Middlesex Federation of Women’s Institutes
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Middlesex Federation of Women's Institutes

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Laleham WI update

January 2021 has been a quiet month for Laleham, but a lot of interaction on our WhatsApp group is helping to keep members spirits up. Members continue to support each other, helping out with shopping and giving lifts for medical appointments and now thankfully for vaccine injections.

President Helen Hurst has been keeping members up to date with WI news and issues – including canvassing for our votes on 2021 Resolutions.

Special shout out for Maria Winter who has been putting her spare time to very good use and has made these beautiful scarves and jumper – well done Maria!

The Wonders of Bicarbonate of Soda

Bicarbonate of Soda, or Sodium bicarbonate, or Baking Soda, or Bread Soda, or carb soda, is a chemical compound composed of a sodium cation and a bicarbonate anion. It is a white solid that is crystalline, but often appears as a fine powder. Slightly salty in taste, its natural mineral form is nahcolite and components of this mineral are often found in many natural springs. Naturally occurring deposits of nahcolite are found in the Green River formation in Colorado, US. It is deposited as ‘beds’ during periods of high evaporation, ie drought. It is commercially mined using common mining techniques, such as used in coal mining.  It can also be a solution, mined by pumping hot water through previously mined beds, and reconstituting dissolved nahcolite through a natural cooling crystallisation process.

There are so many ways in which we can use Bicarbonate of Soda…

Cooking

Used as a leavening agent in baking, it causes the expansion of batter in quick breads eg soda bread. Acidic materials that induce this reaction include cream of tartar, lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa, and vinegar. Heat by itself causes bicarbonate of soda to act as a raising agent because of thermal decomposition – it releases carbon dioxide at temperatures above 80 degrees celcius/180 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is sometimes used in the cooking of green vegetables, giving a bright green colour, as it reacts with the chlorophyll in the leaves, but also affects the taste and nutritional content. It is used to soften peas and pulses, and is used to make the traditional ‘mushy peas’. It is used to tenderise meats, and enhance the crispness in fried foods as it allows passages of steam to escape. [Read more…] about The Wonders of Bicarbonate of Soda

200+ Club Winners – January 2021

Congratulations to the winners of our January 2021 200+ Club draw!

1st prize – £35

I Singh, Stanwell WI

2nd prize – £20

Sue Thomas, Hayes Town WI

3rd prize – £15

Jackie Head, Southbourne WI

Sunbury-on-Thames WI update

At our November 2020 Zoom meeting, our speaker Richard Rickett spoke enthusiastically about bees. A very in   formative talk on the various types of bees. In the UK there are 3 types of bees: Bumblebee (24 species), Solitary bees (225 species) and Honey bees (1 species). He gave an in-depth talk on the Honey bees. They live in large colonies. The Workers who mainly are female, they can fly 3 miles to collect pollen which can be a third of their weight and then fly 3 miles back with the pollen. The Drones are the boys who mate with the Queen. There is only one Queen who lays 3,000 eggs a day in summer.

At our December meeting we were entertained by Ashley Webber. He gave a rendition of our favourite Christmas songs and some old greats of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. We all joined in, some forgetting to use the unmute button to the enjoyment of others. (I wonder who that could be GA?)

In December we also had some entertainment from Bus Pass to Broadway and were joined on Zoom by some of our neighbouring WIs in the Spelthorne Group.