The new series of The Great British Bake Off is set to begin next Wednesday 6 August. The lineup of contestants for this year’s competition has been revealed and includes a WI member!
Diana, 69, is the oldest Bake Off contestant so far! She’s from Shropshire and has been a WI member since she was 12. She became a WI judge at the age of 20. Come on, Diana!
Have you heard of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust?
It was established because of serious concerns about the ‘plight of the bumblebee’. In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed. Two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically. The Trust aims to support the conservation of all bumblebees and to raise awareness and increase understanding about bumblebees and the social, economic, environmental and cultural benefits which they and other pollinators provide.
So what can we do?
We can plant a bumblebee-friendly garden! This means planting a variety of flowers that are rich in pollen and nectar which bees can easily access from spring until late summer. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s website has a handy online tool for you to determine how bee-friendly your garden is. Give it a go!
And if you’d like to get more involved, the Trust is always happy to welcome volunteers to help spread the word.
The Trust’s website also includes some lovely recipes using bee-pollinated foods. Here’s one:
Lavender Scones
Ingredients:
375g self raising flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
80g butter
250ml milk (may also use lavender infused milk)
2 teaspoons fresh or 1 tsp dried lavender flowers
Directions:
Safer Penzance and West Cornwall Women’s Aid will open a Pop up Shop at 11 Market Place in Penzance on 4th August 2014.
Domestic abuse and sexual violence has a devastating impact on the lives of victims and results in massive costs to society. Domestic abuse respects no boundaries; it targets both rich and poor; it can affect children, teenagers or the older generation – its perpetrators respect no boundaries or walk of life.
Making use of one of the many empty shops in central Penzance provides an opportunity to promote the services available locally and county-wide to support victims who have been or are currently suffering domestic abuse or sexual violence.
The shop will be open from 12 noon until 2pm Monday through Friday until the 29th of August.
Yesterday, our walking group set off in the hot sun for a walk around St Just, Botallack and Cape Cornwall.
They certainly earned their pub lunch at the end of the walk!
You can see more photos of the walk here.
We thought you’d all like to see some of the recipes which members brought to our July meeting as part of the ‘American recipe’ competition. Continue reading …
Despite it being such a hot and steamy night, we had a great turnout for our meeting last night.
Our own Alison Latham gave the talk – a highly entertaining and informative look at her time spent working at the British Embassy in Washington, DC. We heard all about the various departments and how they work as well as anecdotes about the royals, the Rolling Stones and Richard Branson (who forgot his passport when he attempted to balloon across the Atlantic!). Alison also passed around a 1967 letter from Edward VIII to the then Ambassador, Sir Patrick Dean, informing the embassy that he and the Duchess of Windsor would be arriving in America.
Our sales table looked wonderful with rhubarb, currants and more! Remember, if you have any surplus produce you’d like to sell, please bring it along to our next meeting.
And the book stall was laden with tempting titles. I came home with the very appropriately named Instructions for a Heatwave!
It was wonderful to see such a full competition table overflowing with lovely blooms! Our Flower of the Month winner was Jane Twose. There were also lots of great recipes for American dishes, along with some samples. Sue Knights was our recipe competition winner for her scrumptious cornbread. Second prize went to Helen Kestle and third to Rona Cowls.
Don’t miss tomorrow’s blog entry for all the American recipes which were part of the competition!
Our book group met at Colleen’s house last month for a lovely tea party in the sun!
They also discussed Life of Pi by Yann Martel. If you’re interested in joining the book group, please either see Colleen at one of our meetings or email us on crowlasludgvanwi@gmail.com.
Pat Gloyn will be leading our walk this month, as Shirley is on holiday. The walk will be on Tuesday the 22nd of July, instead of the usual Wednesday.
Pat has done a recce of the walk and it sounds brilliant! You’ll be heading from the back of St Just across the fields and valleys to Botallack, along the cliffs above the Botallack Crowns to the back of Cape Cornwall and finally up into St Just. The walk is suitable for dogs.
Members can either bring a picnic lunch with them or have a drink, etc. in St Just. Pat will clarify all the details at our meeting next Monday.
The walk will begin promptly at 10am from the free car park in St Just. It will take about 3 hours at a reasonable rate to take in all the areas of interest along the way. Sun hats are advised if it’s a sunny day! If the weather is appalling, Pat will ring those interested to cancel as it’s not a suitable walk for bad weather.
If you’re interested, either speak to Pat at Monday’s meeting or drop us an email on crowlasludgvanwi@gmail.com. Please note that the walk will be on Tuesday this month, and not on Wednesday.
About 15 of us, including some guests, met at Birdie’s Bistro in Hayle today for our monthly Coffee Beans get-together.
With cappuccinos, lattes, cake and lots of good conversation, it was a lovely morning!
Our next date is Friday the 8th of August at 10:30am at the Rock Pool in Mousehole. We hope to see you there!
Earlier this week, Val Puddiphatt and Helen Kestle went on a CFWI outing to The Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth. The Sanctuary is an international charity founded in 1969 which works to protect and care for donkeys and mules all over the world.
All the work of the Sanctuary is funded by donations and legacy gifts, so raising money is always vital! One of the ways in which money is raised is by the sale of knitted donkeys, knows as ‘woolleys’. People are encouraged to knit woolleys which are then sold in the Sanctuary’s giftshop!
If you’d like to knit one (and we know there are some keen knitters among you!), you can download the pattern by clicking here.
If you haven’t visited The Donkey Sanctuary before, a visit is highly recommended! We had a marvellous time. Here’s Val making friends with one of the donkeys:
Crowlas & Ludgvan WI 