November blues (Not with MWG though)

November news

Summer has finally given way to a very mild winter, Christmas is on its way – time to draw the curtains, light the candles and get cosy indoors – or alternatively come out of hibernation and see what Merstham Women’s group can do to keep you entertained and enjoy a good chat with friends.

Since I last wrote, we enjoyed a lovely day at Quality Street Fair meeting locals and selling jam, cakes and crafts – as always, the weather was kind and lots of people were interested in our goods -hopefully a few new members who met us there have joined.

We've also had great fun during our Tuesday meetings. We enjoyed silk screen painting and we had a really interesting talk on suffragettes locally.

We also had a lovely folk dance at Merstham Village Hall in October – everyone who attended the event really enjoyed it and the CoHorts band were on top form – unfortunately it wasn’t quite as well attended as we would have hoped – the evening we picked was in competition with a few other local musical events. However, we did receive a few visitors who had never heard of MWG before, and they really enjoyed the evening. We hope the ladies who attended will come along to some of our meetings. We will give the dance a break in 2026 and look at some easier to manage events.

Coming up we have our next meeting on Tuesday 11^th November at 7.30pm. This week, we’re hosting an informal cheese tasting event with some unusual pairings and we have a simple fun quiz to enjoy. If you hate cheese, just come along for tea and a chat. Please bring a glass and some sparkling mineral water to cleanse your palate between tastings. You are welcome to bring your own soft drinks or alcohol along to share. Free tea and coffee available.   As usual, we’re meeting at Merstham Baptist church.

Our Christmas event will be at the Toby Carvery – if you are interested in coming please come along with a £5 deposit – costs are £15.79 for 2 courses or £19.79 for three (plus a little extra for a tip). Closing date for booking is this Tuesday with deposits to us by Friday 14^th please. You can find the festive menu choices here https://www.tobycarvery.co.uk/restaurants/south-east/redhillsurrey/menus/festivemenu?allergens=&excludeAllergenDishes=false#/

On 17^th December we’re organising a Christmas lights walk around Merstham – we can follow Santa on his rounds around London Road and Nutfield Road and admire the Christmas lights. We’ll end up at the Feathers for a drink. Time tbc.

Some of us will be seeing My Fair Lady played by Theatre Workshop Coulsdon on 14^th December at 3pm. Tickets are £12 or £9 for concessions – details here https://twcoulsdon.org.uk/  Let Liz know if you’re interested – lifts will be offered – The past 2 productions we’ve seen have been great fun.

Tea and coffee are now being served at the Merstham hub for free between 10am and 3pm during the week – for those attending Alice’s craft club or breakfast club this is a welcome addition – do pop along to meet some of us on Tuesdays Fridays and Saturdays.

Looking further ahead to 2026, we’re preparing another year of interesting events for our Tuesday evenings – we have a draft of 12 events for Tuesday evening, but we’d love to hear from you what you’d like. So far up to Easter we have:

·      January – AGM and social with cake

·      February – a musical event from a local flute group

·      March – easter crafts

Other events include a possible bee keeping talk, a history of food talk, a walk to the Feathers or the Inn on the Pond and other crafting events.

Do tell us what you’d like on the programme. Craft events, socials with food, speakers, outdoors events. Do you have a particular skill you can share. Or a suggestion or an interesting speaker.  

What would you like to attend outside our Tuesday evenings? A trip to a local garden or museum? Cinema and local theatre events? Would you like monthly Saturday workshops to learn craft and cookery skills? Walks, markets or free outdoor events?

This is your group and what you find interesting, we will too. We look forward to seeing you at some of the events we’ve organised and do suggest more. See you Tuesday

Liz