Welcome to the Abbotswood (Romsey) WI page. We are a friendly, vibrant bunch of women who meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm at Abbotswood Community Centre, Abbotswood Common Road, Romsey, SO51 0BX.
As well as our monthly meetings, we have a range of regular groups, including a lunch group, dinner group, craft group, book group, gardening/garden visits group and a walking group. We also take part in the annual inter-WI skittles tournament and quiz, get involved with Hampshire WI events (such as WI Fest in 2018), plus work on entries for the WI Tent at the Romsey Show. So there’s lots to get involved with if you’d like to!
We’re pleased to be known as a friendly WI and we’re always happy to welcome visitors and new members. It’s free for visitors (a donation for tea/coffee and cake is welcome), and you can come along to three meetings for free before signing up to join us. If you’d like any further details about meetings, please email – abbotswoodromseywi@gmail.com.
We hope to see you soon!
2021 Meetings
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, all our meetings have moved online. As well as our main monthly meetings taking place online, a number of our other groups are also continuing online via Zoom, including our book group (monthly), craft group (twice a month) and regular online coffee mornings. We’re accepting new members, so please get in touch if you’d like to join us or come as a guest to one of our online meetings!
We’ve got a great variety of meetings lined up for this year, including:
13th April 2021 – A World of Glass – a talk about the history of glassmaking by Dr Francis Burroughes, an expert and authority on glass. This will be both an authoritative and humorous insight into the world of glass.
11th May 2021 – The Life and Times of Hercules Poirot – David McCaddon delves into the world of Poirot, one of Agatha Christie’s most famous detectives.
8th June 2021 – People and Plants: Molecules, Medicines and Mischief – scientist and complementary medicine practitioner, Gwenda Kyd, discusses plants and how we can use them.
13th July 2021 – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Potting Shed. An illustrated look at humour in the garden, with gardening tips and comedy, by Nick Dobson.
10th August 2021 – It’s Not What You Say. Body language expert, Alan Jones, reveals the silent and subtle way that your body language speaks louder than words.
March 2021 – Modern Calligraphy, a talk and demo.
February 2021 – Change Your Life in 5 Minutes a talk, a talk by author Joanne Mallon
January 2021 – The Pearl Lady, a talk about pearls by Frances Carlaw
Previous 2020 Online Meetings
When Coronavirus hit, our meetings went online via Zoom. Although our original meeting schedule had to be abandoned, instead we enjoyed a wide range of speakers from around the world. These included:
- Body Inclusive Yoga, a talk and demo by Miriam Zendle (November 2020)
- Beekeeping, a talk by Elizabeth Gowing (October 2020)
- A talk by Faith Powell revealing what it’s really like Behind The Scenes of TV Game Shows (September 2020)
- A virtual tour of Cambridge led by Green Badge Guide, Murray Jacobs (July 2020)
- Creativity for wellness with pompom making, led by Shannon Reed from Mockingbird Makes (June 2020).
- A members only quiz
Follow us on Social Media
Find out more about what we’ve been up to recently by following our social media accounts:
Facebook – Abbotswood Romsey WI
Instagram – AbbotswoodRomseyWI
Twitter – AbbotswoodWI
Photo Gallery
Some of our past meetings have included…
10 Dec 2019 – Christmas Party – Celebrating the season, with a challenge to transform a chocolate yule log.
8 Oct 2019 – An Owl Experience – talk and visit by the BOPH Barn Owl Project.
9 July 2019 – Square Dancing – Celebrating our 3rd birthday with the Testvale Square Dancers.
9 April 2019 – King John’s House – Learning about the fascinating history of Romsey’s hidden treasure, King John’s House and Heritage Centre.
12 Feb 2019 – How to Thrive, Not Just Survive! Alison Rosen, physiotherapist, talked about how to value yourself as a woman and learn to thrive. We enjoyed taking part in various activities, including meditation and mindfulness.
8th Jan 2018 – What The Butler Saw – Life in the Big House in Victorian time, with speaker John Pitman.
11 Dec 2018 – Christmas Party and Festive Crafting – Celebrating the season with Christmas crafting, a Secret Santa gift exchange, mulled wine, mince pies and musical entertainment.
9 Oct 2018 – Florence: The Story of Florence Nightingale – Chester House Productions gave us a theatrical insight into the life of Florence Nightingale, one of Hampshire’s most famous women.
11 Sept 2018 – Fundraising Quiz – Fundraising quiz to raise money to buy a projector.
10 July 2018 – Second birthday party and talk about the creators of Noggin the Nog and Bagpuss – Jack Wilson joined us at our second birthday party and gave us an illustrated talk about Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, the famous creators of Noggin the Nog and Bagpuss.
12 July 2018 – Graphology, your character in your handwriting – Graham Birchmore gave us an interactive and fascinating insight into what aspects of character can be revealed in handwriting.
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