During the evening we were given details with regards to the new Book Club and members also decided to support the MS Society's cake bake by holding a cake sale at the April meeting. The next meeting to be held is a presentation by Jane Elson on the History of the WI on 17 March. Ashby Spa WI membership grows at each meeting and now totals more than 60 members.
Deb Winkles
Ashby Spa WI
ASHBY SPA WI - LESS LETHAL WEAPONRY
On Wednesday 20 January Ashby Spa WI were given a presentation by David Wilkinson entitled "Less Lethal Weaponry". David described the weapons that have been used by law enforcement bodies both at home and abroad and the testing and validation of the weapons used by British police on our streets, as well as explaining the difference of using force for either stopping a suspect with pain or by immobilisation. His presentation also included the testing of the TASER and the differences between the two models used by the police being the M26 and X26. At the end of the evening the room was split into groups for an experiment, being to lessen the impact of an arrow when fired from a bow so that it did not lose its trajectory but didn't go through the paper it was fired at (ie was less lethal). This meeting also saw the introduction of the monthly Trading Table with brussel sprouts and eggs as the first surplus produce to be offered for sale by members, with a percentage of the takings being donated to the WI.
The next meeting of Ashby Spa WI is on 17 February where a presentation "Freshen up your make-up for 2010" will be hosted by Sheelagh Powell, a professional make up artist.
Deb Winkles
Ashby Spa WI
SWANNINGTON WI CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS
If you recall we were telling you that each Christmas we have a theme for the meeting and members are free should they wish to dress accordingly - and usually they turn up trumps - and they certainly did this year again! The theme was Arabian Nights and our speaker was a professional belly dancer, who gave us a demonstration of belly dancing, a talk on its history and related some of her interesting experiences.
Members were then invited to join in and have a go at a belly dance and pretty well all of our members did so - after which we all sat down still resplendent in our Arabian Nights costumes and enjoyed a shared table. It was a great fun evening for us all.
WINE TASTING @ ASHBY SPA WI
On the evening of 18 November Sue Lobb gave an interesting, informative and entertaining presentation on Wines for Christmas to the members of Ashby Spa WI. This was the second meeting for Ashby Spa and was very well attended. After the presentation Sue provided wines from Argentina (white), Sicily (red) and Cyprus (dessert) for tasting. This was a very enjoyable evening and we look forward to December's "Faith Supper" and next year's calendar of events."
LEICESTER LADIES WI
.....is the name of the new WI set up in the City Centre in October. They are to meet on the last Monday of the month at the Long Bar, Market Street, Leicester (opposite Fenwicks). At the moment they are a small group of young women plus the mum of one of them. They want a new approach to WI as seen in various media publications. They set up a page on Facebook to gauge interest.
The first meeting took them to a local Lingerie outlet in Loseby Lane, Cookie West, where the owner explained about how important well fitting bras are. Some tried them on and some bought some very reasonably priced lingerie. It was a great start to their WI life. For the November meeting they have organised a belly dancing workshop, so hopefully all will get a go. They are hoping to encourage more ladies to join them. So if you know anyone who may be interested please have a look at their Facebook page. Let’s wish them lots of new members.
MULTI ACTIVITY DAY
WI members enjoyed a wonderful eventful day at Kibworth Shooting Ground. They were met with a warm drink and then the programme for the day was explained. Unfortunately the weather was too bad for blindfold driving, however it could perhaps be arranged for a summer day. The first activity was archery. All were impressed as they were able to hit the target and not have to go seeking the arrows beyond. Some even managed to hit the bull.
Moving onto the clay pigeon shooting where Sue from the group was a natural, hitting the clays time and time again. Sadly some of us were dreadful, but managed to improve hitting the last clay with a flourish. After lunch they went on to the rifle range, sat down and rested the rifles on a cushion. They were thrilled with themselves, and took great delight hitting targets and being praised. A wonderful day was had by all. Very good value for money.
Mary Hodgson
Gilmorton WI
DARTS COMPETITION 2009
Forty teams entered the darts competition this year. After a round robin structure of the area groups, eight quarter finalists emerged. There had been some close results and even play-offs. Eventually the final was played between Appleby Magna representing the West and Gumley representing the South. It was a friendly but competitive final that ended with Gumley the worthy winners.
Our Chairman, Rosemary Heyes presented the trophy. Congratulations to both teams.
STONEY STANTON MEMBER ON WIA TRAINING
Joy Hoult of Stoney Stanton WI, attended an Advisor Training couple of days at Denman College recently. Picture below shows those who attended: Robyn -WI Life, Helena -West Yorkshire, Kate -Suffolk East, Diane -Hereford, Julie -Norfolk, Judith -Derbyshire, Maureen B. -Jersey, Roberta -Clwyd-Denbigh, Sue -Kent-East Kent, Karin -Humberside, Joy -Leicestershire and Rutland.
Joy Holt says she had a wonderful and informative weekend - came home with ‘homework’!!
WELCOME TO ASHBY SPA WI!
This newly-formed WI had its inaugural meeting on 21 October 2009, led by WIA Jane Elson. With 30 eager members and a very keen committee ably guided through the official business by Jane, everyone then had a fun evening creating gift boxes and bags under the expert tutelage of WIAs Ruth Green and Janet Kirk. 
Members of Ashby Spa WI enjoying their first meeting.
RUTLAND SHOW - THANK YOU!
Cast your mind back to Sunday June 7th. We were at the Rutland Show with rain, thunder and lightning for most of the morning. We were honoured to be presented to HRH the Duke of Gloucester who was very wet. He loved Sue's Lemon Drizzle cake. By Royal appointment now.
I would like to thank all the Rutland ladies who helped at the Show for all their hard work. Angela for her Caravan, Vanessa for driving the Van, Glenice and Ruth for helping at WI House, Joan and her gang (hope you got your Umbrella back) for being such a lovely group of ladies to work for. See you next year, fingers crossed for good weather.
Anne Holden Catering Committee
STONEY STANTON WI MYSTERY TRIP
These are some of the Stoney Stanton WI ladies (l to r: Carol Dorman, Irene Eales, Lorna Cox, Sandra King, Brenda Allen, Chris Grant, Lesley Cosgrove) and friend Lilian Wollatt,
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who went on the Mystery Trip arranged by our WI President, to the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas. The photograph was taken at the WI memorial. The Arboretum is so very interesting and at the same time so very moving. A service of remembrance is held every day is the Chapel of Peace and Foregiveness which is extremely moving as is the Armed Forces Memorial. It is very difficult to take in that so many of our armed forces have lost their life since the end of the 2nd World War. More than a day is needed to do this justice.
Sandra King
Stoney Stanton WI
THE SWANNINGTON WI COMMUNITY GARDEN
In 2006 the idea for the garden came to our then President, Liz Reed whilst she was walking past a piece of fallow land in the main street of Swannington to and from WI meetings. Liz’s vision was to create a garden, which those walking or driving through the village could appreciate and enjoy. The owners of the land were extremely supportive and a sub committee was set up to progress the project and naturally, as with all ‘good ideas’ the first thing to do was to raise money for the work!
Fundraising events by our members, donations from village organisations and a grant from the Leicestershire Rural Partnership gave us the money for the project.
Work started on the clearing of the garden followed by the laying of a membrane, with gravel most kindly donated by one of the village farmers. Our local Quarry agreed to donate a feature rock for the garden and three members of our WI visited the quarry and had great fun being driven around, wearing hard hats to choose the rock. Another rock, with a commemorative plaque, was sourced from the village and donated by the Swannington Heritage Trust. The plants were chosen for their attractive appearance, low maintenance and ‘bee friendly’ appeal.
Finally on 2nd August, as part of Swannington Open Gardens, David Taylor, our local MP officially opened the garden, which was decked out with green and white bunting and balloons. Our members joined the rota for the manning of the garden and explained about our bee friendly plants and the reasons behind planting them and also held a ‘Find the Queen Bee’ competition and sold local Leicestershire honey; raising funds to hopefully sponsor a hive. A reception was held after the opening, with David Taylor, Rosemary Heyes and those who had supported us in the work on the garden, joining our members for a piece of celebration cake and a glass of bubbly. |