WHITLEY WI

Baking Beauties had a Valentine Theme so hearts of all shapes and sizes adorned our table. See Baking Beauties subgroup for more information.

Our Walking Group had planned to visit Moore Nature Reserve as our planned December trip to there had been cancelled due to bad weather. Unfortunately the weather beat us again and we had to abandon our plans.

Book club had an interesting discussion about ‘Dead Ringers, an Agatha Raisin mystery by MC Beaton. It was not a popular book, few of our group enjoyed it – but that didn’t stop a lively discussion. We are currently planning our Book List for the coming year. See Book Club for more info about our discussion and the books we have been reading

The Craft group met to knit some squares for the Linus project while discussing their plans for the Cheshire Show. Watch this space as the year progresses to see what they create!

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 40^th 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 (200^th 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.