November news....

Thank you to everyone who came to our October meeting and AGM.  It was great to hear your ideas about future meetings.  We all loved creating an origami Christmas tree forest and trying on some gorgeous kimonos thanks to Yukiko.
 
Our last meeting of 2019 will have a distinctly festive feeling with a range of Christmas treats and music to help get us in the mood for the festivities throughout December.  We will be joined by Rachel Heaton, a local artist who has been dabbling in art for a lifetime. Art is total escapism for her, it is an excuse to hide away and ignore her family
 
A member of Redcatch Art Club, she loves to shock with her outrageous approach of slapping the paint on super quick and watching what emerges. At the moment she loves painting dogs and cats but also creating images of people on stones.  She will be exhibiting her work at this weekend’s Totterdown Front Room Art Trail.
 
Rachel will bring along examples of her amazing artwork and painted stones to inspire us to paint our own which we can either keep or choose to hide to be found by others.  The idea behind Bristol Rocks is to decorate rocks and hide them in various places to randomly brighten someone's day. You can use whatever you like, paint, sharpies etc., they just need to be sealed with some clear varnish to make sure the rain doesn't wash away your designs.  If you add a message on the back saying 'Bristol Rocks Facebook Page' or something along those lines, you can even add your name, then maybe some will be reposted to the group when they are found.
 
All materials will be provided but if you have a favourite stone or two that you would like to decorate do bring these along as well.
 
We hope to see many of you on 27th November, but for those who can’t make it, we wish you happiness and good health for the festive season.

October news....

 

Although we had a last minute change of venue due to water damage in the hall, our alternative venue of the Hen and Chicken was a great place to practice some chair yoga with Ashley Russell. It was lovely to see so many of you there and to hear how much you enjoyed it.  Thank you for being so understanding with the last minute changes.
 
October’s meeting will have a distinctly Japanese theme.  Yukiko Hosomi will be teaching us how to make origami Christmas trees and Christmas decorations.  Yukiko will introduce us to origami and kimono as well her early life in Japan. There will be opportunity to try on some kimonos and taste a bit of vegetarian sushi.  All materials will be provided, but if you have any paper you would like to use to make decorations, please bring it along
 
Yukiko has lived in Bristol for the last 15 years – coming to the UK in 1996 as an international student at Lancaster University. Originally from Shizuoka prefecture in Japan, 1 hour by bullet train from Tokyo, she grew up seeing Mt Fuji every day. Her love of hand crafts were developed at a young age, watching her mother knit and sew, and making things by hand has been a shared love. Since 2018, Yukiko has been sharing her love of Japan, kimono and fabric with others thorough her creative outlet Unsui.
 
Yukiko sells accessories created from kimono material and you will have an opportunity to purchase these (cash or card) at the meeting, especially for those looking to start their Christmas shopping early!
 
This month’s meeting also marks our 11^th birthday and will be holding our AGM where we can share many of the great activities we have done this year.
 
Have you got any books you have read, loved but no sure what to do with them?  We are looking for book donations which we can sell, at a very small charge, at our meetings as part of our fundraising for Malago WI.  Please bring along any books you would like to donate.
 
We look forward to seeing you on the 30th!  

SEPTEMBER MEETING CHANGE OF VENUE.....

Unfortunately, at very short notice, we have had to move our September meeting.  Over the weekend the lead from the roof of the Methodist Church Hall was stolen and the building has flooded after the recent heavy rainstorms. The lovely guys at the nearby Hen and Chicken Pub have come to our rescue and will host our September meeting this coming Wednesday 25 September.  We look forward to seeing you in the upstairs room of the Hen & Chicken, 210 North St, Bristol BS3 1JF at the usual time of 7.45 for 8pm for our armchair yoga session. Do help to pass on the information to anyone else you know who is planning to come along.

September news...

In August we thoroughly enjoyed a visit to Colston Hall to find out about their major transformation project.  After an overview of the project we took a virtual tour of the main construction areas using Willmott Dixon’s  state of the art computer modelling of the interiors and then donned VR headsets to ‘see’ what the new main hall and the Lantern will look like when finished. Thanks to the Colston Hall team and Willmott Dixon for their hospitality and accommodating us in the midst of this exciting but challenging building programme.
 
As the nights start to draw in we are back to the hall for our September meeting, taking some time to improve our sense of wellbeing with some Chair Yoga from Ashley Russell
 
Ashley has been a student and teacher of yoga for over 20 years working in Europe, the USA and now back in the UK. He now teaches Vinyasa, Hatha, Restorative and Yin styles of Yoga throughout Bristol as well as being a Senior Yoga Teacher registered with the Yoga Alliance Professionals and a registered mental health nurse with the Nursing and midwifery Council.
 
During the evenings meeting Ashley will give us some background & history of the origins & history of Yoga and how it has become the discipline we know today.  He will then guide us through an hour long chair yoga class which will take in elements of Gyrokenesis. Chair yoga will help to increase strength & flexibility as well as reduce stress. Focusing on the breath the class will bring us a sense of calm well-being & mental clarity.
 
Please wear comfortable clothing you can move in & suitable footwear/socks
 
Have you got any books you have read, loved but no sure what to do with them?  We are looking for book donations which we can sell, at a very small charge, at our meetings as part of our fundraising for Malago WI.  Please bring along any books you would like to donate.
 
We look forward to seeing you on the 25th!  
 

August news....

In July, we were very lucky to visit the delightful Somerset Flower Farm where the sun shone and we were treated to an amazing cream team.  Thanks to Mandy, Ken and Ella for hosting us and to Mandy for putting together and giving away a beautiful hand held bouquet.

We continue our summer outings in August and have a fantastic opportunity to visit Colston Hall.
This is an opportunity to see behind the scenes and see the work in progress on this major, £48.8 million transformation project.  The evening will start with guided tours of the building courtesy of Willmott Dixon Contractor. Access to some areas will be restricted as this is a working site - so please wear sensible shoes.  Afterwards we will reconvene in the first floor terrace bar for a glass of wine and a talk from about the overall project and progress to date. This will include trying out some VR headsets for a glimpse of what the finished areas will look like.

We will be meeting in ground floor foyer area.  Due to the limit of 15 people per tour, we have arranged for two, the first at 7pm and second at 7:30pm.  Tours will start promptly, so please ensure you arrive in time to go on the first or second tour.  Those who are not on the tour will have the opportunity to have a glass of wine or soft drink.  We will finish at Colson Hall about 9pm and we will are planning to Bambalan for a drink afterwards for anyone who would like to join us.

If you need to contact us on the evening, you can call Avril on 0780 395 4120 or Lucy on 07717 375749.

We look forward to seeing you at the Colston Hall on Wednesday 28^th August.