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Attendance at the Leigh and district WI meeting on June 10^th was as usual excellent with a roll-call of 35 and including another new member and two ladies who are ‘interested’. We hope they will join us!

Jill Baggaley sent her apologies as she was taking part in the ‘Race for Life’ at Trentham Gardens. We are sure she did very well for this very worthy cause.

We had further reports from members who have attended their courses at Denman College. Molly and Sue Cotton enjoyed their “Fresh Air and Fine Houses” course while Glenys Matthews had a lovely time learning a new skill of Bobbin Lace making. Further to the individual courses at Denman that most of us have now attended, many of us will visit Denman College in Oxfordshire on Friday 20^th June for a ‘Taster Day’. We expect to have a lovely day out.

The visit to Trentham Gardens on June 4^th was much enjoyed by everyone and included a walk round the Italian Gardens and refreshments of strawberries and cream with Bucks Fizz at the Edinburgh Wool Mill.

Another rather exciting visit was reported on by Lorraine Penlington and Maureen Crosby-Kinson. They joined Kingston group for a visit to Highgrove, home of His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. They enjoyed their day so much that we will now try to apply to make our own group visit, even though we will have to wait a while as there is a 4 year waiting list !

Several new potential outings were announced. Visits to Blithfield Hall in July, Chatsworth in October and early notice of a trip to Tissington Hall in July 2009.

Our bi-weekly craft group is getting on well with the new catering aprons which we need in time for our institute’s big annual event, the summer lunch in August.

Several new events were announced including ‘Murder by Candlelight’ at Checkley Village Hall on 23^rd October. This is advertised as “an evening of Mystery” and will include a 3-course meal with catering by our own, Leigh & District, Institute. There are also opportunities to attend a 6 week ‘Bowling for Beginners’ course in Stafford in September or a 2-day mixed media painting course at Sandon in November or even a ‘Pots of Silk” workshop at the county showground in October. So many interesting activities are on offer to us; it is often hard to choose which to do and how to fit everything in.

Entertainment for the meeting was provided by Mrs Kathleen Mason with a talk on “Embroidery around the World”. Very soon many of us were holding our sides with laughter as the talk was often most humourous and Mrs Mason had a delightfully amusing way of getting her message across. She brought with her many items of embroidery, from around the world and frequently dived into her suitcase to extract from its depths, yet another wonderful example of embroidery work from the far corners of the globe. In the space of an hour we travelled with her and her Pandora’s box of a suitcase, through many countries including India, Japan, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Canada and we were enthralled and also very impressed with the beautiful and varied embroidery. We were fortunate to have been entertained by such a talented speaker.

Next Meeting - July 8th – with speaker Mr Tim Cockin on the topic of “Staffordshire Folklore”.

Everyone welcome. Contact tel : 01538 722573

We extended our deepest sympathy to Kitty and family on the sad loss of her husband Ken.

I have received a message from Kitty to express her grateful thanks for all messages of condolence and kind thoughts from all her fellow members and for your remembrance of her at this moment.

Congratulations to Clive Baggaley on finishing the London Marathon in 3hours 27mins, well done.

It is all systems go for our Summer Lunch which this year is titled Salads and Serenades, the tickets have been printed and have been sent out.

Lorraine and Imaureen Crosby-Kinson have been lucky to be chosen to go the outing with Kingston WI to Highgrove (Prince Charles’s residence) on May 28^th.

Bi-monthly lunch - The April outing to Buffet Island in Newcastle was a great success. 8 members enjoyed all they could eat and more and still wished they had room for more.

The next one is the Outing to Trentham Gardens on June 4^th where the Edinburgh Wool shop will lay on nibbles etc for lunch and strawberries and cream at 2.30, they are also giving us free tickets to see the Italian Gardens.

Leave village hall at 10.30am. See Lorraine if you are interested tonight or soon after.

Fiveways Autumn Group Meeting to be held at Bramshall Village Hall on October 24^th, the speaker is Alison Love on “The Museum of Childhood ” from Sudbury. Competitions are 3 Gingerbread men displayed as you like, and an Old Toy.

2009 Calendars can now be ordered £4.00 each, These are in a different format and when you have finished tearing off each month you will end up with a booklet celebrating 90^th Anniversary of the WI..

Food Hygiene Course, £30 this certificate lasts for 5 years. Two dates have been allocated , Sept 29^th and 6^th Oct, to be held at the Young Farmers Club, Stafford Showground, if you are interested in renewing or taking this, contact Victoria Simpson for more information as soon as possible 01785 813632.

Lunch with the Man in a White Suit 11^th Sept 2008. County Showground Stafford. Cost £27.50. 12 noon for 12.30. Your chance to meet Martin Bell. He is a British UNICEF Ambassador, former War reporter and Independent Politician. He won the Royal Television Society’s Report of the year in 1977 and 1993 and was awarded an OBE in 1992. In the war in Bosnia he was seriously wounded by shrapnel.

An Evening with Simon Weston- 3^rd July 2008. Stafford Showground £13.00 members, £15 non members. 7.30pm. Following his injuries of disfigurement and 46% burns, Simon’s road to physical, spiritual and mental recovery saw him active in a number of highly successful ventures including “The Weston Spirit” a Liverpool based young people’s charity. He remains a tireless worker for the Royal British Legion and the Royal Star and Garter home.

Invitation to Tean WI, Ascot Garden Party. July 10^th at 2.30pm at the home of Sue Robinson one of our members.

History and Mystery of the WI. 29^th Sept, Walton Community Centre, Whitemill Lane Stone. £4.00 includes tea/coffee and biscuits. 7.15 for 7.30 - 9.30pm. You will hear the amazing and intriguing stories of women behind the WI movement and also take a look at the present wider picture.

Autumn Council Meeting, 14^th Oct, County Showground £8.00 . 110.30 - 3.00pm.

AM speaker - Mr Gren Burgess - Facilitaid - Find out what your knitted bears have achieved.

PM speaker - Dr Paul Whittaker - Music and the Deaf.

Next Meeting - June 10^th

Speaker - Mrs Kathleen Mason

Theme - Embroidery around the world

Competition -An embroidered item.

Our meeting on April 8th was the first with the new 2008 committee. These are as follows: President - Wendy Kirk; Vice Presidents - Hilda Platt and Win Hodgkins; Secretary - Edith Durose and Treasurer - Barbara Cornfield. Other committee members are: Carol Edwards, Lorraine Penlington, Heather Clarke, Marjorie Smith and Maureen Crosby-Kinson. Attendance as usual for this thriving W.I. group was excellent and President Wendy Kirk was pleased to welcome everyone and report on the month’s many and varied activities.

Congratulations were offered to three members who have become grandmothers since the last meeting, Barbara and David Cornfield for granddaughter Niamh, Joy and Bob Salt for granddaughter Isobel Skye, and Heather and Philip Clarke for grandson Elliot.

Maureen Crosby-Kinson was pleased to report that she won 1st prize in the supporter’s draw.

More members are to attend courses this month at Denman collage. Molly and Sue Cotton are to study “Fresh Air and Fine Houses” while Glenys Matthews will attend a Bobbin Lace Course. They will all undoubtedly enjoy themselves as much as everyone else who has been to Denman over the last few months.

Edith Durose and Hilda Platt reported that they had enjoyed their Calligraphy course with excellent tutor David Nicholls. Hilda says that she still needs more practice but we can all surely expect some beautiful scripts on their Christmas cards this year.

The taster day for Denman, on which many members are booked, is now rescheduled to June 20th.

The summer calendar is filling up fast and it will very soon be time to start planning for our summer lunch, a very popular event within our own institute and also among our many repeat visitors from other local institutes. The entertainment is now booked and the theme chosen - Salads and Serenades. Tickets will be printed and available by the end of the month.

Yvonne Carter gave an impromptu report of her forthcoming appearance on TV where, together with husband John, she will present an unusual scent bottle and other items on ITV’s antiques program, the Real Deal. We all look forward to seeing Yvonne enjoying her moment of fame.

Once the business of the day was out of the way, the evening’s entertainment, the first in our new 2008 programme was a talk about and demonstration of Indian Head Massage by an holistic therapist, Elizabeth Theobold. This proved to be most entertaining and Wendy Bradbury who volunteered to be ‘the patient’ quite obviously found the treatment very relaxing. Afterwards everyone paired off for some hands on practice which caused general hilarity round the room. Once all the well therapied and relaxed ‘patients’ had woken up again the evening was rounded off with our usual standard of delicious refreshments.

Next Meeting - May 13th - is Resolution Night where there will be a discussion of the proposed resolutions :

Ban on bottom trawling

Inappropriate imprisonment of the severely mentally ill

All are most welcome. Contact : 01538 722573

Four members were fortunate to attend New Years gatherings at neighbouring institutes.

The most talented group “Pebbles” entertained members at Kingstone with unaccompanied songs from around the world and the enjoyable eveining at Marchington was completed by the surprising arrival of a real life reindeer from the famous herd at Blithbury.

Craft meetings re-commenced on 17^{th January , members were discussing the choice of a new project while doing their own crafts. We are looking forward to our first bi-monthly lunch of 2008 on 5th March at the New Broom in Checkley.}

The Fiveways spring group meeting is on 28th March at Uttoxeter, the speaker will be Derek Poulson on “Dialects”

On W.I. Produce Day at the County Showground on 22nd April members will have the chance to see Jonathan Horseley N.A.FA.S, International Flower Demonstrator from Derby and Sheila Dibrah speaking on her life with Fred the steeplejack.

A taster day is planned for Denman College on 29th May - a coach will be provided.

The speaker for the February meeting was Panny Wheat on “The craft of the Silversmith”

Her talk was most interesting as she has been a lecturer at Stafford College for 32 years and had brought along tools for her demonstration and a large collection of her silverware.

Members were particularly interested as quite a few members have chosen the Silver Jewellery Course to study at Denman College this year.

The meeting in March is the AGM.

Congratulations to Yvonne and John Carter on the birth of their grandson on 4^{th January}

Eight Leigh members enjoyed the Group Carol Service, with a difference, at Kingstone Church, Rev. Dominic Stone led the prayers and poems were included, the traditional federation carol service at Lichfield was impressive as usual.

Dot Fuller has organised the compilation of a report on the history and life of Leigh W.I. for entry in the Staffordshire County Magazine- February issue. Encoustic Art, stained glass, Italian cookery and Silver work are subjects being studied at Denman College by members in January and February thanks to the “Awards for All” fund.

At our January meeting Les Penlington, now retired following 30 years in the Fire Service stepped in at short notice to give an interesting talk ( with slides) on “Safety in the home” He reminded us of basic rules and gave tips on dealing with small fires, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers etc. along with amusing anecdotes of his life in the service. He finished his talk on a serious note with slides of a house fire illustrating how the smoke layer comes down so quickly!

Leigh & District W.I. News

Following their fashion show at the annual Summer lunch, Lyrifer the manager of Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop welcomed several members at Trentham Gardens on 19^th August with free tickets to the beautiful Italian Gardens and discounted shopping.

The speaker for September was Geoff Legan, tour guide for the Regent Theatre who gave a talk on it’s history from pictorial cinemtograph In 1920 to present day. Several members are having a night out at the Regent on Sunday 14^th October to see “Grumpy Old Women”

Ten members joined Nicky Grey and two young mums in the Church meeting room to cover and pack 82 boxes for Romania, a service of blessing will be held at Baddeley Edge Church at 6.00pm on 28^th October 2007 when the boxes will be collected.

Kath and Tom Stanier, Cath and Cyril Danks; Eileen and Phil Thorley have all celebrated their Golden weddings recently and received cards and gifts from president Wendy and fellow members.

On 11^th October members enjoyed the evening of “Medicine & Music” when Dr J.M. Woodhead entertained us with amusing anecdotes of his interesting life as he played light heartedly on his keyboard.

The next meeting on 13^th November will be a card making workshop, the tutors-own members Sue Robinson and Mary Smith.

Eileen Thorley 

If you want something done…….. accept the offer of help from the W.I. ! 

Sept W.I.Meeting report.Congratulations to Tom and Kath Stanier on their Golden Wedding Anniversary.
Summer Lunch Aug 17th A big thank you to members and husbands who made this a huge success especially those that were modelling the clothes for Edinburgh Wool shop for the entertainment.
Romanian Shoe boxes- 82 of these made up at the Meeting Room at the Church. Our Sock dolls were part of the goodies being sent.These were sent to Baddeley Green Church ready to go to Romania, well done to everyone who gave and helped.
Rehearsals are underway for some members who are taking part in the Entertainment at Sandon Hall on Nov 29th.
Next Meeting Oct 9th
Topic -Medicine and Music by Dr.J.M.Woodhead.Sales Table Chutney and Pickles.