Welcome 2026/27

MEET US 

First meeting is always free (except Herstorical walk - £20 non-members)

2026/27 COMMITTEE

Contact us 

Claude - Chair, Debbie - Secretary,  Julie - Treasurer, Neelo - Social Secretary, Chris - Membership, Jane - Social Media, Committee Members - Helena, Nat

Women's Safety Workshop, 29 November

London West End Women's Institute are pleased to announce we are hosting a women’s safety workshop on Saturday 29th of November from 0930 to 1400hrs.

Central London (Zone 1) location. Near Tottenham Court Road underground station. (About 8 minutes walk away) to the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury.

Tickets cost £35 plus booking fee and can be bought here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/womens-safety-workshop-open-to-women-only-run-by-london-west-end-wi-tickets-1838921235919

We're offering you 4.5 hours of fun, education and empowerment.

• Learn the tips and strategies to keep you safe when out & about on public transport or out generally.
• Learn some physical techniques to get physically out of trouble.
• John The Policeman with 40 years experience in the Met is taking the morning session
• Kim with 10+ years doing Self defence for Women is taking the afternoon session. 

Let’s learn, connect and have fun. 

We just ran a pilot male workshop on November 12th and the men reported learning lots at the event.

Do come along, make a friend, learn something new & useful.

LWEWI are not your typical WI.  

No “Pearls & Twinsets here”.

More making memories, mayhem and mischief. 

This particular event is only open to women, but later events may be open to all. 

This is one of several workshops we are planning in the coming months to fill our knowledge gaps.

Next Meeting - 15 January 2025

Our first meeting of 2025 is on Wednesday 15 January, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury.

This month Anita and Caroline from Made Kind will be joining us.  This isn't just a sales pitch for their natural cleaning products, but also a how to guide: if you have an idea how do you get it made and sold?  They are here to tell us all about that, as well as to demo how to make some scented bath salts. You can find out more about them on their website, here: Our Story – MadeKind

The meeting is open to all women, whether members or visitors. We do have a small charge (£5) for non-members to help us cover costs, although your first visit is free. You can message or email us (londonwestendwi@gmail.com) if you'd like more info, or to let us know you're coming as a visitor so we can look out for you.

Dates for your Diary, May to December 2024

 Monthly Meetings 2024

May 15th: A talk about Annie Horniman, Theatrical Impressario, with Geraldine Beskin

June 19th:  Needle felting and talk about shepherding with Emma Harrison

July 17th: Votes for Women! Guided walk with Herstorical Tours. Pre-booking essential for this one, please email us to reserve your spot.

August : TBC

September : Sort My Stuff Out! with professional organiser Katherine Blackler

October : Commonwealth War Graves Commission: architecture and its conservation with Alistair Higgins

November : TBC

December: Christmas social:

_______________________

British Museum Exhibition Previews
We hope to attend more exhibition previews this year - in previous years we've been to most major exhibitions before they open to the public. This year we have already visited Legion: Life in the Roman Army, Michelangelo The Last Decades, and more

______________________

Cake Sales

We aim to have at least one cake and craft sale a year. This year we will be having 2 stalls at the annual Soho Fete on Sunday 21st July. Bakers, Crafters and sellers always required. All money raised goes towards maintainin LWEWI's programme full of interesting speakers

May Monthly Meeting

Our next meeting is Wednesday May 15th, at 6.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St. George's Bloomsbury

Our speaker this month is Geraldine Beskin, and she will be speaking to us about Annie Horniman, Theatrical Impresario and Her Chums.

Annie Horniman was a Victorian spinster with flaming red hair and a temper to match. She used her irritation with situations to change the world of the Theatre forever. She was rich, knew the poet W B Yeats for a lifetime, George Bernard Shaw - another redhead - author of very successful plays such as Pygmalion or My Fair Lady as the film was called, and Dame Ellen Terry the actress who was a National Treasure a bit like Judy Dench is now. These are a few of the big names in her address book, she had lots of other friends who were differently important.

Our Speaker

Geraldine Beskin runs The Atlantis Bookshop with her daughter Bali and they are very proud that their business is 102 years old. Geraldine should have been born a Victorian as she loves the creative people who were around then. Instead she had the fun of being able to be a Hippy and listen to great music and enjoy other benefits of being a mid-century baby!

Open to all our members, and to any interested women - you're all welcome as visitors. Email us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com if you'd like more info, or just turn up.

March meeting

Our March meeting, on Wednesday 20th, will be our AGM followed by a short session of practical sashiko embroidery, inspired by our February speaker, Rob Jones. We'll supply all the materials, and the instructions - and as you can see from the example below, it's nice and straightforward, and easy to complete a small piece in a short time.

Non-members are welcome to attend but will be unable to vote for committee members in the AGM.

Want to be on the committee? Let us know ahead of the meeting via email, and also get in touch if you've got any questions about what being on the committee means in terms of responsibilities or time commitments.

Sashiko - what we'll be trying in March

Our speaker in February, Rob Jones

We meet at 6.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's, Bloomsbury (entrance on Little Russell Street). Visitors are always welcome, you can email us for more info or just turn up on the evening.

Shop online? Click this link or scan the QR code before you shop and LWEWI will recieve a small donation, at no cost to you, for every transaction you make.

February 2024 Meeting: Japanese Textiles Talk

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 21st February at 6.30pm when we'll be learning about Japanese textiles.

Rob Jones, a textile designer, will give us a talk about Japanese textiles crafts, discussing the origins and history and daily usage of the following crafts:

• Shibori resist dyeing
• Katagami stencilling
• Sashiko embroidery
• Boro
• Kogin counted thread Sashiko
• Kasuri weaving

Rob will bring examples of all these vintage textiles for us to see, including examples of his own work. He will explain how he came to be a Japanese textiles designer/maker and teacher and tell us a few tales of his trips to Japan to learn with his sensei and internationally renowned Japanese textiles artist, Bryan Whitehead.

There will be time for questions at the end.

At the event he also bring along a small selection of his own work to sell alongside books on some of the crafts and some kits with needles, threads and patches.

See his website, https://www.romordesigns.com/ for more information about Rob and his work.

We meet at 6.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's, Bloomsbury (entrance on Little Russell Street). Visitors are always welcome, you can email us for more info or just turn up on the evening!

November meeting - the Biology of Christmas

This month's talk is on Wednesday 15th November at 6.30pm and our topic is the biology of Christmas. 

Have you ever wondered about the stories behind our favourite Christmas plants and animals? Come along to our November meeting and find out about robins, reindeer, Christmas trees and the rest with our returning speaker, Jane McLauchlin.

We meet at 6.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's, Bloomsbury. See our 'about us' page for a map and more info. Guests are welcome and your first meeting is free - we welcome all women aged 18 and over. If you haven't been before and want more info, you can email us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com

October meeting, Helena Roden and her art installations

 

OCTOBER MEETING - WEDNESDAY 18th - 6.30pm

Helena will be guiding us through the stages, from development, planning and installation of her exhibition... no mean feat when you look at the size of the sculptures. She'll be talking to us about the seven different sculptures which were commissioned by the housing developers, they were commissioned to enhance the landscape and act as a focal point around the 400 new homes in the area.  The pieces were made in a forge in Wales and had to be transported to Billingshurst in Sussex. Sadly these won't be on display in the hall... but we might be able to see some of the models and certainly find out about the creativity and logistics involved.

We meet in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury, 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Meetings are open to all women over the age of 18 - visitors are very welcome and your first meeting is free. Email us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com or check out our social media posts for more information

July meeting, Wed 19th - handbell ringing

 

This month we’re having a go at handbell ringing with Sandra, a member of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain.

We meet in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Visitors are welcome, do contact us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com or message us via social media so we know to look out for you.

June meeting - local history talk with Jane Palm-Gold

Our next meeting is Wednesday 21 June, where we're having a local history talk from Jane Palm-Gold, on the history of Church Lane in St Giles, near to where we meet.

In the 1840s, the sheer number of desperately poor living in filthy conditions in the St. Giles Rookery meant disease and death lingered like a miasma over the parish. The authorities' view was that the locality was a breeding-ground for cholera and other diseases. 

Church Lane lay at the heart of the Rookery, yet within a few years, the grease and grime was gone, transformed by soap and sanitation measures.

 Jane Palm-Gold takes us on a journey to reveal the area's regeneration: New Oxford Street, 19^th century London’s newest street and shopping destination, and the Pears Soap emporium, exploring its art, advertising and Christmas Annuals as well as its problematic past.

We meet in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Visitors are welcome, do contact us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com or message us via social media so we know to look out for you.

May Meeting: Origami for Mindfulness

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 17th May when we're trying origami with Vanessa from Origami Party London.

Making origami can often be considered as just a novel form of entertainment and, in some circumstances, that is true.  However, I believe that origami is also a powerful mental health tool when used with the purpose of helping to reduce anxiety.  It helps a person to quieten and facilitates a calmer emotional state as it puts them back into their body whilst still engaging their hands and brain. And, as with other mindfulness practices, doing origami also encourages living in the moment which can provide a much needed mental break from worrying about the future or ruminating over the past.  I believe that it is a very accessible introduction to the concept of a meditative practice and making origami is a skill that once learned can be accessed any time that someone may feel the need to ground themselves. 

It is cheap, quick, creative, fun and also flexible. It can be enjoyed either alone or in a group setting and it works for all ages.  You can also take a simple design (eg a crane) and once you have created a number of them make an art installation for your room/home/community space.

Meet in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Visitors are welcome, do contact us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com or message us via social media so we know to look out for you.

Craft Club 2023

Craft club is back in person in 2023, and from Tuesday 4th April we are back at our old home of Atlantis Books on Museum Street! We'll be there 6.30 to 7.30pm on the 1st Tuesday of every month, in the downstairs meeting room. 

From April to have a craft of the month for everyone to join in with.

• Tuesday 4th April: Beaded earrings
• Tuesday 2nd May: Wool heart garlands
• Tuesday 6th June: Turning old books into hedgehogs (see photo below)
• Tuesday 4th July: Paper quilling

Even better, to get us going again the first 3 months are free! LWEWI will cover the cost of the room hire and the materials. From July there will be a small charge to cover the room hire and tea and biscuits, and we'll supply any materials needed for the monthly craft.

All members and non-members are welcome to join us, and also to lead craft sessions if you're an expert in paper crafts, or knitting, or glass painting, or jewellery making, or crochet, or....

Email us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com for more info or just turn up on the night!

2023 Meetings

 A reminder that the details for all of our 2023 meetings can be found in 3 places online:

 
1. the Events 2023 tab of this blog:http://londonwestendwi.blogspot.com/p/events-2015_12.html

2. Our Facebook page as events: https://www.facebook.com/LondonWestEndWomensInstitute/events/?id=100064572460020&sk=events

3. Our Instagram page as stories and posts the week before a meeting

Members will also be notified via the LWEWI WhatsApp group and our regular e-newsletter. 

We'll also add information on these pages about craft club when it restarts in 2023, BM visits, outings and cake/craft stalls.

Review of 2022

This past year we have managed to meet in person every month, have taken in 3 British Museum exhibitions,and started meeting in person for craft club again. Sadly we haven’t been able to do any fundraising, but we already have plans for 2023 stalls.

So what did we get up to this year?

January: We had a talk on Victorian clothes with Kat Jungnickel (author of Bikes and Bloomers: Victorian Women Inventors and Their Extraordinary Cycle Wear)

February: This month we got crafty, with a Peruvian inspired embroidery craft activity with Helena

March: This month was our AGM, attended by representatives of Middlesex Federation, and we also had a zoom talk on the history of the WI by Lisa Greenly who joined us remotely from Canada.

April: This month's talk was a fascinating evening 'Eat your Greens' with Jane McLauchlin, all about the domestication and history of the fruit and vegetables we eat today.

May: This month's talk was 'The Hot Spots of the World', an illustrated talk on some of the Volcanoes Liz Mooney has visited on her travels. 

June: June was a hands-on evening of making our own fabulously scented wax melts with Antoinette. 

July: July was another hands-on session, quite literally this time as Claude taught us how to carry out reflexology hand massages on each other!

Between meetings we also found time to attend the Soho Village Fair in July, and in 2023 we plan to have a stall there.

August: Despite the rain, we went for a walk and talk around St Giles looking at the haunts and history of Charles Dickens and his relationship with the area, led by Jane Palm-Gold. 

September: This was a British Sign Language taster session with Lindsey - we learned the alphabet, some basic BSL words, and some of the history and etiquette of BSL.

October: This month we tried out faux calligraphy with Jane in a hybrid meeting format, some of us in the hall, some at home and the speaker joining via Zoom. Luckily the tech worked, and we may have more sessions in this format in the future.

November: This month was another crafty evening, as we learned about Madhubani painting and created our own, under the guidance of Nilanjana from KraftGurus.

December: We went for a walk around the Christmas lights of the West End, and then had a Christmas dinner at Tas restaurant.

British Museum Exhibitions

As well as our regular meetings, our members attended the community previews of three major British Museum exhibitions - Stonehenge, Feminine Power and Hieroglyphs.

And towards the end of the year our Craft Club moved from online back to an in-person event, on the 1st Tuesday of every month. At the moment we're pub based, but hoping to find somewhere a bit more craft-oriented, with better lighting, soon!

Next Meeting: 16 November, Madhubani Painting Workshop

Join us on Wednesday 16th November from 6.30pm, for a one-hour Introductory Madhubani Painting workshop from 7-8pm, led by Nilanjana, founder of KraftGurus.

KraftGurus' mantra is: Learn, Create, Grow. It showcases India's heritage arts. Join us on Wednesday 16th November, for one-hour to be introduced to the colourful & intricate style of Madhubani Painting combined with fun-filled stories that explain the artform.

The featured artform is the vivid Madhubani Painting, originating in Bihar, India. In the workshop, you will learn a popular Madhubani motif, while understanding the significance of each element making up this art. You will create your own painting and will get to take home your creations! This workshop is suitable for all ages, experiences  and backgrounds – all materials will be provided.

About KraftGurus
Founded by Nilanjana, its creation is inspired by the love of her homeland, India, and its arts heritage. KraftGurus aims to expand the experience of the exceptional arts-crafts  of India through workshops-courses, handmade products and unique experiences.

With its aim to  support the prize-winning artists based in India, Nilanjana  works to increase awareness and knowledge of Indian art-craft practices through her unique storytelling style, which combines art practices in order to inform about the significance of different elements found in Indian art and the stories each element tells.' 

_________________________________________________________________

HOW TO FIND US

Meetings are held in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury (look for the noticeboard by the gate on Little Russell Street) from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Bring some refreshments to share if you can!

If it's your first visit, you can just drop in or you can email us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com so we know to look out for you.