Poringland WI

At our October meeting we tried some gentle exercises with Michael Guymer.

He emphasised the importance to exercise as we get older, in order to maintain our muscle strength and balance. Balance is something that can deteriorate but is very important to prevent falls which can be devastating.

. 

Our next meeting will be on December 14th in the Community Centre at 7.30pm.  This will be our Christmas party with music provided by Patsy Rose on her guitar, and food provided by members.   We have invited members from other WIs, and Ifyou are thinking of joining us, then this is a good meeting to start with.  I was hooked after my first meeting which was Christmas 1971 and involved wine tasting!  No wine this year, but we promise lots of fun and friendship.  We look forward to meeting you soon.

For more information or if you need a lift to get to the

meeting, phone Lesley on 01508 492155

Our meeting on September 14th was Eileen Howe - Corn Dollys  (Demo)

 Eileen then proceeded to give the history of straw and how it is still important to us to-day.   She then showed many corn dollies followed by making a corn dolly.   The members were then given straw and thread and shown how to make their own corn dolly, which brought laughter and delight at the efforts made.   She was thanked by Jean Waters.

Some of our members trying out their skills at making their own Corn dolls.

                         Be aware of Scam Telephone call. 


Please be aware, there is a scam going around in Poringland starting with a phone call purporting to be from BT. 

The caller states he is installing a more secure website - a BT one and It is free. 

You will be asked to log on to your machine and go through certain applications. 

PLEASE be Aware never ever respond to any phone calls from Banks or Computer calls. 

Pam Cooper
President. 

The Secrets of Porcelain and The Teapot story.

Charlotte Harrison is a Ceramic Artist and Figurative Sculptor, she has had a varied career, running her own business in York and made commemorative plates for the National trust.

Charlotte brought many really interesting teapots of all shapes and sizes from around the world and explained  in China, Japan and Indonesia to Europe and the United States, tea had made an indelible mark on the history of the world. While tea and history have been intertwined for thousands of years, the world’s history with the teapot is much more modern. It is a well-known fact that tea had been consumed for centuries before the first “official” teapot hit the scene around 500 years ago. One reason for the late arrival of the teapot is that tea wasn’t consumed in the manner it is today.

Nearly every tea-drinking culture has created its own vessel for consuming this ancient beverage. Similar to the acceptance of tea within society, the teapot has a history that is closely connected with class. Whether it is the prized Yixing or the more everyday Brown Betty, the teapot continues to develop with designs that cater to prevailing tea-consuming. Every tea-drinking culture has created its own vessel for consuming this ancient beverage. Similar to the acceptance of tea within society, the teapot has a history that is closely connected with class. Whether it is the prized Yixing or the more everyday Brown Betty, the teapot continues to develop with designs that cater to prevailing tea-consuming trends.

In England, this resulted in the emergence of “afternoon tea.” To meet the growing demand for teapots in the middle class, artist-merchants, including Josiah Wedgwood and Josiah Spode, quickly responded with their version of the teapot.

Surely the aesthetic teapot, designed with modern-day convenience, is on the rise, but for the purist, there are certainly enough designs to choose from. Whether you desire something antique or modern, whimsical or pure art, stoneware or porcelain, there is definitely a teapot to fit your brewing needs and your aesthetic sensibilities.


Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 11th May when Anthea Rule will present a Fashion Show by Timeless Classics.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings which are held in the Community Centre on the second Wednesday each month (except August), but if you would like to talk to someone first, or need help to get to the Community Centre, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674, or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Christine Humphreys, Tears and Laughter involved in Tracing your Family tree.

Our February meeting was chaired by Joan Fountain, and as the room was very full, we had to fetch extra chairs for our visitors.  Our speaker was Christine Humphreys who told us of the Tears and laughter involved in researching your family tree.  She illustrated her talk with anecdotes, and gave hints on how to get started on family history and used examples from her own family.  Telling us how addictive this research can be, and how surprises await, even if you think you know about your ancestors.  We had many questions for Christine over coffee.

Thank you to everyone who supported our Jumble Sale, this helps us to keep solvent, and enables us to support local good causes such as the Dementia cafe.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 13th April when Charlotte Harrison will give us the story of tea and tea tasting.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings which are held in the Community Centre on the second Wednesday each month (except August), but if you would like to talk to someone first, or need help to get to the Community Centre, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674, or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

Lesley and Joan spoke about representing the WI at the Royal Garden Party held at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday June 2nd last year.  This was in Celebration of the WI Centenary and was attended by 8,000 members.  It was a fine but blustery day, which caused quite a few ladies to lose their hats, which were often seen bowling across the lawn.  This did not seem to affect the Royal  hostesses - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, the Countess of Wessex, Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Gloucester who walked among the ladies looking impeccable and chatting to many of us.  After listening to the bands, and queueing for delicate sandwiches followed by fruit and ice cream, we were free to wander around and admire the gardens and lake.  After it was all over, we exited through the Palace and across the courtyard, I am sure that we will feature in quite a few pictures taken by the tourists hanging about outside the fence, especially those foreigners who wondered what was going on!
 
As were booked to attend the National AGM at the Albert Hall on the Thursday, we stayed overnight and spent Wednesday, another lovely day, on a visit to Kensington Palace where we admired the display of Royal gowns from the 50s thro 80s as worn by the Queen,  Princess Margaret and Princess Diana.  After a stroll around the gardens and park we had time for a little retail therapy along Kensington High street before returning to the hotel.

Our next meeting will be in our usual home of the Community Centre on Wednesday 13th April 2016. Our speaker will be Charlotte Harrison  - A story of Tea and Tea Tasting.  We look forward to seeing everyone there and don’t forget your mug!

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings if there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

January 2016 meeting.

December meeting.

Poringland WI 

Gerry Morris entertained our Members during our December meeting with his unique interpretation of seasonal Irish Christmas music. We had invited some friends from other WI groups and we had a lovely evening mingling and laughing and making new friends. We had a “small” buffet to tuck into as well.  Gerry did a grand job with his guitar and his traditional Irish songs, which were humorous and mixed with pathos, as are all traditional songs!

Our next meeting will be in our usual home of the Community Centre on Wednesday 10th February 2016. Our Speakers’ will be our very own Lesley and Joan telling us all about the Centenary trip to Buckingham Palace. It was such an important year for all WI Members and many of the arranged events were inspiring – which is exactly what the WI set out to do. I’m sure the ladies will do us proud and entertain us with their individual stories of being at Buckingham Palace.We look forward to seeing everyone there and don’t forget your mug!

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Samantha Mosedale

Press Officer

JUMBLE SALE

Poringland WI jumble sale will be held on Saturday February 27th 2016 in the Community Centre, starting at 10:30hrs till 12 noon.  Any jumble and tombola items gratefully received. Hope to see you all there.  Please deliver any jumble to the hall before 1000hrs or phone one of the numbers below if you have any items you would like collecting.

Pam Cooper on 1508 491674 or Lesley Sanders on 01508 492155

Meeting held 9th December 2015.

MINUTES OF MEETING OF PORINGLAND WI

held on Wednesday 9 December 2015

In the chair Mrs Pam Cooper, who welcomed members and visitors from Haddiscoe and Broome, Thurlton and Chedgrave/

Apologies for absence were received from Veronica, Maureen Scott and Rogers, Mary Baker and Jeanette Chapman.

There being no news of Members, the Birthday posies were presented.

Minutes of the October meeting were signed having been printed in Newsletter

Matters Arising none

Gazette and Correspondence none
Members were reminded that the 2016 Programme was included in their Newsletter whereany information and correspondence was to be found.

Arrangements for January meeting
Speaker will be Rosie Wilkin on Headdresses and Hairstyles thro history

Thanks will be by Nina.  The Secretary then explained the new competitions for January this will be items beginning with J
Tea hostesses are Sues Hinsley and France

There being no further business, Pam then introduced Jerry Morris who proceeded to entertain us with Irish Seasonal Songs and anecdotes.
He was thanked by Sam Mosedale, 

Everyone was then invited to purchase the £1 parcels in aid of charity and enjoy the ample refreshments brought by members.  The competition for a decorated bauble was won by Sue France, second Sue Cranmer.
After this the meeting closed at 9.30pm.

2016 Subscription Rates.

2016 subscription rates announced

• The NFWI Board of Trustees has set the membership subscription for 2016 at £37.50
• £18 of the subscription is kept by your WI, £8.40 will go to your federation and £11.10 will go to the NFWI
• Subscriptions are due in January 2016. The WI subscription year runs from January to December
• New members joining the WI for the first time, i.e. who have not previously been a member of any WI in the past 10 years, will pay a pro-rata subscription depending on the quarter in which they join The rate per quarter is shown in the following table
   
  

  Date of joining	Total subscription due
  1 Jan - 31 Mar	£37.50
  1 Apr - 30 Jun	£28.10
  1 Jul - 30 Sep	£18.75
  1 Oct - 31 Dec	£9.40

   
• WI members can belong to more than one WI, by paying the full membership fee to the first WI, and a further £18 to any additional WIs at any time of the year. There is no pro-rata rate for dual membership
• Each WI holds a minimum of eleven meetings each year and all members can contribute ideas to the annual programme of speakers, activities and events
• WI Members will receive eight copies per year of the WI membership magazine, WI Life and be able to access resources and information on the website and the WI Moodle. WIs are also kept up to date with news by regular mailings from the NFWI
• Federations also keep members informed about the wide variety of activities they offer to members regionally

We hope that you will enjoy your membership of the WI and all that it offers

This information can also be download as a PDF document here.

- See more at: https://www.thewi.org.uk/media-centre/news-and-events/current-news-and-events/2016-subscription-rates-announced#sthash.9tOU75Ob.dpuf

AGM November 2015.

Poringland WI

November was our annual meeting, when we checked our finances with the Treasurer, and the Committee Report reviewed the events of the year.  As this year was the WI Centenary year, there was a lot to report as well as our meetings and outings.  The highlights must include the evening receptions at Gressenhall, the Royal Garden party and the National Annual meeting which was attended by the Queen, who is a member of Sandringham WI.  This was screened live in the Community Centre thanks to John Henson, and we invited over 100 members from other WIs to join us and enjoy a picnic.  Fortunately the weather was fine on the day.

This year we sadly lost one dear friend, Margaret Hems, but have been joined by 4new members, however we are always happy to see more.  2 members retired from the Committee, but we were pleased that Sue France agreed to be co-opted on, and Pam Cooper was re-elected for another term of office as President.

After refreshments, Nina gave a report on her recent stay at Denman, the WI College in Oxfordshire, where she studied costume of the 40s and 50s.  The meeting finished with a fun quiz which was won by Maureen Scott and Veronica Brett.

Our next meeting will be on 13 January, when Rosie Wilkin will be telling us about Headdresses and Hairstyles through history.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings which are held in the Community Centre on the second Wednesday each month (except August), but if you would like to talk to someone first, or need help to get to the Community Centre, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674, or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

L Sanders

For the Love of Cows.

Wednesday 14th October 2015

Our Speaker for our Meeting was Helen Reeve. She gave a fascinating and interesting talk on For the Love of Cows. This wasn’t just a talk about her love of cows – it was about one particular breed: the Dexter. It was also about Helen’s battle to succeed in farming, which is a male dominated career. She began with just two Dexter’s, and, through support from the Young Farmers, and her mum and dad of course, she has won many awards and has worked her way up through the Young Farmers, representing them many times. She now has a herd of over 40 Dexters. Helen describes them as small for cows but with a big voice and very talkative. She has shown them at the Royal Norfolk Show several times. Helen has even been on the One Show, and met Matt Baker. Her talk was inspiring and it has shown that it is possible for women to progress in a career that is so dominated by men. The Meeting was enjoyed by all and I’m sure many of the women will be buying Dexter beef from Helen in the future. To me, she embodied everything that the WI is about. Inspiring, hard working, forward thinking and wanting to blaze a trail to empower women to succeed.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 9th December 2015 at our usual home of the Poringland Community Centre. We will be entertained by Greg Morris, who will be playing seasonal Irish Christmas music, to help us to prepare our spirit for Christmas. I’m sure it will be an enjoyable evening and we will have our usual buffet supper. The competition is to decorate a bauble.             

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Samantha Mosedale

Rachel Rusholme-Pilcher. The Science of Sleep.

Wednesday 9th September 2015

Our speaker at our Meeting was Rachel Rusholme-Pilcher, who is the Norfolk Federation Science Officer. She did a wonderful talk on The Science of Sleep, and – she managed to keep everyone awake! It can be so easy to feel sleepy when talking about sleep. Rachel managed to explain what happens when we sleep in such a way that it was easily understood, and incredibly fascinating. The talk appeared to be enjoyed by all and there were many questions at the end for Rachel to answer. A big thank you to Rachel for such an interesting talk.

The competition was Best tip for a good night’s sleep. There were several entries and Rachel chose the winner. Rachel emphasised that the best thing for a good night’s sleep was getting into a good routine. And unfortunately, no caffeine after around 1600hrs!

A big thank you to everyone who supported our jumble sale in September, money raised from this helps us, as a Charity organisation, to keep running.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 11th November 2015 at the Community Centre. As usual, there will be no speaker for this meeting as it is our annual meeting. We look forward to seeing everyone there. Don’t forget to bring your mug.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Samantha Mosedale

Boats of the Mediterranean.

Wednesday 8th July 2015

Our meeting this week was in our usual home of the Community Centre. We welcomed Nicola Werden, who spoke to us about Boats of the Mediterranean. Poor Nicola had a cold on the night so needed to use a microphone so that we could all hear her – her husband was on hand to set everything up for her. Nicola’s talk was more specific than we thought, and she gave an interesting and fascinating insight into their boat – the Never Moody, and their journey from the UK and ending in Greece.

Nicola and her husband had sold their house to invest in the Never Moody as it had been a dream of theirs to live on a yacht. The Never Moody was the lucky boat and they had many adventures, seeing dolphins, attempting to catch fish to be self-sufficient (which was never as consistent as they hoped!) They made many new friends and arranged to meet family along the way. Nicola managed to give us an insight into the sometimes romantic, sometimes funny and sometimes worrying voyage. Their boat is currently moored near Greece and they hope to get back to her soon. 

Our exhibition was of holiday snaps and there certainly was a wide range of entries.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday September 9th 2015 and our speaker will be Rachel Rusholme-Pilcher. She will be entertaining us with a talk on the Science of Sleep. Our competition will be Best tip for a good night’s sleep. We look forward to seeing you then. Please remember to bring your mug for a drink.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings.  If there are any queries, please contact Pam Cooper, President on 01508 491674 or Lesley Sanders, Secretary on 01508 492155.

Samantha Mosedale

Obituary.

Our WI announces with great sadness,  the death of member Margaret Hems. Margaret had been a member since 1978 when her husband Brian became our Rector. She had been on the committee several times and was always very supportive of WI events. In recognition of her membership, Jerusalem was sang at her funeral in the Cathedral in May. 
The photo above was taken in Shirleys garden in 1993 when Margaret was Vice President.