Eaton Bray WI - October 2016

Posted on October 10, 2016

At our October meeting we welcomed Wendy Austin who gave us an extremely interesting, illustrated talk on Ashridge House and the part the Brownlow family played in the Estate. Starting life as a monastery in 1283, Ashridge House was saved during the Dissolution of the Monastries by Henry VIII. He favoured the area as a hunting ground. Ashridge House was bequeathed to Elizabeth I and eventually purchased by Sir Thomas Egerton. Various cousins inherited the Estate down the centuries, culminating in the Brownlow family headed by 1st Earl Brownlow inheriting the Estate in the 19th century. In 1928 Urdan Boughton bought the house and presented it to the Conservative Party when it became the Andrew Bonar Law College. The Management College has now been taken over by an American Corporation.

The talk was followed by the notices. Several sympathy cards had been received from other WI's since we had lost our dear friend and member Dorothy Bradbury. She will be greatly missed by Eaton Bray WI.

The Christmas Appeal would be to Emmaus this year, as well as the usual Salvation Army donations.

Members will vote for Resolutions on 30 November, for those to be presented at the 2017 AGM.

The next meeting of Eaton Bray WI will be on Monday 7th November when Graham Harrison will talk on Poisons for Medicine.

Meetings are always the fi rst Monday of the month (except Bank Holiday when it is the second Monday). The Meetings commence at 7.30 pm and are held in Eaton Bray Methodist Hall. The contact for Eaton Bray WI is: Margaret Jones.

A warm and friendly welcome awaits new members. At each meeting there is an interesting speaker or demonstration, followed by social time and refreshments.

-- Pamela