Reports
2023
February
Dr Ray Lowery entertained us at our February meeting. He told the story of his quest to find his place in the world from dreams of being a pilot to becoming a dentist and doctor. He told us many anecdotes of the famous people he wrote material for when he was younger, The two Ronnie's, Dave Allen, John Clease to name a few. Along the way he told jokes and shared funny clips from the media. The evening was light hearted full of laughter.
March Meeting
Andy Smith, Bird enthusiast based at and around Thornton reservoir.
Andy was very enthusiastic about his topic,so much so we didn't get our tea and cake until 10pm!
Andy introduced us to the area around Thornton. The reservoir is the oldest in Leicestershire dating from around 1876. Andy described the varied habitats ranging from fields to old woodlands(80 years old), to newer woods (20 years), to the tributaries feeding the lake. Andy has a licence to ring birds, and often gets information about where they have gone! He does annual counts of birds.
He then took us through the seasons starting in winter and showing us the birds he sees at the reservoir. He shared pictures of the birds he expects to see regularly and in large numbers Field Fares (like a large thrush) and the shy mistle thrush. Sand Martins many nesting in the manmade sand wall at Christine's farm.
Andy reports that he has seen his first Swallow of the year! Also the usuals that stay here year round.
Many wildfowl are just visiting on their migration north to breed. These include the Little grebe, great crested grebe and the black necked grebe which is quite rare. Some birds are declining as habitats change due to intensive farming, and climate change, but others are enjoying a resurgence.
Andy showed us pictures of a few more unusual visitors, spoonbill, cattle egret and night heron.
Did you know that our smallest bird is the gold crest weighing just 5g compared to the wren weighing in at 10g.
Andy expects to see around 200 birds species over the year, he mentioned of them during his talk but far too many for this report!
April meeting
was a demonstration from Shumaila who showed us how to make her favourite Chicken and chickpea curry. This is Shumaila's second visit to Sheepy WI and quite a few of our members have joined one of her cookery classes.
Some tips from Shumaila
Thigh leg meat on the bone more flavoursome than breast, ten minutes longer cooking time
Don't throw water from chickpea away you can use it later!
Prep first it is very important to have everything ready to use, this is the secret of a good curry!
Thinly the onions so they are all the same this ensures they cook evenly and don't burn.
Pink onions Sharmila favourite
Don't use red Spanish onions
Onions need to be golden before adding other ingredients. This is so they break down into the sauce and also give the curry colour
Cook just enough so that chicken is sealed but not cooked , and has turned white
When using chickpeas check to see if they are hard or soft, if hard cook for a short time to soften before adding to curry.
Should cook garlic off properly, you will know when the strong garlic smell has settled down
Bhun means cooking it off.
The aroma from the spices will indicate they have been cooked off (bhun)
Buhna means without water
Use fresh tomatoes, peel and liquidise
To convert to vegetarian, use baby potatoes or potatoes chopped into large chucks
Squashing some of the chickpea helps to thicken juices
Don't change quantities of dry ingredients
Add chickpea water to suit your preference
Cook the day before it absorbs flavours so it will taste much better chickpea will absorb all the water so you may need to add a little bit of water
You could chop up some spinach leaves and add to curry
Ginger right at end
May meeting
Bob and Del gave us food for thought at our May meeting.
Bob Started by reading out some items with costs from a ledger from his grandads shop in Wales in 1930s
When they cleared his house and shop they kept interesting items and now use them to provide an interesting evening for different groups.
Following Bobs introduction, 20 different items were passed around the room for teams to discuss potential uses and decide what they thought it could be. Some were fairly easy to work out others had us completely flummoxed! Two teams drew both getting 15/20.
This was a lovely evening which gave us the opportunity to chat as we tried to decide the functions of these objects.
June Meeting
Our June meeting saw us making our own pillow spray and room freshener!
Karina ( ablly assisted by her mom Vicky) treated us to an interesting evening, a mixture of information about aromatherapy and it’s history mixed with practical tasks meant the evening flew by.
We were tested on our sense of smell with a quiz where we had to identify 6 different essential oils. It has to be said the first two were very familiar lavender and orange, after that it got much harder and very few of us identified more that those two! This gave rise to much discussion and
Vicky needed to employ the gavel to get attention back to Karina on more than one occasion.
We made pillow sprays by adding equal amounts of water and alcohol to a spray bottle then, introducing essential oils. The room by the end of the evening definitely had an abundance of different aromas mixing together!
We also made a hanging room freshener by pouring wax into a mood, decorating it with petals, seed heads etc, then when set adding essential oils.
July Ashby Show
Another successful year at Ashby show for our clever, crafty ladies! One 1st and two 3rd places. Jo Burton got an outstanding for her red hat.
July meeting
Our annual picnic was under threat from the weather and contingency plans were put in place. However on the morning of the meeting the forecast improved and it was decided to brave the elements!
I understand the evening was a great sucess and members enjoyed trying Tai Chi.