7th January
Speaker - Pat Barrow & Jacui Bilsborough - Trials & Tribulations of Being a Wardrobe Mistress' Competition - Glamorous Accessory Pat and Jacui brought two racks of outfits from years of productions at the Green Room Theatre, Wilmslow. They were very inventive for some of the materials used to create medieval effects, some of which were so obscure nobody guessed them - bicycle inner tubes was one example along with garden netting spray- painted grey to produce very authentic looking chain mail. The Wardrobe Department work very hard for all the productions throughout the year, besides making the garments they had to source the materials from various stores, including garden centres. They had to think well outside the box. 24th February Speaker - Brian Greene - 'I Got Gershwin' Competition - Theatre Memorabilia Brian Greene again entertained us all with a history of George Gershwin, using pictures and archive film snippets. We were all singing along with some of his more famous songs such as 'I Got Rhythm', 'Swanee' and many more. We were all tapping our feet watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to his famous tunes. George Gershwin wrote great songs and shows for the theatre, but he always fancied himself as a serious composer. And he was - in fact, one of the 20th century’s greatest. 24th March Birthday Party with entertainment and Supper We had a fantastic potato pie supper. Beech Tree Catering did us proud once again and thanks go to them for their hard work. Our ladies enjoyed their social time so much (must have been the glass of sherry on arrival) we didn’t have time to play ‘stand-up bingo’. We ended the night with a piece of our special birthday cake, baked by Ann Stafford, and our free raffle. Our table decorations were ‘tete a tete bulbs from Holmes Chapel Flowers, and these were also raffled off. Also as part of our 85th celebration we presented each member with a NFWI Centenary Raffle ticket—good luck ladies. 28th April Speaker - Judith Popley - 'My Life at Granada Studios' Competition - A small item of Art Deco Memorabilia We were taken on a thoroughly enjoyable trip down memory lane by Judith Popley as she recounted her days spent at Granada Studios - the productions she worked on and the actors she worked with. With each slide we were reminded of our favourite television programmes and tried to recall the names of the actors. We were also reminded of the fashions of the 70's and there were several comments as we recalled items we had worn too. 26th May Resolutions Meeting Following the business and discussion on the resolution lead by the President, members enjoyed the social time which took the form of "Stand up Bingo". This resulted in lots of exercise and much laughter. A thoroughly enjoyable evening. 23rd June Speaker - David Greatorex - 'What's In A Name' Competition - Scrabblegram of 'Greatorex' David told us how he got into Genealogy when he was young, and explained that there were, over the years, over 40 ways to spell Greatorex. We had all given him our maiden names and he went through them all explaining where the names came from - some were biblical names, some derived from places, and some from professions. He was very enthusiastic and gave us some very funny stories on how some sayings came into being. 28th July Speaker - Susan Leicester - 'An Evening with Susan Grenfell' Competition - An Item of 50's Memorabilia Susan was an enigmatic speaker and gave us recitals and monologues of various types, all very funny and most WI, or women, related. Most were accompanied in a bit of dressing up for the part which made it even more amusing, we were treated to a bit of singing as well. All our ladies were kept entertained and enjoyed the whole evening. 25th August Speaker - Jill Cope - 'Holmes Chapel PCSO' Competition - Crime Prevention Tip Jill came dressed for the part and explained her role within the village as our Police Community Support Officer. She told us that the Cheshire Constabulary has restructured and she is now assigned to an Electoral Ward and this is Dane Valley and Brereton Rural so still looks after Holmes Chapel. One thing we did find amazing and that is she doesn't have a police vehicle to do her work and usually travels to and from work on public transport. Her role varies depending on the type of call she will receive, she could be the first to a road traffic incident or deal with anti-social behaviour, which she has adopted zero tolerance. Jill also holds beat meetings in the Library where you can ask her advice on all sorts of things. 22nd September Speaker - Judith Townsend - 'Bin Bag Baby' Competition - This is a group competition and is a tea pot Judith was an inspiring speaker, who explained how she was abandoned as a baby in a grain sack on a rubbish dump. She said she was blessed when the person who found her left her at a church. She was brought up in an orphanage and cared for by missionaries from Australia and New Zealand. This strong church upbringing shaped her life when she had to leave the orphanage and find a job when she wasn't qualified for anything. She then came to England and started a varied life over here. She was an eloquent and funny story teller and we all enjoyed it immensely. 27th October Speaker - Joan Colwell - 'Christmas Crackers' - cancelled Age UK (Cheshire East) stepped in at the last minute and went through all the different services they cover. They brought loads of brochures for us to take away and read and they also had us all doing chair exercises, some of which were not as easy as you might think. It certainly brought smiles throughout our members. Thanks ladies for stepping in at the last minute it was much appreciated. 24th November Annual General Meeting and Social Time 1st December Christmas Party Updated 28th October 2015 |