Julia Havard was our delegate for the 2021 NFWI Annual Meeting, which was held virtually due to the ongoing restrictions. Julia also represented Germoe and District, Gulval, Godolphin, Madron, Perranuthnoe and District, Porthleven and Sheffield and District WI’s.
The speakers were HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and Baroness Brenda Hale, former president of the Supreme Court of the UK.
If you would like to watch the section regarding this year’s resolution ‘A call to increase the awareness of the subtle signs of ovarian cancer’ it can be viewed here:
Camera Club visited Guy’s Butterfly House at St Hilary to take some amazing photos of these beautiful insects. With so many free flying butterflies, in an array of sizes and colours it was the perfect spot for an afternoon’s photography. Tea and scones followed (of course) at the Woodland Kitchen Bistro at Townshend, where members of Hayle WI were also enjoying an afternoon out!
Large tub Greek Yoghurt. Honey Mixed berries (fresh or frozen) Your choice of nuts or seeds.
Tip a large tub of natural Greek yoghurt into a bowl, stir in a little honey. Add a handful of berries, seeds or nuts and stir. Line a baking sheet and tip the yoghurt mix on. Sprinkle with coconut if desired. Freeze then break into pieces for a cool summer snack. Keep in in a plastic tub in the freezer. Try other combinations too, both apricot and almond, and chocolate chip with raspberry are good.
For their May read, Book Club chose The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. The author is known to many as host of TV Game Shows Pointless and House of Games, and won ‘Author of the Year’ for this his debut novel.
The book club were very divided by this book – several found it funny and enjoyed reading it very much – others were expecting something more academic from Richard Osman.
The scores rate from 5 to 9, with the majority giving an eight or nine.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
On the site of an old Convent where the Nuns welcomed and looked after all those seeking help , a luxury Retirement Village Complex has been built. Once all the nuns had died, the Convent and Chapel became derelict and the site was developed by a Ian Ventham, creating this lovely village known as Coopers Chase with the help of builder Tony Curran and his gang of workmen. The development sits in twelve acres of woodland with a beautiful open hillside aspect. There are two small lakes, one real and one created. There are still sheep farmed at the very top of the hill and in the pastures by the lake is a herd of twenty llamas. Two were bought initially to look quirky in the sales photos but it got out of hand, as these things do.
There were a group of 4 residents Elizabeth (one is led to believe she worked for an organisation such a MI5 and appears to be able to call in favours from all manner of people) Penny (an unwell resident) used to be part of this group but she now residents in the Willows, the nursing area of the complex and Joyce has taken her place. Ron Ritchie who, when working with the Unions, was known as Red Ron and Ibrahim Arif.
This group formed what was known as The Thursday Murder Club trying to solve unsolved murders but little did they realise that they were about to experience helping to solve several unexplained murders just outside their front doors. Most of their activities are recorded by Joyce’s writing in her diary every night. PC Donna De Freitas came to the complex to give a talk on ‘Practical Tips for Home Security’ but whilst visiting Coopers Chase Retirement Village, which seemed an innocuous, lush, untroubled and sedate, she met up with Elizabeth and her jolly team.
A few weeks down the line after this visit, a brutal killing takes place within their confines and the group finds themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibraham and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves and when Donna and her boss DCI Chris Hudson visit the site to question the residents after the brutal murder of the builder Tony Curran, the group has specific information which could be of assistance to the Police as they witnessed an argument between Ian Ventham and Tony. They wished to trade their information for information from the Police. After the argument, Tony had been murdered in his own home a short distance from the complex with a photograph placed beside him showing 3 men in a local pub, one being Tony, another Jason Ritchie (Ron’s son and in earlier years a famous boxer also noted for dealing drugs) but the third person and the person taking the picture were unknown to anyone.
Ian Ventham was about to develop another part of the site which included a cemetery for the nuns and he did not particularly want Tony to be part of this development (looked to make more profits for himself) – several of the local population did not wish the cemetery to be disturbed, particularly a Father Mackie – a local priest. When the bulldozers arrived to commence work, the residents blocked the road much to the annoyance of Ian. Ian knowing that he did not want to have Tony as part of his team asked a Polish workman Bogdan, big and strong to take control of his new development plans. Whilst the diggers were prevented from reaching the allocated site, Bogdan took a shovel and became to dig the graves – he exposed one coffin but on top of this coffin were also the bones of another person with a shot gun wound to the leg. He quickly put everything back into the ground and wished to talk to someone about his find. He decided to visit Elizabeth, as she was always very kind to him. Elizabeth was on the case immediately and called in the favours of an expert friend who was able to examine the bones and give the group a history of these bones and the injury sustained by the skeleton. This information was what the group were waiting for – to whom did the bones belong and who murdered this person. In the meantime, whilst Bogdan was busy digging out the grave a heated argument took place between Ian and a group of the residents as they refused to allow the diggers onto the land – Ian turned from the group and immediately fell to the ground dead.
Can this unorthodox group solve not only the name of the skeleton but also who had murdered Tony Curran, so brutally in his own home, and who had administered a lethal injection into Ian Ventham to cause his death.
Who killed who – the book continues with its various plots?
This month members of Crowlas & Ludgvan WI met for their first walk together since lockdown in March 2020. The weather was sunny and the route was the very pretty and easy King George V Walk in Hayle – with lots of beautiful plants in flower despite the recent cold weather. We returned to the start of the walk and continued along North Quay – a very different scene here with the building of the new development. Pat gave us an interesting “guided tour” of the plants along the way. At the end of the Quay we stopped for coffee and cake, sitting in the sunshine and admiring the lovely views across the estuary to Lelant. I think we all agreed how enjoyable it had been to get together again and to catch up with all our activities. Â
Gail’s Zoom Craft Group have been making Paper Beads. With leftover paper taken from magazines, newspapers, printed sheets or scraps from other projects, it is quite simple to make beautiful beads for a number of crafty projects. Why not have a go, and see what you can do? You can download the instructions here:
It was so lovely to see so many faces at our recent Coffee and Chat in the delightful setting of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens. Despite the cool breeze members were happy to wrap up and sit in the sun to catch up with friends that they hadn’t seen for such a long time.
May’s Camera Club Outing was to the Harbour area in Hayle. Once again we met across two days to comply with the current regulations. Despite the vast amount of building works going on in the area at the moment, there was still plenty to photograph. And, of course, there was time for a cuppa and a chat at the Riviera Cafe.
Book Club met over Zoom for their April meeting to discuss their latest read, Forty Autumns by Nina Willner. Jane chose the book and wrote the following report.
 The book recounts the history of three generations of Nina Willner’s family separated by forty years of Soviet rule and reunited after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Shortly after the Second World War, as the Soviets took control of the Eastern part of Germany, Hanna, a teacher’s daughter, escaped with nothing more than a small suitcase and the clothes on her back.  As she built a new life in the West her family (mother, father and eight siblings) remained in the East.  The building of the Berlin Wall severed all hope of any future reunion. Hanna fell in love and moved to America.  She had a daughter Nina who grew up to become the first female US intelligence officer to lead sensitive intelligence collection operations in East Berlin at the height of the Cold War.  At the same time Nina’s cousin Cordula, was training to become a member of the East German Olympic cycling team. Though separated by a only a few miles , Nina and her relatives lead very different lives. Once the Berlin Wall came down and the families were reunited, and Nina discovered the extraordinary story.  In Forty Autumns she vividly brings to life many accounts of courage and survival, set against the backdrop of four decades that divided a nation and the world.
All members enjoyed the book especially how the resilience of the mother and the family were portrayed, plus the history and the way it was written. It was given an average of 9.
The April Monthly Meeting was held, once again, on Zoom. This meeting brought a talk by Richard Haycock, Waste and Recycling Support Officer for West Cornwall. The talk was full of fascinating facts, figures and diagrams on what goes into rubbish bins and what happens to the various types of rubbish that is produced. For example the average household produces 941 kg of waste and recycling per year and 35% of rubbish in the black bag is food waste! At the moment 41% of rubbish in Cornwall is recycled and Richard showed some interesting slides on what happens to the plastics and the other materials that get recycled and where they are transported. Rubbish which can’t be recycled is now taken to Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre where it is converted to electricity to power 21,000 homes. The resulting ash is used in road construction so nothing is wasted ! The talk finished with future initiatives including changes that will soon be coming to refuse collections, including separate collection of food waste. It was, all in all, a fascinating talk which it is hoped will lead to a trip to see recycling in action when restrictions allow. For more information click below.
Crowlas & Ludgvan WI 