WHITLEY WI

Our walk this month was a special one arranged by Chris Jones.  She was taking is us to meet up with her friend Anne Mitchell and members of Longford WI in Tissington Derbyshire.  Chris Jones, Anne Stubbs, Ann Brock and Annette Minor volunteered to drive but we all managed to fit into 3 cars as one member couldn’t make it. So  11 members from Whitley WI set off in 3 cars on a rather damp and dull morning.  Chris had mapped out a very scenic route with wonderful views of the scenic Cheshire, Stafford and Derbyshire countryside. That in itself was pretty amazing, but Tissington was ‘the icing on the cake’,  a stunning little village tucked away in the Derbyshire countryside.

 After our journey which was approximately one and three quarter hours, we met up with The Longford WI members at Herberts tea room at Tissington Hall.  We were served tea/coffee and of course Cake!  Longford members welcomed us and soon the room was filled with laughter and chattering.

 The weather did brighten up a little after a very short shower and we set off on our walk through the beautiful countryside guided by the Longford Ladies.  It was good to chat to each other along the way, Longford is a small WI compared to Whitley, they have just 17 against our 70!  Longford was started when two friends met and brought the WI together!  It was good to talk about their WI, the ‘best speakers’, life in Tissington, and of course ‘The Weather’ which did warm up as the walk progressed.

 As lunchtime approached, we were rounded up into cars again and headed for Denstone Hall Farm Shop.  Our leader Chris had planned the day with ‘clockwork precision’ allowing us pre and post meal ‘browse time’.  The shop was a real Aladdin’s cave, so many beautiful  things to see and buy, books, cards, accessories, toys etc. as well as food, drink, pottery etc.,  but we were all ready for our lunch.  No time was wasted in getting served, as one again Chris thought of everything, we had pre-booked our choices from their menu, and what as superb meal we all had, we can see why Denstone Hall were finalists for ‘Best Farm Shop Restaurant 2016 FARMA Awards’, as well as we as ‘Retailer of the years 2015’ and ‘Food retailers of the year 2014-2016’.

 Of course all good things come to an end, we all said our goodbyes to our new found friends, and made our way back home to Whitley.

 All those in our car, and I guess in the other two cars as well, were already saying what a fantastic day we had, agreeing ‘we must do this again’!

Our thanks to Chris, our drivers and Longford WI for organising this very memorable day.

The Gardening Interest Group (suggested by Pat Sharp) had its first meeting this week. Twenty members are making plans to visit a number of local open gardens on weekends in May, June and July and also plan to visit the Southport Flower Show in August. Members will also be selling their plant cuttings at the monthly meetings – increasing WI funds.

The Craft and Chat group had its second meeting this month at the home of Annette Minor, who is kindly leading this project. Demonstrations of tapestry and knitting were given to eager members. There was a discussion between members about projects and visits to Craft exhibitions. The group will meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at Whitley Village Hall

On Tuesday April 10th, Whitley WI members Joan Blackshaw and Susan Burtonwood visited the Warrington Museum display focusing on the Women’s Suffragette Movement.
There was a defaced 1903 penny on display — Women Suffragettes stamped the words ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN’ across the head of King Edward VII on one penny coins. Then when the coins were circulated they hoped to get more support from the public.
In 1910 a group of women in Warrington took part in an election. With dismay they discovered their election costs were £15; they made a collection of £5 towards the cost and one lady made a cookery book ( which was on display ) She sold copies and gave the total of £3 towards the election costs.
There is a new 50p coin this year recognising the bravery of the suffragette movement.

Chris Jones passed on a message from Joan Blackshaw our President, who was unfortunately absent, thanking us for the 80th birthday card and present that we gave her recently. Chris Jones and Anne Kennedy then informed us of our numerous forthcoming events and activities. Our new craft club is having it’s second meeting on April 11th and a new garden interest group has it’s first meeting on April 13th. As usual we have our monthly book club and monthly walk. On May 9th we have our Spring Outing to Llangollen, the Culture club goes to see the Titanic at the Lowry on May 12th and Pat Sharp is organising a ‘Behind the Scenes at the Albert Hall’ trip to London on June 23rd.

We then had an interesting talk by Rosalie Gorton regarding the link between Venice and the Egerton family of Tatton Park. Samuel Egerton went to Venice in 1730 to work as an apprentice to the art dealer and connoisseur Joseph Smith. Later when Samuel inherited the estate, much of the knowledge and artefacts that he acquired in the five years that he was in Venice, were used in the many improvements that he began to make to the house etc. from 1758. The portrait is of Samuel Egerton in Venice and can still be seen in Venice. In the house at Tatton Park there is Venice scene painted by Canaletto which was commissioned from the artist by Joseph Smith, whilst Samuel was in Venice.

We all met at Ann O’Brien’s for tea and cake then made our way to Wigg Island. The day started off dull and damp, but the sun eventually appeared.

As well as the scenery, we were also keen to get a glimpse of the ‘much talked about’ new Runcorn bridge. You can just about see it on the group photo in the background.

We came across a beautiful swan , which very kindly posed for a photo.

It was a very pleasant walk great opportunity to chat to each other whilst taking in the lovely scenery.

After the walk we made our way to the TEN LOCK FLIGHTS for lunch.