Author: crowlasludgvanwi

Our water babies enjoyed their summer SCUBA session so much, that they went back for more last week!

The folks from Peninsula Sub Aqua Club were on hand to help out again, and all the ladies had a wonderful time.

 

 

Have you all had to loosen your belts after last night’s meeting? Sticky buns, bread and two kinds of scrumptious focaccia! Hope O’Neill was so very generous to us and we can’t thank her enough!

I apologise that I didn’t take any photos of the deliciousness last night, but then a photo could never have captured the wonderful smells emanating from the Murley Hall’s kitchen, could it? There were some leftover sticky buns, however, so here’s a photo of my breakfast the morning after:

In case you missed the meeting or didn’t manage to get a copy of Hope’s focaccia recipe, you can see it here.

And if, like me, you were fascinated by her easy ‘cheating’ method of kneading, she learned it from bread-maker Dan Lepard. Click here to see his basic white bread recipe.

We had a full house last night with visitors Ann, Gill, Sue, Jenny and Lucy. We hope to see them all again next month!

Thanks to all of you for turning up, buying the lovely things on our sales table and book table and signing up for all of our WI and County events. We couldn’t do it without you.

What do you do if you have guests popping in for coffee and you have nothing scrummy to serve them with their coffee? What if you’re this month’s tea hostess and you don’t have time to bake? What if you’re just ‘baking challenged’ and never know what to do when you’re asked to provide a sweet treat?

Well, here are some easy solutions! And one of them doesn’t even involve baking!

Tropical Rocky Road

Ingredients:
100g butter
100g golden syrup
200g dark chocolate, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
100g coconut Nice biscuits
80g dried banana chips
100g dried tropical fruit (we used mango and pineapple), roughly chopped
50g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
50g mini marshmallows
50g desiccated coconut
1 ball stem ginger, finely chopped

Method:

1. Line a 20 x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment. Put the butter, golden syrup, chocolate and a pinch of salt into a saucepan. Set over a low heat and gently melt, stirring from time to time, until you have a glossy liquid.
2. Crumble the biscuits and banana chips into a large bowl, leaving some pieces larger than others to create a bumpy texture. Add the dried fruit, nuts, marshmallows, coconut and ginger, and pour over the chocolate mixture. Stir well, ensuring that everything is well coated, then tip into the tin. Use a spoon to press the mixture down and level the surface.
3. Chill for at least 2 hrs or until firmly set. Cut into 16 squares and pack for a picnic. Store in a tin for up to 3 days.

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Lemon Drizzle Traybake

Ingredients
225g baking spread, straight from the fridge, or butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
225g caster sugar
275g self-raising flour
2 level tsp baking powder
4 free-range eggs
4 tbsp milk
2 lemons, zest only

For the glaze:
175g granulated sugar
2 lemons, juice only

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease the tin with baking spread and line the base with baking paper.
2. Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat for 2 minutes, or until well blended. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.
3. Bake for 35–40 minutes until the cake has shrunk a little from the sides of the tin and springs back when lightly touched with a fingertip in the centre of the cake.
4. Meanwhile, make the glaze. Mix the granulated sugar with the lemon juice and stir to a runny consistency.
5. Leave the cake to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then lift out, with the lining paper still attached, and place on wire rack set over a tray.
6. Brush the glaze all over the surface of the warm cake and leave to set. Remove the lining paper and cut into slices to serve.

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Ginger and Treacle Spiced Traybake

Ingredients:
225g margarine, softened
175g light muscovado sugar
200g black treacle
300g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1 tsp ground allspice
4 free-range eggs
4 tbsp milk
3 pieces stem ginger from a jar, finely chopped

For the icing:
75g icing sugar, sieved
3 tbsp stem ginger syrup from the jar
3 pieces stem ginger from a jar, chopped coarsely

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease the tin with baking spread and line the base with baking paper.
2. Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat for 2 minutes, or until well blended. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.
3. Bake for 35–40 minutes until the cake has shrunk a little from the sides of the tin and springs back when lightly touched with a fingertip in the centre of the cake.
4. Meanwhile, make the glaze. Mix the granulated sugar with the lemon juice and stir to a runny consistency.
5. Leave the cake to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then lift out, with the lining paper still attached, and place on wire rack set over a tray.
6. Brush the glaze all over the surface of the warm cake and leave to set. Remove the lining paper and cut into slices to serve.

Happy baking!

As the photo below shows, Thursday was a bright but blustery day for the Crowlas & Ludgvan WI walking group.

The walkers were unable to have their picnic on the beach as planned because of the wind and a covering of kelp. However they had hot drinks in the lovely Halzephron Inn at Gunwalloe.

They started the walk from Degibna Chapel and admired the very pretty prayer garden there. The route took them through the woods to Carminowe Creek and onto the coastal footpath. The views of the coast to Porthleven and Mount’s Bay were wonderful.

Click here to see more photos of the walk.

(Thanks to Shirley for the report and photos.)

On behalf of our hardworking Allsop Cup team, Shirley collected our 3rd prize certificate at the Council Meeting at the Hall for Cornwall this week. She was awarded the prize by Baroness Jolly … we’re all wondering what the two of you were chatting about, Shirley!

Last week a group of crafty Crowlas & Ludgvan WI members met for a fabric wall-hanging workshop at Val’s house.

The day got off to a rocky start when Liz South had a stumble and broke her leg! Don’t worry – Liz is fine and is being looked after well at home.

After the morning’s excitement, the workshop got underway.

Val provided the backing fabric and wadding and everybody contributed a selection of remnants and offcuts, so there was a plentiful supply of fabrics and threads to choose from.

The group started by looking at examples and designs of hangings to get some  inspiration. Once they had all decided, they had a busy day sewing.

Jackie, Shirley, Sue and Val thoroughly enjoyed creating their wall hangings. They’ll need a second session to complete their masterpieces, but then they’ll bring them to our meeting so that we can all admire them.

Our Crowlas & Ludgvan WI Book Group has now been going strong since 2004! That’s 12 years!

Under the loving guidance of Colleen Lewis, the group has read a huge variety of books since 2004, from Dan Brown to Barack Obama to Radcliffe Hall to Nancy Mitford. That’s a very impressive range.

To see a full list of the books that have been read so far, click here.

The group’s next books and meeting dates are as follows:

Wednesday 26 October: What Have I Done by Amanda Prowse
Wednesday 30 November: Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
Wednesday 25 January: Where Seagulls Cry by Edwin Page

If you fancy joining this lovely group, have a word with Colleen at our next meeting or email us on crowlasludgvanwi@gmail.com.

About 20 of us, from Crowlas & Ludgvan and Camelford WIs, spent a fascinating day exploring Geevor Tin Mine today.

We have been twinned with Camelford for many years now, and always enjoy our annual get-together. So, of course, our first stop was the cafe for some coffee and a good catch-up!

Clint, our guide, showed us all over the site – the Rescue, where we heard some harrowing stories about the injuries sustained by miners; and the Dry where we imagined grimy miners showering after a long day’s work.

Former miner Eddie talked to us and I think we were all left with a huge appreciation for the back-breaking and life-threatening work the miners did.

In spite of the hard work, the miners did have fun and certainly had pride in their work. Geevor had a great community spirit, unlike some of the other local mines which were owned and managed by huge corporations.

After a very full morning, we stopped for ‘mossel’ (a new word for us!) in the cafe. Several of us opted for pasties – though we were told that miners probably didn’t eat pasties on their mossel breaks as they would have been far too heavy and would have prevented them from working afterwards.

Following lunch, we saw a demonstration of hand drilling and looked at some of the huge hammers wielded by the bal maidens.

Clint then took us into the Mill, where the tin was processed – from big chunks of rock into the fine tin dust that was finally sold to be smelted into the tin we’re all familiar with.

Our last stop was a walk underground, through Wheal Mexico. We were amazed at how low and narrow the passages were – but Clint told us that Cornishmen in the 18th century probably were only about 5′ tall! We were all very grateful for our miners’ helmets as we bumped our heads every few minutes!

What a great day it was!

A big thank you to the ladies of Camelford for making the trip down to see us. And to Clint, our guide (who had to put up with rather a lot!). And, finally, to Kathy who organised the day so well.

You can see more photos of the day by clicking here.

On 18 November, Crowlas & Ludgvan WI will be holding a five-corner craft day to raise funds for the Denman Appeal.

This is a great opportunity to learn a new craft and make some Christmas goodies.

The crafts on offer are:

1. A felt bead necklace
2. Beautiful paper flowers
3. Folk art painted greeting cards
4. An exquisite beaded amulet bag
5. Unique embellished gift boxes

You’ll be able to choose two crafts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The exception is the beaded bag, which is an all-day project.

The cost for the day is £12.50, which includes a soup and roll lunch.

All profits from the day will go to the Denman College Appeal to help secure and support the future of this wonderful WI treasure.

The craft day will be held from 10am until 4pm at Marazion Community Centre on Friday 18 November. The deadline to apply is 28 October.

If you have any questions, please contact Pat Gloyn on (01736) 754441 or by email at roger@gloyn.co.uk.

 

A group of us spent a delightful afternoon at Polgoon Vineyard today! We’re just so sorry that Kathy, our fabulous organiser who arranged the day so beautifully, wasn’t well and was unable to attend. You were missed, Kathy.

We met at the Polgoon Kitchen, the vineyard’s lovely outdoor café, for lunch. Fortified with crab sandwiches and delicious cheese, we then set off for a tour of the vineyard.

We were led by Jess, a friendly and knowledgeable ‘Polgooner’ who moved to Cornwall from Australia only about six months ago. She took us through Polgoon’s apple orchard, explaining that it had been planted after the vineyard suffered a disastrous few years with little or no grape harvest due to bad weather. The vineyard’s cider is now really popular!

From apples, we moved on to grapes and saw some of the vineyard’s thousands of vines – including Rondo and Pinot Noir grapes. Jess explained to us the different ways of pruning and training the vines for maximum yield. We also saw more vines in some of Polgoon’s polytunnels.

Harvesting will begin in late September and will take about a month. No extra hands are hired; all the Polgoon workers and families pitch in to help. It’s very much a family business.

We then visited the wine making facilities and saw the labeling process, as well as the huge stainless steel vats containing what must be GALLONS of wine. Jess explained the sparkling wine process to us which, at Polgoon, is done in the same way it’s done in Champagne.

After the tour, we returned to the café for a tasting of some of Polgoon’s products. We all took our tasting notes very seriously!

We tasted wine, sparkling wine and cider.

After a quick browse in the vineyard shop (which also sells other Cornish food, drink and gifts), we said our goodbyes and made our way home.

If you missed out on today’s get-together, you can tour Polgoon on your own anytime. Tours and tastings are held on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 2pm and cost £10 per person. But do try and go before the grapes are harvested!

For more photos of our afternoon at Polgoon, click here.