A beautiful sunny evening for our guided tour with the wonderful Maria from Herstorical Tours. We met at Farringdon and wended our way to the Old Bailey, stopping at various points along the way to hear fascinating tales about the many awful fates that befell women in the area – from wives being sold at Smithfield to the gruesome story of Amelia Dyer, a baby farmer, who was tried at the Old Bailey. There were also tales of witches and apparitions and the tour ended in the cells underneath the Viaduct Tavern where we were truly spooked by the thought of being incarcerated there!

We had a record turnout for our May meeting, when Penny talked us through how to make the ‘Spring Flower Felts’ featured in the March edition of “WI Life’. Penny provided us each with a kit containing the template and felt for one of the four designs and then everyone got to work!

Debbie began by asking us all about our singing experience and there was a wide range of answers. Some members said that they sang regularly in local choirs, others sang along to favourite tunes in the safety of their own home and others professed to not being able to sing a note! But after some some breathing exercises and copying simple notes and sounds, we discovered that we could all sing after all and ended the session with a rousing rendition of Que Sera Sera. Many thanks to Debbie for a wonderful evening.

Most of us had never done Zumba before, but Andrea, from Fun4Over50’s, soon had everyone on their feet and joining in the catchy routines. Great fun was had by all!

Caroline, Lindsay and Angela summarised the four resolutions that had made the shortlist drawn up by the NFWI:

• Save our water – every drop matters
• Women to women – turning over a new leaf in the lives of women tea workers
• Online gambling harm: time for action
• Clean rivers for people and wildlife

After questions and a discussion, everyone voted on their preferred resolution. Once all members who were unable to attend have voted, the resolution with the most votes will then go back to the NFWI.

The evening was rounded off by a lively game of bingo (renamed WIngo!) – the lucky winners all received a chocolate orange (was it a coincidence that all the winners were from the same table!?)

Many thanks to Frances for once again letting us hold our annual party at your lovely house. A great turnout and a good time was had by all. Members provided lots of delicious food and this year’s competition was for the best festive headgear. The evening was rounded off by a hilarious game of charades, which required some serious guessing!

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We had a good turnout for our Annual Meeting and were pleased to be joined by Yvette Rathbone from the Middlesex Federation. Yvette made sure that the election for a new president was run by the book and Caroline was elected unanimously! Members thanked Angela for being an exemplary president over the last year, a year which saw the membership grow and the number of activities increase. Tributes were also paid to Louise who stood down as Treasurer after seven years in the role. New members of the Committee were welcomed (see Committee page of website). Angela and Louise gave their final reports and Frances gave a report on behalf of the Committee (see noticeboard page of website). Once the formal business was concluded, Denise presided over the quiz which was very well received, with a knife-edge result, but eventually won by the team who got the closest answer to the number of people who had died in the Great Fire of London! Who knew it was eight?! (certainly none of the members present)

Patricia gave us a riveting talk about her experiences of bee keeping over the years and we not only learned all about the life-cycle of bees, the production of honey, etc., but we were also in awe of the many obstacles Patricia has had to overcome to pursue her hobby, including the time she had over 40 bee stings! She brought along an observation hive so we were able to get to see the bees up close (luckily they were safely behind perspex!). Many thanks to Patricia for a very enjoyable evening.

Sam was an excellent teacher, taking us through the basics of Tai Chi and getting us to try out a number of different movements – we surprised ourselves by how quickly we picked it up! A very enjoyable evening – thank you Sam!

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