We hope that you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year break. It seems a long time ago since we last met in the hall, being inspired by Rachel Heaton to create our own ‘Bristol Rocks’. It is not always easy to persuade yourself to get out during dark and cold winter nights, but we hope that will be able to join us to learn about a great cause. Dogs for Good is a charity that trains assistance dogs to support adults and children with a wide variety of disabilities and conditions to live full and active lives in the community. Their dogs bring independence to people by taking on many practical tasks, such as retrieving items, helping them get dressed and opening doors. As well as the practical help our dogs provide, the emotional support they give is unparalleled. Rosie Blanning will talk to us about Dogs for Good and the amazing things their dogs do to help adults and children with disabilities live more independently. She will also talk about the various volunteering opportunities within the organisation and how Bristol residents can get involved with the charity and even look after our puppies! We also will have a chance to meet one of their dogs, Norton, so will be able to see first-hand how amazing these dogs are. As it is the start of the year, it is time for membership renewals. The membership fee for 2020 is £43. As part of this membership you get 11 meetings per year including 1 summer outing (sometimes 2), a monthly copy of WI Life, WI member benefits and a book of handy vouchers when you join. It’s helpful for existing and new members to arrive a bit earlier so we can start the meeting on time. Payments can be made in cash and cheques payable to Malago WI. If you have any unwanted Christmas presents, please bring them along and we will raffle these off to raise money for future meetings and outings. We look forward to seeing friends old and new on Wednesday 29th to celebrate the start of another year of exciting events.
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.
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 11th 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!
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.
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!
