COCKPOLE GREEN
AT our meeting on January 20, Adrienne Rance gave details of forthcoming events.
Selina Avent organised a beetle drive for members which was entertaining and enjoyed by all.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, February l7 at 2.30pm in Crazies Hill Hall when Kate Bradford will be organising a quiz.

GREYS
THE January meeting, which marked the beginning of our 90th year, was well attended and two new members were welcomed.

There were several reports. Anne Dixon and Varina Clark had enjoyed good music, food and a raffle at Dunsden WI’s Christmas party. Jenny Smith and Vera Stranger had an enjoyable time at Sonning Common.

Valerie Munday had spent a busy day at Denman College, beginning with coffee and mince pies on arrival.

There were cookery demonstrations in the morning followed by a fantastic flower arranging course after lunch.

Ida Tilbuy told members that the darts team had won its first match of the season.

Names were taken for future outings and events.

Our speaker was Ruth Gibson who gave a fascinating talk entitled Henley’s Historic Buildings.

It was well illustrated with slides of familiar buildings, starting in Northfield End, the oldest part of town, and Bell Street.

The buildings may have changed on the outside but photographs of the interiors of the roofs revealed their true age.

Houses by the river in Friday Street had very thick jetties to support the weight of the grain stored on the first floor.

Merchants were doing well two decades before the Black Death. The oldest building must have been built around 1325.

The competition for an old photograph was won by Sheila Allen.

At next month’s meeting there will be a talk on Kenyan game parks by Mr N Glover-Wright.

It will be on Wednesday, February 17 and visitors are welcome.

MILL GREEN
PRESIDENT Pat Jones welcomed members to our annual meeting on February 3 and congratulated everyone on a successful year.

The meeting continued with the election of the committee for the forthcoming year.

Sadly, Pat stood down as president after many years of service.

Jan French was elected as our new president and Pat was elected secretary.

Other committee members, with the addition of Penny Hampton, are to continue to serve this year.

Treasurer Wendy Porter presented the financial statement showing a healthy balance and read the annual report reviewing our 2009 events.

She appealed for new candidates to serve on the committee next year.

Jan then thanked Pat on all our behalfs for all her hard work over the years and presented her with a gift.

After business, our guest was John Coghlan, who spoke about his life in sport, his active interest in many prestigious sporting events and his important and varied posts on the National Sports Council and involvement with the Olympic Games.

Pam Ziffo gave a well-deserved vote of thanks.

Our next meeting will be on March 3 in the Hannen Room.

PEPPARD
WE had to cancel our January meeting due to most members being snowed in.However, the president decided to try a week later after Lunch Club in the Memorial Hall.

Fortunately, quite a lot of members managed to turn up and, as there was no speaker, it was decided to concentrate on business matters only.

All enjoyed the social time with a cup of tea.

Members were reminded to hand in their single votes for the various resolutions suggested to the National Federation of Women’s Institiutes to the secretary and membership fees to the treasurer.

It was decided a donation should be sent to the County Memorial Fund in memory of Beryl Warwick, June Turner and Diana Beale, who sadly all died recently.

It was agreed that £250 raised at the open day should be given to the fund to help pay for the recent renovation of the kitchen. Members were delighted with all the improvements.

President Irene Lindsay gave a brief report on the new programme planned so far and suggested that instead of a meeting in October members should hold a Harvest lunch to which non-members might be invited.

The birthday lunch will be held at the Reformation pub in Gallowstree Road.

Irene showed her idea for a new membership card and members felt it would be a considerable improvement.

Members thanked Pauline Lester and those who helped provide the tea and biscuits.

SHIPLAKE
A SWOOPING barn owl and a class of excited eight- and nine-year-olds are not the norm at a WI meeting but that is exactly what we had at our January meeting.Chrissie Harper had brought three owls from her sanctuary — Icarus, a very large European eagle owl, Merlin, a tiny British little owl, and Spooks, a beautiful creamy barn owl.

Chrissie and her family run sanctuary specialising in birds of prey and she is particularly committed to the care and conservation of owls.

She takes her birds to shows all over the country and talks to groups, schools and societies or anywhere she can tell people about her rescue service for wild owls or captive birds that need rehoming.

Year 4 from Shiplake Primary School were invited to join members for the afternoon’s entertainment and they were thrilled to be able to see owls close up.

There were lots of “oohs” and “aahs” as Spooks flew around the Memorial Hall and ate from Chrissie’s hand and roars of laughter when one of the birds poohed on the floor.

We all learned many things about the different species of owl but, alas, it is not true that they can turn their heads 360 degrees.

When all the children and owls had left, president Rachel Lloyd went through the business.

She once again encouraged members to attend the biannual group meeting, “simply because it is excellent”. With the usual lovely tea included, it was “a great way to spend an afternoon,” said Rachel.

The next one is on March 31 at Peppard WI with a talk entitled The Palace of Knightsbridge.

Pam Hudgell told members of planned outings for this year.

On April 15, she has booked a visit to the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy.

If any members from other local institutes would like to join us, please call Pam on (0118) 940 2105 as soon as possible. Hostesses Joan Jolley and Hannelore Donahue and helpers served a lovely tea. Rachel closed the meeting early as the weather looked as though it might take a turn for the worse. Our meetings take place at Shiplake Memorial Hall at 2.30pm on the third Wednesday of each month. Visitors are always welcome.

For more information, call Rachel Lloyd on (0118) 940 3975.

SONNING COMMON
THE January meeting was called “Housewives choice — did they really have one?” and so had most of us going down memory lane.

We watched a DVD depicting a housewife’s lot between the Twenties and the Fifties, all to the background music of the popular radio programme Housewives Choice.

There were handy hints such as how to clean a fur coat, how to tell if an egg is fresh and how to remove ink stains (with tomato juice apparently).

Also the best way to smooth a man’s tie is to wind it round a jam jar of very hot water.

We saw just how hard it was for women at that time, doing the washing in the sink and having to fetch every drop of water from an outside pump.

There were no inside toilets and a bath was taken in front of the fire.

The Ministry of Information gave us a piece about the black market. We also saw housing in those days, ranging from a flat that cost 9/4d a week to rent to a house at 22/6d.

There were no washing machines or fridges and only a small cupboard for groceries. We don’t know how lucky we are these days.

There was very little business to discuss and no flower of the month competition but Carol Wilson had scoured her garden and brought a flower so it adorned the business table.

STOKE ROW
THE president welcomed members and two visitors after the Christmas break and all the snow.

Sadly, we had news of the death of Lillian Hayward after a short illness, aged 94. We will be sending a donation to the County Memorial Bursary Fund in memory of Lillian.

Suggestions were made on outings to a London show and also to visit the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in the spring.

There was also news on the craft club and the proposed formation of a book club.

A tea@3 afternoon would be held in the village hall with all our scrapbooks on view.

Hazel Loutsis gave a very interesting talk on aloe vera products and members enjoyed trying out the various gels and creams and sampling the drinks.

It was amazing how many ailments and problems these products help.
The result of the New Year resolution competition was won by Penny Noble and flower of the month was won by Jane Brazil.

Members will be provided with a hot meal at our birthday meeting in February followed by entertainment from Touch Of Class singing popular music and show songs.

If you are interested in coming to a meeting, please call Julia Ratcliffe on (01491) 642341.

WOODCOTE
THE first meeting of the new year took place on January 20, when a prospective new member visited sporting a natty pair of cheerful, spotted Wellington boots. Yes, the snow was back.

After the snow over Christmas and New Year, we were all looking forward to this meeting and the opportunity to catch up and just get out again.

But the treacherous, slushy pavements and driving snow saw us picking our way carefully towards the village hall, umbrellas raised. When we arrived, all was cheerfulness.

We had a number of apologies from people unable to attend and a lovely 91st birthday buttonhole for Louise Norbury.

The bloom of the month competition was won by Judy and the competition for a local photograph was won by Rose Metcalf, with Peggy second and Monika third.

The January “chance to chat” meeting was voted a success.

We were small in number due to the poor weather but enjoyed the “chat” accompanied by a glass or two of mulled wine while nibbling the last of the Christmas nuts.

A number of trips were displayed for members to sign up for: lunch and skittles, a day trip to Nottingham and another to the gardens at Wisley.

The walking group was planning a walk, Margaret would be hosting the chance to chat group one Monday morning, table tennis was in full swing after the Christmas break — everyone was busy.

Alan Copeland gave us an interesting slide show, entitled In Town Tonight, accompanied by a spirited and witty commentary about the odd signs and buildings spotted in various towns and villages.

Tea, of course, was delicious. Our annual meeting will be on Wednesday, March 17, when we will have a beetle drive and the competition will be for a fancy pen or pencil.