Art and Baking groups preparing for Christmas 2023
June 2023 Flower Festival
Ladies with Llamas on our August Outing 2023
Fun, friendship and community
Whitley WI is a large and lively group of women. We have a busy programme of meetings and events which are designed to attract and involve the varying ages and interests of all our members. For a flavour of what we do please see our monthly newsletters.
We are always delighted to greet new members and can assure you of a warm and friendly welcome. Our committee members will introduce you to fellow members and make you feel really at home.
Our meetings are held at 7.30pm in Whitley Village Hall on the first Thursday of every month. Drop in and be sure of a welcome.
Join a Sub-Group...make new friends.
Art, Walking, Craft, Baking Beauties, Book Club, Scrabble, Garden Interest, Darts & Bowls. Please see Subgroups menu for more information.
Twenty five of us joined the World of Alice in Wonderland on a very pleasant August evening for a really fun time playing crazy golf. In groups of 5 it was a great opportunity to get to know our fellow members better.
We progressed around the 18 holes. encountering lots of Alice themed landscaping including the Mad Hatter’s top hat, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and the Teapot No particular expertise was needed, the small streams of water running though the area presented some fun challenges.
The final hole, part of the deck of cards was great fun to watch. The red area within the heart shaped wall formed a very large hole, but this had to be access by using the Queen of Hearts ramp to take the ball over the wall. The netting was very important to protect our fellow visitors! I witnessed a couple of hole in ones, and also scores of around 10 here!
We finished the outing with a delicious meal at Hartford Hall where a few other members joined us. Massive thanks to Susan and to Pat for making all the arrangements for this very different and enjoyable evening.
Most of our subgroups took a break in July, but the Walking and Craft groups did meet.
Walking Group – Ann O’B was unable to lead the full walk as she had an ankle problem, but Ann Forster stepped in for her. From the Leigh Arms the group turned right out of the car park crossing the Willow Green Lane into the road opposite and before the first house followed the footpath alongside the garden and then along the RHS of the field and through some trees to the canal, dropping down left onto the towpath and turning right following the water. They passed narrow boats and walkers with their dogs enjoying the good weather and after about half an hour came up to a bridge and turned left up the slope and then left again through fields down to a metalled roadway where they turned left alongside the Weaver where Ann O’B met them at a clearing with two benches about 10 minutes from the Leigh Arms. The group had all enjoyed a lovely walk, sunny but not too hot and finished with a very enjoyable lunch at the Leigh Arms.
Craft Group – The Mosedales sharing their woodworking and calligraphy talents
Harry brought along his finished English Chair and all the components that make up another using ash and elm. He showed us his joiner’s tools which he has had for many years, including spoke shaves that were more than likely over 100 years old, but still in everyday use. His hands lovingly touched his pieces of wood as he showed us his turned chair legs that were ready to be put into place and how he manages to steam the wood to give it enough flexibility to bend. Any student taught by Harry has been truly blessed.
Norah his soul mate realised many years ago that she could make use of her ability to hold and control a pen. She was taught by a Comberbach tutor of calligraphy and over the years Norah has used her wonderful talent to pen many incredible letters, including the Congratulations Card sent to the late Queen on her Jubilee on behalf of Whitley WI. Norah supplied us with pens and the right textured paper for us to have a go at writing out the letters of the alphabet. We all realised that the art of everyday writing is unfortunately becoming a dying practice.
All 17 members of the Craft Group thank Harry and Norah most sincerely for spending an afternoon with us – a record turnout for our group
Our July speaker was Sue Holden who talked to us about ‘Bringing the Law to Life with Laughter. Sue was a really good and entertaining speaker who told us the story about how her career in law developed and shared lots of humorous and interesting anecdotes and insights into our legal system. Dressed in black, as court professionals do, she certainly didn’t fade into the background! No technology, just a fantastic knowledge of her subject, and pictures to illustrate the issues raised in her talk. Melanie gave the vote of thanks. The competition, for ‘A legal joke’ was won by Helen Heaton.
We had our usual wide selection of activities on offer, from Whitley, Village Group and Cheshire WI . The Adelaide Hough Bowling Competition on 1st September was particularly popular, more than 16 have signed up for this. Our planned August social activity – mini Golf and a Meal in Hartford is also proving very popular.
Book Club read ‘The Burning Chambers’ by Kate Mosse. We had chosen an historical novel for a change, and this was set in the 16th century, The book was unsettling and reflected the violence of those times, with a complex story and set of characters. However the book scored 8.2 out of 10, quite a high score for our group
Walking Group – A massive thank you to Ann OBrien for yet another amazing place to meet and walk. Although Ann couldn’t make it herself 10 members met Anderton Nature Park. We met people with some unusual dogs, the weather was really kind to us and the walk ended with a nice light lunch. Thanks again to Ann OBrien for organising the walk before she went away and thank you to everyone for coming along.
Baking Beauties – Our Bakers met at Jonty’s house where they started their meeting with a tour of the garden. It was a slightly windy day so we moved indoors to enjoy the delicious afternoon tea that our members had prepared. Each chose their own recipe, and we had a lovely selection of savouries and sweets. People went to a lot of trouble to find something unusual and shared their stories of their learning curve – good and bad!
Craft Group – In glorious sunshine 9 ladies enjoyed ‘glass fusion’ in the garden of our own member Teresa. A new craft to all of us. Teresa showed us some of the pieces that she had made herself – truly amazing. We each then made our own creation. Small pieces of glass,about an inch square, whether it be coloured or plain glass, set the basis for our pendants and then even smaller pieces of glass were stuck onto this in a design. We let them dry whilst having a long cold drink and piece of cake in the cool of the house and then they were left to be put into the kiln to fuse. Teresa brought along the finished pieces to our July WI meeting.
Our speakers at our main meeting in June, Gill and Lynda gave us an insight into the origins of afternoon and some of the etiquette surrounding the practice. How ladies managed to eat anything trussed up in corsets is amazing. With the aid of technology we were all able to get a Birds Eye view of Lynda making some scones as she talked us through her recipe which included buttermilk and lard. We all sampled the scones with our tea and took the recipe away to try at home. Pat S had a go and said they turned out really well!
Our competition was for a flower arrangement in a teacup and the entries were all superb.
