2018 was a special year for the WI, as it marked 100 years since women were first given the vote following the passing of the Representation of the People Act. We began our year with a new president, Natalie, and aimed to continue to offer our members a varied programme of inspiring, informative and interesting speakers, visits and events during the year. I think you’ll agree, we did just that!
Monday 3 December – What a fun and festive night! We welcomed the fabulous Poppy Chancellor of Poppy’s Papercuts , and enjoyed learning a new and really absorbing craft, while drinking delicious mulled wine (thank you The Hollywood Arms), home made mince pies and delicious Parmesan shortbread (thank you Louise and Alison!).
Monday 5 November – Thank you to all our members who attended the Annual Meeting, and we were thrilled that you voted in Natalie to continue as our President! Our committee members will also continue their existing roles for the coming year. We were pleased that Angie Leach, President of Streatham WI, was kindly able to act as teller for the vote. After the official business we enjoyed a very sociable evening, announcing details of our new programme for 2019, we had a fun raffle and a book launch for Louise’s lovely new book, A Royal Christmas – the first official publication to explore the fascinating Christmas traditions of royalty past and present, drawing on many previously unpublished objects and images from the Royal Collection. We were also delighted to welcome several new visitors, who I hope will come again. Another thank you for the tremendous number of sanitary items we collected for the Trussell Trust – what a fantastic response! Natalie delivered all the donations to the Trust later that week.
Monday 1 October – What a fun and beautifully-scented meeting we had last night with British perfumer Sarah McCartney. We learned about the hard work and dedication that has gone in to building a business such as 4160Tuesdays an award-winning indie perfumery; we smelt the raw ingredients used and found out the difference between natural and synthetic – with some surprising revelations; discovered the inspiration behind Sarah’s unique perfumes such as Captured by Candlelight, Ealing Green, Mother Nature’s Naughty Daughters and , and we took the jelly bean test….chew a jelly bean with your mouth closed while pinching your nose, and after a few seconds release your nose and breathe, and see what happens to the taste! And thank you to the Coopers Arms for hosting us. 
Monday 3 September – A great meeting learning all about the work of the RNLI from Holly Jackson-Walters, a crew member with Chiswick lifeboat station. Holly brought along her drysuit and life-jacket for us to see, and she explained the training she has to do and illustrated some of the diverse range of shouts they’re called out to. It reminded us all what an absolutely brilliant and vital job the RNLI volunteers do in the face of daily challenges – even on a seemingly calm stretch of water as The Thames. We all left wearing our ‘Respect the Water’ badges! If you’d like to know more about supporting them, or becoming a volunteer, then do go to their website https://bit.ly/2gsE5P0 And don’t forget to watch Saving Lives at Sea on Tuesdays on BBC2.
Sunday 19 August – Instead of our usual August meeting, we had a lovely afternoon in Kew Gardens, with a guided tour and picnic tea afterwards. Our knowledgeable guide took us to through the Palm House, the Mediterranean Gardens, and to see the Amazonian Lilly, and finally to the stunning new Temperate House. It had been a few years since any of us had visited, and we’d forgotten how beautiful the gardens are. The coffee and the shop are great too – well worth a visit.
Monday 2 July – We had a very interesting and informative discussion on staying safe in the city with PC Matt Burr, a Counter Terrorism Support Officer with the Metropolitan Police. In these days of heightened security, and increasing street crime, there couldn’t be a more timely and important issue for us all – pursue, prevent, protect, prepare!
Monday 4 June – A huge thank you to the brilliant Dr Catherine Loveday who took time out from her incredibly busy schedule as a neuro-psychologist, Principal Lecturer at the University of Westminster, and working with brain injured patients at Addenbrooke’s hospital, to come and talk to us about her research and findings on music and memory. What an absolutely fascinating subject. We heard about the reward pathway, chill response, redemption memories and why our decisions about the future are so often unconsciously based on experiences of the past – and why most peoples’ musical memories stem from the ages of 15-21. Our members had so many questions we could have continued discussing the topic well past 9.00pm. If you’d like to read more on this subject, then check out the R3 podcasts from their recent weekend on Music and Memory.
And Hector beautifully modelled one of our new canvas bags which we screen-printed ourselves last week, and which will be for sale at Parsons Green Fair on 9 July!
Monday 14 May – What a warm and relaxed evening we had listening to Olivier Award-winning actress Patricia Hodge OBE in conversation with our committee member, actress, singer and producer Fiona-Jane Weston. Patricia shared stories about her life on stage and screen – from performing Sondheim at the National, to appearing in the long-running drama, Rumpole of the Bailey on TV, to playing Miranda Hart’s mother. And her impression of the late great Elaine Stritch singing from the dentist’s chair was very funny! Don’t miss her latest role in A Very English Scandal on the BBC this month.
Monday 9 April – We were delighted to welcome the engaging Vicky Silverthorn as our guest speaker this month. Vicky is a professional organiser and declutterer – just what you need for a Spring meeting! She shared some of her hints and tips with us for living a more organised life, and encouraged us to think about the amount of ‘stuff’ – much of it unnecessary – we surround ourselves with. Our mantra should be, Can I live without it? If you’d like to ask Vicky’s advice, or just more about what she could do for you, then contact her through her website, You Need A Vicky. Also, her bestselling book, Start with Your Sock Drawer: The Simple Guide to Living a Less Cluttered Life is currently available on Kindle for 99p!
Monday 5 March – It was a full house for our meeting last night with our speaker, JUSTINE GOSLING. Her energy and enthusiasm in taking on expeditions and volunteer work around the world is inspiring, and we listened in fascination to her tales of polar bear watch in the Arctic, walking the length of Finland, and her adventures in Russia. We also learned about the 1989 Singing Revolution – 3 countries, 3 million people – that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and got to see a picture of a Communist Monopoly board – definitely not Monopoly as we know it! Her next project is an all-female expedition following in the footsteps of an extraordinary woman called Christiane Ritter, who, in 1933, set off from Austria and travelled to Spitsbergen, an Arctic island north of Norway, to be with her husband, and who went on to thrive in an unforgiving landscape. We wish Justine the very best of luck, and will be sure to follow her progress!
Monday 5 February – we were joined by Julie Wood, Community Development Manager for CHICKENSHED THEATRE CO, accompanied by student, actor and support assistant Emma. Despite having to move our meeting downstairs at the Hollywood Arms, Julie and Emma coped brilliantly and made themselves heard over the buzzy atmosphere of the pub.
We heard all about the company’s humble beginnings more than 40 years ago – in an actual chicken shed – to their hugely successful programme of shows they put on not just at their north London HQ, but in communities, hospitals and nursery schools. They celebrate diversity and aim to inspire positive change, and we owe Julie and Emma a huge thank you for sharing their story with us. We also wish Emma the best of luck on her trip to New York next month, where she’ll be working with the theatre’s American friends to set up a new Chickenshed branch.
Monday 8 January – we began the new year with a packed evening of speaker, pampering, clothes swapping and resolutions! A huge thank you to Kelly and Lucillia from RIGBY AND PELLER for their great talk on the benefits of a professionally-fitted bra, for bringing along their beautiful sample garments, and for the discount vouchers! While we were listening to Kelly, our delightful beauty therapist Mar Chung was giving our members pampering hand massages using gorgeous Neal’s Yard products. Then after the talk, we held a SWISH – thank you to all those members who brought along some lovely items to swap – and we donated any left over work wear to the charity Dress for Success. There was also a long line of members waiting for advice from our president, Natalie, on their ‘colours’. The evening was also an opportunity to discuss the shortlisted 2018 resolutions – Positive body image in a digital age, Stop female genital mutilation, Raising awareness of modern slavery in the UK; Mental health matters; Healthier Mouth, Healthier Body – and members were asked to select the one they would most like to go forward for further discussion and final voting at the Annual Meeting in June 2018.
