News Reports 2018
In December we enjoyed our annual Christmas lunch, this time at the Admiral Hornblower in Oakham. We enjoyed a lovely meal and each others good company
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Four of our members again made Christmas wreaths at the excellent workshop run by Vicky of Paisley Flowers. We met at Otters in Oakham and enjoyed mulled wine and nibbles whilst making our wreaths. We had a lovely evening and were very pleased with our creations.
Three dual members together with one member of Oakham afternoon WI joined our sister group, Oakham WI on a visit to De Montford Halls Leicester to see Calendar Girls, the musical. An excellent cast had us in fits of laughter at the familiar story of a Yorkshire W.I who joined together to turn tragedy into triumph by making a nude calendar to raise money for a hospital where the husband of one of their members had died. We had a lovely time and are grateful to Angie fro Oakham WI for arranging the outing.
Horseshoe Meeting
On the evening of the 10th of October ten members of Oakham afternoon W. I. joined members of other Rutland W.I.s at the Hub in Oakham for an evening entitled "ladies of the night". To the surprise of some who had been expecting something completely different, we were treated to a talk on ladies who through the ages had made a contribution to astronomy including Jocelyn Bell Burnell who had discovered pulsars. After an interesting talk we enjoyed a lovely supper and good conversation with members of the other W.I.s.
Visit to Boughton House - August 2018
On a hot August day members of Oakham Afternoon W.I joined the evening W.I. group on a visit to Boughton House. We left the bus station in Oakham and headed for Boughton only to be met with a road closure near our destination. Our driver detoured through Geddington and we still arrived in plenty of time for our tour.
We were divided into 2 groups and then each group was taken on a tour of the house, visiting the state rooms and some of the rooms the family uses today. The tour highlighted the many treasures of the house and gave us an insight to the history of the house and its occupants.
We then had lunch in the cafe before exploring the grounds and gardens. All in all a lovely day.
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On a hot August afternoon Jenny and Jill hosted a tea in aid of Marie Curie attended by around 25 friends including members of both Oakham W.Is.
Guests were greeted by a welcome cup of tea served in bone china cups and could then choose from a delicious array of cakes and scones, some cooked by Jenny and Jill and some donated. Special thanks go to Otters, (www.ottersfinefoods.co.uk) for their generous donation of scones and jam and to Kavanaghs (www.kavanaghstearoom.com) for donating a lovely cream cake.
It was a lovely afternoon of friendship and conversation and a total of £292 was raised for Marie Curie to help them to look after people with terminal illnesses.
National Federation of Women's Institutes Annual Meeting - 6 June 2018
The AM was held on 6 June at The Motorpoint arena in Cardiff and was attended by our chair Gillian Hester. In the morning delegates heard from Dame Stella Rimington and in the afternoon from Huw Edwards.
Delegates voted to pass a resolution which seeks to tackle the stigma associated with mental health problems.
The ‘Mental Health Matters’ resolution, which will now form the basis of a new NFWI campaign, reads:
"Mental health matters as much as physical health. The NFWI urges all WI members to recognise the importance of parity between mental health and physical health, and take action to make it as acceptable to talk about mental health issues as much as physical health issues, and to lobby government for better support for mental illness." Callow End WI, Worcestershire Federation
The resolution was passed with 98% of the vote.
Leicestershire and Rutland Federation Centenary Annual Council Meeting
The ACM was held on Saturday 10 March at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground and was attended by approximately 1400 members including 11 from the Oakham and Oakham afternoon WIs. Many of us had travelled by a coach that had been organised by the horseshoe group so we were able to meet and share the experience with members from other local WIs.
We arrived at Bruntingthorpe, an old World War 2 airfield and were immediately impressed by how the venue had been set up for the day with a large screen so that we could all see what was happening on the stage. There were many stalls selling a wide range of goods and they were very busy.
The meeting started with the singing of Jerusalem followed by an address from the National federation chair, Lynne Stubbings followed by the Leicestershire and Rutland chair, Janet Kirk. We then heard from our first speaker, Jennifer Lady Gretton, the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire who gave an interesting talk on her role. She was then followed by Mandy Hickson, who was only the second woman to fly a Tornado GR4, completing three tours of duty and 45 missions over Iraq. She gave a truly inspiring talk about how she became an RAF pilot, her career in the force and afterwards. She received a standing ovation from the members.
We then broke for lunch with time to visit the many stalls and discuss the morning events with other members. After lunch prizes were awarded for a number of competitions and certificates awarded to those groups achieving their 100 year anniversaries. Angie Humphreys collected the certificate for our Oakham sister group. The final speaker was Edwina Currie, a fellow WI member and former MP who told us about becoming an MP and her life afterwards. After her talk she answered a wide range of questions from the floor.
The day concluded with the National Anthem before we returned home, tired but inspired by a wonderful day.
Angie leaving the stage after receiving the centenary certificate from Edwina Currie
Four members of Oakham Afternoon W.I. together with seven dual members were included within the 70 local WI members who attended the Horseshoe meeting organised by Oakham WI.
The meeting was opened by Jackie Cooper, joint chair of Oakham WI who welcomed the visitors from other local W.I.s and led us in the singing of Jerusalem. The meeting was also attended by Janet Kirk, the chair of Leicester and Rutland celebration who spoke and wished Oakham WI best wishes on their 100 anniversary. Helen Mcgarrigle chair of the Horseshoe group also spoke and extended her congratulations to Oakham WI.
The group was then treated to a talk from Chris Carr on "What the Romans did for us in the kitchen. She proceeded to tell us about the foods that the Romans introduced to England when they invaded, including chickens, rabbits, carrots and of course wine.
After her talk there was time to socialise whilst enjoying a lovely supper including Roman specialities and recipes from Oakham W.I.s centenary cookbook. One person from each table was lucky enough to win the beautiful flower decorations and the raffle prizes included a necklace made by Jackie Cooper.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks for all the hard work put in by Oakham WI to make the evening so enjoyable. In return Maureen Jenkins, joint chair of Oakham W.I. thanked everyone for attending and helping the group celebrate it's centenary.