News & Events

Contents

February Meeting
January Meeting
November Meeting
October Meeting
Upcoming - Coffee & Cakes
September Meeting
Visit to Highgrove Gardens
August Meeting
Visit to Bletchley Park
July Meeting
June Garden Meeting
May: Visit to Whitchurch Silk Mill
May Meeting
April Meeting
March Meeting
February Meeting
December & January Meetings
November Meeting
Success again at Burghley
Coffee & Cakes

February Meeting

Our Valentines Day meeting very aptly had a flower theme this month with Joy Boddington, a member of Caversham & Chiltern Flower Club, sharing her love of Floriography, the Victorian language of flowers. Her presentation "Say it with Flowers" lived up to its title as Joy shared the meanings of flowers.

The meanings are not always positive and different countries also have different meanings. A modern posy of today for example:

However, based on the Victorian interpretation:

Joy shared many more examples; she also displayed cards, which also were used to 'send' flowers, the most popular being at Christmas. Valentines' and wedding cards were the most extravagant, often hand-made being highly embellished with lace.

A fascinating insight into Royal wedding bouquets revealed that they continue to consider the Victorian interpretations. Queen Victoria's bouquet contained Myrtle to signify beauty, youth and love. Every royal bride since has this within her bouquet. The Duchess of Cambridge took the inclusion and significance of flowers to a new high, with the wedding cake having 17 types of flowers, with 900 in total. The trees in Westminster Abbey of English Field Maple, Hornbeam and Oaks have since been planted at Highgrove, home of Prince Charles.

Burghfield WI meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Our next meeting is on March 13th, is our annual meeting for members only, however you are welcome to join us on April 10th where we start our new year in celebration of the Olympics with "Olympic Games Past and Present".

We are very friendly, and you will be made most welcome. You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.

January Meeting

After a month off from our regular 'business' meetings' to enjoy our annual members Christmas party, we started off the New Year with a serious and some would call controversial subject of the "Management of Sex Offenders in the Community". The WI have a well-earned reputation for not being afraid to understand and take on issues, led by our national federation; issues that many would avoid. Burghfield WI too is no exception.

Our speaker Tim Price had an excellent pedigree for knowing the subject, now retired; he was the Detective Superintendent with the police covering the Thames Valley with responsibility for the management of sex offenders. I can't give justice to such a subject in my piece here, but only can summarise very briefly such an important issue, and with consideration that the audience that may read this article too, could be of a young age.

After clarifying the definition, and appreciating that this takes into account a wide variety of sexual offences, we learnt how under MAPPA (Multi Agencies Public Protection), that offenders are managed. MAPPA is not exclusively for an RSO (Registered Sex Offender); it could be any issue that is deemed needing public protection. Members are from the Police, Probation, Health, Social Services and Housing etc. All Agencies having a duty to co-operate with each other.

MAPPA plan and monitor an RSO, following a thorough risk assessment. The length of time on this arrangement depends upon the time an individual is on the register, which in turn depends upon the original prison sentence.

We also gained a better understanding of "Sarah's Law" whereby if you are suspicious about a person e.g. a boyfriend, it is now possible to go into a police station and enquire about them. This is called "Limited Disclosure". This is aided by the fact that there is a very high compliance with RSO's registering with the police nationally (99% in the Thames Valley). Unlike the USA whereby the compliance is low (50%), therefore an on line Internet search facility is available for anyone to do.

Some facts and figures to finish off:

Burghfield WI meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Our next meeting is on February 14th, whereby to match the occasion we will be having a flower demonstration to "Say it with Flowers". We are very friendly, and you will be made most welcome.

You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.


November Meeting

Royal Collection carriages

The Royal Collection" was eagerly awaited this month. The Queen's state coaches exactly 1/8th scale, built over the last 20 years, with each coach taking approximately 14 months to build, by carpenter Peter Smith, were magnificently on display.

With special permission by the Queen to be called "The Royal Collection" even the monarch needs to make an appointment to see them. Six of the collection were on display this evening, each an exact replica even down to the number of buttons on the padded upholstery and the working hinges on the doors.

Some interesting facts about the original coaches were revealed:

The model coaches have won multiple international awards, with approximately 30,000 people seeing them last year alone. The Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Anne have twice had a private viewing, with Princess Anne even going down on her knees to inspect the Royal Coat of Arms on the Scottish State Coach!

Peter has bookings now well in to 2013, so you can understand how excited we were to await this evening's meeting.

We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. We do not however, meet in December. Our next meeting is on January 10th, where we will learn how the management of sex offenders in the community is undertaken.

Royal Collection carriages

We are very friendly, and you will be made most welcome. You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.

October Meeting

Something totally different for October saw Simon Johnson and Gill Baily share with us the "Thrive Story". The charity established in 1978 and based in Battersea Park London and Beech Hill Reading, gives 700 people per year benefit from therapy as a result of gardening. Thrive focuses on four areas:

Many of these individuals are able to receive training to achieve vocational qualifications or indeed become volunteers themselves. Referred to Thrive usually by a medical or social services professional, gardening can literally transform their lives by acting as a catalyst to improve self-esteem, self worth and independence.

Within the 3 acres at Beech Hill sits one area called "The Unexpected Gardener garden", which won a Chelsea Gold Medal in 2010. There are of course other beautiful areas too.

The Thrive gardens are open the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month for group tours, (book beforehand) and also special Christmas events for the general public on the 8th December (shop open) 10am to 1pm, and 10th December 10am to 12.30pm for Christmas wreath making.

See www.thrive.org.uk for more useful information.

We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Come and join us on the 11th October for an insight into "The Royal Collection" with speaker Peter Smith. We are very friendly, and you will be made most welcome.

You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.


Upcoming - Coffee & Cakes

Burghfield WI Coffee & Cakes
Burghfield W1 Line Dancing Burghfield W1 Line Dancing
Some of the delicious cakes and home made jams and chutneys for sale at our recent Coffee & Cakes event held recently at Burghfield Village Hall. Thank you to those who also joined with us for a drink and a chat.



September Meeting

Line dancing was, by special request, the feature for this month's meeting. It has taken just over three years to find someone locally able to demonstrate this popular form of dance.

Burghfield W1 Line Dancing

Following a local consumer survey we did for members a while back we asked what would be of interest, what wouldn't, and generally how we could makes the meetings more interesting, and what members wanted more of and also less of! So……..line dancing it was! (amongst other things…).

Aileen Crawford (no relation!) introduced the world of line dancing and spoke briefly, but advised us that Zumba was now the favoured thing amongst her clients. (Somehow think this is literally a step too far for most of us?).

When the dancing started there was 16 of us on the floor (about half of those present). The evening concluded with quite an energetic dance, which involved a lot of arm movement and is, apparently very popular in the clubs in Ibiza, 7 of us were left standing, not bad!!

We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Come and join us on the 11th October for an insight into "Thrive Story" and the work they do with gardening for the disabled and disadvantaged. We are very friendly, and you will be made most welcome.

You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.

Call 0118 9831248 or email for further information.


Visit to Highgrove Gardens

On a lovely sunny and warm day in August (a real treat as the weather had not been good earlier in the week) a group of members, a few husbands and friends met at the village hall where we boarded the luxury coach we had booked to take us to Highgrove, home of HRH Prince Charles.

We enjoyed our drive down M4 and on to the lovely old market town of Tetbury, where we split into smaller groups and went off in search off a light lunch. All returned to the coach feeling refreshed.

On arriving at Highgrove a Police officer came on board our coach to check that we were indeed the Burghfield WI ! He joked that we did look a rather suspect group as most of us had dark glasses. Seriously of course, security has to be very strict.

We were then waved on and on arrival at reception introduced to our guide. We were then shown a short film in which HRH Prince Charles welcomed us and gave a short talk on his passion for the gardens and points of interest. He explained that proceeds from products associated with Highgrove bearing the 'Duchy' label go to support numerous charities.

We then set off with our guide who was able to answer any questions we had on a 2 hour tour of the gardens. It was all most enjoyable, passing through meadow and wild flowers area into a shady woodland and an area created from old tree stumps and mosses which had a really tranquil feel to it. There is a wall which has been created from various pieces of sculpture made by students and given to Prince Charles plus other pieces of interest. In the walled garden the trees were laden with fruit, there were also lovely herbaceous plants, another area was a more formal garden.Burghfield W1 at Highgrove Gardens

We ended our tour in the tea shop which was most welcome and some of us enjoyed a lovely piece of cake too! We then visited the shop and plant sales and many of us boarded the coach with parcels and plants of all shapes and sizes. Having had a really good day, with the weather a real bonus.

Jean Prince



Whilst we could not take photographs of the gardens, the photograph shows happy faces with their purchases before our journey home.

August Meeting

Speaker Jessica Stone from Veolia Environmental Services made the world of rubbish so very interesting this month! Her focus being the geographic area of West Berkshire in which 68,000 properties waste is collected along with responsibility for keeping the streets clean.

We were encouraged to hear that all collected stays in the UK, with plans for it all to stay even more local in the future at the new facility in Padworth. (More later on this).

We heard that paper and cardboard is recycled in 7 days, so todays newspaper is next weeks too, that different coloured glass melts at different temperatures, and plastic bottles not only makes new plastic bottles but makes lovely warm fleeces to wear and is great for sleeping bag stuffing too!

Furthermore, food cans could be part of your new car or the paperclip you use everyday, or indeed anything made from steel. Alas drink cans are reborn as cans again.

Most fascinating was the process for green waste recycling. This is shredded initially, and then left for a year to decompose but during this time the temperature checked daily and turned weekly in order to be accredited as organic compost at the end of the process. Look out for "Pro-Grow" for sale, as this could have been made from your green waste a year before.

Even our general waste is not all bad, with part of it where available, being processed in such a way results in generating electricity. But, not enough capacity is available and therefore most ends up in landfill sites taking up to 250 years to decompose, which is not good.

However, the recycling rate is presently at 42%, with a target of 49% many years hence, so were not doing too badly.

And hopefully this will be improved soon with the new Integrated Waste Management Facility at Padworth opening in the autumn of this year, which has been developed in close partnership with local residents. It will have a visitor centre, whereby we can watch state of the art processing taking place in a contained environment.

Jean Sheppard gave the vote of thanks. Jean with her many years of close association with affiliated projects on behalf of the WI nationally was an ideal choice.

We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Come and join us on the 13th September for an insight (or participation) into the world of Line Dancing. You will also hear about how we got on visiting with eager anticipation beforehand the gardens of HRH Prince of Wales gardens at Highgrove. We are very friendly, and you will be made most welcome.

You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.

Call 0118 9831248 or email for further information.


Visit to Bletchley Park 20 July 2011

Our visit to Bletchley Park was a fascinating day. Churchill set up this facility in World War II to break the complex German message codes in an attempt to reduce the number of ships, carrying vital supplies, in the Atlantic being sunk.

A group of the best mathematicians, crossword solvers and German, Italian and Japanese linguists, including the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing, was sent to work here. It is estimated that their work shortened the war by 2 years.

We had a guided tour around the site and saw the 'huts' where they worked code breaking. We also saw the main code breaking machines, Bombe, Colossus and Lorenz, built before electronics, and using paper tapes running at 30 miles an hour!

We had such admiration for the complexity of these machines and those that invented them. Initially it took weeks to break the codes but these machines reduced this to hours and then minutes. It was good to see women playing a vital role at this site.

This was a very secret world and many did never told their husbands or wives about their work even when the war was over. There are numerous information displays of wartime activities all of which are of a very high standard. When we bought our ticket we found it was a season ticket valid for a year - when we left we realised why - there is so much to see and we all thought we would go back for a second visit!

Ann Derbyshire


July Meeting

This month we were back to one of our regular meetings at the village hall, with almost a full turn out, we were there to hear our guest speaker and also to vote for the banner we would like to represent us at this years Golden Jubilee Cup Competition competing against other WI's in Berkshire, more about this later.

Paul Beck took us through the history of Will making, being centuries old, many of which were "spoken" rather than written. It was amazing to hear that presently approximately 62% of adults in the UK do not have a Will, of which 83% are unmarried couples and of this, 79% are young couples with children.

We also learnt that if a person dies without a Will, the 1925 Intestacy Law applies. In short this means:

Paul developed his presentation to share with us information regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney. In 2007 this replaced Enduring Powers of Attorney. (These are still valid though).

There are 2 aspects: Heath & Welfare and also Property & Affairs. He explained it was bit like insurance that could be used if there is a loss of capacity in an individual, both short or long term. Like not making a will, there are potential consequences too:

Burghfield W1 quilts

Now, back to the 2011 Golden Jubilee Competition, which is supporting the national "Quilts for London" initiative. The WI nationally (with certain caveats about the London 2012 trademarks etc.) is preparing banners to give to every Olympic Athlete taking part.

At the meeting we had 7 on display, all carefully and beautifully hand made for our members to vote for one to enter the overall Berkshire competition.

Our winner was an embroidered London street scene complete with Red double decker's by Susan Addison. Good luck Susan!

We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Come and join us on the 9th August, for an update on Waste and Recycling in West Berkshire. We are very friendly and you will be made most welcome. You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member.

Call Margaret at 0118 9831248 or email her at secretary@burghfield.org.uk for further information.


Burghfield W1 garden meeting

June Garden Meeting

The weather looked kindly upon us this year, as we held our first garden meeting at the home of one of our members. The garden bedecked with gazebos and bunting looked splendid, even more so when the tables within were laden with scrumptious home made sandwiches, and delicious summer puddings.

After brief business, we sat and chatted, coifing our chilled wine, whilst music for a summers evening was playing in the background.

Our guest craft judge, Amanda was experiencing her first WI garden meeting too, and was seen to be making notes to take back to her WI in Wiltshire, not about the beautifully crafted hand made celebration cards she was there to judge, but about when and how her own WI could do similar!

Ruth Fagg won the craft competition with a gorgeous finely embroidered flower card, with the stitching looking every bit as good on the reverse as the front. The Margaret Hodgkinson Cup hers to keep and display at home for the coming year, being presented by Amanda. Second place was awarded to Margaret church for her "Baby Boot" and third to Jean Prince for her hand painted iris flowers.

Burghfield W1 garden meeting

Traditional games were then order of the day, such as welling wanging, splat the rat, horseshoes and quoits being hotly competed. The winner being Ann, who had such a look of amazement on her face when this was announced!

Other more sedate games as boules, croquet and giant snakes & ladders were there for the less competitive amongst us too, with a few inquisitively trying these out.

So....... having read this, and possibly thinking, do the WI really do things like this? Yes we do. We do many other things too, both as part of our regular monthly meetings and additional social events throughout the year.

Why not give us a try? We meet every second Tuesday of the month at the village hall at 7.30pm. Come and join us on the 12th July. We are very friendly and you will be made most welcome. You don't have to live in Burghfield to become a member. Call me at 0118 9831248, or email me secretary@burghfieldwi.org.uk for further information.


Visit to Whitchurch Silk Mill

May: Visit to Whitchurch Silk Mill

One day in May, a group of us headed for Whitchurch Silk Mill – a 19th century working mill tucked away in the charming country town of Whitchurch. Hants. Situated on Frog Island in the River Test, the Mill was constructed in 1815 and began producing silk fabrics in the 1830s until 1985 when it closed down. It was then taken under the wings of the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust and became operational again as a working museum in the early 1990s after considerable restoration work.

On arrival at this picturesque Mill, we were shown a film giving us a lot of information about the Mill. Then whilst climbing the wooden stairs to the large workroom; we were able to see the original large wooden working water wheel. lt was fascinating to see the wooden Victorian machinery used to produce the silk fabrics, the myriad of threads that come together to produce the most fabulous silk fabrics. The silk thread comes from the cocoon produced by the silk moth caterpillar – this thread is imported ready dyed from the Far East, as the UK climate is not warm enough for this process. We were allowed to view and feel the many different types of fabric - there are not only many colour choices but many different finishes. Whitchurch Silk Mill

Over the years, the high quality silk produced at Whitchurch has been used for legal gowns, stately homes, theatrical costumes to name but a few – more recently it was used in the Downton Abbey drama series on TV. The silk is made to order and currently they are weaving for a restoration project and also for a number of churches.

After this fascinating tour of the Mill, we were able to visit the shop where we found attractive gifts made from silk produced by the Mill – the ladies' silk scarves proving very popular. Then out to the riverside garden and patio where we were able to enjoy a light lunch and just sit and relax in peaceful surrounds savouring the trip back in time before we headed home. A most pleasant and interesting day out!

Gerry McClean


May Meeting

Our Guest Speaker this month was Clare Downey "Ash Bound in China"

Clare shared with us her adventures – "Extra Time" as she called it, in China, as a result of travel delays caused by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. A planned school trip of 10 days turned into 20, for 43 students and 10 adults in Beijing. The practicalities needed quickly sorting, and Clare as the leader of the group set out to make the extended stay as normal as possible with tasks divided between the staff, with each given leadership for:

First on the list though, was the need to renew the group visa, and after 3 days of applications in triplicate this was completed. Alongside this was the challenge to find somewhere to live on a B&B rate plus an allowance of £6 each per day. This meant moving hotels, and after 6 hours of successful negotiations the group moved across the road to their new home for the remainder of their stay, which was helpfully sited above a supermarket that played an essential part in thrifty healthy food shopping.

During the day, lessons were held, focussing on those that were due to take their GCSE's. The teachers and parents on the trip used their skills and knowledge to create lessons ranging from Forensic Crime Scenes (CSI), Buddhism, Art, visiting antique markets, mosques, temples, the Canadian International School and designing a new "Dynasty".

On their return to the UK, the children were relatively calm about their whole experience, the parents however on this particular occasion appeared to have been the ones more anxious during the "extra time"!

This month we also discussed our 2 resolutions going forward for final voting at our national AGM in June.

a) Proposed Mega Farms. "This meeting abhors the practice of factory farming particularly large animals such as pigs and cows and urges HM Government to ensure planning permission is not granted for such projects" After much debate and discussion the vote result was a majority against the resolution.

b) The Closure of Local Libraries. "This meeting urges HM Government to maintain support for local libraries, as an essential educational and information resource". This debate was much more clear-cut, with a large majority voting for the resolution.

Our next meeting on June 14th is our annual garden meeting. You are welcome to join us, but contact me first on this occasion, as I need to ensure there is some supper for you.
Margaret at secretary@burghfieldwi.org.uk or telephone 0118 9831248.


Sheila Hill - Afghan dress

April Meeting

This month our speaker was Sheila Hill with the much anticipated "A Civilian's year in Afghanistan".

After obtaining a one year's secondment from her role working at a police training college, sponsored by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Sheila set up the financial and administrative aspects needed to manage a training scheme for 100 policemen relating to Crime Scene Investigation.

Dressed in the local daywear, Sheila displayed also evening and special occasion wear, together with locally made jewellery, many of which had been gifted to her during her stay. The local people were both very kind and very generous, given their relatively poor standard of living.

We also had the opportunity to try on a Burka, (the colour of which reflected the district in which lived) which many members found very restrictive, especially peripheral vision, with the netting resting on our eyelashes! We did appreciate though, this was the culture of the country, with the man of the household dictating what type of head cover up was worn by the ladies, if any at all.

However, we also learnt that many ladies made up for this type of dress code, by wearing glitzy bright clothing underneath!

Women, whilst getting better now, were relatively illiterate, with only 13% being able to read and write, and the infant mortality rate being 257:1000 of every birth.

Sheila also supported her presentation with many photographs ranging from her arrival at the airport, travelling to obtain provisions, and socialising with local families. Many of which we were saddened by the battered environment of what was one an elegant city in the 1950's, but heartened by the resilience of the people who live there to make the most of their lives after the retreat of the Taliban.

Our next meeting on May 10th is "Ash Bound in China" with speaker Clare Downey. You are very welcome to join us. Just turn up or email Margaret or telephone her on 0118 9831248.

Come and see us at Burghfield May Fair on Sunday May 8th, and buy one of our famous WI cakes!



March Meeting

This month our Annual Meeting took place, with the election of the President and the committee for the year ahead. This time of year, we also look back at our time together, meetings and social activities, both reflecting and reminiscing, with occasional chuckling to be heard as some of the most humorous moments are recounted. This year we also enjoyed a hot supper, which gave us additional time to socialise, something that WI ladies are very capable of amongst other things!

This last year as in the previous year, has been very busy with many additional social events over and above our varied programme being arranged to suit a variety of tastes, ranging from an archaeological dig to a summer afternoon theatre play complete with a strawberry tea!

Our new programme from the beginning of May will be finalised soon, and promises to be every bit as good as last year with even more social events planned. So visit this website again soon for more details.

Our next meeting on April 12th is "A Civilian's year in Afghanistan", with speaker Sheila Hill. A topical current issue, and you are very welcome to join us. Just turn up or email Margaret or telephone her on 0118 9831248.



February Meeting

This month's meeting saw the eagerly awaited speaker John Davies presenting to us "The Code Breakers of Bletchley Park".

John, who had worked at Bletchley Park for 30 years, shared with us the story of the code breakers that cracked Germany's coded communications, such as those sent by the German Enigma machine during World War II.

He took us through the history, the construction of the Enigma machine and how it worked. We also had the opportunity to listen to actual historic recordings of the codes being transmitted across the airways, and appreciate how the code formula changed daily each month, which was being transmitted in German technical military jargon.

We learnt that 8,500 people worked at Bletchley in 3 shifts across the 24 hours, 80% of which were women. It is generally accepted that the expertise at Bletchley Park reduced the length of the war by approx. 2 years. Numerous fascinating photographs of the characters, places and events in support of the subject accompanied John's presentation.

Also at this month's meeting we welcomed another new member to our institute. Now making our membership a healthy 46 strong, with the majority of members attending each meeting. We have been steadily growing across the last year; we must be doing something right! Why don’t you give us a try?

Our next meeting is the 8th March, whereby we will be holding our Annual Meeting where we need to do some formal business about electing our new President and Committee for the forthcoming year. If you fancy finding out about the mechanics of how a WI is run, please join us. But on this occasion do give me a call or email first as we are putting on a hot supper, and we need to make sure we have enough for you too!



December & January Meetings

December's get together is the one time of the year that business is firmly off the agenda. It's the chance to enjoy a very important time of the year by celebrating together with food and fun!

This year was no different, with the village hall transformed into a splendid restaurant, complete with elegantly dressed tables and waiters. (Well…… they were elegantly dressed too in their DJ's!)

During the evening, a delicious three course meal, much of which prepared by members, was enjoyed accompanied by very attentive waiters (do I need to reveal more?…..they were 4 husbands!). A Christmas quiz to fill in any potential bored moments provided extra fun by deciphering the clues about chocolates and sweets (close to any lady's heart!).

And to top off the evening, live blues and jazz music was performed by a lovely duo, which we were so grateful, as our booked act cancelled at late notice.

Our first formal meeting of the year was held on the 4th January, we owe special thanks to Jean Sheppard, one of our members, for stepping in at very late notice due to cancellation earlier in the day by the original speaker due to illness.

Jean complete with prompt cards from the show and photographs, took us through her journey of the experience in 2007 together with 2 other WI members on the Alan Titchmarsh Show.

We heard how she was selected by the producers after initial contact with the National Offices of the WI, her "roles" during the 3 weeks on the programme (3 days live TV) ranging from designer goods reviewer, to an Edwardian lady (complete with costume) until Alan asked her to "get your kit off" in order to serve afternoon tea and taste her home made cake, which won the blind tasting test!

The final programme gave Jean the opportunity to spend some money on clothes to be reviewed by a fashion guru, to co-incide with the national fashion week. Needless to say, Jean was splendidly dressed for our meeting in her winning outfit! Yet another success!!

We also learnt what a "runner" does at the BBC (essentially a bossy but helpful personal assistant) and the "Green Room" isn't green but a magnolia colour, (but it is true you can drink as much as you like!) and a personal car collects you to and from the train station for the show. And finally, Alan really is as nice as he appears on the show.

Our next meeting is the 8th February, whereby our guest speaker will be John Davies "The Code Breakers of Bletchley Park".

Email Margaret at secretary@burghfieldwi.org.uk for more information about the WI or any of our upcoming events, or just turn up on the evening, you will be most welcome.



November Meeting

Preparations for Christmas started at our November meeting with guest speaker Sally Howard’s "Wrapping for Christmas".

Sally, with her huge collection of whatever bits and pieces that previously decorated anything and everything descended upon us, together with mementos and small gifts from around the world gathered on her travels. Her thrifty approach to extravagant Christmas gift wrapping commenced with using samples of embossed wallpaper, making bottle bags and money envelopes. The essential part of her armoury was double sided sticky tape which further enhanced the professionalism of the wrapping!

Bottles and boxes were transformed with bows, buttons and various "bits" to suit either the gift or the occasion. Examples were scrutinised, notes were made and mutterings could be heard. We all agreed that never again could we be accused of cluttering up our homes just in case we needed it!

And……..we no longer have any excuses for our gifts not looking like they have stepped out of an upmarket department store wrapping service!

We continue our Christmas celebrations on the 14th December at our annual party for members only and invited guests.

Our next formal meeting is the 11th January, whereby our guest speaker will be Nicola Carruthers on the "Thrive Story" talking about gardening for the disabled and the disadvantaged.



dressing up

Success Again for Burghfield at Burghley Group Meeting

On the 26th October we held our Autumn Group meeting in Mortimer. We have two group meetings each year in the spring and the autumn. These meetings as the name suggests consist of four local WI groups getting together for social interaction.

Our speaker was Hazel Gillingwater from the Berkshire Costumes Service who gave us a talk on fashion through the ages. With models to parade the costumes, we were taken from the medieval period to the 1970's. We even had a visit from Henry VIII!

Following light refreshments and lots of chatting we were given the task of selecting a model from our WI and given remnants of material, ribbon and lace etc and had 15 minutes to create our very own costume and dress the model. This proved quite a challenge but good fun. We were delighted to be voted 1st place by the panel of judges.

Coffee sack Witch

The competition at the event was to recycle a "café direct" coffee bean sack, which we had received a few weeks prior to the event.

The photographs show Margaret Smithurst, one of our members splendidly attired in our creation complete with hat, and also the beautifully crafted seasonal Witch entered by Margaret Church made from the coffee sack.



Jean Prince



Jean Sheppard & Margaret Church, A Tour of New Zealand

Coffee & Cakes

In true WI style we baked many delicious delights for our first village Coffee & Cakes event in early October. The Methodist Church Hall providing a welcoming venue on a sunny dry Saturday.

The photograph shows the wide variety of home made cakes in all shapes and sizes that were available to enjoy alongside a coffee, or take away for indulgence at another time!

Margaret Crawford