Hello friends

Treats for you!
Keep an eye out over the weekend as I have a strong suspicion a team of eager Easter bunnies will be hopping all over Westcliff and the surrounding area, delivering WoSWI goodie bags!

Subs and events
Many thanks to all of you who have renewed your membership online or by cheque. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are all sticking with us after the year we’ve had, and I’m looking forward to the next year with excitement. There is a party invitation in your goodie bag, and I’ll also be announcing a series of events at next week’s meeting. Let’s make the most of finally being able to see each other in person!

If you haven’t yet got round to paying up, never fear. You can give a cheque or cash to the committee bunny on your doorstep or scroll down for the bank details. And if you aren’t planning on renewing, just let us know. I promise we won’t crochet an effigy of you and stick pins in it!  

Next meeting Thursday 8th April
Our next meeting should be hilarious. For the last three months we’ve had speakers – with varying degrees of success, it has to be said – but this time it’s being run by yours truly. I’m going to be removing my presidential sash (naturally I do wear this at all times, even though it makes turning over in bed somewhat awkward) and I’ll be donning the persona of……The Taskmaster! I have a variety of tasks, running the full gamut from utterly ridiculous to completely preposterous, all of which require no talent or agility whatsoever and can  be done on Zoom. We might have prizes, we might not…I’m the Taskmaster, my word is final…I’m hoping for an evening of mayhem, surprises and laughter, plus a bit of bingo thrown in. Be there or be square, as we used to say in the good old days.

Really looking forward to spending time with m’ladies.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello Ladies

I can’t believe it’s March already! Back at Christmas when they announced a three month lockdown, right through the dreariest part of the year, I thought time would crawl along at the speed of a snail. Instead it seems to have rushed by at a breakneck pace. Or is that just me?! So lovely to have the hopefulness of Spring in the air and the promise of more normality ahead of us. In no time at all we’ll be able to meet up again.

Our next Zoom meeting – March 11th 8pm
This month’s speaker is Sarah Kelly. Her subject sounds fascinating as she handled communications between the media and the police in the Harold Shipman case.  

Get Togethers
Our coffee morning last week was thoroughly enjoyable. We only had six people so it was very informal and intimate, but there was a lot of chat and laughter and great fun was had by all. I’m really relishing the chance to get to know people better. The next one is Thursday 4th March at 7pm so grab a coffee or glass of wine and come and hang out with us for a bit.

April Goodie bags!!
Our Christmas deliveries were so well received that we’re going to be sending out another batch of goodie bags before our April meeting. These will contain materials for a craft and other activities, as well as some lovely Spring treats for you. Looking forward to some more doorstep chats as well. 

Renewals
It has been a challenge, to say the least, to keep WoSWI running throughout  lockdowns and social distancing, and myself and the committee have tried really hard to make sure you get value from your membership and feel that you are still an important part of our WI community. We’ve all had an extra three months membership but in April it will be time to fork out £44 to renew for another year. We have a lot of plans in the pipeline for more outside gatherings, and a big celebration when we are finally allowed to meet up indoors again, so I’m really hoping that you’ll all want to renew your membership. I appreciate that the last year has been difficult, particularly if you haven’t been able to join in with our online meetings, but better times are ahead so don’t give up on WoSWI!

Really looking forward to seeing you all next Thursday.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello ladies
Hope you are all keeping well and managing to find things to do to stop each lockdown day merging into the next. I’m considering taking up binge drinking but I’m not sure I have time for a new hobby,  alongside my current snail racing  and learning to play every national anthem of the world on the bagpipes. In seriousness, apologies that this is a very short newsletter. I am somewhat overwhelmed with work, as you can probably imagine

Wasn’t last month’s speaker entertaining and interesting? I could have spent all evening listening to her tales of prison life. It was so nice to just be able to hang out and chat with each other afterwards too. We talked about organising some informal Zoom get togethers so here goes.

Get Together Dates
 I suggest we try out a morning and an evening session and see how we get on. We might want to put something more formal in place, like an activity to do together, but we can chat about that in the first couple of sessions. Put these dates in your diary and then I’ll send log in details later
Thursday Feb 25th 10.30am
Thursday March 4th 7pm.

Next Zoom meeting. February 11th 8pm
This month we have another interesting sounding speaker coming to delight us. Jane Glennie is an actress/speaker and she will be telling us all about the history of tea, while dressed as a fifties housewife.  It would be fun if we all got out our best tea cup and teapot so we can have a socially distanced tea party together.

Really looking forward to seeing you all

Much love

Vanessa

Hello ladies and a very happy new year to you all.

Well, I say happy, but I think genuine happiness may be in fairly short supply for a lot of us at the moment. Perhaps I’ll wish you a hopeful and healthy new year instead. Better times are just around the corner so hang on in there everybody. Have you got any tips you’d like to share for making this latest lockdown a little easier? I’d like to recommend Wind Walk Travel videos on YouTube. They are basically videos taken by somebody having a walk in an interesting place and they satisfy two needs for me – the need to exercise and the need to travel. When it’s too dreary to go outside I put one of these on the tellybox and walk/jog on the spot in front of it. Today I did 5000 steps along Venice Beach in the sunshine! Thought I might go to Singapore tomorrow.

Next Zoom meeting. January 14th 8pm
This one should be a treat! Our guest speaker is Chris Duffin, the first woman governor into HMP Strangeways and the notorious Dartmoor Prison. Chris Duffin was a ground-breaker and will be sharing some of the many stories and incidents from her twenty-year career both as a lowly ‘screw’ and as a prison governor. Whether it’s flying out of the UK with a briefcase full of class A drugs, talking to the BBC News in her nightie, displaying a naked hunk’s willy on her office wall, or having Myra Hindley as her tea-lady, these tales will amuse, entertain and definitely change your view of life behind bars.

As well as our guest speaker we’ll also be having a bit of our usual WoSWI fun and the chance for a chat and a catch up. It was so nice to see you all at the Christmas party so I’m hoping you’ll be able to join us next week.

Resolutions
The WI isn’t going to stop campaigning just because there’s a pandemic! On no, not us, we’re made of stronger stuff! We need to vote on which resolution to put forward though. You will find more details on the resolutions and how to vote in the newsletter sent to your email.

Really looking forward to seeing you all

Much love

Vanessa

We are open to new members in 2021. Please see details below and contact us if you are interested in joining.

Hello ladies and welcome to the November newsletter

Apology
First off, I would like to apologise heartily for the errors last month, both for the incorrect meeting code and to you ladies who were left in the Zoom waiting room for far too long. That was our first Zoom meeting and it’s been a learning curve for us. I’ve realised that doing two things at once is just too much for me (whoever said women were good at multi tasking clearly doesn’t know me!) and I was so busy keeping an eye on the speaker, seeing as I was the only one who could talk to her, that I forgot to check the waiting room. We’ve solved this hiccup and now lovely Lynne, our new assistant treasurer, will be the lady at the virtual door speedily granting access.

November Meeting
Thursday 12th
8pm
I am awaiting our next meeting with interested curiosity. Quite how we’re going to all learn to play the spoons I don’t know, but I’m certainly up for finding out! Jo May came highly recommended for Zoom meetings on the Unofficial WI Facebook page, and, as it happens, she’s also a friend of a friend of my husband’s  so I went to one of her spoons workshops some years ago. Great fun. You can use any old spoons you happen to have but if you want to be really prepared scroll down to the bottom of the email and I’ll repeat the links I shared last month for buying the perfect spoons for bashing together and making sweet music.

Log in details
You will have received an email with login details for the meeting.

Christmas Party
Sadly, we’re not going to be able to don our party dresses and get together for a knees up this year. This doesn’t mean we can’t have fun though. There ain’t no party like a WoSWI Zoom party! Our Christmas festivities will take place on Thursday December 10th at 8pm. We are putting together a party pack for each of you, which will contain everything you need to join in with the activities, games and competitions, plus a treat or two. Your pack will be hand delivered to your address  by one of our utterly marvellous committee members a couple of weeks before the party.

Spoon Purchasing

https://www.knockonwood.co.uk/Bones-and-Spoons – here are some joined-up spoons that have been made especially for playing. They’re a bit easier to hold than spoons from the kitchen!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Colourworks-Measuring-Multi-Colour-4-Piece/dp/B003D4HHPG/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=kitchencraft%20plastic%20measuring%20spoons&qid=1597746210&sr=8-10&fbclid=IwAR2R5_EP-7X4DxnpgY1AbTp7tWrlDRPXNVaTZA9EZv-Ojlt5YPlGby4M3SE – the smallest spoons in these sets of plastic measuring spoons tend to be the favourites in my face-to-face workshops – they’re usually a bit gentler on the fingers than metal spoons. But obviously you need to buy two sets of these to get a pair! I’m not necessarily suggesting buying from Amazon – I’ve seen these in lots of kitchen and hardware shops.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello friends

No doubt you’ve spotted that no announcements have been made about what’s been planned for our next meetings. We’ve been waiting to see whether or not we’re allowed to meet in person and, very sadly, it turns out that we’re not. However, all is not lost and some exciting things have been booked for us to all join in on  Zoom.

October meeting Thursday 8th
Following a recommendation from a fellow WI president friend of mine, we have a musical theatre actress coming to talk to us. Sophie-Louise Dann was a founder cast member of Gary Barlow’s musical about The Calendar Girls (she played the one who needed much bigger buns!) and she’s recently played  Madame Thernadier in the touring Les Mis. Sophie will be baking a cake while chatting with us and answering  our questions on all things musical theatre related. I’m told she’s great fun so I’m looking forward to an evening of chat and laughter – just what we need at the moment.

November meeting Thursday12th
 I was looking through the list of suggested speakers that has been posted in the Unofficial WI Facebook group (well worth joining – lots of interesting chat) and several WIs recommended Jo May, percussionist. As it happens I actually know Jo as she’s a friend of a friend and I’ve been to one of her workshops in trendy Brighton. So….she’s coming to teach us how to  play the spoons!  I think this is a skill we will all find immensely useful. When we can have big parties again, just think how impressed your family will be when you whip out your spoons for a quick recital. You can use any spoons but there are also special wooden ones you can buy for the purpose. Nearer the time I’ll post a link, should you feel that spoon playing will be just the thing to keep you occupied through the long winter evenings. I can see a WoSWI spoon orchestra on Britain’s Got Talent…

Zoom
We would really like as many of us as possible to be able to join in the fun. Some of you will now be completely au fait with online communications and will be Zooming all over the place. Others will be terrified at the mere thought. If you’ve never tried Zoom but you don’t want to miss out, I’m here to hold your hand. I’m assuming you have access to a computer as you’re reading my email, so contact me at woswi@hotmail.com and I can answer your questions and help you set it up. Then you’ll be amazed at how easy it is.

Looking forward to seeing your lovely smiley faces, waving out from my laptop screen.

Much love

Vanessa

Hello ladies and welcome to the September newsletter

Treasurer
I am absolutely delighted to be able to tell you that WoSWI is safe, as two of our members have stepped forward to take over the Treasurer role between them. Huge thanks to Sarah Campbell and Lynne Wheeler. We’re really looking forward to working with you both and a big welcome to our merry band of committee members. Incidentally, if any of you other ladies feel like you could do with a new interest in your life you would be most welcome to join the committee as well. 

AGM September 10th
So. most excitingly, we are able to meet in person once again!! Next Thursday is our long delayed AGM, where we do all the business stuff and hold our Presidential election. I have an inkling that I know who it will be!

Of course, it isn’t just going to be business matters – we have some fun planned as well. Jo Cobb is going to be teaching us how to sew our own masks so we can become fashionistas and always have a suitable mask to match our outfit. We’ll provide all materials but feel free to bring your own fabric if you have favourite scraps you’d like to use up. We’re also going to be doing some mandala stone painting, which I can personally vouch is incredibly relaxing and somewhat addictive.

YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE MEETING
I’ve been in touch with the naval club and they assure me they have anti Covid measures in place, such as extra cleaning and a one way system. We will also make sure everybody is suitably spaced and there is plenty of hand gel available. However, we can only have 30 people so please will you book your space in advance and it will be first come, first served. Just reply to this email to register. I know some of you are being careful to avoid exposure so won’t want to come along, while others are desperate for a bit of normality and will be beating down the doors. 

Live Streaming
We will be streaming the meeting for those of you who can’t attend in person. More on this to follow. We will also be setting up a system so you can vote from home for your President of choice. Again, more info on this will follow, once we’ve worked out how on earth to do it!

Really looking forward to getting together again at long last.

Much love

Vanessa