WI News October 2015

BISHOPSWOOD

Bishopswood WI met at the Village Hall at 2.30pm on Friday, 9th October, a beautiful autumn afternoon.  The hall was full with twenty eight members, one guest and twenty three members of Bishops Cleeve WI.  We started as usual with Jerusalem and the business meeting, taken by the President Mrs Ann Jones, who outlined the local and county events planned for the future.  Birthday cards and gifts were given to the two members with birthdays this month and to Pat Webber who had been in hospital for her birthday in September. The quiz team were presented with the cup which they had won previously.  After the excellent refreshments had been served we settled down to hear our speaker, Liz Dobbs-Sandi tell us about 'A Life on the Buses'.

Liz and her husband had left Zimbabwe after having their passports cancelled and being told to leave the country in three days time.  They arrived in England knowing nobody and having no idea where to go.  They decided on Oxford after being told that buses ran from Heathrow every twenty minutes instead of the three hourly bus to Gloucester.  After great difficulty in finding a job as she was over 50, Liz saw a sign on a bus asking 'Can you drive?', applied to become a driver and after three months training got her bus driver's licence.  She became a bus driver in Oxford where she overheard herself described as 'The posh bitch'.

She described many amusing incidents on and off the road and told us of various unusual items left on the bus, including a complete set of dentures and a baby in a pushchair – quite a lot seems to be left on the back seat!
The competition 'A strange bus journey in 25 words' was won by Jenny Winchester, Cynthia Hale was second.

Our next meeting on Friday, 13th November at2.30pm is the AGM with entertainment by the drama group.  The competition is 'An autumn leaf arrangement'.

PETERSTOW

 The guest for our October meeting was Jan Long, a leading authority on Gertrude Bell. Jan told the life of this remarkable woman, a daughter of a wealthy iron works owner in the north east of England in the Victorian era. She studied at Oxford before travelling world wide un-chaperoned. Gertrude loved the desert areas and being a linguist picked up Arabic quickly. After visiting several Middle Eastern countries she finally found work at the British Embassy in Iraq and subsequently for King Faisal. She was instrumental in the setting up of Iraq together with Winston Churchill.

Our members left the meeting totally enthralled with the life of this fascinating lady.

 SALTMARSHE & DISTRICT

At our October meeting we delight in remembering Mary Batchelor, one of our very long standing members, sadly no longer with us. She was such an enthusiastic supporter of the W.I. on many levels and an inspiration to all. After a hearty singing of Jerusalem, we raised a glass in her memory.

It was fitting that our Speaker for the evening was Irene Huddleston, who had also known Mary, and who spoke to us about her hobby of making decorated eggs of various sizes; from canary to ostrich. Using her favoured tools of a hand saw and a razor blade, she demonstrated how, having "blown" the contents of an egg, she would then wash and sterilise the remaining complete but empty eggshell. Tiny cuts would enable a hinged "door" to be opened, inside which would be placed the most wonderful creations. The bigger the egg the easier to cut and handle. All kinds of paint from emulsion, gloss and nail varnish could be used to colour the egg and to give it strength. Irene talked about each of the eggs she had brought and the occasion it represented; her daughter's wedding made from a goose egg, an Easter egg, a Valentine made of two eggs together, a hot air balloon, Humpty Dumpty, a tea set complete with teapot, sugar bowl and cups. The latest egg was to celebrate a visit to Russia where, of course, the beautiful Faberge eggs come from.

Irene was warmly thanked, especially for the chance to handle her lovely works of art - so delicate and dainty.Irene had very generously brought along four eggs in a case to go as first prize in that evening's raffle, which resulted in more tickets being sold !

After this, Irene, and her assistant Gloria, joined us in tea, sandwiches, cakes and other delicious food we'd each brought along for sharing.  Our competition tied in well as it was for an unusual egg cup.

Next month, as well as our AGM, we'll be having a go at wrapping presents; a very timely choice, with Christmas not far off.

Do join us on Wednesday 11th November in Saltmarshe Village Hall at 7.30pm

ASTON INGHAM

Aston Ingham welcomed David Hill to their meeting to give a talk with slides, titled 'Lost in Herefordshire.'  Most of us failed miserably in trying to guess where the monasteries, houses and castles were in Herefordshire but it was good fun.  As well as the buildings, David showed us very old signs, a three seater wooden 'loo' and an iron age camp near Leominster.  There was also a slide of the beautiful wooden screen which was at Hereford Cathedral and is now in The Victoria and Albert Museum, a statue of King Offa which is outside Tesco in Hereford and a sculpture in stone of Nelson which is in Hereford.

David helps to support two charities through his talks.

WYE WOMEN

Wye Women enjoyed an evening of card making,with the help of cakes, tea and chatter!
A few of us had learnt how to make these cards at Denman last year,so thought we'd pass on our creative skills.

HUNTINGTON HEREFORD

At the Octobers meeting the Speaker this month was Farmers wife Janey Cotton who is an Eagle Manager with the Forever Living Aloe Vera Company and combines helping to run the family farm running  the farm office , help moving cattle by holding gates open and sometimes driving tractors when the need may arise and bringing up their 2 sons. Until recently she also ran a B & B at their farm at Much Marcle, but as her Aloe Vera business had progressed she found she could pack in the B & B business and concentrate on her growing business.
Telling the history of the aloe plant and its medical and personal uses she outlined the Aloe Vera products made from the miracle plant as its called by some .The Aloe Vera Health drinks which are good for not only the well being of ones health  but also for aiding digestion . She told the members that we may know  that if you burn yourself the juice from an Aloe Vera plant will sooth the burning and help the healing and the gel product is one of the top products that are produced.  Its also been made into make-up products and personal care. Members enjoyed trying all the different creams for health and beauty products. This lead to members finding out from questions asked how some were found to help with different ailments, sometimes with much laughter. Members were surprised how some of the products were good for health care for animals and their pets.
The Fashion Show held at St Johns Methodist Church, Hereford for W.I funds and a planned donation to Breast Cancer Haven went off well if not very well supported . W. I members past and present and personal friends of the President took to the catwalk as models for the evening along with 6 members from Wye Women W.I  They were joined by 3 plucky men who came and modelled outfits from Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Cotton Traders from the Wyevale outlets.

PUTLEY

Putley WI has enjoyed a couple of food-themed meetings recently. In September, organic farmer John Davenport from Little Marcle talked about the trials, tribulations and successes of growing vegetables without chemicals. He brought along a huge bowl of his delicious tomatoes, fresh from his polytunnel.

Our taste-buds continued to be tempted in October when we met at The Nest – home of the Handmade Scotch Egg Company just a few miles from the Parish Hall. Neil and Penny Chambers told the story of their business – in 2003 they started by making scotch eggs in a fryer the size of a shoe box. Nowadays they produce 20,000 eggs a week! There were tastings of a whole range of eggs – from Aztec (with chocolate chips!) to Valentino (with cranberries). Picture shows WI member Isabel Dunn with Penny.

LEDBURY

Les Rodgers, a retired Property Manager at Brockhampton Estate, a local NT attraction since 1947 was the October speaker. In 1,700 acres this is a traditionally farmed estate with a medieval manor house dating back to the 14th century. Through a series of beautiful photos taken by Les over his 35 year working life we were shown so many aspects of the estate through the seasons, with bluebell woods and orchards in full blossom, varied wildlife and the projects involving local children. His love of the estate and the job in all weathers was self- evident and many members have visited this property and joyed the walks, scenery and damson jam made on the estate.  The 2001 foot and mouth epidemic impacted greatly on the estate, with movement restricted and animals destroyed affecting five tenant farms.  Afterwards Hereford cattle were introduced again and lessons learnt by the National Trust. Margaret gave a vote of thanks for such an entertaining and informative talk and many questions were asked.

LEDBURY GROUP MEETING

Parkway WI hosted the Ledbury Group Meeting on 16 September, one hundred years after the first WI meeting was held in the UK. In keeping with the centenary celebrations, auctioneer  Rita Kearsey gave a talk on One Hundred Years of Collectables. Many of the items were viewed with amusement, not necessarily because of their function but because members could remember recently using or still having similar items in cupboards at home. Several members from the WIs attending the event also provided items to be discussed and these also took the meeting down memory lane. Once the speaker had finished conversation flowed over afternoon tea as members of the various WIs exchanged news and ideas.

For this event, 58 tickets were distributed and  a clear profit of £241.84 was made.

BOSBURY

Report of the October Meeting

The Autumn Craft and Produce Show made a colourful display in the Parish Hall with a wide range of competitions, including baking and preserves, flowers, fruit and vegetables, handicrafts and photography.  The overall winner was Isabel, second Wendy, and third Rosemary (President).

The three judges from Mathon WI were thanked by Rosemary for their hard work with so many entries.

Final arrangements were made for the Harvest Supper on 24th October.  The date for the Christmas Dinner is Tuesday, 8th December at The Talbot, Ledbury.  The next meeting is the AGM  on Thursday, 10th November, followed by a talk on Associated Countrywomen of the World and their work.  Members were asked to put their names forward for committee.

Visitors and new members are welcome, do come and join us.  For further details telephone 640895.

THE SPARKLING WYE

Chris Cherington opened the meeting and welcomed the speaker, Peter Weston, with his talk on "Soldiers Uniforms from WW1". An ex policeman he went on to work for the National Trust as a WW1 expert and when lottery funding for his job ran out he went on to do talks and to escort tours to WW1 battlefields.

As he dressed in a reproduction 1907 model WW1 uniform, he explained that soldiers would have carried around 60 pounds of equipment and had examples of this kit with him for members to hold and look at. The uniform itself was made of wool, pretty heavy, which would have been itchy to wear and become very smelly and even heavier when wet! In 1916, soft hats were replaced by tin helmets, heavier but obviously offering more protection. Soldiers would have carried with them a fabric gas mask (first wide use of gas by the Germans in 1915) which was next to useless and a big waterproof cape, which also protected against mustard gas. They would have also carried very heavy Enfield 303 guns (not incidentally included in the 60lbs weight quoted above!), one was passed around and it was indeed extremely heavy, and bayonets, also very heavy. In addition, they wore a caddy which in itself was cumbersome, to carry food, drinks, ammunition, blanket etc. He had also brought along a selection of the medals received for service in WW1.

Peter pointed out that on day 1 of the Battle of the Somme there were 60000 casualties and on day 2, 40000, but the 1918 flu pandemic actually killed thousands more than the war did!
Finally, he discussed how to find out about family members involved in WW1 explaining how much easier it was these days with the internet and, it transpired that quite a few members have already been researching their family history. Peter was thanked for a wonderfully entertaining and enlightening evening.
After refreshments, Chris said that 14 members had attended the Group Supper and enjoyed a delicious meal and excellent entertainment by the Phoenix Singers, some of whom are members of SWWI. Various future events, local and county, were highlighted and the evening closed with the raffle.

SWWI meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month in the Conservative Club, The Avenue, starting at 8pm. New members are always welcome.

UPTON BISHOP

President Pat Lemin opened the meeting and welcomed members and 5 guests to the meeting. Five members had attended the Ross District supper which had been a very enjoyable evening. After the business had been dealt with she introduced the speaker, local author M R Hall with his talk, "My Life of Crime".

Two facts to start - 75% of books in the UK are bought by women and books are sold via word of mouth  hence the importance he places on talking to groups of women about his writing! Because he writes about a woman his publishers insisted that he must have an androgynous name so that women would feel happy buying his books, so he became M R Hall not Matthew.

He was brought up in a Bohemian household by parents who had an open marriage, his mother was an aspiring writer and his step dad a socialist and a writer. Matthew rebelled, joined the Tory party, went to Oxford and became a criminal barrister. He came to writing when he realised that he was not a good prosecutor, finding it difficult to deal with wrong prosecutions and the fact that some criminals were simply victims of awful backgrounds - "the system" didn't help them rather enabling them to become hardened criminals. He became disillusioned and decided that he could write about his criminal experiences instead, this started with TV crime drama scripts, including Cavanagh QC and Foyle's War, however, TV writing was not easy as producers wanted to change his writing. He studied creative writing and decided to write a book – The Coroner, about a lady coroner with many personal problems. Publishers Macmillan liked it but wanted him to agree to write 2 more before publishing. The three were a great success and in fact, his seventh one comes out at the start of 2016. Lynn Latham thanked him for a fascinating and absorbing talk. The evening closed with refreshments and the raffle while Matthew sold and signed some of his books.

UBWI meets on the second Tuesday of each month in the Millennium Hall at 7.30pm.