Launton WI reports for Launton Lines for June 2023 Issue 272

Launton WI Meeting May 2023

Helen, deputising for our president Gaye, opened the meeting and, following reports from the secretary and treasurer, offered congratulations to Gaye, Gill and Pat who celebrate birthdays this month.

May has come to be regarded as the date for one of our more serious meetings as it’s traditionally when we discuss the Resolution being put forward to the WI Annual General Meeting of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. This year the Resolution is Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife. Sherie tested our knowledge on the current state of rivers and beaches in the UK with a short quiz (for most of us, scores were not good!). She then gave us background information, facts and figures on the complexities of the campaign. An interesting discussion followed with some members feeling that the resolution was rather narrow as it concentrated too much on improvements for swimmers and not enough on water quality in general and the environment. Afterwards the vote showed that opinion on the resolution was divided.

For the latter part of the evening we enjoyed a variety of cheeses and wine provided by the committee.

This month we have started to support the Hygiene Bank by donating much needed items. Next month the focus will be on the topical subject of Sustainable Energy. Looking forward to July, plans are being made for a Croquet Day with a Bring and Share lunch.

We are a friendly group, always welcome new members and meet on the second Thursday of the month.

Lynne Harper

WI FieldTrip: Gongoozlers and Leggers from Launton to Stoke Bruerne

Twelve intrepid members set off by minibus on Thursday 27 April for a day out thanks to a generous donation from a former member of Launton WI.

The destination? Perhaps the best example of a canal village in this country. Built mostly of local Blisworth stone, Stoke Bruerne is the perfect canalscape with locks, a wharf, warehouses and cottages, two pubs, a coffee shop, a small waterways museum, and also the longest canal tunnel in the country. At 3,057 yards or 1¾ miles, the Blisworth tunnel is the longest canal tunnel in the country still open to navigation.

Our members were treated to a short canal cruise on trip boat Charlie to the southern portal of the tunnel and a brief incursion into the darkness. We were all pleased that Charlie was short enough to turn around in the tunnel without having to travel all the way through to the other end. Charlie also had an engine, unlike the earlier boats that were horse drawn and would have needed ‘leggers’ to work the boat through the tunnel by laying a plank across the roof of the boat and ‘walking or legging’ the boat through the tunnel.

Lunch was at a choice of two aptly named pubs, The Boat Inn or the Navigation Inn. The weather was kind to us and but not quite warm enough to use the picnic tables outside the museum. Some walked part of the woodland trail and some along the towpath to view further locks along the flight of seven, watching a few boats make the passage through to the moorings by the tunnel. Little did they know they had become ‘gongoolzers’ the nickname given to people standing around locksides watching the crews work the boats through.

There was just time for a visit to the Canal Museum before we left. The Museum displays a range of artefacts from the two-hundred-year-old story of the navigation, the boats, men and women who form part of this story, and a half size replica of a cabin interior.

Plenty to see and do and a very enjoyable day out - a photo is below.

A fellow gongoolzer

A Day out for Launton WI - on the canal at Stoke Bruerne

Launton WI