Ladies’ Day at Leekes for Townswomen’s Guild

Members of Melksham Townswomen’s Guild had a wonderful time on Wednesday 21st June, having accepted an invitation from Leekes to visit their store for a ‘Ladies Day’.

We arrived mid-morning to be greeted by Elaine Hawkins who provided us with tea/coffee etc as we wished, and told of our programme for the day.

We then went to meet Jon Miller who with a video told us about the history of Leekes Stores, founded at the end of the 19th century by James Henry Leeke in Wales.  He was a handyman, working in a small room, doing repair work and odd jobs for the local people.  The work increased and his son joined him and the business passed on through several generations of the Leekes’ family.

Having decided to expand beyond Wales they set up in Melksham on the old Spencers site which opened in 1992 with further stores opening in other parts of England.

Back in Wales they now own a four star hotel with a spa, two championship golf courses and have plans for much, much more.

A tasty lunch was then served and then we were divided into small groups and each allocated a room to design a scheme for, from paint through to furniture and soft furnishings. This was accomplished by wading through piles of furnishing fabrics, wallpaper patterns, floor coverings and all manner of catalogues to select samples/pictures to arrive at a finished scheme.  Each design scheme was mounted on large white boards and presented for judging! We listened to the judges’ comments and eagerly awaited their decision.

The winning design was for a lounge, beautifully furnished with the usual lounge furniture but the addition of a piano and a small harp made this design very unique. The winning team were presented with Leekes gift vouchers and all of our party received gift bags and vouchers for participating in the day which ended with a shopping session before we left for home!

Melksham Townswomens Guild meet on the second Friday of each month (except August) at 2pm in the United Church Room when we have interesting speakers and activities and have various trips throughout the year.  If interested contact Mrs P Hoy 704805