ASHMEAD WI had another good start to the year with our annual January bring and buy auction going extremely well and raising funds towards our future activities.

We had three auctioneers this year with president Wanda Hutchings ably assisted by committee members Di Belliss and Sue Mills.

Our February meeting was held a week late to avoid clashing with Valentine’s Day in case any members had romantic meals planned.

Our speaker was Clive Field from the Cotswold Canals Trust and he held our interest throughout with his excellent talk.

We all gained an insight into the work done by the trust and several of us signed up to join as members at the end of the evening.

Our March meeting was an ‘in house’ affair with WI members Sue Mills and Mary Marks showing us how to create a decorated polystyrene Easter Egg.

There was a great deal of tearing of paper and much glue involved but we all managed to make an egg we could take home to show off and maybe make again ourselves.

We also held an excellent Easter bonnet competition which was won by Linda Tyler.

Our April speaker was Alma Hageman from Eastwood Park Women’s prison.

Alma was involved in setting up the first WI in a prison and is active in the ongoing activities of the WI there.

She explained the problems and difficulties of running a WI in the prison and explained how we could help by contributing materials for the craft activities.

She also brought along several of the items made by the WI members, who are called ‘The Rubies’.

A fascinating insight into the world of a women’s prison from a dedicated personnel member.

Our May meeting was addressed by Matthew Gazek and was entitled ‘Carson and I’.

This was a light and amusing talk about his 18 months working at Caerhays Castle in Cornwall, which was built in 1815 and is still a private home for the Williams family.

He had answered an advert in the paper for a gardener, with accommodation provided, and he and his wife decided to apply as they had sold their own house.

It was a complete career change and his role rapidly expanded to become a general factotum.

We have continued to run our sales table and we also donate monthly to the Stroud Food Bank.

We are also now collecting craft materials for Eastwood Park