WHITLEY WI

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.

Walking Group – in May we walked around Marbury Park on a lovely sunny day. The dell was full of bluebells, though some had passed their best, and the wild garlic was an array of strongly scented white flowers. A couple of dogs were having a great time splashing about in the stream. We continued down Marbury Lane and followed the path toward the Flashes but turning off to go along the leafy avenue of bushes and trees with the Flashes on the left. Eventually we reached Marbury Road again which we followed back to the car park after a lovely walk and plenty of chatter. We had our lunch at Spinner and Bergamot.

Book Club – Our May book was a crime thriller ‘The Whole Truth’ by Cara Hunter – one of series about DI Adam Fawley. A very different read for us, a detective story with two main themes, with lots of other stories going on in the background. A female Oxford professor being accused of sexual assault by a male student alongside DI Fawley retracing an old case when the perpetrator, who’s always maintained his innocence is released from prison. An interesting discussion and our group had different views – the average score was 6.5 out of 10

Art Group – the theme for our May meeting was ‘Insects’. Some of our regulars weren’t able to join us this month, but our members still produced some lovely pictures, some of them to be completed at home

Annette has been busy organising a photographic competion over the past few months, with some technical support from Jean. She invited Sue Bentley, a trustee of CFWI and an ex President of Whitley WI , to be the judge and she came along to announce the results and to award the prizes. She told us that she had a very difficult job deciding which picture was the winner for each of the 5 categories.

We had entries from 21 different members, with a total of 73 photographs. Members were shown all of the entries in each category, and Sue then told us which was the category winner. Each winner received a beautiful ‘Hidcote Lavendar’ plant and also a £10 gift voucher for Smith’s nurseries.

Annette presented Sue with a beautiful plant, a pink variety of scabiosa especially for bees, as a thank you.

The winning entries are shown below

We welcomed 33 members and 5 visitors to our May meeting. Our speaker was Anna Sanders who talked about her charity “Knickers to Poverty”. She told us of how she had visited Uganda and was very moved by the poverty which she saw and was particularly affected by the conditions for the women there. Many women did not even have any knickers to wear, a particularly difficult and embarrassing situation at the time of their monthly periods.

She was moved to set up her charity and has returned to Uganda several times. She is always made very welcome and has got to know individuals leading various charities there who she knows will use any money she is able to send them very effectively. The ladies there really appreciate the gifts of knickers which she has taken/sent from donations she has been given. She showed us videos taken on her visits. Whitley WI gave her a donation

Our refreshments included a slice of special cake to celebrate VE day – cakes made by different members to the same recipe did taste different! Members were busy signing up for the many events being organised by Whitley and CFWI. After refreshments we voted on the resolution ‘Bystanders can be Lifesavers’ and a show of hands indicated we should ask our delegate to support the motion. We also announced the results of the photographic competition (see separate article).

The competition for ‘A lingerie item’ was won by Annette

15 Whitley members enjoyed the Village Group Spring Lunch at Antrobus Village Hall. The Group Committee, led by our own Melanie, organised an excellent event with a delicious lunch, great company, and a Bring/Buy Sale. The meal was an enjoyable hotpot, followed by a selection of delicious desserts, with contributions from each of the WIs in the Village group.

Our Whitley ladies stood out when they donned the Easter Bonnets they had made at our March Craft Group meeting.