November will be awesomely Busy

Welcome to Winter and an awesome Women’s Group programme Well after the hottest, driest summer in forever, the rains have finally arrived in biblical proportions! I feel our winter craft sessions should involve some sort of boat building or Ark creation – we may need to travel to Redhill by kayak to collect our weekly shopping! Looking back to our October meeting – sadly my Pilates instructor was ill so couldn’t take the session – Fiona saved us with a good internet connection and a couple of Pilates YouTube tutorials which were rather fun – hopefully we’ll get Sara Gordon back for a proper session in due course. Other than that, October for MWG passed by quietly with our usual events continuing at the Hub.

If October was quiet – November will be quite the reverse! Just because the clocks have gone back, doesn't mean we'll be hibernating! First up – our pub nights are back – meet us at the Feathers at 7.45-8ish on Tuesday 8th November – come for one drink or a few. All welcome. Food available too .

On 12th November a few members are going to see Mary at Hampstead Theatre – it’s a political, historical thriller about Mary Queen of Scots – there are a few tickets still available if anyone would like to join us. Tickets are £39.50 and you can book tickets here online – let us know if you’re coming so we can travel with you. Douglas Henshall of Shetland fame stars in it. Details here: https://my.hampsteadtheatre.com/12674/12694 Our meeting on 14th November in Canada Hall will be with the wonderful Claire Passaris showcasing her amazing catering skills – She takes us back on a journey back in time with a chance to taste some of the treats of Christmas past. This will be a wonderful evening – I’ll be sorry to miss this rather amazing catering spectacular. I look forward to seeing the pictures and hearing all about it – save some food for me! On Saturday 26th from 7pm (ish) at Canada Hall the Sea Shanties will be entertaining us with (surprisingly) sea shanties. This is a family and friends’ night – open to all - £6 for an evening of live entertainment and a fish n chip supper. Please book on the website so we order enough food. Invite friends and family and bring your own drinks. This is a great opportunity to introduce people to our friendly group.

If you’re not totally exhausted after a wild night out in Merstham, we have an exclusive Merstham Women’s craft event at Gatton Park weaving Christmas Angels - £25 – book your space on this wonderful event on the website – it promises to be a lovely creative morning. Book early

to avoid disappointment on the website.

If you're walking around Merstham until 13th November, do check out Alice's knitted poppies and do join her at the hub as she knits on Fridays and Saturdays

December sees the return on our Christmas meeting – a social at Canada Hall with soup, mulled wine and cake – Joan Hodge will entertain us with her handbell group – and there’ll be a short Christmas quiz with Mike Fortune. And of course, lots of time to chat and catch up. Come along and join the fun.

There will also be nights at the pub, and meetings in the hub (ooohh that rhymes! Lol) to look out for. I will try and organise a Christmas Lights walk again, probably third Saturday in December, so watch this space for more details.

Into the new year we have drafted a rough programme of events to be confirmed. A few committee members will be standing down, so if you feel you’d like to step forward at our AGM please do consider it – it’s a great fun. Events not organised by the group but might be fun to attend as a group – Fireworks at Brockham or South Nutfield on 5th November. The veteran car run comes through Merstham on A23 on Sunday 6th November. Janet Aslett’s floral art group will be hosting a Christmas event in Horley on 19th November. Details on our Facebook page. I’ll be singing with Rock Choir in the Belfry Centre on 3rd December with other choirs in aid of Renewed Hope Trust. There are also a slew of interesting films coming up at the Harlequin and Everyman Reigate – I’m happy organise a group visit to any of the films of interest – Living with Bill Nigh looks good. Mathilda looks fun. And Daniel Craig (formerly James Bond) stars in the new Knives Out movie to name but three interesting films. There are many other events list on the website and our Facebook page, so do check out our website and facebook page. Please do join in with one of our organised events or suggest some great ideas. In the mean time I wish you a happy bonfire night (look after your pets) and look forward to meeting you over the coming weeks.