June 2021 saw something approaching ‘normality’ return to life in the Ridwares for our WI ladies. Firstly that meant working with the BKV Team, & other villagers, to re-plant the village in a blaze of colour. That meant numerous planters throughout Hill Ridware itself as well as round the village hall in particular. Kate Britt has updated the WI heart border and the new VE/VJ planter was co-ordinated with its red & white colour scheme. The weather kept good for us – for a change – and everyone’s hard work was rewarded with fruit cake, smiles & comments from others as to a ‘job well done’! The watering rotas now begin in ernest as we hope for proplonged sunshine. The plants, let alone us, need it!
The Committee managed to meet ‘in person’ for the first time in months and are working hard to re-do the programme of meetings and events for the rest of this year & for the new WI year of 2022. Karen Parsons (Secretary) had been keeping a bottle of Prosecco especially for the occasion, which was much appreciated and , together with the strawberries & chocolate cake, certainly kept the little grey cells of those present fluid & whirling. Thank you for your hospitality Karen.
Jackie Layzell, one of our ladies & a member of Lichfield Litter Legends, was also active during the St Giles Summer Solstice Walk, along with her fellow ‘litter fairies’, not only completing the walk itself round Lichfield City Centre but also collecting litter en route! Great fun was had by all – and lots of money raised for local Hospice care. Well done Jackie!
Congratulations to Gill Bradbury’s daughter, Caroline, on her promotion to a Deputy Headship in a Leeds Primary School, and to Estelle, Tina Gough’s grand-daughter on her BA Hons degree from Nottingham University. A new career & life in London awaits her. Congratulations also to Abbie & Ellie on their respective University Degree success. Good luck to them all in the future.
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.
‘HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL’ – what a wonderful inspiration for Spring 2021…. at least that’s what us in The Ridwares WI & the Best Kept Village Comitteee thought! The response to this poem/theme by places like Malmesbury in Wiltshire, got us thinking. How could we ‘translate’ this to our village of HIll Ridware? Well, this is the response so far…..
The WI ‘garden’ area outside the Village Hall is a riot of colour & positivity. Thanks to Karen, Alan & Wendy, in particular, for all their hard work in making this happen. It really does bring a smile to your face.
ook hard as you wander through the village, you will spot a number of ‘Wreaths of Hope’ in windows & on doors, crafted by ladies of The Ridwares WI during one of their afternoon ‘Craft & Chatter’ sessions – a ‘craft along with Gaye’ activity via Zoom. Very colourful!
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.
‘Lockdown mark 2’…… so our planned ‘Ridwares Remembers’ event at the Village Hall could not take place…. Wendy & Karen worked very hard to ensure that the area around ‘Tommy’ was suitably adorned with poppies as a fitting tribute to The Fallen & all who served both at home & abroad. Still, nothing could be organised that might encourage ‘mingling’!