Poringland Newsletter April 2021

Dear All As we enter our second Easter in lockdown, we can hopefully look forward to being able to get together in the next few months either outside or indoors.  Unfortunately the community centre has been hired by the NHS until at least 30th June, so we have had to make the decision to cancel the speakers for June and July.  again we have to be advised by the government guidelines as to how many people can meet indoors after this date.  The committee continue to have zoom meetings monthly and try to stay positive and look forward to planning when we might be able to meet up again with you all.

I am pleased to say that we are very hopeful of still having our 100+ birthday dinner, I am in contact with the venue and they are being very helpful with working with us subject to Government guidelines to make this event possible to go ahead.  

 

With the lovely thought of us all meeting and being together for the first time as the WI ladies at Dunston Hall for lunch and the beautiful golden daffodils everywhere around us at the moment, let’s keep positive and smiling and looking forward to more freedom during the summer.  Hopefully all of us will have had our second jab and feel very positive to get back to a near normal life again.

Best wishes for Easter.

Pam.

We hope you like your little bag of Easter goodies.

Carol Cole is our crafty person and is the one to thank for the lovely Easter card and handpainted bookmark (each one is different).  Lesley made the seed bombs from an idea on My WI on the WI website* which has loads of craft ideas (instructions for sowing seeds enclosed).  The bags are from material supplied by committee members and Pam donated the Easter bunnies pick sticks.  The quiz was courtesy of Lochs and Glens.

An envelope addressed to Hilary is provided for the return of your Quiz entry – a prize will be given for the most correct answers sent in by the end of April.  You can either post it to her, or drop it in her door or the door of any convenient Committee Member.  I apologies for the envelope’s glue no longer working (waste not want not), you will need sellotape.

Subs are now due, so you can also post/deliver your payment in the envelope.  As we mentioned last month we have reduced the subs this year to £34. 

*If you would like to go on MyWI, you need to let me know and I will set you up. ( Lesley)

This is how my seedlings from the seed bomb are growing.  I sowed them rather early to see how it worked and some have gone a bit too leggy.  The flower pot (8”) is much too small so they are going to be a bit crowded, and I will need to transplant them - beware they need a larger pot!

 

Talking of plants how are your acorns growing?  I planted about a dozen that were left over – only half burying them but keeping them moist in the greenhouse.  I could see that several were sending a root down from the pointy end and now at least 3 are sprouting upwards.  Only about 1cm at the moment, but I hope to be able to put a picture in the next newsletter.  They will need a taller pot as the roots are beginning to come out the bottom.

 I have spoken to Daniel Skinner at High Ash and they will be happy to take any oak trees that we can grow to a reasonable size.  He says they constantly replant for either dead or fallen trees.  A well as Caistor camp, the farm has been a lovely place to walk around during lockdown.  Last week we saw 2 muntjac deer, a barn owl plus of course hundreds of rooks.  There are still flocks of linnets about and we have seen large groups in winter.

As you may know, the farm, as well as providing pasture for horses, has many permissive footpaths and is managed for wildlife.  Until 2017 they received EU funding to do so.  They now need sponsors to continue, as they do not want to return to intensive farming.  We have sponsored them this year, to help plant up field areas for the bees and birds.  Last summer we were amazed by this whole field of blue phacelia which the insects love.  Sorry the picture is not very amazing!

 

No little quiz this month, as you have the Chocolate quiz with a prize, so do send it in.  Meanwhile here are the answers to last month’s £sd Quiz – didn’t we have a lot of words for our coinage?   Just a reminder: 12d = 1/-( one shilling), 20/- = £1.

1.       Half a knicker. 10/- 2.       Centre of Head.  Crown = 5/- 3.       Type of hair cut.  Bob = 1/- 4.       The Queen’s ...... Shilling  = 1/- 5.       Its a relief to spend one.  Penny =  1d 6.       Kind of sleigh – Bob = 1/- 7.       Leather worker.  Tanner =  6d 8.       Cost of one or two hot cross buns. = 1d

9.       One of Tommy Steel’s shows Half a sixpence =  3d 10.   Cost of Julie’s bird food = 2d 11.   Enclosure for stray dogs.  Pound = £1 12.   Cost of a black stamp = 1d 13.   Old form of transport Penny farthing =   1¼d 14.   Reigning Monarch – Sovereign = £1   Total £2/19/3¼d

 

 

Poringland Newsletter May 2021

Dear Members Do hope you all had a very nice Easter, I know many of you were delighted with your Easter bags and thank you all for the lovely thank you notes or calls we have received.  Unfortunately several of our members have been ill themselves or have family members who have/are very poorly now.  I am sure you join me in sending our special thoughts. to all of these members and their families

Please make a note of this date in your diary Wednesday  August 18th 2021.

Dunston hall has been extremely good to all the questions and changes I have asked for to enable us to at last have our 100 year celebration, although it will be 101 years.  To enable me to confirm the approximate number of guests there will be could I ask that if you have not already done so, please pay your reduced membership subscription for the next 12 months sometime in the next 3 weeks as Dunston have given me a deadline to sign the contract for this event.  Thank you to the many of you who have already paid, we are pleased that this means our WI is able to continue, where some sadly suspended due to the pandemic.

For those members who are online I will send the Menu to you approximately end of May and for all other members I will send you a printed copy and will state when they have to be back to me at that point.

Green Seed heart in your Easter bag.

One of our members rang me to say she has planted her seed heart in a pot but has no room in her garden to grow these flowers and suggested when the plants are strong enough planting them in a hedgerow in Poringland to have a special bee friendly patch to remember Poringland WI 100 years celebration although unfortunately 1 year late.  I think this is a lovely idea, so if you are in a similar predicament, let us know.  We can always get some more seeds if we do not get enough seedlings, so please ladies can you try and do better than me I have not been very lucky and only have about 4 seedlings growing.

Date of first meetings back in the Community Centre.

As the Community Centre is open again for evening meetings from 7 July, we would like to have a social evening on our usual night – Wednesday 14 July 7.30pm.  As we do not yet know if there will be a number restriction, please let a committee member know if you intend to come along.

 Our first proper meeting will be:

September 8th @ 7:30 the speaker will be Cindy Brookes - My journey to British Citizenship.

I expect 2/3rds of members have by now had their second jabs, which hopefully makes everyone feel much more secure to go out and about with 6 friends and once again the weather has been very kind to us so hope you have been enjoying yourself.

Still continue to take care and hope to meet you out and about soon.

Warmest regards 

Pam.

Birthdays this month

Happy Birthday to Liz Bussey, Jean Gowing, Susie Hinsley and Christine Wise

My apologies and belated Greetings to Joan Fountain and Ann Thompson for April

Afternoon Walks – we have met 3 times for a 2.30pm Thursday afternoon walk, we have been lucky with the weather and each time one more member has come along.  We don’t walk very far – in fact it is just an excuse to have a chat and meet up!  We have 2 more Thursdays before the gym starts again, but everyone welcome, if more than 6, we divide into groups, if you cannot walk far, then you could stay for a chat by our bench.  Once gym starts up, if we wish to continue with the walks we will change to another day.

How are your Acorns and bee friendly seeds growing? I planted all the spare acorns and they have all sprouted!  I am very surprised at this as several of you said that yours had rotted, and I thought I had given out the better looking acorns so obviously you cannot tell a good acorn by its cover!  My flower seedlings are also looking good, and the cold weather does not seem to have affected them.  Let us know if you would prefer your seeds to be planted somewhere around the village as per Pam’s message, and I will check out where might be suitable.

Talking of plants I did suggest a plant sale in aid of WI funds, not sure that will happen as an Event, but does anyone have any spare plants to sell?  If you would like to buy some plants I have been dividing some of my perennials and have the following for sale:  Tall growing Campanula (blue flowers) which will flower in June, yellow and pink Primulas, Sedums which love my dry front garden and provide nectar for the bees later in summer, Hardy geraniums, and for next spring 2 pots of snowdrops and other small bulbs.  I also have several trays of Cosmos grown from seed, and I shall soon have Rudbekia  (so far about 70 seedlings have been potted up) and Nicotiana.  We had a lovely display of these last year, and the scent was gorgeous.  I have just sown Mesembryanthemum, Gazania and Duchess Double Asters.  I will probably have some tomato plants (Roma) and courgettes – these are rather late due to the cold weather we have suffered.  Remember last year – early lock down we went mad sowing all the odd packets of seeds we had, and everything was up and hardened off ready to plant out by now.

You may have seen in the Federation Newsletter about tokens from local papers like the EDP.  Louise is asking us to collect them to raise money for Federation, however if you have a local paper can you please collect them and if we get enough, I will apply for the cash for our own funds.

Green Hearts – you will see in the mailing information about Dippy the Dinosaur coming to the Cathedral this summer.  I propose to take all the green hearts that you have kindly made, and which we displayed on the bench, to be used at that event.  You are welcome to make more if you like.

Congratulations to Ann Webster for winning the Chocolate and Sweetie quiz.  The prize unsurprisingly features chocolate.  Well done to all entrants, I had to be really strict on the spelling (eg it is Wispa not Whisper) and I know Fuse is a chocolate bar but it is not EASILY blown like Bubble gum. 

 

Mary Stancer sent this lovely photo of her Kilanchoe that she received with her Easter bag.