THE president of Sampford Arunel Women’s Institute, Susan Bellringer, welcomed members to the October meeting and said it was “lovely to see everyone”.

The speaker this month was Kerry Molfesis from The Secret Island in Wiveliscombe. Kerry demonstrated to us how her Victorian sock machine worked and told us a brief history of socks.

The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all had a type of sock, with the oldest being from 300AD, and there is a knitted sock from 400 AD in the Victoria and Albert museum.

Puttees (a woollen bandage) were made by Fox’s in Wellington and used during the First World War.

The first sock machine was invented in 1589 making flat socks with seams. An English man Matthew Townsend invented a latch machine in 1849 which produced socks as we know them today.

The saying, bless your cotton socks, originated in Calcutta where all school children were given cotton socks that had to be blessed before receiving them. Also, during the plague, people were buried in cotton socks.

It would take on average three weeks to knit a pair of socks with the four needle method, but Kerry can knit a pair in an hour, and as they are knitted in the round no sewing up is required.

Kerry uses mainly natural fibres when making her socks including angora wool which has a natural antiseptic in it.

Members were intrigued by how well the machine worked and the lovely finished product.

Kerry finished her talk by telling members about the origins of the 'Wivey Tartan' that she also makes.

Susan and Heather recently attended the Women's Institute 110 birthday banner parade in Wells.

Thirty WI's congregated at Wells Cathedral, where the town crier read out a proclamation welcoming everyone before parading to St Cuthbert’s Church, where a short service was held followed by refreshments.

It was a special event and members were proud to represent their WI and display the local banner.

During the business part of the meeting members were given the dates for the various groups. They were also asked to knit poppies for the wreath that will be laid at the Remembrance service in Sampford Arundel on Sunday, November 9.

Any item beginning with the letter 'O' was required for the competition this month, and the winning entry was a bunch of oats, with an owl coming second. Joint third was an ostrich egg and opal earrings.

Social time consisted of anagrams of flowers for members to unscramble.

If anyone would like to come to see what Sampford Arundel WI is all about you will be made very welcome, we will meet at The Beambridge Inn on Sunday, November 9, at 7.30pm, or contact Heather on 01823 666439.

THE Rotary Club of Wellington kick-started this year’s Poppy Appeal with a donation of £100.

Lyn Trickey, team leader for the Wellington Appeal, handed over the Rotary’s £100 to Chelsea Pensioner Brian Connor.

Last year the wonderful people of Wellington donated more than £14,000 and Lyn and her team will make every effort to break that this year with local help.

Collection points are all around the town, but anyone who would like to help this amazing cause can simply ask one of the collectors.

This year’s Poppy Diary starts on Sunday, November 2, with The Field of Remembrance, starting at Wellington Baptist Church.

Then, on Monday, November 3, WI poppy displays will be erected in town from 11am.

The following weekend, on Sunday November 9, a parade will take place from Wellington School at 2.55pm for Service of Remembrance in Wellington Park at 3.15pm.

Finally, on Tuesday, November 11, a two minute’s silence will be held in Wellington Town Centre at 11am.

THE Friends of the Museum of Somerset (FOTMOS) were pleased to welcome to the Great Hall for their October meeting Simon Baker, whose subject for the evening was ‘The History of Railway Posters’.

The heyday of railway posters was from 1920s to 1960s, and demonstrates social history more than railways themselves.

This was a time of a great increase in leisure, when horizons broadened and people began to change how they thought of themselves. In the early days, the walls of railway stations were bare and the first adverts were full of words rather than pictures.

Gradually great art and artists were brought together to produce exciting posters.

An early poster depicted the East Coast route – this still had a lot of words in it, but colour was beginning to be used.

The railways were growing in confidence, as they actually had something to sell to people: there were places worth seeing. For example, Torquay was exotically named ‘The English Riviera’.

Posters for other resorts, such as Broadstairs and Scarborough, depicted glamorous people at the seaside - usually a Mediterranean-style sea with clear blue skies.

Indeed, Great Western Railways compared Cornwall with Italy. Sometimes they were truthful ‘Come to bracing Skegness’.

As time went on, well known artists were employed, like Tom Purvis’s posters for LNER. Claude Buckle became one of the most prolific and recognisable of British designers of railway posters for tourist destinations, producing over a 100 in oils and watercolour.

Lili Rethi was one of the few women artists in this line, producing an art deco poster for Crewe. Thomas Davidson had a famous London Pride poster in 1947, and of course David Shepherd painted railways posters as well as elephants.

Contemporary posters returned to an emphasis on showing the method of travel rather than the destination: the romance and aspiration has gone, but posters still evoke the attitudes of the time and how they developed.

This was the last meeting of FOTMOS to be held in the Great Hall until April. Till then talks will be via Zoom. On Tuesday, November 18, at 7.30pm, Chris Jessop will give a talk on The Five Piers of Somerset.

If anyone would like to join, email [email protected].

HOME-made cakes, chutneys and jams, as well as home-grown vegetables and other produce, were among the many items on offer to bidders in the annual ‘Harvest Silent Auction’ during the October meeting of the Wellington and District Townswomen’s Guild.

The meeting opened with the chairman’s report and the minutes of the last meeting. Then followed news of the Christmas party in December and a discussion about the New Year lunch in January, details of which have yet to be decided.

Following the customary raffle, with its usual selection of tempting prizes donated by members, members tucked in to a delicious afternoon tea of an array of sandwiches made by Patsy Sprague and fairy cakes made by Jenny Bonwick.

Pat Cosh then presided over the results of the silent auction, for which with members had written down bids beforehand. Thanks to the generosity of members in both their donations and their bids, the auction raised more than £60, which will go towards the Guild’s funds.

At next month’s meeting on Monday, November 10, the speaker will be Tryphena Huntingford from Harpford Herbs in Langford Budville, who will talk on the fascinating subject of medicinal herbs, which she grows on her Soil Association certified organic farm.

The Guild welcomes potential new members: “So do come along as a visitor if you are thinking of joining us. Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month, at Lodge Close Hall.”

THE Rotary Club expressed its thanks to the kind and generous people of Wellington for their support at the latest pop-up book sale.

In total it raised about £3,000, and both the club and the chosen charities expressed their gratitude.

While still sorting donations and getting remaining books into some sort of order, the club have now also moved on to Polio Awareness and the Rotary campaign to eradicate the virus.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that mostly impacts children under five years old. The number of cases has been reduced by 99.9 per cent, but hasn’t been fully eradicated just yet. According to the World Health Organisation, this translates from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 countries to just six reported cases in 2021.

At A House of Cake, people can indulge in a delicious purple cupcake and make a donation to the Rotary Fund. Just 20p buys a vaccine, and the Gates Foundation will donate double this donation, so in total, three vaccines will be supplied.

The cupcakes are purple as to symbolise hope and protection, given that a child that has been given the polio vaccine will have their little finger marked with purple ink.

To further publicise awareness the Rotary Club will be planting thousands of purple crocus corms, which will bloom around March next year, adding a welcome splash of colour, and providing nectar for early bees and other pollinators.