Last week the Centenary Baton was with the Isle of Ely Federation, where it was greeted by local MP Steve Barclay in Elm and was taken to every WI in Ely.
And it even made an appearance on YouTube!
Centenary Baton Watch! … Isle of Ely
Author: crowlasludgvanwi
Next Book Group meeting
The next meeting of Crowlas & Ludgvan WI’s Book Group will be held on Wednesday 29 October at 7:30pm. The book under discussion this month is Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews.
Feel free to come along and meet the group. For more information, contact Colleen Lewis on (01736) 363141 or by email on colleen@lewispz.co.uk.
Centenary Baton Watch! … Huntingdon and Peterborough
The baton has now made its way through the Huntingdon and Peterborough Federation, with a stop at the beautiful Peterborough Cathedral.
Over 160 Federation members were welcomed to the Cathedral by Canon Ian Black, after which they were given a guided tour in groups. After a tea, they then posed for the photo above, which will be included on the memory stick placed inside the baton.
The afternoon at the Cathedral ended with Choral Evensong, during which Jerusalem was sung by the choir and assembled WI members.
October meeting
Despite the end-of-summer flu striking down some of our members, Murley Hall was full and buzzy at last night’s meeting.
We welcomed four new members – Gill O’Connor, Rosemary Western, Sue Eames and Liz Hosking – putting our numbers now over the 50 mark! Crowlas & Ludgvan is growing! If you haven’t yet met our new members, make a point of introducing yourself and getting to know them at our next meeting.
Just to show how busy we are, here’s a picture of our activity table and the line-up of signing in sheets. We think Kathy’s cornered the market on clipboards!
Last night’s speaker, Inspector Jean Phillips of Devon & Cornwall Police, spoke to us about personal safety. She gave us a lot of great tips on staying safe – including using indoor bank machines and putting handbags in the bottom of shopping trolleys. She also told us about the scary new telephone ‘courier scams’ which are becoming more widespread. You can read more about them here on the Metropolitan Police website.
Jean also brought with her Mary Shead, the district Neighborhood Watch representative for Penwith. Mary explained what her job entails and shared her insights with us about the value of local neighborhood watch organisations. I think more than a few of us are interested in starting up groups in our own areas!
Our safety slogan competition was won by Helen Kestle, with Kathy Merrett second and Colleen Lewis third. It was a good night for Colleen as she also won Flower of the Month!
Thanks to tea hostesses Pat Adams, Colleen Lewis and Polly Little.
And thanks everyone, as always, for making it such a lively and fun meeting! Happy and healthy vibes go out to those of you who were under the weather and unable to be there last night.
Centenary Baton Watch! … Leicestershire and Rutland
The Centenary Baton has recently been in Leicestershire and Rutland.
At Foxton Locks, there were 112 WIs representing the 144 WIs in the Leicestershire & Rutland Federation. WI members made bunting and joined it together along the flight of locks, holding it up between each WI for 300 metres. Some very ingenious bunting was produced with bras and knickers, while others were beautifully embroidered with colourful Institute names.
The Baton’s visit also included a flash mob (!) at the clock tower in Leicester.
New County Chairman
Congratulations to Barbara Corbett, our new Federation Chairman! As a member of Carbis Bay WI, Barbara is one of our ‘neighbours’ – this means many of us already know her and know she’ll do a wonderful job in her new position.
Walk cancelled!
Quick notice: Tomorrow’s walk is cancelled!
This month’s walk
Shirley’s walk this month is actually before our monthly meeting, so I thought you’d all like a reminder!
The walk is 5 1/2 miles long and will take in Wheal Prosper mine and Rinsey Head on Wednesday 15 October.
If you’re interested or would like more details, please contact Shirley on (01736) 741324 or by email on grumpi@tiscali.co.uk.
Food, Glorious Food
As part of NFWI’s ongoing Great Food Debate, a full day was held recently at Chy Noweth on the subject of food waste. Titled ‘Food, Glorious Food’, it dealt with the issues of food production, sustainability and security.
Andrew Holden, Procurement Director at the Eden Project, gave a brilliant talk about Eden’s food story and food ethos – linking the plant to the plate. We could have listened to him all day!
Then Colin Olver, a regional manager with the Co-op, gave the supermarket perspective on food waste. He introduced Monica Price, a dynamic nutritionist and broadcaster who also demonstrates at the Royal Cornwall Show, and she introduced us to the “Love food, hate waste” campaign.
Esther O’Bearagh from Cornwall Council – a great speaker herself – gave us the scary facts and amusing anecdotes about household food waste, landfill and recycling.
Then Paul Sousek from Cottage Farm, a sustainable organic carbon neutral farm powered by renewable energy energy and producing organic beef and lamb, gave us his own local sustainable farming experience.
After that Gill Keeble (from the Environment and Public Affairs subcommittee) and Dot Rogers (from the Home Economics subcommittee) took the stage with their lively and entertaining cookery demonstrations on our theme “too good to waste”. They gave us lots of lovely simple innovative ways to use leftovers. And we finished the day with a feast of delicious tastings. A good day all round and we ended with lots of ideas to take forward!
Click here to find a few handy and easy recipes for using up leftovers and helping to fight food waste.
Twinning outing to Truro Cathedral
We had a fantastic day out on Friday to Truro Cathedral with our friends from Camelford WI.
After meeting for a chat over coffee and biscuits in the Cathedral café, we split off for some frantic retail therapy before lunch back at the café again. The conversation was full of laughs and we all had a great time – either reconnecting with old friends or making new ones.
After lunch some of us stayed in the Cathedral to listen to a recital by organist James Orford.
Following the recital, we were given a wonderful tour of the Cathedral. Our guide, Pam, told us all sorts of things we’d never known about the Cathedral. We explored the old St Mary’s Church south aisle (the ‘church within a church’); we learned about the two granite foundation stones laid when the Cathedral was being built, one still known as the Pillar of Faith; and we heard all about Bishop Benson, the Cathedral’s first bishop (and father of author E.F. Benson!).
Pam then led us down into the crypt where we were shown some of the Cathedral’s treasures. We saw some old photos of the Benson family, Bishop Benson’s death mask (!), a gorgeous silver chalice inlaid with jewels from rings and brooches from the parishioners of a London church, a piece of the Queen’s canopy from her 1953 coronation (at her request, a piece was given to every Cathedral in the country) and a bible belonging to Rowena Cade. We also examined some of the splendid robes that are stored in the crypt.
From start to finish, it was a wonderful day and all the Camelford members had a great time. We’re told they have plans to take us to Bodmin Gaol next year!
A special thank you to Kathy Merrett for all her work in organising such a successful day.
Click here to see more pictures of our Truro Cathedral Twinning Day.
Crowlas & Ludgvan WI 