About Chideock WI

When Chideock WI was first formed in 1919, women were being encouraged to become more involved in producing food to feed their families and learning new skills.  During meetings members entertained each other with poetry readings, singalongs and dancing.  More than 100 years on, we're still learning but we have a far wider range of interests and are able to invite a variety of speakers and entertainers and we have a number of special interest groups who meet between meetings. 

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Chideock WI has around 40 members drawn from the parish of Chideock as well as surrounding villages of Fishpond,  Morecombelake, Whitchurch Canonicorum, Charmouth, Eype and Bridport.

 

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Meetings are held monthly on the first Tuesday at 2.30 pm in Chideock Village Hall and will usually include a speaker or activity (please see our Programme) followed by tea and WI business.  We have a competition for the Flower of Month and a competition relating to the speaker's theme.  Most months we will have a Trading Stall where people can bring produce, sewing, spare books, etc. to be sold to members and a raffle.  We also enjoy outings whenever possible, usually involving food, a summer cream tea, members' Christmas lunch and an evening with partners in the Autumn.  We also visit a WI carol service in Exeter or Dorset.​

 

 We organize various fund raising events which support local charities and causes in the village and in the wider local community, which include the Christmas Fayre, bake sales and an evening event with a meal.

 

Once a year we hold The Fuller Talk which is funded from a donation given to us by a past member.  It is an evening event, open to all with refreshments and a bar and we invite a high level speaker to entertain us.  Past speakers have been Paul Atterbury of TV and Antiques Roadshow fame; Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC former Old Bailey Judge and Kevin Lygo, Director of Television at ITV.​

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For our Centenary in 2019 our Archivist, Diane, prepared a display of the first fifty years of Chideock WI taken from our records.  It  is in the local museum in the Roman Catholic Church in North Road.  It is a fascinating piece of community history and Diane is now working on the period from 1960 onwards.

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We are very grateful to many of our partners who help at events to move chairs and tables and run the bar for us and they often join us on external visits.

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If you live locally, why not come along to see if you like us!  Our contact page has all the details.

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