Reports

2020

January has been a quiet month, following a very busy December. The committee held their first meeting of the new year, where we were already discussing what we would like to do for our Christmas meeting in 2020!!

Those members who were not at the christmas skittles were handed their programmes for 2020 – a varied calendar of events to look forward to. Thanks must go to Eileen for all her efforts in compiling the programme.

In January saw our members being shown the retro craft of Macrame – our guest displayed a number of articles she had produced including a piece that was an entry in a competion on Kirsty’s Handmade Christmas. We were than instructed on how to make a feather keyring.

Our February meeting on Thursday 27th is entitled Dough to Build a Bakery, and the competition is 3 Rock Cake

2019

Autumn has finally arrived – dark mornings and what seems to be even darker nights, but Botcheston WI continues to be a light on all our horizons.

Our October meeting was quite busy with the culmination of a couple of competitions and the AGM.

The AGM passed smoothly with the current committee being re-elected and three new faces also being elected to the committee (Pat Barnes as Assistant Secretary and Monica Norton and Sheila Flatt) to spread the work-load and nurture for the future!

The result that everyone had been waiting for was also announced, having been delayed from September meeting, the annual (well in its second year) potato growing competition. In the spring each member is given one seed potatoe to set and then watch, water, talk nicely to and do whatever they can to grow as many potatoes as they can, and the results were as follows:

First Janet Ireland with a whopping 4lb 13oz Second Margaret with 3lb 12oz Third Sheila with 3lb 11oz

The second competition to reach its climax was the recycle a garment competition. This involved a member taking a garment and upcyling into either another garment or other item. The garment had to be photographed in its original state and then a brief summary made of the process, then the new item displayed, although only three items were submitted the ingenuity and quality of work in all three was high. The items were judged by our guest speaker this month. The entries included a dolly’s cape knitted from a bin liner, fingerless gloves and hat from an old cashmere jumber and the winner was Christine F who made an apron from a pair of trousers.

Our guest speaker this month was from the Desford Tapestry. Janet O’Donovan explained the origins of the mamouth task involved in making this creative master piece that is will be made up of three panels, each panel has one centre piece, surrounded by panels approximately 12 inches square, all depicting the diverse aspects of Desford life including its mining heritage and the Tropical Bird Garden. The task is well underway but will not be finished for quite a while, when completed it will not remain in one place, but will move around to different venues to enable as many people to see it as possible.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday 28 November when we will be having a craft session to make a brooch. If you would like more information on Botcheston WI you are most welcome to come as a guest to one our our meetings (last Thursday of the month in Botcheston Village Hall, or contact our secretary on 01455 821228 for more information).