March 17th saw the ladies of The Ridwares WI celebrating St Patricks Day via Zoom. Recipes for soda bread were shared, duly baked & then eaten ‘on the day’. Irish whiskey, or Cream liquer, depending on your individual preference, was drunk. We learnt about St Patrick & the myths associated with his life & work, aspects of Irish culture & were amazed at ‘Riverdance’, yet again. The general agreement was that we would leave this particular art form to the professionals, rather than take it up as a new ‘Lockdown activity’. We also learnt how to create a ‘nappy fold’ item, complete with shamrock to hold our ‘gold (coins) at the end of the rainbow’ in our latest ‘craft along with Gaye’ activity. Another afternoon filled with laughter & friendship.
Tuesday March 23rd saw us standing in silence & remembrance at 12 noon for the national minute’s silence, called for by the Marie Curie charity, at our WI Garden with its ‘Hope Springs Eternal’ display. It was a chance to pause & remember those we have lost during the pandemic. Incredible to think that we have spent, essentially, a whole year in Lockdown with our everyday lives so severely changed. In contrast that evening, along with lighting our doorsteps at 8pm, a number of us joined with WI ladies across Staffordshire for a floral art demonstration courtesy of Jonathan Moseley, organised by SFWI. He is a very talented & entertaining speaker & demonstrator & gave us ideas for an Easter table arrangement & how to ‘do’ floral art being more environmentally aware. A lovely evening.
Our Easter 2021 meeting saw us learning about chocolate, a subject very dear to many a heart, courtesy of Jane Napper, aka ‘The Chocolate Lady’. The wonders of Zoom meant that Jane could teach us about tempering chocolate & how to make & decorate an Easter egg as well as individual chocolates from Whistable, whilst we were in rural Staffordshire. Totally yummy! Very informative & inspiring – an excellent Speaker. Easter bonnets were created & worn by our ladies during the meeting – very colourful & different!
Easter also saw the delivery of the latest ‘goody bags’ to all our ladies. At least the sun shone for a change for most of us on ‘delivery day’! The goody bags had been crafted by the Committee & contained sunflower seeds to plant, chocolate to eat & other ‘treats’. Designed to bring a smile to the face – which they duly did.
Plans are afoot for the coming months with regular ‘Craft & Chatter sessions’ & monthly meetings – the venue depending on how the Lockdown easing pans out.
