After the summer break, not that it was much like summer, we met again in September and enjoyed being together, exchanging news and views and discussing future events, with particular emphasis on Christmas activities. The September speaker, whose subject was “A History of Textiles” brought with her a large collection of dolls dressed in fashion from the twenties to the present day, and very interesting they were too, portraying the wartime years when fashion had to give way to uniforms, and the colours were khaki, airforce blue and navy, through Christian Dior’s New Look to the mini-skirt – all very nostalgic.

At the October meeting we had a pictorial Quiz of Rolleston and also a section on anagrams of place names. We all agreed that, although we probably passed the scenes of the pictures, frequently, it wasn’t so easy to identify them from different angles.

Some of our members attended the Group Meeting at Hanbury Village Hall and were delighted when the competition for a plate of biscuits in animal shapes and decorated accordingly was won by our own Ann Haywood. Congratulations Ann! It wasn’t an easy task, being fiddly, but she did it.

We look forward to future meetings when we have various interesting speakers and outings to entertain us. 

We meet at the Scout HQ, Station Road on the third Friday of every month, except August, at 9.45am and we are always pleased to welcome new members.

May Anderson.

It seems unbelievable that, by the time we receive this Rollestonian through our letterboxes, half the year will have gone and the next occasion of note will be Christmas!

Not to get too far ahead let’s look back over the past meetings when we have enjoyed some very interesting speakers and their experiences.

At the May meeting we had a demonstration by Mr Colin Nicklin who showed us the art of constructing a hanging basket. He took a wire globe and lined it with moss and then inserted begonias into every available space and produced a glorious orb of colour. He also showed us some slides of his garden – every fence was festooned with brilliant colour, what a show!

June brought Anita Staley who had worked as a housekeeper in various five star hotels and had the responsibilities that go with them. It is obviously a very demanding job, as are some of the guests that she has had to deal with, and a qualification as a magician would be helpful at times.

At the July meeting, being the last before the summer break, we had a very interesting talk by Mr Alan Jones, a retired member of the British Council who described his travels and experiences in many parts of the world.

After the meeting we enjoyed a delightful lunch arranged by our hard working committee, then we went our separate ways and looked forward to our next meeting on September 21st at the Scout HQ at 9.45am. where you will be very welcome.

May Anderson

The Summer Rollestonian usually heralds the start of warm weather, sunshine, flowers, sitting outside under the garden umbrella, but haven’t we being doing that for the past few weeks, so, if this is now Summer, can we expect Autumn to start in July.

But, harking back to our earlier meetings, in February we had a very interesting Fashion Show conducted by Maria Parslow, the owner of Fatale, the Tutbury dress shop. She demonstrated what could be done to update our image by the use of carefully calculated accessories, such as distinctive belts, scarves, handbags etc. Three of our members, Gill Pyne, Sylvia Green and Wyn Essery, all with the necessary willowy figures, modelled some of the outfits which Mrs Parslow had brought along, and very professional they looked too!

March, being the AGM, not too popular with members, but has to be done, with the President and committee selected for the coming year. Fortunately the present incumbents were chosen en bloc which saved time. After the voting had finished we were entertained by an organ grinder with his hurdy gurdy which livened the atmosphere considerably and we all joined in singing Old Time Music Hall songs and a jolly time was had by all.

In April we were visited by Mrs Wood, a lady who has led a very interesting life as a P.R. to some very high up people and has been privileged to have been closely associated with Shugborough Hall helping to organise the various shows and exhibitions featured at this very popular venue.

We have a very interesting programme of speakers and some outings in the near future and we always welcome visitors and new members to our meetings which take place at Rolleston Scout HQ on the third Friday of each month, except August, at 9,45am.

May Anderson 

The Spring Rollestonian! These few words make the spirits soar and already there are signs of the days lengthening and there are snowdrops in the garden. However, winter is not all doom and gloom when we have lively W.I. meetings to attend with good company, interesting speakers and outings to cheer us at this drab time of year.

The November meeting was entertained by Mrs McMartin who demonstrated Sugarcraft with Christmas cake decorating in view. It looked so easy when she did it!

At the December meeting, Mr and Mrs Neil brought along an amazing collection of “Bits and Bobs”, as they called them and we were invited to guess what these objects were, apart from looking like instruments of torture, which some of them undoubtedly were, thinking about dentistry in particular.

Some of our members attended a very nice Christmas Lunch at the Jinnie Inn which was very much enjoyed. We also attended the Group Carol Service at Stretton Church with refreshments provided afterwards by some W.I. ladies.

At our first meeting of the New Year we were delighted to welcome Sylvia Martin who gave a very comprehensive talk on the life and work of William Morris. What an artist and craftsman this man was and his work still endures and hopefully will for years to come. Sylvia certainly knows her stuff and we were kept enthralled by her obvious enthusiasm and by the lovely slides that she showed. We look forward to more of her talks.

We meet at the Scout HQ at 9.45am on the third Friday of every month except August and we are always pleased to welcome new visitors and new members.

May Anderson

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Last updated: 22 December 2007