May Meeting: Wed 20th May

Want to be ahead of the younger generation and know more than your kids? Or maybe you are one of the younger generation, and just want to play with some gadgets!

 

Joining us for the evening will be a speaker from Dragon Hall in Covent Garden, who will be bringing along lots of gadgets for us to play with. Think 3D printers, augmented reality glasses, 3D doodler pens, and lots of other toys that aren't just for the boys! Join us for what promises to be a fun and interactive evening of discovery.

For more information go to our our This Month page

 

Find out more about Dragon Hall's tech days here:

http://www.dragonhall.org.uk/innovation/

St George's Bloomsbury, 6 Little Russell Street, London WC1A 2HR. Doors open at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start.

Phoenix Gardens Agricultural Show

 

On Saturday 6th September we'll be back in Phoenix Gardens with our cake stall - if members can help out, please do let us know. And everyone else, do drop by for cake and to say hello. It's always a great day, so fingers crossed for sunshine!

Next Meeting, Wednesday 20 August : Morris Dancing

This Wednesday, Tish Collins will be giving us a brief talk on the origins of Morris dancing and the 4 main styles. Then the real fun will begin, when we all get to take part in a Cotswold style stick dance, and maybe a handkerchief one too if there's time.  She'll bring her partner Mick, who plays the melodeon (squeeze box), so we have some music to really get into the spirit of it!

As well as being a member of LWEWI, Tish has been dancing with the Dacre Morris, a women's side based in Lewisham (http://dacremorris.smallcogs.com/) for 17 years and for the last 3 years she's been in Three Spires Morris, a women's North West clog side based in Lichfield (http://threespiresmorris.com/)

Mick has been dancing for over 30 years, originally with the Earls of Essex, and is Squire of the Blackheath Morris Men.

Next Meeting, Wednesday 16 July : British Feminist Art, 1970-1978

A quick reminder our next meeting is almost upon us. 

WHO’S HOLDING THE BABY?

THE HACKNEY FLASHERS 

This month's talk will be by Dr Hazel Frizell.  Her presentation is based on her doctoral thesis of 2009 entitled “Representations of Specific Concerns of the Women’s Liberation Movement in British Feminist Art 1970 – 1978.”

More information on our "This Month" page, here

 

 

June: Children's Literacy

At Craft Club, Victoria showed members how to make wonderful earring display stands out of old picture frames and fabric. Why spend a fortune when you can upcycle? Step aside Kirsty Allsop!

 

turning these...

 

into this

The monthly meeting began with an impromptu photo session outside the vestry hall, to provide Helena with some new images to update our publicity leaflets with. Hopefully we can share her work at the next meeting.

The NFWI Resolution, Organ Donation – Time to Talk, which we voted to support at our May meeting, was passed at the AGM with a 98% majority vote.   

 

More information on how we as a WI and as individuals can support this can be found here: http://www.thewi.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/84931/AM-Resolution-Briefing-Notes-Increasing-Organ-Donation-March-2014-web.pdf

And so on to our speaker!  Harriet Watson from Beanstalk spoke to us about the work they and their volunteers carry out to improve children’s literacy, through working in primary schools on a one-to-one basis with children who need help with their reading skills.  Our committee member, Jenny, also spoke about her experiences as a Beanstalk volunteer. 

If anyone is interested in finding out more about becoming a volunteer, please go to http://www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk/reading-helpers  or contact us at Londonwestendwi@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to give you Harriet’s contact details.

May - Advice for the Future

Apologies for the lack of updates recently!

We started May with card making at Craft Club, where Nicky taught us the intricate art of tea-bag folding for card making.  It's not the actual tea bags that get folded, it started with the pretty wrappers they used to come in.  We had a great time, and got some wonderful results

Our main meeting began with us taking a vote about whether to vote yes or no as a WI to the NFWI Resolution at the AGM. Toto, President of Fulham and Chelsea WI came along to collect our vote, as she is representing us at the AGM.  The resolution was on promoting more discussion of organ donation (more about it in notes from our June meeting) and we voted a resounding "Yes".

Our main speaker was Edwina Dunn, founder of the What I See Project. She talked to us about the project, and how it looks at what it is to be a woman today, globally, and what advice we'd give to young women today, and then it was our turn to be photographed with our words of wisdom! 

You can find out more about the What I See Project here: http://whatiseeproject.com/

More pictures of us with our whiteboards can be found here: http://whatiseewomensinstitute.tumblr.com/