Another wonderful year of meeting and listening to so many entertaining and interesting speakers. Keep learning and keep exploring what London has to offer!
Monday 10th January: DEBBIE MARRIOTT, Banknote designer, Bank of England (Zoom)-We had a fascinating talk from Debbie, lead banknote designer at the Bank of England, and learned about her role at the bank as well as the process of selecting a character for the banknotes and coming up with the concept of the designs. We also looked at the incredible details that went on the new £20 and £50 polymer banknotes, and the reasons for the various symbols that appear on the notes, some of which you need a magnifying glass to see.
Monday 7th February: Talk from Target Ovarian Cancer -This was a two-part campaign meeting. One of the WI’s current campaigns is See The Signs, which seeks to raise awareness of the subtle signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer, and we were pleased that SUSAN BOOTH, Executive Director for Development at Target Ovarian Cancer, was able to join us to give us a very informative talk on the issue, and distribute some leaflets for members to take home and pass on. In the second half of the meeting, we made some green hearts as part of The Climate Coalition’s “Show the Love” campaign, which focuses on community-based climate action and aims to start a conversation about climate change. We had fun decorating hearts with olive and bay leaves, rosemary, lavender and dried roses – the room smelled wonderful! We sent some some of these to our local MP asking him to continue to support climate change initiatives.
Monday 7th March: KATHLEEN SHERITT, Women in Britain’s Armed Forces -Kathleen gave a very interesting and thought-provoking talk on women in combat roles and the changes that have taken place since women were first admitted to the armed forces, to those who serve today. Her new book is called Women on the Front Line.
Monday 4th April: NICOLA WHITE, Mudlarking on the Thames – The history of the Thames and London is endlessly fascinating, and we had such a great talk from Nicola who brought along some of her brilliant finds and one or two of the more quirky ones. You can see more of what she does on her website http://www.tidelineart.com/
Monday 9th May: ANTOINETTE DANIEL, entrepreneur & founder, Just Helpers – We had an excellent talk by Antoinette where she shared with us her life’s journey which is so inspiring, and there were plenty of notes being taken on her home cleaning tips with white vinegar! Click here for the Just Helpers website. We also had an interesting discussion on the new resolution, Misdiagnosing and Under-reporting of ADHD and ASD in Women and Girls, prior to the Federation’s annual meeting in June.
Monday 6th June: LYN LALERO, Plant Therapy – the benefits of houseplants for health and wellbeing.
Monday 4th July: MARK FRANCIS designer and quarter finalist from The Great British Sewing Bee – It was brilliant to have the funny and charming Mark with us. His story was interesting and entertaining – and what a treat to see some of his makes from the show.
Monday 1st August: Visit to SuperBloom at the Tower of London
Monday 5th September, ROBIN WINDSOR, professional dancer and former Strictly professional. We kicked off the autumn in style with a brilliant talk by Robin. He spent four years on Strictly Come Dancing and has just finished a national tour in Burn the Floor. Robin works all over the world and always aims to spread the positivity of dance and help people improve how they view and feel about themselves. It was wonderful to hear his inspiring story plus a few tales from behind the scenes at Strictly! Da, da, da, da, da, da ,daaaaa….
Monday 3rd October, DR LOUISE RAW – another great evening at FCWI. We learned all about the history of the match girls in the Victorian era and their incredibly brave and politically active behaviour in the East End of London.
Monday 7th November, ANNUAL MEETING – Thank you to our members who attended our annual meeting last night – and to Christine for her very amusing bingo calling! But the biggest THANK YOU is to Natalie de Silva for her brilliant 5 years as President. We’ll miss you on the committee, Nat, but hope to see you, and Hector of course, at many of our future meetings and events! Congratulations to Alison, who was elected our new President.
Monday 5th December, JANE MEANS – We enjoyed a lovely festive get-together at the Cooper’s Arms for our Christmas meeting with the queen of wrapping, Jane Means. There was mulled wine, mince pies and a cheese board! And we also had an opportunity to buy some of Jane’s lovely wrapping paper and ribbons.
