West Buckland WI has taken positive action to support the latest big national WI campaign - Bystanders can be Lifesavers.

Launched in June, the campaign aims to encourage people to think about what they could do if they witnessed someone going into cardiac arrest, and to raise awareness of how easy it is to use a defibrillator.

There are over 30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests a year in the UK, and less than one in ten people survive. Women have a lower chance of survival than men. Early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.

Taking the importance of this lifesaving initiative to heart, West Buckland WI members undertook training and awareness of CPR at the July meeting.

Stuart Winter, the St John Ambulance network lead for south and west Somerset provided essential training and information about what to do in the case of cardiac arrest outside hospital. He demonstrated relevant CPR techniques and how to use a defibrillator.

He said that the quicker the response is, the higher the chance of survival.

And he addressed sensitivities about removing or cutting bras that have led to women not receiving the same treatment as men in the instance of cardiac arrest. In these circumstances clothing must be removed to allow the defibrillator to do its job.

To support emergency care each defibrillator includes a cloth to dry the skin, scissors to cut clothing and a razor to shave any thick chest hair on a male person.

Local locations of defibrillators were also identified including the one at West Buckland village hall.

Members then had the opportunity to practice CPR techniques using a resuscitation dummy.

President Christine Wombwell thanked Mr Winter for his excellent presentation and sharing the techniques of CPR, which links directly to the National Federation of WIs (NFWI) Bystanders can be Lifesavers campaign.

Earlier in the meeting Christine had welcomed members and sent good wishes to those unwell and unable to attend.

She announced and distributed the interim speakers programme, which runs until the end of the year. A special programme will then be published for 2026 to celebrate West Buckland WI’s 90th anniversary year.

In further celebrations West Buckland WI will mark the national WI’s 110th anniversary with an afternoon tea on August 12 at the village hall.

Members then enjoyed tea, coffee and biscuits and an opportunity to socialise.

West Buckland WI meets at 7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the village hall, and new members are always welcome. The next meeting is on Tuesday, September 9, and the speaker will be graphologist Christina Strang.

If would like to visit or join West Buckland WI, contact Christine Wombwell on 01823 652863 or 07736712273.

Garden members were treated to a highly informative and very apt talk on drought tolerant gardening by the very knowledgeable Tom Nielson who is a nursery man and garden designer.

His nursery, Biocentric Plants, near Wiveliscombe had a deep sandy soil which then had a layer of building rubble thrown over it from the building renovation the family undertook, which meant that the soil was extremely lacking in nutrients. Since setting up his nursery about four years ago he has trialled many drought tolerant plants and very rarely waters anything even in the conditions we are currently experiencing with temperature of 30 degrees plus.

He explained that the sand would act in much the same way as a mulch and that it would store water further down in the ground and that the same effect could be achieved with gravel. A layer of at least 15cm would be optimal. He did stress though that although many plants can and do thrive in this type of soil, if you want to grow vegetables, you will still need a good organic matter, nutrient rich soil.

Tom took inspiration from several people including a gentleman called John Little of Hilldrop gardens. He was a pioneer of waste products being used in gardens and put two-foot of crushed concrete waste down and within two to three years had a fully functioning amazingly beautiful garden. Tom then went on to tell us about how the plants themselves become drought tolerant, by reducing leaf surface, having waxy or hairy leaves, colour and deep root structures, and the trees and shrubs having woody or succulent tissues and tuberous bulbs to store water and go into suspended animation.

Although some plants do come from drought areas like Ukraine, Hungary, Kazakhstan etc, a lot of our own native plants are good as well. Tom said that shading and dense planting also helps on this poor soil. Some of the plants Tom recommended were Salvia Transylvanica (from Romania/Hungary), Euphorbia Cerratocarpa, Hoheria ‘Stardust’ an evergreen tree/shrub, Galium Verum (ladies bed straw), Catananche Caerulea (great cut flower plant), Evening primrose Oenothera Stritca, Aquilegia ‘Ruby port’, Stipa gigantea ‘Gold Fontaine’, (large grass four metres high) and Viscaria Vulgaris which is native to UK, to name but a few.

Some Bee friendly plants Tom suggested were Echinops Tienshanicum and Lamium Orvala which has pink flowers and is also great for planting under trees, and a Thistle Cirsium Tuberosum which as well as being Bee friendly is also smooth to the touch with no spikes.

Tom brought along some plants for sale and the talk was well received by the garden club members who were grateful for the wonderful and insightful knowledge which Tom’s talk provided in an informal but knowledgeable way.

Sampford Arundel Gardening Club takes a break in August and our next meeting will be on September 11 when we will have a talk from David Usher on Gertrude Jekyll and her plants and designs. For more information about our Club please contact Sue or Nick Matthews on 01823 672662.

The president, Richard Williams, welcomed 23 members to the July meeting of the Monument Probus Club of Wellington, held at the Beambridge Inn, Sampford Arundel.

A brief business section included a vote of thanks to club member Paul Brunsch and his wife, Christine, for hosting an afternoon session at their home at which club members were given the opportunity to try their hands at the sport of croquet.

Final arrangements for a forthcoming visit to the gardens of Nynehead Court were also discussed. More than 20 club members and their partners had so far signed up to attend.

The president then announced the speaker for the morning, David Ramsden, who kept members enthralled for more than an hour with his talk, entitled “Climate Change and the Ecological Crisis. What’s all the Fuss About?”

Mr Ramsden, has been actively involved in nature conservation since 1984, and was made an MBE for “services to wildlife” in the 2007 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

His talk dealt with a wide range of climatic and ecological issues affecting the Earth both today and in the future, including global warming and extreme weather conditions, with a strong emphasis on the future of the world if action was not taken to control the situation.

Mr Ramsden went on to speak of the need, not only for governments to take stronger action, but also the part that could be played by individuals to reduce their carbon footprint.

Following a lively question-and-answer session, Mr Ramsden was thanked by the president.

The next meeting will be at the Beambridge Inn on Thursday, August 7, at 11am, when club member David Rowsell will give a talk, entitled “The Metropolitan Police – a personal reflection of a lifetime of service”.

Monument Probus Club welcomes new members. More information can be obtained from the Hon Secretary via email at [email protected]

There has been excitement and fun on the lawns at Oake this summer as Club Members have been holding several social events.

Thursday, July 3, they hosted a Corporate Afternoon for Carter Jonas of Taunton and their business associates. Starting at 3pm after a short practice and Ricochet being explained, four teams of four played one round, stopped for drinks and cake then a second round of changed teams completed the event. The laughter & enjoyment was good to hear and resulted in two winners having achieved the same number of hoops. This is the fourth time they have held this event.

More enjoyment is experienced by members of u3a who play a similar game every Tuesday afternoon until the end of August. They usually average about six people but friends have also joined in from time to time. They also make it fun, good exercise and a test of remembering colour rotation.

Future events planned are a reunion of friends who worked together in the past and all meet up to hold this annual challenge match every summer, a teenager’s birthday party, and friends wanting to try the game.

We hope to tempt more locals, individuals or businesses, to come along. For more information, contact [email protected] or 01823 667299.