Activities
2026
September 2026 - GALLOPS GROUP MEETING
The Gallops Group Meeting was hosted jointly this year by Chevington and Wickhambrook following the sad closure of Dalham and Gazeley.
40+ ladies from Chevington, Wickhambrook, Risby and Newmarket attended the meeting. Our speaker was Amanda Sutherland who gave a very lively talk called "Make Do & Mend": She demonstrated ways to adapt everyday clothing from worn and badly fitting garments into exciting and unique fashion pieces. She had bought along a selection of her goods for sale including hats, gloves, jewellery which was well support by our ladies.
We had a one minute highlight presentation from each WI giving us an insight to what had been happening around the region over the past year. The competition for a decorated hat (judged by Amanda) was won jointly by Newmarket and Wickhambrook - both entries being modelled by a member and having a story linked to it. Well done everyone.
Refreshments of delicious homemade cake and biscuits were served and much appreciated whilst we had the opportunity to chat with our fellow members.
The Raffle was drawn and invitation issued by Risby who will be host for the meeting next year.
August 2026
This month, Chevington WI welcomed Men's Shed to their meeting to talk about the power of belonging to a group, working together to share or learn new skills, and improving mental health and forming friendships - and it's open to women too!
June 2026
Explorers once wore hessian underpants to keep warm.
The toilet was a hole in the snow.
Each trip can last seven months.April 2026
March 2026
Tom Bridge and his mother Caroline were introduced by the President and entertained us with their adventures during the television programme 'Race Around the World' which was filmed between October 24th and December 24th 2024 and which they won.
Caroline opened the talk and switched with Tom throughout explaining that she, after various downsizing and re-organising of her life, found that she was suffering from 'empty nest syndrome' now that children had left home and she had more time. She had often watched the programme and felt she would really like to have a go and she persuaded Tom to accompany her and they
applied.
They did not meet all the teams until they reached Checkpoint two having worked their way up from last to fourth position, a situation which they improved upon as they went along. They found China difficult to negotiate as the signs were all in Chinese with no translations except in the very large towns and it is a ticketless society and they only had cash so had to cajole people despite the
language barrier into buying their tickets for them in return for cash. They loved Nepal for its peacefulness, good manners and tranquillity which was in total contrast to China. Again India was a complete culture shock with no traffic system everyone just aims for where they want to go and mind the elephant and cow! People were friendly and helpful again in contrast to China.
The logistics of making such a programme are huge (I.e. needing seventy hotel rooms at the start point for the different crews and teams taking part which gradually reduces as people are sent home), transport for the crew, translators and so on.
Caroline and Tom were the only mother and son to have won the programme and they also made the best use of the budget they had. When asked would they do it again there was a resounding yes!
February 2026
December 2025
