WHITLEY WI

25 of our members and guests enjoyed a beautiful sunny day on our annual May outing – this year we had a more local visit to Chester. We travelled by coach, where everyone was given a map of the centre and a short talk on different aspects of the history and layout of the city. We arrived at ‘the Groves’ in time to enjoy an ice-cream, a drink, or a short stroll before taking a trip on ‘Mark Twain’ which took us on a 2hr return trip along the river, passing many beautiful riverside dwellings and then through the Eaton estate.

We all walked up through the Roman Gardens, admiring the beautiful cherry blossom and past the amphitheatre to the Eastgate Clock where we had a couple of hours to do our own thing.

Some of our members took a leisurely stroll along the walls, stopping for a drink in the sun overlooking the Roodee racecourse. Others spent time walking around the shops and cafes. A very sociable and enjoyable day.

Book Club read ‘The Perfect Guests’ by Emma Rous, and the Baking Beauties group had a theme of Muffins this month. Walking group enjoyed a lovely walk around Whitley – see the subgroup pages for more information.

Our Craft and Art groups cancelled their April meetings because many of our members were away or had other commitments.

Melanie welcomed 36 members and 2 visitors to the meeting, and reported the sad news of the death of Dorothy Thompson – a long standing member of Whitley WI. She will be missed in many ways, including her friendly face on the Welcome Desk or raffle and her wonderful flower arrangements. We were asked to remember her as we sang Jerusalem.

We were delighted to congratulate our Darts Team who have had a very successful year. They won the North Cheshire Group Trophy, and also came second in their group in the County Darts championship. See the subgroup page for more information about our Darts group.

Our speaker was Peter Sykes, a retired consultant surgeon. His talk concentrated on the complexities of performing keyhole surgery to remove a gallbladder. He was ably assisted by Ann, and we were kept entertained as she donned sterile robes, mask, etc as needed to conduct an operation.

Monies were collected for the May outing to Chester, the group Spring Lunch, the Literary Lunch and subs. Upcoming events also include gardening trips to Smith’s nursery and show gardens, theatre trips, visits to Safety Central, craft workshops, a writing competition and making a Royal greeting card.

The competition for ‘an unusual bottle’ was won by Alison Morton

In March members baked ‘All things Irish. See the subgroup page for more information and pictures

CFWI launched their ‘Jigsaw Race’ competition this March. Each team of 4 was given a 500 piece jigsaw with a time limit of 90 mins to complete it. The winner was the first to complete their puzzle, or the team with least pieces left at the end of the 90 minutes. Our team of Ann, Annette, Jean and Susan were the overall winners, completing their jigsaw with 19 minutes to spare and the only team to finish within the 90 minutes. They were each presented with a lovely campanula pot plant.

A very enjoyable and sociable occasion, more similar events are planned.