WI News May 16
HOLMER
HOLMER celebrated their 75th Anniversary firstly with a meal at Burghill Golf club, then at the monthly meeting at their new venue in St. Mary’s church hall in Grandstand Road with a lovely supper. They had to move to larger premises because membership has risen so much over the last year. That certainly was something to celebrate.
BRIMFIELD
31 members from neighbouring WIs joined Brimfield WI in April for a Middle Eastern cookery demonstration given by Marina Ibrahim from Ludlow. She told us of how and why she started demonstrating and showed us many of the spices that she uses in Egyptian cookery. We were able to taste the end products, encouraged to experiment with spices, but above all we should “cook with love”.
STOKE PRIOR & DISTRICT
Stoke Prior and District WI had a fabulous afternoon recently when they went to Owen Mabbott's blacksmiths shop in Kingsland. Members, together with husbands and friends were in awe of his craftwork.
He magically made a beautiful ornamental fire poker while answering questions and explaining techniques of his trade. At the previous meeting the members were entertained by Ann Cummings regarding the subject of what your handwriting reveals about you. There were lots of wry smiles as she explained how slanting, spacing, etc gives away your traits.
BALLINGHAM
After discussing the Resolutions and voting in favour of both, Ballingham and District spent a fascinating evening delving into the murky world of organised crime with former undercover officer, Cameron Addicott. We learnt about the many ingenious methods smugglers use to evade detection and to launder their ill-gotten money, and the painstaking work involved in trying to catch them – sometimes, but sadly by no means always, with spectacular success.
We ended the evening in the usual way with – legally produced - tea and delicious refreshments.
EARDISLEY
The members of Eardisley W.I. welcomed guests from the local community to celebrate the Queen’s 90th Birthday. There were not many tiaras in evidence but very elegant hats and colourful outfits were worn for this special occasion. The best china was brought out and of course, the dainty sandwiches, savouries and cakes were definitely up to standard.
PETERSTOW
Our last meeting had a different twist as we commenced with our speaker Collette Gray talking, before the general meeting.
Collette spoke on “Victorian Dolls”. She brought with her many examples that she had collected from her youth, these ranged from1850-1920. There were different types, with the most expensive being French, German less valuable. The faces of Edwardian dolls resembled real children, whilst those from the Victorian age were prettier.
Collette also showed members the book she had written “Collectors Guide to British Dolls since 1920”.
Members were interested in one, in particular that she had acquired from the late Laura Ashley’s house sale.
General business followed, before our usual enjoyable tea.
BARTESTREE
At their meetings BARTESTREE & LUGWARDINE have made shopping bags with recycled material with the ladies from Morsbags in January, discussed the World of IT with Cheryl Shearer, who works for IBM, in February and heard about the virtues of decluttering with Rosalind Hayes in March. In April Rebecca Edmunds, a hypnotherapist based in Hereford, spoke on Hypnotherapy - The Power of the Mind, and then concluded with a relaxation session.
LEDBURY
President Margaret Coulson welcomed members and visitors to the April meeting.
During March one of two Ledbury WI teams taking part in the Herefordshire Federation quiz had qualified for the final round. They were congratulated on achieving fifth place.
Members had also enjoyed an excellent performance by the WI GracenoteS choir held in Hereford.
The evening’s speaker Caroline Bellhouse was introduced to speak about ‘Orange Hairies and other Friends’.
Caroline’s talk was about the time she spent in West Borneo, where she and her partner set up the Metang Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. This involved a lot of hard work and a great variety of lovely animals, especially orang-utans – the ‘orange hairies’ - threatened by loss of habitat and poaching. It was interesting to learn how they began to improve rescue animal welfare, educate local people about the animals’ needs and put in place a volunteer programme. Her pictures of animals, especially Gus, a baby orang-utan, were delightful.
The evenings competition - ‘An Eastern Object’ - attracted many varied and imaginative entries.
The next meeting is at 7.30 pm on Wednesday May 11th at the Parish Room of the Catholic Church New Street Ledbury HR8 2EE when the AGM will be followed by members speaking about their favourite film.
BURGHILL & TILLINGTON
Our April meeting was held on April 19th when we had a most interesting illustrated talk by Brenda Crump, a local florist, who was invited to join 24 other florists to help decorate the Royal Barge which transported the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh down the Thames during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. Brenda was lecturing at Pershore College at the time and was able to take 11 students with her to join the group. Designed by Rachel de Thame, assisted by Kitty Arden and Crocus Nurseries, the months of planning culminated in a feverish week of preparation and creation of the floral displays, flower garlands and ropes of foliage and roses all intricately wired onto frames in order to suspend them from the ship’s rails, not to mention a miniature knot garden on the upper deck. The intricate detail and vibrant colours of the peonies, roses and lavender were beautifully displayed against the red velvet ship’s rails and other fittings, and including the reproduction gilded carvings on the superstructure. This enormous task was completed in time for the Royal Barge to take pride of place in the River Thames Pageant on June 3rd 2012.
EARDISLEY
Recently they presented Lynhale Nursing home three Twiddlemuffs . these are knitted sensory hand muffs for dementia sufferers.
LITTLE HEREFORD
Three degrees!
Little Hereford ladies had a brilliant visit to The Red Cross open garden day at Newport House, Almeley. Although freezing cold we enjoyed the gardens and the many plant stalls! The craft and gift marquee was popular ( for a quick warm ) and the refreshment tent recharged us for the afternoon. Jules Hudson was our spot of the day and we even sat in the sunshine for lunch.
DINEDOR AND HOLME LACY
A party fit for a Queen was produced by members of Dinedor, Holme Lacy and District WI who celebrated the Queen’s birthday in style. The afternoon included an impromptu singalong and a birthday toast of bubbly and WI celebration cake.
WEOBLEY GROUP
The Weobley Group enjoyed their annual meeting in April . Dilwyn WI hosted the event and we were entertained by a magnificent magician, Steve Slayman, who memerised us with his tricks and I think we are still trying to work out how he did them!!
The food was delicious and done by one of our members, Jane Voogd,,ably helped by her daughter Fred.
LEOMINSTER LASSES
Carole Dowding entertained Leominster Lasses with her fascinating talk about her Life in Perfume, which was punctuated with many amusing asides. The evening was rounded off with a celebratory birthday cake to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.
Caption: Leominster Lasses, Barb Nicols, with Carole Dowding
SALTMARSHE & DISTRICT
There was a lot to get through at our May meeting, with Reports from members who'd visited the Annual Council Meeting and received our Certificate for our 70th Anniversary, from those who'd attended the Thanksgiving Service at Hereford Cathedral to mark the 25th Anniversary of the foundation of the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (as Mary Seldon, chief fund raiser for the area, had been our Speaker at our February meeting) and from three members who had that very afternoon completed a six mile W.I. walk based in Wellington.
The walk had been utterly delightful; we were so lucky that for the two hours twenty minutes it took us there were barely three dozen drops of rain. Returning to the Hall there were excellent refreshments to satisfy our hunger pangs !
Two Resolutions were debated soundly with a unanimous "Yes" vote for that pertaining to providing facilities for carers to stay with people with dementia illness when admitted to hospital and a majority "No" vote calling on supermarkets to sign up to a voluntary agreement to avoid food waste, and so address food poverty. When learning that household food waste is far more of a problem, it was felt that this resolution could have been better worded to target that specific area.
After this rather sombre element, we brought our tea and biscuits back to our tables while we explored the delights of an assortment of items and their uses. These varied from an Amish doll - rather plain as no features allowed - through a toothpaste tube squeezer to a thible - a spoon for stirring porridge.
We all left for home with a reminder that in June we meet outdoors at 6.30pm for our Garden visit to The Orchards at Bishop's Frome.
EARDISLAND
Carrie Francis and her Aunt Carol from Harts of Monmouth, which is a family firm, came to talk to us. Their theme was "An Uplifting Experience".
Carrie gave us an interesting talk on the history of the brassiere and showed us pictures of iconic designs through the ages. We were then able to see the various stock and learn the types and purposes of each design. This was an amusing and informative evening. Some members partook of the fitting service and everyone was given a discount voucher to spend at their store. We were thanked for our donation of unwanted but usable bras for their appeal.
We had a fascinating evening when we drove to Shirlheath near Kingsland Car Auctions to visit the Blacksmith, Owen Mabbort and his family. Owen informed us that he hadbeen a traditional blacksmith for 21 years and had had a purpose built workshop erected. He talked whilst he made a superb poker which involved drawing out the mild steel length, hammering the end into a beautiful leaf shape. Bending the next section it into a scroll shape or loop to make the handle and winding the leaf design around the pokershaft. The next section he gouged out channels on each face and then twisted it in the vice to make a candy twist design for part of the length.His materials were sourced locally,the coke from Bengrys at Kingsland, the metal from Underwoods in Hereford and the beeswax, to give a polished finish, from Yarpole.
He explained that mild steel was used as it contains carbon and is therefore more forgiving in nature. Owen donated the poker he made for a raffle prize and the new owner will be very proud of this fine example of his work. Afterwards we partook of superb homemade cakes and scones together with nibbles and tea or coffee. It was an unforgettable experience but be warned a tad on the noisy side but would recommend it to you all.
MUCH COWARNE
Much Cowarne held their April meeting on the 8th at Stoke Lacy village hall. Our previously advertised talk A Patchwork Journey was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances . At very short notice one of our members Kate Parker stepped in and presented a very polished demonstration on quilting, this included a fine selection of fabrics used in her own work.
In May we hosted the Bromyard Group meeting, this was very lively and friendly. A lovely evening, with members providing a great variety of dishes,followed by coffee and tea. Our guest speaker Geoff Tookey presented a talk and demonstration on Dishes with a Difference, which went down very well with members as we all got to taste the end products,which were Salmon Tartare and Upside down fruity crumble.Geoff spent the first ten years of his career in top hotels and dining restaurants,he has been involved with craft skills and training and a wide selection of culinary events,ranging from high quality buffets to banquets for HRH Queen Elizabeth the second and the Royal family.
UPTON BISHOP
Sudeley Castle was the topic for the May meeting of Upton Bishop W.I. ably given by Angela Panruker. Angela with the aid of slides took us through the 1000 years of the Castle's existence, detailing the families who have lived there and it's development from a Hunting Lodge to the Castle of today. Having been owned by the Brocklehurst-Dent family for the past 200 years, it was in the mid 1500's the home and final resting place of Katherine Parr, the widow of Henry Vlll.
This talk is to be followed by a trip to Sudeley Castle by members of the Upton Bishop W.I.
PUTLEY
Unexpected visitors joined our May meeting when a herd of heifers gathered by the Parish Hall (see picture). They’d obviously found out that the speaker was a scriptwriter from BBC Radio 4’s The Archers. Paul Brodrick has been writing for the programme since 1999. He gave a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes including the remarkable speed at which this much loved institution is written and recorded. Even though we pointed out that there were more of us than him, he was unfazed and refused to give away any future storylines.
LEDBURY
President Margaret Coulson welcomed members and visitors to the May meeting.
The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss and vote on the National Association of WI’s resolutions for the annual meeting. A high number of members attended and many expressed their views.
The evening’s competition was ‘A favourite film’. Choices were varied and ranged from classic films such as ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘Brief Encounter’ to a very different ‘E.T.’’, with the competitors explaining why they had made their choice. Most entertaining to hear their explanations.
The next meeting is at 7.30 pm on Wednesday June 8th at the Parish Room of the Catholic Church New Street Ledbury HR8 2EE when the speaker will be Jane Smart talking about ‘Link Nurseries’.
Visitors are always very welcome.
HUNTINGTON HEREFORD
In April Mr Frank Bennett returned with another of his talks, this time on early Transatlantic Steamers and the Mail service. He told how the mail was sent overseas showing the members the old letters and envelopes he had collected over the years with their wonderful stories and in insight to the history of the time. One of the first ships to make the crossing to America was in 1826. With pictures of the lovely old ships and crew it made a very interesting talk.
Still sticking with history in May but of another kind and this time on dry land, Mr David Harrison gave an amusing talk with slides on “Graveyards I have known”– the funny side. Starting with antidotes from St Marys Church in Monmouth where the first person buried there in 1852 was a man named William Llanwarne , though it was not known if he was from Llanwarne and taken the name as his surname. In 1809 Corporal William Allan from the Welsh Battalion that had fought the Zulus at Rourke’s Drift in Africa had been buried there. He said later the churchyards were filling up with family owned plots so the Cemetery was created, the name coming from a Greek word meaning ‘resting place’. He then touched first on Britain's eccentric dead with many amusing stories, along with other graveyards around the country he had visited, some of them being where famous people from history had been laid to rest.
BOSBURY
Dianne Hodgson was in the chair at the May meeting and introduced our speakers Dave Podmore and Jinny MyCoy from Greyhound Rescue West of England, accompanied by three very well behaved dogs.
The charity was started in 1996 by Angela Yardley to rescue and re-home ex-racing greyhounds and also unwanted and abused dogs. In 2015 they homed 400 dogs across the UK and Ireland making sure they were all matched with the right family and well supported.
Greyhounds go back to ancient times and can even be found on the tombs of the Pharaohs in Egypt. In medieval times they were the hunting dogs of the nobles. They were thanked by Jan More.
After refreshments we discussed and voted on the two resolutions going forward to the National AGM. The first concerning providing facilities for carers to stay with a dementia patient in hospital. The second is about avoiding food waste, and calling on supermarkets to give surplus food to charities.
There will be a coffee morning at Phelps Cottage, Coddington on Wednesday 15th June from 10.30 - 12.00 noon in memory of Sue Hall. All welcome, with proceeds going to the Injured Jockeys Fund. Entrance £5 for coffee and cake.
The next meeting is on Thursday 9th June at 7.30pm in the Parish Hall when there will be a talk on “The History of Perfume”. The competition is a small posy of flowers. Visitors and new members welcome and for further information phone 01531 640029.
THE SUTTONS
At our May meeting we did Exercise with Miranda. We started with a gentle warm up and dance moves, then proceeded to chair exercises – don’t think that sitting down is a soft option! Miranda told us how exercise can keep both body and mind healthy, and we practiced Mindfulness. We also voted on the resolutions.
Our next meeting is ‘One egg or two’ by Rosemary Prosser.
TUPSLEY
Recently ladies from Marden came with sewing machines to demonstrate making Morsbags. We heard about their Pod and how the idea was 'born' to save the environment from plastic. We were all given a bag ready to sew and put to good use.