Newsletter June 2020

Poringland WI Newsletter June 2020

Unfortunately still no news or hope of resuming our

 monthly WI meetings.  The community Centre has contacted all the groups who hire rooms for their activities for information of when we would be likely to restart meetings, they had listed 4 groups, unfortunately due to the average age of our members we would be in group 4 who will be the last to go back maybe November/December but no one really knows.

Thank goodness for the wonderful weather, any one lucky enough to have a garden has been able to enjoy it, also lovely walks if you are able, the worst thing has been not having contact with your family.  It is now love

Dear All

Do hope you have all kept well over the last few weeks, Michael and myself enrolled with Kings College working with St Thomas Hospital London to research Covid 19, at the beginning of the lockdown.  We have to fill in questions from them every morning, today we were asked if we would be willing to do the test, we replied yes so will have to wait and see.

ly for anyone able to meet up outside with their families although at a distance but of course there are many of our members like me that live too far apart for a quick drive to meet halfway so must continue with face time etc.

I have not done much baking since my children finished university as we ate it too quickly however this week I thought I would make a banana loaf and other cakes, bought all ingredients via on line shopping then looked for scales and loaf tins and remembered that second week into lockdown I sorted that cupboard out and threw most cooking equipment out and thought I would buy it all new, of course no shops opened.  I improvised with tin foil tins and guessed the ingredients, nowhere near perfect but edible.  Thank goodness for online shopping all new cook ware should arrive this week, must say the internet has been a blessing for me as we have celebrated our granddaughter's birthday and our daughter’s birthday in the last month so cards ordered and presents all delivered to their door.

Continue to take care and stay safe for as long as it takes.

Regards Pam.

Birthdays this month

Maureen Scott, Rosemary Wain, Diana Davey and Jenny Herne.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you........

The Council has now launched an anti-scamming campaign during Covid 19.  Let them know if you receive any scams.  Some examples are emails regarding TV Licensing, texts re Cervical screening, or calls supposed to be from Amazon or Police Officers.  A new email going around says ‘You missed a call from .....’.Do not open it or the attached recording as it is a hacking device that could damage your laptop etc.

Stay alert, stay safe on line!

As I type this, I should be in the Albert Hall with Hilary, Pam, and 5,000 other members singing Jerusalem.  Make do with singing along when it turns up on Classic ~FM.  National have been putting craft projects and information on MyWI website, and they have now sent out an email detailing a virtual festival on Saturday 27 June –they would like members to send in their favourite song – one that makes you happy, and they will put together a playlist on Youtube on that day.  They would also like anyone to send in a clip of themselves/their partner/dog etc dancing along to a favourite tune!  They will then compile a video for social media/My WI.  Is anyone brave enough to try that????

Poems from a little book of Best Loved poems

To see a World in a Grain of sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand 

And Eternity in an hour.

                                       William Blake

I wish I loved the human race

I wish I loved its silly face;

I wish I liked the way it walks;

I wish I liked the way it talks;

And when I’m introduced to one

I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!

                                        Walter Raleigh

( Wouldn’t you like to knock some heads together sometimes?)

We have certainly had time for contemplating nature this year.

My front garden is looking absolutely fabulous.  Despite being on a bank and bone dry these plants obviously love it.  Californian poppies, osteospermum, Canterbury bells and annual poppies beginning to open.  Somewhere in there are sedum, verbena and eryngium waiting their turn to shin.  Not sure if the rudbeckia made it this year, but I have more to plant out once we get some rain.

Have you been spending time in your garden?  Even a tiny plot can make you feel better, to get out in some fresh air and look around at greenery, birds, butterflies, if you cannot go any further.

We have been outside rather than doing the jobs indoors that probably should have taken priority!  The front garden more or less has to look after itself, apart from occasional sorties to get rid of the weeds.  It has been too hot to spend long out there, the back garden is a bit cooler offering some shade.  Richard has redone the pond outside the kitchen window for nature, now the fish have been rehomed with Joan.  We have resident newts, watersnails, various little creepy things (which the newts probably eat) and the damsel flies have been laying eggs on the pond plants.  These consist of a waterlily, mint and an iris all rescued from the old pond.  We shall have to watch the iris as it had completely taken over the old pond and came out in a pond shaped lump after a struggle, where Richard fell over onto the wheelbarrow.

I have also sown all the seeds that we had, including tomatoes and cucumber now filling the greenhouse.  The runners are climbing the poles, and the courgettes are flowering.  Meg gave us some broadbean, cauliflower and cabbage plants which she got before lockdown, not sure how successful they will be on our soil.  Some of the flower seeds were from last year or even the year before, but in a fit of enthusiasm I shot them all into trays.  Quite a lot of them came up, so I have to nurture them until we get rain and I can plant them out.  As it is now June we expect rain soon – hopefully as we only have half a barrel of water left out of 10 waterbuts!  We did have to use some to fill the new pond, but that is less than one barrel full.  Happy gardening.

Week 11 of lockdown and unless you are shielding, .we can now meet family again.

Hurrah if you live near enough to meet.


 

Quiz this month on a gardening theme - these are all flowers.

1. Hurry up, pussy’s in it
2. Smart fellow with a majestic animal
3. Father’s advice to daughter.
4. Lady on a bicycle made for two
5. Boy with an old fashioned pen
6. Great city’s self esteem
7. Necessary for a kiss
8. Lucky Scottish lady
9. Birds and a happy cat
10. Pleasant veg found in a whistle got up
11. got up
12. a cold fall
13. Darling Bill
14. Two girls
15. Remember me
16. Adam’s bloomer
17. Best Policy
18. Source of light and bread
19. Drinking vessel for spreading on bread 
20. Vulgar Big Ben

Answers to last month’s quiz  Name the Country.

1. Popular bird for Christmas - Turkey
2. In need of a good meal  - Hungary
3. Where they have a lot of coffee  Brazil
4. Like the weather in winter - Chile
5. Hurry the lady - Russia
6. Not out darling - India
7. I did not walk - Iran
8. Mournful sound - Wales
9. Between 79 and 81 - Haiti
10. Not old twenty one shillings - New Guinea
11. Suitable hat for hot weather - Panama
12. the island of the Egyptian kings - Faroes
13. Freezing place - Iceland
14. A shop where the bull shouldn’t go - China
15. Makes a nasty mark on your clothes - Greece
16. Prosecute little Daniel -  Sudan
17. Where male neckwear originates - Thailand
18. Don’t cry for me - Argentina 
19. Where the melody is - Tunisia
20. Country underneath-  Netherland