Thornbury WI

OUR PRESIDENT, Sue Horsfall welcomed members and guests.

Our speaker this month was Emma Britton who enthralled us all with a lively and fascinating talk on her experiences as a radio presenter.

Until last year she was a WI member but had to leave as her work schedule was too hectic and she couldn’t make it to all the meetings.

She did, however, make it into the WI Life, and proudly showed us the double page article.

She lives in Bridgewater with her partner and her dog. 11-years-ago she had her own business as a fat fitness instructor. After losing one of her lucrative contacts she interviewed for BBC Radio Somerset and eventually started radio presenting, whilst still doing some of her classes.

In 2013 she was asked to do the breakfast show, moving on in 2016 to do BBC Radio Bristol breakfast show, which is the biggest show on any radio station, dealing with a myriad of topics including news, sport, travel and weather.

She starts her day with a 3.15am alarm and her working day is from 5am to 1pm, Monday to Friday.

She usually goes to bed about 10pm and has a nap in the afternoon when circumstances allow.

In the course of her job she has had the opportunity to try many different exciting things, from being rescued off the coast of Minehead by the RNLI on a practice run to blowing up a tunnel.

She has had dinner with a Bishop and interviewed many fascinating people including Nick Clegg and even the Queen, but if pushed her all-time favourite would have to be Sir David Attenborough.

She is also a patron of a hospice in Somerset, and president of a football club.

Margaret Powell thanked her for an interesting, and often amusing talk.

Being a resolution meeting a unanimous vote was taken for the WI to pressurise the government to do more to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health problems.

We finished the evening with a raffle and refreshments.

Members can look forward to many upcoming events including parading in the Thornbury Carnival, a gin tasting evening, an afternoon tea party, the annual WI meeting in Weston-super-Mare, and our regular supper club.

New members are always welcome. We meet every third Tuesday of the month at the Methodist Church Hall at 7.30pm, and would love to see you.