Around the Women’s Institutes

BENSON

WE welcomed Tracy Comber, of the Benson Area Nature Group, to talk to us for our September meeting.

She spoke of its current projects and the aims for our green spaces, many of which have undergone major changes with the large housing developments in our village.

The group’s work on Benson’s green spaces and the immediate surrounding areas includes consultations with residents and schools and holding events to emphasise various issues affecting our natural environment.

Events for participation have included moth and butterfly counts, monitoring our chalk stream and brooks and inputting to neighbourhood planning for the new developments.

The group is currently liaising with the parish council over the installation of an orchard on the Cuckoo Pen’s land by the allotments. A very busy group.

The day before the meeting, 12 of our members had a lovely “River Readings” outing on the Hibernia from Henley.

Four guest actors recited a mix of prose and poetry from works inspired by the River Thames. This was part of the Henley Literary Festival and our trip was funded by a bursary award from the Oxfordshire Federation of WIs.

Prior to boarding the Hibernia, a group of members met for a very pleasant lunch at Viv’s Café in Henley. All agreed it was a really enjoyable afternoon.

During the same week, our president and secretary represented Benson at an open day at Tackley head office to celebrate 110 years of the WI. On show were some lovely displays and included was Benson WI’s pennant and our embroidered square forming part of a larger tapestry.

For our next meeting, in Benson parish hall on Wednesday, October 22 at 2.30pm, we will be hearing all about the power of herbs with Sarah Turton.

Sarah is a master medicinal herbalist and iridologist. Her talk is titled “Plants, patterns and possibility — a herbalist perspective on healing”. Visitors are always welcome, entry is £5, along with any potential new members. For more information, contact the secretary on 07789 303905 or bensonwi@oxfordshirewi.co.uk

Sue Brown

CAVERSHAM

WE held our usual monthly meeting in September and, later, joined with other local WIs to meet together one afternoon.

It was lovely to meet new ladies from across the wider area, to catch up with old acquaintances and hear what other branches are doing throughout the year.

At the first meeting, Jennifer Cowling explained how your balance, brain and fitness are interrelated and the importance of staying active. She showed us how easy it can be to build in activities into your daily routine.

At the second meeting, Jo Fageant talked us through a lifetime of service to the Royal Family, with snippets teased from a suitcase of memories. The respect and thanks shown from the royals was remarkable.

We will report on our October meeting as usual but, for our meeting on November 4, we are going to trial meeting at 2pm. We will be hosting table games such as rummikub and scrabble cards.

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 at caver shamwi@berkshirewi.co.uk) if you would like to join us.

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

CHAZEY

MARGARET Keen introduced Alan Copeland, who gave a most interesting talk entitled “Eccentric London”.

The accompanying slideshow made us realise that we need to look up at statues and carvings which are often much higher on the buildings.

Tea and cake was followed by the business meeting where plans were made for an outing and Christmas lunch.

The group meets at 2.30pm on the first Friday of each month in St Andrew’s Hall, Albert Road, Caversham, and it is always pleased to welcome new members.

CLEEVE-BY-GORING

CLEEVE Women's Institute is now in its 64th year and continues to have a lively membership of around 50.

Our September meeting speaker was Jane Stubbs, talking about “How women won the vote”. She is a return visitor to Cleeve and gave a lively talk about the suffragettes and the suffragists.

Our monthly meetings this year have also included speakers on cleaning up the River Thames, Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital and first aid.

Still to come this autumn is an evening of a capella music, a talk on Berkshire Women’s Aid and a traditional Christmas celebration with the Goring Chamber Choir.

In addition, we hold a monthly book group, a quarterly lunch and occasional social gatherings. In June, we enjoyed strawberries and fizz at Nuns Acre and our summer party had us singing and quizzing down the decades.

Six members recently walked round Howbery Park, as part of Walk the World for Water, and we will be visiting the Hearing Dogs Centre at Princes Risborough.

We hope many of you joined us at Goring Lock in August for “Lock Teas”, together with the Goring and Streatley Concert Band. Our tea and cakes raised money for Wallingford Food Bank, Goring and Streatley Concert Band and the Friends of Goring Library.

As well as local events, members are able to attend meetings and outings organised by National and Oxfordshire Federation. Members this year have attended talks on Ukraine, speakers’ selection days, outings to Malvern Show and Crossness Pumping Station in London.

The Oxfordshire Federation even runs an annual holiday and some members went to York at Christmas last year and to Kent in spring this year. These are based on a coach trip, with many organised visits to towns and interesting properties. There’s also time for leisure.

We have also continued to work with other organisations in the village and assist at the Repair Café, the poppy making, Goring in Bloom and litter pick. “Crafty” members have also knitted postbox toppers.

If you want to join us and have some good company and fun during the winter evenings, it’s the second Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm in Storton Lodge.

Chris Cox

COCKPOLE GREEN

SEVEN members enjoyed a fascinating history walk around Sonning on September 17 organised by Sonning Glebe WI on behalf of the Berkshire Federation.

The area has a rich history dating back to Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It features traditional brick and timber houses, narrow lanes and a medieval bridge that connects the village to Oxfordshire.

Notable landmarks include St Andrew’s Church, the Mill at Sonning (a theatre and restaurant) and the renowned pub, the Bull Inn, mentioned in Three Men in a Boat.

The Holme Park estate, originally the Bishops’ Palace lands, changed hands several times — from the bishops to royal control, then to private owners (Rich family, Palmer family), with subsequent rebuilding. Eventually, Reading Blue Coat School moved there.

Three more members joined the walkers for a delicious ploughman’s lunch at the Pearson Hall where we had the chance to chat with members of other WI branches from across the county and, of course, the lunch concluded with cake.

Members then rushed back to Crazies Hill for the monthly meeting where we were treated to amazing insights into the care of our jewellery.

Our president, Judi Rowlands, shared her knowledge of everything from wrapping pearl necklaces so that they do not knock against each other in their box, the right way to open and close a jump ring if a necklace becomes damaged and the recipe for cleaning tarnished silver (which seemed to bear some resemblance to a recipe for lemon drizzle cake).

While she imparted these top tips, most members had managed to ease off a ring or two which Judi placed in her magical ultrasound machine. At the end of the meeting the rings were returned to us in glittering splendour — alongside the cries of delight at seeing how beautiful they looked were comments about how we would all make the effort to keep our rings cleaner in future.

On Sunday, September 21, members took part in River Action’s WaterBlitz, a large-scale community science event dedicated to monitoring and protecting the health of local waterways.

During the event, hundreds of volunteers are mobilised to collect water samples from rivers, streams and lakes across the region. Each sample is tested for important indicators such as nitrates, phosphates and pH levels, providing valuable data on water quality. This collective effort generates a comprehensive snapshot of the state of our waterways, informing conservation strategies and highlighting areas in need of attention.

Sheila Williams and Sheila Brockelbank

HARPSDEN-GREYS

OUR president, Susan Beswick, welcomed 21 members to the meeting and outlined three further meetings. We are going to a specially arranged coffee morning at Thames Hospice, the Beechwood group meeting in November and our annual lunch at Henley Golf Club, instead of the normal monthly meeting.

She made a special mention of Pam Hails and thanked her very much for being treasurer for the last 20 years and asked for a volunteer to take her place. Susan also thanked all those who had donated books, plants and produce.

Almost everyone now has had some experience of scams or heard of the latest attempts so it was a pleasure to welcome Graham Davy, a police community support officer (Pcso), to talk to us about this criminal activity.

He emphasised that if a scam is suspected, it was important not to act immediately and to speak to another person before taking any action and not to respond to any call that refers to a bank or the police as neither will call you.

Cold callers must be rejected as it is important to initiate any work yourself, preferably after getting three quotes.

A doorbell camera can give extra security. Similarly if there is a member of the family who may need extra financial help, it is useful to have a secret family word which can be requested when money is being asked for. If any scam is suspected or perpetrated telephone Action Fraud on 0300 1232040.

Our next meeting is on October 8, when Jean Newman will introduce a craft to members.

We meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 2.30pm at Harpsden Hall and welcome visitors and new members.

Gwen Wilding

PEPPARD

MEMBERS and friends enjoyed an idyllic river cruise aboard Caversham Lady with a delicious cream tea on a fine day early in October from Caversham Bridge through delightful countryside to Pangbourne Bridge and back.

Some of us were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of an occasional kingfisher.

We went through Mapledurham Lock, passed the 15th century mill and Mapledurham House (or was it Toad Hall?) and the Purley postbox.

Hannah Bignell, of Rushy and Grace Florists, gave us a flower-arranging demonstration at our meeting on September 9 when we were pleased to meet again after the summer break.

She showed us the more environmentally sustainable alternatives to using oasis but actually only used chicken wire to create her beautiful centrepiece for a wedding feast with flowers from Holland, the UK and her garden.

As she worked, Hannah told us of her 16 years’ experience in the world of weddings.

Our usual delicious tea followed her talk. On October 8, Janice Fisher will be telling us about women in gardening. We meet in Peppard War Memorial Hall at 2pm — come and join us.

Jennifer Smith

REMENHAM

THE month started with several of the members manning the tea and cake stall at the Remenham Church Fayre.

The rain held off and there was a steady stream of customers buying slices of the delicious cakes made by the members and, of course, accompanied by countless cups of tea. A donation will be made to the church funds from the event.

At the meeting the next day, the group welcomed Dilip Amin, who talked passionately about the Battle of Britain Bunker. His talk about this secret operations room in a bunker at Uxbridge was accompanied by a range of fascinating and pertinent slides as illustrations.

In a darkened room, the atmosphere took on the feelings of a wartime blackout and it felt as though we were there, as reports of enemy sightings were received and routes were plotted on the maps as commands were given for attack! It was a fascinating afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed by all present.

The afternoon finished with another delightful tea and Rosemary won the raffle.

Several members met again a few days later for an informal tea gathering with Frances Plowman graciously hosting the event. There was a delightfully relaxed atmosphere with scones and cake and the range of conversations was immeasurable and it was amazing how much we found to talk about, again!

The book club will meet again at the end of the month to discuss their latest book, A Dog Named Boo, by Lisa Edwards. This is a true story about a dog who was the dunce of obedience classes but was able to change countless lives through his work as a therapy dog.

Daphne Austen

SHIPLAKE

OUR president, Sue, welcomed everyone back after the summer break during which time several members met up for a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum, a very worthwhile visit.

A trip to Evita was deemed to be very loud and not as good as the original. We also had a very good trip to Legal London visiting the Courts of Justice and the Old Bailey.

Members of our WI were congratulated on how well they had done at the Binfield Heath flower show, also members received a thank-you for their efforts in helping to make a success of the centenary celebration for Shiplake Memorial Hall.

A craft morning is to be held at Shiplake Meadows, led by Janet Matthews, when we will make Christmas tree and table decorations.

Members were reminded of the Beechwood Meeting being hosted by the Henley WI in Sacred Heart Hall on October 3.

Our speaker this month was Caroline Piller, talking on statues and sculptures in Reading town centre. Caroline was a teacher for many years and after retiring 10 years ago continued her interest in artwork around the Reading area. She showed photos of various pieces, giving us a bit of the history of the artists and their sculptures.

It was amazing to learn that a lot of us were unaware of the amount of statues that had gone unnoticed on our various trips to Reading.

Our Christmas lunch this year will be at the Baskerville Arms in Shiplake on December 3.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 15 at 2.30pm at Shiplake Memorial Hall.

Judy Rolstone

SONNING COMMON

WE received an interesting insight into some of the royal art held in many of the royal residences around Britain including some not always available for public viewing.

Past kings in particular have been avid collectors and these have been passed down to following monarchs.

Our speaker showed us mostly paintings but also furniture and jewellery. Our own display showed up some interesting treasures from our own members too.

Several of us joined Shiplake WI on its coach outing to the National Memorial Arboretum, which was a splendid day out with talks, a land train ride and free time for lunch and to explore the many, many memorials to the fallen from past wars and terrorism.

Particular highlights were the full marching band from the fire service and, of course, the WI memorial seat. This is an impressive dry wall construction by two women of an “S”-shaped seat in a peaceful setting near the river to commemorate any women who had fallen.

We are now back into our monthly routines of talks, social time and, naturally, the restart of our monthly Wednesday community coffee mornings in the village hall. The latter are open to all and their purpose is to provide an easy outlet for possibly people living on their own who do not see many others in the course of their month.

We have sales tables of jewelry, craft items etc and books to peruse or just chat with others over a drink and biscuit. We have raised a good deal of money since we began years ago and these profits are split between different local causes, chosen each time by members.

After our cuppa at the meeting, a photo was chosen to go to the group meeting of seven local WIs where we will hear from an advertising photographer and enjoy the company and food provided by HOT (Henley-on-Thames) WI. It is good to be back!

Penny Noble

STOKE ROW

AT our September meeting we had a come and try a craft evening. We have some very talented craftspeople among our members and six of them demonstrated an activity and encouraged other members to have a go.

Pumpkins were knitted and autumn wreaths were fashioned from textiles, which will be used as decorations at our October harvest supper.

Many of our members tried their hand at making paper tissue flowers creating a stunning bouquet to display at the end of the evening. Others tried flower arranging with the real thing, creating several beautiful table-top pieces. There was a quiet “Mindfulness” corner where our members could try the relaxing effect of adult colouring of some very intricate designs and also some very clever paper-folding demonstrated to create cute hedgehogs.

Four of our members joined us via Zoom to contribute to the business discussion at the start of the meeting but they stayed online to chat and see what we were making.

The village hall was buzzing as we chatted while working and all agreed what a fun evening it had been.

A big thank-you goes to Alison for arranging the evening and to our six members who brought their skills and their equipment with them to share with others.

We have an exciting autumn programme to look forward to with a harvest supper and ceilidh in October. At our next monthly meeting we are looking forward to hearing about the process of gin tasting from Oxgins, complete with samples to try.

There will also be regular meetings of our craft, book and drama groups, swimming, walking, theatre trips and coffee and chat sessions via Zoom.

For more information, contact our secretary via stokerowwi@oxfordshirewi.
co.uk

Denise Stanworth

WHITCHURCH HILL

WE sadly have to report the death of our dear friend and longstanding member Wendy Blow.

In her memory our next fundraising event will see the proceeds going to cancer charities who were very much there for her in her hour of need.Those local to Whitchurch Hill will see us at the Art Café in the Old Stables, Whitchurch, from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday, October 11.

As befits the WI, homemade cakes will be in abundance and a raffle will boost the amount raised. Everyone welcome.

Our speaker this month is Dillip Amin, who will be educating us about the war bunker at RAF Uxbridge.

Small world — it turns out he is an ex-colleague of my husband so a mini-reunion will undoubtedly take place!

Halloween is approaching and to mark the occasion we will be sitting down to a home-cooked lunch (courtesy of our very own gourmet chefs) on October 31 in the village hall. Dressing in Halloween attire is not required but invited.

For more information, contact our secretary, Frances, on 01189 842162.

Sally Bergmann

WOODCOTE

SALLY Lambert welcomed the members and a guest to our September meeting.

She thanked everyone who contributed to the Woodcote Fete where we had a stall and thankfully our gazebo stayed upright on a gusty day and the rain stayed away.

On October 25 we will be in the community coffee shop serving lots of lovely cakes, so please come and join us.

The lunch club this month will be going to the Packhorse pub. Thank you to Sally for organising this popular event.

Our speaker this month was Stuart Cummins, who spoke about “Victoriana”. It was fascinating to hear about the beginnings of modern day equipment that we take for granted, including a horse-drawn vacuum cleaner. We also had illustrations of the development of glass bottles so ornate, a far cry from the plastic bottles of today.

We had a lovely tea, thank you to Kerry Jones and Linda Ingham.

The item that won the competition for the oldest kitchen utensil was a herb chopper and the bloom of the month was won by Jenny Cotter with a stunning lobata.

In October we will have our “Harvest Bring and Share”, a quiz from Ann Larden and a collection for the food bank.

Join us on the third Wednesday of the month for a 2.30pm start in the village hall.

Judy Williams