News and pics

Members from Bradfield St Clare, Cockfield and Glemsford joined us for our March meeting when the delightful Lily Turner and her husband Adrian, shared the story of their Yum Yum Tree Fudge Company from kitchen range to thriving business. 

Lily used the phrase “The hobby that became a business” as she explained how her initial recipe, made for family and friends, led to perfecting something that melts in the mouth, isn’t overly sweet, is full of flavour and has become a commercial success whilst still remaining ‘home – made’.

Samples of 25 flavours of fudge were circulated and the intensity of each flavour was amazing; even those with no great love of fudge were converted. As Adrian explained, they respond to customers’ wishes to expand their range, using only the most pure, natural and concentrated flavours which can be difficult to source and expensive too. Rose, lavender and parma violet comprise the ‘floral’ tastes, while the children’s favourite, strawberries and cream, requires natural strawberry extract combined with beetroot juice to give the pink colour. 

For the daring, there were various chilli flavours, initially cool on the tongue but then the chilli kicks in with intensity. Members quickly identified their favourites – “Mmm … you just have to taste the mango”, “The salted caramel is fantastic!” “Wow –Belgian dark chocolate!”

Altogether, the company have created 80 flavours since they began, all are gluten free and there is a range for diabetics as well.

It was a most enjoyable evening, with lots of laughter and chat with Lily, Adrian and one another. 

After tea, coffee and biscuits members left carrying their purchases in Yum Yum Tree gift bags, whilst some lucky ladies had a raffle prize as well. 

The raffle raised £50 for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. It was such a pity that no-one from the village except WI members took advantage of this fun and absolutely free evening.

It takes more than a bitterly cold February night to deter our members from enjoying themselves. Hot tea and coffee and home – made biscuits were the prelude to everyone making some attractive gift boxes. 

Sue Lewis and Sue Hudson, two of our ‘craftiest’ members, demonstrated different styles of pillow boxes for us to make and offered a choice of patterned or glittery card to use.  A hush descended when members began drawing the templates onto the sheets of decorative card – the concentration was intense, but as the boxes began to take shape and everyone relaxed into the task, the chat and laughter started. 

It wasn’t long before members were adding ribbons and making card flowers as finishing touches and proudly sharing their finished efforts with one another.

Jean Whinney brought a breath of the Orient to our January meeting when she spoke of her travels in China. 

She spent 28 days soaking up the sights, sounds and culture of this enormous country and meeting some of its friendly and very hard working people. 

Jean made a representative selection of photos to show from the hundreds she had amassed to illustrate the amazingly decorated palaces, pavilions and courtyards of the Forbidden City, the incredible selection of fruits, vegetables, seafood and spices in the markets, the Terracotta Army, the Great Wall and Beijing’s awful pall of smog.

Our Christmas meal at The Mill Hotel in Sudbury in December did not disappoint – it was truly delicious as well as being expertly cooked and presented. 

The restaurant was filled with winter sunshine and the view of the water meadows through the hotel’s picture windows was delightful. 

As coffee and mince pies were served, members took part in a ‘What do you know about Sudbury?’ quiz. Two members proved that they knew a good deal, answering all 10 questions correctly.

In November members enjoyed drinks and nibbles and entertained one another with their favourite poems. 

Some were serious though most raised a laugh and it was recognised that there are several of our number with considerable acting skills!

The contradictions and restrictions that characterised Fidel Castro’s Cuba were explained in a colourful illustrated talk by Paula Short in October. 

She described how, in the 1960s and ‘70s, Cuba was one of the richest countries in the Caribbean with a famous health service, yet once the Soviet Union collapsed, trade with it ceased and many starved. 

Castro’s brother Raul took over in 2008, liberalising trade and allowing Cubans more freedom in their everyday lives.

In September 2017, some members attended the annual Group Meeting hosted this year by Bradfied St Clare WI. It was most interesting evening and full of laughs as the well- known raconteur, Charlie Haylock, entertained the large group of representatives from seven WIs. 

We were amazed when we won the competition with our baking – themed limerick and returned home with the chalice, awarded to the winners on these occasions. 

Back in Hartest that night, fellow members had been learning about the intriguing world of crime scene investigation and other forensic techniques with David Smith, an ex –policeman.

We were aware from a previous talk by Amanda Sutherland of her creative designing and making skills, some of which have a recycling theme; she fashions beautiful pendants and brooches from soft drink cans while her stylish neck pieces, cravats, turbans and money belts incorporate men’s ties and fake fur. On this occasion she took us on a fascinating journey through the changing trends in women’s fashions from the 1800s right through to 1950s. Amanda illustrated her talk using a rail of original garments and accessories and her encyclopaedic knowledge of fabrics, designs and fashion history were testament to her years in film, opera and theatrical costume design and as a costumier and bridal designer. She highlighted the importance of what women wore under their clothing from pads worn to mask the natural curve of the spine under the ‘straight up and down’, Empire line dresses of the 1800s to the tight corsets, panniers, petticoats and padded hip rolls in use by the 1840s as the waist ‘descended’ to become emphasised and skirts increased in fullness.

The 1800s inspired Amanda’s own wedding dress, which she designed and made herself. This she had displayed on a mannequin - a gorgeous creation in honey coloured silk with a sumptuous ruched skirt over hooped and layered petticoats, a bustle back, a swirled train and halter necked corset bodice. Ever practical, Amanda had fashioned the train so it could be hooked up for dancing at the reception and the halter was detachable also.

The voluminous Victorian skirts gave way in the 1900s to skirts so tight that ladies could barely walk. However the 1920s saw a fashion revolution with waists dropping and beautiful fine fabrics being used over underwear that masked and flattened the body’s natural curves. The 1920s all- in- one knitted swimsuit made us chuckle. It must have ‘bagged’ horribly when wet– no Lycra then! Luxury fabrics in stunning colours, the use of lace, applique and embroidery were natural casualties of war time and the 1940s and ‘make do and mend’ became essential. Amanda had examples of the bright turbans, pillbox hats and veiling that women used to dress up their drab utility clothing. She finished by focusing on Dior’s ‘New Look’ of the 1950s with its nipped in waists and brightly coloured voluminous skirts worn over bouffant petticoats, all of which were reminiscent of the dresses of the mid – 1800s.

Ever resourceful, our President, Lynne Webb and a founder member of Hartest WI, Jo Pask, stepped in when our summer programme had to be adjusted in July. Both ladies are trained midwives and kept members fascinated and amused as they recounted highlights from their midwifery training and their experiences in hospitals and the community once they had qualified.  

They recalled the days when   it was essential that a midwife knew the whereabouts of every phone box and always had a purse full of pennies with which to make calls –mobile phones were unheard of. Likewise, getting to and from a birth meant cycling there (as made famous by the cast of ‘Call the midwife’), catching a bus or hitching ride on a farm tractor. It was some considerable time before Lynne was able to drive to and from her clients in her trusty Morris Minor.  

Both Jo and Lynne witnessed significant affluence where they worked as well as abject poverty, both in England and abroad. Their experiences had been challenging and exciting but also disturbing. In a hostel in Sydney Australia, Jo had delivered the babies of girls who came in from the bush. The girls then returned to the bush, leaving their babies behind to be adopted.  

Lynne talked about a number of animal encounters that made everyone chuckle. Having delivered a baby she went to make a cup of tea in the kitchen and found baby Chinese Water Snakes crawling everywhere; on another occasion a mother’s Dalmatian dog had given birth to 8 puppies which were capering around the kitchen and in the terraced houses of Middlesbrough she often found rabbits in the bed, which were being kept to supplement the family diet.

Our May meeting incorporated elements of serious business and light – hearted social time. This the month when our Annual Meeting is held, the previous year is reviewed and officers and a committee for the next 12 months are decided. The current President, Secretary and Treasurer remain in office and the committee as well, despite pleas for new committee members on a full, trial or P/T basis. The serious bit over, we indulged in slightly alcoholic ‘cocktails’, savoury nibbles and divulged ‘confessions’ (a la Simon Mayo). There weren’t that many forthcoming, but there were some that must remain for WI ears only!

On a very blustery, warm June day, 17 members travelled to Monks Eleigh to watch a display by raptors from the Lavenham Falconry. The birds’ handler, Steve, introduced us first to Gadget, a delightful female barn owl, who had been raised from a chick. Her flight was silent and graceful as she sailed from his gauntlet to the three perches positioned around the meadow. Gadget called constantly, responding by returning to his glove when a morsel of raw chicken appeared between her handler’s fingers. Barn owls suffer significantly from loss of habitat, poisoning, flying into moving vehicles and power lines and long spells of wet weather. Their silent flight is assured by having no waterproofing on their feathers; once they get wet, they cannot fly and catch prey, so they and their chicks starve.

The second ‘star’ of the show was Treacle, a female Harris hawk who was elegant, seemingly haughty but actually very placid and affectionate.  Her name was apt with glossy dark brown plumage, chestnut shoulders and wing linings and white tipped tail. Much larger than the owl, and native to SW USA, Harris hawks are unique amongst raptors as they hunt in family groups to catch larger prey than would otherwise be possible. Whilst majestic in her swooping flight, Treacle was quite happy on the ground too, walking by our feet and then sitting patiently on Steve’s gauntlet as members gently stroked her soft feathers.

Which activity requires you to spend 11 months away from your family, much of that time cold, soaked to the skin, sleep – deprived, exhausted, unable to shower or wash your hair for stretches of 5 weeks or more and costs you £50,000? Bridget Keevil gave us the answer in her amusingly illustrated and self - deprecating talk, The Fat Bird and The Boat. She introduced herself as a tubby, middle aged, unfit travel agent who had seen a poster asking “Are you ready for the race of your life?” and had replied an emphatic “Yes, piece of cake!” without even knowing what sort of race it was.

Starting at St Catherine’s Dock in London, this was a race around the world for people who had never sailed. Each tiny 70ft boat was crewed by 20 novices with just 4 weeks basic training and one experienced skipper. All the bunks on board were ‘hot bunks’, i.e. there were only 10 and they had to be shared, each crew member being locked into a constant 4 hours on watch and 4 hours off regime, with no rest days.

Bridget encountered phenomena that terrified her such as tornado - like water spouts which pitched the boat up and dashed it down elsewhere and walls of water created by tremendous storms. Equally there were experiences that amazed, like the school of whales that breached constantly around the boat as it sailed into Cape Town.

Tenacious, plucky, resourceful and surprisingly competent (especially in keeping the crew fed!), Bridget left us in awe of what she had endured (including a badly cut cheek and a broken arm), been challenged by and achieved.

2017 has started off really well with two most enjoyable meetings. We made sure that the cold weather, bills and post – Christmas lull of January were well and truly forgotten as we settled down to watch the Alan Bennett ‘classic’ film, The Lady in the Van,  accompanied by plates of hot sausage rolls, assorted savoury nibbles and glasses of Buck’s Fizz. Perhaps the seating wasn’t as stylish as the Abbeygate Cinema, but that establishment doesn’t offer unlimited savouries and drinks at a screening or a seat guaranteed to be next to a good friend from the WI.

February’s meeting was very different but equally entertaining. Jacqui Curtis, a holistic therapist and herself a WI member, focused on the use of essential oils and massage. With humour and wit Jacqui talked through the uses of a range of therapeutic oils – neroli, jasmine, rosemary, lavender, ginger, chamomile, tea tree, rose and eucalyptus, while samples, as oils or creams, were circulated to smell and rub on the skin. She demonstrated how to massage the hands of a recipient with their preferred oil and how to relieve tension and stiffness in the neck and shoulders using forearm massage. The session then became truly interactive as members practised on one another’s hands and shoulders and tried out Jacqui’s ‘toys’ for massaging the scalp and back. The hall was filled with enthusiastic chatter, laughter and a delightful cocktail of natural aromas.

Hartest and District Xmas Meeting

With the party season beginning, WI members were not going to be without their share of festive fun. The December meeting was titled ‘Fun, Fizz and Fish ’n Chips’ and the fun element was provided by Hilary Foreman and her team, Sue Lewis, Mo Rocknean and Val Seal. They arranged members in teams and each team worked together on a carousel of timed party games which tested everyone’s patience, skill and ingenuity. It was great fun trying to beat the clock transferring dried peas from one bowl to another using drinking straws, making mini crosswords using just 12 Scrabble tiles and trying to create the longest length possible of multi-coloured paper chains.

A familiar and delicious aroma heralded the arrival of a fish and chip supper and members sat down to huge portions of crisply battered fish, piles of chips and bread and butter. Everyone enjoyed glasses of Buck’s Fizz and put their knives and forks down temporarily to pull crackers, read the corny jokes and put on their paper hats. A hot cup of tea or coffee and homemade mince pies completed the meal.

Members were full of praise for this very different Christmas meeting and relished playing party games as well as having the opportunity to catch up with friends over a delicious meal and a glass or two of something fizzy.

Hartest and District WI October Meeting

Our October meeting was really special as we were hosting the annual Group Meeting. This involves a group of geographically close WIs getting together to enjoy a particularly excellent entertainment or speaker, refreshments and one another’s company.

Approximately 60 ladies from 6 WIs gathered in the Institute and the proceedings opened with the singing of ‘Jerusalem’. This was followed by a short business session and the drawing of tickets for a number of rather covetable prizes. Our speaker was Edward Crichton, auctioneer with Lacy Scott and Knight. Each WI had brought along two antiques for him to appraise and one item that they considered could become an antique of the future.

Edward began by making everyone chuckle, “Constable painted 2,000 pictures, 3,000 of which are in America” and his fascinating and expert talk continued in this vein. He began his career as a sale room porter and became captivated by what he learned about antiques and their intriguing back stories. Twenty years in the business has built on this experience and continually adds to his reservoir of knowledge.

He examined each of the items brought along in detail and spoke about its age, composition, and specific features as well as giving an approximate value. Edward kept his audience completely engaged while he spoke, the ladies laughing and smiling throughout and occasionally gasping with amazement at some of the astronomical prices that certain objects and artwork command. When Edward finished, the loud and sustained applause reflected the audience’s admiration and satisfaction.

Hartest members then provided a wonderful buffet of sandwiches and cakes with plentiful cups of tea and coffee to finish the evening.

Knitting without Needles

Some of the members of Hartest and District WI were very interested in magazine Issue 78.

So a group of us got together and fuelled by numerous cups of tea and coffee, cakes and flapjacks we decided to give it a go, (a few members came along as spectators and tea makers just in case we got too tangled up!!)

We struggled with the `casting on`, but once we got going there was no stopping us and we powered on feeling very smug.  After a couple of laughter filled hours we ended up with some lovely warm snoods which were worn home!

Hartest and District WI September Meeting

We were most grateful to a well – known local resident, Mary Gough, for stepping in at the last minute to speak at our September meeting. Mary had never addressed a WI before, but drew skilfully on her long experience in the hotel business to reminisce and make us laugh. She brought along various pictures to help illustrate her stories and her beautiful MBE medal that she was awarded in 1990 for services to the hotel industry.

Together with her late husband Dick, Mary faced a ‘baptism of fire’ when they took over the Bull at Long Melford in 1959. They were working for Trust House Ltd (later Trust House Forte) and found themselves in a run-down hotel that she described as “on its knees”, without main drainage and with one toilet for staff and guests alike. Undaunted they managed to turn an unloved building with no amenities into a well – appointed hotel with a reputation for fine wines and good food.

Mary made clear that in the 60s there was little or no training available for anyone wanting to make a career in the hotel industry. She said that staff were recruited mainly on the basis of their ability to smile. Her principle was “Send us young people who can smile – we’ll teach them the rest.” Successful and in demand, Dick and Mary were promoted to a hotel in Surrey but they only stayed a year as they had plans to be their own bosses. With some financial help from a businessman and a lot of hard work, they purchased the gloomy and spider – infested White Hart at Great Yeldham which, unsurprisingly, began to thrive under the Gough’s management.

In 1973 the Angel in Bury St Edmunds was purchased and Mary amazed us all by saying that of the 51 bedrooms only two were ensuite and all the linen and blankets had utility marks on them; a very far cry from the elegant and sumptuous 80 bedroom hotel that graces the town today.

Hartest & District visit to Suffolk Punch, July 2016

Yet again we were blessed with fine weather for a summer trip out and nine ladies enjoyed a very pleasurable day at the Suffolk Punch Trust. The centre manager, ushered us into the film theatre and gave us a short introduction to the Trust. She spoke about how it had come into being in the nick of time as the Suffolk Punch horse had been in danger of dying out completely. Currently, despite all the Trust’s hard work, the Punch remains more endangered than the World Wildlife Fund’s famous ‘poster boy’, the Giant Panda. After a coffee in the cafe, we went on a circular tour of the Trust grounds on a tractor and trailer. One of the young volunteers gave a commentary throughout the ride and he was both informative and humorous. We saw the handsome stallion Achilles showing off his magnificent physique and the various mares, geldings and colts who were out grazing. Our guide could name them all with ease, but the rich Punch chestnut colour seemed so much a feature of every horse that we found it almost impossible to tell them apart. Later, we wandered around the stables and were rewarded with the gentle nosing and obvious enjoyment of human touch by the horses. For s uch massive and imposing creatures, their placid and tolerant nature is arguably their most remarkable feature. Colony Cuthbert, a foal who is 4 months old, was particularly affectionate.

Also in the stables we discovered May and Toffee, two tiny Shetland mares with remarkably similar colouring to that of the Suffolk Punches. Alongside the Shetlands were two pens, one of which housed a dainty quail and half a dozen chicks, miniatures of their mother. The other was occupied by a fluffy white Ixworth chicken and her chicks. These chickens were first bred in the village of Ixworth and by 1970 the breed had almost died out. They remain rare to this day.  Everyone made a tour of the Heritage Garden which is stocked with a wide range of plants, shrubs and trees that originate in Suffolk. Initially the ground was ploughed, fittingly, by two of the Trust’s Punches and sown with grass seed using an antique hand drill.

An orchard of old Suffolk varieties of fruit trees occupies the rear of the garden, whilst grass paths and flower beds have been laid out for visitors to wander along and admire

Hartest and District WI visit to Lodge Farm, Westhorpe, June 2016  

We were looking forward to a visit to Lodge Farm after a fascinating talk in 2015 about its uniqueness in terms of philosophy and operation. The farm is the base for farming cousins Brian and Patrick Barker, whose efforts in marrying hard – headed business principles with sustainability and preserving many threatened farmland plants and animals have been hugely successful.

The evening was perfect – warm and dry after so much rain on previous days. We were a little early in arriving but it gave us a chance to take in the views of the surrounding countryside. We also had an opportunity to meet Claire Barker, Brian’s mum, as she came across a meadow to greet us along with the three dogs she had been walking.

We were taken round the farm along with 27 ladies from Mendlesham WI, to see exactly how the Barker Boys ‘practice what they preach’. We all climbed onto a trailer fitted with bench seats and hitched to a tractor then Brian took up position in the tractor cab to ‘drive’. Patrick and Claire rode at the rear of the trailer, Patrick explaining that ‘drive’ was something of a misnomer, as all their vehicles are guided by GPS and only a joystick is required to steer.

At strategic points during the tour the trailer stopped so that Patrick and Brian could take turns in telling us about the farm’s history. They also explained how their aim to run a commercial modern farm producing high yielding, high standard crops while maximising wildlife diversity, works in practice. Both cousins are ardent conservationists, though for Patrick this role comes first and foremost. His knowledge of the farm’s wildlife from insects and flowers to birds and mammals is encyclopaedic and he drew on it continuously as we journeyed round.

We stopped by one of the 30 ponds on the farm, all of which have had to be brought back to life by dredging and the clearing of choking weed. These ponds have become safe havens for Great Crested Newts, various frogs and toads, dragonflies, kingfishers and a host of other pond dwellers. The birdsong around us was a delightful and when asked to name which birds were singing, Patrick didn’t hesitate before identifying a blackbird, thrush, stock dove and robin, whilst almost on cue, a buzzard came into view, circling overhead.

As the trailer continued the tour we passed expanses of wild flowers, the result of sowing wild bird seed mix. These provide many species of birds with a valuable food source by bridging the ‘hungry gap’ but also giving the first year fledglings the opportunity to develop and grow as they are so important for providing the breeding population for the following year. Patrick described how full of birds these areas of seed mix are through the winter and flocks of up to 300 birds can be counted with yellowhammers, linnets, greenfinches and chaffinches the most common species. Boxes for owls and harriers were visible high above us on tree trunks and Patrick explained that the more ‘open’ boxes suited the harriers whilst the more traditional closed ones were favoured by the owls.

Before we turned to come back to the farmhouse, the trailer halted by a three arched Tudor bridge over the moat of Westhorpe Hall. The Hall now houses a care home which owned and run by the Barker family. Brian related the romantic yet sad story of the hall, which once was a massive, imposing Tudor manor house, the home of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, Queen of France, daughter of Henry VII. Here they raised their children, Henry Brandon (who died aged 6), Frances, mother of Lady Jane Grey, Eleanor and Henry, 1st Earl of Lincoln. Sadly, Mary died aged 35. Her funeral was lavish and the people of Suffolk mourned the passing of a great lady who they loved and respected. The manor house was demolished in the late 1760s and a brick building replaced it in the 18th century. The bridge is all that remains of the manor’s Tudor splendour.

On our return the Mendlesham ladies had a business meeting to attend, so without their company we enjoyed the tea, coffee and plates of homemade cakes and biscuits that Claire Barker had prepared. We chatted with Patrick, Brian and Claire and were able to look at all the awards and certificates recognising all the success that their work has won. It was a truly memorable and thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Hartest and District Annual Meeting and Birthday Celebrations

To be honest, the WI Annual Meeting is hardly the most entertaining event of the calendar, especially when it has to incorporate the business of an ‘ordinary’ annual meeting as well. However, it is a ‘must’ for all WIs as, amongst other items of business, members vote for a president and secretary to serve for the following 12 months. Nevertheless 20 out of our 24 members attended the May meeting, which was a really pleasing turn out. Three of the absentees were on holiday and one wasn’t feeling 100% which was a bit of a blow as we had something a little bit special planned for her.

Our lovely member Pat Tebbit is 90 at the end of May; a wonderful milestone to reach for anyone but especially memorable as she celebrates in company with our Queen of course.

Pat has been associated with the WI throughout her life and can recall members and activities both in the village and at Federation level going back long before the current group’s reformation in 1999.  Pat is demon quizzer, with a memory for facts, particularly obscure ones, that is absolutely amazing. Members will do almost anything to ensure ‘Mrs P’ is on their quiz team. Her cookery skills are legendary; once you have tasted her light-as-a-feather pastry, crispy biscuits and deep sponge cakes oozing homemade jam, everything else is just second best.  

She is our quiet and unassuming ‘elder stateswoman’ who is respected and much loved by all. Her feeling a bit under the weather and unable to get to the meeting meant we had to use Plan B to celebrate her upcoming birthday.

During the meeting, two members took a birthday cake made by our secretary to Pat, who blew out the 9 candles (one for each decade) and the moment was captured in photos.  After cutting the cake, and wishing Pat a most happy birthday, members all had a slice, making sure that plenty was left for Pat and her husband to enjoy at their leisure.

February 2016
Citizens Advice Bureau - Switching Energy Providers

“It’s not the most exciting topic but I hope that I can help save you some money by the time my presentation’s finished.”  These were the candid yet intriguing words with which Michelina from the Suffolk West Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) began her presentation to members. We have become very savvy about our grocery shopping but the same cannot be said for most people’s choice of energy deal. Michelina pointed out that switching our energy provider could save as much as £ 500 - £800 a year and most householders will save, on average £200 - £300. Coupled with the facts that it now costs twice as much to heat our homes than it did 7 years ago and 40,000 people died of hypothermia in the 2014/5 winter, we were eager to have any advice that would help us secure the best energy deal possible.

Key questions to ask prior to switching included “Am I paying by the cheapest method?” and “Shall I stick with my current provider because their customer service is good/their helpline is free to phone/I’ve never had a problem with them …etc.?” Our speaker suggested that we might contact our current provider and say that, having been to a talk by the CAB, we were considering switching – have they a better tariff to offer than the one we’re on currently?”

Switching need not be complicated as there are many price comparison websites that will do it for you and you don’t have to be online to do so either as they all have phone numbers, many of which are free to call. Michelina advised that we used websites displaying the Ofgem Confidence Code logo and, when searching, made sure that we ticked the box requesting that all the market was trawled for deals.

Members had a sheaf of useful leaflets to take away and refer to and the speaker answered everyone’s questions with insight and clarity. Initially, a not very exciting topic, but it became pertinent and stimulating as the presentation progressed. Chances are there will be a good many energy company switches being carried out in the area in the weeks to come!

January 2016
Film of Lucy Worsley's talk at WI AGM 2015

For our first meeting for the New year The Committee provided bucks fizz and nibbles to help us welcome in 2016.   We then watched a film of Lucy Worsley’s talk at the WI AGM at the Albert Hall during 2015.  She has researched the origins of the WI and reminded us of the many `sometimes` controversial campaigns we have been part of over the last 100 years.  She has rekindled our zest for protest, so watch out for flag waving WI members on the streets of Hartest!

Some of our members dressed as World War 1 nurses, waiting for the baton to arrive.

February 2014

At our February meeting, we had a talk from Celia Stevens who fascinated us with her tales of her life as a Racing Driver from training at Snetterton to her driving in the Le Mans 24 hour Classic Race.  She came dressed in her driving `overalls` and spoke with such passion about the cars she has raced that we were enthralled. 

November 2013

We had a most interesting talk by Judith Blatch, about the beginnings of the Company Winch & Blatch in Sudbury and their four stores there. We learnt that there have been shops on the site since the 1300's although they only became Winch and Blatch in the early 1900's. We also heard about the `Great Fire of Sudbury` which completely demolished their original store. Judith also gave us news about forthcoming changes which include a coffee shop and possibly a bridge linking two of their stores together.

After our tea and delicious home made mince pies, Sue Bevan our WI Advisor talked to us about her role within the WI and also answered some questions about the subscriptions for 2014. All in all, a very interesting meeting.

August 2013

WI members thought they knew Lavenham quite well, however our recent walking quiz of the village made us rethink just how much we really did know! In beautiful sunshine two teams set out to find the answers to a pot pourri of questions including who built what and when, what the figure on the corner of the Guildhall holds in his hand, the number of chimneys on a cottage, what decorations there are on doors and plasterwork and the names of yards and houses. The final question about hanging baskets brought the walkers to their destination, The Swan. Here a most welcome cup of tea and delicious sandwiches, scones, cakes and pastries awaited, along with a few members who had chosen not to walk, yet were eager to hear which team had won. It was a draw, with both teams slipping up on a couple of questions. The quiz ladies were rewarded with a copy of the booklet Suffolk Recipes each. Maybe this will mean Suffolk Rusks (with butter and jam of course) or Suffolk Buns or slices of Suffolk Harvest Cake at future meetings. Potential members take note!

In February we had a most interesting talk and demonstration about the Bowen Technique by Jo Wortley. She told us about the many benefits of this non-invasive treatment for all kinds of ailments as varied as back problems, headaches & asthma, then did a short demonstration on one of our members who found it very pleasant and relaxing, we will wait and see if it has eased her neck problems!