This was another month of a wide variety of activities starting with a sunny walk in Holland Park and culminating in a record turnout for the fascinating MI5 exhibition at the Kew Archives. 

In between we discussed ‘James’ by Percival Everrett (the Huckleberry Finn story told from the perspective of Jim) and enjoyed a great night out at Sadler’s Wells with Rambert’s dance production of ‘Peaky Blinders’. Walking Club did a circular walk from Berkhamsted, starting at Berkhamsted Castle – site of the handover of the English crown after the Battle of Hastings – with plenty of opportunities for bramble-picking along the way.

But the highlight of the month was definitely the Natural Elements London workshop, making scented wax air fresheners decorated with pressed flowers. They smell divine and even the most craftophobic of us was happily surprised with the results.

This month’s meeting took the form of our annual summer picnic – once again generously hosted by Jan in her lovely garden. As with all our social events, there was no shortage of delicious food and despite the date coinciding with ‘flying ant day’ we all had a delightful evening.

The early heatwave meant there were only a few intrepid walkers on the Gladstone Park walk, but numbers picked up later in the month for a perfect Walking Club outing from Otford to Eynsford in Kent. Our route followed a shady river, passed fields of lavender, and included a stop at the remains of a Roman villa – a truly scenic and varied walk. That historical thread continued with a day trip to St. Albans, where Frances led a small group on a fascinating tour. Highlights included the Clock Tower, St. Michael’s Church, the Verulamium Museum, and, after a hearty pub lunch, a visit to the cathedral – offering insights into Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and medieval history all in one day.

Meanwhile, our weekly Double Tennis sessions are in full swing. The courts around us are now filled with children on their summer holidays, enthusiastically learning the game – and often putting our skills to shame! It’s a lively contrast to the quieter winter months when we have the space to ourselves.

An afternoon spent at a Pick Your Own farm recently provided enough fruit/veg for some sizeable batches of raspberry jam, strawberry jam, and beetroot chutney – all with our stall at Queen’s Park Day on 14th September in mind!

We had outdoor tables both for Craft Club (in Caroline’s garden) and for Dining Club when we had flavoursome Burmese cuisine at ‘Laphet’ in Covent Garden. Desi had organised a set menu ‘feast’ allowing us to sample a wide array of outstanding dishes in great company.

We’ve been making the most of the sunshine and outdoors lately with walks, dancing, and alfresco dining! 

After a very energetic evening grasping the somewhat complicated basics of Morris dancing at our May meeting, we took advantage of the long summer evenings to have an excellent guided walk (or ‘watery ramble’) around the redeveloped Kings Cross area for our meeting in June.

Our Short Walks took us to Kew Gardens in May, and then Kensal Green Cemetery in June where we were given VIP treatment in the form of tea and delicious cake and an opportunity to visit the Crypt in the Dissenters’ Chapel.

Selfridges’ rooftop restaurant ‘Alto by San Carlo’ was the destination for Dining Club in May and we had a gloriously golden evening to socialise and enjoy the Italian tapas.

We went eastwards for both of our Walking Club walks; a Brentwood circular in May, and to Suffolk to walk in Constable’s footsteps on a baking midsummer’s day in June.

There was another visit to the Houses of Parliament with our very own Treasurer as guide again – such a privilege to have an insider. Also in May a small number enjoyed a trip to Eltham Palace (a mediaeval/Art Deco treasure) which included a picnic beforehand and fantastic ice cream afterwards.

In all of this we’ve had unbroken sunshine and beautiful weather and although the heat has been a bit too much at times it’s been so good to be outdoors. Even Craft Group was out in the garden this month. 

The discussion at Book Group centred on Edna O’Brien’s book ‘The Country Girls’ and was pretty nearly in the garden – we were technically inside but the doors were opened fully. Of course Doubles Tennis is always outdoors and lately the challenge has been the heat, but swapping coffee for ice lollies afterwards seems to do the trick.

We’ve had another busy month at the North West London WI, with our regular monthly meeting as well as our many clubs.  Highlights included a well-attended meeting at St Anne’s  when we learned the art of book-folding and it’s fair to say some picked it up faster than others, but nonetheless a thoroughly enjoyable evening!  Walking club enjoyed a lovely walk in the sunshine in Abbey Woods and beyond where the bluebells were in abundance.  Culture Club had two outings, one to the English National Ballet at Sadlers Wells and the other to our local theatre, the Kiln, to see Shanghai Dolls. Book Club held a packed meeting to talk about ‘Agent Sonya’, a true account of a very plucky woman who managed to fool everyone as a double agent, in part due to the fact that the men at M15/6 couldn’t believe a woman with children could have time to be a spy!   Finally, a lucky group of ten members had amazing day out watching the women’s rugby at Twickenham, with a nail-biting match between England’s Red Roses and France, when a late surge by France nearly won them the trophy, but England held on and won by 43 – 42!  Nerves were frayed!!!

We’ve been keeping things local with our meetings recently. In February local author Steve Crabbe’s very interesting talk about Queen’s Park brought record attendance, and in March local entrepreneur and owner of ‘Nilly Flowers’ led us in a floral workshop making jam jar arrangements of spring flowers and ‘foraged’ greenery.

Two more sections of the London Loop were enjoyed by Walking Club; in Feb it was Stanmore to Hatch End, and in March we went eastwards and walked from Enfield Lock to Chingford. And our regular short walks were resumed with a sunshine-filled walk around Regent’s Park at the beginning of March.

A small group were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Houses of Parliament by our very own treasurer Catherine, and an even smaller group squeezed between the fascinating collections at the Sir John Soane’s Museum one Saturday afternoon.

At the end of March Dining Club took the form of a wonderful dinner at The Vincent Rooms with all the meal prep and serving executed by students of Capital City College. The food was excellent, the students were delightful, and we all left saying we would definitely recommend the experience.

Book Club discussed ‘The Safekeep’ by Yael van der Wouden, Doubles Tennis in the spring sunshine has been glorious, and Craft Club thrived on tea, chat, and needlework.

Although January seemed to fly by, we still managed to pack in quite a bit.

Our meeting this month was an opportunity to discuss the Resolutions shortlist sociably in small groups over various board games, with our votes collected at the end of the evening. 

Culture Club took a trip down memory lane and saw the current production of ‘Starlight Express’ at the Troubadour Theatre, and Craft Club got going on making leaves for the Centenary Banner. 

Doubles Tennis continued every week with only one session rained off, and Walking Club had a really good (although muddy) walk doing one of the segments of the London Loop from Moor Park to Hatch End.

A group of us visited ‘The Great Mughals’ exhibition at the V&A which was spectacular and bears seeing more than once. And in the last days of the month Dining Club spiced things up with a boisterous meal at ‘Mestizo’ Mexican restaurant.

We’ve been as busy as ever as the year draws to an end. Our November meeting was our Annual meeting where we elected the Committee and officers for another year, followed by a sociable (yet competitive) Quiz Night. In December our meeting took the form of a members-only Christmas party (kindly hosted by Frances) which once again proved the point that a WI party will never be short of delicious food. Also adding to the merriment was a competition for festive necklaces and a few party games. Instead of Secret Santa gifts this year we took up a collection for a local food bank.

Craft Club launched an initiative for members who would like to learn simple mending skills to come along and join the other more die-hard knitters, embroiderers, crocheters, and stitchers.

Culture Club enjoyed two very enjoyable and thought-provoking trips to the theatre; ‘Mozart Her Story’ (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), and ‘Expendable’ (Royal Court). There was also an outing to The Lightroom to be bedazzled by their current show ‘VOGUE: Inventing the Runway’

A large and very merry group enjoyed flavoursome South Indian cuisine at ‘Anjanaas’ and our last Book Group meeting of the year discussed Dorothy L. Sayers’ Gaudy Night.

Walking Club was put on hold when the stormy weather and unreliable trains meant our proposed walk near Ware had to be postponed to the new year, but the tennis players played on as we were very lucky that no games had to be cancelled due to rain. 

The year finished in festive fashion when a few of our WI members were spotted ‘in the wild’ wrapping presents in a shopping mall in aid of St. Luke’s Hospice, a local charity.

Our stall at Queen’s Park Day was a huge success this year – we had an abundance of cakes and jams to sell which prompted a buying frenzy! It was a lovely sunny day and in addition to replenishing our coffers it was a great chance to meet lots of local women who may be interested in joining us. It was the busiest any of us can remember but so satisfying to know that all the work that everyone put in produced such good results.

Our October meeting was a lively one. We had a delightful instructor take us through an evening of ‘BollyFit’ – a bit like Zumba but with bhangra beats and Bollywood moves. We had so much fun we almost didn’t notice the workout we were getting. 

And staying with the international theme, our Dining Group enjoyed a delicious and substantial meal at ‘Tsehay’, a local Ethiopian restaurant – all provided by two lovely ladies who did all the cooking. The aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans tempted even the most caffeine-wary of us to an after-dinner coffee.

Doubles tennis every week continues provide as much laughter as exercise, and we’re looking forward to resuming our country walks now that autumn is here. Also on the horizon; a visit to the V&A to see the photography exhibition ‘Fragile Beauty’, and Book Group at the end of the month where we will be discussing The Candy House by Jennifer Egan.  

As ever, the summer has flown by. Our June and July meetings took us out of our normal venue of St. Anne’s with a timely women-focused guided walk around Westminster in June – only weeks before the General Election. This was followed by a lovely evening picnic in July kindly hosted by Jan in her garden. We were back indoors for our August meeting when we were guided through the basics of DIY by Tom Fleming & his colleague Jason.

Walking Club took us from Leigh to Hever in Kent with highlights including wonderful views of Penshurst Place, fabulous cakes at a National Trust café, and visiting the tomb of Anne Boleyn’s father in St. Peter’s church Hever.

Culture Club had a rousing evening at Sadlers Wells in June seeing ‘Ballet España’ – part of the annual Flamenco Festival, and over the summer Book Club enjoyed Loved & Missed by Susie Boyt, and Ruskin Park by Rory Cellan-Jones. Dining Group had an excellent meal in July at ‘Brasserie Blanc’ on the Southbank which appears to have included a visit from the great chef himself…

As well as weekly Doubles Tennis and monthly Craft Club evenings, two of us attended the NFWI Annual Meeting at the Royal Albert Hall in June, a few of us tried a Lawn Bowling taster afternoon (on a ferociously hot day), and a larger group were given a private talk at Kelmscott House by a guide at the William Morris Society in August.

So even though a few of our activities have been paused over the summer, we still managed to pack quite a bit in!

The month got off to a great start with a visit to National Trust’s Hampstead gem Fenton House. After exploring the gardens in the light rain, NT Volunteer Frances (our very own secretary) gave us an introduction and a bit of background to the house before we explored at our own pace. Having various musicians playing some of the instruments in the extensive keyboard collection was certainly a highlight.

As our May meeting coincided with Deaf Awareness Week we had a really informative & entertaining introduction to British Sign Language led by the fantastic Sian Cooley (thank you Teddington WI for lending us your president for the evening).

A visit to Wakehurst followed about a week later, exploring the gardens and having a picnic lunch. Climbing up to the top of the scaffolding surrounding the Mansion gave us great views both of the gardens and the restoration work to the Mansion roof.

In a reprise of last year’s circular walk from Tonbridge via Tudeley we had a perfect day walking through meadows and orchards (there was even a distant cuckoo), with stops for a pub lunch and a visit to see the fantastic Chagall windows in Tudeley church.

A lovely sunny evening for Dining Club at ‘Waterway’ finished off the month and eating at an outdoor table made it feel as though summer was finally on its way. Perhaps it needs a bit more coaxing….