Annual meeting, followed by a chocolate themed quiz and social night.
Category: Past Meetings
Ukulele workshop with the (nearly) all-female punk bank
Indian Dancing
Indian Dancing
Natural skincare specialist
Natural skincare specialist Elka de Wit on ‘Skin: The Largest Organ of your body – How does your mind affect it?’
Deeds not words: Women in the first world war
Marking the centenary of both WW1 and the WI, Blue Badge guide Janet Smith led us on a very interesting walk through Central London highlighting the vital role of women in the First World War and how it changed their lives forever.
We heard how women ‘did their bit’ to keep the Home Front running: not only as nurses and munitionettes but by taking on almost every job previously done by men – as bus conductors, police patrols, farm hands and even road-menders and coal-heavers. And we learned more about some specific women including the Pankhursts, Louisa Garrett Anderson, Agatha Christie, Vesta Tilley, and Edith Cavell. Our guide even brought along the tin which her grandfather had received on the Western Front which had contained chocolates & cigarettes – a Christmas gift from Princess Mary.
It was a lovely summer’s evening and despite the tube strike we had a good turnout and a nice catch-up in the pub afterwards.
Centenary Drinks Party
We celebrated the first 100 years of the WI (and also 800 years of the Magna Carta) with a summer Drinks Party which Janet generously hosted in her garden. The evening sun shone, there was plenty to eat and drink, and it was such a lovely evening that I forgot to take more photos.
Charleston dancing with Nikki Santilli
We had a great night learning some of the the basic Charleston steps as well as some of the slightly wackier ones – ‘The Scarecrow’ anyone?
Fabric Flower Making
Deb & Alex led a great workshop in making vintage-inspired fabric flowers in our lovely new venue at The North London Tavern.
Rachael Matthews
To mark International Women’s Day we had a great evening with Rachael Matthews, guerrilla knitter, folk fashion facilitator, textile designer, & owner of Prick Your Finger (“wool shop, school, gallery and artist’s initiative”). She gave us an inspiring glimpse into her work as an artist incorporating yarn into audio & performance art (among other things).
We also launched our group knitting project in aid of the charity Knit for Peace. Full details will be on this website shortly.
The filming of “Wolf Hall”
Gavin Finney, the Director of Photography on the BBC’s adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels, gave us a presentation about his approach to this project & about the work of a cinematographer in general. Appropriately, the room at the Alice House was lit only by candles for much of the evening.
