W.I. Newsletter April 2018

Our members have spent another month catching up with each other at the various opportunities available, but there is still lots to organise when we gather for our meetings.

The Village Hall resounds to us planning our walks, arranging pick-ups for the lunch, talking about whether we are going to the supper club or not, who is going to see Jane Eyre at the Salisbury Studio Theatre and then our President calls us to attention for the meeting to start.

Kate started by reading out a letter from Helen Jankowski saying she was settling into her new home in Dorset.  

We welcomed our WI Adviser, Helen Carter, who wanted particularly to update us on the jumpers our members have been busy knitting during the winter months.  They had arrived at their destination and we saw photographs of children in Romania holding up the colourful jumpers and looking very happy to receive them.

Our speaker Andrew Negus was back to give us part two of his history of Salisbury.  This time he was concentrating on the years between 1200 – 1500.   Andrew is passionate about history and buildings and loves to point out little details that can be missed, unless you know where to look.

These three hundred years saw the City grow in size, population (from 200 – 8,000) and wealth – mostly to the advantage of the incumbent Bishop who owned the land.   Permission was granted by the King to build a wall around the City which was now expanding on a grid system.  The current street names still carry a clue as to their history: – Butcher’s Row, Fish Row, Silver Street, Market Square etc.   

Perhaps next time we visit the City we will take time to really look at many of the old buildings that are still standing, although some of them have modern facades.  However, if we venture inside we will find that the wooden frames are still evident.

On 31st May it will be our Annual Meeting and we are going to have a fish and chip supper before we get down to reviewing the last year and planning for the coming months. 

Diary Dates:

05 May –           Breakfast Club

08 May –           Reading Group

10 May –           Supper Club

12 May –           Walking Group

26 May –           Lunch Club

31 May             Annual Meeting 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall