Gloucester Road WI

We had a great evening with the Bristol Rum Company. The founders, all from Bristol, shared how the city’s spirit of freedom and creativity is reflected in both their business principles and the rum they’ve chosen. They also talked about Sofia, the Colombian goddess of Free Thinking, who inspired their golden Colombian rum. Best of all, we got to taste it — and it didn’t disappoint!  https://www.thebristolrumcompany.co.uk/

From the jungles of India to the mountains of British Columbia and the cliffs of Pembrokeshire to the urban streets of Bristol, his home city, Toby Packard is a wildlife photographer and filmmaker who has spent the past 13 years working on his craft and as well as for himself has worked for the BBC, National Geographic and Netflix.

To an enthusiastic crowd, he presented his photographic and filmmaking portfolio from his journeys over the years. He explained what he’s learnt along the way through both handheld and camera trap photography. And, he shared some advice on how we can improve our own wildlife photography.

For December, in place of our usual meeting, we booked a table at a local restaurant.

This was member only event.

 For those members who wanted to join us for a festive meal a non-refundable cash deposit of £10 was required to secure your place.

Some members who could not join us for a meal joined us for a drink and socialise.

We held our usual Christmas raffle and four lucky ladies went home with great prizes.

The Wreath making workshop was. on Tuesday 26th November as advertised on the website which was not the third Tuesday this month! 

In our November meeting we made Christmas wreaths. 

This highly popular event sold out. Wreath making spaces needed to be rebooked to ensure we could provide sufficient materials for attendees on the evening. However, members who had not booked onto the workshop, were still welcome to attend in a social capacity and learn the skills needed to make their own at home. The bar and raffle was open as usual.

We used mainly locally sourced and compostable materials, including cinnamon sticks and orange slices. 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. Some ribbons were provided but some individuals had one that they preferred to add so brought that along instead.

There was be a raffle prize at this event.

The cost for visitors was £25, payable in advance only by emailing info@gloucesterroadwi.org

Our well attended Annual General Meeting took place at our October meeting. Using our Annual Report and Financial Statement, members and guests were updated on our performance and finances.  

After our business had concluded Tweed and Bird helped us build our stitching skills with a fun and sustainable sewing workshop.
We made reusable face wipes. These easy to make wipes are great for the environment, great for gifting and lovely to use.

Guided step-by-step through the process, this project was suitable for all – from novice to expert sewists. Everything needed to make these cute reusable facewipes was provided and the hall was a real hive of chatter and laughter whilst we did.

Doors opened at 7.45pm for an 8pm start.

Septembers meeting was an energetic evening of line dancing with Ashley Syms-Rees.

A partner is not needed for line dancing and it is what you make it – as energetic or low impact as you want. We had a lot of fun and bonded over a bungled dance step or two!

The class was suitable for everyone.
Trainers were recommended.

This month’s meeting was a delightful walk and talk along the river Frome with Amy Wade, Education and Engagement Officer for the Bristol Avon River Trust, where we learned about river life.

We met at Snuffmills carpark at the earlier time of 7pm. The well attended event lasted around 1.5 hours and finished before dark.

We met at Castle Park 7.15pm.

July’s meeting was an Alice in Wonderland themed treasure hunt using the Cluedupp Games app.    Participants needed to download the app from www.clueddupp.com and set up an account before the meeting.

We met at 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start in Castle Park, near the rainbow pedestrian crossing, at the top of Union Street.

Participants were divided into teams when they arrived – we wanted to mix people up so that we all get to meet other members.  Each team was led by a committee member, and they joined team members to the team group using a QR code.  From there, we used the app to solve clues which got curiouser and curiouser, took on mad and mischievous challenges, and uncovered a dark conspiracy at the heart of Wonderland!  There was a fair bit of walking involved and people needed their comfortable shoes! We had decided to hold the event regardless of the weather but we were lucky.

We then reconvened at the Old Vic theatre bar for a celebratory drink!   It took around 2 hours to complete the treasure hunt.