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!
Date: Tuesday 7th September 2021 ….
Then the next evening, we decamped to The Shoulder of Mutton pub in Hamstall Ridware for our Skittles Night (& competition). A geat evening was had by all. The competition was stiff, but good natured & the buffet was fabulous. Hopefully, it won’t be so long till the next one!
Our September meeting was changed to the 4th Tuesday of the month – but that didn’t throw us at all! A welcome glas of fizz & cafe-style seating said ‘We’re Back!’ – & in style! That theme was carried on with our Speaker, Joanne Massey, who informed & entertained us with a wide range of stylish clothes form the 1950’s. Joanne talked about how she’d always been interested in ‘vintage’ clothing, even as a teenager… & could still get into first ‘vintage outfit’ she’d ever bought…. Envy followed – especailly concerning just how stylish & wellmade all these clothes were. A lovely evening to complete our first month back ‘in person’. The only way is forward now!
With us not being able to meet in person till September, members received a ‘Staycation’ box in August full of goodies to help them enjoy the summer (& hoped for sunshine) at home….
So the only thing missing now, was the ‘beauty makeover’… & that came courtesy of our Zoom meeting with renowned make-up artist ‘to the stars’, Naomi McKeever, giving us a lesson on how to apply the latest make-up trends with loads of product advice, tips & techniques. We certainly learnt a lot, & many a make-up bag is now being emptied & its contents renewed. You’re never too old to learn something new.
o come to fruition this summer – the weather kept dry for once! Our ‘famous’ Trade Table returned to outside the Village Hall in Hill Ridware in early August with a ‘bumper’ harvest of goodies for sale – jams, pickles & marmaalde, knitted & crocheted toys, cakes & biscuits, a variety of knitted jackets & hats, books, handmade cardsnfor all occasions – & a raffle. The Hygiene Box was there for donations – all were gratefully received. 
July 4th 2021 – national ‘Thank You Day’ to all our NHS & Key Workers, who have kept going, & kept all of us ‘going’, throughout the pandemic. They certainly deserve a whole load of ‘thanks’! The Ridwares WI had planned a picnic outside the village hall for the Sunday afternoon, in order to meet together in person & say ‘Thank You’ – but the weather had a totally different idea. It rained… & rained… & rained …. & continued to pour throughout the day. Result? A cancelled picnic… & a beautiful cake made by Amy of O’Brien Bakes.
4 of our ladies (Chris S, Kate B, Karen P & Gaye) were very fortunate to have the opportunity of a Painting Workshop with renowned local artist, Sunny Eades at The Old Hall, Mavesyn Ridware. The weather cooled, which was better for painting outside, and thankfully, the threatened rain did not happen. None of the ‘gang of 4’ had picked up a paintbrush since their school days – unless ‘helping’ grand-children counts for some of them? – so there was some trepidation as to the kit needed & the essential question of ‘how exactly do you ‘paint’?’ No worries were needed, however, as Sunny quickly put everyone at their ease, & offered advice & helpful hints no matter which medium was being used – watercolours or acrylics.
Lots of silent concentration on ‘the wall’ was evident – we’ve never been so quiet! Each lady took a different perspective, & used watercolours (paints or pens) or acrylics to express what they ‘saw’. The results were very pleasing & so very different!
Well, the painted eggs were courtesy of an inspirational demonstration by Sunny Eades, renowned local artist, at the May meeting of The Ridwares WI (via Zoom, naturally). Sunny provided detailed instructions before her demonstration of how to ‘blow’ eggs – & not to waste the ‘contents’! – & different techniques that could be used to decorate them. It is always useful to paint them in white first as this gives you a better, smoother surface to work on. Sunny then demonstrated these techniques & created the most amazing designs, emphasising that you did not have to be a professional artist to produce these incredible results. Well it certainly inspired us to get ‘blowing’ & be ‘creative’!
Well, the sun shone for St George & for us in The Ridwares WI as we met together, via Zoom, to celebrate. Some of us invited friends to share the afternoon with us in the back garden – so sunglasses were in evidence! We listened to rousing Shakespeare speech (Henry V) & were cheering for ‘Harry, England & St George!’ at the end. A Mummers play retold the story of St George & the Dragon, we watched some morris dancing & crafted a ‘tent fold box’ in another ‘craft along with Gaye’. Gin, tea, or prosecco was drunk – scones & cake eaten. The afternoon finished with the goose-bump raising of ‘Jerusalem’ sang at the WI centenary at the Royal Albert Hall. This brought back many happy memories for our President, Karen Wakefield, who also attended the Royal Garden Party that week. A lovely afternoon full of fun & friendship.
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.
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.