The month of May sees Gloucester Rd WI being joined by Daisy and her mum, Heather, for a sign language lesson. Daisy is deaf and she and her mum are fluent in sign language which they will be sharing with us by teaching us some of the basics. Come along and learn how to sign some key words as well as some interesting facts about language in the deaf communities around us.
Pete Insole of Know Your Place Bristol, spoke about the Bristol City Council interactive history map, which has been expanding for the last ten years.
Pete Insole of Know Your Place Bristol, will talk about the Bristol City Council interactive history map, which has been working for the last ten years. Come along and find out more about the streets around you, which we all know for the last year we have got much more familiar with than normally.
We marked International Women’s Day with a discussion about how we’d marked the day.
Kyra Bond attended the meeting to give an overview of the work of our nominated charity for 2021, Womankind.
Womankind supports women in the Bristol area with professional counselling, group psychotherapy, befriending and a helpline service. Womankind is an established charity run by women for women.
Womankind help hundreds of women every year to improve their mental health and well-being so they can experience a better quality of life.
They recognise that the roots of our difficulties are often linked to personal life histories. They also recognise that the social and political environment in which we live affects our mental health.
It’s not always easy to ask for help but they would encourage you to not suffer in silence as talking to someone about your problems and how you feel can really help.
Womankind will work with you to understand your situation and can help you think things through so you get the support you need.
Happy International Women’s Day! Join us for our March meeting and hear from Kyra Bond from Womankind, our nominated charity for 2021
Belinda Kirk from Explorers Connect joined us at our meeting to talk about skippering the first women to Row Around The UK.
Belinda is the leading voice promoting the benefits of adventure on wellbeing and the founding campaigner of the #AdventureRevolution “I believe adventure is a necessity of the human spirit. The modern world has become too easy, too averse to challenge. This is having a negative effect on our physical and mental health. We need a revolution, to learn how to live adventurously” Her new book Adventure Revolution is coming out with Little, Brown later this year
An Explorer in her own right, Belinda has walked across Nicaragua, searched for camels in China’s Desert of Death, discovered ancient rock paintings in Lesotho, pioneered inclusive expeditions for people with disabilities, lead dozens of youth development expeditions around the world and gained a Guinness World Record for rowing unsupported around Britain. An expert expedition leade rand Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Belinda has managed remote trips for, amongst others Ray Mears, Chris Ryan & Bear Grylls.
Belinda launched Explorers Connect, a non-profit organisation connecting people to adventures in 2009. Over 10 years she has encouraged over 30,000 ordinary people to discover a world of outdoor challenges and established Britain’s National Night of Adventure #wildnightout2020
Belinda talked about skippering the first women to Row Around The UK. To date no other women have achieved this and only 11 people on the planet. Its now evolved into the toughest rowing race in the world. The theme of her talk was about the importance of risking failure and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Belinda’s new book is now widely available
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adventure-Revolution-case-living-boldly/dp/0349428239
https://www.waterstones.com/book/adventure-revolution/belinda-kirk/9780349428239
Belinda Kirk from Explorers Connect will join us at our next meeting to talk about skippering the first women to Row Around The UK. To date no other women have achieved this and only 11 people on the planet. Its now evolved into the toughest rowing race in the world. The theme of her talk will be about the importance of risking failure and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Belinda launched Explorers Connect, a non-profit organisation connecting people to adventures in 2009. Over 10 years she has encouraged over 30,000 ordinary people to discover a world of outdoor challenges and established Britain’s National Night of Adventure #wildnightout2020
Aromatherapy for Winter Wellbeing with Anne Polet of AromaWizards – @AromaWizardsnorthdevon on Facebook
Anne trained as an aroma therapist 30y ago. She gave a fascinating talk about a whole array of different essential oils. We learnt about how oils are distilled from plant materials (e.g. it takes 1.5kg lavender makes 15ml oil), how they can have many different effects and how they can help minor ailments e.g. dry skin, Seasonal Affected Disorder, stress to name a few. Whilst they are natural products they should always be handled with care. They are powerful chemicals and shouldn’t be used orally (in large amounts they can damage liver and kidneys note: in the food and drinks industry they are used in very diluted quantities i.e. as 1 drop per 6litres) or neat on your skin. They also don’t last forever so buying small quantities is important.Inhalation is particularly helpful for mental wellbeing. Lemon can be really uplifting in the winter months and other oils can calm your mind and move you from a stressful state to a physiologically calm state. There are published research articles on the effects of lavender and other oils too. Burners and diffusers can be great but remember to use them to only use them for 30-45mins at a time to have maximum effect.
Feel free to contact Anne for more information
