May subgroup meetings

The Book Club discussed The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont.

Walking group had an amble around Marbury. Craft group listened to a fascinating talk by Liz Leech about the history of quilting in her family, and showed us lots of beautiful finished and unfinished quilts. Baking Beauties made an assortment of savoury delicacies.

Craft Group – Liz Leech from Dutton WI told us about her ‘Life through quilts’. She started off with a beautiful hexagonal pieced quilt made by her grandmother, now worn thin through wear, then progressed through various designs including some made from tea towels bought on family holidays! Liz classified many of her projects as unfinished – haven’t we all got some of these hiding away in a cupboard!

She is always trying new designs and explained the techniques of English Paper Piecing (stabilising fabric with paper before hand sewing the pieces together) and Foundation Paper Piecing (done on a sewing machine and ideal for getting the perfect point). The small hexagonal design shown here is based on a quilt in the V & A museum and is still a work in progress!

Baking Beauties explored Savoury Finger Food.

Mersey Gateway visit

On April 24th Annette and Sue R joined a Cheshire Federation (CFWI) trip to explore the Mersey Gateway. We were welcomed to the Catalyst Museum in Widnes by our ex President Sue Bentley, now Chairman of the CWFI Public Affairs Committee.

The day began with a fascinating talk from an excellent speaker who was one of the 3 members of staff of the Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust. The Trust was set up to monitor the wildlife on, in and around the River Mersey from the new bridge up to Warrington – before, after and while the new bridge was being built.

The purpose was to assess the environmental impact of the bridge building project. The results have shown that the Mersey is such a powerful river, with so much tidal flow, that the building of the bridge has made little difference to the wildlife.

We explored the Catalyst Museum, full of extraordinary history and characters of the local Chemical industry before watching water samples being collected from the river. The samples revealed an abundance of very active small creatures which we were able to observe through powerful microscopes. Certainly a healthy river. We then saw lots of bird and plant life during a guided walk round the Spike Island park. A very interesting and varied day.

Main Meeting May 2024 – Growing Herbs for Health and Wellbeing

Our speaker was William Woods talking about ‘Growing Herbs for Health and Wellbeing’. He runs Blackbrook Herb Gardens near Stockport and his love of herbs was evident from the start. He told us about how herbs have been and still are very useful for medicinal purposes (and which can be dangerous too). He also explained the culinary uses for them.

He had brought along a wide range of herbs, many of them unusual but all looking very healthy and strong. He picked them up in turn and told us the name, some cultivation advice and what they can be used for. A fascinating talk, much enjoyed by everyone. The competition was ‘A Posy of Herbs’

‘Village Group’ Spring Lunch

Our Village Group, consisting of 6 or our local WIs, held their traditional Spring Lunch on Thursday 18th April. About 70 ladies attended, with an excellent turn out from Whitley. We enjoyed a delicious hotpot and a range of deserts made by the different WIs. The usual ‘Bags and Scarves’ was replaced by a Bring & Buy and all of the proceeds were donated to St Luke’s Hospice.

A group of our members wore the corsages we had made the previous day at the Whitley Craft group meeting – they were much admired by other WIs, one of whom plans to invite our speaker along to do a similar workshop for them.

Craft Group April – Making a Corsage

Julie McGuire, a friend of Annette’s, showed 14 of our members how to make fresh flower corsages. Julie and Annette had brought along lots of fresh flowers/foliage (much of it from Annette’s garden).

Julie kept things simple for us and first showed us how to wire individual flowers/leaves so that they kept their shape. She then showed us how to plan our ‘buttonhole’ , using a variety of colours/textures of flower and leaf, and then used floristry tape to hold them together and make a beautiful corsage finished with a ribbon bow.

There was soon a buzz of activity as we all chose what we wanted for our own work from the wide variety available. We were all really pleased with the results – many of us had never attempted this type of floristry before. Maybe some of us will wear them for the Group Spring lunch.

Annette had made a beautiful and very tasty carrot cake for our refreshments and Julie was presented with a thank you gift of RHS flower soap and handcream.