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July saw the ladies from Doveside enjoying a trip to Tissington Hall for a tour around the house followed by lunch ( including cakes) and a spot of retail therapy in Ashbourne.
Hot on the heels of this trip was a summer afternoon of crown green bowls coaching at Rolleston Club followed by yet more scones and cakes.
In August it was fun and games. Normally W.I's take a break for the summer,
but this year we held a meeting which was a bit different. We played games,
undertook some of our 100 challenges and generally had a laugh. Balancing a 20p
on a lemon proved the hardest, stacking 100 individual 2p pieces on top of each
other was another challenge but probably the hardest challenge of the day was
trying to win at bingo when our caller had omitted the numbers 80-90 from her
bag!
Not deterred from this, the ladies turned up for our village treasure hunt and
picnic in August and held on The Croft (more cakes) and some members went along
to Abbots Bromley WI for their Summer Walk and dinner and had a lovely time
walking the lanes of their village.
We have also been to Cineworld to watch a screening of " The Battle of Britain" (no cakes) and been to the WI Centennial Fair at Harrogate (cakes).
Our September meeting saw the welcome return of Lynda Kinnard who showed us how to have a creative Christmas making funky fairies, everlasting crackers and flip and stitch Christmas stockings.
The 100 Challenges continue ...we have sung 100 words, walked 100 miles (followed by more cakes) and several of our members have raised 100 pounds for a charity of their choice at the charity table at our meetings.
One member, Edna, has achieved her own unique challenge...reaching the age of 100 in August. She was born before the WI was started back in 1915...we wish them both all the very best.
We are looking forward to a very busy run up to Christmas with trips to Chatsworth Christmas Market, Trentham Gardens, Litchfield Carol Concert and Leekes Furniture Store in Coventry. We have our monthly meetings on 3rd Friday of the month @9.45 and our Games and Craft afternoon on 2nd Thursday @ 2.00p.m.Both are held in the Rolleston Club. If you would like to come along or to know more, then please contact:
Diane Marriott 07968237127 or email me : bensmam@hotmail.com
Members of Doveside WI have taken part in the official celebrations of the WI Centenary this year in two ways: two members attended the Garden Party held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace in June; and then the Institute organised and hosted a screening of the video-link to the Annual General Meeting at the Royal Albert Hall, attended by HM The Queen, the Princess Royal and the Duchess of Cambridge. Despite a few technical hitches, this event - which included a lavish buffet lunch, and which was open to members of other WIs in our group - was a great success.
As we are very fond of scones with jam and cream, and homemade cakes, with sparkling wine whenever possible, it seemed highly appropriate to host another group event, with the help of Rolleston WI: a cream tea at the Scout HQ, with a toast to the WI, and a very entertaining talk from jewellery maker and conceptual artist Karen Van Hoff, whose lovely wares made quite a few of us sorry we hadn't brought our piggy banks!
We are also making progress with our “100 Challenges for 100 Years”; visiting tearooms didn't take long, and an appeal for 100 old bras for a re-use/recycling project saw a mountain of more than 200 pieces of lingerie, in every size, colour and fabric imaginable. Personal challenges have included 100 Good Deeds, turning a tangled mess of yarn into a small blanket, and making 100 crocheted mice to sell for charity. Swimming and walking challenges are in the diary, and we are hoping that as many ladies as possible will enter at least one class in the Village Gala.
Although I am writing this in July, autumn school uniforms are in the shops so it is obviously nearly Christmas! Our September meeting is entitled “Creative Christmas”, and after that we have our usual wide variety of speakers lined up for our monthly meetings. If you like the sound of us, these are held at Rolleston Club on the third Friday of the month, starting at 9.45 am. Details of each meeting can be found on village notice-boards, or you can contact Diane Marriott on 07968 237 127, or at bensmam@hotmail.com
Members of Doveside WI were shocked and deeply saddened by the sudden and totally unexpected death of our President Kate Goldsmith in January. Kate threw herself wholeheartedly into many aspects of village life, and her abundant energy and enthusiasm played no small part in Doveside being the busy and thriving Institute it is today. We will miss her, and never forget her.
But our AGM in March always brings elections for a new committee, and Diane Marriott has agreed to be our new President. The programme for 2015-16 will be out by the time you read this, and as always there will be an interesting range of speakers, outings, workshops and special events. One of these, though not open to all, is a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, in the presence of the Duchess of Cornwall. Each WI can send one member, and a raffle saw Kate Bailey chosen to represent Doveside. Carol Gascoigne is also going, though as a representative for Anslow WI, where she is a joint member, and Helen Barnett gets a special invitation as co-ordinator of our local group of WIs, so Doveside will almost be there in force! The rest of us do get to don posh frocks and hats, for the group cream tea in July, also in celebration of the WI's Centenary.
At Doveside we are marking the Centenary with our '100 challenges' programme. Visiting 100 other WIs is ongoing, and we are about to introduce '100 towns' as well. Planning is well under way to, between us, walk 100 miles in a day, and members have knitted more than 100 squares to be made into blankets for the Child Africa international Junior School, Kabale, Uganda. And we are going to encourage members' families to take part, with a sunflower-growing contest. Personal challenges are also playing their part – will that clear-out produce 100 items for the charity shop, or that cross-stitched cushion cover be started, let alone finished....
If you like the sound of us, meetings are held at Rolleston Club on the third
Friday of the month, starting at 9.45 am. Details of each meeting can be found
on village notice-boards, or you can contact Diane Marriott on 07968237127 or at
bensmam@hotmail.com
Sue Willmot
Being members of the WI does not make us too stately to enjoy the build-up to Christmas, and we got into the festive mood with shopping trips to Chatsworth, including a tour of the house decorated for 'Alice in Wonderland', and Trentham Gardens. The annual County Carol Service was held at Lichfield Cathedral, bookended by more shopping. We also had the opportunity to make fired-glass jewellery (brilliant gifts!) and flaunt our woodworking skills by making rustic snowmen. Things were rounded off with a trip to the cinema to see the Royal Ballet's 'Alice in Wonderland'.
We supported St. Mary's Advent Festival by making decorated hearts, bearing 'glad tidings', to hang on our tree, and members helped with stewarding and with refreshments.
Our December meeting started with a glass of sherry and a toast to 'Absent Friends', and then Marilyn Ottewell gave a seasonal flower-arranging demonstration, and her displays were later raffled. Donations of food items for local food banks were collected as part of our '100 Challenges for 100 Years', our way of celebrating the WI's Centenary, and the target of 100 items was greatly exceeded. We provided things for at least 10 shoe boxes for 'Samaritan's Purse', and members are currently knitting garments for premature babies – the target is 10 items, but we will beat it. So far we have completed 76 of the100: between us we have walked 100 miles, Eluned White raised much more than her personal target of £100 for research into pancreatic cancer by making and selling some lovely cross-stitched items, especially Christmas decorations, and other members are setting themselves personal challenges like doing 100 good deeds, or singing a solo at a concert. Task 99 is to complete visits to 100 other WIs, and Task 100 is to write all these adventures up, so that still leaves about 74 still to have.
If you enjoy Scrabble, or if a workshop on Sound Therapy sounds intriguing, if you have always wanted to learn how to make a needle case or a corsage, if a wide range of speakers and demonstrations sounds interesting, if you'd like to make new friends and go on trips, often involving shopping and/or cream teas.....then why not join us?
We meet on the 3rd Friday of every month at 9.45am at Rolleston Club. Details of each meeting can be found on village notice-boards.
Sue Willmot
Last updated: 31 December 2015