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.
Whitley WI hosted the Village Group Autumn meeting , where Nana Funk entertained us with her quirky sense of humour and entertaining singing. She started the evening dressed as a cleaner, stripped down to her very quickly underwear and finished the evening in her sequinned dress as she accompanied herself on a ukulele as she sang songs she had created, including some which were responses to questions our group members had written down for her. A very enjoyable evening.
Walking Group – Starting from the Village Hall nine ladies turned right down Village Lane for our September walk passing the school and then turning right down Back Lane and eventually through the fields passing sheep, horses, squashing lots of acorns under our feet on the pathway. Cow parsley was in abundance along the way and is called a different name depending on the area you live according to Annette, who has a child thought it made a great pea shooter. We turned left into Old Mill Lane and at the first corner Julia guided us right along a grassy path between hedges up to Scotch Hall Lane. Whilst we where having a pause we where lucky enough to ask a gentleman coming out of the drive opposite to take our photo. After a welcome rest we turned left and continued along the lane noticing the bird boxes in the trees. We carried on along Mill Lane, Lake Lane and left into Bentley Farm Lane making our way back to the Village Hall. After having had a lovely walk with the weather being wonderful we made our way to The Antrobus Arms for lunch. There will be no walk on Tuesday 7th October 2025
Art Group
Joan Blackshaw has recently become fascinated by Monet and the Impressionists and had prepared a talk to share her research. We might just collect pictures/information – but Joan has compiled a book where she reproduced Impressionist pictures, with information about their work – she’s an inspiration! In October we will have a practical session for our members to follow her example and produce an impressionist painting.
‘WI Day’ is a national celebration of when the first WI opened in the UK, on 16th September 1915. It was in Llanfair PG on Anglesey… The rest is our wonderful history.
WIs throughout the UK are encouraged to join together and celebrate all that is good about our WIs, the firm friendships in our movement, recognise our fantastic legacy of inspiring women, and reflect on all that we achieve together through our quiet yet persistent power.
For this reason, Whitley WI decided to go out and Celebrate WI Day. Whitley only has one pub, so this was an obvious choice. Members met at the Birch and Bottle, Chang Noi for chatter, drinks and an evening meal. Chang Noi is a Thai restaurant so all could enjoy some tasty food.
The Conservatory was ours for the night. We decorated it with the bunting that members had made 10 years ago when the WI celebrated its 100th Birthday. The only regret was that 10 years ago we didn’t put the names of the crafters on the back of each flag.
Pat had copied the cake recipe for the WI Birthday cake from the MY WI magazine. Coconut and Lime with candles…. we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ with gusto (or was it the wine!).
Yes… The Women’s Institute is bold, brilliant, and timeless with friendship being at the top of our list.
We welcomed 38 members and 1 visitor to our September meeting. Our speaker was Peter Turner with a talk entitled ‘Through the Eyes of a Magician’. Peter talked to us about ‘ magic’, explaining his approach through the world of illusion, psychology, and perception. He demonstrated a few ‘tricks’ with the help of some volunteer members. Chains tied themselves in knots, strips of material disappeared and turned up on a member’s purse and Jonty couldn’t believe the optical illusions he shared with her. A fascinating talk
Susan and Pat were thanked for organising a very successful August outing to Adventure Golf followed by a meal at Hartford Hall. Ann Tolson and Ann Brock were thanked for organising the Adelaide Hough Bowls Trophy competition, won by Jenny with Ann O’Brien the runner up. Pat Lyons reported on a very enjoyable CFWI ‘New Members Meeting’ attended by 4 of our members.
Members were invited to sign up for a range of activities organised by CFWI, Group, and Whitley, including Theatre trips, a social event at Chang Noi to celebrate WI Day and a range of subgroup activities, we are a very busy WI!
The competition for ‘ An Optical Illusion’ was won by Janet Patterson.
This was held on Monday 1st September and was the 35th year we’ve held this competition. We had a good turn out of 16 members. Adelaide was a member of our bowls team for some years until ill-health prevented her from continuing and she donated this trophy in 1991.We had mostly good weather with just a spell of rain.
Thanks to Ann Tolson (last year’s winner) and Ann Brock for organising the competition, The finalists were Ann O’Brien and Jenny Roberts who both played well in an exciting final. Jenny won this match so her name goes on the trophy for 2025
