REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER - OPEN EVENING
President Jenny Dodd welcomed 27 members and 22 guests to our September Meeting which this month was our Open Meeting.
Birthday posies were presented to June Chapillon, Kate Curtis and Sally Norris (in absentia) and Jenny informed the meeting that Margaret and Rex Partridge would be celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary on 19th September.
During the short business meeting Jenny informed the members that, at a Group Business Meeting held in July to discuss the future of the Group, although she put forward the opinions of our members the decision was made that there would be no change to the Group. Jayne Jones asked for volunteers to help with Bag Packing for St Margarets Hospice, Liz Brown asked if anyone wanted to join the trip she was organising to Bristol Hippodrome on 14th January to see “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Sue Phillips thanked everyone who had helped with the refreshments for John Steven’s funeral and added that a letter of thanks had been received from the family. Elaine Gilmore announced that the next meeting of the Lunch Bunch would take place on Tuesday 22nd eptember at the Green Room in Yeovil.
The business concluded, Elaine introduced the two speakers for the evening, Mike Davies and Reg Wilkins.
Firstly Mike Davies gave a very amusing and informative talk about how he revived the making of the Dorset Blue Vinney cheese at his dairy farm following the introduction of milk quotas, and he told about some of the many hurdles he had to overcome before he eventually succeeded in producing the final product. He emphasised that although there are cheesemakers who produce the ordinary Blue Vinney he is the only cheesemaker who is certified to call his cheese Dorset Blue Vinney. At the end of his talk he passed round samples of the cheese for members and guests to taste.
Following on from Mike’s talk, Reg Wilkins from Quantock Abbey Wine Cellars conducted a wine tasting consisting of nine different wines from various countries around the world. Halfway through the wine tasting members and guests enjoyed welcome refreshments consisting of a choice of three different cheeses – Somerset Brie, Somerset Cheddar and Dorset Blue Vinney – accompanied by French bread.
On behalf of all those present Jenny thanked Mike and Reg for a very entertaining evening.
Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 14th October at 7.45pm in the Village Hall when the speaker will be Mark Piper from the British Board of Film Certification. Members are reminded not to forget to bring along husbands/partners/friends to this meeting.