Members of Llantilio Pertholey WI are absolutely delighted to wish one of our slightly older members, Joyce Lewis, many congratulations on her 100 birthday.

Joyce was born on the Mardy on 15th April 1921, when Lloyd George was Prime Minister.

She has three children, four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Joyce attended schools in Abergavenny, until at aged 18, she went into nursing, doing her training in 1940 at what was then the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Joyce left in 1944 as an SRN. She then went on to The Middlesex Hospital to train as a midwife and after 6 months started as a district midwife in Thorpe Coombe, Walthamstow.

In 1944 she met Fred Lewis, and after a whirlwind romance they were married at The Congregational Chapel in Abergavenny. Joyce says “My maiden name was Joyce Lewis and after marriage it was the same! All of my life I have been called Joyce Lewis ( no middle name)”. Initially the couple lived in Walthamstow but in 1948 they moved back to Abergavenny, then in the 1950’s they moved to Cardiff where Joyce was a member of the Women’s Guild. In 1986 when Fred retired and they moved back to the Mardy.

ILlantilio Pertholey WI, was founded in March 1919 and Joyce’s mother was a founder member of so perhaps it was inevitable that she followed in her mother’s footsteps by joining the Llantilio Pertholey WI. Joyce has been a loyal and valued member since then.

Joyce has also been an active member of Avenue Road Ladies Bowls, becoming Vice President, the VPA (now know as the Abergavenny Garden Club) winning many prizes and she has been a regular member of St Telio’s Church. Joyce says “All of these local organisations have given me friendship, fellowship and sociability over the past 35 years.”

As we know during this past year in lock down, it has been very difficult for those of us who live alone. Joyce has said that she is grateful for the support and kindness shown by friends, neighbours, members of the WI and the Church.

When you look at her photograph, I know that you will find that difficult to believe that she is 100 years old. What an amazing lady! Joyce is a loyal supporter of Llantilio Pertholey WI and as the sun was shining and Covid restrictions eased some members of WI were able to say Happy Birthday to her in her garden. She has told me that her house is full of flowers and cards and she would like to thank everyone for their wonderful cards, gifts and kind wishes. We all wish her the very best of health and happiness and look forward to seeing her when we can meet again. Happy Days!

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Liz Barnes who won the Gwent Federation “Inspiring Women” Cup for 2020 and Jane Thompson for gaining the most individual marks in the Gwent Federation Show back in 2019. I am so proud of these achievements and I like to bask in reflected glory.

Our WI continues with Zoom meetings and in March Paul Rothwell gave us a very entertaining talk about “Tenovus”. Paul spoke about his background, singing with “Only Men Allowed” and working as Team Captain for “Only Boys Allowed” and “Only Kids Allowed”. He explained how important singing is for all of us. It is an ideal method of relaxing and calming one’s self without medication, he illustrated this by involving us in some simple exercises, as we were all individually on zoom it gave us an opportunity to singalong with no fear we could be heard ! The Zoom session was joined by members from 12 other WI from the Gwent Federation plus members from Lansdown Bath WI (our Twinned WI). Margaret Reardon, herself a member of Tenovus Choir, gave a vote of thanks

Following on the relaxation theme from our March meeting, in April Gerry Crossman gave us an introduction, via Zoom, to Tai Chi and Gigong. We followed some relaxing and quite easy exercises. A number of members said that they had slept really well that night.

Our next meeting will be on May 6 2021. It will be our Annual Meeting and the end of my term as President.

I would like to say a big thank you to the members of my Committee who have been such a help and to ALL the Members of Llantilio Pertholey WI who have given me so much support and good wishes over the last three years, and especially since March 2020 which has been such a strange period in our history, hopefully never to be repeated.

If anyone out there is interested in joining our WI you will be most welcome. Contact me 01873 851356 and I can tell you more.

Submitted by By Lavinia O’Brien

President

Llantilio Pertholey WI