WHITLEY WI

Book club – our October book was ‘The Moonlight Garden ‘by Rosie Hannigan. Views on the book were mixed. Most found it an easy, fairly light read and some felt it was a bit ‘wishy washy’ with not a lot of depth to it. The average score was 6.9.

Walking Group – Several members from Whitley and Dutton WI joined the CFWI fund raising walk around Delamere on National Restart a Heart Day. After a very comprehensive demonstration on how to work the equipment we did a 2.6 mile walk on the paths in the forest. Through the trees we saw the water of The Blakemere Moss and the leaves were just changing into their autumn colours. Acorns and chestnuts were scattered all along the paths crunching under our feet with red fungi popping through the undergrowth. We finished with lunch in the Visitors Centre.

Craft Group – 9 ladies enjoyed an afternoon with Melanie learning how to make our own Cross stitch Christmas cards. We were all given a piece of 14 count Aida to mark the centre and from this worked our design outwards. We had to ensure that the finished design was centered and therefore would fit into our ready made three fold card. Although none of us actually finished our stitching, a new craft for many of us, we all took our pieces home to finish and promised to send us a photo of the finished cards.

Art Group – Last month Joan gave us a fascinating talk about Monet and the Impressionists, and this month we all had a go at copying some of their work, inspired by the wonderful book that Joan put together with her copies of their work. Some chose watercolours, some chose acrylics but we did enjoy the simplicity of this style of painting.

Baking Beauties – Halloween – We held an evening meeting so those who have other daytime commitments could join us. 20 members were there to sample a great selection of bakes with a little duplication. We did have 2 wonderful ‘ghost cakes’ – the same recipe but slightly different appearance – can you spot them in the photo? It was interesting to hear the trouble members had gone to preparing the pumpkins for their bakes – not the easiest task! A very enjoyable and tasty evening.

She talked to us about her early career in a daily Stoke newspaper, with the pressures of daily deadlines. This was in the days before the widespread use of technology, when women didn’t have any senior roles in journalism. She rose to the role of editor of Cheshire News, a monthly rather daily publication, just as COVID broke out.

She is committed to changing public perception of the magazine from that of ‘elitist’ for the wealthier Cheshire residents to one relevant to a much wider audience. In the Q&A session it became apparent that several of our members had made an appearance in Cheshire Life.

Our speaker had requested delicious WI cakes that all could enjoy . Our Baking Beauties provided a delicious assortment. The competition ‘What Cheshire Means to You’ was won by Mary H with a photo of her wedding many years ago in Cheshire Life.

November will be our Annual Meeting – Susan asked members to contact her if they were interested in joining our committee. We will be entertained by Ben Gage – ‘Collecting Careers’.

Whitley WI hosted the Village Group Autumn meeting , where Nana Funk entertained us with her quirky sense of humour and entertaining singing. She started the evening dressed as a cleaner, stripped down to her very quickly underwear and finished the evening in her sequinned dress as she accompanied herself on a ukulele as she sang songs she had created, including some which were responses to questions our group members had written down for her. A very enjoyable evening.

Walking Group – Starting from the Village Hall nine ladies turned right down Village Lane for our September walk passing the school and then turning right down Back Lane and eventually through the fields passing sheep, horses, squashing lots of acorns under our feet on the pathway. Cow parsley was in abundance along the way and is called a different name depending on the area you live according to Annette, who has a child thought it made a great pea shooter. We turned left into Old Mill Lane and at the first corner Julia guided us right along a grassy path between hedges up to Scotch Hall Lane. Whilst we where having a pause we where lucky enough to ask a gentleman coming out of the drive opposite to take our photo. After a welcome rest we turned left and continued along the lane noticing the bird boxes in the trees. We carried on along Mill Lane, Lake Lane and left into Bentley Farm Lane making our way back to the Village Hall. After having had a lovely walk with the weather being wonderful we made our way to The Antrobus Arms for lunch. There will be no walk on Tuesday 7th October 2025

Art Group

Joan Blackshaw has recently become fascinated by Monet and the Impressionists and had prepared a talk to share her research. We might just collect pictures/information – but Joan has compiled a book where she reproduced Impressionist pictures, with information about their work – she’s an inspiration! In October we will have a practical session for our members to follow her example and produce an impressionist painting.

‘WI Day’ is a national celebration of when the first WI opened in the UK, on 16^th September 1915. It was in Llanfair PG on Anglesey… The rest is our wonderful history.

WIs throughout the UK are encouraged to join together and celebrate all that is good about our WIs, the firm friendships in our movement, recognise our fantastic legacy of inspiring women, and reflect on all that we achieve together through our quiet yet persistent power.

For this reason, Whitley WI decided to go out and Celebrate WI Day. Whitley only has one pub, so this was an obvious choice. Members met at the Birch and Bottle, Chang Noi for chatter, drinks and an evening meal. Chang Noi is a Thai restaurant so all could enjoy some tasty food.