Watchet WI

ANN Binding, Vice President, welcomed members and wished them a Happy New Year. Ann and Jan Martin received their Birthday posies.

Members paid their subscriptions and returned the resolution sheets.

The speaker was Brian Phelps on ‘By Hook or by Crook’. He spent much of his life in Bishops Lydeard where he met and became a great friend of a local policeman, Mr Weaver who has a great interest in the derivation of historical sayings, and Brian caught the ‘bug’.

Members were invited to join in a game of ‘Call my Bluff’ based on the derivation of sayings.

Elaine Preston read one explanation and Brian read two. Members were asked to guess the true meaning. One was a ‘Square Meal’, which derived from food being served on a square wooden board.

Another one, ‘Son of a Gun’, derived from the time when women were allowed on board ship to join sailors on a long voyage. When a birth was due, the ship’s surgeon would take his position beneath a large gun surrounded by a sheet.

If a boy was born, he was called ‘The Son of a Gun’, because no one knew who the father was. Brian covered many other sayings and provided much amusement to Members. Elaine Preston thanked him for his entertaining presentations.

The results of the competition for a Limerick were (1) Ann Binding (2) Val Marshal (3) Yvonne Swinburne. Members read their entries aloud and caused much hilarity.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 7 at the Phoenix Centre at 7pm, the speaker will be Gillian Whitehead on ‘Quilting and Patchwork’. The competition will be ‘A Fabric Heart’, knitted, sewn or cross stitched etc.