Women's Institute

9:14am Friday 14th March 2008

WOMEN'S INSTITUTE: Caerleon WI met on Monday, March 10, and despite the dire warnings of the weathermen there was an excellent attendance. Dianne Roberts, president, thanked everyone for coming out in the appalling weather and then accepted apologies for absence.

It was lovely to see the reappearance of Eira's plant stall, which was a reminder that spring would arrive eventually. Also, the trading table was manned by Brenda Bollen and she was welcomed back after her recent illness.

Thanks were given to all who had contributed to the World Book Week and 21 bags had been collected - an excellent response. The recent quiz night at Usk was mentioned and our team, Eira, Mary and Pauline, were congratulated for coming fifth out of 30 teams who entered. This was a very good result.

The speaker for the afternoon was then introduced, and this was Jeroen Vermeesch, who gave a talk on the Newport medieval ship. The talk was enhanced by the showing of slides. In July 2002 the remains of the ship were found buried in the thick mud of the river Usk. It has now proved to be the most complete example of a 15th-century merchant ship (dated around 1465) to be discovered.

Since its discovery, archaeologists have worked on it, revealing the timber frame and finding many extraordinary artefacts. We were shown slides of the artefacts, which included some leather shoes!

Mr Vermeesch explained the importance of the ship to maritime history as there is no parallel ship in the UK. Many of Europe's leading conservationists have visited Newport to examine the ship, and many theories have been put forward as to its origin and how it came to be in the River Usk.

Dianne thanked Mr Vermeesch very much for his interesting talk.

After the tea break, Barbara Samuel (social secretary) reminded members of the forthcoming outings, theatre trips, etc, and explained that the trip to St Fagans on June 18 had been changed to a visit to Duffryn Gardens. St Fagans will be visited at a later date. The trip to Tenby is now fully booked and it is an early start, 7.15am, from Caerleon Common. As always, full details are shown on the board.

Dianne went through the Gwent News and reminded members of the annual council meeting on April 23. This is always a very interesting day, and as it is held in Cwmbran County Hall it is easy to get to. If you don't have a ticket you can pay at the door.

The "My Place" questionnaires were handed out and it is hoped that everyone will give their opinions for the celebration of Caerleon on June 9.

Dianne ended the meeting by telling members that Caerleon WI had been invited by St David's cancer charity to the opening of their charity shop in Caerleon (with refreshments) and also by Lodge Farm Church to witness a musical celebration of Easter. Speak to Dianne for details.

The meeting closed at 4.15pm. The next meeting is April 14, Newport Floral Society and the competition is a floral arrangement in a cup and saucer.

Betty Westcott

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