Whittington Women's Institute
Marian Young welcomed everyone to the meeting including guests. Marian and Glenys, our WI treasurer, explained about our WI fees for the coming year; they will be capped for the benefit of members. Our annual subscription fee of £22.40 each should be paid at the April meeting please.
Whittington WI celebrated 100 years last November and a suggestion to plant a tree was agreed; Barbara Molesworth kindly researched suitable trees and the chosen one will be a flowering cherry which will be planted on the village green. The local book club initiated by Sandy Forde is likely to reopen soon and will be held in the Castle Tea-Room, more details to follow in due course.
A letter from Severn Hospice has been circulated following the donation from the Area Group Carol Service thanking members for the donation of £143.70.
WI Shropshire Federation has begun a bake-off competition which has to be a cake consisting of a vegetable. Round one was won by Julie Sheffield with a splendid carrot cake. Next Julie will have to produce the same cake for a group second round and if she wins (fingers crossed she will!!) then round three will be judged by the Niche Patisserie at a county meeting.
There is an Open Evening on Tuesday 3rd May at St Martin which will cost £3.00 and will feature the Ellesmere Amateur Dramatics Group. The Derwen Fete is on Saturday 28th May and St Martin’s WI will run the stall but require bran tub gifts suitably labelled either male/female and approximate age likewise for children. Oswestry Show on Saturday 6th August requires stewards to volunteer either from 9:00-10:30am or 1:30-3:00pm please; please let Sandy Forde know if you are able to volunteer. There were several more events given out for entering into diaries, including the Malvern Quilt Show on 12th May and the Shropshire Federation Gala Dinner on 26th October to be held in Telford.
Following on from the business part of the meeting Helen Cooksley provided an excellent talk about her Alpacas and enabled members to consider different types of Alpaca wool before using some to make individual key rings. All members thought the talk and craft activity were very good; both enlightening and enjoyable.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 13th April at 7.00pm in the Community Centre, and the guest speaker will discuss Posh Ponies and Pancakes – sounds intriguing. Please do feel to join members for the evening, you will find a very warm welcome
Jo Thomasson