News

April 1st saw another well attended meeting (with not a flying penguin in sight!) and we can now boast to having fifty four members in our institute.

The 54th member, Avis Readman, rejoined after a short break of nursing her husband and although the circumstances of her return are sad it is wonderful to have her back in the fold.

After a rousing rendition of Jerusalem the president, Carole Seabrook, accorded birthday greetings to Mesdames Cripps, Page, Pemble, Elphinstone and Ritchie. Business proved to be a rather protracted affair during which a report was given on the Annual Council Meeting by our delegate Brenda Smith.

The East Kent Federation’s Annual Council Meeting was held at the Leas Cliff hall this year and everyone who went agreed that it was a sparkling occasion. Apart from all the usual interesting business that goes on we were able to listen to two outstanding speakers.

In the morning Baroness Emerson was present to give us an account of the running of the House of Lords, fascinating in itself but the account of her life and how she came to be a baroness was captivating. Having been involved with the St John’s Ambulance for the past sixty one years and having devoted her life to nursing she is the only representative of the profession in the Lords and humbly tries to champion their corner. I’m sure those who were in attendance will agree that we could have listened to her for hours.

This also proved to be the case with the afternoon speaker, Simon Weston, the well known casualty from the Falklands War. The ladies couldn’t get enough of him; he was by turns tragic; funny; socially observant and a marvellous story teller (even though he did mention the Grand Slam three times! – but who was counting!) A genuinely lovely man, who stayed on after the close of the meeting to sign books and answer any questions, we had run out of time for them during the afternoon!

The rest of our monthly meeting was taken up by demonstrations and hands-on experience of four crafts. We are extremely fortunate to have so many talented ladies in our institute and it was with great interest that we saw Hettie Quinn instruct in the intricate art of Sugar Craft; Daphne Hitchcock demonstrating her jewellery making – what wonderful pieces she displayed which were all her own work; Tricia Sherratt and Hilary Clark showed how to do a form of counted cross stitch; Brenda Smith instructed the ladies in quilling – an art of folding paper to make flowers etc. Of course due to the rather informal atmosphere of the afternoon there was time for lots of chatting (no, I didn’t say gossiping!) and generally catching up with friends.

The monthly competition of “A Rainy Day” photograph was won by Tricia Sherratt with an excellent picture of her children when they were young pouring rain water over each other – it was so vibrant and full of fun – I guess it caught everyone’s eye.

Several ladies will shortly be going to a Group Meeting where we will meet up with other ladies in the Temple Ewell Group that comprises eight WIs and enjoy Whitfield WI’s hospitality. More fun, a good speaker and, of course, friendships to be enjoyed!

During each month there is also the Craft Club and Walking Group to support and so our WI lives are very busy indeed.

Should you wish to be a part of this, why not telephone either Carole Seabrook on 891420 or Christine Allard on 863146 to find out more? We meet in Hawkinge Village Hall on the first Tuesday of the month at 2pm. The next meeting is on Tuesday 6th May.

Linda Barnes
Committee Member
HAWKINGE, ACRISE & PADDLESWORTH WI