Summer outing

24th May


On perhaps the hottest day of the year so far the Home and Garden sub-committee had organised an outing to Woburn Abbey gardens. Even the deer in the park were standing in the lake or basking on the moist mud around its edges.The rhododendrons were in full flower and looked marvellous against a blue sky.Some people had visited the Abbey in the morning before joining the rest of the party to view the gardens.Members and friends enjoyed a brief introduction to the history of the estate and then a guided tour of the historic gardens.The staff were very accomplished speakers quite able to cope with a large group even in the open air. We could all hear and ask questions as we strolled among the ancient trees and beautiful flowers. Gradually the Duke and Duchess of Bedford are planning a return to the original lay-out of the gardens as designed by Humphrey Repton. We admired the re-vamped Chinese style dairy which was blissfully cool and then the camelia house. We discussed the modern sculptures showcased around the lawns.Everything looked wonderful in the sunshine and I think we all took advantage of a short rest in the shaded restaurant area with an iced drink or ice-cream to hand.It was a very enjoyable and informative day and we are now looking forward to another outing to the beautiful gardens at Upton House in October when the asters will be in full bloom.



22nd May

The local WI book group gathered together to discuss a selection of novels by Charles Dickens and some by a modern author Lesley Pearce. The reason why we were all reading something different was because there had been a slight hic-cup in the supply chain from the library.In some ways this was a good thing because it meant everyone had to introduce her own book.Dickens came off well as some members had been slightly put off reading other titles after studying a novel for examinations but now thought it worth having a go at another and one reader had downloaded many on to her kindle for holiday reading! Amongst the random selection was a biography of Phiz the illustrator for a lot of Dickens novels whose life story was a rags to riches and back again Victorian tale of its own.The novels by Lesley Pearce were enjoyed by those who read them although as they talked there was a recognisable theme, and plot sometimes, running through the stories.An interesting session but we are all back to the same title next month.