WHITLEY WI

The first Community coffee morning run at Whitley Village Hall was a great success. Over 20 Villagers attended and enjoyed Happy Chatter and lots of CAKE.

Cake was freshly baked by members of Whitley WI.
Thank You to all bakers and helpers… A good way to start the week.

These pictures tell their own story. Whitley WI’s Garden Interest Group visited the garden of Kath, a Park WI’s member.

Kath’s garden is described as a “plantswomen’s” garden. She has over 500 species/varieties of rare and unusual plants, which she has collected from many locations. These are carefully catalogued and she personally knows each one.
Our Members received a warm welcome and enjoyed coffee and homemade biscuits before starting the tour.
Garden maintenance was discussed: careful pruning, no hoeing and very little watering seem to keep the garden weed free.

The management of 3 on-going compost heaps was fascinating.
Kath propagates new plants, by taking cuttings and splitting, these she sells at many plant fairs, as well as for the National Garden Scheme when she opens her garden to the public in August.

Many thanks to Kath for our tour, and we hope to meet up with Park WI for a visit to a different location. Now a challenge to all garden group members…

…I have numbered all the plant photos…they need names….so email Pat with the names, and she will put them on to the web site!

How often do members drive down the A49 between Whitley and Stockton Heath? It’s a pleasant road with houses, trees and a Golf Club, but nothing extra special.
Whitley WI’s April walk took them into a new world behind the houses etc of this part of the A49, so much is hidden.
Leaving cars we entered a field, quite high up with open views across land to the West of Warrington, viewing as far as Fiddlers Ferry Power Station, Widnes. It was a clear day, a bit nippy to start with, no rain forecasted and sunny spring weather.
The walk took us around fields with freshly sprouting crops, past some derelict looking fishing pits, and down a narrow lane to The Walton Reservoir.

 There were a few native ducks, but no sign yet of ducklings which would probably be hatching in a couple of weeks.
Hough Lane led to a backway into Walton Gardens… busier than usual due to school holidays.

Was that Thomas the Tank Engine driving round? Maybe on another WI Trip!.

Newly restored glass houses were being completed. One member recalls her Grandparents taking her there as a child to see “real” bananas growing in Warrington.

A sit down with coffee and a chat was enjoyed, before heading along the Bridgewater Canal and then following the Delamere Way which crosses Walton Golf Club … I had never been brave enough to venture across this golf course before.

All good things do come to an end…but not quite. Back to ours cars and a short drive followed to The Stretton Fox for a well-earned lunch.
Thanks for this walk go to Rita and Betty. Super organisation including making provision for members who needed to leave early.
We saw “fields of Green”….. So we said to ourselves

                        “What a Wonderful World”

Congratulations to the Whitley WI Darts team for winning the North Cheshire WI darts league competition.

Mary attended the March 2019 PAL (Public Affairs Link) Meeting in Tarvin in March.

There were two speakers:

• Fay Sherlock, Sustainable Palm Oil City Project Officer, from Chester Zoo
• Martin Varley, Director of conservation at Cheshire Wildlife Trust

Fay won us over with her photo of a sad-eyed orang-utan surrounded by a devastated landscape. The orang-utans’ habitat is being destroyed by deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia to plant Oil Palm plantations. But it can be environmentally friendly if grown sustainably.

As Martin ruefully said, how can the more endangered white clawed crayfish compete with an orang-utan!

Click on the picture to read the full report by Mary.