In January we were treated to a demonstration by Rutland Willows of how they make Willow animals and sculptures. Whilst John introduced us to the numerous varieties of willow, their cultivation, colouring and harvesting, Martin very deftly created some wonderful sculptures plus giving us a useful tip on preserving them with spray on teak oil and, for the very conscientious, clear wood preserver. Many of the ladies present now want to go on one of the courses to learn how to make sculptures themselves. Light is an easy to read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
In January we were treated to a demonstration by Rutland Willows of how they make Willow animals and sculptures. Whilst John introduced us to the numerous varieties of willow, their cultivation, colouring and harvesting, Martin very deftly created some wonderful sculptures plus giving us a useful tip on preserving them with spray on teak oil and, for the very conscientious, clear wood preserver. Many of the ladies present now want to go on one of the courses to learn how to make sculptures themselves. Light is an easy to read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
In January we were treated to a demonstration by Rutland Willows of how they make Willow animals and sculptures. Whilst John introduced us to the numerous varieties of willow, their cultivation, colouring and harvesting, Martin very deftly created some wonderful sculptures plus giving us a useful tip on preserving them with spray on teak oil and, for the very conscientious, clear wood preserver. Many of the ladies present now want to go on one of the courses to learn how to make sculptures themselves. Light is an easy to read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
In January we were treated to a demonstration by Rutland Willows of how they make Willow animals and sculptures. Whilst John introduced us to the numerous varieties of willow, their cultivation, colouring and harvesting, Martin very deftly created some wonderful sculptures plus giving us a useful tip on preserving them with spray on teak oil and, for the very conscientious, clear wood preserver. Many of the ladies present now want to go on one of the courses to learn how to make sculptures themselves. Light is an easy to read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
We welcomed Richard Adams to our February meeting who many of us know as as a photographer from Oakham who produces the beautiful Rutland calendars.
Richard was keen to share his images and his presentation was nothing short of spectacular. He covered a wide range of subjects from flocks of Starlings over Barnsdale to beautiful Bluebell woods, and other beautiful pictures of Rutland in all seasons. All were set to music to make our evening with him extra special.
In March we enjoyed a talk from Dave Kellas who told us about how the magic circle was formed in Leicester and some of its history. He explained the audition process, illustrating his talk with magic displayed at the auditions. He also made some wonderful balloon sculptures which he kindly donated to our raffle.
In April we had a fascinating and highly amusing talk from Jill Collinge. She revealed some interesting facts about make up through the ages including the Romans importing Portuguese urine to clean their teeth with, pigeon droppings being used as a hair tonic and then today, Botox.
In April we had a fascinating and highly amusing talk from Jill Collinge. She revealed some interesting facts about make up through the ages including the Romans importing Portuguese urine to clean their teeth with, pigeon droppings being used as a hair tonic and then today, Botox.
In May we had a lively discussion about this years proposed resolutions.The W.I has led many successful campaigns over the years and this year looks at being no different.
We also enjoyed a quiz organised by our president Gillian Hestor
In June we were treated to an interesting talk about local history, Launde Abbey and Oliver Cromwell by Katie Bridger a PhD student in the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester. She bought the local history to life and made us all want to learn more.
For our July meeting we were entertained by Leo Sugden from Otters Fine Foods in Mill Street. http://www.ottersfinefoods.co.uk/ We heard about the history of the business and how his foods are sourced. We enjoyed some samples and all the ladies were able to easily taste the difference between supermarket Brie and the traditionally made Brie sourced from a small supplier in France. We also learned about the growing popularity of cheese wedding cakes and how each one is individually made to cater for the tastes of the bride and groom. A lovely afternoon.
In August we were treated to a demonstration of floristry from Vicki McDavid of the Paisley Flower Co www.paisleyflower.co.uk who provides floral arrangements for weddings and events. She used traditional English flowers to make two stunning arrangements representative of the type of work she produces for weddings. We were all impressed by the flowers she used and how easy she made it look to produce such attractive and natural arrangements.
Vicki also told us a little about her business which as well as bespoke floristry offers workshops for groups and hen parties.
We all had an enjoyable and informative afternoon.
Our October meeting took the form of a teddy bear's picnic with members bringing their own teddies, old and comparatively new. Penny Hodgson, a keen acrtophile (teddy bear collector) gave us a history of the teddy bear starting with Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear and a cartoon was published showing it. A toyshop then decided to ask Roosevelt to sell a bear called "Teddy" and the rest is history. Penny talked about some of the bears in her collection including a Steiff bear, a Paddington and several commemorative bears. We then had the opportunity to tell others about the history of our own bears before tea was enjoyed by all.
For our December meeting we enjoyed a lovely Christmas Lunch at the wonderful Barnsdale Lodge. We were greeted with mulled wine and Gillian, our president entertained us with a humorous song before we were served with our Christmas meal.
A good time of conversation and friendship was enjoyed by all
