Around the Women’s Institutes

BENSON

MEMBERS were again away from their usual venue for their June meeting. This time we visited Notcutts Garden Centre at Nuneham Courtenay.

The garden centre staff had reserved a section of the restaurant for WI use and members purchased refreshments over which there was a chance for some social time before a talk by Wendy Simpson, the plants manager.

Wendy talked about how she came to Notcutts and gave an insight into Notcutts itself, it being a family-run business since 1897 and currently run by Caroline Notcutt.

She told us about the various plant sections and the staff who run them, many of whom had been with the company for many years. She talked about the roses which had been taken over from Mattocks Roses some years ago and there were questions about their maintenance.

Wendy also told of sustainability within the garden centre and how it was dealing with the current dry spell. She also gave an update on the peacocks who frequent the garden centre and who have laid a clutch of eggs just behind the restaurant.

Members asked about trends in gardening and she commented on the rise in sales of grow your own vegetables and herbs with many more people using community allotments.

Following her talk, members were encouraged to wander around the garden centre and to approach her or members of her staff with any questions.

It was a lovely afternoon and our thanks to Notcutts staff for looking after us so well and for providing a lovely rose for our raffle.

Benson WI will meet again on Wednesday, July 23 for our annual summer garden party before taking a break in August. More information about meetings can be found at bensonwi@oxfordshire
wi.co.uk

Sue Brown

CAVERSHAM

FOR our June meeting we were visited by Claire Goodall, a musician/storyteller.

Claire told us a story about the Pied Piper of Hamelin, leading rats out of the town using pipe music — and gave us a fascinating insight into the history of musical instruments starting with sheep’s bone pipes, recorders and reed pipes — from Egypt, the Middle East and Greece.

Claire had a wonderful variety of instruments — a number of which are rare, so we were fortunate to be able to hear what they sounded like.

After Graham Horne attends our July meeting, presenting “A Story of Henley-on-Thames”, we will take a break for summer and reconvene on September 2.

We will be learning about something a bit different — balance, brain and fitness — with Jennifer Cowling. If you’re at a loose end or would just like to meet some kindly neighbours, please feel welcome to join us.

Visitors are very welcome (and entirely free for the first three visits). After this, there is a set fee but it is less than £5 a month and includes local, Berkshire and national events, activities and resources.

We meet on Tuesday evenings, the first one each month. Holding a weekday evening meeting at 7.30pm enables members with daytime commitments to join us and those looking for a mid-week distraction to get out of the house.

Feel free to reach out on Facebook, or by email — cavershamwi@berkshirewi.co.uk — if you would like to join us for an evening. Meetings are held in central Caversham, in a fully accessible venue, for about two hours including tea/coffee, biscuits, a small raffle and, of course, time to learn something new, and discuss local and national issues.

Claire Elliott

CLEEVE-BY-GORING

THE National Federation was holding its annual meeting on Zoom this year, which was a disappointment for those who love to attend the Royal Albert Hall.

The Cleeve committee decided to make an occasion of it by watching at our president’s house and combining it with a buffet lunch. Not quite the usual venue but we had a good time, with chocolate and Prosecco featuring largely.

The speaker for our June meeting was Louise Brown, from Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital. Although we mainly associate this with hedgehogs, the hospital will deal with all British wildlife from frogs to deer.

Slides showed hospital facilities able to cope with a multitude of problems and large outdoor recovery pens. We hope to follow up with a visit over the summer.

Sally Wix and Maureen Lewis had been on a WI holiday to Kent and Sally gave us a brief talk about this, illustrated with her photos. The hotel and schedule were impressive and they had enjoyed the week thoroughly.

Sue Fung and her husband had been to a talk on Ukraine. She writes: “My husband and I attended this meeting in Milton-under-Wychwood, a drive of 85 minutes from Goring. We were particularly interested as we were hosts for a young lady from Ukraine for two years.

“We took the opportunity to spend a few hours in the beautiful Cotswolds, so arrived in the morning, had a walk around the village and surrounding countryside and had our picnic lunch in the churchyard.

“The afternoon meeting was packed and I was pleased to see two other men there. We took Viking, our hearing dog-in-training with us and, thankfully, he settled in well. We were all made to feel extremely welcome.

“The WI organisers had made a wonderful effort to dress in blue and yellow, put a Ukrainian flag over the welcome table and made delicious Ukrainian cakes to serve with our hot drinks.

“Then followed an extremely informative and scholarly presentation, as one would expect from a professional historian, Dr Hubert Zawadzki.

“He covered a huge amount about its geography and people, language, religion and history and this generated many questions at the end. The inevitable question was asked, ‘How long will this continue?’ but, of course, the speaker could not give a definitive answer. All in all, a very good day.”

Members also manned the kitchen at Goring Repair Café, serving tea, coffee and cakes to those bringing items for mending. The money raised by the kitchen helps to pay for the running of the repair café.

Our month ended with our traditional strawberry and Prosecco evening at Nuns Acre River Garden, where 32 members enjoyed a perfect, warm and sunny evening on the banks of the Thames. Strawberries, raspberries, meringues, biscuits and cream were laid out so each could make their own “Goring Mess”.

In July we will be learning how to save a life in an evening. New members are always welcome at Storton Lodge on the second Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm.

Chris Cox

COCKPOLE GREEN

ON June 18, Cockpole Green WI’s annual garden party was hosted by Diane Bush at her lovely farm home in Crazies Hill. Thankfully the weather was perfect and the afternoon tea was delicious.

President Judi Rowlands welcomed WI members and visitors from neighbouring Women’s Institutes. We all enjoyed mingling with friends and touring Diane’s stunning gardens.

Members brought games and puzzles to exchange for £1 per swap, also a raffle.

The beginning of several new friendships was formed spreading a wider net of people across local areas.

Our next meeting is on July 16 when we will hear about the challenges and rewards of bee-keeping.

Sheila Brockelbank

HARPSDEN-GREYS

OUR president, Susan Beswick, welcomed all members and a guest to our June meeting.

Before she gave out the notices she introduced Eva Rickett, who runs Henley Scan. She gave us a very good account of the business that she and her husband Graham run. They first had a shop in Reading Road but now they are based in King’s Road.

Eva was a lively speaker and emphasised how much their services helped their clients retain memories, both visual and audio, by reproducing images and sounds using modern technology techniques.

One particular example was when a dog had torn up a precious photograph and they had managed to put together the jigsaw of pieces and, after using the computer, had printed the final image as if nothing had damaged it. Photo books, posters and even wallpaper can be produced using clients’ material.

The National Federation annual meeting took place on June 4 and a few of us attended it by logging into the Zoom link. It was an all-day event covering both business and introducing two speakers, Emma Bridgewater and Angela Strawbridge, the latter being particularly entertaining. The resolution “Bystanders can be lifesavers” was passed.

The event was organised by Rose Cooper and we enjoyed a delicious bring and share lunch during a break in the proceedings.

In addition to the main meeting, groups meet for the book and lunch clubs and for walks.

The book and plant sales are generating income and Di Painter has kindly offered to hold a coffee morning to help with our funds. Our meeting closed with afternoon tea.

We would welcome new members and our next meeting on Wednesday this week at Harpsden hall was entitled “The rhyme of our lives”.

Gwen Wilding

HOT (HENLEY-ON-THAMES)

A VERY warm evening meeting was spent enjoying sharing our wedding stories. It was wonderful to have a great selection of our wedding dresses, removed from wardrobes and attics and allowed an airing.

Pat Williams gave a very informative and fun talk about styles throughout the ages, with lots of photos on display and a guess the era of our dresses, from the Thirties to 2000, all of them evoking memories of special days with their poignant moments.

Our postbox topper team have been busy as usual and were asked to create something to celebrate 50 years of women rowing at Henley Rowing Club. It is currently on the golden postbox in Hart Street.

It has proved popular with the crews competing at Henley Women’s Regatta and we even managed to catch Worcester Polytechnic Institute (USA) while they were photographing themselves beside it.

It’s great to hear Richard Phelps, the new chairman of Henley Royal Regatta, is planning on getting parity between the men’s and women’s events at the royal as even until recently the only women competitors were sitting in the cox seat directing the male crews.

We also enjoyed our annual trip into the Stewards’ Enclosure to cheer on the rowers.

Our next meeting is Friday, July 18.

Nicola Taylor

PEPPARD

OUR president, Val, welcomed everyone, introduced our new member and reported that we had received a legacy from Pamela, who had sadly passed away.

Irene was disappointed that few members had attended the Zoom National Federation annual meeting when the resolution “Bystanders can be lifesavers” was adopted.

A visit to Hearing Dogs for the Deaf had been arranged for October 7 and more help was needed at our afternoon tea on July 5 which was to raise funds for Peppard Primary School and Peppard WI.

Val then introduced our speaker, Jaye Windmill. The intriguing title of her talk was “Monumental Britain” and we were in for strange tales of the famous, not-so-famous and infamous who shaped Britain. Stories Jayne had discovered by walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats staying overnight in bed-and-breakfasts where she found unexpected stories in the literature provided by her hosts.

Her first slide showed the Parting Stone in the Grasmere Pass where brothers John and William Wordsworth parted — John on his voyage to China during which his vessel foundered with all hands lost.

From there, Jayne jumped to Wild Edric, who led English resistance to the Norman conquest and married Godda the fairy queen. The 11th century Brother Eilmer of Malmesbury came next, best known for his attempt at hand-gliding.

Hannah Twynnoy followed. She is believed to be the first person killed by a tiger in Britain; her story survives on her gravestone at Malmesbury Abbey. From Wiltshire, Jayne guided us to Totnes and tales of the women of Albion.

We then learnt Boudica is thought to be buried under platforms eight and nine of King’s Cross station. Closer to home, Jayne told us the story of the Maharajah’s Well in Stoke Row donated to the village by the Maharaja of Benares.

The well is almost 100m deep — almost the level of the River Thames. Next, we heard about the village of Gotham.

The inhabitants feigned “contagious stupidity” to avoid King John building a highway which would have been paid for by taxing the residents. St Cuthbert, wonder worker and Hermit of Lindisfarne, followed. He foresaw the Viking raiders and prayed in the waters of the North Sea. He died in 687 and was buried on Lindisfarne. When his remains were moved years later, it was found his body had not decomposed!

Finally, Jayne told us about the Shetland Bus, which operated a link between Shetland and German-occupied Norway during the Second World War bringing refugees by fishing vessel, often through horrendous weather conditions.

Join us for afternoon tea on Saturday, July 5, from 2pm to 5pm in Peppard war memorial hall. Entry is £5 in aid of Peppard Primary School and Peppard WI, free entry for accompanied children. There will be a sales table and cakes to buy as well as eat. All are welcome.

Jennifer Smith

REMENHAM

THE June meeting commenced with Daphne Austen giving a report on the recently held virtual National Federation annual meeting. It had been an interesting day of talks and discussions which was attended by several members of the Remenham group.

Madeline Baynes had accepted the invitation to the Alexander Devine Hospice and she reported an enjoyable morning, which included a tour of the building and the facilities for the children.

Members were delighted to welcome Judi Rowlands, a fellow WI member from Cockpole Green, to their June meeting.

Judi began her talk on corn dollies with a short and fascinating history on their origins. Judi then demonstrated how to make a simple dolly – and she made it look so simple! This was followed by members choosing their straws, tying in the right places and plaiting and flattening as instructed.

There was much chatter, encouragement and laughter and everyone succeeded in making their own dolly. Some members then went on to create a more intricate style. It was declared to be an excellent afternoon.

The afternoon finished by admiring all the craftwork while enjoying a delightful tea.

The book club met again, to discuss their latest book, The War Artist by Jan Casey. This followed a group of ladies who had been selected to travel through Britain, drawing scenes from everyday life — ladies working in factories, men sifting through bombed areas, nurses working in hospitals etc.

All this helped to retain for posterity the many and varied war scenes which may otherwise have been lost for ever.

The next book is Tinker, Tailor, Schoolmum, Spy, by Faye Brann.

The group was very sad to have learned of the death of Sheila Constantinidi. Sheila had been a member and avid supporter of Remenham WI for very many years. She was always great company with a tremendous sense of humour and she will be greatly missed.

Daphne Austen

SHIPLAKE

OUR President, Sue Lines, welcomed everyone to the meeting including one new member.

Joan Jolley is hoping to prepare a postbox topper for display at Christmas and asked members who can knit or crochet to contribute to this project.

The Big Help Out at the memorial hall took place on Monday, June 23. Helpers tidied the garden and surrounding area while other members provided refreshments.

On Sunday, July 20, the memorial hall will be celebrating its 100th birthday. Lots of people will be attending the various activities on the site and our WI members will provide drinks and refreshments. It was agreed that any profits from this would be passed on to the hall trustees.

Susan Partridge updated the information for our visit to Woodlands Garden in Marlow on August 20. Sue is organising a tour of legal London on September 9 and this will include visiting the Old Bailey.

This month’s speaker was Jim Macleod, talking about “The history of the traditional toastmaster”.

He wore his full toastmaster uniform complete with red tailcoat and all associated items, which were numerous and quite surprising. The red tailcoat is worn to avoid being mistaken as a waiter! His anecdotes were many and very amusing. We could have listened to him for longer but time ran out. The toastmaster is still in great demand for formal functions and is a uniquely British role.

There will be no speaker at our July meeting as it is our summer tea party. Members have been asked to donate prizes for the raffle.

Judy Rolstone

SONNING COMMON

WHAT a splendid speaker, or rather a group of five speakers, we had at our June meeting.

Lou Barton and her team came from the Owl Conservation Project, complete with three adorable owls, who sat patiently on a gloved hand as the girls spoke. A tawny owl, a short-eared owl and a little owl caused many oohs and ahhs from us as we watched.

This is a great project which sets out to save and preserve the British owl population, some of which are in decline due to loss of habitat and other mishaps, such as road traffic and predators.

Producing up to three broods each year, youngsters often appear to have fallen out of the nest. They implored us not to pick them up, a parent is likely to be watching and, as owls can climb, the youngster will likely rescue itself by climbing back into the tree.

The group had brought along fundraising merchandise, which we helped the project by snapping up, excuse the pun, earrings, keyrings and cards.

The competition of a bird picture or ornament was won appropriately by our president’s pottery owl. Many flower stems were brought in and admired.

Final preparations were made for the cake stall at the village day a few days later, which went very well.

We were easily sold out and two cakes were donated to Fish office and the library for their own consumption, in recognition of their kind work in serving the community with tea and cake afternoons each month.

All contributors were thanked for their generosity of time and cakes, often both.

We noted that the resolution on “Bystanders can be lifesavers” was, not surprisingly, passed at the recent national annual meeting, and we will hope to play our part in spreading the word.

Some of us had watched on Zoom and found it an interesting meeting and an easy way to feel part of it without the need to travel far.

Having started our new programme, we now have new and interesting subjects to look forward to, not to mention our annual picnic which is coming up soon. Already we are talking about the grand Christmas lunch! Happy summer to everyone!

Penny Noble

STOKE ROW

WHAT a gloriously warm and sunny evening we had for our annual garden meeting held this year at Stella Kendall’s house in Checkendon.

We enjoyed a glass of wine over business, which was swiftly followed by a delicious “pot luck” buffet supper provided by our members.

The evening continued with garden games when members tried their hand at boules, quoits, croquet and darts as well as the traditional tabletop games of bagatelle and shove ha’penny.

Some of our members regularly play croquet so they were on hand to coach others. Others tackled the now legendary quiz or caught up with friends. The evening just wasn’t long enough to try everything! It was a fun evening and we thank Stella for hosting such an enjoyable event.

We have a number of members who are keen walkers and this month the walk was organised by Isobel Green who led our walking group around the wooded perimeter of Woodcote. This was followed by a lovely tea served in the garden at Isobel’s house. Thank you for a lovely afternoon, Isobel.

At our next meeting in July Tony Boffin will be telling us all about Lord Nuffield and his work and in August we will be taking a sail along the Kennet and Avon Canal by horse-drawn barge.

We also have regular craft and book groups, swimming and walking events as well as a monthly coffee and chat via Zoom.

For more information, please contact our secretary via stokerowwi@oxfordshire
wi.co.uk

Denise Stanworth

WHITCHURCH HILL

LIFE in Whitchurch Hill WI continues to be of enjoyment and interest.

In recent weeks we have been busy collecting and distributing welcome packs for the Royal Berkshire Hospital and unwanted spectacles for onward dispatch to Africa. Our “knit and natter” group does a lot towards such things while at the same time providing a really social opportunity for members to enjoy.

Continuing on the social theme we enjoyed a stunning strawberry tea in June, where we raised funds for Macmillan nurses. This will be followed shortly by a pub lunch and on the following afternoon a croquet afternoon in Caversham.

Back in our more formal setting we enjoyed a talk in June on music and stories complete with the history of an amazing array of piped instruments through the ages.

Very captivating. Coming up we are looking forward to a talk on the Post Office and if recent times are anything to go by that should be a good morning too.

Locals and guests are very welcome to join us at any of our monthly meetings. You would receive a warm welcome. For more information, please contact Frances on 0118 984 2162.

Sally Bergmann

WOODCOTE

SALLY Lambert welcomed the members to our June meeting and we welcomed new members June Bone and Sylvia Parr.

The birthday girls this month are Gillian Seymour, Penny Edwards and June Bone, we hope they enjoyed themselves.

The homes and gardens trip at the beginning of July will be to Millets Farm, where there will be a chance to see a falconry display.

The lunch club this month will be visiting the Highwayman, thank you to Sally for organising this outing.

Our speaker, Jane Fletcher, gave us so many ideas for making the most of our memories in the home, sorting our stuff, ideas for making the most of what possessions we have and actioning the ideas! I can’t wait to put it into practice.

This was followed by a delicious tea, thank you to Wendy Muchamore and her merry band of helpers.

The competition for “your most useful personal possession” was won by Barbara George with a bottle opener and bloom of the month was won by Shirley Bryant with a beautiful peony.

Next month we will be playing bingo, organised by Kerry Jones and Debbie Emmett.

Come and join us on the third Wednesday of the month in the village hall for a 2.30pm start, you’ll be most welcome.

Judy Williams