Leicestershire & Rutland February 2022 Issue 480 County News Federation Chairman Janet Kirk [email protected]Federation Treasurer Linda Martin [email protected]Federation Secretary Sarah Freeman [email protected]Accounts Assistant Anila Patel [email protected]Leicestershire & Rutland Federation of Women’s Institutes incorporated in England and Wales as a Company limited by Guarantee No. 02769771 Charity Reg No. 1016 766 WI House, 135 Loughborough Road, Leicester, LE4 5LQ Tel: 0116 2661342 Email: [email protected]Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 9.30am—1.30pm www.leicestershire-and-rutland.thewi.org.uk or scan QR code Find us on Facebook: Leicestershire & Rutland Federation of WIs 1 County News February 2022 Chairman’s Column What an exciting year we have to look forward to with all the Queens Platinum Jubilee events taking place. I hope you saw in last month's County News that we thought it would be lovely if all our WIs could hold some form of Garden Party themselves during June to suit their Members and share photos and reports with us all. We would have liked to hold an event you could all attend but this would not be possible so get planning ladies and see what you can do. We will have some events for you through the year with a "Royal" theme so watch out for those as well. It would be amazing if the competition for a Platinum pudding for the Jubilee was won by a WI Member even more so if they came from our area so why not have a go at entering. I know some WIs are still finding it difficult to get going again but please ask for some help if you need it, others are reporting new Members so there are ladies out there who want to join us. We have got to be proactive and go and get them, there are lots of new houses in many areas and we need to go and approach ladies when we are out and about, on the school run or walking the dog and chat about how much fun we have with our WIs and "sell" it to them. The most important thing is if they come to a meeting that we make them feel welcome and we explain more about what WI offers. A simple hand out with website links to the Leicestershire page and the National one can help them learn more, and last month's WI Life can give an insight as well. We always have some spare copies at WI House if you need some. Don’t forget to "show the love" with a green heart this month, I still have the postcard from last year by my computer as a reminder to care for our world and ourselves, both equally important. Take care all. Janet Annual Council Meeting Leicester Grammar School Saturday, 19 March 2022 10.30 am – 3.30pm Tickets: £14 each We still have tickets available following WI allocations. If you wish to order a ticket, please contact your WI Secretary who can make a booking or add to any existing booking until Thurs 17 February 2022. We are also looking for stewards to help on the day—you will get to see the speakers and can claim a half price ticket! Contact [email protected] if you are interested. Please see flyer for further details. Our speakers will be: Susan McEniff Director of Marketing & Fundraising, Leicester Charity Link Dickie Arbiter HM The Queen’s former press secretary. Dr Annie Gray Food historian, author and broadcaster. Speakers subject to change at short notice. This event may be photographed, we will presume permission unless we are otherwise informed.
Leicestershire & Rutland Federation of Women’s Institutes incorporated in England and Wales as a Company limited by Guarantee No. 02769771 Charity Reg No. 1016 766
WI House, 135 Loughborough Road, Leicester, LE4 5LQ
www.leicestershire-and-rutland.thewi.org.uk or scan QR code
Find us on Facebook: Leicestershire & Rutland Federation of WIs
1 County News February 2022
Chairman’s Column
What an exciting year we have to look forward to with all the Queens Platinum Jubilee events taking place. I hope you saw in last month's County News that we thought it would be lovely if all our WIs could hold some form of Garden Party themselves during June to suit their Members and share photos and reports with us all. We would have liked to hold an event you could all attend but this would not be possible so get planning ladies and see what you can do. We will have some events for you through the year with a "Royal" theme so watch out for those as well. It would be amazing if the competition for a Platinum pudding for the Jubilee was won by a WI Member even more so if they came from our area so why not have a go at entering.
I know some WIs are still finding it difficult to get going again but please ask for some help if you need it, others are reporting new Members so there are ladies out there who want to join us. We have got to be proactive and go and get them, there are lots of new houses in many areas and we need to go and approach ladies when we are out and
about, on the school run or walking the dog and chat about how much fun we have with our WIs and "sell" it to them. The most important thing is if they come to a meeting that we make them feel welcome and we explain more about what WI offers. A simple hand out with website links to the Leicestershire page and the National one can help them learn more, and last month's WI Life can give an insight as well. We always have some spare copies at WI House if you need some.
Don’t forget to "show the love" with a green heart this month, I still have the postcard from last year by my computer as a reminder to care for our world and ourselves, both equally important.
Take care all. Janet
Annual Council Meeting
Leicester Grammar School
Saturday, 19 March 2022
10.30 am – 3.30pm Tickets: £14 each
We still have tickets available following WI allocations.
If you wish to order a ticket, please contact your WI
Secretary who can make a booking or add to any
existing booking until Thurs 17 February 2022. We are
also looking for stewards to help on the day—you will
get to see the speakers and can claim a half price ticket!
The LRFWI Membership Committee is responsible for assisting WIs with any help they require. I hope you find the following items useful. Mandy Cutler, Membership Committee Chair.
NFWI updated their guidance for resuming meetings on 12 January 2022.
Chinese people across the world will be celebrating the arrival of New Year at the start of February. Festivities will begin on 1st and continue till the 15th. 2021 was the
year of the Ox. What is the animal for 2022?
Sudoku - every row column and block of 9 squares
must contain the numbers from 1 to 9
It’s time to get the sewing machine out!
We have been given over 50 vintage dress patterns and 13 lengths of fabric (some up to 10m long!). If you would like them please contact WI House (no charge but a donation to the Federation is always welcome!)
We met for our Christmas party with games, secret Santa and delicious food.
Some members were dressed in Sunday Best clothes from the past and a play was performed. It was so good to socialise with each other, there was plenty of fun and laughter.
Swepstone, Newton & Snarestone
Around the Counties
We held our 100th birthday party in
December. In fact we were 101 but
had to delay the celebrations by a
year. We amalgamated this with our
Christmas party. As a change, and
because it was a special occasion,
we “bought in” our supper from a
company in Market Harborough.
We had a wonderful choice and all
meals were delivered hot and we all managed to sit down
together to enjoy. It was
delicious and was
accompanied with wine and
soft drinks, followed by some
scrummy sweets and coffee.
The room and tables were
beautifully decorated and
during the meal we had a
little light entertainment with
poems, amusing readings
and a wonderful sketch written by Rhena. We all received an
engraved pen so we all have a keepsake. Jane A. made a
lovely 100th birthday cake – funny how we all managed to
find just that final bit of room!! The committee worked hard to
arrange this occasion and we were rewarded with some
lovely comments, cards,
emails etc. from the
members.
We now look forward to a new start in 2022 and wish all your readers a happy new year.
Illston on the Hill
Blackfordby WI Craft group led by Josie,
one of our members, made some
fabulous table decorations for Christmas.
It was a lovely meeting and has got us
motivated for our craft sessions this year.
Watch this space!
We were very lucky with our Christmas Party, it fell just
before there were too many cases of the new covid variant
Omicron.
We were entertained by a lovely duo called Amanda and
Julie who really got us into the Christmas spirit. The food was
served to the ladies and we all had a lovely time.
We finished with a rendition of the twelve days of Christmas, with many ladies doing all the actions.
Blackfordby
Members of Bardon Hill Group got together to enjoy a delicious Christmas Lunch at the George and Dragon in Thringstone.
Bardon Hill Group
We held a careful Christmas meeting, ending with The Twelve Days of Christmas with actions, in masks!
I feel the photos
capture the special feel of the occasion under Covid-19 safety rules.
Groby
Around the Counties
5 County News February 2022
For our December meeting,
members enjoyed music played by
Stephanie and a 2-course meal
prepared and served by the
committee. There was also a raffle
and instead of our usual secret
Santa presents, members
provided items to be donated to
the Lutterworth foodbank which
weighed in at 33kg and included a
lovely selection of chocolates,
biscuits and toiletries as well as
essential items.
Following the meal, Margaret provided a light hearted activity
whereby members made penguins using chocolate mini rolls
and coloured icing with an instructional picture to help! As
you can see, this produced an array of results with everyone
having fun and some penguins looking the worse for wear!
Again this year Leire WI entered the local Christmas Tree Festival with an "Artefactree" which was decorated with old items of interest including photos, wedding items and traditional decorations. We are looking forward to our annual meal out in January for another get together.
Leire
‘Have yourself a Wild Christmas’ was the title of Kevin
Reynolds zoom talk in December. He told members why the
Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Poinsettias and Robins are all
associated with Christmas and we learnt why there is no
mention of Rudolph in the poem, ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’
by Clement Clarke Moore. We also found out that many of
the traditions we associate with Christmas are influenced by
Charles Dickens tale ‘A Christmas Carol. Kevin proved to be
an informative and humorous speaker and is recommended
to give a seasonal talk with a difference.
In addition to the December meeting members went carol
singing around the village, finishing at the local pub where
mulled wine and mince pies were enjoyed. Money collected
throughout the evening will be donated to ACWW Pennies for
friendship.
Inspired by an advert in WI Life an outing was arranged to
the National Memorial Arboretum where a ‘Christmas Lunch
with a Festive Swing’ took place. Members arrived at the
arboretum with time to look at a few of the 400 memorials
before lunch. One of particular interest was the WI memorial
seat that was built in 2009 with
funds raised by the Women’s
Institute to commemorate the
work that members past and
present have undertaken for
the love of the country.
Pictured are Chris and Pat on the WI memorial seat.
Cossington
Our last meeting of the year took place on Thurs 2nd
December where we all got into the festive mood with music,
food & lots of chat welcoming back members who have been
unable to join us previously so we were delighted to see
them all again after this difficult year.
Many of us put on ‘our sparkles & bling’ & with caterers
providing our Christmas buffet we were able to mingle & sit
back relax & enjoy our entertainment of the evening.
We were introduced to a small group of young ladies from
the Shaun Burden Academy of Irish Dancers who kindly
performed a selection of their soft shoe routines along with
Irish music that certainly created a lovely atmosphere.
After delicious food supplied by our local coffee shop
Isabella’s & lots of lucky raffle prize winners we wished
everyone a Healthy Happy Christmas & now look forward to
our new meeting time for us in the afternoons with our first
meeting on January 13th 2022 at 2pm.
We sparkled and shone at the December
Meeting being entertained by a Christmas
Elf aka Rhena Sturgess reminiscing us
with tales of Xmas cooking disasters,
stories & poems. Valerie Cobb, pictured
was serenaded by the king himself Elvis.
We all joined in with 'Are you lonesome
tonight'. Festive food & a Christmas Lyrics
Quiz followed. The evening concluded
with Santa & helper giving presents to
those who had been good.
Glenhills
Barkby and Beeby
Our Christmas Meeting involved painting a bauble for our Christmas Trees with Polkadot Pottery. Kitty was unable to attend but coached our member Ann Miksza in the skills needed and it went very well. The decorated baubles were taken
away and fired and returned to us before the big day. We had a tasty supper as well.
Shearsby and Arnesby
6 County News February 2022
For the first time since March 2020 Great Bowden WI held their meeting at the Village Hall. COVID regulations were followed but it was wonderful to meet everyone face to face again. It was a lovely evening. Firstly, member Sharon
Webb demonstrated how to make a Christmas Card. All the necessary components were
provided and everyone managed to produce lovely cards and thoroughly enjoy constructing and decorating them.
This was followed
by our WI choir, led by Pam Abbott and accompanied by Gordon Birch, who performed favourite Christmas songs and some request carols. To round the evening off the Committee served Mince Pies and Mulled Wine. A super evening and a great Christmas atmosphere.
Great Bowden WI are always active and but have also resumed our crafting group and the Choir, and have teams in the Darts League.
On the 6th January Great Bowden WI held their monthly Meeting at Emerson & West’s Café. Where members started the New Year by chatting over a tea consisting of assorted sandwiches, with every filling imaginable, followed by scones with cream and Jam and a selection of delicious cakes. Copious amounts of tea were consumed and everyone enjoyed being together again to catch up with each other’s Christmas news. COVID rules were adhered to but the members thought it was a wonderful way to start 2022.
There is much planed for the coming year and we have an exciting and interesting programme of events and activities to look forward to.
Around the Counties
In December, Anstey WI’s meeting took the form of a
Christmas/80th Birthday party.
Drinks and nibbles, organized by Gill Bryce and several
helpers, were served in the interval of the entertainment,
which came courtesy of the Heart of England Barbershop
Choir.
They were a jolly group of singers, part of the choir which
was the first such in England. The songs were interspersed
with humorous introductions. The singing was of course a
cappella, with just a note given on pitch pipes at the start of
each song. A number of them were Christmas tunes.
After the performance, Santa arrived to distribute his secret
gifts to much merriment.
For the 80th
birthday aspect of
the party, Sheila
Price had put
together a display of
old photographs and
scrapbooks, and
Sheryl Bramley had
made an impressive
cake, which she cut
and distributed at
the end of the
evening. All in all it was a most enjoyable festive occasion.
Shortly before the party, many of us had attended the funeral
of Chris Figgins, a longstanding member highly valued for
her service as president and programme secretary. Having
enjoyed a new lease of life with her daughter in Turkey, Chris
had arranged the funeral herself, choosing her favourite
hymns and readings. She had written a poem urging
everyone to wear bright colours, and to focus on positive
memories rather than mourn. It was a moving and uplifting
occasion.
During the year we had a talk from a representative of Age UK Leicestershire, and on Saturday 11th December Anne Spanswick and Pauline Annis collected £73.10 for them over a 4 hour period, at the Co-op. Together with a large number of Innocent Smoothie hats, we have made a good contribution to them in return for the talk.
Anstey Great Bowden
Around the Counties
7 County News February 2022
We welcomed Lez Cope
Newman, Loughborough
Chair of Love
Loughborough and
Honorary Freeman of the
Town to explain the
exciting plans for the town
centre currently taking place and future projects funded by a
25 million pound grant. Lez was also a lucky winner in the
raffle. Lez's enthusiasm and love for his home town always
shines brightly. A real asset to us all.
Music and laughter from Clive Rudd made a festive start to
the Christmas Season. Well known songs from the 50's, 60's
and 70's and amusing anecdotes about the musicians and
singers from our younger days brought many smiles, oohs
and aahs as we clapped, swayed and danced to the beat of
his guitar.
It was a pleasure to see so many happy faces on a cold day and with new Covid rules coming into force meant we had to keep our masks on until it was time for tea
and mince pies. "Just what we needed" was a comment from one of our members and I think that summed up the feelings of us all as we prepare hopefully for Christmas with our loved ones this year.
Quorn
Our members enjoyed a busy month with a variety of activities which included a pre-Christmas lunch, when over 20 members met to chat and celebrate the season; 15 (our village bus full!) went to Stratford Christmas market and enjoyed a sunny day shopping, browsing and
lunching; a team of five made our Suffragette Snow lady to enter into our village snowman competition (we didn’t win but our entry was much admired) and another group met for a Christmas wreath workshop, where we were guided by Sheila Loughan to make a very attractive door hanging. Everyone was very pleased with their result.
At our monthly meeting we enjoyed drinks and nibbles and were entertained by The After Eight Quartet, who sang in four part harmony and gave us a wonderful selection of seasonal and popular songs interspersed with cracker jokes and anecdotes, which were enjoyed by us all.
Our committee had arranged Secret Santa gifts for each member which were distributed at the end of the evening with good wishes for the New Year. We have a very varied programme planned for 2022 and are looking forward to getting together to enjoy each other’s company as often as possible.
Broughton Astley
In November 2021, Sapcote WI
celebrated their 75th year with a
meal at the Sketchley Grange
Hotel, Hinckley. Our ladies
looked forward to being able to
dress-up and spend some time
together in a relaxed setting.
A good time was had by all and here’s to our 76th.
Our December meeting is our Christmas party, this year, members will be bringing their own supper, so that we can comply with Covid regulations, liquid refreshments will be
provided.
We look forward to a demonstration of Scottish dancing and I’m sure that we will be joining in too!
Sapcote
On Thursday 9th December members of Ullesthorpe WI celebrated their 95th Anniversary. The first ladies met on December 8th 1926
and the President and founder was Beatrice Seale from the village. It was a very thriving group with lots of activities, trips
and involvement in village life. It is still an enthusiastic group today, who now meet in the afternoon.
We celebrated our birthday with a sparkling afternoon tea and an excellent talk by June Norris. June is a Leicestershire Caterer and hospitality consultant who was also involved in serving lunch to the Queen when she visited Leicester in 2012. She talked about her career and demonstrated several
pastry recipes. June made our wonderful birthday cake.
Each member received a special card and an inscribed oval compact mirror as a keepsake. Freda Williams, the oldest member, was invited to cut the cake with
this year's President. Freda has been a member for over 50 years and been an important part of not only
Ullesthorpe but of Leicestershire and Rutland Federation.
Members also traced all the past presidents from 1926 and
made a cloth to remember their names. It was interesting task and a great achievement. Susan Woollard from the Federation joined us as well as past members. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Ullesthorpe
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8 County News February 2022
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Monthly Draw Winners!
Congratulations to our Monthly Draw winners for December!
1st Prize £25
No. 48 Vivien Cove, Breedon on the Hill WI
2nd Prize £15 No. 9
Hildred Freeman, Newbold Verdon WI
3rd Prize £10 No. 20
Maureen Williams, Countesthorpe WI
Thank you to all of the members who have supported the Federation by buying a Monthly
