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On Thursday 21^st August Leigh and District WI held their 2008 Summer Lunch at Checkley Village Hall. 

This is an annual event and is very well popular with the ladies of the other WI Institutes in the area. It is an occasion when 150+ friends, old and new, can meet together, eat a delicious lunch, be well entertained and generally have a lovely relaxing time.

This year the theme for the lunch was Salad and Serenades.

All the food, the salads and a host of delicious deserts were provided by the combined efforts of the busy ladies of Leigh and District.

After lunch the ‘Serenades’ were courtesy of the Kajami Palm Court Orchestra and soloist Linda Hammond.

The Summer Lunch event was started in 1986 by Edith Durose, current secretary of Leigh institute, as a competition to raise money from an initial stake of £1. Edith held a lunch for 85 guests at her home that year and this proved so popular that the lunch has been held annually ever since. In 2000 with the guest list in excess of 100 a new and larger venue was found at Checkley. This year, with careful seat and table planning, 144 guests and entertainers sat down for lunch.

Several of the guests this year attended the early lunches at Edith’s. One in particular should be mentioned, Mrs Doreen Adams, now aged 96 and a member for 60 years of the Leigh and District institute, was a most honoured guest this year and everyone was delighted to see her.

The theme for the lunch was Pink, following the lead of WI National who have chosen this as their colour. All the tables were decorated in pink and the hall looked splendid. The Leigh and District Institute members acted as hostesses and many were dressed very colourfully in pink. The Chinese Auction table, an exciting form of raffle, looked wonderful. It was filled with eleven super prizes all of which followed the pink theme.

Much credit must be given to the prime organisers of this year’s lunch – Wendy Kirk, president and Edith Durose, secretary.

A good deal of detailed planning and very hard work goes into making this such a successful and popular event and this year, as ever, everything went very smoothly and an excellent time was had by all.

Leigh and District WI were very pleased indeed to meet and entertain all their guests and friends from the other local WI Institutes and do hope that everyone enjoyed the occasion as much as they themselves did.

Apologies.

Something went wrong with my August posting and this photo got lost somewhere in the ether !

Another busy meeting was held at the Leigh and district WI on August 12^th.  Attendance was as usual very high even though several members were away on holiday.

The evening outing to Blithfield Hall on July 14^th was reported on as being wonderful. This included a tour of the house and the grounds. The group was privileged to be entertained by a short organ recital in the chapel and then returned to the house for a delicious meal.  Photo shows members on the steps of the very impressive orangery.

The main business of the evening was the finalisation of the arrangements for the main event of the year, the Summer Lunch. This will be held at Checkley Village Hall on August 21^st.  This popular and now regular event is, as usual, fully booked and 144 guests and entertainers will sit down for lunch this year. The colour theme for the lunch is Pink following WI National’s lead.

As soon as the Summer Lunch is out of the way and all the table clothes washed, ironed and put away for next year, preparations will start for the next event – the Denman Delight evening. This will be held on September 25^th at Leigh Village Hall. Invitations have been sent out and it promises to be a busy evening.

More future events were announced and these include:

. Christmas Extravaganza at the Polish Centre, Stafford on December 3^rd with Floral Art and Gift Wrapping

 Autumn Council Meeting at Stafford Show Ground on 14^th October, always a very good day out.

Congratulations to the School Team who took part in the Race for Life and raised £851.

Cakes and raffle prizes were requested for the Leigh & District Produce Day on 25^th August.

As this month of August is so very busy the usual Craft meetings are suspended until start of September.

Once the business part of the evening was out of the way everyone was very well entertained by Mr Terry Potter of Road Safety (UK). We were given an insight into the advantages which can be gained from advanced driver training and by following the Advanced Driver Techniques as used by the police. The technique is based on ‘IPSGA’, an acronym which stands for Information, Position, Speed, Gears and Acceleration.  We were assured that following the advanced techniques makes driving much easier and less stressful. Everyone was very keen to get back onto the road to check out the information on spacing of white lines and cat’s-eyes which we had been given - but then it was observed that these are few and far between on the narrow country roads of Leigh and District !

The entertainment was followed by the serving of excellent refreshments which brought to a close another very enjoyable meeting.

Next Meeting – September 9th – when Mr Ken Marshall will be speaking on the subject “A taste of the hedgerow”. As this is expected to include some actual’ tastings’ it is eagerly anticipated !

Everyone welcome. Contact tel : 01538 722573