Finstall and Cofton Hackett WI

President, Val Wheeler, welcomed members and two visitors to the May Day meeting and Jerusalem was sung. She reminded members that the Poetry Group meets on the fourth Tuesday in the month at 2pm at Roma's house and the Craft Group meets on the third Thursday also at Roma's house. The Coffee Morning at Jackie's house will be on the 8th August. Fairfield WI will be holding their 27th Produce Show on August 20. Speaker, David Clark, gave us a fascinating presentation titled "Sentenced to beyond the seas" - the true story of eight Worcester female convicts who were deported in the 1780's. His interest in this story started in 2000 when he was Mayor of Worcester and he had the cells below the Guildhall opened up. Worcester at this time was a rough place and extreme poverty led people to steal food and clothing. There was not enough room for all the those convicted in the city or county jails and many were hanged – there were five hanging posts in Worcester. As the American War of Independence was going on, convicts could not be sent there so they were sent to Australia. He described the hardships that the eight women sentenced to death for stealing clothes endured both in crowded prisons before setting sail in 1783 and on the long and arduous voyage. He told us that many married and had children. Two of them eventually returned to the UK and have links with Worcestershire. One, Olivia Gascoigne, has the largest living family group of descendants in Australia. He has described their story in his book “Sentenced to Beyond The Seas”. Jessica thanked Mr Clark for his vivid talk and after tea and biscuits we discussed and voted on the Resolutions for the WI's AGM in Brighton. The group meets at 2 pm in Finstall Village Hall on the first Monday in the month and new members are always welcome.