Melanie thanked everyone who contributed to our very successful Christmas Party and Pat S was presented with a plant in thanks for the splendid buffet she provided.
Future events include an Afternoon Tea on Thursday 16th February at 2pm in the Village Hall to celebrate our birthday. All are welcome, particularly those who find attendance at winter evening meetings difficult.
Cheshire/National events this month include a weekly Pilates Zoom class on Saturday mornings, a craft workshop at WI house on Sat 25th March and a Zoom meeting for International Women’s Day on 9th March. Please contact Melanie for further details.
Our speaker was Sarah Darlington from ‘Mrs Darlingtons Preserves, Jams and Chutneys’. Sarah was an excellent speaker who told us about how the business developed from small beginnings making Lemon Curd from cracked eggs on the family farm in the 1980s.
![](http://www.whitleywi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/curd2.jpg)
![](http://www.whitleywi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Mrs-Darlington-and-Sarah-1024x731.jpg)
Still a family business, the production has now moved to purpose built premises near Crewe and sells its products across the UK and in other parts of the world including the Scandinavia, US, Australia and even the Falkland Isles. We all tasted some delicious tartlets filled with the Darlington’s lemon curd and Sarah also provided sample jars from a selection of preserves. Sue R thanked Sarah for her fascinating talk. Look at https://mrsdarlingtons.com for more information.
![](http://www.whitleywi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/jams-682x1024.jpg)
![](http://www.whitleywi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/sarah-at-Whitley-2.jpeg)
After refreshments, Jean outlined the national WI resolutions for 2023 and ways members can get involved in debate and voting. There will be a meeting on Monday 30th January at 2pm in the Village Hall where members can come along to discuss these in more detail prior to a vote at our main meeting in February.
Annette presented a prize to Sheila C, winner of the Garden Quiz. Many members have enjoyed trying to solve this quiz over the past few weeks. An interesting and entertaining challenge. Thank you, Annette.
Our next main meeting will be on Thursday February 2nd where the speaker will be Karen Hodgkins talking about ‘Pets, Pantries and Saving the Planet’