WHITLEY WI

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.

Anne Toll and her family had invited all members of Whitley WI to a garden party in their beautiful garden, full of spring colour and ablaze with rhododendrons and azaleas. Anne, helped by Annette, had done a great deal of preparation with different eating areas, in the sun or in the shade, with plenty of seating for everybody and a delicious buffet which different members of our WI contributed to.

Annette provided a very generous raffle, with lots of prizes, all beautifully presented in gift bags. This raised £212.12 which will be donated to St Rocco’s Hospice, which is celebrating its 40^th anniversary of opening this year and is a charity close to Anne’s heart, and much appreciated by all of us. Thanks so much to Anne, John and Harry and Annette for a really enjoyable afternoon.