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LIMPLEY STOKE WOMEN'S INSTITUTE
THE guest speaker at a well-attended meeting on 12th August was Mrs. Pamela Bemment who came to give us her illustrated talk on "Saints, Cherubs and Angels". She told us about the strict rules for religious paintings and stained glass. A picture is worth a thousand words, she said, and they were meant to instruct people who could not read. The illustrated lives of the saints were designed to inspire the lives of the faithful and symbols were used to identify each image, such as martyrs carrying the instruments of their torture. Six members had a memorable day out on 5th September. We went to The Watermill Theatre at Newbury for lunch in the theatre's restaurant, followed by a matinée performance of Brian Friel's play "Dancing at Lughnasa". Sad, funny and quite wonderful. The speaker at our September monthly meeting was Mr. Philip Davis who talked about his great grandfather and showed fascinating slides of old Bradford on Avon and his intriguing family. Great grandfather, "Ginger" Davis, was quite a character - born of a large and very poor family he lived at the Tory, then a slum, and grew up to be the Town Hooligan, being arrested eight times, usually for being drunk and disorderly. He was a bareknuckle fighter and in 1901 was thrown into Shepton Mallet Prison. However, Mr. Davis' grandfather, Albert, determined to better himself. Starting with a box of kippers, which he purchased with a borrowed shilling, he grew to be a respected Fish, Fruit and Vegetable Merchant in the town. Mr. Philip Davis himself followed a respectable career, being a policeman in the Metropolitan Police Force. The Saxon Group meeting on 23rd September was well attended. The speaker was Mr. Adrian Dando, who in a former life had been a University lecturer in Aero Dynamics and a Town Crier. Currently he is the landlord of the "The White Post" in Stratton on the Fosse. He kept his audience highly amused with stories of his seven years in the licensed trade. The experience of his traumatic first night on the premises should have put him off the idea for ever. However, he is still there and in spite of the stresses and the long hours, still enjoying it. We held a late summer Afternoon Tea at the home of Vice-President, Mrs. Sally Long, on 3rd October. We all enjoyed home made sandwiches, cakes and meringues and, most importantly, catching up on all the village news. Plans were made to bring our Drama Section back to life and to commence rehearsing a play to be put on next February.
Angela O'Shaughnessy