Happy Birthday to WIs celebrating in April
De Beauvoir – 3 April 2015
Sunbury on Thames – 15 April 1980
East End – 16 April 2007
MFWI News
Chair’s Chat – April 2022
Well, what a month that was! After an excellent Annual Council Meeting, here I am—the new Chair for Middlesex Federation. Thank you—I think!—to my fellow Board members for your votes.
The first thing I would like to say is a massive thank you to Lorraine Reed-Wenman, our outgoing Chair, for everything she has done over the last four years.
Lorraine remained in office for an ‘extra’ year to steer our Centenary celebrations, but unfortunately the Covid situation meant that we were unable to arrange the events that we had been planning.
Lorraine also had to deal with helping our wonderful WIs to keep going through lockdowns, social distancing and all the other restrictions we have all been facing over the last two years. Not an easy job!
Although we had to cancel our planned activities, I am sure some of you have been celebrating with your own WIs—and hopefully there are more celebrations to come!
Don’t forget to let us know what you have been up to— and send some pictures! Middlesex News would love to hear from you.
As mentioned, our Council Meeting was well attended and we had a thought-provoking talk from Petra Wenham from Suffolk Federation – more details later in the magazine.
The Resolution for this year has been chosen: ‘Women and Girls with ASD & ADHD—under- identified, under-diagnosed, misdiagnosed, under-supported’. Please discuss this with your WIs; your delegate will need to know how you want them to vote at the Annual Meeting! You will also need to let them know if they have your permission to change that vote if they are persuaded by the arguments on the day!
Hopefully, the weather will start improving now and with Easter coming, are you getting crafty? There is a Craft sale (and coffee morning) at County Office on Thursday 7th April and Saturday 9th April. Why not come along – you might find just what you are looking for.
I am sure many of you will be organising your own celebrations for the Queen’s Jubilee; let’s hope for some lovely sunny weather in June. Have you seen the pattern for Winnie the corgi in March WI Life? Who has been busy knitting?
I am really looking forward to the next few months and I hope to be able to meet with some of you soon, but please get in touch with me or any of the Board if we can be of any help—it’s what we are here for.
Take care
Angela
MFWI welcomes new Chair
Middlesex Federation is pleased to announce the election today of its new Chair, Angela Chessman, succeeding Lorraine Reed-Wenman, who stands down after four years. The Board of Trustees thanks Lorraine for her leadership and welcomes Angela to the helm as we enter our 101st year. A full report on the ACM and reflections on Lorraine’s four years will appear in the April issue of Middlesex News.
Happy Birthday – March 2022
Happy Birthday to our WIs celebrating in March
Ruislip Evening 04 March 2011
Gothic Valley 08 March 2012
Field Dames 09 March 2015
Teddington 09 March 2011
Hampton Tudor Rose 14 March 2017
Harlington 22 March 1932
Norwood Green 25 March 1985
200+ Club – January 2021 winners
Congratulations to the winners of our January 200+ Club draw!
1st prize – £35
Stanwell WI
2nd prize – £20
Dianne Butler, Stanwell
3rd prize – £15
Sunbury-on-Thames WI
Ruislip Evening WI update
Our WI meeting held on Thursday 2nd December at the GAA Club, McGovern Park, was our Christmas meeting. Many members wore Christmas jumpers and hats making the evening feel festive.
Dorothy and Lorraine provided various Christmas craft items, many of them recycled, for us to make a Christmas tree ornament and with advice and a demonstration to give us ideas we enjoyed making our own, while we chatted and had tea organised by Linda. Cheese, biscuits, chocolates, and mince pies were enjoyed by all.
Lesley made and donated a delicious Christmas cake for us to guess the weight – won by Hazel. A book swop was also available.
The second part of our evening organised by Lorna was a presentation from Helen Astrid, who runs a singing academy in Twickenham, on the history of Christmas carols. Carols date back to the 2nd century AD, and many of our favourite carols were mentioned together with their history.
Singing carols became popular in the Victorian times. Christmas carols, as opposed to Christmas songs, usually have a religious basis. Each of the items mentioned in the 12 days of Christmas was a metaphor for a bible story, the tree being God’s true love and the partridge, Jesus.
Helen had hoped to join us in person but still managed to join us on Zoom while we sung carols, Once in Royal David’s City, Silent Night, and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: a lovely start to the Christmas Season. We finished the evening with member-donated gifts for a raffle.
Many thanks to Lorna who organised our Christmas meal at the Ascott in Eastcote where we had a very good meal and very pleasant evening with friends; it was so nice to be able to have a little normality in these difficult times.
REWI wishes everyone a happy & healthy 2022.
Bedfont Belles WI update
Father Christmas once again heard about our Christmas party and came along to hand out the Secret Santa gifts. We enjoyed sharing the food on our buffet table and had time for a good old chat before heading home.
Our Christmas meal was organised by Chris. Thankfully Covid was kind and we went to the St. Giles Hotel in Feltham and enjoyed their Christmas set menu.
Our first meeting of the year was an enjoyable and informative talk by Russell Bowes, a garden historian, entitled Say it with Poison in which he described, very theatrically, many plants which we may have in our gardens which can be used for dubious purposes.
Laleham WI update
Laleham WI had a great turnout for their first meeting of 2022. Members enjoyed catching up with each other over tea and biscuits and President, Helen Hurst brought everyone up to speed on news and events to come.
Membership also voted on the WI 2022 Resolutions.
The highlight of the evening was delivered by member June Barnard, who gave a lively and entertaining talk about her long experience as an event and trip organiser.
We enjoyed some amusing stories as well as learning a lot about what goes into making successful trips. Don’t know how you do it June… but please don’t stop!
Here’s Judy McFarlane presiding over her Raffle prizes for the evening.
Stanwell WI: Farewell Valerie Turner 1933-2022
Stanwell WI was sad to hear of the passing of one of their long-term members, Valerie Turner. She had served as our president for several years over three separate occasions and had served on the committee until fairly recently. Valerie was also an active member of the local community and served on several local committees including Stanwell Village Hall and Spelthorne In Bloom. She was very community-minded and the WI was a massive part of her life. She will be sadly missed.
Southbourne WI update
After a warm welcome from the new President, members attending December’s meeting were given a Christmas table quiz, on Christmas carols.
Homemade mince pies were amongst the treats to have with our wine and fruit juice. A table was adorned with a selection of handmade items skilfully made by the craft group. Santa socks, Christmas puds, angels, tree decorations and an assortment of various gifts and tags. We then played a round of Handbag Bingo, which bought lots of laughter as everyone emptied their handbags.
On leaving, all members were given a Christmas goody bag from our President and we wished a Merry Christmas to one and all.
January’s meeting was in a different hall as the one we normally use is undergoing refurbishment.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of our dear member Bobby Loveday, who passed away on 3 January 2022 aged 102: lovely lady who will be sorely missed.
Our speaker was Sandra Ebbetts from The House of Colour. She spoke about being adventurous with colours, styles and accessories. Having your skin tone analysed opens up a whole new world of style and colour. Sandra was friendly and her presentation was good. Members were impressed. Tea and coffee followed and there was lots of chatter as the raffle was drawn. A good start to the new year!
