The Wookey Hole Club, built in 1884, has a long and colourful history. Minutes of the Club Committee are still in existence from its inauguration through to the present day, with only two periods, 1940-1949 and 1974-1980, having been mislaid. The content of these documents gives a fascinating insight into the recreational and social behaviour of village residents over the past century.
A few years ago Lucy White was invited to think of a social club that could be useful in Wookey Hole in gathering people together for enjoyable times. 
Lucy loves playing Scrabble and wanted to find likeminded people so started a Scrabble Club by delivering notices about it door to door .
Wookey Hole W.I. February 2020 Meeting
Report
Our meeting commenced with a moment of quietness whilst we remembered Jean, a W.I. member who had died recently after a short illness.
Our thoughts are with her family.
Jill then welcomed everyone including our speaker Jill Perryman who was to tell us about the 57 Anglican Cathedrals that she, and her campervan Daisy
had visited.
Resolution forms have now been submitted, Roadshow dates noted, and a donation to ACWW Glasgow
Conference has been sent.
Plans for future events were then discussed. Coffee mornings , our 73rd Birthday Lunch ,our involvement in
the St Cuthberts Church Flower Festival in June and knitting pouches for orphaned Australian Joey's.
Jill, our speaker, quite captivated us all with her quirky perspective of the Cathedrals that she
visited.
Most of us were familiar with some of the Cathedrals and so her talk was often prompted by tales from our
ladies which added to the enjoyment. Slides demonstrated the distinctive features of many of these wonderful buildings. There were unusual fonts, paintings, statues, stain glass windows, altars, pulpits
and so much more. Rippon Cathedral had a mechanical beating hand to aid the organist as he had his back to the congregation. It did look strange.
Myrtle , who said that she had visited 20 of these Cathedrals, thanked Jill for her interesting
talk. Jill then judged our competition for a religious item. Our members had
brought a good and varied selection.
1st Sue H ..2nd Jill..3rd Sheila.
Flowers 1st Sue H...2nd Jill..3rd Myrtle
Visitors most welcome to join us.
First Monday in the month .2.30pm at Wookey Hole Community Hall
King Richard 111 's final resting place in Leicester Cathedral. So much
better than in a small hole under a car park !
WOOKEY HOLE W.I. December Meeting Report.
There was a festive flavour in a beautifully
decorated hall at our December meeting. Christmas
jumpers were in abundance and mulled wine
greeted our ladies on arrival.
We were delighted to see Sue B, Diane and
Sheila returning after a period of ill health.
Jill welcomed the daughter of Sue H who was
visiting from Alaska and our W.I. guest Hazel Hillman.
It was a day for visitors as a new lady
joined us and was warmly welcomed by our members.
We were fortunate to have talented
musicians Juliet and Lucy with us and they accompanied us in a
rousing rendition of Jerusalem and birthday
greetings to our 'Christmas babies'.
Three of us attended the AGM at Taunton
where a parade of W.I. Banners took place. Lavinia proudly carried ours.
We had filled 13 shoe boxes with gifts for
young people at the YMCA. and added them to the ones given by other WI's.
bring Christmas treats for the food bank and Myrtle went home with a car
laden with
good things. Everyone was thanked for their
generosity and then we sat back and enjoyed the music provided by Juliet
and Lucy.
They played a selection of music to suit all
tastes including well known songs and Christmas Carols which had us
singing along.
They told us about their musical careers
which were fascinating. We were indeed lucky that they had agreed to
entertain us
and were thanked by Jill.
Before we devoured the delicious
spread provided by our committee, Sue H read a very funny monologue
about the fairy on the
Christmas tree. She had also provided a
Christmas Quiz which stretched the brain cells. Many went home with
raffle prizes and cakes
from Elizabeths laden sales table.
Our next meeting is on Monday 6th Jan.
2.30pm at Wookey Hole Community Hall. Visitors most welcome.
WOOKEY HOLE W.I. NOVEMBER MEETING REPORT
Our meeting commenced with good news and a celebration. Jill
said that Sue B was making good progress following her illness and was
now at home.
Tempting chocolates supplied by Elizabeth welcomed us on
arrival. Fifty years had passed since she joined Wookey Hole W.I. and
she was given a rousing accolade.
Anne's coffee mornings remain popular and gives us a chance to
chat. Jill thanked all those who had generously filled thirteen shoe
boxes which will be given to
young people at the YMCA. It is often the only gift that they
will receive.
Clare Blackmore was our speaker. Whilst
researching the 'Looking Back' feature which she previously wrote for
the Journal she became interested in poems
written in the mid 1800's by a Wells baker. These poems give us
an insite into life in our area at the time. The baker was William
Catcott who was born in 1808
at West Horrington. Books were in short supply in the cottage but
he had a thirst for knowledge. Clare read poems to us that illustrated
William's love of nature,
animals and the strong need to write about events that he felt
strongly about. At the age of 21 William took over his Uncles bakery and
became known as 'Baker Bard'.
Clare managed to collect 125 poems which, thanks to the generosity
of Glastonbury baker Bob Burns and his family, have now been published.
His words have
been brought back to life in the city that he loved and wrote
about. William died at the age of 62. His great great nephew was Bill
Allen of Wookey and the book is dedicated to him.
Anne thanked Clare for telling us about this
talented Victorian man of Wells. Clare judged our competition for an old
picture of Wells. There was great interest in this
and many were personal photographs of times gone by.
1st Jan ....2nd Jill....3rd Pat. Flowers 1st...Sue H
....2nd Lavinia ....3rd Pat.
Come and join us for our Christmas meeting. First Mon in Dec
.2.30pm Wookey Hole Community Hall. Jill Deane
Attached is a photograph showing the old pictures of Wells
