Reports
6th December 2016
Christmas Party
22nd November 2016
Annual General Meeting
This month’s meeting was also our AGM, so a busy night. We welcomed two Tellers from Brereton WI – Janet Brown and Carole Humber, who helped us with our Committee Nominations, and a grand job they did too. We also welcomed a Trainee Advisor – Pat Sharp – who hopefully went away with a few pointers.
As part of the National Dementia Resolution some of our members undertook to make Twiddle Muffs and Blankets and these were proudly displayed. They are going to be donated to The Cedars and Westborne Care Home in Holmes Chapel and I’m sure they’re going to go down a treat with the residents.
Our Rose Bowl (which is an award for our competition entrants) was won by Sandra Smith, with Wendy Morgan coming second and Valerie McArdle third. This month’s raffle was won by Margaret Mustill and Mamie Bell being runner up.
This year we adopted a Charity that our members could help and this was Cheshire Without Abuse which was set up in 1977 as a Women’s Aid in Crewe. After donating various items that would be helpful to both women and children who have had to endure various forms of abuse we thought a visit from one of their managers to explain what goes on would help us. Therefore Sharon Blackburn visited us and passionately told us about the work they undertake. CWA (Cheshire Without Abuse) is a charity working in the Cheshire East area and they support women, men and children whose lives have been affected by domestic abuse. They work alongside other agencies such as the Police, Adult and Children’s Social Care, Health Services, Housing Providers and Voluntary Organisations. They appreciate the general support and donations they receive from the local community and gratefully accept donations including monetary, clothing and household. If you want more information about their work please see their website www.cheshirewithoutabuse.org.uk.
25th October 2016
Speaker: Audrey Watson
'My Time As A Sister In The National Children’s Home'
Competition: Hand Crafted Soft Toy (to be donated to the Children’s Home)
Audrey comes from Liverpool and when she was 13 she used to sell charitable booklets of photos of children called Sunny Smiles – how many of us remember them. When she went to a Ladies Church meeting when she was a little older she was moved by the Speaker and asked for information about joining the National Children’s Home (NCH). She was granted an interview in Frodsham on a cold and wet Sunday, which was difficult to reach to from Liverpool in those days by public transport and it took her hours. She was treated to tea and cake in more of an afternoon tea environment rather than an interview, which showed her what caring people they were. They obviously liked her as she was set on as a Candidate and worked with two Sisters, with 8/10 children in her house, altogether there were 200 children in the Frodsham Home. After being there for 18 months she went to Highbury College in London for 12 months training, which was mostly theory but they did have to do 6 weeks practical in a different set up to the NCH and she chose The Salvation Army. After her training she was very lucky to become a Probationer at Frodsham itself and then progressed to Sister. All the children had little jobs to do so they could look after themselves later on in life, some undertook apprenticeships with the tradesmen looking after the home and some of the young girls went into nursing.
One thing that happened during her time there was a programme embarked upon by dentists into seeing how eating a Cox’s Orange Pippin would help clean the children’s teeth after lunch, which of course it did. In 2009 she came upon a newspaper report highlighting a programme by dentists .........................you know the rest – this was 50 years after the first programme!
Once you have lived or worked in a NCH you are regarded as family and remain so for life.
27th September 2016
Speaker: Peter Slack - ‘I’m Not Lost’
Competition: A limerick 'There once was a singer called Neil' ......(5 lines) (Group)
Peter is a dairy farmer from Taxel, outside Whaley Bridge on the edge of the Peak District National Park, and works with his two sons in great harmony. He loves his work, but like all residents (farmers especially) of the area, he is troubled by ramblers.
He told very amusing stories of campers and ramblers in a very droll way, saying many a time he comes across them with OS Maps, which they purport to read, but are totally unable to do so, even having the map the wrong way round and upside down, hence the title of his talk 'I'm not lost .................'
All the ladies found the evening thoroughly amusing and enjoyed themselves.
23rd August 2016
Speaker: Rebecca Done - ‘Life Within Entertainment’
Competition: Evening Bag or Purse
Rebecca really 'entertained' us with her rise in the field of entertainment and beyond, she is a lady of many talents and accomplishments, and some surprising ones outside of her talk “Life Within Entertainment”. She is 37 years old, which surprised us, and at 10 years old decided she wanted to be a classical guitarist. Her parents didn’t believe her so her father made her first guitar as a present, but even after that she persevered and qualified. At the tender age of 17 she still wanted to go into entertainment, so with 5000 others went along to be interviewed for the 150 jobs as a ‘Haven Mate’ – she was successful and joined them in Great Yarmouth as the youngest ever. She then progressed to a Redcoat in Blackpool. These two jobs gave her a sound grounding as she had to turn her hand to everything.
After this she went on the Cabaret Circuit as Becky B and even entered Pop Idol. She travelled all over the country but ended up back at her home town of Leek and branched out into radio – starting with Bear Town Radio in Congleton, then Silk FM, Radio Stoke etc. This enabled her to raise £Ks for charity and she also started a Luncheon Club for the over 60s in Leek and this is still going from strength to strength. She was invited to run for the Council and ended up a Town & District Councillor, with a majority, and Deputy Mayor of Leek and this year was she was elected the youngest Mayor.
During this time she started a Management Company handling celebrities from the likes of X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, etc and writing her own songs, one called ‘Thank God I’m a Country Girl’ was released in over 200 countries. You can listen to this on You Tube, link below.
How she fitted in entertaining during the evening with her country and western, 60’s music; the daytime doing her nostalgic 40’s and 50’s show; her civic duties; charity work; and public speaking, we don’t know. A truly busy and inspiring young lady.
The evening finished with Rebecca judging our competition of ‘Evening Bag or Purse’ which was won by Lynda Searle, second was Linda Taylor and third was Dilys Owen.
Thank you Rebecca a thoroughly 'entertaining' evening.
Christmas Party
22nd November 2016
Annual General Meeting
This month’s meeting was also our AGM, so a busy night. We welcomed two Tellers from Brereton WI – Janet Brown and Carole Humber, who helped us with our Committee Nominations, and a grand job they did too. We also welcomed a Trainee Advisor – Pat Sharp – who hopefully went away with a few pointers.
As part of the National Dementia Resolution some of our members undertook to make Twiddle Muffs and Blankets and these were proudly displayed. They are going to be donated to The Cedars and Westborne Care Home in Holmes Chapel and I’m sure they’re going to go down a treat with the residents.
Our Rose Bowl (which is an award for our competition entrants) was won by Sandra Smith, with Wendy Morgan coming second and Valerie McArdle third. This month’s raffle was won by Margaret Mustill and Mamie Bell being runner up.
This year we adopted a Charity that our members could help and this was Cheshire Without Abuse which was set up in 1977 as a Women’s Aid in Crewe. After donating various items that would be helpful to both women and children who have had to endure various forms of abuse we thought a visit from one of their managers to explain what goes on would help us. Therefore Sharon Blackburn visited us and passionately told us about the work they undertake. CWA (Cheshire Without Abuse) is a charity working in the Cheshire East area and they support women, men and children whose lives have been affected by domestic abuse. They work alongside other agencies such as the Police, Adult and Children’s Social Care, Health Services, Housing Providers and Voluntary Organisations. They appreciate the general support and donations they receive from the local community and gratefully accept donations including monetary, clothing and household. If you want more information about their work please see their website www.cheshirewithoutabuse.org.uk.
25th October 2016
Speaker: Audrey Watson
'My Time As A Sister In The National Children’s Home'
Competition: Hand Crafted Soft Toy (to be donated to the Children’s Home)
Audrey comes from Liverpool and when she was 13 she used to sell charitable booklets of photos of children called Sunny Smiles – how many of us remember them. When she went to a Ladies Church meeting when she was a little older she was moved by the Speaker and asked for information about joining the National Children’s Home (NCH). She was granted an interview in Frodsham on a cold and wet Sunday, which was difficult to reach to from Liverpool in those days by public transport and it took her hours. She was treated to tea and cake in more of an afternoon tea environment rather than an interview, which showed her what caring people they were. They obviously liked her as she was set on as a Candidate and worked with two Sisters, with 8/10 children in her house, altogether there were 200 children in the Frodsham Home. After being there for 18 months she went to Highbury College in London for 12 months training, which was mostly theory but they did have to do 6 weeks practical in a different set up to the NCH and she chose The Salvation Army. After her training she was very lucky to become a Probationer at Frodsham itself and then progressed to Sister. All the children had little jobs to do so they could look after themselves later on in life, some undertook apprenticeships with the tradesmen looking after the home and some of the young girls went into nursing.
One thing that happened during her time there was a programme embarked upon by dentists into seeing how eating a Cox’s Orange Pippin would help clean the children’s teeth after lunch, which of course it did. In 2009 she came upon a newspaper report highlighting a programme by dentists .........................you know the rest – this was 50 years after the first programme!
Once you have lived or worked in a NCH you are regarded as family and remain so for life.
27th September 2016
Speaker: Peter Slack - ‘I’m Not Lost’
Competition: A limerick 'There once was a singer called Neil' ......(5 lines) (Group)
Peter is a dairy farmer from Taxel, outside Whaley Bridge on the edge of the Peak District National Park, and works with his two sons in great harmony. He loves his work, but like all residents (farmers especially) of the area, he is troubled by ramblers.
He told very amusing stories of campers and ramblers in a very droll way, saying many a time he comes across them with OS Maps, which they purport to read, but are totally unable to do so, even having the map the wrong way round and upside down, hence the title of his talk 'I'm not lost .................'
All the ladies found the evening thoroughly amusing and enjoyed themselves.
23rd August 2016
Speaker: Rebecca Done - ‘Life Within Entertainment’
Competition: Evening Bag or Purse
Rebecca really 'entertained' us with her rise in the field of entertainment and beyond, she is a lady of many talents and accomplishments, and some surprising ones outside of her talk “Life Within Entertainment”. She is 37 years old, which surprised us, and at 10 years old decided she wanted to be a classical guitarist. Her parents didn’t believe her so her father made her first guitar as a present, but even after that she persevered and qualified. At the tender age of 17 she still wanted to go into entertainment, so with 5000 others went along to be interviewed for the 150 jobs as a ‘Haven Mate’ – she was successful and joined them in Great Yarmouth as the youngest ever. She then progressed to a Redcoat in Blackpool. These two jobs gave her a sound grounding as she had to turn her hand to everything.
After this she went on the Cabaret Circuit as Becky B and even entered Pop Idol. She travelled all over the country but ended up back at her home town of Leek and branched out into radio – starting with Bear Town Radio in Congleton, then Silk FM, Radio Stoke etc. This enabled her to raise £Ks for charity and she also started a Luncheon Club for the over 60s in Leek and this is still going from strength to strength. She was invited to run for the Council and ended up a Town & District Councillor, with a majority, and Deputy Mayor of Leek and this year was she was elected the youngest Mayor.
During this time she started a Management Company handling celebrities from the likes of X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, etc and writing her own songs, one called ‘Thank God I’m a Country Girl’ was released in over 200 countries. You can listen to this on You Tube, link below.
How she fitted in entertaining during the evening with her country and western, 60’s music; the daytime doing her nostalgic 40’s and 50’s show; her civic duties; charity work; and public speaking, we don’t know. A truly busy and inspiring young lady.
The evening finished with Rebecca judging our competition of ‘Evening Bag or Purse’ which was won by Lynda Searle, second was Linda Taylor and third was Dilys Owen.
Thank you Rebecca a thoroughly 'entertaining' evening.
26th July 2016
Speaker: Ray Perry - 'Rudyard Lake Past and Present’
Competition: Photograph of Water
Ray Perry is the Chairman of Rudyard Lake Trust who explained that the Lake is the second largest reservoir in England linked with railways and canals.
The story of Rudyard really began in 1797 when an Act of Parliament authorised the construction of a two and a half mile long reservoir just north of Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Its purpose was to feed canals that were vital to the Pottery factories, and when full is 164 acres.
Then, in 1829, the North Staffordshire Railway Company laid a track around the lake which was part of a line linking Manchester with Uttoxeter. They built a station at each end of the lake and the people living close by didn't need alarm clocks as these trains carried the milk urns from surrounding farms which clattered along the country roads to the stations each day. But before long it became a weekend haven for day trippers, and a constant stream of excursion trains from Manchester and the Potteries brought thousands looking forward to the beautiful surroundings and the many activities including a fleet of rowing boats, a funfair, brass band concerts and dozens of tearooms.
Rudyard Lake's peak of popularity was towards the end of the 1800s and there were plenty of celebrities to entertain including the world's greatest trapeze artist, Blondin, fresh from his feat of crossing Niagara Falls on the high wire came to Rudyard to repeat his achievement. And Captain Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, delighted the crowds lining the line with a demonstration of his prowess. The Lake became known as the Blackpool of the Potteries.
In 1863 a certain John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald met at a picnic party and after marrying and moving to India their first-born was named after the lake where they met and he became one of Britain's greatest writers.
After Mr Beeching's report entitled 'The Reshaping of British Railways' was published in 1963 the famous stations were closed and the tracks raised, this made walkways to get around the Lake. The Trust have, so far, deter developers from building chalets etc on the North End of the Lake and aim to continue to keep this rural beauty in its present state for years to come.
28th June 2016
Speaker: Shirley Lewis, Sky News - ‘First with the News—Never Wrong For Long’
Competition: Old Newspaper or Magazine (with date on)
Unfortunately Shirley couldn't make it so we had social time and a couple of poem readings. We still held the competition, judged by one of our visitors, and the winner was Sandra Smith, with Eve Moran second and Nora Eaton third - well done ladies. Also we had a box for our donations to the Women's Refuge in Crewe, obviously the idea was well received by our members as this was very healthy sized box with loads of items. We will continue to fill boxes which we will donate throughout the year.
24th May 2016
Resolutions Meeting - Members’ Evening
Competition: Flower Arrangement in A Wine Glass
Our meeting for May was to vote on the two Resolutions to go forward to the final vote at the AGM in Brighton in June. These were 'Appropriate Care In Hospitals For People With Dementia' and 'Avoid Food Waste, Address Food Poverty'. There was a lively debate on both issues but we managed to reach a decision on both without taking all evening to do it and gave us plenty of time to chat to new members and welcome our 4 visitors. After the usual business was all done and dusted we played a game called 'Guess What's In The Bag', this consisted of 20 sewn up bags containing various everyday items and you had to guess the contents by feel alone. This caused a lot of hilarity and wild guesses but Sandra Smith won with 17 correct. Our visitor Lizzie and member Linda McGuire were joint second with 16½.
We enjoyed some delicious cakes, baked by the Committee, before one of our members, Pauline Ryman, judged the various displays of flower arrangements entered in this month's competition. This was won by Wendy Morgan, Mamie Bell was second and Valerie Quinn third. We were assured it wasn’t a fix, as these were all committee members!
26th April 2016
Speaker: Mike Herbert - ‘Trentham Gardens’
Competition: "A musical instrument - any medium"
Could be actual instrument, photograph, painting, crafted article
On Tuesday 26th April we held our 4th meeting of the year and another good turnout was recorded. We were lucky enough to have 3 new members and 4 guests. Unfortunately no sherry on this occasion when we arrived, so our President Wendy got straight down to the business end of the evening. Various correspondences had been received and some of the outings were finalised - including one to Boundary Mill on Wednesday 4th May, where 5 of our members are joining our next door neighbours, Goostrey WI, who kindly invited us along.
Our speaker for the evening was Mike Herbert who talked about ‘Trentham Gardens’ and his role there. He went through their varied history from 1086 which is the earliest record of Trentham in the Doomsday Book. He explained it went through various owners and had buildings and halls, built and remodelled including the Mausoleum within the cemetery. They then added various gardens adding tennis courts, a bowling green and a bandstand. In 1931 Trentham Gardens Ltd was founded to maintain and manage the gardens that were finally opened to the public. A new ballroom was built along with an ‘Art Deco’ outdoor swimming pool. The post wars years were famous for being a great venue for dances with famous bands performing, including a little known group called The Beatles in 1963. Now the Estate features something for everyone including a shopping village, which most of our members were enthusiastic about, along with the other attractions of course. One feature did pique our interest and that was the fairies, do you know that there are 15 fairies living there. I think a trip to find them is in order, with a prize for the one who finds them all! But with everything else there is to see I think it will be a very long interesting day.
Another initiative started in late October 2013 was to create a lasting landscape legacy to Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown as 2016 the nation celebrates 300 years since his birth.
Mike finished off the evening judging our competition, which was the Spring Group Competition of ‘A musical instrument - any medium" - and it could be actual instrument, photograph, painting, crafted article. Out of the 8 entries the winner was Nora Eaton and her entry will represent our WI at the next Group meeting.
22nd March 2016
Birthday Party - Buffet
Speaker: Susan Leicester - 'Seven Ages of Woman'
At this meeting we celebrated our 86th birthday. We welcomed 41 members, new and old and guests. We started with a glass of sherry followed by a lovely buffet and desserts. Of course we finished with a piece of birthday cake which was lovingly baked by Ann Stafford and she excelled herself yet again.
Our speaker for the evening was Susan Leicester whose talk was entitled “Seven Ages of Women”. She regaled us with poems, songs and wardrobe changes. She did the iconic poem about a mammogram, which, along with our members, all the lady readers will associate with. Laughs all round.
We were then informed that one of our long standing members, Françoise Rothery, has been chosen by Cheshire Federation to make a special birthday card for the Queen’s 90-th birthday, well done Françoise. We had a sneak preview of the card she painstakingly made and it was beautiful. (Please see the News page for more information)
We finished the evening with a raffle of our table decorations, so one person from each table won!
23rd February 2016
Speaker: Richard Bramhall - Recycling in Cheshire East
Competition: Item Made From Recycled Material
The Speaker for the evening was Richard Bramhall who is the Marketing & Business Development Manager for ANSA Environmental Services which was launched as part of Cheshire East on 1 April 2014. As well as waste management they also look after street cleaning, parks and gardens. Here in Cheshire East we have the 3-bins system which we all agreed was a lot better than all the bags and boxes still used in other areas, and they empty 250,000 bins each week! Once the bins have been emptied they go off to UPM in Shotton and we watched a short video on how all the items were separated and categorised. The garden waste goes to 5 farms across the area for on-farm composting. Everything else goes to landfill. Did you know that disposable nappies contribute to 5% of black bin refuse and 40% is food waste? What surprised us all was how much food is wasted and we played a little game of ‘higher/lower’ like Bruce Forsyth to guess how much. We didn’t get much right, the main one was bread – we throw away on average 660,000 tonnes in the UK each year! Richard finished off with quite a lot of questions fired at him and he answered them all with expert knowledge. Thank you Richard, a very interesting talk.
We finished off with tea and biscuits and time to catch up with each other. Richard judged our competition which was ‘Item Made from Recycled Material’ and this was won by our President, Wendy (wasn’t favouritism honestly).
26th January 2016
Speaker: Peter Ashburner from Wright Marshall at Knutsford - 'Flog It'
Competition: A Piece of Old China
Peter Ashburner from Wright and Marshall, Knutsford talked about the highs and lows of a valuation house. They deal with all sorts of items including militaria, medals, swords and toys. He said he had become the North West expert on Barbie dolls for a Radio Manchester interview (a little known fact - did you know that she had to have her boobs reduced at one time). One of his colleagues was on a quiz programme with Alan Titchmarsh about valuations, as well as other programmes such as Bargain Hunt. He explained his career went from selling cattle at Chelford to antiques.
He gave us the benefit of his knowledge by explaining how to value a silver ‘bachelor’ tea set by identifying all the different hall marks and what they meant. He also showed us some silver candlesticks and explained that it’s not always the age that gave the value, but sometime it was the scarcity. We finished off with tea and biscuits and time to catch up with each other. Peter judged our competition which was won by Sandra Smith.
Updated 2nd November 2016
Speaker: Ray Perry - 'Rudyard Lake Past and Present’
Competition: Photograph of Water
Ray Perry is the Chairman of Rudyard Lake Trust who explained that the Lake is the second largest reservoir in England linked with railways and canals.
The story of Rudyard really began in 1797 when an Act of Parliament authorised the construction of a two and a half mile long reservoir just north of Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Its purpose was to feed canals that were vital to the Pottery factories, and when full is 164 acres.
Then, in 1829, the North Staffordshire Railway Company laid a track around the lake which was part of a line linking Manchester with Uttoxeter. They built a station at each end of the lake and the people living close by didn't need alarm clocks as these trains carried the milk urns from surrounding farms which clattered along the country roads to the stations each day. But before long it became a weekend haven for day trippers, and a constant stream of excursion trains from Manchester and the Potteries brought thousands looking forward to the beautiful surroundings and the many activities including a fleet of rowing boats, a funfair, brass band concerts and dozens of tearooms.
Rudyard Lake's peak of popularity was towards the end of the 1800s and there were plenty of celebrities to entertain including the world's greatest trapeze artist, Blondin, fresh from his feat of crossing Niagara Falls on the high wire came to Rudyard to repeat his achievement. And Captain Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, delighted the crowds lining the line with a demonstration of his prowess. The Lake became known as the Blackpool of the Potteries.
In 1863 a certain John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald met at a picnic party and after marrying and moving to India their first-born was named after the lake where they met and he became one of Britain's greatest writers.
After Mr Beeching's report entitled 'The Reshaping of British Railways' was published in 1963 the famous stations were closed and the tracks raised, this made walkways to get around the Lake. The Trust have, so far, deter developers from building chalets etc on the North End of the Lake and aim to continue to keep this rural beauty in its present state for years to come.
28th June 2016
Speaker: Shirley Lewis, Sky News - ‘First with the News—Never Wrong For Long’
Competition: Old Newspaper or Magazine (with date on)
Unfortunately Shirley couldn't make it so we had social time and a couple of poem readings. We still held the competition, judged by one of our visitors, and the winner was Sandra Smith, with Eve Moran second and Nora Eaton third - well done ladies. Also we had a box for our donations to the Women's Refuge in Crewe, obviously the idea was well received by our members as this was very healthy sized box with loads of items. We will continue to fill boxes which we will donate throughout the year.
24th May 2016
Resolutions Meeting - Members’ Evening
Competition: Flower Arrangement in A Wine Glass
Our meeting for May was to vote on the two Resolutions to go forward to the final vote at the AGM in Brighton in June. These were 'Appropriate Care In Hospitals For People With Dementia' and 'Avoid Food Waste, Address Food Poverty'. There was a lively debate on both issues but we managed to reach a decision on both without taking all evening to do it and gave us plenty of time to chat to new members and welcome our 4 visitors. After the usual business was all done and dusted we played a game called 'Guess What's In The Bag', this consisted of 20 sewn up bags containing various everyday items and you had to guess the contents by feel alone. This caused a lot of hilarity and wild guesses but Sandra Smith won with 17 correct. Our visitor Lizzie and member Linda McGuire were joint second with 16½.
We enjoyed some delicious cakes, baked by the Committee, before one of our members, Pauline Ryman, judged the various displays of flower arrangements entered in this month's competition. This was won by Wendy Morgan, Mamie Bell was second and Valerie Quinn third. We were assured it wasn’t a fix, as these were all committee members!
26th April 2016
Speaker: Mike Herbert - ‘Trentham Gardens’
Competition: "A musical instrument - any medium"
Could be actual instrument, photograph, painting, crafted article
On Tuesday 26th April we held our 4th meeting of the year and another good turnout was recorded. We were lucky enough to have 3 new members and 4 guests. Unfortunately no sherry on this occasion when we arrived, so our President Wendy got straight down to the business end of the evening. Various correspondences had been received and some of the outings were finalised - including one to Boundary Mill on Wednesday 4th May, where 5 of our members are joining our next door neighbours, Goostrey WI, who kindly invited us along.
Our speaker for the evening was Mike Herbert who talked about ‘Trentham Gardens’ and his role there. He went through their varied history from 1086 which is the earliest record of Trentham in the Doomsday Book. He explained it went through various owners and had buildings and halls, built and remodelled including the Mausoleum within the cemetery. They then added various gardens adding tennis courts, a bowling green and a bandstand. In 1931 Trentham Gardens Ltd was founded to maintain and manage the gardens that were finally opened to the public. A new ballroom was built along with an ‘Art Deco’ outdoor swimming pool. The post wars years were famous for being a great venue for dances with famous bands performing, including a little known group called The Beatles in 1963. Now the Estate features something for everyone including a shopping village, which most of our members were enthusiastic about, along with the other attractions of course. One feature did pique our interest and that was the fairies, do you know that there are 15 fairies living there. I think a trip to find them is in order, with a prize for the one who finds them all! But with everything else there is to see I think it will be a very long interesting day.
Another initiative started in late October 2013 was to create a lasting landscape legacy to Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown as 2016 the nation celebrates 300 years since his birth.
Mike finished off the evening judging our competition, which was the Spring Group Competition of ‘A musical instrument - any medium" - and it could be actual instrument, photograph, painting, crafted article. Out of the 8 entries the winner was Nora Eaton and her entry will represent our WI at the next Group meeting.
22nd March 2016
Birthday Party - Buffet
Speaker: Susan Leicester - 'Seven Ages of Woman'
At this meeting we celebrated our 86th birthday. We welcomed 41 members, new and old and guests. We started with a glass of sherry followed by a lovely buffet and desserts. Of course we finished with a piece of birthday cake which was lovingly baked by Ann Stafford and she excelled herself yet again.
Our speaker for the evening was Susan Leicester whose talk was entitled “Seven Ages of Women”. She regaled us with poems, songs and wardrobe changes. She did the iconic poem about a mammogram, which, along with our members, all the lady readers will associate with. Laughs all round.
We were then informed that one of our long standing members, Françoise Rothery, has been chosen by Cheshire Federation to make a special birthday card for the Queen’s 90-th birthday, well done Françoise. We had a sneak preview of the card she painstakingly made and it was beautiful. (Please see the News page for more information)
We finished the evening with a raffle of our table decorations, so one person from each table won!
23rd February 2016
Speaker: Richard Bramhall - Recycling in Cheshire East
Competition: Item Made From Recycled Material
The Speaker for the evening was Richard Bramhall who is the Marketing & Business Development Manager for ANSA Environmental Services which was launched as part of Cheshire East on 1 April 2014. As well as waste management they also look after street cleaning, parks and gardens. Here in Cheshire East we have the 3-bins system which we all agreed was a lot better than all the bags and boxes still used in other areas, and they empty 250,000 bins each week! Once the bins have been emptied they go off to UPM in Shotton and we watched a short video on how all the items were separated and categorised. The garden waste goes to 5 farms across the area for on-farm composting. Everything else goes to landfill. Did you know that disposable nappies contribute to 5% of black bin refuse and 40% is food waste? What surprised us all was how much food is wasted and we played a little game of ‘higher/lower’ like Bruce Forsyth to guess how much. We didn’t get much right, the main one was bread – we throw away on average 660,000 tonnes in the UK each year! Richard finished off with quite a lot of questions fired at him and he answered them all with expert knowledge. Thank you Richard, a very interesting talk.
We finished off with tea and biscuits and time to catch up with each other. Richard judged our competition which was ‘Item Made from Recycled Material’ and this was won by our President, Wendy (wasn’t favouritism honestly).
26th January 2016
Speaker: Peter Ashburner from Wright Marshall at Knutsford - 'Flog It'
Competition: A Piece of Old China
Peter Ashburner from Wright and Marshall, Knutsford talked about the highs and lows of a valuation house. They deal with all sorts of items including militaria, medals, swords and toys. He said he had become the North West expert on Barbie dolls for a Radio Manchester interview (a little known fact - did you know that she had to have her boobs reduced at one time). One of his colleagues was on a quiz programme with Alan Titchmarsh about valuations, as well as other programmes such as Bargain Hunt. He explained his career went from selling cattle at Chelford to antiques.
He gave us the benefit of his knowledge by explaining how to value a silver ‘bachelor’ tea set by identifying all the different hall marks and what they meant. He also showed us some silver candlesticks and explained that it’s not always the age that gave the value, but sometime it was the scarcity. We finished off with tea and biscuits and time to catch up with each other. Peter judged our competition which was won by Sandra Smith.
Updated 2nd November 2016