Barmouth WI members received a visit from a key figure at Portmeirion to hear all about the Italianite village and its famous architecture.

The WI met in Parlwr Mawr at the Dragon Theatre at 2pm on Wednesday, 25 January.

Jacqui Puddle, branch president, welcomed 18 members to the first meeting of 2023, and Meirion was sung.

Best wishes had been received over the Christmas period from Mair Jones, Christine Dearden and Jeanette Marsh. Birthday wishes were extended to Ros Grant and Geinor Lavender.

It was reported that Barmouth members entered eight items in the competitions at the Christmas event held on 3 December in Bala.

Pauline Owen came first and Janet third with their Christmas cards and Pam Payton came third with her felt tree decorations.

The ‘Chatty Crafters’ had enjoyed making crystal art tree decorations and Christmas cards under the tuition of Anne Vaughan-Jones.

Members voted to put forward a resolution to the National WI regarding the harm of online gambling.

Ros Grant informed members of a campaign to end violence against women. She invited members to join her on a march on Saturday, 4 March, starting from the Dragon Theatre at 1pm.

The annual Te Cymreig is on Thursday, 2 March at 2pm at Llanelltyd Village Hall.

The speaker for the afternoon was Meurig Jones (pictured), locations manager at Portmeirion.

Slides were shown, illustrating several aspects of the enchanting Italianate village.

Clough Williams-Ellis had designed and built the village to show off his architecture and yet work with nature. Each building is unique and there are several archways, deliberately situated to frame the view beyond.

Many famous people have stayed in the village including Noel Coward, Brian Epstein, the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis and King Charles.

The iconic series The Prisoner was filmed there and now Festival No 6 is a popular musical event.

All the members thoroughly enjoyed the informative talk and Meurig was thanked by Mari.

Meurig had donated tickets to Portmeirion for the raffle which Tracey Talbot won.

Jacqui won the WI raffle and Karen Chapman won the flowers.

The competition for a piece of pottery was won by Jacqui and Karen was second.

The next meeting is on 22 February at 2pm in the Arts Room of the Dragon Theatre.

Jose, from the Bistro, will be giving a cookery demonstration and the competition is for an unusual cooking utensil.

Are you a member of a group in your community? Do you have news, photos and videos of your latest activities to share? Send them to [email protected]