WI News January 2015
Putley
One woman's tat is another woman's treasure. That's what Putley WI discovered during their first meeting of 2015. Member Melissa Hawker organised a swap where members and guests were invited to bring along scarves, handbags and jewellery they no longer used. Everyone then enjoyed a good rummage, chose what they liked and made a donation. The £100 raised was donated to the Ebola campaign and leftover items were given to St Michael's Hospice charity shop in Ledbury.
Peterstow
Our speaker for December, David Barrie gave us an informative insight into the highs and lows of the professional wine taster. After leaving school he joined a retail wine company, selling, tasting, and finally becoming a broker in the same line of business.
David offered the members a taste of the white then red wine with us endeavouring to differentiate the herbs and spices within the wine.
Our meeting concluded with tea and mince pies setting the scene to the festive season.
Members and guests enjoyed our Christmas lunch at the Royal Hotel in Ross, with genial conversation and good food.
January's " blues " were transformed by our monthly meeting with a talk by Emma Grant on "Laughter Yoga". Emma explained how these exercises, started by a doctor in a park in India link laughter with physical exercise. She spoke about the various benefits of laughing, even if false. Members joined in with laughing exercises and finally left the meeting much happier than the start.
Holmer
Holmer had a lovely evening in January with a talk from one of our own members Maureen and two friends who all went out to Ghana last summer.
They had been invited to stay at a Church Mission centre which helped the local communities. From the pictures we saw, it showed they had had a very enjoyable but humbling experience.
Huntingdon Hereford
December 2014 and January 2015
The December meeting was the last meeting of the year and the last meeting at St. Johns Methodist Church Hall for Huntington-Hereford WI. After a short business meeting and with no speaker booked the members enjoyed a Christmas social afternoon doing a Flower Quiz and playing games. They were also able to study Huntington's Year Book compiled from 2008 to 2013 by Miss Beverley Powell, which has now been taken over by their President, Pat Amos from January 2014 and would be ready to browse at the next meeting. Several members had been double booked with other organization's Christmas functions, but those present had time to reminisce about the happy days spent at St. Johns while enjoying a Christmas tea. It was a sad day to leave the old home but due to rising costs it was move venue's or have to close down, but the members had voted in November to carry on in a new venue.
Thursday January 8th was the day of Huntington-Hereford's first meeting in their new home, The Herdsman Public House function room, where we were made most welcome by our hosts Mark and Doreen Higgins. To start the year off Mrs Eileen Dilley came and gave a very interesting talk about National Trust's property, Berrington Hall where she volunteers as a House Guide. Telling members the history of the Hall and bringing along photographs of the hall at different stages over the years and the different families from the Harleys who built the new house in 1778 , to his daughters husband Admiral Rodney a notorious gambler, to the Cawleys in 1901. The business took place after tea with the announcement that the first outing of the year will be to Bourton on the Water for the day on May 19th and members were asked to ask friends and family to help fill the coach. The meeting finished with Beverley Powell, the winner of the 2013 Competition Trophy, presenting the cup to the President who was the overall winner for 2014.
Ledbury
The speaker at the January meeting was 'Cameron Addicott – 20 years under Cover'
This proved to be a very interesting talk on his time spent working with the undercover investigations of HM Customs and SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) against drug traffickers, money laundering and the various activities of the top villains in the world. Drugs, cocaine being the drug of choice, are a huge problem and enormous sums of money change hands, starting with the least to poor farmers in South America onto the middle men and then the big bosses. Money laundering distributes the proceeds of these crimes. Various examples of successful cooperation between countries were given and we were given an insight into this world of criminal activities. A BBC series 'The Interceptor' is soon to be broadcast based on a book written about Cameron's time with the Agency. Many questions were asked and a vote of thanks given.
Sparkling Wye WI
Cynthia Fowler, a Kenyan lady now living in the UK, gave an emotional and informative talk about the primitive and horrific procedure of Female Genital Mutilation. Cynthia is from the Samburu Tribe which is not westernised and retains many of the old traditions. FGM is illegal but still carried out there, without proper anaesthetic, to girls of 9 and 10; it is regarded as a sign of maturity and readiness for forced marriage though in reality it causes problems for these women in later life and is merely a form of controlling women. Many of her family, of whom she is very proud, have HIV and Cynthia who was fortunate to be given sponsorship to complete her education, is running a project with her English husband because she wants young people in these areas to be better educated about HIV/AIDS and for the women to be able to say no to FGM as she did.
Upton Bishop WI
Cameron Addicott gave an interesting, amusing and entertaining talk entitled "My Work as an Undercover Customs Officer for the Serious Organised Crime Agency". He explained that most criminals become too greedy and then make mistakes. Before catching these criminals, months and often years of gathering intelligence takes place before customs can step in to catch the central coordinator of criminal rings.
PARKWAY
In January members started the year with a presentation from representatives from Dress A Girl Around The World, a charity which makes clothes for vulnerable children who often have little to wear but rags. Members were intrigued to see how a pillowcase could be made into a pretty dress and most members showed an interest in becoming involved in supporting the project in some way. The talk was both informative and moving, as it was explained to members how owning one decent dress not only protected the innocence of these children but lifted their self-esteem.