… OR… ‘Dolly Pegs’ & Painted Eggs’ ……
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’!
And ‘Dolly Pegs’? … well these are the response to a ‘Presidential Challenge’ by Karen Wakefield, & certainly got the creative juices flowing! Each member was given 2 Dolly Pegs & just challenged to ‘decorate’. Each one is different & a wide range of materials & ideas have been used. Keep on crafting ladies!
Interested in finding out more? Just contact Karen Wakefield (President)… Looking forward to meeting back in person.
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.
The 1st March saw a wave of yellow amongst ladies of The Ridwares WI as they met together (via Zoom) to celebrate St David’s Day, courtesy of daffodils worn & in vases & jugs. We practised our Welsh – although our pronouncinations probably left a lot to be desired – & learnt about St David himself, as well as a number of Welsh customs & traditional celebrations. Did you know that leeks pre-date daffodils as a St David’s Day symbol? Leeks were grown for luck, happiness & to drive away evil spirits. It was believed that leeks would help them live for ever, so soliders would rub leeks over themselves as a form of protection during battle. Over the centuries, green & white became the Royal colours of Wales. it was the Victorians who began to associate daffodils with St David’s Day – a tradition that is now firmly established!
A number of our ladies had also baked some Bara Brith (Welsh Tea Loaf), which was also enjoyed! As usual, the afternoon was filled with laughter & chatter, especially when making a Pop-Up card – another ‘craft along with Gaye’ activity. The results were very impressive – & ‘gluey’ fingers dealt with…. – as daffodils in baskets were evident again.
February is ‘Show the Love’ for us in The Ridwares WI – focusing on ‘Green issues’ such as climate change & the challenge that this presents to us in our lives. We are encouraged to focus on what we value on ‘Planet Earth’ – something that many of us have appreciated even more during this pandemic when we have been ‘stuck’ inside. Those of us who are lucky to have gardens have enjoyed the first signs of Spring & watched the wildlife more carefully. Out on daily walks? – then you realise what a lovely part of the world we live in!
February began not just with green hearts, but also with the colour ‘red’ – well, it was ‘Chinese New Year’! We marked the start of the ‘Year of the Ox’ with another afternoon get-together over Zoom, full of chat & laughter. Lanterns were decorated for our homes & Karen Parsons talked about the trditions, colours & symbols associated with this ‘new year’ of the ox. A big thank you also to Mandy from The Cantonese Restaurant at The Chadwick Arms for providing us all with a fortune cookie – much laughter & comment followed as we ragailed eachother with our ‘fortune prospects’. Should be an intersting year for us all!
New Year …. new Zoom get-togethers for us in The Ridwares WI! We got creative in another ‘craft along with Gaye’ session & made a post-it note & calendar holder… and felt very proud of ourselves in the process. There’s always laughter involved when we ‘meet up’ – catching up on news, both family & local (as well as County & National WI updates) , & waving to each other is still an ‘event’. Well, it is the only time we get to ‘see’ one another, isn’t it? Fun & friendship is still what we’re all about in The Ridwares WI, Covid or no Covid….
November saw us embracing Zoom… With all the changing regulations & advice, as Covid-19 continued to spread, there was no other way for us to meet up. So we experimented with a Committee meeting… then a ‘Coffee & Chat’ session… & then finally, a scheduled Zoom meeting for us all. What a giggle! It took us 45 minutes to all log in, wave & natter – well, we are a friendly lot & hadn’t seen a lot of our fellow ‘Ridware WI Ladies’ for months. There was a lot to catch up on. The focus for our get together was a ‘Craft along with Gaye’ session. Kits had been distributed & we all learnt the ‘Scrappy Strip’ technique, resulting in a handmade Christmas card. The results were very impressive.
With no ‘Tinsel & Trimmings’ community event able to take place this year, that did not mean that we were ‘forgetting’ Christmas. Christmas was not going to be ‘cancelled’ in Hill Ridware! Karen organised the donation of the Christmas tree for outside the village hall as usual. The garden area was festooned with a wonderful garland & Alan W, Bob & Alan G helped decorate the tree. Santas also formed part of the decor – part of a community initiative to display Santas in gardens, windows etc around the village for children to count as they went on their ‘daily walk’.
Our December Zoom meeting centred around Karen showing us how to decorate a wreath for our front doors, as well as creating a table centrepiece & a grave memorial. Phew! So inspiring – pens whizzed across notebooks with relish. Again, a lot of laughs ensured.
So there is a quiz and some colouring to do … some bubbles to blow & remind us to ‘keep safe’ …. whilst having a cup of coffee & eating some biscuits…. So that’s our ladies ‘sorted’ for a while!
Homemade jams, pickles & marmalade were for sale – as were homemade cakes, knitted crafts & handmade cards. Flowers, plants & produce were also available. Thank you to everyone who contributed items for sale – & came to help out on the day.
Well, the Best Kept Village Competition for 2020 may have been cancelled, but when the plants are already ordered, what do you do?????? The simple answer is ‘PLANT’ !.. and that is exactly what some of The Ridwares WI ladies did, together with other villagers, on Saturday morning, 30th May. What a lovely way to spend the morning in the sunshine.
So it’s not just the planters that are looking good… lots of ladies are enjoying the fruits of their labours in their back gardens. How wonderful that we can now meet up outside with a few friends and enjoy a coffee (or glass of wine) together! Angela has got the paddling pool out, but has only got as far as dipping her toes in. Sue has been keeping fit virtually – & still finding time for sewing. Betty hopes to move back to her cottage very soon following the flood which devastated her home – although we’re not sure how Meryl will feel about giving back her cat!!