Frenchay WI are thrilled to be able to continue with our meetings and to see so many of our members attending. Our speaker in October was Steve Loader from the Seamen’s Mission who told us of the tough times the foreign sailors who come into Portbury and Avonmouth docks have endured – some of them not being …

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Business and Professional Women (‘BPW’) is an international organisation set up to promote women’s equality and achievement in business, professional and public life. It was started in 1938, and has national groups in over 100 countries, lobbying at its highest level in the UN, the European Parliament, in national …

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A member of Downed and Frenchay Tennis Club tells the story of her personal journey onto the courts. October, November, and December are thrilling times for adult tennis. The big dramatic skies over the tennis courts, the sun sets. The cold refreshing breeze on our hot faces. The occasional gust of wind that makes the …

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Computer Support Need some help using your laptop, tablet or smartphone? Our friendly Digital Champion is back to help out. You can book a FREE session with him at Downend Library by calling 01454 865022 or emailing downend.library@southglos.gov.uk or asking staff for details. Downend Library also hosts longer Computer …

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Why do we run? For some it’s for health benefits, for others it’s more about setting an intention or goal and then achieving it. Achievements can be very personal or shared. At Just Run Frenchay we love to hear about and celebrate our members’ running achievements, no matter how small or grand. These can be making it …

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Annual Report Following on from the notice in last month’s edition that the AGM has been postponed because of on-going concerns about ‘Covid’ and potentially crowded indoor meetings, here is my report. Winterbourne Parish Council (WPC) has considered the usual range of planning applications - from tree works through …

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Whatever the time of year, much of the satisfaction of running comes afterwards: those runs that were absolutely the last thing you felt like doing, but you did them anyway. This probably applies three- or fourfold for evening runs in the dark because you are trying to ignore the temptation of the sofa, a hot chocolate …

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Postponement of AGM By now, in a ‘normal’ year, the committee would have met in September and begun the usual preparations for an AGM in November. However, in my view, due on-going concerns about Covid and with various recommended precautions still in place, things are still far from being back to normal. So, …

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Standing on Frenchay Common, Frenchay church appears to be at the centre of an ideal English village scene, with only a game of cricket on the Common, and the merry sound of the church bells ringing, needed to complete the Arcadian image. But although cricket had been played on the Common since the 1840s, there was …

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I wanted to write this month on a personal level rather than give a Parish Council report. During the pandemic we have seen in the media people who have selflessly given up time to help others in small and big ways. What a remarkable man Sir Captain Tom Moore was and the funds he raised in the run up to his 100th …

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