Our Zoom meetings for members, & visitors, continued throughout the Autumn, & with Speakers as good as these, why ever not????
Sarah Slater returned to us, dressed in full Victorian mourning garb, to talk about the various ghosts that are said to haunt Hampton Court Palace, A fascinating talk as she went through the evidence of sightings, from feelings of dread (& actual faintings) in a particular corridor, to ‘seeing’ a grey lady on the stairs, & the discovery of bodies buried beneath the walls … It was all there! Sarah left us to draw our own conclusions about all of this. It certainly got us thinking!
A number of our members were pleased to take up their gardening tools & help the BKV project in their Autumn Tidy-Up & bulb planting session on Sturday 6th November. What a difference this project has made to our village! Everyone was so chuffed to bits at the news that Hill Ridware WON the Richard Winterton Award for Community Spirit which was announced to the volunteers present…. & the celebratory cake was good too!
November 13th was World Kindness Day & again, the WI ladies distributed hearts, posies & painted stones around the village – little acts of kindness that obviously meant a great deal to the recipients judging from the Facebook comments. Kindness is not a ‘one day a year thing’ as we all know – perhaps that’s one thing that the past 18 months or so have taught us. ‘If you can’ do anything – be kind’.
November 14th was another heart-warming occasion when so many villagers gathered together at ‘Tommy’ for our community Service of Remembrance. Wreaths were laid at the feet of Tommy & the WI garden area was awash with red poppies. Tea, coffee & homemade cake were then enjoyed after the service in the village hall – all donations for the refreshments going to The Royal British Legion. Thanks to Kate Beechey & St Nicholas Church for organising the service & act of remembrance.
A lovely sense of community spirit all told – what a wonderful place we live in!
Our November meeting was something totally different for us – a tasting session of all things Christmas! Christmas flavoured crisps & cheese, mince pies, cream liquer & after-dinner mints were all ‘blind tasted’, 3 varieties of each. Decisions were made on our preferences & the ‘luxury’ brands didn’t necessarily come out on top!
Best mince pies in our sample? Morrisons & Tesco Finest…. Both Tesco & Divine had the best after-dinner mints, Waitrose had the best tasting cheese & Aldi the favoured cream liqueur & Pigs in Blankets crisps. Perhaps an Easter taster session will be next?
The ‘food’ theme con
tinued via Zoom when Jane Napper (aka ’The Chocolate Lady’) demonstrated how to make a tiered chocolate tree decoration & chocolate shards. Yummy! Expert tuition yet again from Jane … now it’s just up to our ladies to practice, practice, practice – with lots of sampling inbetween!
