Talking cancan...
PRESIDENT Valerie Greenhill welcomed members and two visitors to the April meeting of the Thorpe Acre WI held at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall on Tuesday the 11th at 7.30pm. Two birthday cards were given out.
In March coffee, courtesy of a WI voucher, and cake was much enjoyed at Morrisons’.
Names were taken for our April lunch at The Three Nuns and our next coffee morning in May will be at The Cheesecake Shop. Mmmmmm-ing already! We seem to be adopting an Italian theme for the summer as the venues for June’s lunch club and July’s coffee morning will be Caravelli’s and Dolcino’s respectively. Having a break in August to give our waistlines time to recover!
On the culture front, news has got out that Lucy Worsley is revisiting Loughborough where she will be talking about Jane Austen. On the strength of her hilarious performance at the Annual Council Meeting and other personal recommendations, we have now virtually commandeered a whole row at the Town Hall! The show times for the recently released film ‘Going in Style’ featuring Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman will be ascertained and a visit organised if suitable.
Carole and Jacqui reminded members of the meeting place and time for our expedition around Mountsorrel Quarry on the 28th April. The Indoor Bowling Session is not far away and participants were also reminded that soft slippers or socks were needed. They are still waiting for the Autumn Menu from Beaumanor Hall before September’s Pie Night can be arranged.
Valerie drew members’ attention to The County Dairy, articles in the County News, upcoming events and correspondence from the NFWI. Literature concerning these was made available for members to peruse during tea. Arrangements for ‘ The Great Get-Together’ are ongoing. Thorpe Acre Church Hall has been provisionally booked for the afternoon of June 17th when we hope to serve afternoon tea between 2 and 4pm to invited members of the local community.
The Beacon Group meeting, hosted by Woodhouse Eaves WI, was much enjoyed. The speaker, Frances Benton, was superb and her enthusiasm for her beloved ‘Pearls’ shone through the whole of her very entertaining and amusing talk. Many went home having swapped pearls for pounds. The post refreshment entertainment was hilarious.
Our hosts treated us to a performance of ‘If I were not upon the stage……’ How they managed to synchronise all the movements was beyond belief and Nursey managed to keep her hat on just! We also came away with two boxes of chocolates for winning the quiz and Linda won a bottle of wine in the raffle. Not a bad night!
In June Hathern WI has kindly invited us to hear Julie Ede talk on ‘Edith Piaf’.
Julie H. thanked everyone who brought and bought scarves and handbags at last month’s meeting. Over £50 was raised on the night and it is hoped that this will double when the remaining items are sold at the LOROS shop.
Valerie also had a letter from the ‘Send a Cow’ charity thanking us for our gift. Jane G. left some invitations for her annual ‘Coffee and Cake’ day in aid of Multiple Sclerosis.
Sue W. bought in two very colourful, knitted ‘twiddlecuffs’. These had been made for dementia sufferers at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. They were knitted from different types of wool, using different stitches and with added decorations so that there were different textures within each cuff. Many members were interested in making more so Sue offered to bring the pattern to the next meeting. She also brought in a very large black bag of pine cones so that none of us would have any excuse for not entering December’s competition!
The speaker this month was David Price who told us all about the ‘French Cancan’ from its beginnings as a, perhaps inebriated, version of a French Galop in the early 1800’s to the theatrical dance that it is today. It was interesting to note that the anglicised Cancan was derived from the French for scandalous.
His very entertaining talk was illustrated by slides and snippets of films. A few legs were definitely twitching!
Sue gave the vote of thanks before David went on to judge the competition, ‘A Garter’. This was won by Sue Wainwright. Sue Young came 2nd with Jean Bragazzi coming 3rd. The raffle prize was won by Jill Pritchard and refreshments were provided by Ann Standing and Gillian Van Ristell. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 9th May, at 7.30pm at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall. We will be discussing the Resolutions being put forward at the Annual Conference.
Also on the agenda will be a talk by a representative from the Country Women of the World (ACWW) charity which benefits from all the ‘Pennies for Friendship’ we save over the year.
So if you want to discover how the WI contributes to the ‘Grand Scheme of Things’ then do pop along and find out. There’ll be a cup of tea and a biscuit waiting for you.