Around the WI

BENSON

TWELVE members and two potential new members met on June 27 for our summer garden party at the home of a committee member.

Refreshments took the form of “bring and share”, which gave us a nice, varied selection of sandwiches, savouries, cakes and fruit.

Joan, our host, provided a beautifully refreshing fruit punch and everybody enjoyed a lovely afternoon socialising in the sunshine — no speaker or raffle this month, just a great chance for a catch-up.

We had our usual bit of business during which we discussed and agreed our support for Benson’s community shed project, which is trying to find somewhere in the village as a base.

We agreed that this is something of benefit to the whole village.

For July, we shall be away from our usual venue again when we visit the Benson community garden at the St Helen’s Avenue allotments.

In April, we had a talk on the progress of the garden and this will be a follow-up to see how things are continuing.

Following the visit, we shall adjourn for refreshments hosted locally by our secretary.

Anyone wishing to join us should please contact the secretary first by calling (01491) 837885 or emailing bensonwi@oxfordshirewi.co.uk

Sue Brown

CHAZEY

WE were blessed with some bright sunshine for our annual summer outing, this year to the National Trust property Polesden Lacey.

Nestling in the Surrey Hills, the Edwardian house is an elegant throwback to the early 20th century, with rolling parklands unchanged for hundreds of years.

Members enjoyed sauntering through the rose garden, admiring the herbaceous borders and lingering by the croquet lawn before strolling back to take afternoon tea.

Polesden Lacey was the venue for the honeymoon of George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1923.

It is beautifully preserved, with a huge collection of art, furniture and antiques put together by society hostess Margaret Greville.

Chazey members voted the visit a big success, only slightly marred by traffic delays on the M25 on the way home.

The branch also enjoyed a second trip out during the month, this time to Toad Hall garden centre, near Henley. Afternoon tea was, again, one of the highlights of the day.

Would you like to know more about Chazey WI? We meet on the first Friday of every month at St Andrew’s Church Hall, Caversham, RG4 7AW from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Visitors and prospective new members are very welcome.

Jill Dibben

CLEEVE-BY-GORING

JUNE started with the National Federation’s annual meeting at the Royal Albert Hall.

Although we were not the official delegates for our group of institutes, Katrina Cooper (president) and Chris Cox (committee member) went along as observers.

We were pleased that we did as we found out that this was to be the last live meeting for some years.

Sadly, Zoom is not the same and how we will all sing Jerusalem online remains to be seen. There is nothing like the sound of the Albert Hall organ starting up and several thousand voices belting out the hymn.

The day was fine and, as is traditional, we all trooped out to the steps of the Albert Memorial to sit and eat our lunch. The theme of the day was stopping domestic violence and the guest speakers were Nazir Afzal, Mel B and Timothy Watson (better known as Rob Titchener of The Archers), who discussed various elements of domestic abuse.

We agreed that it was a most enjoyable and inspiring day.

Our June meeting was about Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and the speaker was accompanied by a 14-week- old recruit, a tiny black cocker spaniel, who stole the show.

The charity is based in Saunderton, Princes Risborough, and we were interested in the work that it does to train dogs as hearing and assistance dogs. A visit is obviously on the cards.

Our month ended with our strawberry and Prosecco evening on the banks of the Thames, which was well attended and most enjoyable.

It was the first time we had returned to Nuns Acre for several years and the weather was perfect. We are now looking forward to our July meeting about Beale Park and a visit there later in the year.

Chris Cox

COCKPOLE GREEN

LAST month was another busy one for our members. On June 5 we sent a delegate and three observers to the National Federation’s annual meeting at the Royal Albert Hall. The venue was almost filled to capacity with delegates and observers from all over England, Wales and the islands.

Some Federation representatives and link delegates joined online and there was a facility for them to ask questions and be part of the debates and voting. The meeting opened with the singing of Jerusalem accompanied by the great organ, which was a truly stirring experience.

The chair, Ann Jones, was completing her third and final year in office at this meeting and reported that some 82,000 new members had joined during those years.

Now there were also 17 virtual WIs with 500 members and seven branches in women’s prisons.

The resolution on dental health was passed. A shocking statistic was given that the most common cause of hospital admissions for children is now dental infection.

We were informed that deep-seated untreated infections can cause diabetes and heart problems in later life.

The meeting concluded with the National Anthem and the singing of Land of My Fathers (in Welsh) in honour of the outgoing chair.

Our monthly meeting took place on June 19.

On a beautiful sunny morning, 16 members (plus one dog) gathered at the Velolife Café beside the River Thames.

Some walked, some drove and some who were walking were scooped up by passing members in cars.

The walkers in particular were taken by surprise at how warm it was — everyone had brought coats not realising summer had finally arrived.

A convivial morning of coffee, cakes and chat just flew by and all dispersed to continue enjoying the delights of the programme of events at Wargrave Festival, while feeling well pleased that the meeting had been fitted into the busy fortnight.

Our next meeting will be our garden party at Gibstroude Farm on Wednesday, July 17 at 2.30pm.

Sheila Williams

HARPSDEN-GREYS

OUR monthly meeting was held at Harpsden village hall on June 12.

Suzanna Rose, our chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting and then introduced our speaker, Fran Turner.

Fran, who was an occupational therapist for many years, had come to speak to us about the hazards we face at home and how we can take precautions to prevent falling over — one in three people over 65 experiences a fall at least once a year.

She stressed that it was important to keep active even if our confidence has been shaken after a fall.

The most common problem areas are in the bathroom, on the stairs and uneven surfaces both in and outside the home.

Fran said there were many measures that we could take keep safe.

Vision tests and medication reviews were important to prevent dizziness that could lead to a fall.

Members were encouraged to recount their own experiences and what had helped them.

The National Federation’s annual meeting had taken place at the Royal Albert Hall earlier in the month and Suzanna, who had watched it on Zoom, said how impressive the three speakers were in recounting their professional and personal experiences of abuse of women and children. The resolution, “Dental Health Matters” was supported by 4,578 delegates with only 214 voting against.

Dates were set for the book club and walking group to meet and we are looking forward to visiting the riverside gardens in Caversham at the end of the month.

Pickleball and the Sunday lunch club will take place next month.

We concluded with a delicious tea of strawberries and scones and cake provided by Rose Cooper and her helpers.

We would welcome visitors at our next meeting, which will be on July 12 at 2.30pm.

Gwen Wilding

HoT (HENLEY-ON-THAMES)

NICOLA, our president, could not attend our meeting this month, so instead Louise shepherded us gently through proceedings.

The business end of the meeting included a brief resume of the National Federation’s annual meeting at the Royal Albert Hall, which Nicola attended.

The speakers included Nazir Afzal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, and Mel B of the Spice Girls — quite a contrast.

The resolution, “Dental Health Matters”, was carried.

We were asked to sign if we wanted to give permission for our photos to appear in print, whether it be in the Henley Standard, Hello! magazine or on a most wanted poster!

Louise introduced our speaker, Sukhi Sidhu, voluntary services manager at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Sukhi took us through her career path at the hospital and how she came to hold her present role.

She described how the volunteering department got back up and running post-covid and how happily it is now almost back to normal.

On average there are about 280 active volunteers who help with a variety of tasks essential to the smooth running of the hospital.

Some of the roles she described are buggy drivers, meeters and greeters, ward helpers and hospital radio runners.

Patients often end up in hospital without their basic hygiene kits and need to be supplied with a toothbrush, comb and soap etc, so the volunteering department collects these through donations and distribute them throughout the hospital.

As extra comfort is often needed, they aim to supply sleep masks and ear plugs, blankets, teddies and fiddle muffs.

Local organisations donate such items and, unsurprisingly, the local WI groups are very active in this enterprise.

Sukhi couldn’t stress enough how beautiful some of the donations were and what great comfort they gave.

She also mentioned ad hoc sales of items like baby clothes which they hold outside some departments to raise funds.

At the moment funds are being raised in this way to provide a mural to cheer up one of the duller areas in the hospital.

It sounded like Sukhi heads up a very busy and productive organisation and one vital to the patient experience at the hospital. It was a very interesting insight into the workings of the volunteer department at the hospital and it is an enterprise worthy of our support.

We thanked Sukhi for giving up her time to come and tell us about it.

All in all, the evening was a very enjoyable one with lots of chat and catching up.

Oh, and we mustn’t forget Bernie’s delicious lactose- free chocolate cake.

Nicola Taylor

PEPPARD

VAL, our president, welcomed everyone to the June meeting and noted there was a number of apologies.

Our coffee morning had made a good profit despite attendance being less than at the previous one.

Irene gave a brief account of her attendance as an observer at the National Federation’s annual meeting.

The resolution we had voted for was “Dental Health Matters”, which called for the provision of more dentists.

Irene advised that, having listened to the presentation at the meeting and if she had had the choice, she would have voted against because the speaker emphasised the need for prevention of teeth decay by teaching children how to clean their teeth.

Members were reminded to sign up for the upcoming events: A Caribbean lunch organised by Sandra, an Italian lunch arranged by Gilly and a trip to Hambleden Vineyard.

Our speaker, Lizzie Rowe, gave us a fascinating illustrated presentation about the Royal Collection, which contains thousands of paintings, miniatures, photographs, regalia, jewellery, carriages and so on.

She explained how, following the execution of Charles I, the collection was dispersed.

However, with the restoration of the monarchy, some pieces found their way back, including the silver gilt coronation spoon of 1349, which is used by the Archbishop of Canterbury to anoint the monarch.

There is even Henry VIII’s suit of armour, which weighs 39.1kilos and had to have 5cm inserted on each side as the King’s girth increased.

Charles I loved spending money on paintings of himself, preferably on horseback as he was rather short.

Lizzie explained how The Massacre of the Innocents had been altered and that Leonardo da Vinci could depict human bodies because he had spent time dissecting them. He also used mirror writing as a form of code.

Moving forward to William III and Queen Mary, Lizzie showed us an image of their ornate £3,660 baroque table which had matching mirrors. One of them had been discovered in a lumber room at Windsor Castle.

George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, had a 140-piece porcelain dinner service which was discovered in the servants’ quarters and hastily returned upstairs. We were shown the crown decorated with 1,333 diamonds, commissioned by George IV and worn by Elizabeth II on the way to her coronation.

Also the gifts between Queen Victoria and Albert, the first photograph of a hippopotamus with the crowd in the background behind bars, Queen Alexandra’s Fabergé egg containing a cameo of her five children and John Piper’s series of Windsor Castle in gloomy weather.

Elizabeth II added some 2,500 items to the collection, including a patch box which was used to hold patches worn by women to cover smallpox scars.

Lizzie left us to consider what watercolours Charles III would add.

It was an entertaining afternoon followed by our famous Peppard WI tea.

Ray and Anne Freeman joined us but not before he had cut the ribbon on the new dishwasher for which he had had to replumb the kitchen.

Presentations were made to Ray, Anne and Brian Cresswell, who had assisted in the applications for grants during this extended but much appreciated project.

At our next meeting on July 10 Janice Burnett will be telling us about “Teaching abroad”. Come and join us at Peppard War Memorial Hall from 2pm.

We will be collecting items for the Springwater Church food bank.

Jennifer Smith

REMENHAM

ONCE again June was a busy and interesting month for our members.

On June 5, four members attended the National Federation’s annual meeting at the Royal Albert Hall.

It was, of course, a marvellous setting and the day was interspersed with some fascinating speakers. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and it provided much food for thought.

Our main meeting this month was entitled “A masterclass in tea making” and was attended by many members of other WI groups, including Cockpole Green, Knowl Hill, Burchetts Green and Hurley, as well as many friends, about 50 in all.

The afternoon was led by Katy Woollard, a product specialist from Whittard of Chelsea, which kindly sponsored the afternoon. Katy said she had 13 years of experience in the tea industry and she was passionate about the product.

She said: “Tea has been drunk for 5,000-plus years. It has been source of wealth within London for the last 300 years and at its height became more expensive than gold.

“My passion for tea has taken me around the world and allowed me to meet the most diverse and interesting people.

“Tea, coffee, and cocoa have given me the opportunity to be the public face of brands, to be their storyteller, and to talk about the amazing products that they produce.”

Whittard began in 1886 when Walter Whittard set up a shop in Fleet Street selling the finest tea, coffee and hot chocolate.

The company has become a global aspirational brand but, Katy stressed, remains true to the founder’s approach “to buy the best”.

She gave advice on how to make the perfect tea.

Katy said: “I suggest having your tea without milk as that way you can taste the flavours.

“I just could not live without one of our oolongs. My favourite is our aromatic milk oolong, which is creamy and sweet.

“Our famous loose-leaf flavoured oolong is from Taiwan’s Nantou region and has a butter-rich softness comparable to caramel.

“Depending on different processing techniques, oolongs range from rich and deeply roasted to the fresh floral flavours often associated with high-grown oolongs.

“I suggest light brewing to enjoy its wonderful layers of flavour. You do not want boiling water, which will ruin your tea. Always let your water sit before your make a pot of tea or it will affect the flavour.

“When making a pot of tea you should not use one teaspoon per person and one for the pot. Instead you should have one less spoon than the pot is made for. This way you will have better flavour.

“A teaspoon should not be heaped, it should be flat. Be careful that you do not leave the tea in for too long or it will taste bitter.

“Tea is very delicate, so when storing it you need to keep it away from sunlight, heat and moisture.

“Do not have a kettle under the cupboard where you store your tea.

“Tea is about personal choice, so if you want to have milk, then do.”

During the course of the afternoon, several different brews were made and everyone was able to taste them.

After her talk, Katy answered questions and was then thanked by Jen Terry.

A wide variety of tea bags was available at the end of the afternoon for guests to enjoy at a later date. It was a very interesting and informative event which everyone seemed to have enjoyed and our thanks to Whittard.

The first prize in the tea-themed raffle, a glass teapot and cups, was won by June Sulley. The book club met to discuss their latest read, Hidden Palace, the second book of a trilogy by Dinah Jeffries.

This was well-received and again led to various avenues of discussion.

Daphne Austen and Nathaniel Lawson

SHIPLAKE

OUR president, Sue Lines, opened the meeting and welcomed one new member and welcomed back Pauline Watkins and Jill Irwin who had been unable to attend meetings through illness.

Members were reminded to buy National Federation raffle tickets and also asked to save kitchen roll centres for a future project.

Advanced notice was given for our Christmas lunch at the Baskerville in Shiplake on December 4.

A guided walk round Marlow for members is being organised by Pam Hudgell for Wednesday, September 4.

Our next outing will be to the lavender fields at Gilbert White House on Thursday, July 18 followed on July 22 by a visit to the Houses of Parliament.

The annual meeting of the National Federation took place on June 5 and Suzanna Rose, president of Harpsden-Greys WI, acted as our delegate and voted on our behalf for the resolution, “Dental Health Matters”.

This month’s speaker was Graham Davey talking about security and scams.

He came armed with pages of notes but members threw so many questions at him that it made it difficult for him to stick to his planned talk, so the afternoon turned into a forum, which suited members and Graham.

He told us that three million scams are reported each year but this is only about five to 10 per cent of the scams as the rest go unreported.

Graham emphasised that 80 per cent of phone scams happen to the over-55s and postal scams usually happen to over-74s.

He was keen to point out that if it happens to you, it isn’t your fault.

We all felt we had learnt a lot and Graham was pleased that he had brought the issue to the front of our minds.

There will be no speaker at our next meeting as we will be holding our summer lunch.

Judy Rolstone

SONNING COMMON

AT our June meeting we had a full agenda to enjoy.

After the many birthday announcements, we heard three reports from other meetings members had been to.

At the Oxfordshire Federation event on gardening and seed supplies, two members were well entertained by the two speakers either side of a delicious buffet lunch.

We had voted to agree on the proposed resolution to improve the provision of NHS dentists and this was passed at the National Federation’s annual meeting in London.

A member who had watched the meeting via Zoom gave her thoughts, saying it was very interesting. We have yet to hear from our delegate from another WI who represented us. An interesting way of presenting the two speakers by interviewing them in an informal setting on stage was very different.

The interviewer was Victoria Derbyshire, known to many from her radio and TV interviews, and this time she interviewed Melanie Brown, aka Mel B from the Spice Girls, on the subject of violence against women.

Our cake stall in a marquee at the Sonning Common village day was successful as it was popular with visitors and resulted in a nice sum of money.

We now need to decide how to use it for local causes or maybe even start a fund for a WI seat at Memorial Park.

The wonderful postbox toppers on a D-Day theme were displayed and much admired. Well done, the craft team. We had not one but two speakers, a husband and wife team who took turns to tell us about wartime rationing and cookery.

Learning a few lessons from the First World War, our country was perhaps slightly better prepared to cope with food shortages in the Second World War.

Foodstuffs were rationed at different times and controlled via ration books, which were allocated to different members of the public. Children, for instance, had their own books for their sweet rations.

After a most interesting talk with pictures of how the country had managed, we were offered some goodies that the speaker had made as if we were in wartime.

The vinegar cake, bread pudding and mock marmalade and banana actually tasted surprisingly good, despite being made without some well-known ingredients. After refreshments, we were reminded of the upcoming members’ picnic in July when we hope the sun shines.

Penny Noble

STOKE ROW

IN June we usually hold our monthly meeting in the garden of one of our members and this year we gathered in the delightful garden of our treasurer, Maureen Hay.

Luckily, the weather had improved and the sun shone as our president welcomed us all and outlined the plan for the evening.

Our treasure hunt had rather a sinister twist as we had to search the garden for a list of poisonous plants that Maureen had compiled.

The names of many of the plants were familiar to the gardeners among us but their poisonous nature was not widely known and was a great talking point for the evening.

This activity was followed by a splendid “pot luck” buffet supper with many homemade dishes and we tucked in as the sun slowly slid out of sight.

The meeting was well attended and everyone had a brilliant time so thank you to Maureen and to our president Tilley Smith for arranging the evening.

Although we could not provide a Zoom link for our garden meeting, we have kept in touch with our members in Derbyshire and Yorkshire this month with a Zoom Tea at 3 video chat, which keeps those who cannot attend our meetings in person informed and is always greatly enjoyed. Some of our members have been playing croquet with a taster session at Caversham Croquet Club. which was greatly enjoyed.

Our walkers enjoyed a walk in the Nettlebed area after a lovely lunch at the White Hart.

At our July meeting we will hear from a representative of Withymead Nature Reserve about its work and this will be followed by a visit to the reserve in August.

We also have regular meetings of the craft, book and games groups and there will be swimming and a theatre trip.

Why don’t you come along and try one of our meetings? You would be most welcome to visit us.

Contact our secretary via email at stokerowwi@
oxfordshirewi.co.uk

Denise Stanworth

WHITCHURCH HILL

SUMMER is a particularly nice time for our rural WI with the chance to enhance our activities with things outdoors.

Shame that until this last week or so the weather has not exactly encouraged us to do so. However, on onwards and upwards.

The strawberry tea we held last month was a great success and we ate in style.

A donation was made to Macmillan Nurses as a direct result.

Our more formal gathering on June 18 was equally successful.

After the business items were completed we had a very interesting talk on the history of Shaw House by Sarah Somerville.

We are now looking forward to visiting the house itself in early August.

Before then we have other things afoot.

The lunch group will be visiting the Cherry Tree Inn in Stoke Row and the knit and natter group has another gathering.

At our July monthly meeting we will be hearing about “The history of the Post Office”.

After the recent scandal, imagine what speaker in years to come might include under this heading.

We are a friendly group of ladies, so if you think any of this might be of interest, please call our secretary Frances on 0118 984 2162.

Sally Bergmann

WOODCOTE

SALLY Lambert welcomed the members to our June meeting.

Celebrating their birthdays were Penny Edwards and Gillian Seymour. We hoped they enjoyed their special day.

Several members enjoyed a trip to Waterperry Gardens despite the rain.

Sally read out the report on the National Federation’s annual meeting from our delegate Rita Mann, president of South Stoke WI.

The morning speaker was Nazar Afzal, who was chief crown prosecutor for North-West England and chief of the country’s police and crime commissioners, who spoke on his career prosecuting some high profile cases and his work on combating child sexual abuse and violence against women.

The resolution, “Dental Health Matters”, was carried by a large majority.

In the afternoon, Victoria Derbyshire interviewed Melanie Brown from the Spice Girls and then Timothy Watson (Rob Titchener from The Archers) and Katie Ghost from Women’s Aid.

Our meeting’s speaker was David Gilbert, a volunteer with the Thames Valley Air Ambulance, who spoke about the history, work, costs and financing of the charity.

The competition for the cutest bandaged toy was won by Carole Shelley-Allen and the bloom of the month winner was Shirley Bryant with a wonderfully fragrant Emma Hamilton rose.

In July one of our talented members, Kerry Jones, will give us a floral demonstration.

Kerry did the wonderful table decorations for the group meeting at North Moreton.

We had a delicious lunch — a big thank-you to everyone involved.

Judy Williams