Oakridge WI with Ken Brightwell, member of the Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers and Pam Slater from the Cotswold Perfumery in Bourton-on-the-Water

IN APRIL we were delighted to welcome Ken Brightwell who appeared in his full regalia, as a member of the Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers.

Ken explained the history of the role as the oldest messenger service from the time when many people could neither read or write and relied on spoken information.

From 1066 as a force of 'heralds' through to 1432 when Yeovil appointed the first Town Crier, whose role included rounding up lepers, to 1732 when Lyme Regis made their first appointment.

Ken had been appointed in 1991 by Cheltenham Borough Council but had no official duties for the council, only assisting at functions at their request.

Generally he gave talks, did promotional works for superstores, spoke at schools and at wedding celebrations as a 'toastmaster'.

This was a very interesting talk and one to be recommended.

May 11, The Resolutions Meeting.

Although we were very 'thin on the ground' never-the-less we discussed both resolutions at length.

The first one being on Microplastic Fibres.

The NFWI calls upon government and industry to research and develop innovative solutions to this problem in order to stop the accumulation of microplastic fibres in our oceans.

We were very surprised to learn that 140,000 fibres were shed per washing machine load of Polyester- cotton blend fabric, and up to 730,000 fibres from Acrylic fabrics.

This resolution was carried unanimously and voted in favour.

We declined to vote in favour of the resolution to alleviate loneliness,

The speaker, Pam Slater from the Cotswold Perfumery in Bourton-on-the-Water was warmly welcomed and gave an extensive talk on what goes into the making of perfumes.

The Cotswold Perfumery was started in Mrs Stephen's kitchen in the 1960s, now run by her son John the business is now situated just behind the Victoria Hall.

After the talk we were invited to sample the wonderful aromas, delicately spraying them on the inside of our wrists or the bend in our elbows.

Members were reminded that The Summer Group Meeting will be on June 10 at 2pm in the Eastcombe Scout Hall.

Our own Members Meeting still to be decided since the election process means we cannot hold this in the village hall, but a suitable venue to be announced, please check your emails for details.