The Castle Eaton Ladies Social Club started out in 1969.

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Some of the Village ladies were members of the Kempsford Women's Institute, which then closed.  When this happened Mrs Roberts, decided to start an independent Ladies Club in Castle Eaton,  she did not want to start a WI, as we would have to pay a certain amount of money to the County, she wanted our club to be in control of our own finances.

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The Start and the Constitution

A sum of £25 was borrowed from the Playing Field Committee (now the VCC Village Community Committee) and a committee was formed and the Secretary would book the speakers for the following year if possible.

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In December, we would have a Christmas Dinner, only paid up members would be allowed to attend, as a free drink would be supplied by the Ladies Club, if required the Treasurer would collect money from the members for this event.

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We would have a rota for providing and organising the refreshments and also a rota for members to give a vote of thanks for our proposed future speakers.  The club had members join from Kempsford, Hannington and Cricklade.  We would also have a representative on the Playing Field Committee.

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In future years, the Ladies Club always raised money by Carol Singing around the Village at Christmas time.

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In 1979 we were joined by the young wives from Kempsford for a Skittles match at the Jolly Tar in Hannington with food supplied, this event was then repeated for quite a few years and enjoyed by everyone.

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In December we had our first AGM which was followed by a Cheese and Wine party to celebrate our first year.

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From then on the Ladies Club have enjoyed many speakers and visits to theatres, gardens and many other places over the years. 

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Committee meetings were often held in one of the members houses or gardens and any village event was well supported by the Ladies Club supplying the teas and cakes and other refreshments.

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A special event was the Queens Silver Jubilee when The Street was closed and we had a lovely street party and various sports events, with the Ladies Club again providing the refreshments.

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In 1990 we enjoyed a lovely party to celebrate our 21st birthday and husbands were invited, all the catering supplied by the Club members.   Colonel and Mrs Roberts had left the village by then but were very pleased to return and join in the celebration of this special occasion.   I remember I made a cake to celebrate the occasion and my sister iced it and the evening was a great success and everyone had a really good time.

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We repeated this celebration in 2009 for our 40th anniversary when the cake was made and iced by Eleanor, but husbands were not invited this time.  We all received lovely leather book marks to commemorate the occasion.

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Over the years, at various times I have been Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and the club representative on the Playing Field Committee and have always helped other Club Members at bazaars and village fetes.

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My claim to fame is that  I have been a fully paid member for nearly 50 years, even paying my subs when I was unable to attend myself.

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In 1971, the Ladies Club donates £4.25 to the Westlecote House for the Blind and £4.25 to the Olive House Childrens Home, but between 1997 -2003 we donated a total of £3511.47 to 14 different charities.