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.
15 Whitley members enjoyed the Village Group Spring Lunch at Antrobus Village Hall. The Group Committee, led by our own Melanie, organised an excellent event with a delicious lunch, great company, and a Bring/Buy Sale. The meal was an enjoyable hotpot, followed by a selection of delicious desserts, with contributions from each of the WIs in the Village group.
Our Whitley ladies stood out when they donned the Easter Bonnets they had made at our March Craft Group meeting.
Baking Beauties
Baking Beauties had a theme of
“Nuts” in April with members incorporating a variety of nuts into their bakes. Pistachios, Brazils, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts made for a tasty and colourful display. The advantages of using pre-shelled pistachios was discussed after one member sustained a minor shelling injury!
Craft Group
A great turn out for the April Craft Group. 16 members turned out to make a fresh flower display for their Easter tables. Annette brought along a great range of flowers and foliage – with a base/oasis to hold our arrangements in place. Annette gave us all a few tips then we put together our own displays – a busy and sociable atmosphere. Joan thanked Annette, and congratulated her on her recent successes in the Ness Gardens Alpine show. An enjoyable afternoon.
Book Club – This month our members read different books by Caroline England, as she is the guest speaker at the CFWI Literary Lunch in June. A very modern writer of psychological thrillers. Her stories are packed with complex characters and plots. Some found them difficult to follow but good to read something different and we enjoyed the references to our own locality. We look forward to hearing from her in person.
Walking Group enjoyed a lovely walk around Lymm on a beautiful sunny Spring day, thanks to Anne T for leading.
We welcomed 36 members and 4 visitors to our meeting and it was great to have one of our own members as our Speaker for the evening. Mary Lancaster spoke about ‘Numbers, Needles and Jam Butties’, sharing her story of living with Type 1 diabetes. The picture shows Mary with the off duty Air Ambulance Dr who saved her life on the flight home from Gran Canaria. Anne T thanked Mary for a very interesting and informative talk. Mary plans to donate her fee to the Air Ambulance.
Members were able to sign up for a large number of different activities organised by our WI, by the Village Group and by the Cheshire Federation – lots to keep them busy. They were also reminded to get in their entries for the Photographic competition before April 23rd, we’ve had lots of interest in that.
Our darts team were congratulated on coming 3rd in the County darts competition. The competition for a jar of jam was won by Ann Tolson with her home made gooseberry jam.
Darts Group – A good season for us and we reached the Cheshire Final at Winnington, held on 12th March. We had a successful start to the evening, winning our matches against Winwick and Dutton, but the lost to Little Leigh 2-1 in the semi-final. They went on to win the Final, leaving us in joint 3rd place out of 12 teams. Congratulations to our team.
Book Club – We had a change of genre, non fiction and an older book – ‘Notes from a Small Island’ by Bill Bryson. Not our favourite read, but an interesting discussion.
Walking Group had a walk around Great Budworth, with lunch at the Cock O’Budworth.
Craft Group – 11 ladies arrived in glorious spring sunshine to make their Easter bonnets. There were flowers galore, rabbits, carrots, eggs and chicks with a trimming of ribbons. We created a wonderful variety of hats. Maybe we’ll be all dressed up for a wonderful Easter parade at our next main meeting on May 1st.
Art Group had a theme of Spring and members produced some lovely pictures, following Susan’s tutorial on a ‘Watercolour Spring Meadow’ or producing their own spring pictures
Baking Beauties made a range of ‘Melting Moments’ – mostly biscuits but a gingerbread which had a melting moment during production!
Thirty of our members attended our March Main meeting where our guest speaker was Kim Smith from Radio Northwich talking about ‘Music is my first love’. She was a brilliant and entertaining speaker who talked about growing up in the 60s with vinyl records, black and white TV, tape to tape recorders – minimal technology but a fabulous range of music.
For our May outing this year we plan visit the British Ironworks at Oswestry. Members and their family/friends are welcome and at this stage we need ‘expressions of interest’ so we can decide on the cost and viability of the trip. If you would like to come and didn’t sign up please contact Jean so you can be added to the list.
Susan shared the results of the Resolution vote – Whitley chose ‘Incontinence Matters, Nationally the favourite was ‘Bystanders can be Lifesavers’. Members were also reminded to take empty blister packs to Boots for recycling. Annette reminded us about our Photographic competition and members were asked to email their entries to her, no need to print them.
The winner of the completion, ‘A favourite line from a song’ was won by Chris with ‘Happiness, Happiness, the greatest gift that I possess’. Our next meeting will be on April 3rd when Mary Lancaster will talk about her personal experience dealing with diabetes, with the title ‘Numbers, Needles and Jam Butties’
