WI News April 2014
BISHOPSWOOD
The March meeting was held on March 14th at 2.30pm and for once it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. Thirty-three members and one visitor attended. We started, as usual with 'Jerusalem' followed by the business meeting, lots of information regarding events in the County news with various trips planned. Following that we had tea and then settled down to listen to our speaker for the afternoon. It was Averill Kear with the second part of her talk on the Forest of Dean. We had the first part at this time last year and it was very much enjoyed by everyone. The second part was the more recent history of the Forest and the great part it played during the Industrial revolution. Nowadays it is an area which is known for its beautiful scenery and the opportunities for leisure, but go back a couple of hundred years and the area was a different place altogether. Averill told us how it was important for three things; firstly iron production, then coal production, and timber production. The first iron works was at Cinderford in 1806 where 12000 tonnes were produced annually. Following that there were many more ironworks throughout the forest and the industry had a chequered history as recessions came and went. RMS steel was invented in the Forest by Robert Mushet and was the first 'tool steel'.
After the decline of steel, coal production expanded and was regulated by the Free Miners. To be a free miner you had to fulfil several criteria, namely, born in the Forest of Dean, 21 years old and have spent a year and a day in a mine. In 1856 there were 221 working coal mines producing 46000 tonnes annually.
Colliery forest of dean
Monument Mine
There has always been timber production in the Forest and much of it went to the Royal Navy for shipbuilding, indeed Dean oak was used in 2004 to refurbish HMS Victory for its bi-centenary. Stone quarrying has also always been important to the Forest and there are many buildings throughout England built of Forest stone, with quarries still working today.
The Forest of Dean is managed by the Forestry Commission and as previously noted is now mainly a wonderful area for leisure for us all to enjoy.
The talk was fascinating and very informative and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Mrs Ann Jones gave the vote of thanks. She then reminded us that the next meeting is on April 11th at 6.30pm, as we switch to evening meetings during the spring and summer months. The speaker is David Emerson (producer and director of the Bishopswood pantomime), his subject is entitled 'A life in professional theatre from Jeffrey Archer to A Woman in Black. This will be a meeting open to husbands/friends of members and is likely to be very popular.
The meeting closed at 4.30pm.
LINTON
Tucked away in Friar Street, Hereford with a nearby car park is a very unprepossessing building which houses The Hereford Museum Resource and Learning Centre.
Housed in climate controlled stores are the collections not on show in other museum sites around the county, but with a difference! Here you can get up close and personal rather than viewing through glass.
Collections include natural history, geology, coins, archaeology, pictures, costumes and textiles.
Costume in the Hereford Collection
Our group of eight ladies from Linton WI were taken on a fascinating tour and shown costumes and textiles, from hard working linen smocks to the most exquisite silk embroidered dresses, babies bonnets and ladies hats, pin cushions, samplers and purses, mens shirts and waistcoats and beautiful little shoes, everything hand stitched and ranging from the early 1700's to early 1960's.
Visitors are welcomed either for a general tour or for research purposes. Definitely not promoted enough and a gem worth seeking out.
WELLINGTON
In March, Janet Wall let us in on the secrets of life in service during the seventies, eighties and nineties. Through her husband's career as a live-in gardener, and answering job adverts in The Lady, Janet had experience of cooking in several different households. We heard about many interesting, particular and peculiar characters, and the tale of the dropped salmon!
March 8th was International Women's Day and to mark this, one of the members held a cake sale outside Wellington Delights with her children, to raise money for ACWW. The Associated Women of the World is an umbrella organisation for women's groups around the world which provide small scale financial assistance to projects that benefit women. The ACWW has been a long standing beneficiary of "Pennies for Friendship", the small change used in voting in the competitions each month at Wellington WI, and many other institutes.
BOSBURY
In March members enjoyed "Stress Free Entertaining" with Margaret Spence from The Bell Inn Bosbury. Margaret started her demonstration with Irish brown yeast bread and a smoked mackerel pate, followed by Thai chicken with lime and coconut, and a mango and almond mousse to finish. She passed on lots of useful hints and tips while we sampled the delicious food. Margaret was thanked by Jenny Rees.
Bell Inn Bosbury
Since the last meeting members have enjoyed a visit to Malvern to see a live screening of "War Horse" and hosted the Ledbury Group Pancake Lunch for 62 which included two local walking groups. Rosemary thanked all those who helped with the lunch for their hard work.
There will be an outing to the American Quilt Museum in September, and a visit to our link Institute Dinedor and Holme Lacy on 8th April for "Pedros's Percussion Fun".
The next meeting is a talk by Roger Turner on "Making a Chelsea Garden" Thursday, 10th April. For further information please telephone 01531 640 622. New members are always welcome.
BARTESTREE AND LUGWARDINE
Bartestree and Lugwardine members visited Monkland for a tour of the cheese dairy in March. They were shown around the dairy by the cheese-maker who gave a lively detailed description of the cheese-making process. This was followed by a tasting of the various cheeses made there, and the visit finished with lunch in their cafe.
PETERSTOW
Our guest speaker for the April meeting came with tales of an ancient mariner, his relative Robert Ivey, from 1829 to his death at the age of 92. It was comprehensive and interesting with slides of various documents and articles he had uncovered from many diverse sources, showing how ships went from sailing barques to steam in Robert's lifetime. This talk encouraged our members to fulfil their desire to unfold the mysteries of their ancestors.
KINGSWOOD
Malcom Price gave a very interesting talk on his work as a Paramedic in February also showing us how a defibrillator works.
March was quite a different type of meeting.. Putting aside the usual WI business in favour of a social night. President Teresa Misselbrook arranged a "Race Night" We welcomed several visitors including John Hill and John Phillips as bookies, nick named Honest John and Slippery Joe! We started the evening with a hot super of Lasagne or Shepherds Pie followed by various desserts and coffee/tea.
Teresa set up her laptop and a large screen to project the races, everyone was allocated several thousand pounds for stake money to bet on a total of six races. We very soon got the hang of checking form and odds, choosing our horses and placing bets. The evening got quite lively at times as the punters cheered and shouted encouraging their horse past the winning post.
The overall winner was guest Terry Owens who won a total of £33,500. (Pretend money of course)
Terry won a total of £34,000 on race 5 alone. There was lots of fun and we thanked Teresa for organising the evening.
Our next Open Meeting is on 9th April when we will be demonstrating a variety of crafts and exhibiting some of our own crafts. We invite you to come along and have a go at card making, box making, sugar craft, or learn to knit..and more. Let us introduce you to something new. £2.50 includes refreshments.
On 30th April we celebrate our birthday with a meal at The Tram Inn, Eardisley. If you are a member or past member and would like to come along please contact Carole Hill 01544 231231 before 10th April.
Crafty Crafters will meet April 3rd & 17th. May 8th & 22nd. £2.20 includes refreshments.
All our meetings take place at Kingswood Village Hall.Visitors are welcome to all our meetings come along and meet us and enjoy yourself.
BISHOPSWOOD
Ann Jones our President had been approached by the WRVS in Ross to see if we were interested in hosting a community lunch at Bishopswood Village Hall. The WRVS until recently had been providing Meals on Wheels for individuals in our area for many years and it has been discontinued. They wanted to keep the kitchen open, hence the request that we might be interested in doing a lunch. Ann put it to the committee and we agreed that there would probably be a lot of interest as there are many people in the area who are now on their own, do not cook, and do not get to socialize much. We decided that we would do one initially and if a success we would continue doing it once a month, possibly twice if there was deemed to be sufficient demand. The WRVS would cook and deliver the lunch, and organise transport for anyone who needed it. We would do the serving and organisation and see how it went.
It was a great success, 36 people sat down to lunch and they all thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe that most of the people there intend to come again so it is now to be a regular event.
BISHOPSWOOD'S 95TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
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SALTMARSHE
There was a lot to catch up with at our March meeting: our first meeting of 2014. January is our rest month and the February meeting had to be abandoned due to atrocious weather. So, once the business part of our gathering had been efficiently handled, we drew our chairs closer to our speaker, Gwen Winterton, and to the table where she had spread her treasures.
We listened with great interest as Gwen talked us through the art of working with sheet pewter. Made using 94% tin, 4% antimony and 1%copper, pewter has a low melting point so is easily worked with, yet just as easily spoiled. Patience and care would seem to be useful ingredients for producing items such as photo frames, pin cushion holders, plant pot holders, jewellery boxes, plates, cuff links, pendants and firescreens : all of which were displayed for us to see. Artistic talent is not necessarily a must, as designs and patterns can be traced and used, giving hope to those of us less skilled in drawing . Sheet pewter needs to be mounted onto something firm like wood or metal using an overlap to finish an edge. Gwen's tools included a wooden stylus with sharp point, a gadget her grandmother had used for leather work, tiny scissors, Evo Stik, clear lacquer, sandpaper and a very light hammer.
Gwen had got interested in working with sheet pewter whilst a member of a W.I. in Staffordshire and had attended a course at the local agricultural college in 1976. The timing meant that within a year she was able to make a Jubilee plate, to celebrate the Queen's twenty five years as the monarch. A very impressive piece was the Welsh dragon displayed on the fire screen which had needed to be made in two halves. Honestly, you couldn't see the join! Even more impressive was the delicate intricate designs on tiny cuff links.
Pewter historically was the poorer man's gold and silver, as it was more readily available and suited craftspeople working at home. Gwen told us that back in the '70s sheet pewter 12 " wide would cost £3 a square foot. Now 19.7cm x 30cm would cost £13.27 with a further £20 for special packing, as the alloy is so easily dented.
Next month we have Karen Jones coming to demonstrate and talk about "painting furniture and finishing touches ". That'll be on Wednesday April 9th at 7.30pm in Saltmarshe Village Hall. You'd be very welcome to join us.
ASTON INGHAM
Victoria Logue came from her Cotswold Nursery to give a talk titled 'Seeds, cuttings and beyond.' She started by telling us that she wanted to tell us how we could extend the season without replacing plants, so we would need to think about gardens in a different way. Victoria told us that amateur gardeners never feed their plants as much as professionals and she said that any fertiliser is good - very important for pot plants, as is lots of water. She told us that professionals are much more ruthless at discarding withering plants and plants grow better with natural growth - not what we produce with secateurs! Artificial aids can maximise impact in a garden and though some are expensive there are some cheaper substitutes available - some can be made at home. Early and late flowering plants are good for bees and butterflies, ivy is wonderful for both. In late May, if buds are removed from plants, they will flower later thus extending the season, foliage should be chopped back after flowering and dead heading is important. Victoria said it's a good idea to buy a plant in May which will flower in Autumn.
Victoria brought a number of plants to sell and her talk was both interesting, informative and humorous and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
SALTMARSHE
At our April meeting, Karen Jones introduced us to many varied techniques for painting furniture and adding decorative touches. Karen is one of seven traders who make up Bringsty Vintage Living, to be found on the A44 towards Worcester. (Find out more at http://www.bringstyvintageliving.co.uk/ ) Karen is also to be found in her shop in the Square, sandwiched between Classic Carpets and Harris Butchers. If her talk is anything to go by, then the workshops she runs must be inspiring lots of people to makeover furniture and fittings that have become somewhat tired.
Karen went on a course to learn how to make the best use of Annie Sloan paint. Based in Oxford, Annie Sloan is a fine artist who has revolutionised the paint world by introducing a superb range of paint in thirty two colours. What makes it so marvellous is that it can be put onto practically any surface without the need for tedious preparation. It can cover almost any item of wood, leather, fabric, walls, floors and so on. Annie Sloan coined the phrase "lazy lady paint" which is free of chemicals, odourless and can be washed out with water. Apparently, men still find this too good to be true and still want to undercoat everything! A tin costing £18.95 would cover two large Welsh dressers. Karen talked us through the many ways of creating different effects. A crackle glaze technique leads to a fine porcelain finish. Karen finds that lots of outcomes happen by happy accident, which she can always pretend is what was intended all along. Everything she demonstrated seemed quick and easy, so that the majority of us probably went home with ideas for revamping at least one item in the house.
We were pleased to be joined by two new members plus a daughter of an existing member and we hope all three ladies felt they were made welcome. Seven of us had gone to Bromyard W.I.'s meeting the previous evening where two of us had been lucky enough to win prizes. Evelyn brought along the beautiful flower arrangement she had won for all the group to see. Celia went home with a lovely large Easter egg.
ASHPERTON & CANON FROME
In February members enjoyed listening to the experiences of a fellow member describe a Typhoon while on a visit to Hong Kong. Staying in high-rise accommodation loaned to Margaret and her husband she described how as a young couple they had weathered the storm, in a strange country, as they battened down the hatches, listened to the wind and rain and tried to sweep out water as fast as it flooded the flat.
In March we welcomed visitors to a very descriptive and interesting evening with power point images from a 'Glass Artist' covering the development of glass, moving on to a talent of Glass Engraving. We watched the artist stippling a vase that she is working on. Two beautifully engraved goblets were on display.
PEMBRIDGE
Dick Allford was the speaker for the April meeting in Pembridge. Dick who served in the Police Force for many years and since his retirement is now a Police Community Support Officer regaled the meeting with wit and humour on his life as a 'country copper'.
HUNTINGDON HEREFORD
Huntington-Hereford W.I. welcomed Mr Frank Bennett as their speaker for March. A man of many talents from the Dramatic Arts to an author of several books on his beloved cricket, though this time his interest was as a collector and something which he started as a child by collecting stamps and had since which progressed to his now hobby of Herefords Postal History. Amongst his collection is a letter that was sent from Hay on Wye on Christmas Day and the reply received on Boxing Day in the 1700's. He had a great collection of photographs and letters from as far back as the 1600's. The members were fascinated with the history connected to many of these and how the post would leave the Coach House in Broad Street by horse drawn coach at 2.30pm each day to London. The first letter into Hereford was delivered to Red Street Tree which is now the site of the Butter Market.
Long serving member Mrs Josie Prowlin, brought along a book her late husband had written many years ago when he was Assistant Postmaster at Hereford Broad Street, looking at the job from the 
postman's point of view.
The April meeting featured Alex (Alexandra) who married James at the age of 28 and who is now co owner of Broadfield Court, where they not only produce Wine from their own vineyard but also run the estate as a working farm as their ancestors before them. The Court now has a lovely café open to the public and facilities for weddings and functions and of course a tour of the vineyard and wine tasting. Before her marriage Alex was an Actress and performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company here and abroad, plus many other roles. She is also famous for being one of the stars of the Chanel 4's program "Jungle Jane's" where a group of 12 servicemen's wives were left in the Borneo jungle after S.A.S ultimate jungle training. They took 17 days to trek their way out having to survive best the could on their own, but with back up not far away if they needed it.
Her account of her "Life before and after Broadfield" held the members in absolute rapture, with her witty and out going personality. No one wanted her talk to end, I think we would all have sat there another hour listening to her if we could have done so.
Once again Huntington- Hereford won the County Federation Quiz. Carol White and Margaret Jackson have helped to win the cup on previous occasions, but this year they were joined by Marion Poole and Brenda Drake, seen here after the competition.
On May 22nd we are planning to visit the Aberdulais Tin Works and Waterfalls near Neath Port. An afternoon trip, which the men folk may enjoy if any one is interested we would love to hear from you. Contact Brenda Drake or Pat Amos for more information.
SPARKLING WYE
Members arrived to the April meeting armed with dancing shoes to enjoy an evening with Rebecca White, a dance teacher from Hereford. First was the warm up routine which left the enthusiastic dancers glowing! Then she taught a simple (to her!) routine danced to Lullaby on Broadway, including Susie Qs, Dosie Does and Shuffle Ball Changes. Having mastered these steps and danced through the routine it was felt that refreshments were needed! Whilst everyone recuperated over a cuppa, Rebecca demonstrated how it really should be done – certainly something to aim for!
UPTON BISHOP
April 's speaker was Phil Mugridge, an extremely talented wildlife photographer from the Forest of Dean, his talk was entitled "Wildlife on my Forest of Dean Doorstep". While showing his stunning photographs, a lot of which were taken from his own back garden hide, he gave some useful tips on taking better photos. There were some amazing photos showing mallards in flight, sparrowhawks, buzzards, tawny owls and swallows with their chicks, swan families plus some of deer in the forest
TUPSLEY
Ten members of Tupsley W I went across the new Greenway Bridge on their ACWW walk. They visited the Rotherwas Chapel & The Wye Inn before returning via the Victoria Bridge & new footpath behind Park Street. With donations from other members £60 has been raised for the W I charity.
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