Author: crowlasludgvanwi

All that glitters …

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On Wednesday, a big group of us met at the Penzance Art Club for a silver jewellery-making workshop.

04Our instructor Eddie, with his able assistant Kevin, led us through the day with bawdy jokes and pirate impressions – and at the end of it all, we came out with some stunning pieces of silver.

We learned how to cut our silver wire and bend it into circular shapes using ring or bangle molds that looked like big metal cones. Then came the exciting soldering moment! After dipping our pieces in cold water and then in a magical bubbling solution, we could see things beginning to take shape.

10We then banged and bashed and  hammered at our pieces until we achieved a pattern we liked. After using the polishing machine, we were all thrilled with our sparkly silver rings and bangles!

It was a brilliant day and we all learned so much! What a way for Sue Knights to spend her birthday! Thank you so much to Val Puddiphatt for organising it for us.

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We will all be wearing our creations to the May meeting so you can see what we got up to. And perhaps we’ll be able to run a second workshop for those of you who missed out this time.

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Click here to see more photos.

2015 Spring Countdown … and TOILETS!

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Those of us who attended the Cornwall Federation’s Spring Countdown on Tuesday had a full day!

In the afternoon, we heard a great talk by author and former nun Eleanor Stewart who spoke candidly and often humorously about her life. Sent first to France and later to Liverpool, Eleanor completed her nursing and midwifery training while a nun. However, her strong desire for children of her own led her to leave after eight years. She dispelled some of the myths we held about nuns and entertained us with stories about giggling with the other novices, drinking babycham and revealing her secret to her flatmates.

Anyone wanting to find out more about Eleanor can pick up her books, Kicking the Habit: From Convent to Casualty in 1960s Liverpool and New Habits: From Sisterhood to Motherhood.

The highlight of the day for Crowlas & Ludgvan members, however, was hearing our own Sue Badcock stand up in front of the audience and speak passionately about saving our public toilets. This was presented as a possible WI resolution and was passed by an overwhelming majority of the members present.

Hooray for Sue who did such a stellar job of representing us!

p01w654bAfter we returned from our lunch break, Cornwall Federation Chair Barbara Corbett revealed that she’d been on the phone with Radio Cornwall’s Laurence Reed and had told him about our resolution. You can listen to Barbara here. Her bit comes at about 01:42:00, so scroll forward until you find it.

It looks as though the fight is on! We’re looking for ideas of how we can ‘Save Our Loos’, so please put on your thinking caps!

Centenary Baton Watch … Oxfordshire!

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The ladies of Oxfordshire have had great fun celebrating with the centenary baton, as it crossed the county by boat, horse and cart, vintage MG and fire engine.

Glorious sunshine welcomed about 200 members of the Women’s Institute to Oxford by steamer boat from Abingdon.

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Linda Needle, Treasurer of Steeple-Aston WI, and her husband Roger, transported the WI baton to Bicester Garden Centre in a 1934 van with baker’s livery. Along the way, they stopped at five WIs to collect homemade cakes to deliver to the garden centre.

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Lulu Belcher, he oldest member of the Fritillary group, took the baton in a 1926 Bullnose Morris from Denman to her group’s venue in Horspath, where it was met by a fanfare of buglers.

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The baton was also taken by dray horses to a pub lunch before a picnic in Broughton Castle.

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Shirley’s April walk

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This month’s walk took us to Trelowarren Estate on the Lizard Peninsula. The weather, though breezy, was sunny and warm.

04We walked through beautiful woodlands with a variety of wild flowers in bloom for us all to enjoy. Part of the walk on National Trust land led us to Tremayne Quay on the Helford River where we we nearly blown away! However a short distance away there was a very pretty warm grassy area with rough seats and a swing where we enjoyed a rest and our picnic.

07We returned through Tremayne Woods to the Yard Restaurant on the Trelowarren Estate looking forward to tea and cake. Sadly it was closed!

02Thanks to Joy for the photos, which you can see more of by clicking here.

 

Our April meeting

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We had a very full house for our meeting this month, and for very good reasons!

Our speaker, Mrs Ute Brice, kept her audience rapt with a talk about being an evacuee during the Second World War. As a young child, Mrs Brice, along with her family, was evacuated in 1938 from Stuttgart to a village in the Black Forest. She shared with us all of her stories, some good and some bad – from collecting bilberries in the countryside with her twin sister to having her family home in Stuttgart destroyed by bombs. It was a fasincating talk and we were all completely caught up in it.

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Crowlas and Ludgvan WI was founded on 27 April 2000 which makes this our 15th birthday! To honour the occasion, after the meeting this week, rather than our usual biscuits, we were treated to a very special birthday cake. A huge thank you goes to Val Puddiphatt for making the delicious cake which was enjoyed by all.

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Our new 2015-16 programme

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You’ll be getting your copy of our 2015-16 programme at our meeting on Monday, but if you can’t wait until then why not have a sneak preview now!?

Click here to see everything that’s on offer for the next 12 months. We have topics ranging from garden pests to Cornwall Blood Bikes to cheese-tasting to community cinema.

Big thanks go to Jane Twose for putting together such an exciting and varied programme.

Centenary Baton Watch … Berkshire!

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The Centenary Baton is inching its way closer to the Royal Albert Hall every week! It has just left Berkshire where it was greeted in Cookham by members of the Cookham, Cookham Dean and Dean Rise WIs, as well as the Mayor and Mayoress of Windsor and Maidenhead, Richard and Mary-Lou Kellaway.

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The three institutes gathered at Cookham Dean Cricket Club for a celebration tea, with members singing songs from the First World War.

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Centenary Baton Watch … Wiltshire!

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You don’t need three guesses to work out where our Wiltshire friends headed when looking for an iconic spot to pose the Centenary Baton!

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We can’t think of a more perfect spot.

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The baton also visited Salisbury Plain with Wiltshire Federation Chairman Isobel Acott and other WI members. There, they bravely sat atop a Challenger tank!

Isobel said: “It was absolutely fantastic, the army were marvellous, we could not have asked for anything more.”

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March walk!

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Shirley reports that the March walk was a great success! The group had wonderful weather for their fabulous walk frrom St Loy woods. The walk led them down through the woods, beautifully bright with lots of daffodils at this time of the year.

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At the bottom, they joined the coastal foot path in the cove. It was hard walking over the boulders on the beach but the two dogs had no difficulty. The walk was stenuous with lots of climbs up and down hills but the stunning views and diverse flora kept them going.

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Just before Lamorna they headed inland and of course ended up in the local pub in Lamorna. This helped them to tackle the last long hill up to the Merry Maidens and along to St Loy, a bit weary but happy.

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Thank you to Mary for her wonderful photos of the walk, more of which you can see by clicking here.