May 2026 – Main Meeting

Our May speaker was David Poppit talking about Christie Hospital. He had worked there as a senior doctor for many years, and described the special atmosphere at ‘The Christie’– a place where all the staff interacted well, without the hierarchy that exists in many hospitals. He reminded us how the understanding of Cancer had developed – the introduction of Xray images and scans enables specialists to have a much clearer picture of what they are dealing with. An interesting and informative talk – the vote of thanks was given by Chris, whose experience in the NHS gave her a good understanding of the issues involved

The competition ‘A Teddy Bear’ was won by Annette, with her 80 year old bear.

Jean congratulated our Quiz team who came 3rd in their heat, only just missing out on qualifying for the final. She reminded members that our June meeting is a joint one with Dutton WI and will be held on Tuesday 9th June at Preston Brook Village Hall. The theme is ‘All Things Bread’.

Village Group Spring Lunch April 2026

Whitley had a good turn out at this annual event and all enjoyed good company and an enjoyable hotpot lunch followed by a delicious selection of deserts provided by different WIs in the group. Our own Melanie opened and closed the event as Chair of the Village Group and guests included the new Chair of the Cheshire Federation, Ann Beckett. The event included a Bring and Buy stall – there wasn’t a lot left on that at the end of the meeting!

April 2026 subgroup meetings

Book Club – Our novel this month was ‘The Queue’ by Alexandra Heminsley. ‘The Queue’ was for the Lying In State of Queen Elizabeth II. Four strangers met in the queue, each with their own reasons for being there, and each facing issues in their personal lives. They got to know each other as they queued and walked past many significant landmarks in London and established a good relationship with each other that we agree would continue – everybody enjoyed the book, an interesting light read.

Walking Group – Several ladies joined the walk for this month in the wonderful sunshine along the paths of Beechwood skirting the main train line heading south. The blossom on the trees where spectacular along the route. We headed through a little estate in Sutton Weaver where a few people where out in their gardens getting on with jobs in the lovely weather.


We entered Clough Wood where the floor was carpeted with wild garlic ready to come out with the bluebells having to take second place. Before passing the duck pond we stopped for a photo then made our way along the rather muddy path at the top of garlic wood back into beechwood, winding our way along the path to the Community Centre coffee shop for our lunch which we all thoroughly enjoyed. So nice to have been out in the fresh air without wearing a hat

April 2026 Main Meeting

Jean, our President, welcomed 41 members to the meeting. She thanked Jonty for organising the successful Afternoon Tea and reminded members that our committee would welcome input from members in planning our 2027 programme.

Our speaker was local artist Gill Adlington who soon had her audience totally engrossed as she transformed a canvas, pre-prepared with some black/white background, into a landscape painting, using oil paints and a ‘wet-on-wet’ technique.

Unfortunately there was insufficient interest in our planned coach trip to Trentham Gardens. Instead, on the same date 13th May ,we will visit Warrington Police Museum, followed by lunch at Grill on the Square, all timed to fit in with the No 9 Northwich bus service.

Following refreshments including hot cross buns the competition ‘Any Art Material’ was won by Annette with her 95 year old set of watercolour pencils. Our raffle included a number of knitted Easter rabbits/chicks, as well as the usual wide selection of other prizes.

Our May speaker will be David Poppitt telling us about the history of the Christie Hospital.

March 2026 subgroup meetings

Art Group – Painting in the style of LS Lowry

Our Art Group had a go at painting in the style of LS Lowry – thanks to Sheila for the idea and for leading our group. Joan had also done some homework and shared some of her thoughts. An interesting change of genre. We each chose a Lowry print to inspire us.

Craft Group – Button Card

What a wonderful way to spend a spring afternoon. Not only did we have the doors open to let in the sunshine the finished colourful button cards reflected the weather. Melanie gave us a choice of blank cards and envelopes and a super selection of buttons to glue onto the cards. We even had Granny’s old tinful of buttons to sort through for something special.

Everyone had their own idea of how to decorate the card and our pictures of the afternoon show just what can be achieved in such a short time to say something special in our own handmade greeting card.

Book Club

Our March book was a Crime, Myster, Suspense thriller – ‘I did it for You’ by Jayne Cowie. An interesting novel, based around a new gene being discovered which led to a boy having very aggressive and violent behaviour – should a parent have their child tested to see if they carried the gene? Our group mostly thought the book was very interesting, and it scored highly over all. A book most agreed they wouldn’t have picked up from a library shelf, but were glad they had read it!

Walking Group

Thanks Ann for planning and leading our walk around Neumann’s Flash in Northwich on lovely Spring morning. Where the group photo was taken some small trees had been cut back to make sure walkers didn’t lose the fantastic views across the flash.

We really enjoyed seeing the some of the trees just sprouting their green leaves, and others displaying their spring blossom, the pussy willow catkins were really spectacular. The group went on to enjoy a lovely lunch at the George and Dragon in Budworth.