January news....

 Firstly, Happy New Year! We hope that you all had an enjoyable and restful festive period. It seems a long time ago sine we were making Christmas tree decorations in November. Thank you to everyone who took part and helped us with our festive decorations. The tree looked amazing and was a fantastic addition to Tree Fest.

 
January can be a difficult month, with the sparkle of Christmas behind us, long, dark evenings and changeable weather. It can be hard to get out, but we hope you can join us for our first meeting of 2024. As well as an amazing speaker, there will be cake, tea, and chat.
 
This month, we will be welcoming Jenny Weld from Fare Share Southwest, the region’s biggest food redistribution charity. Jenny will be sharing how they save millions of meals worth of food from going to landfill each year, and instead deliver it to over 400 South West charities, schools and community groups preventing countless individuals from going hungry. With billions of tonnes of UK food going to waste every year and a nation food poverty crisis, food redistribution has become more important than ever. Jenny will be sharing a short quiz about the weird and wacky ways food can become surplus, as well as heartwarming stories about how it gets repurposed.
 
We will not be having a raffle this January, instead, if we would like to, you can bring items to donate to Fare Share. They are currently looking for low sugar cereal, soup, tinned meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables, baked beans, non-chilled juice, cooking oil, chopped tomatoes, pasta, rice, and tinned pulses. Jenny will be on her bike so nothing too big if you would like to donate.
 
We are really looking forward to seeing familiar faces and new ones. If you haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions, coming to a Malago WI meeting could be one.
 
See you on Wednesday 31^st January at 8pm.

November news....

 We had a lovely time at our October meeting watching films about Bristol created by the ever entertaining, Gordon Young.  Through our highly knowledgeable speakers, we learn more secrets about our amazing city.

 
We are truly in the depths of dark evenings, so what better way to chase away the winter blues than by celebrating what we have achieved this year and getting a bit festive.
 
We will be holding our AGM and hearing from Avril about all the great things we have done together.  Members will also be able to vote for key committee roles.  As always, it’s a chance for our members to get involved so please let us know if you would like to join the committee.  Once we have completed the formalities, we will be getting truly festive with treats and making Christmas decorations.
 
This year, Malago WI will be decorating a Christmas tree for Treefest at St Mary’s Redcliffe, which will be on display from 7^th to 10^th December.  This year’s charity is the Nelson’s Trust . We need your help to make decorations for the tree to showcase what we do.  This will include felting and paper crafts.  You are welcome to take any spares home!
 
If you have some time the afternoon of Wednesday 6^th December, we would love for you to help decorate the tree.
 
This will be our last meeting of 2023 but will be holding a Christmas social at the North Street Standard on Wednesday 13^th December from 7:30.  We would love for you to join us for a drink and chat if you are able to.
 
For those of you who are not able to make any further meetings this year, we wish you a happy and enjoyable festive season.  If you can join us, see you on Wednesday 29^th November at 8pm.

Unfortunately, Marian was not able to join us at our September meeting.  But in true WI fashion, all those who attend were able to carry on and make do. We were able to have a chat and get some interesting ideas for future meetings.  Thank you for all the contributions and plans are afoot for an interesting and varied programme of meetings next year.

 
This month, we are delighted to welcome Gordon Young, who some of your met at the Clifton Bridge Vault tour.  Gordon is a born, bred, and buttered Bristolian. He stays out of trouble by keeping busy - organising commemorative blue plaques around our city (39 since 2015) and leading tours on the Clifton Suspension Bridge and into the Leigh Woods vaults. Gordon will be sharing some of his documentary films about all things Bristol.  They have had more than 30,000 hits on YouTube and won prizes in local and national competitions.  For those of you who have met Gordon, we are sure you will agree, it will be a very entertaining evening.
 
We hope you can join us for a chat, cuppa, and cake.
 
See you on Wednesday 25^th October at 8pm.

 Our final outing of the summer was a great success, with a sneak peek at Clifton Vaults hidden under the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge.  Stepping back in time to get a glimpse of engineering excellence.  We were a distinctive sight in hard hats and high vis jackets!

As the night starts to draw in, this month we are back in the hall. Marian Green is a published author and will be joining us to tell us all about folklore and country magic, a longstanding passion of hers.   The subjects of her books range from the Holy Grail to meditation.  As a follow-up meeting, we hope to join Marian on a guided walk in a local green space next Spring where she will show us the plants that have inspired the country magic, she'll tell us about.

We hope you can join us for a chat, cuppa, and cake.

See you on Wednesday 27^th September at 8pm.

 

 

Despite the weather, we enjoyed a great walk and talk from the ever-entertaining Ed Hall, learning more about Bristol’s hidden past.
 
We are out an about again this month and are very excited about our hard hat tour of the Vaults at the Clifton Suspension Bridge on Wednesday 30 August. This is a chance to explore two of the twelve impressive stone vaults that support the Bridge. Discovered just 20 years ago, the largest chamber is 11 meters high and covered in incredible stalactites and was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

There is a maximum limit of 15 for this tour – so if you still want to come and haven’t let us know please email wearemalagowi@gmail.com by Thursday 24^th August to book a place as we only have a couple of spaces left.
 
You need to arrive at the Visitor Centre, on the Leigh Woods side of the bridge, by 6.50pm latest to give you time to get kitted out as the tour will start promptly at 7pm and finish around 8pm. 
 
Please note the following: 
• Wear sturdy shoes with good grip such as hiking boots or trainers. You will not be allowed to join the tour in heels or open-toed shoes
• The tour includes climbing a vertical ladder and passing through a low corridor
• Ensure that any camera or phone will fit in your pocket or bag so that you have two hands free to climb the ladder
• Only small rucksack type bags worn over both shoulders or bags with cross-body straps are permitted inside the vaults. (Large handbags etc. can be left securely at the Visitor Centre during the tour.)
• Be aware that the vaults can be wet and/or muddy inside, particularly after heavy rain. So wear suitable clothing and ensure that cameras or mobile phones are protected from any calcite saturated water which may fall from the ceiling.
 
For more information about the tour and route go to  https://cliftonbridge.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Access-Guide.pdf
 
Anyone else not booked on the tour who would like to come along for the evening, you are very welcome to enjoy looking round the Visitor Centre exhibition whilst the tour is going on. Afterwards we will then be heading over the bridge for a drink in the White Lion Bar in the Avon Gorge Hotel.
 
For contact info on the day you can call Avril on 07803 954120.
 
We are very much looking forward to seeing those who can join us on Wednesday 30^th at 6:50 pm.