All about us

 

Timsbury is a small ex coal mining village in Somerset about 7 miles from Bath and 10 miles from Bristol with a population of about 4,000. It is a very old village being mentioned in the Domesday Book. Not as long ago as that however, 10th May 1977, a few people keen on making wine met together at the village hall (Conygre Hall) and formed the Timsbury Wine Circle. Ron Ward the prime mover behind the idea became the first Chairman and his name is honoured with the Ron Ward Trophy that is awarded to the winning wine circle at our annual wine match.

 

Membership grew rapidly until it reached approximately 60 and such was the enthusiasm a waiting list had to be drawn up in the 1980's. In those early years wine was an expensive luxury and unlike today production was limited to a few countries, mainly France and Germany. Making wine was the cheaper option with easy to obtain ingredients and monthly meetings with speakers giving advice. In those days most of the talks were geared to home made wine. Activities weren't just confined to Conygre Hall though as camping weekends at the seaside, barbecues and visits to Old Tyme musicals took place. However In 1989 the Chairman reported in the Somerset Guardian that membership had fallen to around 40 as good quality wine at affordable prices hit the supermarkets with Bulgaria leading the way. This carried on through the 1990s and nowadays excellent wines come from all over the world with 'New World' wines leading the way from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

 

The result of affordable wines being readily available is that wine making, except to the confirmed enthusiast, has taken a backward step. Here in Timsbury wine is still made by a few members and we still compete in wine matches with local circles but the number of available bottles from which the competing wines are selected has reduced. As a consequence of this the speakers at our monthly meetings vary now with a wide range of subjects as can be seen from the programme page. Outside activities still take place though with the annual barbecue, visits to breweries or wineries, the Bristol Wine Fair and, a recent innovation, weekends in foreign climes such as Berlin, Budapest, Krakow and Vienna. Photos of these can be found on our photo gallery page,. Two dances a year are held, the Christmas Party dance in December and the Ron Ward Wine Match in March and we also have a Christmas meal together.This helps us to maintain a healthy balance sheet and organise commercial wine tastings whether they be with wines from a supermarket or a wine merchant at no extra cost to the members.

 

In recent years service users from the local Cheshire Home have joined us and have taken part in many of our meetings and we welcome new members with open arms to a very friendly and fun loving society. Why not come along and give it a try? Or perhaps you would like to e-mail or phone our secretary Wendy for a chat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the left is the presentartion of the Winemaker of the year trophy to founder member Ron Ward in 1978. On the right and below is the first barbecue held by the Wine Circle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At our first Wine Match, Timsbury surprised everyone by winning and the photo on the left shows Vice Chairman Charlie Nelmes recieving the Faraday Cup from John Ashley MD of Ashley Associate with Chairman Alan Marchment looking on. N.B.The Faraday Cup was later superceded by the Ron Ward Trophy for the winning Circle and the Faraday Cup is now presented to the Circle that comes second.

 

 

 

 

 

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In the early days we had fantastic Christmas Dances with a band, disco and cabaret going on until 1am. Little did we know that this shouldn't have been such a late finish but what the heck we all enjoyeds ourselves. Nowadays of course we finish at midnight. When you look at the price and what was offered 'inclusive of supper', cabaret, band and disco no wonder we usually had over 200 at our dances. Nowadays we are lucky to get 120 but unfortunately the prices of bands have gone sky high let alone having to pay for a disco as well. However we still have a great time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the early days of 1982 the members were hardy camping out whatever the weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recognise anyone here from our 1985 Wine Match? They are a bit older now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here are some old faces from our 10th anniversary dinner in 1987

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a pantomime at Christmas in 1988 and went to the Wales and West wine weekend at Pontins where we paraded our banner with all the other Wine Circles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank came away with a trophy and we all celebrated his success

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such was our success in 1988, winning at Bath Wine Circle when we came top out of eight circles and then the Doug Danks Trophy that the Somerset Guardian paid us a visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank was still at it winning trophies at Brean in 1989

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A year that finished with a fancy dress and American supper at our December meeting showing a touch of the French look about it.