Wycombe Wenches has continued to grow, with several new members joining us over the past few months. The Culture Club held several trips out – to Cineworld to see Andrea Bocelli, to see a local amateur performance of “Blue Stockings”, in which the President had a role, and to Aylesbury to see “The Nutcracker” with Carlos Agosta. The Garden Wanderers group has visited a variety of gardens and garden centres over the autumn, and held a Christmas wreath-making workshop. The Film Club has met regularly to talk about ”The Extraordinary Life of Alric Cross“, “The Phantom of the Open”, and finishing with “Lost at Christmas”. Bookworms meet monthly at Hughenden Community Café for a lunch, and chat about the month’s chosen book, which have included “Small Island”, “The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir” and “Why Mummy Drinks At Christmas”. The Walking Group have had some lovely walks, and the Monday morning Coffee and Chat has met once a month for – coffee and chat! Winers and Diners resumed their meals out, with a visit to “Kappad” and “Cote” in Marlow.
It has been our usual programme of activities over the Autumn. October saw our annual General Meeting, when the current committee were returned to continue the organisation. After the meeting, a quiz was held which everyone enjoyed. November is our Christmas craft month, and members had a lovely evening exploring the art of silk painting, with everyone leaving with a hand painted Christmas card to use. There was also birthday cake, as November celebrated our 13th birthday. In December we had our Christmas party, which had a food and drink theme – members were asked to taste 3 varieties of 6 different Christmas treats – mince pies, chocolates, quiche, sausage rolls, crisps and of course, a fizzy wine, and rank them in order of price. There was the Christmas raffle of several baskets of Christmas goodies.
Outside of our monthly meetings, we also enjoyed a visit to Birmingham’s German Christmas Market, with a group of use travelling there by train. In October we held our annual Special Afternoon Tea, when we celebrate anyone with a birthday with a ‘0’ in it this year. There was only one this time, and she received a posy of flowers created by one of our members. The year finished with our Christmas meal, held at The Spindle and Thread.
Autumn also saw the relaunch of the Resilience Group, to be on hand to assist with any local emergency events, and once again we decorated a tree for the All Saints Christmas Tree Festival, on the theme of “Angels”.
If you are interested in joining our friendly group, please contact us via the email address below. We meet on the second Wednesday of each month, at the Cricket Club on London Road, High Wycombe, at 7.30pm.
Best wishes
Diane Haylor, President wycombewencheswi@hotmail.co.uk
TERRIERS EVENING WI
After our summer break, we had a high attendance at our September meeting, we also welcomed visitors and guests who we hope will join us.
After catching up on WI news and events, our speaker David Gantzel spoke to us on the life of Charles Dickens. David has a vast knowledge on the life and times of one of our best-known authors. Born in Portsmouth in 1812, Dickens’s own life was just as colourful as many of his characters. He travelled to Italy, Switzerland, North America, and Canada. Many of Dickens’s characters were inspired from people who he had met as a child as well as an adult.
For our October meeting Geoff Pegg from The Crime Prevention and Neighbourhood Watch Team. Spoke to us on how to protect ourselves and our homes, during the dark winter evenings. There are simple and effective things we can all do to keep safe. He also gave us examples of scams that can look and sound genuine, they could be phone calls, texts or emails asking for personal information or our bank details. Everyone has encountered someone trying to scam them, and we all need to be vigilant and to stop and think, but scammers are always looking for new and convincing ways to scam us, Geoff gave out pamphlets and information cards on how to report crimes and prevent being scammed.
At the end of October our President held a coffee morning at her home in Terriers. We all enjoyed a relaxing morning.
In November Angela Hougham spoke to us on how she was inspired to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, a charity that urgently needs more funding, due to an increase of cases in the younger generation as well as the older members of the community. Angela decided to walk the British Coastal Path. Unfortunately, the Covid lock downs prevented her from keeping to the original plans, but in 2021 she managed to complete her challenge, at the end of her walk she had walked 2,500 miles and raised over £70,000. Angela is still raising money and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Society. And has won the BBC Three Counties Radio Fund Raising Award
You can visit Angela’s Website and follow her journey https://angelasjourney.org.uk
Future Meetings
2nd January – Decluttering by-Vickie Farrell 6th February – Seated Yoga by Jo Clarke
6th March – AGM and Quiz 3rd April –Food Glorious Food by Dr Jill Ayers
Visitors and new members are warmly welcomed and invited to join us 10.30 am Cedar Barn, Barn Lane, Hazelmere HP15 7BQ on the first Thursday of every month except August, plenty of on-site parking. More information on http://www.terrierswi.org.uk