Shapwick Starlets WI SUE SELLICK 4 AUTUMN I S SUE | OCTOBER 2 0 2 5 As you read this, we will be on a countdown to our 100 birthday on Wednesday 29 October. From our research at our County Office in Bridgwater, we have discovered that our WI originally started as Ashcott and Shapwick WI, but as you can see from the following letter written in 1925, our two villages were very different! th Shapwick and Ashcott WI was formed on Thursday afternoon. I feel quite certain that later on it will divide into two. The distance between the two villages is over 2 miles and there are enough people in each place. The people of the two villages are very dissimilar – Shapwick is feudal – Ashcott democratic. We have some very ‘crafty’ members in our group of lovely ladies and they have been busy stitching a most beautiful banner which will be on display in the village hall. We also have hand stitched bunting representing all our members and activities throughout the past 100 years. And look out for the postbox toppers that will be appearing in October! Throughout the summer we have had various outings, starting with a Treasure Trail around Somerton. Fascinating history discovering the old market street where there used to be a hospital for the railway workers and an Artisan Chocolate Shop (whose Artisan we have now booked as a speaker). The following week we started with breakfast at the Albion Inn and then caught the bus to Taunton. Then another Treasure Trail in Burnham, rather grey and blustery but this didn’t dampen our spirits. We discovered the quieter side of Burnham including the medieval church with a leaning tower, ending up with a lovely lunch on the sea front. Great fun playing Art and Putt crazy golf at Clarks village, laughed a lot but all safely around! And finally a very interesting tour around the Coates English Willows visitor centre, with an afternoon spotting dinosaurs in the woods including the very rare Doyouthinkhesawus! We have lots of interesting speakers booked for 2026 and in September our speakers were Barry and Clive from Spirit of Glastonbury, Somerset Craft Distillery based in Barton St David. What a fun evening that was, including playing the Heads and Tails game.They use apples grown in Somerset and water from Glastonbury Tor, and are a small family run business. They will be at Clarks Village at Christmas so look out for them; they may even have their Golden Retriever Ginny with them! Pictures from all our outings are on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shapwick.wi.94 We will be again having our Christmas Fayre on a Sunday, Sunday 7 December, 2pm, so please see the poster on p.8 and save the date On 14 and 15 July, seven Dovecote students took part in their Bronze expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh award. The expedition includes six hours of journeying with independent navigation, teamwork, and working together to keep morale high. The students then camped overnight at school. Prior to the expedition, the students had learnt skills to help them succeed such as navigation, first aid, camp set up, use of a gas burner, and kit packing. On day one the students travelled in school vehicles along the back roads to Cheddar and up to the Mendip hills. They walked a loop near Velvet Bottom. After the walk, the students returned to school where they set up their tents, cooked their evening meals, and socialised for the evening. In the morning, the students were tired, but stayed motivated. This time the route started from school. The students walked from Shapwick along footpaths past Kent farm and along the South Drain to RSPB Ham Wall. Finally, they picked up the footpaths from Station Road to finish back at school. Dovecote School GEORGIE WAITE, OUTDOOR EDUCATION TEACHER The students were incredibly proud of their achievements; they reflected that they had learnt a lot about themselves and how they work with other people. There were challenges along the way, but we are pleased to say that they all passed their Bronze DofE award. We hope they will continue the award scheme and look into participating in the Silver award next year.
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