Townswomen’s Guild meeting again

WEST Forest Townswomens’s Guild have resumed their monthly meetings after an 18-month break due to Covid lockdown. We now meet on the third afternoon of each month in Emmbrook Village Hall.

It has been lovely to greet those members who felt able to join an indoor meeting though coffee mornings and teas had been held during lockdown but these were outside with limited numbers. Blankets and coats were essential.

Our first two meetings in July and August were purely social to enable members to gather but in September business got back to normal with an excellent speaker, Kamran Iran.

The title was Blood, Bikers and Babies and we heard about the use of bikes to transport essential medical items like blood and breast milk to wherever it was needed.

This is a vital life-saving service.

At our October meeting, Rosemary Edginton accompanied by her dog told us about the use of hearing dogs for deaf people and the tremendous aid the dogs are in helping the deaf in their daily lives and giving them the confidence to venture out. Needless to say we were all very much taken by the lovely dog.

Colin Oakes made our November meeting most enjoyable with his talk on Dickens and Christmas, an appropriate subject. His knowledge and his acting ability brought Dickens to life for us all.

Our December meeting will be a social event with refreshments, games and a quiz among other items.

Small group activities have also resumed.

These are bridge, book club, Scrabble, film evening, social studies, needles and natter, coffee mornings and visits to Wokingham Theatre. All are well supported.

We are now looking forward to our Christmas lunch, this year at the Oakingham Bell and our visit to The Mill at Sonning for their production of Top Hat.

Liz Shilham, chairman