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Hello friends

I’m back! Following a fabulous three week adventure travelling around Vietnam I’ve wrested the newsletter back from Sally Ann and Mandy. Thanks to them for a job well done. It sounds like I missed a really fun meeting last month too.

Next Meeting Thursday 11th April
This should be a corker. As well as our usual AGM stuff, which we usually get polished off in about ten minutes flat, we’re going to be having a life drawing class (although I’m reliably informed that the model will actually be wearing some clothes) led by one of our past members, the lovely Annabelle Brotherton.  No drawing ability needed whatsoever but you never know, you might surprise yourself. We’re going to be working in charcoal which can be a little dusty, so you might want to bring an apron, or at least not dress head to toe in white.

Renewals
Subs need to be paid this month to secure your membership and stop us from giving your place to one of the eager ladies on the waiting list. You can pay by card at the meeting but it’s far easier for Mary if you do it by bank transfer. The fee this year is £48 for single membership and £23.60 for dual membership. Our bank details are unchanged. 

Cake donations
Anybody fancy baking a cake for us? You can claim back for the ingredients. Just reply to this email if you’re happy to help.

Charity vote
If you can’t make the meeting next week but would still like the chance to register your vote from our list of nominated charities, just reply to this email and Mandy will send you a voting slip.

Things to bring
As usual, donations for the food bank, raffle and swapsie table are always very welcome.

Think that’s everything

Much love

Vanessa

Hi my WI lovelies, 

I am sure that you all enjoyed our February inspirational speakers, Lucy Hodges (award-winning world champion sailor, mentor and disability sports ambassador) & Daryl Sholem (Lucy’s sighted co sailor & RNLI volunteer). I thought that I was a busy woman but Lucy made me seem bone idle in comparison.

Next Meeting – Thursday 14th March
As Easter is fast approaching we thought we’d have a bit of seasonal fun this month .. all you need to know is it’ll involve cake, craft & creativity!  I can tell you that there will be a prize for the winning team however. Please also bring a hard boiled egg (shell on, it’s not a snack!). 

Charity nominations
We will be voting for our charity of the year at our AGM next month in April, so if you have a cause that is close to your heart that you would like to be considered, please let us know by replying to this email and providing a brief description of your charity to be included on the voting slip. Closing date is 31st March. 

Renewals
Subs for the next year are due in April and can be paid any time now, either by bank transfer or by card at the next meeting; bank transfer is preferable to save Mary spending all night using the card machine. The fee this year is £48 for single membership and £23.60 for dual membership. Our bank details are unchanged.

If you’re not renewing this year, we’d be grateful if you can let us know by replying to this email and we can then offer your place to one of the ladies on the waiting list. 

Donations
Please remember that at each meeting the following are always welcomed:

Food Bank items
Raffle prizes
Cake for the meeting
Items for the swapsie table

Looking forward to seeing you all on the 14th.

Much love,

Sally Ann
(Sent on behalf of Vanessa who is away on a superb holiday).

Hello friends

I hope you all enjoyed our speaker Mark Francis last month (and his partner – buy one get one free!). I thought Mark’s trousers were fabulous so I bought a pattern to make some for my husband but sadly he wasn’t impressed. Saves me the effort, I suppose. Jo, you have a free pattern coming your way!

This Thursday February 8th
With thanks to Cherry for the recommendation, we are lucky to have secured Lucy Hodges to come and share her inspirational story. Lucy is an award-winning world champion sailor, mentor and disability sports ambassador. She is one of the UK’s most successful disabled sailors, being 3 times Blind Match Racing World Champion and two times World Blind Fleet Racing Champion. She has also been awarded an MBE for the work she does with Blind Sailing UK. Should be a really interesting evening.

Charity nominations
As you know, every year we support a charity with our raffle proceeds and the occasional fundraiser. Last month we included the money from the auction of unwanted gifts and were able to give Trinity £155. We will be voting for our charity of the year at our annual meeting in April so if you have a cause that is close to your heart that you would like to add to the voting slip, please let us know by email.

Resolution vote 
Last month we voted on our choice of resolution to put forward. These are the results, and the ‘winner’ has been forwarded to Essex Federation.

Dental Health Matters    12
Impacts of poor housing conditions 21
Say ‘no’ to gambling advertising 10
Improving outcomes for women in the criminal justice system 5

Renewals
Subs for the next year can be paid from March onwards and will be £46 for single membership and £22.60 for dual membership.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello friends

A very happy new year to you all.

Next Meeting Thursday the 11th
We have a bit of a treat for you this month as Mark Francis, a Sewing Bee quarter finalist, is coming all the way from the Midlands to tell us his story. Can’t wait to hear all the back stage goss and find out whether Esme is as formidable as she seems. He’s also very excited to be judging our makeover challenge garments from a couple of months ago! I’m sure he’ll be hugely impressed (oh dear, my tongue seems to have got firmly stuck in my cheek).

Unwanted Christmas Gifts Auction
Did you have to feign enthusiasm as you opened another peculiar offering from your great aunt Mabel? Just got too many diamonds and need to offload a few? Bring any unwanted gifts along on Thursday and I’ll auction them off to the highest bidder to raise funds for Trinity. I genuinely have a friend whose mother had just bought a new loo seat so she gave her daughter the old one, all wrapped up for Christmas. Not a joke either – she saw that her daughter’s uni house had a broken loo seat so thought it would be a good gift. Please set the bar slightly higher than that!

Other things to bring
Don’t forget that donations for the raffle, stuff for the swapsie table, and donations for the food bank are all most welcome.

Next month February 8th
We are lucky to have secured Lucy Hodges to come and share her inspirational story. Lucy is an award-winning world champion sailor, mentor and disability sports ambassador. She is one of the UK’s most successful disabled sailors, being 3 times Blind Match Racing World Champion and two times World Blind Fleet Racing Champion. She has also been awarded an MBE for the work she does with Blind Sailing UK. Should be a really interesting evening.

So looking forward to catching up with you all.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello friends

I’ve just got back from two weeks of sunshine and blue skies in Gran Canaria so I’m looking out at the rain and sulking. Thank goodness I have our meeting next week to look forward to. 

Thursday December 14th
This year our Christmas shindig is going to take the form of an old-fashioned children’s party, complete with a magician, pass the parcel, jelly and ice cream and a balloon modelling competition. I always like to know what food will be on offer so I can manage my expectations and eat accordingly before I turn up. If you are like me and need this information, bring a small amount of appetite with you as there will be snacks but not a full meal’s worth. Hope that helps!

We will also be doing our ever popular jam jar tombola. The more jars the merrier so please grab an empty receptacle and fill it with anything you fancy. Then also bring a pound with you to enter the tombola and get a jar back. All proceeds to Trinity 

Talking of Trinity, donations are always very gratefully received for the food bank or the community fridge, Given the time of year it would be lovely if we could manage a really good sized food donation.

January meeting
Mark Francis, a quarter finalist from Sewing Bee (not Mark Francois, the Tory MP for Rayleigh, unless something has gone badly wrong) will be coming to talk about his experience of being on national television and judging our efforts from our transformation challenge earlier this year. He doesn’t know about the judging so it will be a lovely surprise for him!

See you next week in your party frocks. Such fun!

Much love

Vanessa

Hello friends

Hope you are all well and happy and have managed to weather the storm. Haven’t we been lucky here escaping the worst of it? Some of the pictures from other parts of the country look very scary. Just goes to show that Essex is, in fact, the best place in the world.
Osbournes
We’ve had a lot of comments from you all saying how good our speaker was last month. I know a lot of you expressed interest in their fish filleting and cooking course so we looked into it as a possible group outing. We felt though that at £70 a head we might not get a lot of uptake, so unless a fair few come forward telling us otherwise we probably won’t be organising a WoSWI trip.
Next meeting Thursday November 9th
This month we’re going to be exercising our creative muscles and decorating glassware with glitter. The hall is going to look like backstage at Strictly! We’ll provide all materials but you need to bring a jar, bottle, wine glass etc to be beautified. You might want to think about how you’re going to get it home if it isn’t entirely dry so bring something to transport your creation.
We’re also going to be having an array of craft stalls so you can get ahead with your Christmas shopping. It might be worth bringing some cash in case they aren’t all set up with card readers.
December Meeting Thursday 14th
This will be our Christmas celebration and we have lots of things in the planning stages, including a close up magician to amaze and beguile us. I’ve had this bloke at both my 50th and 60th birthday parties so I know he’s good. I’m not telling you anything else though as surprises are fun!

Have a lovely weekend and see you next week.

Vanessa

Hello friends

Next meeting Thursday 12th
This month we have a speaker from Osborne’s, the fifth generation fishing company based in Old Leigh. Don’t hold me to it but I would imagine they’ll be talking about their history and all things seafood related. Fascinating. What a varied programme we have at WoSWI!

Cake
Does anybody fancy baking a cake for the next meeting? If so, just reply to this email to let us know. Many thanks in advance.

November meeting Thursday 9th
Don’t forget to keep a look out for a glass object you would like to save from the recycling and beautify with glitter. And let us know if  you or a friend would like a craft table to showcase your wares.

December 14th
Magical plans are afoot for an evening of festive fun! Make sure you keep the date free.

Board Games/Cards Club, Thursday 26th October
Lots of laughter was had at the second gathering of this sub group, playing the hilarious game Telestrations. Eight ladies joined us at my home in Rayleigh but there’s room for more, so if you’d like to come along to the next one let me know and I’ll tell you my address. 

That’s it for the newsletter. Short but sweet.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello friends

Blimey, I completely forgot the newsletter! To be honest I’ve been a bit preoccupied as this weekend just gone was the reunion of everybody on my university drama degree course, half of whom I haven’t seen since 1987! We hired a youth hostel and had a fabulous time, 36 years just vanishing in a  blink.

Meeting September 14th
We’re getting a bit lively with a Zumba gold instructor putting us through our paces. I think the ‘gold’ version is a little less challenging so hopefully most of us will be able to join in. If not you can enjoy sitting on the sidelines watching your friends bust out their moves. You’ll need comfortable dancing shoes.

Afternoon Tea Sunday 17th
This looks set to be a lovely afternoon of cake and chat. Meet at the Chalkwell Park Rooms at 2.30pm for tea at 3pm. You need to have registered for this as we’ve now booked all the spaces.

Board Games sub group Thursday September 28th
The inaugural meeting was small but fun and we all got stuck into ‘Ticket to Ride’. If you’d like to join us for the next one at my house in Rayleigh please let me know.

That’s all folks. Looking forward to a spot of hip shimmying with you on Thursday.

Much love.

Vanessa

Hello friends

Gad, it’s hot! I seem to be adopting the laid back habits of the tropics, which is probably why this newsletter is two days late. Sorry!

Meeting Thursday July 13th 8pm.
Most excitingly, next week we have a potter bringing two wheels and a load of clay. She’ll be talking about all things pottery related and demonstrating how to throw a pot (get me and my technical terminology!). Then some of us will have the chance to do a bit of throwing ourselves, while the rest will be doing some hand building.

Outing on Friday July 14^th
I’m a big fan of the fabulous and most hilarious Pantaloons and they will be doing their version of ‘Emma’ at Hyde Hall gardens next Friday. You’ll need to get your own ticket and make your own way there but if you would like to sit with other WI ladies and their assorted hanger onners then we’ll be meeting at the entrance to Hyde Hall at 6.15. Let us know if you are coming and would like us to look out for you. You’ll need something to sit on and a picnic. Much fun guaranteed.

August 10^th
I don’t know why this should be but historically WI subs cover 11 meetings a year. August is our month off but we do usually organise an outdoor gathering of some sort. This year we’re going to have a walk in Belfairs wood. Meet at the Visitor Centre at 6.30pm and don’t forget your bug spray. 

Afternoon Tea Sunday September 17th at the Chalkwell Rooms
This is a free event for all our members and should be a lovely afternoon. If you haven’t yet done so, please would you let us know whether or not you will be joining us.

Sub Groups
The big push to get more sub groups organised seems to be going well. Already Annabelle has offered to run a  walking group, Faye a sea swimming group, and Phoebe a true crime exploration group. Looking at the sign up sheets from last month, the most popular choices that haven’t already been covered seem to be

– Pub quiz team
– Supper Club
– Singing/choir
– Board Games
– Gardening

I am happy to take on the mantel of running a board games club as I love them and my family refuse to indulge me. I propose to hold it on the fourth Thursday of the month at 7pm.The first meeting will be on Thursday August 24th at my house in Rayleigh and I’ll have a sign up sheet next week.
Is there anybody else who would be prepared to run one of the others? Or indeed, anything else?

Looking forward to seeing you all next week and marvelling at your clay creations.  

Much love

Vanessa

Hello friends

Lots to talk about so none of my usual opening witterings, apart to say a big thank you to Jo Cobb for organising such a fabulous meeting last month. I loved seeing your Sewing Bee style transformations. What a lot of talent we have.

Meeting Thursday June 8th.
Our June meeting has an outdoorsy, woodland theme with two speakers from Belfairs. Danielle is from Essex Wildlife and Ruth is from Forest Cloud Nature Therapy. Ruth will be telling us about ‘forest bathing’, or Shinrinyoku in Japanese, which is a mindfulness practice based around immersing yourself in nature.

Windsor Trip June 10th 
The coach will be picking up from the Palace theatre at 9am and then Thames Drive at 9.15am. If you haven’t let us know so far, please will you tell us if you would like to get on at Thames Drive. We will be returning at 4.30pm. What fun!

Afternoon Tea Sunday September 17th
This is a free event for all our members and should be a lovely afternoon. There will be a sign up sheet at the meeting next week but if you won’t be at that meeting, please let us know whether or not you will be joining us for tea. Just reply to this email.

Lunch Club
Many thanks to Sam who has arranged some lovely events for us over the last year or so. Sadly Sam has decided to step down, so if anybody else would like to take up the reins we would be delighted. 

Trinity Family Centre Fayre
We meet at Trinity so it’s great that we are supporting the important work they do with families and old folk. Their Summer Fayre is Monday June 12th for the oldies and Tuesday June 13th for families and they are looking for donations of raffle prizes and tombola gifts (such as small toys). These can be dropped off at our meeting. They have also asked if any of us would bake them a cake. Cakes can be delivered on the day or on Sunday 11th at 9.30-10 or 11-11.30. I know our help is making a big difference to Trinity’s work and they are very grateful.

Food bank donations are also most welcome and can be brought to any of our meetings.

Essex Federation County Annual Meeting Tuesday June 27th 2023.
Don’t forget to book for this if you’d like to join us. It’s at the Cliffs Pavilion with Gregg Wallace speaking and music from Danny Foster from The Big Soul Corporation.  £20 and here’s the link for tickets  www.ticketsource.co.uk/fewi

Coming up
The July meeting has an actual potter, with potters wheels and everything, giving us a go at throwing and hand building. This is something I’ve wanted to do since getting hooked on ‘Pottery Throwdown’ so I’m a bit over excited.
We don’t have a meeting in August but we will be arranging some kind of outdoor get together

Looking forward to seeing all your lovely smiley faces next week.  

Much love
Vanessa