The Our Town sub-group met in early March to discuss our main project for this year, now retitled Extraordinary Women, because we are at Pewsham Belles! Local historian, Lucy Whitfield will give a talk at our main WI meeting in September (27th) and we will put on an exhibition to accompany her talk, which also reflects the work by Lucy and also the events and work by the museum this year to celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote.
Our programme of activities for Pewsham Belles members over the next few months is as follows: 4th April: Bring your photos of Chippenham through the years, plus decide which aspects of life to contrast between 1918 and 2018. Meet at the Old Lane 2nd May: Blue plaque walk - Margaret has kindly agreed to lead a walk through Chippenham to find the town's blue plaques. Meet at the front gates of St Andrew's Church at 7.30pm 6th June: Walk along Maud Heath's Causeway - where to meet to be decided 4th July: Chippenham photo hunt - a walk to take photos of central Chippenham to contrast with the 1918 era photos Chippenham Museum has given us. Meet at the Buttercross 1st August: Pewsham then and now - a walk to photograph the key sites of Pewsham today to contrast with its development. We will also check through the materials gathered and our research to see how September's exhibition will look, plus identify any gaps to fill ready for next month. Meet outside Pewsham Community Centre We will also be looking to photograph all of Pewsham Belles in action - with our 'tools of the trade', illustrating the roles we have today (compared with 1918); our democratic process (e.g. resolution voting); plus what we do in our sub-groups. We're also researching what our female relatives were doing in 1918, which feeds into Lucy's historical research (see her Tell Me About Your Granny post on Facebook or on her website if you're not on Facebook). Everyone is welcome to add their own stories from this time, plus photos of Chippenham and Pewsham between 1918 and now!