News

A coach-load of Crowlas & Ludgvan WI members, their fingers itching for bargains, left for Exeter early on a dry still morning (perfect for shopping).

On the way, they stopped at Lifton Farm Shop and restaurant, always a favourite stop-off, where they were served really efficiently by the lovely staff, and enjoyed coffee, pastries and bacon butties. The farm shop is fantastic so the ladies managed to get some shopping in even before reaching Exeter!

On arrival, they all went their separate ways, with some heading straight for John Lewis and others for the traditional Christmas market stalls. There was no time to waste!

Several of the group met up with former Crowlas & Ludgvan WI member Maureen Fordham for lunch in Tea on the Green. It was great to see her looking so well and happy!

The remains of the Royal Clarence Hotel were a shock to us all, and seeing the devastation first hand was awful.

Having offered first refusal to WI members, the coach was filled with people from the village. Two husbands came and one of them, Tommy Williams, was sporting a snazzy red fleece hood when we met to come home. Most slept on the way home and a good day was had by all.

(Report by Gail)

Thanks to Janet and Gill for planning such a splendid day out. There’s a rumour going round that they’ve already made a provisional booking for next year’s Exeter shopping trip!

On Friday, Crowlas & Ludgvan WI held a five-corner craft day in order to raise funds for our beloved Denman College.

The event was spearheaded by Pat Gloyn and the members of the Crowlas & Ludgvan WI book group, who organised a wonderful day!

Marazion Community Centre was buzzing with the sounds of happy women felting, painting and beading. Participants had a choice of making beautiful parchment gift boxes, creating felt ball necklaces (or Christmas baubles), painting folk art Christmas cards, making gorgeous beaded bags or coming away with lovely paper flowers.

A lunch of warming soups was welcomed by all, followed by a mouthwatering assortment of delicious cakes.

The big news is that the day netted £725.80 for Denman College! We thank Pat and her team for their initiative and their hard work, and of course also our wonderful tutors (Val, Pat, Margaret, Dorothy and Lis) for giving their time to help out.

Click here to see more photos of the day.

 

The theme of the recent CFWI day at the Eden Project might have been a serious one – climate change, the environment and WI resolutions – but the ladies of Crowlas & Ludgvan still managed to get up to their usual antics.

Joking aside, it was a brilliant, and a truly inspiring, day. We heard about this year’s batch of short-listed WI resolutions from NFWI Honorary Treasurer Julia Roberts and NFWI Vice-Chair and Chair of the Federations of Wales Committee Ann Jones. They also spoke about the ways in which the WI has taken the intiative over the years in the fight for a cleaner and better environment.

We also heard from Eden’s Managing Director Gordon Seabright who spoke about some of the exciting things in the works at Eden, including the introduction of an outdoor nursery school based at Eden. He also told us about the various environmental projects Eden are involved in across the world, and their hopes for funding to install geothermal energy at Eden at a depth of 4.5km into the extinct volcano below.

After lunch, about 180 WI members, including our Crowlas & Ludgvan group, had the afternoon to explore. And here’s a little bit of what they got up to.

Click here to see more photos.

 

 

 

All you crafty WI members might be interested in the upcoming Stitch St Ives craft show.

Stitch St Ives is a craft show with a difference. The focus is entirely on craft supplies, rather than finished products. You’ll find everything for the creative crafter, including:

• Hand made artisan beads
• Hand-dyed and -painted fabrics
• Patchwork fabrics
• Knitting wools
• Crochet yarns
• Hand made buttons
• Spinning wheels
• Weaving looms
• Hand-dyed fleece for felting
• Printing paints and kits

There will also be a programme of creative workshops, and food and drink will be provided all day by Cafe Art St Ives.

For a full list of stallholders and workshops, see the Stitch St Ives website.

The show takes place on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th November from 10am until 4pm at The Island Centre, St Ives. Admission is £2 (under 18s and students free).

 

Most of Shirley’s regular group of walkers weren’t able to join in the last walk of the year. However three members (plus four-legged member Norman) made the most of the mild and dry weather to clear away the cobwebs.

The walk started through the lovely Penrose Estate and continued to Loe Bar and then on to the coastal path towards Porthleven. There was lots of beautiful autumn colour to admire as well as the views across to Porthleven and the old engine houses at Rinsey.

There won’t be a December walk, but if you fancy joining the group in the new year, have a word with Shirley at Monday’s meeting.

This year, NFWI are putting forward six short-listed resolutions.

The next step is for you to consider all six and select the one you would most like to go forward for further discussion and final voting at the Annual Meeting in June 2017. The selection process is open to all WI members and you can make your selection by filling in the selection form found in the November& December issue of WI Life.

Submission forms will be collected by the Cornwall Federation who will let us know the deadlines for handing them in.

The six short-listed resolutions are:

1. Alleviating loneliness
This meeting calls on every WI and the NFWI to work alongside health and social care providers and their local community to raise awareness of the causes and impacts of loneliness, thus ensuring better identification of lonely people in order to be able to offer them the appropriate assistance and support.

2. FGM
More Awareness for More Action Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the UK for over 30 years and the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 made it illegal to aid, abet or procure the carrying out of FGM abroad. However, there have been no successful prosecutions of those involved. The NFWI calls on the government to improve efforts to measure and disclose the prevalence of FGM in the UK and to take further action to help secure more successful prosecutions of those involved in this abusive practice and thereby advance the health of women who have suffered or may be at risk of suffering FGM.

3. Equal access for all who need specialised maternal mental health services
There is presently an acute shortage of quality specialised maternal mental health services, meaning that many vulnerable women, their babies, and families face a postcode lottery of perinatal mental health support. The NFWI calls on NHS commissioners to prioritise the development of specialised perinatal mental health support services so that pregnant and postnatal women, their babies, and families are able to access the support they need.

4. Provision of appropriate welfare and safe spaces for women and children in refugee camps
Millions of women and children are fleeing conflict and disaster around the world, finding themselves at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation in refugee camps. This meeting calls on all WI members and the NFWI to raise awareness of the risks facing women and children refugees and push for action to ensure they have access to safe places to eat and sleep, to get the care they need and space to learn and play.

5. Supporting women’s refuges
Many women and children rely on refuges to escape violence and abusive relationships, but in recent years refuges have faced significant cuts to their services. The NFWI calls upon the Government to safeguard refuges and increase service provision in areas without adequate support.

6. Plastic Soup: Keep microplastic fibres out of our oceans
Microplastic fibres are shed from synthetic clothing with every wash and are the main contributors to microplastic contamination of the oceans. The NFWI calls on Government and industry to research and develop innovative solutions to this problem in order to stop the accumulation of microplastic fibres in our oceans.

You can read more about the resolutions and the resolution process on the NFWI website.

October’s walk with Shirley started from the beautiful old church at St Hilary. The group walked through fields and rough tracks to Halamanning, a site known for copper mines in the 1700s, but which is now home to geese, chickens and bee hives. There was a good view of Godolphin and Tregonning Hills too.

From there they continued to Perran Downs, mainly through woods, and then continued to Goldsithney. Here they stopped for an enjoyable lunch at the Crown Inn before returning to St Hilary Church. The route back led them through fields and lanes which afforded further views of Goldsithney and the surrounding countryside.

They all agreed it was a lovely interesting walk some of which we had not walked before.

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!