The Wells WI September speaker was the inspirational Nancy Dodd, the first woman to receive the Freedom of Wells.

Nancy was honoured in recognition of her lifelong voluntary work for Wells charities including Arthritis Care, her fund-raising work with the Somerset carnivals, and for keeping the residents of Fletcher House active over the years with socials and outings.

Nancy worked at Cow and Gate in Wells and met her husband through her involvement in the Somerset carnival circuit.

She showed us a 1960s newspaper clipping of the carnival queen being chosen from the surrounding villages in a beauty contest judged by a visiting celebrity.

Nancy eventually became president of the County Carnival Association. She told us that the judges love Wells because of the famous feast laid on for up to 100 of them in Seager Hall each year.

Nancy stressed the carnival's important role in raising money for local charities including the mobile chemotherapy bus and Riding for the Disabled.

She explained how expensive it is to host the carnival - it costs £100 to train each marshal - so she appealed to anyone connected to local charities to volunteer to help collect money on carnival night in return for a percentage of the takings.

Nancy told us about receiving the Freedom of the City in 1996. She showed us her citation from the mayor and Wells City Council and told us that due to her strong faith she chose to receive her award at St Cuthbert's Church in a special service devised by the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

She felt all the nice things said about her by the councillor nominating her were the sort of things people don't normally get to hear, because they are generally said at a person's funeral.

After the service she enjoyed being chauffeured to Wells Town Hall in the mayoral limo where her gift to the council was a pair of gloves, symbolising a historic Wells industry, and sealing wax which traditionally helped civic officials gain exemption from taxes.

The honour bestows upon the holder the privilege of being allowed to drive sheep up the High Street, so Nancy put on a smock, wellies and straw hat for the televised event and a local farmer arrived with some sheep and a dog called Rebel.

However, the sheep went into Woolworth's instead of their pen in the Market Place, then up Sadler Street and on to Cathedral Green where a traffic policeman managed to stop them and herd them back to Rugantino's where cameras filmed them in front of a board advertising roast lamb with mint sauce.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 1 October at 7.30pm at the Mendip and Wells Museum when our speaker will be showing us how to make greetings cards, and we will bring and buy cakes to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

New women are always welcome at Wells WI and can attend as guests before deciding whether to join.

By Veronica Howe