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.
The following is a brief summary, you can get detailed information about the different activities by looking on the subgroup pages. Click the coloured link to take you to the page
Our Walking group enjoyed a walk around Runcorn Hill, followed by a very social stop at Runcorn Park cafe
The Baking Beauties enjoyed delicious ‘Summer Fruit’ bakes
The Book Group discussed Fools and Mortals’ by Bernard Cornwell
The Art, Craft and Scrabble groups are taking a break until September
The topic for our July meeting was’ Living in Styal’ and the speaker was Ed Tarry, Community Engagement officer for Styal Women’s Prison. He has won awards for the work he does in ‘Building Bridges, Changing Lives’.
Ed started by talking about the prison, its population, and the activities offered. He explained the challenges presented by significant numbers of women who have multiple problems including mental health and drug issues, abusive backgrounds and low self esteem. Ed’s job is to oversee some of the prisoner’s activities specifically designed to build skills and self confidence.
Ed talked about about 2 significant initiatives at Styal – the ‘fine dining’ restaurant Clink and the Recycling Lives project. Both of these provided real work experience and responsibilities and have extremely good outcomes in helping prisoners into work as they leave the prison. He was also clearly very proud of the entries from the prison gardening team which have won medals at the Cheshire Show on a regular basis.
After refreshments Melanie and Susan updated us on the many events and competitions planned over the next month or so.
The following is a brief summary, you can get detailed information about the different activities by looking on the subgroup page.
Lots of our walkers joined a walk around Anderton Nature Park on a glorious June day, enjoying a picnic along the way. For more information and pictures have a look on the Walking subgroup page
Craft group concentrated on entries for the Cheshire Show – have a look on the Home page to see how we got on!
The Baking Beauties topic was ‘Summer Fruit Baking’, lots of mouthwatering bakes were enjoyed.
The Book Group had a lively discussion on ‘You People’ by Nikita Lalwani.
The Art and Scrabble groups are taking a break until September.
We had a lovely ‘flower festival’ main meeting in June. Our members were asked to bring along a vase of flowers from their garden, displayed in a jam-jar or similar.
What a wonderful ‘free’ display of flowers we had, many thanks to everybody for their contributions. They were used as table centres during the evening, and formed the competition which was won by our newest member Ann Toll.
Our speaker for the evening was Melanie Farrow who started to develop ‘Smelanie’s Flowers’ during the Covid Lockdown. She entertained us with pictures showing the journey from a barren field to 20 beds of beautiful cottage garden plants, including spring tulips and autumn dahlias. Her love of flowers shone through, and she finished her talk with demonstrating how a bucket of her flowers, some chicken wire and a charity shop ‘vase’ can produce a beautiful display.
Pat and Annette also organised a plant sale, with lots of healthy homegrown flowers. They raised £140 which our Garden Group will use to arrange a visit or a course later in the year. We finished with our usual business, subgroup updates and the raffle. Melanie’s flower display provided the centrepiece of prizes, but they also included a beautiful scabiosa and other flower related items.
Our Walking group enjoyed a lovely ramble around Glazebrook – see the subgroup page for more information and a picture.
Craft group met to put together their exhibit for the Cheshire Show but no pictures yet, you’ll have to visit the Show to see how we get on!
The Baking Beauties topic on 26th May will be ‘Summer Fruit Baking’.
The Book Group did not meet in May, due to holidays. The book for discussion at our June meeting is You People by Nikita Lalwani. The Art and Scrabble groups are taking a break until September.
