Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 28 November 2017
Our speaker this month Sarah Gallagher-Hayes, of Twigsters Willow Sculptures, delighted us with her basket weaving skills. Beginning with a wreath she demonstrated to us the basic skills of weaving; followed by a more complex Christmas Angel. Moving on from the Christmas theme the next sculptures were a dragonfly and a heart. Returning to the Christmas theme she demonstrated a 3D sculpture with a robin. Sarah then challenged us all to make a star. Everyone who took part really enjoyed it and we left with our finished piece of basket weave. All except 5 lucky ladies that is, whose winning raffle ticket won them the choice of one of the 5 sculptures made by Sarah tonight.
Meeting held Tuesday, 31st October 2017
Following our AGM on , Susan Nicholas, Horticulturalist, gave an interesting talk on preparing gardens for winter. Susan gave us a thorough grounding on how to look after our gardens from tending the borders to making the most of our vegetable patch, greenhouse and ponds. We were reminded to take cuttings and store seeds in readiness for spring. Plant our Winter/Spring containers in September so that they establish before winter takes hold. Use the contents of compost bins to mulch the soil in our borders and treat our lawns with fertiliser, scarify, tine and top dress. Keep a check on pests and diseases. Maintain our garden furniture, sheds and greenhouses. Provide for wildlife.
Once you have achieved all this - you can now start to plan for Christmas!
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 26 September 2017
International hairdresser Ian Black gave an entertaining talk on Hairdressing Through the Ages and the role he himself has played in hairdressing and hair design. There was much laughter during his talk as he took us on a journey through fashion history interspersed with anecdotes and enlightening us along the way with the intricacies of some of the hair designs from a bygone age: High styles set with lard provided hidey holes for beetles and cockroaches and even nesting sites for mice. An evening enjoyed by all. No one was without a smile. Ian kindly reminded us of this and asked that we remember to keep a smile on our lips when we are out and about. A small gesture of friendliness to anyone we pass or meet.
Meeting held at the Farndon Community Club on Tuesday 29 August 2017.
The Memorial Hall closes for maintenance in August so we decamped to the Farndon Community Club for an evening of Kurling under the competent instruction of Di Buchanen. Much fun was had by all. We filled in time between rounds with a table quiz which was won by Jan White and Sarah Hewitt. The winners of the kurling were Jocelyn Southwick, Sophie Le Brocq and guest Jayne Wilson in Team Red 3.
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 25th July
31 members and 2 visitors attended the meeting
Our speaker for this meeting was Alan Minnery with his ‘Confessions of a Scouser’. Alan regaled us with his collection of anecdotes about growing up in Liverpool. He recounted situations that he had found himself in and introduced us to some of the colourful characters who had crossed his path. There was lots of laughter as he liberally interspersed real life with jokes for which he used a novel way of introduction. An entertaining evening.
June 27th
Working as a Foley Artist at the BBC - Vanessa Nuttall
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 30 May 2017
37 members and 2 Guests attended
Kerry welcomed Carol Allen of Llanvalley Natural Products.
Carol told us how she first began keeping goats on her smallholding in North Wales to keep on top of the weeds. Her goats were producing so much milk that a friend suggested she make soap with the surplus. From this small beginning her business grew. Carol sells only natural products which are suitable for the most sensitive of skins. Her range now includes Natural Balms and Moisturisers along with the soap. A very interesting presentation enjoyed by all. Carol brought along a selection of her products to sell which were enthusiastically received by the ladies.
Meeting Held on Tuesday April 25th
WI Resolutions and Beetle Drive
Meeting held on Tuesday 28th March
We were quite privileged to hear Michael Leach speak to us again about, as he would say, "the best job in the world". Just don't ask about his camera !!!!!
Michael Leach has been a full-time wildlife author and photographer since 1977.
In the 1980s he spent five years filming wildlife documentaries for TV; he worked on more than 100 programmes but finally decided that he prefers working with books rather than television.
Today Michael works mainly with mammals and birds. He is a specialist in high-speed photographic techniques that freeze rapid action – such as birds in flight – at 1/20,000th of a second
Siberian Tiger Over the past 20 years Michael has travelled extensively to track down some of the world's most charismatic wildlife.
He has worked with polar bears in the Arctic, lemurs in Madagascar, Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, Orang-utans in Borneo, Sperm whales around the Azores, monkeys in the Amazon rainforest and countless other species in their natural habitat.
Michael's photographs have been appeared in 600+ books and in more than 50 countries; plus every major wildlife/environmental magazine in Britain and U.S.A.
Our speaker this month Sarah Gallagher-Hayes, of Twigsters Willow Sculptures, delighted us with her basket weaving skills. Beginning with a wreath she demonstrated to us the basic skills of weaving; followed by a more complex Christmas Angel. Moving on from the Christmas theme the next sculptures were a dragonfly and a heart. Returning to the Christmas theme she demonstrated a 3D sculpture with a robin. Sarah then challenged us all to make a star. Everyone who took part really enjoyed it and we left with our finished piece of basket weave. All except 5 lucky ladies that is, whose winning raffle ticket won them the choice of one of the 5 sculptures made by Sarah tonight.
Meeting held Tuesday, 31st October 2017
Following our AGM on , Susan Nicholas, Horticulturalist, gave an interesting talk on preparing gardens for winter. Susan gave us a thorough grounding on how to look after our gardens from tending the borders to making the most of our vegetable patch, greenhouse and ponds. We were reminded to take cuttings and store seeds in readiness for spring. Plant our Winter/Spring containers in September so that they establish before winter takes hold. Use the contents of compost bins to mulch the soil in our borders and treat our lawns with fertiliser, scarify, tine and top dress. Keep a check on pests and diseases. Maintain our garden furniture, sheds and greenhouses. Provide for wildlife.
Once you have achieved all this - you can now start to plan for Christmas!
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 26 September 2017
International hairdresser Ian Black gave an entertaining talk on Hairdressing Through the Ages and the role he himself has played in hairdressing and hair design. There was much laughter during his talk as he took us on a journey through fashion history interspersed with anecdotes and enlightening us along the way with the intricacies of some of the hair designs from a bygone age: High styles set with lard provided hidey holes for beetles and cockroaches and even nesting sites for mice. An evening enjoyed by all. No one was without a smile. Ian kindly reminded us of this and asked that we remember to keep a smile on our lips when we are out and about. A small gesture of friendliness to anyone we pass or meet.
Meeting held at the Farndon Community Club on Tuesday 29 August 2017.
The Memorial Hall closes for maintenance in August so we decamped to the Farndon Community Club for an evening of Kurling under the competent instruction of Di Buchanen. Much fun was had by all. We filled in time between rounds with a table quiz which was won by Jan White and Sarah Hewitt. The winners of the kurling were Jocelyn Southwick, Sophie Le Brocq and guest Jayne Wilson in Team Red 3.
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 25th July
31 members and 2 visitors attended the meeting
Our speaker for this meeting was Alan Minnery with his ‘Confessions of a Scouser’. Alan regaled us with his collection of anecdotes about growing up in Liverpool. He recounted situations that he had found himself in and introduced us to some of the colourful characters who had crossed his path. There was lots of laughter as he liberally interspersed real life with jokes for which he used a novel way of introduction. An entertaining evening.
June 27th
Working as a Foley Artist at the BBC - Vanessa Nuttall
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 30 May 2017
37 members and 2 Guests attended
Kerry welcomed Carol Allen of Llanvalley Natural Products.
Carol told us how she first began keeping goats on her smallholding in North Wales to keep on top of the weeds. Her goats were producing so much milk that a friend suggested she make soap with the surplus. From this small beginning her business grew. Carol sells only natural products which are suitable for the most sensitive of skins. Her range now includes Natural Balms and Moisturisers along with the soap. A very interesting presentation enjoyed by all. Carol brought along a selection of her products to sell which were enthusiastically received by the ladies.
Meeting Held on Tuesday April 25th
WI Resolutions and Beetle Drive
Meeting held on Tuesday 28th March
We were quite privileged to hear Michael Leach speak to us again about, as he would say, "the best job in the world". Just don't ask about his camera !!!!!
Michael Leach has been a full-time wildlife author and photographer since 1977.
In the 1980s he spent five years filming wildlife documentaries for TV; he worked on more than 100 programmes but finally decided that he prefers working with books rather than television.
Today Michael works mainly with mammals and birds. He is a specialist in high-speed photographic techniques that freeze rapid action – such as birds in flight – at 1/20,000th of a second
Siberian Tiger Over the past 20 years Michael has travelled extensively to track down some of the world's most charismatic wildlife.
He has worked with polar bears in the Arctic, lemurs in Madagascar, Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, Orang-utans in Borneo, Sperm whales around the Azores, monkeys in the Amazon rainforest and countless other species in their natural habitat.
Michael's photographs have been appeared in 600+ books and in more than 50 countries; plus every major wildlife/environmental magazine in Britain and U.S.A.
Meeting held at the Memorial Hall at 8.00 pm on Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Our guest speaker for the evening Linda Montgomery accompanied by the men in her life, her trained assistance dog Obi, a yellow labrador retriever and her husband Ricky came to speak about Dogs for Good.
Linda gave an interesting insight on the work of the charity. It was interspersed with many amusing tales of her life with Obi and the help that he is to her. Amongst many other things he helps by picking up objects she drops, bringing her pills, loading her shopping with his mouth, loading the laundry into the washer and transferring it to the tumble drier and helping her both undress and dress. Two days a week she attends a Bible Study Fellowship class in Chester and Obi gets stuck in there too, knowing to pull her glasses and Bible out of her bag so she can begin.
These assistance dogs are a source of confidence for their owners improving their quality of life in many different ways. They are working dogs but have their play and rest time too.
Dogs for Good train dogs to support people with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. It costs £12,000 to train an assistance dog and a further £8,000 to cover the costs of its working life from qualification to retirement. Dogs for Good trains about 50 a year but the waiting list is long and it wants to be able to train more. The dogs, which can range in breed from golden retrievers and labradors to cockapoos and german shepherds, work on average for ten years. Often they go into semi-retirement first, taking on slightly fewer jobs while a new, younger assistance dog is eased in to the household. The good news is that if they are able, clients can keep their old dog for life even when it is fully retired so they don’t have to fear the wrench of separation.
Want to know more than check them out at https://www.dogsforgood.org/
Meeting held on Tuesday, 31st January 2017
Melissa Fairhurst was our speaker from Fresh Start Health. She spoke about healthy eating and how drinking the juice of fruit and vegetables can improve your health. A juice can unclog your body from the effects of processed foods, as illustrated by “Nemo”, (a plastic fish), in a bowl of water together with all those foods and drink you might snack on during the course of a day. Melissa explained that a juicer will extract the juice from the fibre, we only need to use the juice, where as a blender will crush everything up together.
One juice a day in addition to meals will improve your wellbeing.
Those of us who wanted to try a ginger shot were given a sample. It is “down the hatch” and not for sipping. Melissa explained that the juiced ginger and apple helps to keep the bugs at bay. A good piece of advice, especially at this time of the year.
A lot of “food for thought”! Will she come back in six months time to see what progress we have made?
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