MONTHLY MEETINGS 2023
Wednesday 1st November
Our meeting tonight incorporated our Annual Meeting so after singing Jerusalem, Dorothy introduced our speaker for the evening, Anne O'Donnell, who was to take us down memory lane with a talk on Kelsall during the Second World War, when the village was a very different place. However there were members who remembered some of the people in the many photographs Anne displayed, and it was fascinating to see how many small businesses there were in the village at that time. You can see one of George West's busses in the photo which was used for many outings before the war before becoming useful for troop movements later on. Fiona made a vote of thanks and presented Anne with a plant.
After a brief run through of our usual notices, we moved onto the Annual Meeting. Fiona Bazley the Treasurer presented her Financial Report and Statement, which was proposed and seconded, as was the appointment for the coming year of the independent financial examiner Anne Kershaw. Avril Butler the Secretary read the Committee's Annual Report which was adopted. The President Dorothy Hunt then made the President's Address, after which Mary Diggle dealt with the appointment of the committee for the coming year. These were voted on and seconded followed by a show of hands. Anne Tonge gave a vote of thanks to the Committee. Full copies of all the Reports can be found in the file held by the Secretary.
The Christmas Craft sales table organised by Heather was very popular, to the extent that it was almost impossible to set it up at the beginning of the evening before a deluge of customers raided the contents! It was a very successful event, not only for the quality and variety of the items displayed but also for the funds raised - £114! Many thanks to everyone who made craft items, brought things along to sell, the many customers, and Audrey and Marie for being such good sales ladies.
Words and Photo: Fiona
Our meeting tonight incorporated our Annual Meeting so after singing Jerusalem, Dorothy introduced our speaker for the evening, Anne O'Donnell, who was to take us down memory lane with a talk on Kelsall during the Second World War, when the village was a very different place. However there were members who remembered some of the people in the many photographs Anne displayed, and it was fascinating to see how many small businesses there were in the village at that time. You can see one of George West's busses in the photo which was used for many outings before the war before becoming useful for troop movements later on. Fiona made a vote of thanks and presented Anne with a plant.
After a brief run through of our usual notices, we moved onto the Annual Meeting. Fiona Bazley the Treasurer presented her Financial Report and Statement, which was proposed and seconded, as was the appointment for the coming year of the independent financial examiner Anne Kershaw. Avril Butler the Secretary read the Committee's Annual Report which was adopted. The President Dorothy Hunt then made the President's Address, after which Mary Diggle dealt with the appointment of the committee for the coming year. These were voted on and seconded followed by a show of hands. Anne Tonge gave a vote of thanks to the Committee. Full copies of all the Reports can be found in the file held by the Secretary.
The Christmas Craft sales table organised by Heather was very popular, to the extent that it was almost impossible to set it up at the beginning of the evening before a deluge of customers raided the contents! It was a very successful event, not only for the quality and variety of the items displayed but also for the funds raised - £114! Many thanks to everyone who made craft items, brought things along to sell, the many customers, and Audrey and Marie for being such good sales ladies.
Words and Photo: Fiona
Wednesday 4th October.
After singing Jerusalem and in the absence of Dorothy, Fiona opened the meeting by welcoming members, and our speaker for this evening, Alice Taylor of Delamere Flower Farm. After our usual notices Alice gave us a talk about how her family business started with pictures of her half acre field in various stages of development. They grow local seasonal flowers organically and with an ecological focus, having their own bee hives, using as little plastic as possible and making their own compost to enrich their ground. Only about 10 per cent of the flowers sold in UK are from the UK, most coming from abroad with the huge carbon footprint that creates. Alice uses her cottage garden flowers for weddings, funerals, workshops and talks and we were fascinated by her dried flower wreath-making; the photo shows how very beautiful a simple collection of autumn foliage can be when expertly put together. Heather gave the vote of thanks and we all carried on watching Alice finish the wreath while we waited for our tea and cakes.
Words and Picture : Fiona
After singing Jerusalem and in the absence of Dorothy, Fiona opened the meeting by welcoming members, and our speaker for this evening, Alice Taylor of Delamere Flower Farm. After our usual notices Alice gave us a talk about how her family business started with pictures of her half acre field in various stages of development. They grow local seasonal flowers organically and with an ecological focus, having their own bee hives, using as little plastic as possible and making their own compost to enrich their ground. Only about 10 per cent of the flowers sold in UK are from the UK, most coming from abroad with the huge carbon footprint that creates. Alice uses her cottage garden flowers for weddings, funerals, workshops and talks and we were fascinated by her dried flower wreath-making; the photo shows how very beautiful a simple collection of autumn foliage can be when expertly put together. Heather gave the vote of thanks and we all carried on watching Alice finish the wreath while we waited for our tea and cakes.
Words and Picture : Fiona
Wednesday 6th September.
After singing Jerusalem Dorothy welcomed members, three visitors and Jen Horan from the Neuro Therapy Centre at Saltney. Jen's role is to generate funds for the Centre and she came to tell us a little about the work the Centre does and accept a cheque for £150, money we raised from the raffle at our January Coffee Morning. The Centre provides practical support and therapies to help manage the symptoms of a wide range of long term neurological conditions including MS, Parkinson's, Motor Neurone Disease and ME. It was set up 40 years ago and supports more than 500 people across North Wales, Cheshire and the Wirral.
Following on from Jen we had a fascinating talk from Roger Ellison entitled "My journey into photography". It was Roger's father who got him interested in photography; he was a joiner and built his own house in Neston and used to roam the Neston marches wildfowling and taking photographs. When arthritis prevented him from working as a joiner he set up his own glass engraving business. Roger himself has been taking photographs for many years and is also a pilot/flying instructor. He showed us some of his stunning photographs of birds, landscapes and aircraft. He uses a drone to take amazing aerial photographs, sometimes getting up at the crack of dawn to capture the best light when the sun is just rising. Roger had brought 2 drones with him and after his talk he showed us how they operate. He had also brought along some of his signed and mounted photographs and cards which we could purchase.
Words and photo: Avril.
After singing Jerusalem Dorothy welcomed members, three visitors and Jen Horan from the Neuro Therapy Centre at Saltney. Jen's role is to generate funds for the Centre and she came to tell us a little about the work the Centre does and accept a cheque for £150, money we raised from the raffle at our January Coffee Morning. The Centre provides practical support and therapies to help manage the symptoms of a wide range of long term neurological conditions including MS, Parkinson's, Motor Neurone Disease and ME. It was set up 40 years ago and supports more than 500 people across North Wales, Cheshire and the Wirral.
Following on from Jen we had a fascinating talk from Roger Ellison entitled "My journey into photography". It was Roger's father who got him interested in photography; he was a joiner and built his own house in Neston and used to roam the Neston marches wildfowling and taking photographs. When arthritis prevented him from working as a joiner he set up his own glass engraving business. Roger himself has been taking photographs for many years and is also a pilot/flying instructor. He showed us some of his stunning photographs of birds, landscapes and aircraft. He uses a drone to take amazing aerial photographs, sometimes getting up at the crack of dawn to capture the best light when the sun is just rising. Roger had brought 2 drones with him and after his talk he showed us how they operate. He had also brought along some of his signed and mounted photographs and cards which we could purchase.
Words and photo: Avril.
Wednesday 2nd August. Members Meeting
Here is Liz's account of the meeting with some photos from Marie and Fiona
Here is Liz's account of the meeting with some photos from Marie and Fiona
Wednesday 5th July.
This month we had a French Evening, masterminded by our Musicienne Extraordinaire Janet. As well as dressing up, we enjoyed a quiz, a word game, some French inspired food and drink, some singing (even some in rounds!), plus an opportunity to draw something recognisably French - quite a challenge for most of us! It's hard to put into words the gaiety of the evening so have a look at our photos instead .Sadly I can't upload the video Carolyn took as it's hilarious!
Words: Fiona Photos: Mary and Fiona
This month we had a French Evening, masterminded by our Musicienne Extraordinaire Janet. As well as dressing up, we enjoyed a quiz, a word game, some French inspired food and drink, some singing (even some in rounds!), plus an opportunity to draw something recognisably French - quite a challenge for most of us! It's hard to put into words the gaiety of the evening so have a look at our photos instead .Sadly I can't upload the video Carolyn took as it's hilarious!
Words: Fiona Photos: Mary and Fiona
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Wednesday 7th June.
This month we had several interesting things to entertain us: firstly Mary told us all about her wax wraps that she had researched and made herself; you can buy them commercially but it is also quite possible to make them at home and she told us all about it. She also brought some to show us and sold them on the Summer Sales Table, which did very well as Audrey and Liz are excellent salesladies! So there is no excuse and we can all give up cling film. |
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We also had a fascinating talk on Garden Birds from Peter Solman, an ex deputy headteacher who helped us to see that as these birds are really woodland natives, there are certain things we can do in our gardens to make them feel at home. He explained how parts of their brains expand and contract depending on the season, and how they sing, reproduce and migrate accordingly. He also talked about what we can plant in our gardens to ensure the birds have berries and insects to eat. Peggy gave a vote of thanks and we then tucked into our own refreshments, in our case cake and cups of tea.
Words and photos: Fiona |
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Wednesday 5th April.
Our meeting this month took place on Wednesday 5th April, exactly 90 years from the inaugural meeting of Kelsall WI. We celebrated this important anniversary in style with many members dressing in 1930's fashions, complete with stunning hats, gloves and handbags. Our meeting began with a selection of 1930's music playing as members arrived, and during our celebration Janet led us in singing three 1930's songs - Blue Moon, Stormy Weather and Somewhere over the Rainbow. We looked at NFWI Resolutions put forward in 1933 and voted on these. Members had been asked to create poems or prose describing their memories of Kelsall WI and several of these were read out to members. Mary had made a superb celebrations cake decorated with items reflecting our WI activities and the cake was cut by Ann and Dot, two of our longest serving members. Finally, we enjoyed delicious refreshments provided by the committee and an opportunity to socialise with our WI friends.
Words: Dorothy Photos: Pat and Fiona
Our meeting this month took place on Wednesday 5th April, exactly 90 years from the inaugural meeting of Kelsall WI. We celebrated this important anniversary in style with many members dressing in 1930's fashions, complete with stunning hats, gloves and handbags. Our meeting began with a selection of 1930's music playing as members arrived, and during our celebration Janet led us in singing three 1930's songs - Blue Moon, Stormy Weather and Somewhere over the Rainbow. We looked at NFWI Resolutions put forward in 1933 and voted on these. Members had been asked to create poems or prose describing their memories of Kelsall WI and several of these were read out to members. Mary had made a superb celebrations cake decorated with items reflecting our WI activities and the cake was cut by Ann and Dot, two of our longest serving members. Finally, we enjoyed delicious refreshments provided by the committee and an opportunity to socialise with our WI friends.
Words: Dorothy Photos: Pat and Fiona
Wednesday 1st March
Tonight we had the pleasure of a talk by Rodger King who brought along some slides of photographs taken from his garden in Kelsall of the heavens. He told us how he and his wife had lived in Altrincham for some years, which has a very poor light pollution raging of 8 out of 9. Kelsall is about average with a rating of 5, so they have decided that this will be their last move. As a result they have installed an observatory in their garden with a sliding roof so he can aim his camera at the skies and take the photographs that have been his hobby since he was a boy, viewing the landing on the Moon in 1969. He enabled us to be Time Travellers, viewing constellations and nebula from the Moon which is nearby, to stars as far away as millions of light years, the use of filters allowing us to see clouds of hydrogen, oxygen and other gasses. When Rodger takes these photos using filters it can take hours, meaning his time in bed during the night can be quite curtailed! We were so grateful for his passion and willingness to answer our questions, as well as the chance to win chocolates if we got the answers right! One of Rodger's time-travelling photographs is below. We had an enthralling evening in the heavens and Heather gave a vote of thanks, followed by the usual tea, coffee and cake.
Tonight we had the pleasure of a talk by Rodger King who brought along some slides of photographs taken from his garden in Kelsall of the heavens. He told us how he and his wife had lived in Altrincham for some years, which has a very poor light pollution raging of 8 out of 9. Kelsall is about average with a rating of 5, so they have decided that this will be their last move. As a result they have installed an observatory in their garden with a sliding roof so he can aim his camera at the skies and take the photographs that have been his hobby since he was a boy, viewing the landing on the Moon in 1969. He enabled us to be Time Travellers, viewing constellations and nebula from the Moon which is nearby, to stars as far away as millions of light years, the use of filters allowing us to see clouds of hydrogen, oxygen and other gasses. When Rodger takes these photos using filters it can take hours, meaning his time in bed during the night can be quite curtailed! We were so grateful for his passion and willingness to answer our questions, as well as the chance to win chocolates if we got the answers right! One of Rodger's time-travelling photographs is below. We had an enthralling evening in the heavens and Heather gave a vote of thanks, followed by the usual tea, coffee and cake.
Wednesday 1st February
Tonight, we had to sing Jerusalem without Janet, our pianist but managed with a middle C from Ann. We heard some notices and the Budget for 2023/4,and were very pleased to welcome four visitors for the evening. Tonight we were lucky enough to have Gill Roberts back to talk to us. We last saw her when she gave us a history of corsets and showed us some amazing examples of her work. Tonight she was talking about the Liverpool 08 Tapestry, a community project organised by the Merseyside Embroiderers Guild to celebrate the city's Capital of Culture 2008, and is made up of local images as perceived by the local community. Gill was heavily involved in the project, which was sponsored by Home Bargains, and she has written a book on the subject called "People, Places and Passions". She brought some samples of the work done by over 150 stitchers and also some amazing facts: 103 miles of wool were used on 40 meters of canvas; it took over 15,000 hours to sew 5 million stitches! Words cannot do justice to this amazing body of work so have a look at the gallery of pictures below instead. The complete work is 23 feet long and 7 feet high; more detailed pictures can be viewed online, just search for Liverpool 08 Tapestry.
Words and Pictures: Fiona
Tonight, we had to sing Jerusalem without Janet, our pianist but managed with a middle C from Ann. We heard some notices and the Budget for 2023/4,and were very pleased to welcome four visitors for the evening. Tonight we were lucky enough to have Gill Roberts back to talk to us. We last saw her when she gave us a history of corsets and showed us some amazing examples of her work. Tonight she was talking about the Liverpool 08 Tapestry, a community project organised by the Merseyside Embroiderers Guild to celebrate the city's Capital of Culture 2008, and is made up of local images as perceived by the local community. Gill was heavily involved in the project, which was sponsored by Home Bargains, and she has written a book on the subject called "People, Places and Passions". She brought some samples of the work done by over 150 stitchers and also some amazing facts: 103 miles of wool were used on 40 meters of canvas; it took over 15,000 hours to sew 5 million stitches! Words cannot do justice to this amazing body of work so have a look at the gallery of pictures below instead. The complete work is 23 feet long and 7 feet high; more detailed pictures can be viewed online, just search for Liverpool 08 Tapestry.
Words and Pictures: Fiona
