Wells WI September 2020 meeting report.

Wells WI met on Zoom again this month.

We talked about the results of our recent phone survey of members. One of the main reasons for the consultation was to help with planning to restart Covid-safe meetings at the museum but, now that recent guidance rules that out for the foreseeable future, we will continue to get creative with outdoor events involving up to six members and see each other online using Zoom.

Most of our 10th birthday celebration plans are now on hold, but some members will still do the planned guided walking tours of historical Wells in smaller groups.

Our speaker was our own member and treasurer Barbara, who told us about her career as a beauty therapist and talked to us about skincare.

She trained as a beautician and hair stylist at Weston College and, once qualified, specialised in beauty therapy.

Always self-employed, she started as a mobile therapist before setting up her own salon in Wedmore several years ago.

At Borough Beauty she has many devoted clients who enjoy manicures and pedicures, massage, and face and body treatments using British products made from natural ingredients.

Barbara told us she feels lucky to still really love the work she does. She then demonstrated a skin cleansing routine.

We all joined in from home, having had advance notice to prepare a bowl of warm water, cotton pads and our favourite products.

Barbara showed us how to remove make up without dragging on delicate skin around the eyes, and how to properly exfoliate, cleanse, tone and moisturise our faces, not forgetting our necks and decolletage where skin can show signs of ageing.

She shared her knowledge about different products and answered lots of our questions. We all went to bed that night primped and preened, some vowing never to go to bed without removing make-up ever again.

We finished with a quiz that involved us guessing some of the little-known secrets of our fellow members: Who represented GB at discus and has a licence to drive racing cars?

Whose wedding night was spent holding down tent poles in a gale? Who used to hang out with Hells Angels?

Who had a phobia of buttons? Who has a tattoo (she showed us a photo)? Who is the qualified marine biologist and scuba diver?

Learning surprising things about our friends shows you don't always know people as well as you think.

While we cannot meet in large numbers in person, small groups of up to six will play boules on the cathedral green, picnic in the park, do some netball training, take part in book clubs or simply meet for coffee.

We will continue to email a monthly newsletter, send messages via our WhatsApp group, and update our Facebook page with news and interesting items. New women are always welcome.

By Veronica Howe