Celebrations for the Paris 2024 Olympics had a head start at West Buckland WI’s July meeting as members staged their own novelty games.
Echoing the spirit of the Olympics, teams went for gold, silver and bronze in a number of off-beat challenges including the French lavender-bag ‘shot put’ and the French beret discus.
Hoopla and the French onion and wooden spoon race both proved popular, with several heats taking place to determine the top three competitors.
Gymnastics was represented by the beam balance, which saw some incredible feats of agility – although on this occasion the beam was marked on the floor.
In a fitting conclusion, the French waiter’s relay stole the show with members dressing in aprons and berets before racing to the finish while carrying glasses of water balanced on a serving tray, without spilling a drop.
In an Olympic Games like no other, members cheered on the competitors and enjoyed a unique social evening which gave everyone a chance to get involved. The final verdict was a definite tres bien!
At the end of all the games, accumulated scores were calculated with Elaine Fordham topping the leaderboard to collect the gold medal, Heather Bailey and Tracey Richbell taking home silver and bronze, respectively.
In true Olympics style each finalist was presented with a bouquet of flowers by West Buckland WI’s President, Christine Wombwell.
Members expressed their thanks to the committee for arranging the evening and to treasurer Carole Smith for coming up with the idea.
Earlier, President Christine had welcomed members and thanked Heather Bubb for making many of the props for the fun Olympics.
She then spoke about the events lined up for July including the board games afternoon, golf croquet and indoor kurling, the walking group, knit and natter, the craft group, lunch club and the WI’s regular monthly coffee morning.
As the WI does not have a formal meeting in August, a summer picnic is planned to take place on the afternoon of August 13th on the village playing field.
President Christine reported that the WI’s pop-up café at West Buckland’s village fete in June had proved popular and she thanked all who had helped.
Secretary Cheryl Bailey provided news from the Somerset Federation of WIs and treasurer Carole Smith gave an update on West Buckland WI’s financial position
The meeting closed with a light buffet supper.
West Buckland WI is a welcoming group and meets at 7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the village hall. New members are always welcome.
The next meeting is on Tuesday, September10th – if you would like to join them, please contact Christine on 01823 652863 or 07736 712273.
PHOTO: From left, Tracey Richbell, Elaine Fordham and Heather Bailey.