Talk on Fine Cell charity
PRESIDENT, Sue Wainwright, welcomed everyone to the August meeting of the Thorpe Acre WI that was held at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall on Tuesday, August 13th.
After handing out several birthday cards, Sue pointed to this month’s table decoration and thanked Julie E. for donating it to this month’s raffle.
Ten members (and Clive) were at July’s coffee morning at the Queen’s Park Café. I understand that to say that it rained was perhaps an understatement.
So, it might not have been the great outdoors experience that was hoped for, a good time was still had by all, indoors. Nice coffee is still nice coffee whatever the weather!
Our Social Secretary, Carole G., has now organised the annual trip The Greyhound Racing in Nottingham for late September. Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, she has started to organise our autumnal visit to Beaumanor Hall. We’ll be eating Pies and possibly Puds at the end of October.
There was a lot of interest in the invitation from Quorn Evening (QE) WI to attend their open meeting in September. The Speaker will be Lesley Smith who will become ‘Nell Gwyn’ for the evening. The bringing of oranges will be optional! QE will also be hosting next year’s Group Meeting in March.
Christmas stocking fever seems to have gripped our WI. All sorts are heading in Sue’s direction. Thanks to Julie E., we now have some with added ‘bling’! Sue W. brought in a copy of a crocheted stocking that will be available at the next 3W Workshop at the end of September.
Sue Y. gave an update on our progress in this year’s Federation Darts Competition. July bought mixed fortunes as we lost our match against Cossington by 4-3 but won against Kegworth 7-0. The scores belie the fact that both matches were very close run contests. We are now waiting to hear whether we have made it to the knock out rounds of the competition.
Following on from something mentioned in David Bell’s talk last month, Sue W. made enquiries at the Leicester Museum to see if a group of us could see the Mary Linwood Embroideries. This was possible for a maximum group of twelve. As so many of us were interested, hopefully, two groups will be going in early March next year.
Correspondence from WI House and National was placed at the front of the table for perusal during tea time. Sue W. drew our attention to the notice about the Annual Council Meeting to be held in March 2020. The deadline for numbers will be November 25th. She also wished the Walking Netball Team luck in the regional finals.
The Speaker for this evening was Chris Watkins, a representative of the Fine Cell Charity. Founded by Lady Anne Tree, the Charity teaches mostly male prisoners high-quality needlework that results in beautiful handmade products such as cushion covers and table linen. These are sold to the public allowing the prisoners to keep some of the proceeds. By instilling self-discipline this activity has been shown to boost their self-worth and encourages them to lead independent, crime-free lives. She brought in some samples that were absolutely beautiful, especially the little Christmas Penguins. It was a very fascinating talk and definitely worth listening to. Jaqui gave the vote of thanks.
Refreshments were served by Jan and Julie H.. The raffle prize was won by Marilyn and the flowers went to Jill P.. Sue W. won the competition, with Jan coming 2nd and Linda L., 3rd.
The next meeting will be on September 10, at 7.30pm at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall. Michael Dix will be informing us on ‘150 years of Primary Education’.
Although I don’t think he’ll have had personal experiences of many of those years it sounds like it will be an interesting talk. So, if you are interested then feel free to pop along as there will be a cuppa and a biscuit waiting just for you.