Welcome to London West End WI

Tuesday 8 September 2015

September round-up


On Tuesday 1st September we had Craft Club, where 11 of us spend a merry couple of hours learning the art of teabag folding with Nicky in order to make Christmas cards (yes, it's already that time of year!). Next month we're going to be making Christmas cards again, but with ribbons this time.

Jane and Tish show off their creations at Craft Club

On Saturday 5th we had our annual cake stall at the Phoenix Gardens fayre, where we took almost £350 - a great amount given the dismal weather! Thanks to Helena, Jane, Valeria, Pat, Tish, Victoria, Claude, Denise, Pam, Ruth and Kate for their selling, jam making and/or baking skills which made the day a success!


Helena, Tish, Pam, Pat, Jane and Denise at Phoenix Gardens

Wednesday 16th was our monthly meeting, where Geraldine Beskin gave us a fascinating talk about researching local history from the comfort of your own sofa, and one of the stories she has uncovered, in particular the story of James Allen, who was found upon his death in the early 19th century to be a woman, something not even his wife had suspected!

James (Abigail) Allen, from the 1828 London publication "An Authentic Narrative of the Extraordinary Career of James Allen, the Female Husband!"

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th are Open House weekend, where we' were doing the refreshments for St George's. We took over £300 across the two days, and even the vicar stopped by for tea! Thanks to all the ladies who baked, sold cakes and made cups of tea on either day.



As if that wasn't enough, Sunday 20th was also the community preview of Celts at the British Museum, which a few of us were lucky enough to attend - remember that London West End WI members get free tickets to the exhibition previews at the BM, saving you over £10 a ticket.





Saturday 5 September 2015

International news!

Some of you may remember that at our meeting last October (how is that almost a year ago already?) we had some oversees visitors at our meeting, including Annemarie McDonald, a member of a Canadian WI, and committee members from the ACWW.

Thanks to Tish, we now have copies of the news articles in The Countrywoman, the international magazine of the Associated Country Women of the World, which reports on our guests that night. Click on the photos below to enlarge them and read the articles.