Welcome to London West End WI

Thursday, 7 October 2010

LWWI - October Dates for the Diary

Apologies for the lengthy entry but there is infact quite a lot going on that we wanted to share with you.

Free One day Preview at the British Museum Sunday 31st October
We have been invited by the British Museum to come along to the Museum during the afternoon of Sunday 31st October in order to attend a free preview of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. If you would like to attend this free event on Sunday 31st please email LWWI and we will order the appropriate number of tickets. We need you to decide ideally by the evening of Saturday 16th of October.

Rosemary Anne Sissons is coming to talk to us on Tuesday 19th of October.
She is a Novelist, playwright and script writer.
I enclose for your information a quick blurb about Rosemary from imdb.com.

Rosemary Anne Sisson
Age: 80’s (born in the 1920’s). Novelist and playwright. Lived in Grange Park, North London. Father was Professor Sisson and taught Shakespeare and Eng. Lit at UCL. First Lord Northcliffe professor. (1930’s)

Attended Cheltenahm Ladies College. Civil Service (!) took over the school when war broke out in ’39, so went to Secretarial School to learn shorthand typing and bookkeeping.

Attended UCL to do BA in English. (U.C.L. evacuated to Aberystwyth.) and left after 2 years to join the Womens’ Auxiliary Air Force (WAAFS).

After war went to Cambridge, Newman College, and took M Litt. Moved to Wisconsin in 1949 to lecture in English at the university. Stayed one year. Worked on a ranch as a kitchen help 90 miles from railway station 30 miles from town. Stayed a final week as a dude so she could ride the horses - forbidden for staff. Wrote a western novel based on her experiences – The Killer of Horseman Flats.

Returned to England and lectured at UCL in English for 2 - 3 years, but sacked for overstaying her holiday in Baghdad even though she had arranged a temporary substitute to cover her extra week’s absence.

Father had retired, but then was made first Senior Fellow of the new Shakespeare Institute at Stratford, so RAS lived with her parents and lectured at Birmingham University and became the dramatic critic for the Stratford Herald.

Wrote first play The Queen and the Welshman. Shakespeare Histories performed at Stratford with Michael Redgrave, Anthony Quayle, Richard Burton and this was the sequel.

Performed at the Edinburgh festival and toured – before being produced at the Hammersmith Lyric in 1957 with Edward Woodward and Frank Finlay. Adapted for radio BBC Wales.

Then became writer for Upstairs Downstairs, Six Wives of Henry VIII, Elizabteh R, adaptation of Wind in the Willows, etc.

Worked for Disney and wrote the screenplays for Ride a Wild Pony, Escape from the Dark, Candleshoe and Watcher in the Woods.

Among a number of other plays produced, she wrote a Ghost on Tiptoe with Robert Morley and was nominated by him to become the first woman member of the Dramatist Club, founded in 1909 by, among others, GB Shaw, Somerset Maugham, Arthur Pinero. Her nomination was seconded by W.A. Dartington of the Daily Telegraph. When she became a member two others resigned.

She became the first woman Honorary Secretary and wrote the Centennial History of the Club, sub-titled “You mean the actors don’t make it all up as they go along?”.

Is a member of the Writer’s Guild (a TU for writers, non-political) and has been Chair and President; has about 1000 members. Continues to write e.g. novels, articles, scripts for charity functions, e.g. Joy to the World.

Sewing Circle
Sewing Circle will now be on the first Tuesday of each month at Seven Dials in Covent Garden

Food Hygiene Course

We are trying to organise a Food Hygiene course for November for interested members
We will have further details about this following the final committee meeting for 2009/2010 LWWI committee.
We will try to keep the cost for this down to a minimum
If you would like to gain your food hygiene certificate which is valid for 3 years and allows you to make and sell produce to the public please email LWWI. The cost of doing this course at a college is usally about £60 per person we hope to offer it to you all at no more than £30 at a maximum.

Concessions may be available depending on the number of people who wish to attend.

Final committee meeting for 2009/2010

We hope to have our final committee meeting for 2009/2010 shortly. Committee pls check your email in the next few days for suggested dates for this meeting.
We have some paper work that must be completed before the AGM in November for both Surrey Federation and NFWI
We need to discuss the food hygiene course.
Website
AGM
Whatsonstage renewal
Potential diary events for 2010 and early 2011
AOB

AGM and Cider Tasting for November 2010

AGM and Cider tasting will occur on November 16 2010
We would appreciate as many members as possible attending this meeting
New and potential members pls do come along

Joining the LWWI committee for 2010/2011
If you would like to join the LWWI committee for 2010/2011 please do feel free to put yourself forward.
The commitment from ordinary committee members is minimum. Most of the committee initially joined as ordinary members before taking formal positions.
If you would like to stand for a formal nominated position like secretary, president, treasurer etc please do email LWWI to nominate yourself.
If you are worried about the amount of work involved in taking a position then rest assured you can always job share as Kate and I have for 2009/2010.

National Baking week
National Baking week occurs this month from 18th to 24th of October
See nationalbakingweek.co.uk

Possible Phoenix Gardens Autumn Event

Following the success of Phoenix gardens event in September we raised circa £275 we have potentially been invited to take part in a Autumn event with them. Further details will be available as soon as Kate has them.

Joining LWWI for 2010/2011
Please do not forget that it is currently possible to join LWWI now and your membership will cost £30 and not expire until the end of December 2011. Please see Maggie our treasurer for further details. We are hoping to make it possible for members to pay via paypal if they wish and will have further details about this shortly.
There are certain perks to being a member rather than paying per visit pls see either Claude, Kate or Heather for further details

Hänsel & Gretel at the Royal Opera House
on Tuesday 28th December 2010 at 12.30pm, tickets will be approximately £20 or less and we will start taking bookings soon.
For more information about the production see the Opera House website www.roh.org.uk
Hopefully we will have the means of allowing you to pay via paypal shortly for these tickets.
Pls email Kate via londonwestendwi@gmail.com if you want to attend so she has some idea of numbers and she can let you know the last date by which you have to book.

Wear it Pink Day 29th October - Breast Cancer Campaign
Is Tuesday 29th October
Pls see website www.WearItPink.co.uk

Breast Cancer Campaign uses all wear it pink donations to fund innovative, world-class research throughout the UK and Ireland to understand how breast cancer develops, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure.

The charity currently supports around 106 projects worth £16.3 million in 38 centres across the UK and Ireland.

When you wear it pink you're part of something amazing - finding a cure for breast cancer, by funding some of the world's most promising and innovative research projects.

The money you have raised in the past has helped to fund projects like Dr Ingunn Holen's award-winning research, which found that if two drugs were given in a particular order at specific intervals, breast tumours were almost completely destroyed. This discovery could ultimately lead to improved chances of survival for thousands of women undergoing treatment.

Breast cancer research has made considerable progress over the past two decades and vital work is still underway. Past research has resulted in improvements in quality of life and survival. However, one woman in nine in the UK will be diagnosed during her lifetime. Each research project funded by the charity brings us a step closer to beating breast cancer.

Heather - the President of LWWI is currently climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

If anyone would like to sponsor her the link is below.

http://www.justgiving.com/Heather-Willensky

Heather wrote: On October 1st I will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in aid of the National Autistic Society. The National Autistic society champions the rights and interests of all people with autism and aim to provide individuals with autism and their families with help, support and services that they can access, trust and rely upon and which can make a positive difference to their lives. Thank you all in advance for all of your donations and support.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

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