial speaker was off sick, committee members brought in some boardgames and a number of tables were set up to play each game. Members could chose which game to play and move around if they wished. We all learnt about some new games – Christmas present ideas all round! – and great fun was had by all.

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑