Cainscross WI

WE HAD a coach full of people and a nice dry July evening for our 89th Birthday Party outing to Uffington, Oxfordshire.

Our driver from KB Coaches was very pleasant and was later persuaded to join us for the sit-down supper.

Before the supper, on arrival at Uffington, we had a special ’private’ tour of the Tom Brown’s School Museum that is housed in a schoolroom built in 1617 of local materials with a roof of Stonesfield slates.

The original school was for 12 ‘worthy’ boys born to honest local parents.

It remained a school until 1857 and was then used as a village Reading Room.

Since 1984 it has been a museum.

It was really a step into the past and the tiny museum was full to the brim of interesting facts and artefacts.

After this, we made our way through the village, which has a good proportion of lovely thatched properties and St Mary’s Church, which looked well worth a visit for another occasion.

The ladies of Uffington WI met us at their hall with a lovely supper they had prepared of ham, quiches, salads and potatoes.

We washed this down with wine or soft drinks and luckily had left a little ‘room’ for their delicious desserts of trifles and pavlovas, followed by tea or coffee.

The hall was spacious and airy, the ladies were friendly and the food was a delight.

The evening passed all too quickly and we were soon back on the coach making our way back to Cainscross.

Our next meeting, back at St Matthew’s Church Hall, Cainscross, will be on Tuesday, August 4, when George and Frances Yiend will entertain us with ‘Dylan Thomas’ in words and music.

The monthly competition will be for ‘An amusing family tale/poem’.

Visitors/new members are always willing to join us and there is always a raffle, refreshments and sales table available.

If you can’t make this date, the September meeting will fall on September 1, when Mr D Cramp will tell us all about the ‘Birds of Gloucestershire’, so I hope you can join us at St Matthew’s for a visit soon.