DEC 12, 2021
We welcomed Samantha White to our Christmas meeting, having met her often at our County Shows where should would demonstrate the art of scarf wearing! Her company, My Pink Angel, is a small and growing family business selling a variety of desirable collections. It was a fun evening with our ladies trying on various types of scarves and getting the hang of how to "schuzz" to make it look chic and trendy at the same time!!
This was our last meeting in 2021 and we're all relieved that most of our members have remained fit and well during the year.
Looking forward to healthy and happier 2022 for everyone at this wonderful W.I.
Let us all remain hopeful and optimistic for the future.
This was our last meeting in 2021 and we're all relieved that most of our members have remained fit and well during the year.
Looking forward to healthy and happier 2022 for everyone at this wonderful W.I.
Let us all remain hopeful and optimistic for the future.
!! DECEMBER !! NEWSLETTER
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NOV 9, 2021
Women in WWI with Graham Stirrup
Our fantastic speaker this evening, Graham Stirrup, has been speaking on cruise ships for many years and to many organisations ashore including guest appearances on Radio.
He began his career as an engineer in Britain’s once mighty coal mining industry and gained vast experience working both above and below ground. This allowed him to progress into Fuel Technology, becoming a member of the Institute of Energy. Ultimately he became Marketing Manager for the whole of the North West of England responsible for coal sales of over 1 million tonnes. The coal industry’s rich social history triggered a lifelong passion to explore and vividly illustrate how people from previous generations lived their daily lives.
He has a wide range of topics covering many interests, from the time of Greek mythology, onward through the Georgian and Victorian eras and into the 20th century revealing the vital role that women played in World War One. His most popular talks cover a relatively recent period on our history; the 1950s and 1960s and these talks take one back to a golden age of music and nostalgia.
He began his career as an engineer in Britain’s once mighty coal mining industry and gained vast experience working both above and below ground. This allowed him to progress into Fuel Technology, becoming a member of the Institute of Energy. Ultimately he became Marketing Manager for the whole of the North West of England responsible for coal sales of over 1 million tonnes. The coal industry’s rich social history triggered a lifelong passion to explore and vividly illustrate how people from previous generations lived their daily lives.
He has a wide range of topics covering many interests, from the time of Greek mythology, onward through the Georgian and Victorian eras and into the 20th century revealing the vital role that women played in World War One. His most popular talks cover a relatively recent period on our history; the 1950s and 1960s and these talks take one back to a golden age of music and nostalgia.
!! NOVEMBER !! NEWSLETTER
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OCT 12, 2021
Our 16th Birthday Celebrations and Storyteller Speaker
Our Storyteller this evening was Sue Allonby. Sue has had a lifelong love of traditional stories and tales, beginning with those told to her as a small child by her grandparents. She collects books of all kinds of stories, and of folklore and traditions, but prefers collecting aurally.She has worked as a teacher in Lancashire, in High Schools for nine years and in Primary Schools for thirteen years, and was a school librarian for eight years, during which time she developed a love of telling stories as well as reading them. A visit to the Scottish Storytelling Centre in 2008 led to her decision to devote more time to storytelling, and in 2010 she completed the “Now of Storytelling” thirteen week course at Emerson College, Sussex.
A wonderful selection of stories from Sue, followed by delicious birthday cake and bubbly to help us celebrate our 16th Birthday.
A wonderful selection of stories from Sue, followed by delicious birthday cake and bubbly to help us celebrate our 16th Birthday.
!! OCTOBER !! NEWSLETTER
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SEP 14, 2021
Our first meeting back together again!
A time to reflect and enjoy each others company. No speakers, no formality, just getting together, having a good time hearing about our members news of what's happened since we last met. Welcoming our new members from 2020 and 2021, and getting reacquainted. Our new location proved delightful, light and airy with plenty of room to all of us and tables too.
!! SEPTEMBER!! NEWSLETTER
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AUG 10, 2021
Burlesque, Me and the WI!!
We were fortunate to welcome a very funny, a little bit quirky, confident and knowledgeable speaker, Lindsey Barrell this evening. Lindsey has a wealth of knowledge which she is loves to share from her lived experience of teaching Burlesque to the WI and from her work in well-being She was a confident and humorous speaker who has been described as 'speaking from the heart'. After discovering a passion for Burlesque, Lindsey started teaching it as part of a WI sub group and her fabulous troupes can now be found entertaining the people of Essex and the Home Counties on a regular basis. From empty nest to huge success, and via dance classes and craft sessions, Lindsey took us all on a journey that a lot of us can relate to.
!! AUGUST !! NEWSLETTER
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JULY 13, 2021
Blessed are the Cheesemakers
To introduce our speaker, John Pearson has spent all his working life in the food Industry, primarily with Marks & Spencer. Since retiring in 2008 he has consulted for number of suppliers and retailers. He is an international cheese judge having travelled throughout Europe visiting dairies selecting dairy products for M & S. He also judges for Which Magazine. In 2011 he was appointed Cheese Personality of the Year by the British Cheese Board.
His talk today “Blessed are the Cheesemakers” described some of his encounters with suppliers and impossible customers.
Proceeds from the talk go to my friend David Dowdy who rears milking goats in Uganda and offers apprenticeships to local people.
His talk today “Blessed are the Cheesemakers” described some of his encounters with suppliers and impossible customers.
Proceeds from the talk go to my friend David Dowdy who rears milking goats in Uganda and offers apprenticeships to local people.
!! JULY !! NEWSLETTER
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JUNE 08, 2021
Tarot Cards, their history, artwork and uses
Our speaker, Inbaal Honigman, delighted the limited number of members at the meeting with the history of the Tarot Card. She explained that the first documented tarot packs were recorded in 1440 in Milan, Ferrara, Florence and Bologna when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. These new decks were called carte da trionfi, triumph cards, and the additional cards known simply as trionfi, which became "trumps" in English.
The earliest documentation of trionfi is found in a written statement in the court records of Florence, in 1440, regarding the transfer of two decks to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. Inbaal explained that because the earliest tarot cards were hand-painted, the number of the decks produced is thought to have been small. It was only after the invention of the printing press that mass production of cards became possible. The expansion of tarot outside of Italy, first to France and Switzerland, occurred during the Italian Wars. The most important tarot pattern used in these two countries was the Tarot of Marseilles of Milanese origin.
It was a fascintating insight into the history of the Tarot Card and it was delightful to hear Inbaal speak so passionately about a subject that has been part of her life for over 20 years.
The earliest documentation of trionfi is found in a written statement in the court records of Florence, in 1440, regarding the transfer of two decks to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. Inbaal explained that because the earliest tarot cards were hand-painted, the number of the decks produced is thought to have been small. It was only after the invention of the printing press that mass production of cards became possible. The expansion of tarot outside of Italy, first to France and Switzerland, occurred during the Italian Wars. The most important tarot pattern used in these two countries was the Tarot of Marseilles of Milanese origin.
It was a fascintating insight into the history of the Tarot Card and it was delightful to hear Inbaal speak so passionately about a subject that has been part of her life for over 20 years.
!! JUNE !! NEWSLETTER
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MAY 11, 2021
Spring into Action
We welcomed to our May Zoom Meeting, Jacqueline Iddon who gave us a splendid talk on her garden and her wonderful array of plants and sculptures. The garden is 1½ acres split into different areas, a hot Mediterranean garden with bottle wall and folly for sun loving plants and a walled garden. They have recently converted the Victorian fern house into an alpine house . There is a woodland walkway for shade loving plants and a large stream fed pond planted with a wide range of unusual foliage & flowering plants, alongside climbing roses, clematis, shrubs & herbaceous borders. In the garden there is a sculpture and a hardy plant nursery, with a wide selection of perennial plants of interest to the keen gardener & flower arranger. There is a large garden studio & conservatory with indoor seating as insurance against the weather!
If you would like to view the garden, find out details of visits or look at the plants, Jacquelines website is www.jacquelineiddon.co.uk. |
!! MAY !! NEWSLETTER
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WALKING 50 MILES IN MAY
Two of our intrepid members, Rita and Janet, are raising much needed funds for The Samaritans walking together for 50 miles in May and would be delighted if you would support them by sponsoring this much needed cause and/or joining them on some of their walks.
See below for how to donate: Bank transfers to the branch bank account using "BWF Samaritans walk" or something along those lines as a reference for income to be identified, details as follows: Account name: Blackpool Fylde and Wyre Samaritans Sort code: 40-12-13 Account number: 82198584 Cheques made payable to Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Samaritans and either left in Treasurer's locker or posted to 16, Edward Street, Blackpool FY1 1BA with a note accompanying cheque or a note on the envelope showing income relates to walk. |
Donations can be made via branch website (see below) by using the donate button. Anyone using this method needs to ensure they use the link shown or they may end up donating to central office in error. Please reference payment as "BWF Samaritans walk" to identify.
https://www.samaritans.org/branches/blackpool/ |
Thank you for your support and let's wish Rita and Janet good luck with our fingers crossed for excellent weather in May. |
APRIL 13, 2021
An Introduction to Astrology
Our speaker, this month, was Philip Heaton who has been studying astrology for thirty years, originally self -taught, discovering the passion he has held for this specialist subject from his mid- twenties. It was an interesting insight into the world of astrology although many of our members were somewhat sceptical particularly when the description of themselves was revealed - I am definitely not true to my star sign!
Sadly only a few members on our ZOOM call this month, we missed you. It was however, great to see some new faces who were on the call for the first time. Looking forward to catching up with everyone next month when we will be hearing from a wonderful gardener who was original booked for our first meeting at the White Church last May!
Sadly only a few members on our ZOOM call this month, we missed you. It was however, great to see some new faces who were on the call for the first time. Looking forward to catching up with everyone next month when we will be hearing from a wonderful gardener who was original booked for our first meeting at the White Church last May!
!! APRIL !! NEWSLETTER
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MARCH 29, 2021
Annual Council Meeting (on Zoom, sadly not all together in Southport)
With over 240 members from all over Lancashire, what a wonderful way to spend a Monday morning getting together to celebrate our fabulous Federation. Our speaker this year was Annabel Tiffin; she was delightful, funny, informative and so natural.
Hopefully, our next Council Meeting will be in March 2022 in Bolton, so watch this space for more information.
Hopefully, our next Council Meeting will be in March 2022 in Bolton, so watch this space for more information.
HOT POT NEWSLETTER
The MARCH/APRIL edition of our Hot Pot Newsletter - click here to view
MARCH 09, 2021
Marine Artworks by Gordon Fletcher
Gordon Fletcher is a sculptor who, after taking up scuba diving over 25 years ago, started to use underwater photography in his artworks. His earlier sculptures looked at the relationship between man-made structures and natural processes, and since beginning to explore UK seas his artworks have focussed on the marine environment, and in particular its biological and geological processes, and our own evolution.
Here are 2 examples of the work that Gordon has been working on, the set of pictures is called Listening Voices and the other called Intimate Views.
If you would like to see more of Gordons work go to http://gordonfletcher.info and there are many photos and lots of information on his work. |
!! MARCH !! NEWSLETTER
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FEBRUARY 09, 2021
Self Massage by Chris Briggs
During these strange and stressful times, we have all had to manage increased levels of anxiety and it's been especially difficult to get any pain relief through massage during the lockdown. Chris, a professional masseur, gave us some easy techniques that we can do for ourselves and our familities to help with pain relief, anxiety and stress. He showed us a number of different solutions working on our hands, our neck and shoulders and upper chest.
Chris has a web site https://www.massagechris.com/massagechris and also he has made a number of you tube videos to help us follow the moves. Click here for full details of the workship and all the You Tube video sites.
!! FEBRUARY !! NEWSLETTER
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JANUARY 12, 2021
Our first meeting of the New Year!
Our amazing inspirational speaker this month was Misba Khan (pictured right). She described herself as an ordinary mum turned Rambler, turned polar skier; a woman with such passion for breaking barriers and sterotypes, she recounted her incredible journey, with 10 other intrepid women of all ages, to the North Pole!!
The key success of the expedition was the ten fabulous team members. They were recruited via an online application process that was designed to be as open as possible, and the team were chosen from the nearly 1000 women that applied to be part of the project. Diverse in age, experience, background, culture, occupation, family and perspective, the intention was to create a truly representative group of women to take on the challenges of the Arctic together. The team included Misba Khan, our speaker who was at the time a 49-year-old finance manager and chaplain for Manchester in the UK. During two years of training and preparation the team completed two expeditions in Iceland and one in Oman. They finally departed for the Arctic Ocean on April 14th 2018 and reached the Geographic North Pole after seven days of skiing on 21st April 2018. On reaching the top of the world several team members became the first woman or the first person from their country to ski to the North Pole and Misba Khan became the first British Muslim woman to make the journey. This was an amazing evening, a speaker who was so inspirational and who, in her own words, is "ordinary". Not in any shape or form is she ordinary and her experiences over 12 years has created a new beginning for her community. |