Horsham Normandy W.I.

Ute, Sue and Lesley attended the Christmas Taster Day – no food in sight!               Christmas Decorations were on the menu. We, together with about 50 ladies from West Sussex W.I.’s, tried our hand at Paper Flowers, Beaded Snowflakes, Fabric Decorations and Folded Fabric Cones.

Beads that scatter when you only want one. Beads that won’t stay on the wire and then there’s the glue! Paper flowers bloomed in decorative jars, fabric decorations requiring a degree in Origami and fabric cones in many hues. We all managed to produce recognisable items to take home.

It was good to meet up with members from other W.I.’s, exchange ideas and generally chat, although at times silence descended as concentration levels rose. A most enjoyable day.

Our thanks to Lesley for this report of the latest Federation activity.

Oyez! Oyez!

After a rousing rendition of Jerusalem by members of the many WIs in West Sussex, not to be outdone, the Worthing Town Crier announced the arrival of the Mayor of Worthing and escorted him to his seat. So began a very interesting day.

The business part of the morning completed, Melanie Gibson-Barton gave a thought-provoking talk on the Somme and her quest to identify the graves of soldiers from the Folkestone area.

Our speaker after lunch was John Benjamin, one of the jewellery experts from the Antiques Roadshow. His journey from a seventeen year old who did not know what he wanted to do to where he is today was most entertaining.

The afternoon ended with a short talk by Jane Probitts, National Trustee and Chair of the Craft Committee.

This brief teaser of  events was submitted by Lesley but we look forward to hearing more about this day from Pam at our own Annual General Meeting.

Our President did what she loves and baked cakes!  Then she opened up her home for members and friends to enjoy the fruits of her labours in support of the MacMillan Cancer Care Charity. Even the very wet weather during the morning didn’t deter her enthusiasm or her supporters. The weather was undoubtedly kinder during the afternoon and more supporters continued to enjoy the delicious range of cakes available for our delight. Not only were we indulged with the splendid cakes we had the opportunity to be pampered with a hand care treatment provided by one of her daughters. The icing on the cake so to speak was that a lot of money was raised for this worthy charity close to our hearts. Thank You

Linda, our President, kindly gave her time, energy and home to a coffee morning/afternoon in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. Assisted by some of our excellent bakers the display of cakes was impressive. There was Lemon Sponge, Coffee and Walnut, Parkin, Ginger Cake, cupcakes & traybakes. There were cakes still being assembled and then there was Death By Chocolate.

The wet morning weather was unable to prevent us from turning out and family, friends and neighbours arrived all happy to eat cake.

The sun arrived for the afternoon  and visitors were able to partake tea in the courtyard garden.

Many of us have reason to be grateful to the MacMillan nurses and this is a fun way to show our support. A total of nearly £400 was raised.

Sixteen of the regular craft group accepted the invitation extended by the Chesterton Court ladies to use their recreation lounge for a full day workshop. Encouraged by the federation day earlier in the year we recalled our tutor Freda to instruct us on the art of the Temari ball. Despite the frustrations along the way we all had an enjoyable day with a chance to get to know one another.With a choice of homemade cake for afternoon tea we were very happy ladies.

Ute kindly supplied the photo of some of our efforts.

It is hoped that a small selection of temari balls will be available at the November craft sale as they make terrific Christmas tree decorations.

Our W.I.branch was recently successful in gaining an award from Tanbridge House School Community & Charity Support Fund. In keeping with our fund application we have purchased supplies to support the Neonatal Unit at East Surrey Hospital. A couple of our members had fun choosing these lovely yarns for our ladies who knit cardigans, hats and blankets for the premature babies.

We also bought many metres of  wadding to make mattresses for the incubator units; this added comfort improves the  development of these early, vulnerable babies.

This grant was enhanced by the generosity of C&H Fabrics who gave a discount on this bulk buy, further extending our purchasing power.

The few remaining pounds bought yarn from the St Catherine’s Hospice shop with a view to knitting the twiddle muffs for dementia patients. We are most grateful for the support Tanbridge House School and C&H Fabrics have shown to us supporting local projects.

With encouragement and enthusiasm from some of our newer members we entered more classes than ever in this summer show. Our skills were tested and expanded in the production of our exhibits, and generally we were pleased with the results, and felt that the judges comments were fair and encouraging.

In the Alfresco Afternoon collective class we aimed to evoke the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady and were pleased that the judge picked up on this theme. The beautiful stitching of Clare & Gill, and tasty baking by Anita all earned good marks with a total collective score of 86.5/100.

Well done to all our exhibitors, we are proud of you.

A Spring day out was organised to Denbies Vineyard at Dorking. The Ladies joined a tour of the winemaking facility which ended with a wine tasting that was much enjoyed.

After the tour, the group stayed to take lunch in the restaurant. The warm spring weather encouraged some of the group to walk to the top of the ridge and admire the views across to Dorking.

Our thanks go to Lesley for all her hard work organising a successful and fun  day.

The Chichester Canal Walk & Talk was so popular that the event was run over 2 days in a total of four sessions. The talk was a new venture for the Canal Volunteers and they put together a presentation about the history, regeneration  and future of the canal. This was followed by the walk along part of the canal with another volunteer who was a wildlife specialist. This enthusiastic group have done much to revive this area of Chichester into a attractive amenity that is now an integral part of the leisure and transport facility in the city. With classic views, glorious weather and delicious biscuits made by Jan Marsden both days were enjoyable occasions.

Four of our members went to the recent temari ball workshop. Freda explained the history of these exquisite toys and set us to making a simple design. Technically these balls are easy to make with a few simple stitches but we soon realised that care and finesse is needed to create these colourful patterns. These are our efforts at the end of the day.