Art and Baking groups preparing for Christmas 2023
June 2023 Flower Festival
Ladies with Llamas on our August Outing 2023
Fun, friendship and community
Whitley WI is a large and lively group of women. We have a busy programme of meetings and events which are designed to attract and involve the varying ages and interests of all our members. For a flavour of what we do please see our monthly newsletters.
We are always delighted to greet new members and can assure you of a warm and friendly welcome. Our committee members will introduce you to fellow members and make you feel really at home.
Our meetings are held at 7.30pm in Whitley Village Hall on the first Thursday of every month. Drop in and be sure of a welcome.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
This meeting is our biennial joint meeting with Dutton WI, and NOT on our usual Meeting Date.
Its Tuesday 9th June, 7.30pm at Preston Brook Village Hall.
Members requiring a lift, please contact any committee member.
Join a Sub-Group...make new friends.
Art, Walking, Craft, Baking Beauties, Book Club, Scrabble, Garden Interest, Darts & Bowls. Please see Subgroups menu for more information.
Our friends at Smith’s Nurseries have a new initiative this year, a Primrose Festival, with over 30 home-grown varieties on display.
Annette arranged for 2 groups to visit in March and we enjoyed a very informative talk from Sarah and then really enjoyed wondering around the displays and choosing our favourites – Raspberry Mixed won on Wednesday.
Most couldn’t resist buying some for our gardens, at a very reasonable price. All finished off with light refreshments – and maybe now knowing the difference between a Primrose, a Primula and a Polyanthus!. Thanks to Annette and to Sarah for a lovely afternoon.
We welcomed a record (post Covid) number of 45 to our meeting, it was great to have such a buzz in the hall. Our speaker was Kevin Mcfarlane, Assistant Manager at the Warrington branch of the RSPCA who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year..
He told us about the history of the local Warrington branch and explained that they are always busy fundraising as they are a self-funded branch – linked to the national RSPCA (200th anniversary this year) but responsible for their own fundraising.
They are a ‘closed facility’ and do not take animals from the public as their places are full with dogs and cats who have suffered abuse or neglect and most are held there while a court case is going through. The animals are loved, cared for, trained and prepared for potential resettlement when the court case is closed. Because of this the public aren’t allowed to visit, the animals are cared for by a small number of paid staff and trained volunteers.
Kevin’s love for animals and skill in working with them, shone through and he answered lots of questions from members who had brought along donations for the Warrington branch – food, litter, etc. The competition for a ‘cute animal’ was won by Ann Toll with her picture of a black Pomeranian.
Our book club didn’t meet this month, but others were back to normal. Scrabble enjoyed a sociable evening and our 12 members of our Walking Group were lucky to have a lovely bright, if rather chilly day for their walk on The Whitegate Way – click above to see more information.
Our Craft group were busy making Christmas Boxes from old Christmas Cards, Baking Beauties had a theme of Scottish Recipes and the Art Group painted some Winter Scenes
Our first meeting of 2024 was well attended (34 members and 4 guests) despite it being a very wet and dark evening. Our speaker was Andy from Moulton Glass, who gave us a fascinating illustrated talk about how his interest in Stained and Leaded glass turned from a hobby into his main occupation. He explained about how glass making had developed over the years and the different methods used for ornamental glass – stained glass windows, lead-light windows, copper foil and Tiffany decorative glass.
He showed us lots of samples and talked to us about where you might see some very old glass in the area – stately homes and pubs have many examples. An informative and enjoyable talk.
The competition for an item of Decorative Glass had lots of entries, it was won by Jean Pace with an angel copper foil tree decoration.
Some of our subgroups didn’t meet in December, but the Book Club did get together to discuss Swallowtail Summer by Erica James – a nice easy read for this busy time of year. Two groups had special Christmas events – The Walking group had a lovely Christmas lunch with Ann – Click here to see more photos and information
12 members of our Garden Group visited Smith’s nursery, Lymm in December to make a Christmas wreath. Click here to find out more and see some pictures
