RECORDS of MONTHLY MEETINGS
RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 19th JANUARY 2026
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2026.
Jennie Palin introduced 10 visitors from our waiting list.
Jane gave out details of two theatre trips, which members could sign up for. The first is ‘Sister Act’ at Wilmslow Leisure Centre on March 17th, the second is the Brookdale production of ‘The Producers’ on April 24th.
SPEAKER
Sir Professor Anthony Redmond is the founder of UK Med, a humanitarian medical aid charity. Since the 1970’s, when they were first established as the SMART team (South Manchester Accident Rescue Team), through their transition to UK Med, they have provided expertise and assistance in areas around the world impacted by disasters, conflict and crisis.
Tony outlined the preparation and good practice needed to provide the appropriate support in these areas – not always what we would first imagine to be required. His accounts of his first-hand experiences and how he has personally been affected by his work, made a deep impression on the audience. Many members bought a copy of his book, which he sells to raise funds for UK Med.
AFTER THE BREAK
The President read out a letter of thanks from the team at CAFT, to recognise the many selection boxes that members had donated before Christmas. They included some photographs of children and families enjoying festive visits, which will be included in a future edition of Fulshaw Focus.
Anne Thompson gave details of the fundraiser for Francis House – knitting Easter chicks, which contain a Crème Egg – and invited members to join her on Monday 23rd February to help with preparation of the chicks for sale before Easter.
Cathy Hessner explained about WI subscription, which falls due by the end of March, and which this year will be £52. She urged members to pay by BACS transfer if possible.
During the break, members had voted on the five resolutions put forward for consideration this year. The results were as follows:
Four winners were drawn in the Raffle.
Jane Holland closed the meeting with a (now) humorous article about how housewives should prepare for the return home of their husbands from work!
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th OCTOBER 2025
WELCOME
Jane Holland, President, welcomed members and thanked them all for wearing pink to mark Breast Cancer Awareness week. Fire evacuation procedures were announced and then Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list. She also welcomed two committee members from the newly formed Cheadle Hulme WI.
Jane announced the final sum raised for our nominated charity Smartworks. Our monthly meeting raffle, the Strawberry Afternoon Tea and matched funding have all added up to a total of £2114. A grand achievement!!
CFWI has launched a photograph competition to mark their 105th anniversary. Fulshaw will submit a group photo of members at the afternoon tea.
Jane welcomed the speaker Hilary McCumisky who had run the costume department of the Northern Ballet.
SPEAKER
Hilary had brought a stunning display of ballet costumes she had made and photographs of dancers wearing her work. Her talk gave us great insight into the behind-the-scenes ballet world. This included amusing stories about the twin tub washing machine used in the relentless washing cycle, the way ballet shoes are made to measure and then brutally customised by the dancers before they wear them and then finishing with tales of the care Rudolph Nureyev demanded when dancing Swan Lake with the Northern Ballet Company at the Manchester Palace Theatre.
An excellent speaker!
AFTER THE BREAK
If you have paid for your Xmas Party ticket but not indicated your menu choices, please email them to [email protected].
The Lou Gardiner Craft competition this year is to design a logo for Fulshaw WI.
Four raffle winners were drawn.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th SEPTEMBER 2025
WELCOME
President, Jane Holland, welcomed members back from the summer break and reminded them of the fire evacuation procedure. Jane welcomed a visitor from our waiting list and then went on to thank everyone for their contributions that made the Afternoon Strawberry Tea such a success. With contributions from the monthly raffle and some generous cake bakers the event raised over £1000. Matched funding is available in October so we will have raised over £2000 for our chosen charity Smartworks. A final thank you goes to husband Maurice Palin who manned the carpark for three hours in very wet weather!
If anyone would like a stall at the makers market at our November meeting please let Jane know.
At the October and November meetings we will be collecting items for the hampers at the Xmas party and selection boxes for CAFT.
SPEAKER
Our speaker, Jayne Stubbs, was a fascinating woman. In her 50s she took a flight in a 2-seaterairplane at Duxford Air Show and was hooked on the idea of learning to fly. She took us through the ups and downs of her journey to ‘get her wings’. She was an excellent role model and taught us that you are never too old to learn new skills.
AFTER THE BREAK
Fulshaw WI member, Helen Battilana, is also a volunteer with the Lindow Moss partnership and had bought leaflets about the newly launched, 7.5 mile loop walk across the Moss.
For those going to the NECG Autumn meeting please note that you should not arrive before 7pm for 7.30pm start, the front rows are for members who are hard of hearing and please bring your own mug.
The raffle was drawn.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21st JULY 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland opened the meeting, welcomed members and explained the fire procedure. Jennie Palin welcomed seven visitors from our waiting list and a member’s friend visiting from Australia.
NOTICES
Jennie gave out details of the October NECG meeting, Housewives at War.
Jane read a letter from Shelly, Judy Gardiner’s mum thanking us for the warmth and support given to Judy at our meetings. Also, a letter from Tameside Hospital thanking us for knitting hats for their premature babies.
Jane informed us of the sad news that Pat Langan’s husband Kevin has passed away.
We were encouraged to look at the outstanding display of Needlepoint work. This was created by Pat Pinnock’s mum who had been a member of Styal and Dean Row WI.
Jane promoted Donna’s trip to Shrewsbury and the Afternoon Tea, our charity fundraiser.
Jane Rawlings is standing down from the committee in November and will no longer be producing our newsletter, Focus. Jane appealed for someone with IT skills to come forward to help, training will be given.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Helen Selwood. Helen was taught to sew by her Nanna and began by making clothes for family, friends and a local boutique. She shared amusing insights into her training and career as a 1970s fashion designer. It turns out you don’t have to be able to draw to design clothes. She showed us some of her charity shop finds and the tweeds she had purchased in Scotland. Some of the designer bargains were passed around the members. Barbara Berry gave the Vote of Thanks.
AFTER THE BREAK
During the break members had voted for their favourite “Charade in Flowers” and tried to guess the titles. Congratulations to Alison Hampson who guessed 10 of the 25 titles and to Gail Jackson, her Treasure Island was voted the best display. A successful competition.
Alison Hampson, Sarah Cooke, Helen Lederer and Jennie Palin won prizes in the raffle.
Jane Holland closed the meeting with an amusing tale of a friend and her shopping habits.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16TH JUNE 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed 68 members and reminded everyone about the fire evacuation procedures.
Jane has volunteered her house as the venue for a ‘Strawberry and Cream Tea’, to be held on Thursday 4th September 2025, as a fundraising event for this year’s charity, Smart Works. She asked members to visit the events table at the break to sign up if they would be interested in attending.
Jennie Palin introduced 5 visitors.
SPEAKER
Jane introduced the speaker, Colin Alderson, who had worked for many years as a pastry chef for the Royal Family. Colin gave us a fascinating account of how he had started life on a remote farm in the Yorkshire Dales, before training at Catering College and securing a job at Buckingham Palace. His tales of work and life in all the Palaces – accompanied by photos of delicious dishes he had served, kept us all royally entertained.
Barbara Berry gave the Vote of Thanks.
AFTER THE BREAK
Jane gave further details of the September Strawberry and Cream Event, and asked for donations of raffle prizes.
The Refreshment Team from tonight’s meeting had volunteered to donate their voucher money to the Smart Works charity.
Because of the September event, the trip to Hardwick Hall has been postponed
Names are being collected for anyone interested in a trip to the Lowry theatre, to see ‘Death on the Nile’. This would be a matinee performance on Saturday 4th October 2025.
Jane had spoken to local WI advisors about our very long waiting list and as a result, had contacted all those on the list about the possibility of a ‘Fulshaw 2’ branch. Whilst there had been some interest, no-one had yet come forward to offer to be President!
Cathy Wallace provided details of the next Transition Wilmslow Repair Café, to be held at St Chad’s in Handforth on July 5th, 10am – 1pm. They urgently need more people to volunteer their repair skills. Transition Wilmslow will have a stall at the Wilmslow Artisan Market on Saturday 21st June, where people could offer help or get more information.
Anne-Marie is hosting a Craft session on 27th October 2025, from 10.30am to 1pm. The cost is £10; there are still a couple of spaces available.
The July competition – A Charade in Flowers. Jane explained how the competition would work
• A display of flowers/plants to represent the title, as in charades, with the name of the book/song/film/Tv programme in a sealed envelope
• Members would guess the titles
• There would be two prizes – one for the best display, one for the most correct guesses.Next month’s speaker is Helen Selwood, talking about life as a fashion designer. She has suggested it might be fun if members would like to come wearing some vintage items, or bring something along to show.
Our book swap is a popular feature at meetings. The committee are looking for volunteers to bring the books and look after them until the next meeting. This could be done on a rota basis.
Wendy Morris, Alia and Jane Holland had spent a day – through Zoom – at the Annual Meeting of the WI, held in London. Wendy and Jane were delegates and Wendy gave members a report of proceedings and outcomes. There was overwhelming support for this year’s resolution ‘Bystanders can be Lifesavers’ with 97.7% of the vote in favour. Next year’s meeting will again be virtual, and Wendy and Jane encouraged members to take part.
Raffle winners were Susan Handley, Pat Kelsey, Nicola Coleman and Elaine Ockleton.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 14th APRIL 2025
WELCOME
Jane Holland, President, welcomed members, went through the fire evacuation procedures and asked anyone who does not want to appear in our social media postings to speak to Wendy Morris.
The top 4 women on our waiting list have accepted an invitation to become members of Fulshaw WI.
Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list.
Amanda announced that there are still tickets available for the NECG Spring meeting 29th April, Poynton Civic Centre.
The NECG summer outing is on Wednesday18th June to Bradford, City of Culture. Cost £14.50.
Transition Wilmslow are running a swishing stall at the Wilmslow Artisan Market on Saturday19th April.
SPEAKERS
Smart Works is a charity based in Stockport who support women in the interview process to get into work. They are the chosen charity for Fulshaw WI to support for 2025/26. Liz, a volunteer for the charity, explained how she works with clients to give them a suitable outfit to wear for their interview and the charity also gives them one to one coaching on interview techniques. After receiving this help a high percentage of women are successful in securing a job.
Caroline came to tell us about the charity Medical Detection dogs. Dogs, with their amazing sense of smell, can be trained to indicate the presence of certain diseases or to warn patients of imminent seizures or episodes. Fulshaw members were so impressed with the work of the charity they donated over £200 to help the work continue.
AFTER THE BREAK
The results of the voting for the 9 entries in this year’s Lou Gardiner Craft Award were as follows:1st Jennie Palin
2nd Benita Kassas
3rd Cherry Dolden
Four winners were drawn for the raffle.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th MARCH 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed everyone and reminded them of the fire evacuation procedures.
Jennie Palin welcomed 6 guests from our waiting list. She also mentioned that the garden rota was available for members to sign up. The WI garden bed is on the corner of Moor Lane and Arlington Way.
Jane reported that 89 members have so far renewed their WI annual subscription. There will be no further reminders that payment is due by 26th March.
Jane reported that an excellent “Platinum Day Out” to Prescot had been enjoyed by 11 WI members on 12th March. Fiona Matthewson had organised an excellent itinerary which included a tour of the town centre, another of the Shakespeare North Theatre, lunch and a riotous matinee performance of Loves Labours Lost.
There are details of 2 CFWI events, Inspiring Women zoom and a day out to Hydro Electric plant at Holmes Chapel, at the events desk.
Anne Cichoki has a couple of gaps on the refreshment rota and would like a couple of volunteers who are prepared to stand in at short notice.
SPEAKER
Gina Kirkham is a successful author and came to our attention when the Fulshaw Book Club read her novel “Murders at the Winterbottom Women’s Institute”.
She was a highly entertaining speaker who told us of her life as a single parent, her work as a policewoman and her family experiences that had influenced many of her books. The audience could relate to much of what she said, including the fear of being caught in shoddy underwear should you be involved in an accident!!!
AFTER THE BREAK
The President reported that Fulshaw had raised additional funds for the charity Peaches during 2024/25 and for Lindow Moss.
£184 was raised for Peaches by WI member Sandra Holmes selling her jewellery and donating the takings.
On behalf of Transition Wilmslow, Helen Battilana thanked Fulshaw for the £350 for Lindow Moss and explained it would be used to help fund the printing of a leaflet to publicise a second, 7.5 mile, marked trail around the Moss to be launched in September.
Helen also thanked WI members for the cakes they had made for Wilmslow Wells for Africa Souperday. They contributed to the £1500 made for the charity.
Smart Works is the charity that has been chosen for Fulshaw to support during 2025/26. They are based in Stockport and support women wanting to return to work. A representative will tell us more at our next meeting.
Four winners were drawn in the raffle ????, Liz Burr, Rosemary Bradley and Katie Hatton.
Throughout 2025/26, 50% of the raffle profit each month will be donated to Smart Works.
A large number of unwanted spectacles and some beautiful prem baby hats were donated by members at the meeting. _________________________________________________________________________________________
RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed everyone and went through the fire evacuation procedure.
Jennie Palin welcomed 9 guests from our waiting list.
Jane explained that the guests were very keen to join Fulshaw WI so members need to pay their subscription fee of £51 by 26th March to ensure their place.
Details of the Cheshire Federation Task Mistress Challenge, Friday 11th April 2025, 6.30- 9.pm at WI House, Chester. Need to sign up tonight.
The charity “Wilmslow Wells for Africa” is organising a fundraising Souperday on Saturday 8th March. You can support them by coming along and/or signing up to bake a cake. Sign up sheet with Helen Battilana in the foyer during coffee break.
By Royal Appointment (a play about the Queen and her dresser) is at the Lowry Theatre in August. We will be booking tickets for the matinee on 7th August. Please sign up at the events desk if you are interested.
A grand day out is on offer on 12th March, £50. Pay at events desk. To include:-
SPEAKER
Jane Allison originally trained as an English teacher but decided to retrain at Reaseheath College to become a garden designer. Her illustrated talk was simple, informative and inspiring. It is amazing what can be done to a garden by a trained designer and what a diverse garden can do to support wildlife.
AFTER THE BREAK
Fulshaw WI member Pauline Handley gave a very informative talk about her work as a Climate Ambassador. She works with fellow member Diane Atkinson.
She originally signed up for Ambassador training after listening to a Greta Thunberg TED talk.
Pauline advocates that any small steps we take to protect the environment, (Electric cars, solar panels, reduce-reuse-recycle, walk and cycle) are worthwhile.
NFWI resolutions are often linked to climate protection and have influenced national legislation (Litter campaign and micro plastics).
The raffle winners were Julia Parr, Dot Bracegirdle, Jennie Palin and Jan Murray.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th JANUARY 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed the speaker John Stirling, who had agreed to stand in at short notice, because the scheduled speaker could not attend due to his wife’s ill health.
Jane Holland wished everyone a Happy New Year and reported how successful the Christmas Party had been with Elvis inspired entertainment.
Jennie Palin welcomed 5 visitors from our waiting list.
Jane Holland gave brief details of the resolutions published by NFWI and encouraged members to vote for their preference during the coffee break.
SPEAKER
John Stirling first spoke to Fulshaw WI in 2019 and he was just as entertaining this time.
He started acting at 7 years of age as Noddy in the West End. He had regular parts in BBC dramas such as Dixon of Dock Green before becoming a producer and director most notably for Morecombe and Wise. A chance encounter saw him and his wife set up a donkey sanctuary which they still support today.
AFTER THE BREAK
Lucy announced the results of the resolution voting
Raffle winners were Heather Christiansen, Alison Boddington, Morag Briscoe and Janet Saxton.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the Fulshaw WI AGM. She also
welcomed Angela Britland (WI Advisor) and Linda Mc Dowell, who are from The
Heatons WI and were attending as tellers for the President elections.
Jane explained that the heating in the church was not working so portable heaters
had been provided. Please take care to avoid the cables.
MEETING
Val Drake, treasurer, delivered the finance report which included details of the
changes she had made during her time in office. The annual finance report was
proposed by Val and seconded by Jennie Palin.
Julia Parr, secretary, gave the annual report of activities that Fulshaw WI had
organised. Specific information was also provided as follows:-
* Flickers Film Group Wendy Morris
* Art Appreciation Benita Kasass
* Book Club Moira Rainer
* Wine Appreciation Helen Hosker
These groups communicate through WhatsApp so if anyone wishes to join they should
speak to a member of the committee.
The secretary’s annual report was proposed by Jane Rawlings and adopted by a
show of hands.
Jane Rawlings spoke about her time as President and thanked committee members
and members for their support. 3 committee members are retiring. Dee Waugh (after
15 years) Val Drake and Wendy Taylor. Jane made a presentation to them and
thanked them for all their hard work.
Jane invited all the committee members to come forward and introduce themselves.
Members received a voting slip to nominate which committee member they would like as President. During the coffee break the tellers counted the votes.
Over coffee members were invited to
* Vote for their favourite savoury dip
* Check out the book swap collection
* Pay for the Xmas party
* Check out the member stalls run by Dee, Julia, Grace and Sandra Holmes.
* Enjoy a drink and a piece of cake
AFTER THE BREAK
Angela Britland announced that Jane Holland had been selected as President. Jane
R gave gifts to the tellers and thanked them for attending.
Jane Holland announced her acceptance of the post and explained that she would
like to operate in a slightly different style to Jane R. She will continue to work as
Speaker Secretary (with Carolynne’s help) and Jane R has agreed to preparing the newsletter Focus.
Jane Holland thanked Jane Rawlings for her commitment to the WI and all her hard
work. Jane H made a presentation to Jane R.
Members enjoyed hearing about treasured items
* Katie Hatton, college scarf
* Alison Hampson, mother’s powder compact
* Jennie Palin, her first doll Sambo
* Carolynne Powell, 5 books that belonged to 5 generations of her family
* Barbara Berry, Peter the Panda and 2 rings made from jewellery belonging to
her mother and her aunt.
* Jane Holland, a story about the Eastbourne lifeboat called the “Jane Holland”.
Dee issued Sainsbury’s vouchers to members who had done tea and coffee duty
during the past year.
Jennie Palin announced the winners of the savoury dip competition
* 3rd Helen Battilana
* 2nd Anne Cichoki
* 1st Amanda Stevens
Raffle prizes were won by Mary Beckett (plant), Katie Hatton, Diana Boswell and
Morag Briscoe.
Jane R closed the meeting, reminding members that the Christmas party will be held
at the United Reformed Church from 7pm on Monday 9th December.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21st OCTOBER 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting, welcomed members and announced H&S advice regarding fire procedures. She thanked members for their hamper donations.
Jane mentioned that there was a card for members to sign and a donation box at the back of the room in memory of WI member Emma Smallwood.
Jennie Palin welcomed 5 visitors from our mailing list. She also thanked all members who supported the CAFT Christmas selection box appeal.
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Deborah Cox.
SPEAKER
Deborah Cox is a recently retired primary school teacher whose number one passion in life is baking.
She has applied, unsuccessfully, 11 times to be on the Great British Bake Off. She has reached the final stages of selection several times which is an achievement, given there are 70,000 applicants every year. She entertained the audience with behind-the-scenes tales from the show.
Deborah’s passion for baking led her to support a charity that bakes birthday cakes for children who otherwise would not get one.
Deborah also competes in the baking competitions at country shows, often against her sister.
Deborah’s talk was not only highly entertaining but delicious too! She came with a wide range of samples for us to taste including the chocolate mint biscuits that Prue Leith had set as the technical challenge recently on Bake Off. Links to the recipes are attached.
AFTER THE BREAK
There are spare places for the next wine tasting evening on Tuesday 19th November.
Rosie Reid gave details of the Thai and Italian cooking courses she attended at the Wilmslow Cookery School using her WI Bursary.
Anne Cichocki gave details of the 24 years she has volunteered at the Lowry Theatre. She loves it!
Jane Holland reminded members to bring a treasure to the annual meeting in November.
Raffle winners were Moira Rayner, Jackie Wortley (plant), Helen Battilana and Ann Cichocki
Jane thanked the committee and all the members who had helped to run the meeting.
What I’ve made for you today..
Howard’s Hardly Lardy Cake (substitute 150g cooled melted white chocolate for the lamination and use butter for lard in the dough:https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/paul-hollywoods-lardy-cake/)
Best Ever Brownie (GF) (Gluten-free brownies recipe | Good Food)
Cinnamon Apple Tray Bake (4 egg Victoria Sponge tray bake, add 1 – 2 tsp cinnamon and 150 -200g of diced apple)
Peanut Butter Blondie (Vegan) (https://godairyfree.org/recipes/sweet-sundays-vegan-peanut-butter-blondies)
Prue’s Chocolate Mint Biscuits (https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/prue-leiths-mint-chocolate-biscuits/)
5 Spice Gingerbread with Aqua Faba Royal Icing (Vegan) (add ½ to 1 tsp of 5 Spice for every tbs ginger in your favourite gingerbread recipe e.g. https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/gingerbread-house/)
Malted Caramel Brazil Nut Crunch Bar (add 15g Ovaltine and 25g of malt extract to caramel made with150g sugar. Add Ovaltine to a milk chocolate ganache. Substitute ½ cup of roast, ground Brazil nuts for flour in this recipe: https://oliviaskitchen.com/brown-butter-shortbread-cookies/)
Malted Caramel Brazil Nut Tray Bake (crumble extra Browned Butter Brazil Shortbread into a Victoria Sponge mix made with light brown sugar, add extra caramel to a vanilla buttercream)
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16th SEPTEMBER 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting, welcomed members and announced H & S advice regarding fire procedures and limited access to the rest of the building.
She also noted the 109th birthday of the WI.
With regret Jane announced that Emma Smallwood, an active and enthusiastic member of Fulshaw WI, had died on Sunday after being knocked off her bicycle. The meeting held a one minute silence to remember Emma.
Jennie Palin pointed out that the partly completed Fulshaw WI cloth was on display on the table and it included Emma’s prize winning contribution.
Jennie welcomed visitors from our waiting list and a visiting sister-in-law of one of the members. She also thanked all members who supported the CAFT fund raising “Open Gardens” which raised £820.50.
The NECG Autumn meeting is Tuesday 15th October at Poynton Civic Hall. The speaker is Kerry Daynes. A volunteer Fulshaw WI member attending the meeting is asked to sell raffle tickets.
Wendy Morris gave details of the Cheshire Federation Autumn General meeting 10am - 3.30pm on Wednesday 13th November, ticket price £15. Car share or travel by train.
Jane Holland paid a personal tribute to Emma before introducing the speaker Rosie Lee, The Reluctant Shepherdess. SPEAKER
Rosie came from a farming background. Her parents ran a dairy farm but she left to pursue a career with Barclays Bank. After a career break to have children, she joined her mother to run the farm. She reskilled by studying at Rease Heath College, converted from dairy to sheep and took on environmental stewardship as well as a wider educational role. She gave a lively and informative presentation about the highs and lows of farming today.
During the refreshment break a swishing event was enjoyed by all. Members brought and swapped handbags, jewellery and scarves.
AFTER THE BREAK
Announcements were made about Legally Blonde 19 November, Les Mis (Tempo) 20 March 2025 and Shrigley Hall 1pm 26 November. Book at events table, pay after 1st October.
Barbara and Jacquie are organising MacMillan coffee morning on 20th September, 76 Patch Lane. 10.30am or 2pm. All welcome.
Raffle winners were Diane Boswell, Linda Prinsloo (plant), Pat Pinnock and Gill Pearson. Jane thanked the committee and all the members who had helped to run the meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th JULY 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting, welcomed members and announced H & S advice regarding fire procedures and trip hazards.
Jennie Palin welcomed five visitors from our waiting list.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Mike Llewellin. He entertained the audience with quick witted stories about the long running TV drama “Coronation Street”. Mike’s talk explained that Granada Television was the first commercial TV station in the NW of England and Coronation Street was their creation. Originally it was only to run for 13 episodes!!
Jennie Palin and Amanda Stevens gave details of their forthcoming charity fund raising event on Saturday 27th July Irene Nottingham gave details of a taster afternoon on 11th or 18th September at Wilmslow Crown Green Bowling Club.
AFTER THE BREAK
Jane Holland spoke about the AM in November when members would vote for their new committee. Three key committee members will be standing down and Fulshaw WI will need to appoint replacements. Jane Rawlings (President), Val Drake (Treasurer) and Dee Waugh (all things edible) each spoke about their roles. If members were considering standing, they should realise that the split of responsibilities among committee members can be adjusted to reflect personal skill sets, time available etc.
During the break members had voted for their favourite “potted plant”. There was a fascinating range of entries. The winners were Jane Rawlings, Jane Holland and Christa Rodwell.
Four winners were drawn in the raffle. The winners were Barbara Death, Anne Kerr, Pat Kelcey and Nicola Coleman.
Jane thanked all members who had helped to organise the meeting and informed everyone present that there would be no meeting in August.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th JUNE 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting and welcomed guests from our waiting list.
A test fire evacuation was carried out and everyone assembled in front of the barbers opposite the church.
Lessons learnt that need to be included in the meeting risk assessment
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Angela Oldman. Angela had worked for beauty and perfume houses such as Elizabeth Arden and Estee Lauder and as a sales representative in the cosmetics department at Kendal’s.
Her talk was very entertaining. Perfumed products have been used by people ever since 2500 BC. Egyptians and Romans used them often in many ways. Angela then went on to describe the wide range of perfumes available today, how it can take 7 years to develop a new one and layering (using the full range of scented products) is the best way to make an impact with your scent.
AFTER THE BREAK
The Lou Gardiner Craft award was presented by Judy Gardiner (Lou’s mum) to winner Cherry Dolden. Cherry’s “Book Club” square for the Fulshaw WI tablecloth was voted the overall winner by members at the April meeting.
Pat Pinnock updated the members on her campaign to get Cheshire East to repair the potholes on Chapel Lane. Cheshire East have met with Pat and promised some action. Pat will keep members updated.
Jane Rawlings thanked members for their dental donations which will be given to Bare Necessities for distribution, for the neonatal knitted hats and the contributions to the magazine swap.
Four winners were drawn in the raffle, the winners were Sandra Holmes, Diana Boswell, Helen Lederer and Emma Smallwood. Jane thanked all members who had helped to organise the meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th MAY 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting and Jennie Palin welcomed new and returning visitors. Julia Parr gave details of a knitting pattern, that will be circulated with Fulshaw Focus, for premature baby hats. They will be distributed to baby units in local hospitals.
Lucy Simmons directed members through 2 votes ready for the NFWI AGM. The meeting voted in favour of Dental Health Matters resolution (1 vote against, no abstentions) and also voted in favour of allowing our delegate to agree to minor changes to the wording made at conference (no votes against, no abstentions). Fulshaw WI will have a collection of dental products in support of Bare Necessities at the June meeting.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker Nicky Patterson who is an Air Traffic Controller at Manchester Airport. Her talk was informative, lively and entertaining with members asking many questions after the talk and through the tea break. We all feel confident about flying to and from Manchester airport knowing Nicky works there!
During the break a jarbola and treasure map hunt were being run to raise money for the restoration of Lindow Moss. A display of items from the WIld in Flyde camp were on display.
AFTER THE BREAK
Diane Atkinson, one of our two Climate Ambassadors, talked about what we could do to mark June as a green month and what we could do to reduce climate change. She suggested that we switch car journeys for walking or cycling. We should record how many less miles we drive in the month and report the total for Fulshaw WI. If you already walk or cycle you cannot count those journeys.
In November, at the AGM, some committee members will be standing down so we need new volunteers to come forward. Amanda Stevens asked all members to consider getting involved. If you are not sure then read about the committee roles and responsibilities in Fulshaw Focus, talk to members who are currently on the committee or come to a committee meeting to see how we work.
Jennie Banfield talked to the meeting about the course she attended, paid for by her bursary. It was a garden planter course run by Sarah Raven.
The raffle was won by Pat Kelcey, Paula Petitt, Helen Clarke and Jennie Palin (plant) and Jane thanked all the members who had helped to run the meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th APRIL 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed new members and gave H&S information including fire evacuation instructions and advice that photos will be taken throughout the meeting. Jane welcomed our new members. Jane reported that at the start of the membership year, 1/4/24, Fulshaw WI had a balance of £3500 excluding subscription fees and advance payments for events. The committee felt this was an acceptable level of reserves.
Jennie Palin welcomed visitors.
Vice President Jane Holland gave information about our regular activities and events. She encouraged all members to read the monthly online newsletter “Fulshaw Focus” and the accompanying events listing for more information. Jane introduced the speakers from 2 local charities.
SPEAKERS Hannah Grahame is a fund raiser for the Childrens Adventure Farm Trust based in Millington. On their 10 acre, farm and woodland site they offer free breaks, adventures and respite care for children living challenging lives and their families. Members were offered opportunities to assist with fundraising, to volunteer or to take information for a child they know leading a challenging life.
Jennie Palin and Amanda Stevens are opening their gardens on Saturday 20th July (bad weather reserve Sunday 21 July) and serving tea and cake as a fund raiser for the Farm Trust.
Pauline Handley talked about the work of the charity “Friends of Lindow Moss” (FOLM) to restore our local wildlife area Lindow Moss. The work will take years to complete but is crucial in our efforts to tackle climate change. A healthy peat bog is a carbon sink. A dry, damaged peat bog gives off CO2. FOLM have a programme of activities planned for this summer to mark the 40th anniversary of the discovery of Lindow Man. Helen Battilana gave details of the activities which include a dawn walk on 1 August to the site of the discovery. Sign up early because places on the walk are limited. During the tea and coffee break members can help raise funds for FOLM by supporting the Jarbola and the Treasure Hunt. Member Wendy Morris is Vice Chair of Cheshire Federation WI (CFWI). She gave details of the recent CFWI Board of Trustees election and a “Monopoly Trail” in Stockport on Saturday 22nd June.
OTHER BUSINESS During the extended break members voted for entries in the “Lou Gardiner Craft Award” competition. Over 30 squares had been created by members to decorate our WI tablecloth. Amanda announced the winners and Judy Gardiner (Lou’s Mum) presented the prizes.
3rd place Grace Brearley. Her square illustrated the craft activities of WI.
2nd place Emma Smallwood. Her square portrayed the gardening activities of WI
1st place Cherry Dolden. Her square illustrated our Book Club.
Jane Rawlings presented a certificate to Jennie Palin. Jennie had created Fulshaw’s entry in the CFWI winter photographic competition and had won joint first prize. Jane also presented a prize to member Cathy Wallace. She had written a 300 word press release to promote WI membership and had won first prize in the CFWI competition. Finally, Jane presented a prize to Jane Holland. Her limerick had won 1st prize in the NECG competition linked to the Spring meeting.
There were four raffle winners this month. They were Alison Etheridge, Sarah Ervine, Diana Boswell and Jane Holland. The President thanked the committee and refreshment team for all their hard work. It had been a very busy meeting and could not have taken place successfully without other members stepping in to help with welcome drinks, setting up and running the Jarbola and the Treasure hunt, the raffle and the technical support. Thank you one and all.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 18th MARCH 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed everyone and said how pleasing it was that 84 people were in attendance.
She read a thankyou letter from Helen Battilana, on behalf of Wilmslow Wells for Africa. With WI members support the Soupaday had raised £1190.
Jennie Palin welcomed four visitors from our waiting list.
She also gave details of two NECG events. NECG Spring Meeting 10th April 7.30pm in Poynton (Speaker Judith Holder). NECG Summer Outing Llandudno 10th July.
Jennie also thanked members for signing up on the gardening rota.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Alice Walker. Alice explained that quizzing had been part of her life since childhood. She had taken part in several TV quiz shows leading up to her greatest success, Mastermind Champion 2022. She said that Mastermind had been running since1972 but that she was only the 13th woman to win.
Carolynne Powell gave information about a trip to the Wilmslow Green Room to see “Ladies Unleashed” on May 15th. Benita mentioned that there are seats available on the coach to Liverpool on April 24th.
Alison Hampson, Anne Kerr, Morag Bristoe and Dee Waugh served us with drinks and delicious cakes.
AFTER THE BREAK
Jane showed a beautiful, machine embroidered cushion cover that she made whilst watching a course run by the WI Learning Hub.
Benita Kassas gave details of how she spent her bursary money to fund a course with textile artist Mister Finch who makes 3D models of animals. The mouse that Benita made was exquisite.
The raffle winners were Angela Powell, Val Drake, Cathy Hessner and Kate Bryant.
Jane thanked all the members who had stepped in to help committee members on the drinks, raffle, technology, catering and locking up.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2024
WELCOME
Members were welcomed to the meeting by President Jane Rawlings. She extended a special welcome to the President and Treasurer from Bramhall Village WI, Lynne Grant and Shirley Jones.
Carolynne Powell welcomed visitors from our waiting list.
Jane pointed out the photos on the OHP. They had been compiled by Jennie Palin to form Fulshaw’s entry into the CFWI Winter Scavenger Photographic Competition.
Jane also let members know that, in the coffee break, there would be an opportunity to sign up to make cakes for the Wilmslow Wells Souper Day on the 9th March.
SPEAKER
Detective Constable Andrew Kevan delivered a powerful talk about cyber crime and how we rarely considered the risks despite owning and using mobile phones for more than 20 years.
He shared tips about sensible precautions relating to our data on social media, the most frequent scams that people fall for, the use of three random word passwords and never storing bank card details on shopping websites. A list of useful websites has been forwarded from Andrew to all members via the Speaker Secretary Jane Holland.
EVENTS
Wendy Morris gave details of Fulshaw Flickers, a WhatsApp group set up to enjoy films together. Members should contact Sheila Parker if they want to be added to the list.
Wendy also gave details about the WI online Learning Hub launched because of the closure of Denman. Courses are free to members and £5 for non-members. Remember to sign up using the email address that you use for WI communications.
Benita asked members for expressions of interest in a possible coach trip to Liverpool on 24th April.
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Linda Prinsloo gave an informative and thought-provoking talk about the Samaritans organisation and her role as a volunteer since she retired.
FULSHAW WI BUSINESS
Jane explained that in 2021 Fulshaw WI had a reserve of over £8k which was unnecessarily high and unacceptable for a charity. At the time members approved the following changes to address the surplus.
RAFFLE
Four winners were drawn: Carolyne Powell, Chris Lee, Mary Beckett (plant) and Pam Harrop.
THANK YOU
Jane thanked the members of the committee and the refreshment team Moira, Dee, Helen B and Janet C.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th JANUARY 2024
1. Welcome: Jane welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2024
2. Visitors: Jennie introduced the 6 visitors for the evening: Mary Finch, Irene Forrest, Margaret Byers, Sue Whittle, Stella Martin and Cynthia Carsberg
3. Tablecloth: Jennie gave an update on the progress and praised the members on their squares. Squares are still available if members want to complete a design
4. Wine Appreciation Group: Donna and Lydie announced the formation of this group. A themed tasting will be offered 6 times a year. The first tasting will be at Donna’s house on March 21st, interested members were asked to pay £10
5. Questionnaires: Jane thanked members for their replies. 88% liked the friendliness of the group. Nearly half stated liking the speakers and lots mentioned us being a lively group. Cakes and location also got mentioned. Several said they are willing to help but didn’t give add their name, names were requested
6. 2024 Charity: Jane announced that we will be raising funds for a sign board which will be installed along the new Lindow Heritage Trail. The aim is to launch the trail in July 2024, just weeks prior to the 40th anniversary of Lindow Man being discovered. This was an important historical event for Wilmslow. About 10 information boards are envisaged along the route to describe key locations, and sponsorship towards the cost of these is being sought. Fulshaw WI has been accepted to be one of these organisations. A target of between £1000 and £2000 is the range of expense being publicised. The committee have started discussing some fundraising.
7. Bursary: The winner was Benita Kasass. Alison Hampson talked about spending her bursary on a French polishing. She showed photos her of chair and table before and after polishing (the table was on display).
8. Resolution Voting: Full members were given a penny on arrival and asked to make their vote. Lucy announced the votes - Dental Health Matter - 24 votes, Impacts on poor housing conditions – 17 votes, Say ‘no’ to gambling advertising – 15 votes, Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System – 6 votes. All the votes will be passed to CFWI for inclusions in the NFWI numbers.
9. Raffle: The winners were Katy Hatton, Dot Bracegirdle, Angela Powell and Marie Masson.
0. Tea, Coffee and Cakes: Delicious cakes were provided by Jacquie Rabone, Susan Handley, Alison Etheridge and Helen Clark.
11. Speaker: Jane Holland welcomed Rajeev Gupta a Bhangracise instructor. Rajeev told us that Bhangra music and dance is traced back to the region of Punjab in North India. Bhangra originates as a folk dance performed by farmers. He was part of the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, working with Danny Boyle, he also taught Neil to dance Bhangra on Strictly: It Takes Two. He taught us our very own routine, building it up in stages and introducing us the sounds of the performance. Christine managed the music brilliantly and our performance can be seen on our Facebook page. It was great fun and a good way to warm up and work off the cake.
12. Vote of Thanks: Grace warmly thanked Rajeev.
13. Ending: Jane thanked the committee and members for their help during the evening and the ladies for the delicious cakes. Meeting ended at 9.30 pm.
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RECORD OF THE CHRISTMAS PARTY: MONDAY11th DECEMBER 2023
1. Welcome: Jane welcomed us to the 2023 Christmas party. Members had been asked to wear something relaxed and to be ready for dancing! There were lots of cowboy hats, fabulous checked shirts and jeans! We had welcome drinks and nibbles and sat down at the beautifully laid tables. The welcome drink was mulled cider or non-alcoholic mulled wine. The quizzes provided by Cathy Hessner were already on the table for us to work on through the meal.
2. The meal: Dee Waugh had cooked a delicious meal for all 80 of us – a choice of pulled pork in buns or a vegetarian meal and her own yummy puddings or fruit. Each table had a bottle of white and red wine and soft drink provided.
3. Entertainment: Jane Holland introduced our Line Dancing teacher for the evening Carol and her assistant. After the main course we were all invited into the adjacent room to learn some basic line dancing routines. The room was full and we all tried hard to follow the routines with mixed success! Some members were brilliant and soon got the routines and the rhythm. Others one by one dropped out to watch as they found the routines a bit too tricky. There was much fun and laughter and the music was infectious. Pudding followed and then we were split into two groups to dance again to reduce the density on the dance floor. This time everyone caught on very quickly and the dancing to music was excellent. Dancing finished at 9.35 and Jane H thanked Carol for her excellent instruction. We all gave them a very warm round of applause.
4. Quiz: Cathy went through the quiz answers with us. Fulshaw WI has some really excellent quizzers and the scores were very high. Chocolates were awarded to the winners. We all agreed that Cathy’s quizzes were excellent.
5. Raffle: The names of the winners of the 25 gorgeous hampers were drawn: - Barbara Death, Moira Rayner, Margaret Whitley, Helen Clark, Pamela Clements, Christine Kennedy, Diana Beech, Linda Brisbane, Helen Hosker, Linda Prinsloo, Jane Holland, Christine Lee, Kate Bryant, Lydie Donald, Grace Brierley, Val Drake, Sarah Irvine, Sally Hildrup, Pat Pinnock, Cathy Wallace, Penny Bowker, Jan Murray, Pauline Handley, Gillie Hanna & Sandra Ferrugia.
6. Thanks: Jane thanked the committee for all their hard work getting the party ready. A special thank you went to Dee for the wonderful meal and all the shopping she had to do to dress the tables and buy and cook the food. One lucky person on each table went home with a magnificent Poinsettia plant sourced by Dee.
7. Finish: The party ended at 10.00 pm and everyone helped to clear up. It was unanimously agreed that we had been treated to a really excellent and hugely enjoyable party. We felt lucky to be a member of Fulshaw WI!
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RECORD OF THE ANNUAL MEETING MONDAY 20th NOVEMBER 2023
1. Welcome: Our president Jane R welcomed us all to the Annual Meeting and introduced our WI advisor Angela Britland and teller Linda McDowell from The Heatons WI, to oversee the re-election of the committee and president for 2023-24.
2. Meeting Organisation: Julia gave out badges and organised the questionnaire, Carolynne took the register, Jackie and Nicola served Bucks Fizz, Margaret sold raffle tickets, and Val and Cathy were on events and selling party tickets. Christine K operated the projector and events slides, helped by Diane A. Seating was café style. Stalls were put on by Dee, Grace, Marita and Benita. Helen B sold Wilmslow Wells Christmas cards. Members were asked to fill in the tea rota for 2024.
3. Peaches Cheque presentation: Peaches Womb Cancer Trust was our chosen charity for 2023. Jane H thanked members for making cakes, volunteering, and donating lots of great tombola prizes. A physically huge cheque for £1,760.00 was presented and Dr Eleanor Jones accepted the cheque on behalf of the charity. Some of planning committee (Carolynne, Jennie, Dee, and Gillie) and the President assembled for a photo.
4. Treasurer’s Report: Val Drake summarised the accounts for the last financial year (October to September 2023). We have a healthy bank balance of ~£6000. Money was spent on a variety of events and activities, e.g. £600 on bursaries, £559 on activities and £411 on insurance and general expenditure. Visitors contributed £210. The net raffle income was £628. Members were asked to be sure to pay next year’s subs into the Fulshaw WI Nat West bank account and NOT the old RBS account which will be shut. Report proposed by Wendy M and seconded by Jean H.
5. Secretary’s Report: Julia (in Amanda’s absence) reviewed our many successful and varied activities and events held in 2023. Jane R (President) writes our informative monthly ‘Fulshaw Focus’ and Sheila is in charge of the WI website. ‘Talks’ included a mock court room, a cookery demonstration and a real WI Calendar Girl. Visits and activities included tree climbing, forest coastal riding, archery, netball, bowling, walking and cycling. Some of our WhatsApp organised groups are crafting, book group, bowling, board games and the very popular art group. Julia asked members to come forward with suggestions for days out that they are prepared to organize. The WI garden is looked after by members through the year, Green Tips for the Focus were provided by climate ambassadors Pauline and Diane. Julia emphasised our continuing focus on many aspects of sustainable living e.g. sharing lifts and recycling. Report proposed by Jane H and seconded by Jennie P.
6. The Presidents Report: Jane explained that we have had another very successful year and we now have 110 members with 40 on the waiting list and 16 more ladies waiting to go on the waiting list! At least 70 or more members attended each meeting this year (maximum 83 and minimum 66). In detail; 8 attended all 11 meetings, 78 have attended 6 or more. Leaving 32 who have attended 5 or less, of which 3 have not been to any meetings so please tell them what they are missing! Jane said ‘The WI vision is to create a world where women come together to learn, share skills, and work together to become active citizens, influencing change to improve lives in their local, national and global communities. I am proud of the way you embrace this vision. There have been lots of examples of skill sharing this year: baking, sewing and craft workshops, bowling tuition and art talks. Many of you have been involved in working together to help at the meetings, at our fundraiser or with leading events. You have responded to our requests for help (lots of you have baked cakes for charity) and have participated in our activities. You have given Fulshaw WI, your time, donations, loyalty, expertise and ideas. I love the vibe that we have at our meetings; we have become a group of friends who want to do good things together. You have also been encouraging and enthusiastic, making the role of President so much easier. Thanks to all of you who have helped with Fulshaw WI this year. Your committee this year has been hard working, supportive of each other (especially of me) and supportive of you the members. Committee meetings have been long, but fun, with plenty of laughter. Everyone has been willing to help at meetings and come up with lots of ideas to carry on the great work of Fulshaw WI. Thanks to you all. I would like to thank Sheila and Pauline who are leaving the committee. They will still be fulfilling useful roles, just not attending committee meetings. We are pleased to welcome Lucy Simmons, one of our newest members and Wendy Taylor onto the committee’.
7. Election of President for 2023: Angela Britland (our WI advisor) explained that we would be nominating the committee member who we would like to be president. Angela also told us that Jane was willing to stand again for president. However, Angela emphasised that during 2024 members must be looking for someone to replace Jane as president and that we should all consider if we would like to stand for the committee next year and possibly for president at the same time. Angela explained the NFWI rationale behind the voting procedure. All committee members stood on the platform and introduced themselves. We then made our nominations for president, and these were counted Linda McDowell (teller) and Angela. After tea Angela announced that Jane Rawlings was re-elected to be Fulshaw President for 2024.
8. Museum of Things: 12 members brought along old treasures to show us and Jane Holland organised the event. Members stood up to show us their ‘treasure’ and explained the story that went with it. Fascinating stories emerged – and we loved hearing them. Jane Holland started us off with an excellent old painting of the old ‘Circus’ at Belle Vue and had us in stitches with her description of the flea circus she vividly remembered from her childhood. Then followed: - Scholl Sandals (Jennie P), Lacrosse stick (Jane R), Textile Mill instruments (Grace), an army kitchen knife (Julia), a Teddy bear (Wendy M), well-travelled binoculars (Helen H), Mary Quant soft scrub (Diane A), Edwardian dressing table set (Morag), Silver bullet game (Pat P), and lastly Donna’s first cookery book. The stories of family members and events evoked by these items were very moving and entertaining.
9. Kitchen Rota: Dee issued thank you vouchers to all the tea ladies for 2023 who lined up on a very full platform and requested that members sign up to do cakes and teas next year.
10. Best preserve competition: Jennie P organised this event and 9 preserves had been tasted and judged during the evening. The winners were: 1st Sally Hildrup’s lemon curd: 2nd Amanda’s blackcurrant preserve (WI garden bush!): joint 3rd were Jennie P and Emma Smallwood also lemon curd. Jane presented them with prizes.
11. Raffle: prizes were won by Morag (basket of fruit) and Moira Rayner, Diana Boswell and Helen Clarke (vouchers).
12. Christmas Party: to be held on Monday 11th December at 7.00pm in the URC. (NB not at the Methodist Church) and come prepared to Line dance if you feel energised…
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16th OCTOBER 2023
1. Welcome: Jane welcomed everyone and congratulated members on their Halloween costumes! She gave a big thank you to Carolynne and her Committee who organised the very successful Peaches Charity Fund raising event which generated £1,400 on the day. The meeting voted to contribute another £167.00 donation from WI funds. The final sum raised overall was £1,650.Jane warmly thanked everyone who donated cakes and Tombola prizes and who helped on the day
2. Visitors: Jennie welcomed the visitors for the evening: Mary Lewis, Irene Forrest, Paula Pettit, Liza Hackney, Pat Lee & Carolyn Yardley.
3. Sewing machine workshop: Jennie offered two more places on 31st October at 2.00 pm.
4. Speaker 1: Jane Holland welcomed our story teller for Halloween, Adrian Palmer, who had entertained us last year. Adrian had an assistant with him to play atmospheric background music to augment his story telling. Adrian dramatically acted out the Strange Tale of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson using different voices for different characters, Adrian’s voice and personality filled the room for 55 minutes and everyone was very attentive indeed, applauding him enthusiastically at the end.
5. Vote of Thanks: Amanda warmly thanked Adrian for his spell binding Halloween story.
6. Speaker 2: After the tea break Pauline Handley introduced Sally Potts from the Mersey Rivers Trust who talked to us about her work on the BEACON project (Bollin Environmental & Conservation) about their efforts to investigate and improve the Bollin water quality. Sally gave us an excellent 15 minute PPT presentation which very clearly summarised the work she does with farmers and United Utilities. She also worked with microbiologists at the MMU who did a short project quantifying the faecal bacteria in the Bollin water at 5 different sampling points along the Bollin flowing through the Carrs on one day in August 2022 when over 100 people were playing and bathing in the river. The bacterial counts were very high on the sampling day so that the advice would be ‘not safe to bathe’. But there is no way to communicate this to the public and the counts are likely to vary greatly from day to day depending on whether there had been a sewage overflow event at the water treatment works. The microbiology has not been repeated and Sally has no funds to carry out more testing. Other volunteers regularly monitor the chemical levels e.g. phosphate that come from farm land and fly fishermen near Prestbury monitor indicator insects. Sally encouraged us to try the new App ‘The Big River Watch’ which anyone can do to record visually river conditions and wildlife present at one particular place and time.
7. Vote of Thanks: Pauline thanked Sally for her excellent talk which was both worrying (bacterial counts) and encouraging (ongoing monitoring). Sally was very warmly applauded.
8. Tea, Coffee & Cakes: delicious cakes were provided by Pat Pinnock, Christa Rodwell, Jennie Bordolli and Nicola Coleman.
9. Bursary: Julia Parr won and will find a Knitting Course.
10. Raffle: the winners were Mary Beckett, Barbara Berry, Pat Kelcey & Emma Smallwood. The meeting ended at 10.00 pm.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 18th SEPTEMBER 2023
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th JULY 2023
WELCOME
Members were welcomed to the evening meeting by the President, Jane Rawlings and guests were welcomed by Julia Parr.
THANK YOU DAY
The meeting started with a rendition of “Thank you for being my friend” to acknowledge and thank all the WI members who are carers for relatives and friends. The singing was led by a small but plucky group of members who had sung the song at the URC as part of a national initiative to thank carers.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland gave a very warm welcome to the speaker, Tricia Stewart.
Tricia is one of the original WI calendar girls and entertained us with a behind the scenes stories of the journey from the first suggestion of a tasteful nude calendar through to the success of the film, stage play and musical. She talked about how honoured she was to be played by Helen Mirren in the film, how exciting it was to promote the fundraising all over the world and how proud she was that they have raised over £6m so far for Blood Cancer UK.
Vote of thanks by Amanda Stevens.
EVENTS
The events table was manned by Cathy and Wendy. Tickets were on sale for our charity coffee morning, 5th October at the URC and members could sign up with Amanda, as helpers and/or cake bakers.
“YOUR GARDEN IN A JAM JAR COMPETITION''
Members were issued with 1p coins so they could vote for their favourite flower displays. There were 10 entries, the standard was very high and the results were as follows.
First - Pat Pinnock
Second - Gail Jackson
Third - Alison Boddington
CFWI MEMBER SURVEY
Cheshire Federation had asked all member WIs to consult on the following questions. Fulshaw voted by show of hands.
What name would you prefer to call the Head of the Federation and the Head of each Sub Committee? Currently named Chairman.
Chair - 61 votes
Chairman - 1 vote
Chairwoman - 8 votes
Abstention - 1 vote
NB. Members asked why Chairperson was not an option.
What would you prefer to call our subcommittees?
Sub committees - 62 votes
Teams - 9 votes
CFWI are looking for venues that seat 500+ and have ample parking. If anyone could recommend places please speak to Amanda Stevens.
WRITING COMPETITION
Fulshaw WI had run a writing competition to encourage members to write a piece that can be submitted for the NFWI competition. Our winner was Jane Rawlings.
BURSARY
Ann Kerr talked about using her bursary to take 1 day courses in furniture up-cycling and upholstery. She recommended the up-cycling course run by a woman from Pear Mill.
Carolynne drew the bursary winner for July. It was Lesley Wilson.
RAFFLE
The raffle was drawn. The winners were Chris Lee, Janice Mead, Jane Holland and Sally Hildrup (hanging baskets)
Jane thanked the committee, Margaret for organising the raffle, and the tea ladies Alison, Gail, Maureen and Sally for excellent refreshments.
Jane wished everyone a happy summer break.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 18th September.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 19th JUNE 2023
WELCOME Members were welcomed to the member only evening meeting by the secretary Amanda Stevens.
TABLECLOTH
Amanda talked about plans that the committee had to create a Fulshaw WI tablecloth. This would be used at each monthly meeting on the table on the stage. Alongside the cross-stitch banner already made by members it would help create a WI focal point for our meetings. No design features have been finalised, but any member interested in contributing to the project should speak to Amanda in the tea break.
SPEAKER
Amanda introduced the speaker, Olivia Potts.
In April 2020 we were unable to meet in person due to Covid. The President at the time seamlessly introduced Zoom meetings and 78 members signed in to watch Olivia make 3 types of bread all without yeast (a scarce resource in London at the time). She was working in her own, tiny kitchen and doing her own filming on her mobile phone. The presentation was so well received we agreed to invite Olivia back in person.
Olivia’s latest book is all about butter and her talk was designed to share her passion for this versatile ingredient with the audience. She made butter from double cream and browned butter to make a delicious sponge cake and icing. Samples were enjoyed by all.
Vote of thanks by Margaret Whitley.
THANK YOU DAY
Carolynne Powell talked about the national “Thank you Day” on Sunday 2nd July. This is an opportunity to thank carers, and this year in particular, carers for people with dementia. The WI is supporting Tony Christie in a public rendition of “Thankyou for Being my Friend”. Anyone interested in joining in can learn the words and tune on a webinar with Tony Christie on Wednesday 21st June. Why not join Carolynne at her house for the webinar and a glass of wine? See Carolynne in the tea break.
EVENTS
The events table was manned by Cathy and Val. Jane asked all members to note the new events email address and bank details as outlined Fulshaw Focus.
GREAT BIG GREEN QUIZ
A short climate change quiz had been prepared by Pauline Handley and was presented by Diane Atkinson. It was based on carbon footprint information from the book “How Bad are Bananas?” The message was that we should all be aware of our carbon footprint and take reasonable steps to reduce our impact. We were urged to talk about this with our friends and family.
RAFFLE
The raffle was drawn. The winners were Maureen Nicholson (fuchsia), Sarah Cooke, Viv Marr, Cherry Dolden (vouchers) and Helen Hopkins (book).
COMPETITIONS
Entries for the writing competition should be forwarded to Jane for judging.
Jane thanked the committee, Marita for supporting the welcome team, Margaret for organising the raffle, the tea ladies Rosemary, Emma, Janet and Jean for excellent refreshments and Pauline and Diane for a thought-provoking quiz.
Tables need to be taken down and chairs set out to church style so members were asked to help.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 17th July. Tricia Stewart, One of the Original Calendar Girls
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th MAY 2023
1. WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting.
2. Visitors: Jennie Palin welcomed and introduced Jenny Sangway, Di Featonby, Gill Paulson, Anne Ball, Jackie Stanley, Linda Snape, Carolyn Yardley & Sue Whittle. Jennie explained that we have been able to add 10 new names to the waiting list, it remains at 40.
3. Speaker: Jane Holland introduced Kerry Daynes who is a consultant Psychologist, chartered Scientist and member of the Science Council. She is one of the UKs best known psychologists, working in her field for over 20 years. Kerry spent the first part of her career working in forensic mental health, including the Prison Service. She also worked in the NHS and the public health sector secure psychiatric services. She acted as a psychological specialist in major police investigations. Kerry has published two books on Forensic psychology and one, ‘The dark side of the mind’ was a Sunday Times best seller. At 21 Kerry began her career at Wakefield Prison (‘Monster mansion’) working with sex offenders and murderers (e.g. Bellfield, Shipman & Bronson). However, the main topic of Kerry’s talk was about the many years she suffered from debilitating on-line stalking and abuse from an unknown male. He had bought up all the ‘Kerry Daynes’ domain names and proceeded to insult and abuse her and her reputation online. Eventually she took him to Court at great expense but always she was failed by the police who let the man go free. Her whole life and behaviour was badly affected due to the permanent threat. The stalking got worse but finally as she said ‘I got angry’ and she went on TV and joined with other victims of stalking and the Susie Lamplugh Foundation. Kerry has been influential in getting a stronger law on stalking through Parliament. Just this week she heard that Cheshire Constabulary has been awarded a grant of £3 million to set up a multidisciplinary team to fight stalking and prosecute offenders and tag them.
4. Vote of thanks: Kerry was very warmly applauded and Grace Brierley gave the vote of thanks. The tea break followed.
5. ‘Thank you day’: The NFWI is proposing to have a day on Sunday 2nd July to remember and celebrate ‘unsung heroes’ around the UK. Carolynne Powell told us about the event and explained that singers were being requested from WIs around the country to act as ‘flash mobs’ in churches or supermarkets etc. The song would be ‘Thank you for being my friend’. This would only work if there are enough members volunteering to sing. Anyone interested in organising this event and singing in it should email Carolynne at [email protected]
6. Volunteering opportunities: Following on from the Coronation Bank Holiday Monday ‘help out’ events around the country, Julia Parr suggested that our WI members might want to volunteer locally. She introduced a new feature to our meetings where our members have the chance to share their experience of being a volunteer.
a. Quarry Bank Mill: Morag Briscoe is a volunteer at Quarry Bank Mill and she told us about her work with visiting school children groups at the Mill. She tells them all about life for children in the Mill and the hardships they had to endure in their mill work etc. Morag also does crafts with the children showing them how to make things. E.g.dreamcatchers. Gardening and archive volunteers are also welcome at the National Trust at the Mill. Contact Quarry Bank Mill directly for joining details.
b. Wilmslow Library: Kate Sibthorp told us about a new group she is setting up with the Library where anyone can go along for a social experience including people with learning disabilities (Kate’s own daughter has learning disabilities). Activities such as adult colouring & various crafts would be done. This relaxed social event would be on a Thursday between 10.30 and 12.00 am. Members should email Kate on [email protected] if they are interested in helping Kate run the group.
7. Tea Ladies: Tea, coffee and cakes were provided by Diana Beech, Rosie Reid, Jennie Banfield, Pam Harrop, Benita Kassas & Heather Christiansen.
8. Raffle: Margaret Whitley drew the raffle and the following members won £15 vouchers: Jennie Palin, Sandra Holmes & Elaine Ockleton with Christine Lee winning a large pot of lilies.Meeting ended at 10.10 pm and the next meeting will be on Monday 19th June.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th APRIL 2023
1.WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the 1st meeting of the membership year. She told us that seven ladies have left so ladies will be being invited from the waiting list. Jane told us the excellent news that Wendy Morris has been elected deputy Chairman of CFWI. Also, that Dee Waugh had won the competition for making a gavel with her fabulous chocolate cake and block at the NECG meeting at which the Auctioneer Adam Partridge spoke.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th MARCH 2023
1)WELCOME. President, Jane Rawlings, welcomed members to the March meeting.
Secretary, Amanda Stevens welcomed visitors and a new member.
2)SPEAKER. Jane Holland introduced the speaker Sue Holden. Sue, a retired solicitor, gave an intriguing, illustrated talk about all the little known factors that conspired to cause the sinking of the Titanic on 15th April 1912.
3)ANY OTHER BUSINESS. Following a vote of thanks for the speaker the meeting took a short break to enjoy tea and cake, to book events at the events table and to check out the book swap.
4) BUSINESS
Thank you letters from:
• the February speaker. Her fee and our collection raised £109.60 for Cancer Research and
• Wilmslow Wells for Africa who had raised £1462 at their souperday with help from cake makers at Fulshaw WI.
Bare Essentials coffee morning raised over £1,100, this event was supported by several members.
RESULTS : 2023 RESOLUTIONS CFWI (NFWI)
Save our water - every drop matters : 940 (8045)
"Women to Women - turning over a new leaf in the lives of women tea workers" : 428 (23,326)
Online gambling harm: time for action : 1,187 (25,164)
Clean rivers for people and wildlife: 1,439 (36,736)
NFWI Board of Trustees has put forward the top resolution for the Annual Meeting in May.
RAFFLE The raffle was drawn after the break. The winners were Morag, Sue H, Moira and Dee (plant).
The President reminded members to pay their Annual Subscription before the 31st March if they wanted to guarantee their membership for the coming year.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th FEBRUARY 2023
1. WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting.
2. VISITORS: Jennie Palin introduced the visitors for the evening: - Irene Forest, Stella Martin, Evelyne Gerard, Margaret Byers and Linda Brisbane.
3. SPEAKER: Jane Holland introduced Jane Thomas who told us about the history of the Pearly Kings & Queens in London. Jane trained to be a dress maker in London. Her first job was in the Old Kent Road, and she became fascinated by pearl buttons. Through this fascination Jane met some of the Pearly Kings and Queens which has given her a lifelong interest in all their meetings, activities and family histories. The history of the ‘Pearlies’ is part of London’s social history and Jane told us about the links between the Pearlies and the music hall in particular. The families raise money for charity as part of their activities. Jane showed us many pictures of the amazing jackets and trousers they wear to this day. Jane gives all her speaker fee to cancer research and the proceeds from selling us some lovely pearl button holes. Amanda Stevens gave the vote of thanks and we warmly applauded Jane.
4. FULSHAW FOCUS ‘GREEN CORNER’ : After the tea break Pauline Handley introduced the monthly Green Corner feature that she and Diane Atkinson write (they are both Cheshire WI Climate Ambassadors). Pauline asked members to calculate their personal carbon footprint (see: footprint.wwf.org.uk ) and then follow the green corner suggestions from her and Diane over the year to try and reduce it. The focus will be on ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’.
5. FULSHAW WI LOU GARDINER AWARD:
a. Amanda won this last year with her knitted jumper. When she was in Australia visiting family recently Amanda did a course in leather work and made a beautiful belt. The theme this year is ‘New Beginnings’ and the deadline for entries is the 31st March.
b. Also, Amanda asked members if they would like to embroider ‘a flying acorn’ to be part of Lou Gardiner’s commissioned embroidered cloak art installation to be exhibited by a Scottish art collector.
6. TRAUMA TEDDIES: Dee Waugh asked volunteers to knit trauma teddies for the Wilmslow Fire Station staff to give to children if they have been emotionally affected by a fire or accident. This followed on from the very successful recent visit made by members to the station. Jennie Palin has provided a pattern for those who are interested. Click this link for details: TRAUMA TEDDY. Dee also advertised her Cup Cake Bouquet workshop (4-6 people at £45 per head). Please let her know if interested.
7. WI SUPPORTERS: Wendy Morris referred us to February's WI Life, telling us about the NFWI promotion of new ways to join the WI without being full members (also open to men): WI Supporter (£5 per year) and WI Supporter + (£18 per year + WI Life and 2 online Denman courses.)
8. EVENTS The Events Table was manned by Cathy Hessner & Julia Parr who were taking bookings and payment for the NECG meeting, Coach trip to Wedgewood & Trentham Gardens, Footloose by Tempo, Colour Me Beautiful workshop & These Shining Lives at WGR.
9. TEA AND CAKES: Refreshments were prepared and served by Barbara Death, Jackie Rabone, Helen Battilana & Dee Waugh
10. RAFFLE: The four raffle winners were: Christine Lee (Camelia plant) and three John Lewis vouchers went to Joan Kershaw, Dee Waugh & Carolynne Powell.
11. NEXT MEETING Monday 20th March 2023.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16th JANUARY 2023
1. WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed 73 members to the meeting and told members about the safety procedures.
2. VISITORS: Jennie introduced the 5 visitors for the evening – Vivienne Marr, Majorie Mellor, Helen Clark, Mary Lewis and Sheila Fitzgerald.
3. SPEAKER: Julia Parr welcomed Lynn Moores and Nick Sheardown from Manchester Magistrates Court who explained the workings of a magistrate’s court and who then went on to hold a mock trial with participation from several Fulshaw ladies. Unfortunately, Carolynne P, the Defendant was found guilty by the presiding Magistrates Anne K and Rosie R after listening to evidence given by Marita. Diana Beech, Benita and Alison Hampson also took part. Grace gave the vote of thanks.
4. NEW EVENTS: Benita updated members on a couple of talks and a trip to Trentham and Wedgewood, events arranged by the Fulshaw Art Group. Dee gave further information about the visit to Wilmslow Fire Station.
5. RESOLUTION: VOTING: Jean Hill explained about the process to vote for the 2023 Resolution and congratulated CFWI on their presentations. Pauline Handley helped to collect the votes during the break. The votes cast were as follows: Save our Water 19 (now 20), Fair Pay for Tea Workers 13, Online Gambling 30, Clean Rivers 15. There were no Abstentions.
6. EVENTS: The events table was manned by Val Drake and Cathy Wallace who were taking bookings and payment for the visit to Wilmslow Fire Station, Rode Hall, Footloose and Viet Bowl
7. TEA AND CAKES: Refreshments were prepared and served by Anne Cichoki, Annmarie Lambert, Alison Etheridge and Kate Bryant
8. BURSARY: The bursary for this month was won by Jackie Wortley. Dot Bracegirdle told us how she had used her bursary to attend a bread baking course.
9. RAFFLE: The four raffle winners were Janet Saxton, Alison Etheridge, Emma Smallwood (JL vouchers) and Sally Hilldrup (fruit basket).
10. NEXT MEETING: Monday 20th February 2023
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21st NOVEMBER 2022
Welcome: Jane welcomed us all to the Annual Meeting and introduced our WI advisor Angela Britland and teller Sue Johnson from The Heatons WI, to oversee the re-election of the committee and president for 2022-23.
RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2022
1.WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting and told members about the safety procedures. Members were asked to avoid being in photographs taken by Wendy Morris if they did not want to be on the WI social media. Jane read out a lovely letter from Jill Ollerenshaw who has moved south but who really enjoyed her time with Fulshaw WI where she made many friends. Adam George from the Christie Macclesfield wrote to thank Fulshaw WI whole heartedly for their donation of £615 raised at the summer tea party.
2. VISITORS: Jennie introduced the visitors for the evening who were unable to come to the cancelled September meeting due to the Queen’s funeral: - Jenny Sangway, Di Featonby, and Linda Tinkler. Jennie also welcomed our new member Doranne Bide.
3. SPEAKER: Jane Holland (Speaker secretary) explained that the speaker for the last cancelled meeting of a Mock Magistrates Court had been rebooked for a meeting next year instead. Jane then introduced our speaker for the evening - Jayne Shaw from Cocoa Nut Grove chocolate. Jayne had been an English teacher for 9 years and decided to give it up and learn how to make and sell chocolates. Jayne won a ‘Great taste’ award for her chocolates but has now had to close the business for financial reasons. However, Jayne still made lots of yummy chocolate to share with the Fulshaw members for our chocolate tasting evening. Jayne had brought six delicious chocolates along for us to taste and she told us their composition and explained the favour and how she had applied the exquisite transfer sheets for decoration. The gold/red/green transfers were beautiful. Members were able to buy Jayne’s delicious chocolates in the tea interval. Grace gave the vote of thanks
4. SUMMER PHOTOGRAPH COMPETITION: Christine had prepared a PPT loop of the photographs that had been entered for the competition on the theme of summer. Members watched them during the tea break and then when we had all reassembled the winner was chosen by a show of hands. The outright winner was by Alison Boddington of a bumble bee taking nectar from the flower head of a chive.
5.EVENTS The events table was manned by Wendy Morris, Anne Kerr and Val Drake who were taking bookings and payment for the Christmas party, Manchester Art walk, the Musical ‘The Christmas Carol’ at the Leisure Centre and names for Buzzy Bee Bakery. Pauline collected pledges for encouraging more wildlife into our gardens.
6. TEA AND CAKES: Refreshments were prepared and served by Barbara Death, Rosemary Bradley, Jackie Rabone and Pat Kelcey.
7. BURSARY: the bursary for this month was won by Dot Bracegirdle.
8.RAFFLE The four raffle winners for October Ann Cichoki, Gillie Hanna, Sarah Ervine and ANO. Prizes for the cancelled September meeting were also drawn and four vouchers were won by Caroline Sacco, Ann Cichocki, Benita Kasass and Jackie Wortley. A lovely autumn flower arrangement made by Jackie Rabone was won by Pauline Handley.
NEXT MEETING Monday 21st November will be the Annual Meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 18th JULY 2022
1. WELCOME
Our President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting on the hottest day of the year! Member hosts were Gillie and Marita. Jenniewelcomed a few visitors and explained that every member must provide an ICE (In Case of Emergency) name and number for the WI records. This is to enable the WI to contact a close friend or relative who would be ready and available to come to the assistance of the member in case of an accident or emergency during a WI event. On behalf of member Jacqui Rathbone, Jennie asked if anyone would like to look after a delightful cockapoo from the 12-22nd August (with pay) while the owner is on holiday (contact Jacqui). Dee gave the members details of our games and lunch event on 2nd August.
2. SPEAKER Jane Holland (Speaker secretary) introduced our speaker Alison Utting to talk about the life and work of Eglantyne Jebb (1876-1928) who was one of six children born in Ellesmere, Shropshire. Eglantyne was a British social reformer and she set up Save the Children at the end of the First World War to relieve the effects of famine in Austria-Hungary and Germany where living conditions for children were appalling. She wrote the document that became the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child’ which is still adopted worldwide by every country except the USA. The Jebbs were a well off family with a strong social conscience and commitment to public service. Alison is a passionate advocate for Eglantyne and her family, particularly her mother and sister Dorothy. Alison told us Eglantyne’s life story in detail. Eventually Eglantyne took a degree in history, tried to be a teacher (class of 60 juniors!) which she hated, changed to research about charity work in Cambridge thentook a dangerous journey to Macedonia to deliver cash (in person) to a relief fund. She then translated and published news during the war from German newspapers that showed how starvation and suffering was rife in Europe; infinitely worse than in the UK. This experience led Eglantyne and Dorothy to set up the Save the Children fund which has gone from strength to strength. Alison supported her talk with numerous family photos of the Jebb family and we felt by the end that we had met for the first time a very brave, influential, important woman who very few of us had ever heard of. Thank you Alison! Grace gave the vote of thanks.
3. EVENTS The events table was manned by Sheila and Val. Booking was for a tour of Gorton Monastery on Monday 3rd October, NECG Autumn meeting, Mezze meal and L4P day out in Chester.
4. TEA AND CAKESMaureen Nicholson, Alison Boddington, Grace Brierley and Dee Waugh served our refreshments. Cakes were also provided by Sally Hildrup who tested positive for COVID a few hours before the meeting.
5. THE BURSARY DRAW was won by Annmarie Lambert.
6. RAFFLEThe four raffle winners were Anne Shaw, Lydie Donald, Jane Rawlings and Moira Rayner.
7. CLOSURE OF MEETING Jane thanked the committee, especially Christine and Diane for the slide shows. She also thanked the members, Cherry, Marita and Grace for their contributions. Jane encouraged members to send in a photo of Summer for the September competition and to knit bobble hats for the Christmas tree.
8. NEXT MEETINGMonday 19th September: Lynn Moores: Mock Magistrates Court. There will be a zoom premeeting on 5th September at 7.30pm on How a Magistrate court works. Zoom link in Focus and on the website.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th JUNE 2022
1. WELCOME President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting. Member hosts were Diana Beech, Benita Kassas and Rosie Reid. Jane congratulated Wendy Morris who has been appointed member representative on the NFWI Training & Development committee. Jane reported that the committee are considering increasing the membership from 104 to 110. The members voted overwhelmingly to support this motion. Jennie Palin welcomed the visitors.
2. REPORT FROM THE NFWI AM AT LIVERPOOL Jennie read out her excellent report on the recent AM in Liverpool. A group of three Fulshaw members had attended, staying for the weekend in a hotel. Jennie said how wonderful and uplifting the whole experience had been and that she thoroughly recommended members to think about attending the next meeting in Cardiff in 2023.
3. SPEAKERJane Holland (Speaker secretary) introduced our speaker Malcolm Macfarlane to talk about Great Musicals of Stage and Screen. He delighted us with recordings of great show tunes going back to Show Boat in 1927 and onto the present day. He encouraged us to sing along and we did try. Luckily it did not matter if we only partly remembered the words. Malcolm played songs from well over 20 musicals and it was a cheerful happy way to spend the meeting. Grace gave the vote of thanks.
4. EVENTS The events table was manned by Sheila who was taking bookings for the National Arboretum trip, Salford Art Gallery, Jodrell Bank and the Arley Hall Sculpture visit.
5. THE OLDEST FOOD ITEM IN THE CUPBOARDMany members brought items along with lots of different ‘best before’ dates on them, but the winner was Diana Beech with a packet of Arrowroot from 1983! Julia presented her with some chocolates and encouraged her to consume them before the end date.
6. TEA AND CAKESRefreshments were prepared and served by Chris Lee, IreneNottingham, Sandra Holmes and Carol Casting (a visitor). Meet the committee slides were shown on screen.
7. RAFFLEThe four raffle winners were Pat Pinnock, Sheila Parker, Dee Waugh and Julia Parr.
8. NEXT MEETINGMonday 18th July: Alison Utting on the Life of Eglantine Jebb; founder of Save the Children.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 11th APRIL 2022
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to a new WI year and explained that 9 members have left so this allows 9 from the waiting list to join Fulshaw WI. Jane welcomed 2 visitors who are looking to set up a new WI. She also went through the H&S arrangements. Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list and new members. Member hosts Alison Boddington, Sally Hildrup and Maureen Nicholson were thanked for their support.
SPEAKERS
Jane Holland, Speaker coordinator, introduced our speakers. It was our Annual Charity Evening where we welcome local charities to talk to us. Wendy stood in for Sheila to talk about Open Kitchen in Manchester. We welcomed Sue from Macclesfield to talk about making blankets for the homeless from crisp packets, and Heather from The Christie, to talk about the new development in Macclesfield. Fascinating and inspirational projects. Vote of thanks by Grace Brearley
DONATIONS & DISPLAYS
Dee’s winning handbag cake from the NECG competition was admired. Members brought used stamps (for Leprosy charity) and toiletries bags (for Bare Necessities). Jennie’s version of WInnie, the corgi was on display. Material was available for making bags for Bare Necessities.
EVENTS
The events table was selling tickets Fulshaw afternoon teas.
RAFFLE
The 4 raffle winners were Emma Smallwood, Barbara Death, Christa Rodwell and Irene Nottingham.
BURSARY
Jill Ollerenshaw won the bursary draw.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 16th May - Self Defence
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21ST MARCH 2022
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting and explained the H&S arrangements. Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list. Member hosts Wendy Morris and Pauline Handley were thanked for their support. Jennie also spoke about signing up to maintain the WI garden
SPEAKER
Jane Holland, Speaker coordinator, welcomed textile artist Lesley Bull. Lesley gave us a brief history of Venice and the Venetian Carnival. She brought along five of her dresses and talked about their creation and the making of masks. Costumes modelled by Anne Crawford and Donna Johnstone. Vote of thanks by Grace Brearley
DONATIONS & DISPLAYS
Members brought used stamps (for Leprosy charity) toiletries and toiletries bags (for Bare Necessities). The Lou Gardiner craft award and Jennie’s version of WInnie, the corgi were on display. Material was available for making bags for Bare Necessities.
EVENTS
The events table was busy selling tickets for the NECG and Fulshaw afternoon teas.
RAFFLE
The 4 raffle winners were Helen Battilana, Pat Pinnock, Morag Briscoe and Pat Langan.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 11th April – Local Charities.
__________________________________________________________________Monday 21st February 2022
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting and explained the H&S arrangements. Jennie Palin welcomed 8 visitors from our waiting list. Member hosts Cathy Wallace and Pat Langan were thanked for their support.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland, Speaker coordinator, explained that the booked speaker had been forced to pull out at the very last minute. Lady Wildflower lives in Hebden Bridge where flooding had led to disruptions in public transport.
Actor and storyteller Adrian Palmer volunteered to stand in and was very much appreciated by the audience. He had them mesmerised with 2 stories, “The Ant and the Grasshopper” by Somerset Maugham and “The way up to heaven” by Roald Dahl.
DONATIONS
Members brought used stamps (for Leprosy charity) toiletries and toiletries bags (for Bare Necessities) and knitted cream egg easter chicks (Francis House Hospice). They also signed up to make cakes for Wilmslow Wells for Africa Souperday and to tend the WI garden.
EVENTS
The events table was busy just like it used to be before covid.
RAFFLE
The 5 raffle winners were Jill Ollerenshaw, Dee Waugh, Janet Saxton, Sandra Scott and Diane Beech. The 5th prize, a bonus for this month, was a Burlesque colouring book in honour of Lady Wildflower.
BURSARY
Dee Waugh displayed examples of the characters she has learnt to make on her cake decorating modelling course. This course was part funded with her bursary win. Rosie Reid was the winner of the delayed January Bursary draw.
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Monday 17th January 2022
WELCOME
Jane Rawlings welcomed everyone to her first monthly meeting as President. She explained the emergency fire procedures and asked members to wear their face masks when not drinking or eating. Visitors were welcomed including NECG Chairman Alia el Asmar.
Jane thanked our first Member Hosts Diane Atkinson and Helen Hopkins who made sure that solo members were not on their own.
SPEAKER
Professor Sarah Bridle from York University entertained the meeting with her discussion about the CO2 emissions associated with the production, processing, packaging and distribution of many of the foods that contribute to our diet. She clearly demonstrated the need for us to reduce our consumption of meat-based products to help reduce our impact on climate change. Sarah provided samples of dried mealworm and crickets, both low CO2 food stuff, for us to try with our tea and cake!!!!
RESOLUTIONS
Members were encouraged to complete, and post in the box provided, a voting slip for the NFWI 2022 resolutions.
FINANCE
Net expenditure for the first quarter of the financial year was £1,259, leaving a bank balance of nearly £7,000. The party food and drink were subsidised by £81 and £698 has been paid off from last year’s liabilities.
RAFFLE
The four raffle prizes were won by Morag Briscoe, Pauline Handley, Wendy Morris(vouchers) and Pat Parker (plant).
EVENTS
Upcoming Fulshaw events were advertised; walks, walking netball and 10 pin bowling. Also, a NECG walk and a CFWI virtual event. Members were encouraged to take part in RSPB birdwatch. Members were asked to make suggestions for future events.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 21st February 2022. Speaker Lady Wildflower
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2026.
Jennie Palin introduced 10 visitors from our waiting list.
Jane gave out details of two theatre trips, which members could sign up for. The first is ‘Sister Act’ at Wilmslow Leisure Centre on March 17th, the second is the Brookdale production of ‘The Producers’ on April 24th.
SPEAKER
Sir Professor Anthony Redmond is the founder of UK Med, a humanitarian medical aid charity. Since the 1970’s, when they were first established as the SMART team (South Manchester Accident Rescue Team), through their transition to UK Med, they have provided expertise and assistance in areas around the world impacted by disasters, conflict and crisis.
Tony outlined the preparation and good practice needed to provide the appropriate support in these areas – not always what we would first imagine to be required. His accounts of his first-hand experiences and how he has personally been affected by his work, made a deep impression on the audience. Many members bought a copy of his book, which he sells to raise funds for UK Med.
AFTER THE BREAK
The President read out a letter of thanks from the team at CAFT, to recognise the many selection boxes that members had donated before Christmas. They included some photographs of children and families enjoying festive visits, which will be included in a future edition of Fulshaw Focus.
Anne Thompson gave details of the fundraiser for Francis House – knitting Easter chicks, which contain a Crème Egg – and invited members to join her on Monday 23rd February to help with preparation of the chicks for sale before Easter.
Cathy Hessner explained about WI subscription, which falls due by the end of March, and which this year will be £52. She urged members to pay by BACS transfer if possible.
During the break, members had voted on the five resolutions put forward for consideration this year. The results were as follows:
- Call for accessible, clean and free public/community toilets to promote
- Action on women’s homelessness 31 votes
- Every child needs a friend 16 votes
- Love your vulva 4 votes
- Nearer to nature 0 votes
Four winners were drawn in the Raffle.
Jane Holland closed the meeting with a (now) humorous article about how housewives should prepare for the return home of their husbands from work!
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th OCTOBER 2025
WELCOME
Jane Holland, President, welcomed members and thanked them all for wearing pink to mark Breast Cancer Awareness week. Fire evacuation procedures were announced and then Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list. She also welcomed two committee members from the newly formed Cheadle Hulme WI.
Jane announced the final sum raised for our nominated charity Smartworks. Our monthly meeting raffle, the Strawberry Afternoon Tea and matched funding have all added up to a total of £2114. A grand achievement!!
CFWI has launched a photograph competition to mark their 105th anniversary. Fulshaw will submit a group photo of members at the afternoon tea.
Jane welcomed the speaker Hilary McCumisky who had run the costume department of the Northern Ballet.
SPEAKER
Hilary had brought a stunning display of ballet costumes she had made and photographs of dancers wearing her work. Her talk gave us great insight into the behind-the-scenes ballet world. This included amusing stories about the twin tub washing machine used in the relentless washing cycle, the way ballet shoes are made to measure and then brutally customised by the dancers before they wear them and then finishing with tales of the care Rudolph Nureyev demanded when dancing Swan Lake with the Northern Ballet Company at the Manchester Palace Theatre.
An excellent speaker!
AFTER THE BREAK
If you have paid for your Xmas Party ticket but not indicated your menu choices, please email them to [email protected].
The Lou Gardiner Craft competition this year is to design a logo for Fulshaw WI.
Four raffle winners were drawn.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th SEPTEMBER 2025
WELCOME
President, Jane Holland, welcomed members back from the summer break and reminded them of the fire evacuation procedure. Jane welcomed a visitor from our waiting list and then went on to thank everyone for their contributions that made the Afternoon Strawberry Tea such a success. With contributions from the monthly raffle and some generous cake bakers the event raised over £1000. Matched funding is available in October so we will have raised over £2000 for our chosen charity Smartworks. A final thank you goes to husband Maurice Palin who manned the carpark for three hours in very wet weather!
If anyone would like a stall at the makers market at our November meeting please let Jane know.
At the October and November meetings we will be collecting items for the hampers at the Xmas party and selection boxes for CAFT.
SPEAKER
Our speaker, Jayne Stubbs, was a fascinating woman. In her 50s she took a flight in a 2-seaterairplane at Duxford Air Show and was hooked on the idea of learning to fly. She took us through the ups and downs of her journey to ‘get her wings’. She was an excellent role model and taught us that you are never too old to learn new skills.
AFTER THE BREAK
Fulshaw WI member, Helen Battilana, is also a volunteer with the Lindow Moss partnership and had bought leaflets about the newly launched, 7.5 mile loop walk across the Moss.
For those going to the NECG Autumn meeting please note that you should not arrive before 7pm for 7.30pm start, the front rows are for members who are hard of hearing and please bring your own mug.
The raffle was drawn.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21st JULY 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland opened the meeting, welcomed members and explained the fire procedure. Jennie Palin welcomed seven visitors from our waiting list and a member’s friend visiting from Australia.
NOTICES
Jennie gave out details of the October NECG meeting, Housewives at War.
Jane read a letter from Shelly, Judy Gardiner’s mum thanking us for the warmth and support given to Judy at our meetings. Also, a letter from Tameside Hospital thanking us for knitting hats for their premature babies.
Jane informed us of the sad news that Pat Langan’s husband Kevin has passed away.
We were encouraged to look at the outstanding display of Needlepoint work. This was created by Pat Pinnock’s mum who had been a member of Styal and Dean Row WI.
Jane promoted Donna’s trip to Shrewsbury and the Afternoon Tea, our charity fundraiser.
Jane Rawlings is standing down from the committee in November and will no longer be producing our newsletter, Focus. Jane appealed for someone with IT skills to come forward to help, training will be given.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Helen Selwood. Helen was taught to sew by her Nanna and began by making clothes for family, friends and a local boutique. She shared amusing insights into her training and career as a 1970s fashion designer. It turns out you don’t have to be able to draw to design clothes. She showed us some of her charity shop finds and the tweeds she had purchased in Scotland. Some of the designer bargains were passed around the members. Barbara Berry gave the Vote of Thanks.
AFTER THE BREAK
During the break members had voted for their favourite “Charade in Flowers” and tried to guess the titles. Congratulations to Alison Hampson who guessed 10 of the 25 titles and to Gail Jackson, her Treasure Island was voted the best display. A successful competition.
Alison Hampson, Sarah Cooke, Helen Lederer and Jennie Palin won prizes in the raffle.
Jane Holland closed the meeting with an amusing tale of a friend and her shopping habits.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16TH JUNE 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed 68 members and reminded everyone about the fire evacuation procedures.
Jane has volunteered her house as the venue for a ‘Strawberry and Cream Tea’, to be held on Thursday 4th September 2025, as a fundraising event for this year’s charity, Smart Works. She asked members to visit the events table at the break to sign up if they would be interested in attending.
Jennie Palin introduced 5 visitors.
SPEAKER
Jane introduced the speaker, Colin Alderson, who had worked for many years as a pastry chef for the Royal Family. Colin gave us a fascinating account of how he had started life on a remote farm in the Yorkshire Dales, before training at Catering College and securing a job at Buckingham Palace. His tales of work and life in all the Palaces – accompanied by photos of delicious dishes he had served, kept us all royally entertained.
Barbara Berry gave the Vote of Thanks.
AFTER THE BREAK
Jane gave further details of the September Strawberry and Cream Event, and asked for donations of raffle prizes.
The Refreshment Team from tonight’s meeting had volunteered to donate their voucher money to the Smart Works charity.
Because of the September event, the trip to Hardwick Hall has been postponed
Names are being collected for anyone interested in a trip to the Lowry theatre, to see ‘Death on the Nile’. This would be a matinee performance on Saturday 4th October 2025.
Jane had spoken to local WI advisors about our very long waiting list and as a result, had contacted all those on the list about the possibility of a ‘Fulshaw 2’ branch. Whilst there had been some interest, no-one had yet come forward to offer to be President!
Cathy Wallace provided details of the next Transition Wilmslow Repair Café, to be held at St Chad’s in Handforth on July 5th, 10am – 1pm. They urgently need more people to volunteer their repair skills. Transition Wilmslow will have a stall at the Wilmslow Artisan Market on Saturday 21st June, where people could offer help or get more information.
Anne-Marie is hosting a Craft session on 27th October 2025, from 10.30am to 1pm. The cost is £10; there are still a couple of spaces available.
The July competition – A Charade in Flowers. Jane explained how the competition would work
• A display of flowers/plants to represent the title, as in charades, with the name of the book/song/film/Tv programme in a sealed envelope
• Members would guess the titles
• There would be two prizes – one for the best display, one for the most correct guesses.Next month’s speaker is Helen Selwood, talking about life as a fashion designer. She has suggested it might be fun if members would like to come wearing some vintage items, or bring something along to show.
Our book swap is a popular feature at meetings. The committee are looking for volunteers to bring the books and look after them until the next meeting. This could be done on a rota basis.
Wendy Morris, Alia and Jane Holland had spent a day – through Zoom – at the Annual Meeting of the WI, held in London. Wendy and Jane were delegates and Wendy gave members a report of proceedings and outcomes. There was overwhelming support for this year’s resolution ‘Bystanders can be Lifesavers’ with 97.7% of the vote in favour. Next year’s meeting will again be virtual, and Wendy and Jane encouraged members to take part.
Raffle winners were Susan Handley, Pat Kelsey, Nicola Coleman and Elaine Ockleton.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 14th APRIL 2025
WELCOME
Jane Holland, President, welcomed members, went through the fire evacuation procedures and asked anyone who does not want to appear in our social media postings to speak to Wendy Morris.
The top 4 women on our waiting list have accepted an invitation to become members of Fulshaw WI.
Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list.
Amanda announced that there are still tickets available for the NECG Spring meeting 29th April, Poynton Civic Centre.
The NECG summer outing is on Wednesday18th June to Bradford, City of Culture. Cost £14.50.
Transition Wilmslow are running a swishing stall at the Wilmslow Artisan Market on Saturday19th April.
SPEAKERS
Smart Works is a charity based in Stockport who support women in the interview process to get into work. They are the chosen charity for Fulshaw WI to support for 2025/26. Liz, a volunteer for the charity, explained how she works with clients to give them a suitable outfit to wear for their interview and the charity also gives them one to one coaching on interview techniques. After receiving this help a high percentage of women are successful in securing a job.
Caroline came to tell us about the charity Medical Detection dogs. Dogs, with their amazing sense of smell, can be trained to indicate the presence of certain diseases or to warn patients of imminent seizures or episodes. Fulshaw members were so impressed with the work of the charity they donated over £200 to help the work continue.
AFTER THE BREAK
The results of the voting for the 9 entries in this year’s Lou Gardiner Craft Award were as follows:1st Jennie Palin
2nd Benita Kassas
3rd Cherry Dolden
Four winners were drawn for the raffle.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th MARCH 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed everyone and reminded them of the fire evacuation procedures.
Jennie Palin welcomed 6 guests from our waiting list. She also mentioned that the garden rota was available for members to sign up. The WI garden bed is on the corner of Moor Lane and Arlington Way.
Jane reported that 89 members have so far renewed their WI annual subscription. There will be no further reminders that payment is due by 26th March.
Jane reported that an excellent “Platinum Day Out” to Prescot had been enjoyed by 11 WI members on 12th March. Fiona Matthewson had organised an excellent itinerary which included a tour of the town centre, another of the Shakespeare North Theatre, lunch and a riotous matinee performance of Loves Labours Lost.
There are details of 2 CFWI events, Inspiring Women zoom and a day out to Hydro Electric plant at Holmes Chapel, at the events desk.
Anne Cichoki has a couple of gaps on the refreshment rota and would like a couple of volunteers who are prepared to stand in at short notice.
SPEAKER
Gina Kirkham is a successful author and came to our attention when the Fulshaw Book Club read her novel “Murders at the Winterbottom Women’s Institute”.
She was a highly entertaining speaker who told us of her life as a single parent, her work as a policewoman and her family experiences that had influenced many of her books. The audience could relate to much of what she said, including the fear of being caught in shoddy underwear should you be involved in an accident!!!
AFTER THE BREAK
The President reported that Fulshaw had raised additional funds for the charity Peaches during 2024/25 and for Lindow Moss.
£184 was raised for Peaches by WI member Sandra Holmes selling her jewellery and donating the takings.
On behalf of Transition Wilmslow, Helen Battilana thanked Fulshaw for the £350 for Lindow Moss and explained it would be used to help fund the printing of a leaflet to publicise a second, 7.5 mile, marked trail around the Moss to be launched in September.
Helen also thanked WI members for the cakes they had made for Wilmslow Wells for Africa Souperday. They contributed to the £1500 made for the charity.
Smart Works is the charity that has been chosen for Fulshaw to support during 2025/26. They are based in Stockport and support women wanting to return to work. A representative will tell us more at our next meeting.
Four winners were drawn in the raffle ????, Liz Burr, Rosemary Bradley and Katie Hatton.
Throughout 2025/26, 50% of the raffle profit each month will be donated to Smart Works.
A large number of unwanted spectacles and some beautiful prem baby hats were donated by members at the meeting. _________________________________________________________________________________________
RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed everyone and went through the fire evacuation procedure.
Jennie Palin welcomed 9 guests from our waiting list.
Jane explained that the guests were very keen to join Fulshaw WI so members need to pay their subscription fee of £51 by 26th March to ensure their place.
Details of the Cheshire Federation Task Mistress Challenge, Friday 11th April 2025, 6.30- 9.pm at WI House, Chester. Need to sign up tonight.
The charity “Wilmslow Wells for Africa” is organising a fundraising Souperday on Saturday 8th March. You can support them by coming along and/or signing up to bake a cake. Sign up sheet with Helen Battilana in the foyer during coffee break.
By Royal Appointment (a play about the Queen and her dresser) is at the Lowry Theatre in August. We will be booking tickets for the matinee on 7th August. Please sign up at the events desk if you are interested.
A grand day out is on offer on 12th March, £50. Pay at events desk. To include:-
- Sculpture trail, with guide, “Double, double, toil and trouble”.
- Coffee
- Tour of Shakespeare North Playhouse
- Lunch
- Matinee performance Loves Labours Lost
SPEAKER
Jane Allison originally trained as an English teacher but decided to retrain at Reaseheath College to become a garden designer. Her illustrated talk was simple, informative and inspiring. It is amazing what can be done to a garden by a trained designer and what a diverse garden can do to support wildlife.
AFTER THE BREAK
Fulshaw WI member Pauline Handley gave a very informative talk about her work as a Climate Ambassador. She works with fellow member Diane Atkinson.
She originally signed up for Ambassador training after listening to a Greta Thunberg TED talk.
Pauline advocates that any small steps we take to protect the environment, (Electric cars, solar panels, reduce-reuse-recycle, walk and cycle) are worthwhile.
NFWI resolutions are often linked to climate protection and have influenced national legislation (Litter campaign and micro plastics).
The raffle winners were Julia Parr, Dot Bracegirdle, Jennie Palin and Jan Murray.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th JANUARY 2025
WELCOME
President Jane Holland welcomed the speaker John Stirling, who had agreed to stand in at short notice, because the scheduled speaker could not attend due to his wife’s ill health.
Jane Holland wished everyone a Happy New Year and reported how successful the Christmas Party had been with Elvis inspired entertainment.
Jennie Palin welcomed 5 visitors from our waiting list.
Jane Holland gave brief details of the resolutions published by NFWI and encouraged members to vote for their preference during the coffee break.
- Let’s talk about incontinence
- Bystanders can be lifesavers
- Join the repair revolution
- Eliminate landfill of medication packaging
SPEAKER
John Stirling first spoke to Fulshaw WI in 2019 and he was just as entertaining this time.
He started acting at 7 years of age as Noddy in the West End. He had regular parts in BBC dramas such as Dixon of Dock Green before becoming a producer and director most notably for Morecombe and Wise. A chance encounter saw him and his wife set up a donkey sanctuary which they still support today.
AFTER THE BREAK
Lucy announced the results of the resolution voting
- Let’s talk about incontinence - 17
- Bystanders can be lifesavers - 30
- Join the repair revolution - 5
- Eliminate landfill of medication packaging – 15
Raffle winners were Heather Christiansen, Alison Boddington, Morag Briscoe and Janet Saxton.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the Fulshaw WI AGM. She also
welcomed Angela Britland (WI Advisor) and Linda Mc Dowell, who are from The
Heatons WI and were attending as tellers for the President elections.
Jane explained that the heating in the church was not working so portable heaters
had been provided. Please take care to avoid the cables.
MEETING
Val Drake, treasurer, delivered the finance report which included details of the
changes she had made during her time in office. The annual finance report was
proposed by Val and seconded by Jennie Palin.
Julia Parr, secretary, gave the annual report of activities that Fulshaw WI had
organised. Specific information was also provided as follows:-
* Flickers Film Group Wendy Morris
* Art Appreciation Benita Kasass
* Book Club Moira Rainer
* Wine Appreciation Helen Hosker
These groups communicate through WhatsApp so if anyone wishes to join they should
speak to a member of the committee.
The secretary’s annual report was proposed by Jane Rawlings and adopted by a
show of hands.
Jane Rawlings spoke about her time as President and thanked committee members
and members for their support. 3 committee members are retiring. Dee Waugh (after
15 years) Val Drake and Wendy Taylor. Jane made a presentation to them and
thanked them for all their hard work.
Jane invited all the committee members to come forward and introduce themselves.
Members received a voting slip to nominate which committee member they would like as President. During the coffee break the tellers counted the votes.
Over coffee members were invited to
* Vote for their favourite savoury dip
* Check out the book swap collection
* Pay for the Xmas party
* Check out the member stalls run by Dee, Julia, Grace and Sandra Holmes.
* Enjoy a drink and a piece of cake
AFTER THE BREAK
Angela Britland announced that Jane Holland had been selected as President. Jane
R gave gifts to the tellers and thanked them for attending.
Jane Holland announced her acceptance of the post and explained that she would
like to operate in a slightly different style to Jane R. She will continue to work as
Speaker Secretary (with Carolynne’s help) and Jane R has agreed to preparing the newsletter Focus.
Jane Holland thanked Jane Rawlings for her commitment to the WI and all her hard
work. Jane H made a presentation to Jane R.
Members enjoyed hearing about treasured items
* Katie Hatton, college scarf
* Alison Hampson, mother’s powder compact
* Jennie Palin, her first doll Sambo
* Carolynne Powell, 5 books that belonged to 5 generations of her family
* Barbara Berry, Peter the Panda and 2 rings made from jewellery belonging to
her mother and her aunt.
* Jane Holland, a story about the Eastbourne lifeboat called the “Jane Holland”.
Dee issued Sainsbury’s vouchers to members who had done tea and coffee duty
during the past year.
Jennie Palin announced the winners of the savoury dip competition
* 3rd Helen Battilana
* 2nd Anne Cichoki
* 1st Amanda Stevens
Raffle prizes were won by Mary Beckett (plant), Katie Hatton, Diana Boswell and
Morag Briscoe.
Jane R closed the meeting, reminding members that the Christmas party will be held
at the United Reformed Church from 7pm on Monday 9th December.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21st OCTOBER 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting, welcomed members and announced H&S advice regarding fire procedures. She thanked members for their hamper donations.
Jane mentioned that there was a card for members to sign and a donation box at the back of the room in memory of WI member Emma Smallwood.
Jennie Palin welcomed 5 visitors from our mailing list. She also thanked all members who supported the CAFT Christmas selection box appeal.
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Deborah Cox.
SPEAKER
Deborah Cox is a recently retired primary school teacher whose number one passion in life is baking.
She has applied, unsuccessfully, 11 times to be on the Great British Bake Off. She has reached the final stages of selection several times which is an achievement, given there are 70,000 applicants every year. She entertained the audience with behind-the-scenes tales from the show.
Deborah’s passion for baking led her to support a charity that bakes birthday cakes for children who otherwise would not get one.
Deborah also competes in the baking competitions at country shows, often against her sister.
Deborah’s talk was not only highly entertaining but delicious too! She came with a wide range of samples for us to taste including the chocolate mint biscuits that Prue Leith had set as the technical challenge recently on Bake Off. Links to the recipes are attached.
AFTER THE BREAK
There are spare places for the next wine tasting evening on Tuesday 19th November.
Rosie Reid gave details of the Thai and Italian cooking courses she attended at the Wilmslow Cookery School using her WI Bursary.
Anne Cichocki gave details of the 24 years she has volunteered at the Lowry Theatre. She loves it!
Jane Holland reminded members to bring a treasure to the annual meeting in November.
Raffle winners were Moira Rayner, Jackie Wortley (plant), Helen Battilana and Ann Cichocki
Jane thanked the committee and all the members who had helped to run the meeting.
What I’ve made for you today..
Howard’s Hardly Lardy Cake (substitute 150g cooled melted white chocolate for the lamination and use butter for lard in the dough:https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/paul-hollywoods-lardy-cake/)
Best Ever Brownie (GF) (Gluten-free brownies recipe | Good Food)
Cinnamon Apple Tray Bake (4 egg Victoria Sponge tray bake, add 1 – 2 tsp cinnamon and 150 -200g of diced apple)
Peanut Butter Blondie (Vegan) (https://godairyfree.org/recipes/sweet-sundays-vegan-peanut-butter-blondies)
Prue’s Chocolate Mint Biscuits (https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/prue-leiths-mint-chocolate-biscuits/)
5 Spice Gingerbread with Aqua Faba Royal Icing (Vegan) (add ½ to 1 tsp of 5 Spice for every tbs ginger in your favourite gingerbread recipe e.g. https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/gingerbread-house/)
Malted Caramel Brazil Nut Crunch Bar (add 15g Ovaltine and 25g of malt extract to caramel made with150g sugar. Add Ovaltine to a milk chocolate ganache. Substitute ½ cup of roast, ground Brazil nuts for flour in this recipe: https://oliviaskitchen.com/brown-butter-shortbread-cookies/)
Malted Caramel Brazil Nut Tray Bake (crumble extra Browned Butter Brazil Shortbread into a Victoria Sponge mix made with light brown sugar, add extra caramel to a vanilla buttercream)
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16th SEPTEMBER 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting, welcomed members and announced H & S advice regarding fire procedures and limited access to the rest of the building.
She also noted the 109th birthday of the WI.
With regret Jane announced that Emma Smallwood, an active and enthusiastic member of Fulshaw WI, had died on Sunday after being knocked off her bicycle. The meeting held a one minute silence to remember Emma.
Jennie Palin pointed out that the partly completed Fulshaw WI cloth was on display on the table and it included Emma’s prize winning contribution.
Jennie welcomed visitors from our waiting list and a visiting sister-in-law of one of the members. She also thanked all members who supported the CAFT fund raising “Open Gardens” which raised £820.50.
The NECG Autumn meeting is Tuesday 15th October at Poynton Civic Hall. The speaker is Kerry Daynes. A volunteer Fulshaw WI member attending the meeting is asked to sell raffle tickets.
Wendy Morris gave details of the Cheshire Federation Autumn General meeting 10am - 3.30pm on Wednesday 13th November, ticket price £15. Car share or travel by train.
Jane Holland paid a personal tribute to Emma before introducing the speaker Rosie Lee, The Reluctant Shepherdess. SPEAKER
Rosie came from a farming background. Her parents ran a dairy farm but she left to pursue a career with Barclays Bank. After a career break to have children, she joined her mother to run the farm. She reskilled by studying at Rease Heath College, converted from dairy to sheep and took on environmental stewardship as well as a wider educational role. She gave a lively and informative presentation about the highs and lows of farming today.
During the refreshment break a swishing event was enjoyed by all. Members brought and swapped handbags, jewellery and scarves.
AFTER THE BREAK
Announcements were made about Legally Blonde 19 November, Les Mis (Tempo) 20 March 2025 and Shrigley Hall 1pm 26 November. Book at events table, pay after 1st October.
Barbara and Jacquie are organising MacMillan coffee morning on 20th September, 76 Patch Lane. 10.30am or 2pm. All welcome.
Raffle winners were Diane Boswell, Linda Prinsloo (plant), Pat Pinnock and Gill Pearson. Jane thanked the committee and all the members who had helped to run the meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th JULY 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting, welcomed members and announced H & S advice regarding fire procedures and trip hazards.
Jennie Palin welcomed five visitors from our waiting list.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Mike Llewellin. He entertained the audience with quick witted stories about the long running TV drama “Coronation Street”. Mike’s talk explained that Granada Television was the first commercial TV station in the NW of England and Coronation Street was their creation. Originally it was only to run for 13 episodes!!
Jennie Palin and Amanda Stevens gave details of their forthcoming charity fund raising event on Saturday 27th July Irene Nottingham gave details of a taster afternoon on 11th or 18th September at Wilmslow Crown Green Bowling Club.
AFTER THE BREAK
Jane Holland spoke about the AM in November when members would vote for their new committee. Three key committee members will be standing down and Fulshaw WI will need to appoint replacements. Jane Rawlings (President), Val Drake (Treasurer) and Dee Waugh (all things edible) each spoke about their roles. If members were considering standing, they should realise that the split of responsibilities among committee members can be adjusted to reflect personal skill sets, time available etc.
During the break members had voted for their favourite “potted plant”. There was a fascinating range of entries. The winners were Jane Rawlings, Jane Holland and Christa Rodwell.
Four winners were drawn in the raffle. The winners were Barbara Death, Anne Kerr, Pat Kelcey and Nicola Coleman.
Jane thanked all members who had helped to organise the meeting and informed everyone present that there would be no meeting in August.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th JUNE 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting and welcomed guests from our waiting list.
A test fire evacuation was carried out and everyone assembled in front of the barbers opposite the church.
Lessons learnt that need to be included in the meeting risk assessment
- Last person to leave the church by the front door, opening directly on to Water Lane, should close the door for security reasons.
- When assembled outside the barbers, the drill leader should call for silence so that the register can be completed and members responses heard.
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Angela Oldman. Angela had worked for beauty and perfume houses such as Elizabeth Arden and Estee Lauder and as a sales representative in the cosmetics department at Kendal’s.
Her talk was very entertaining. Perfumed products have been used by people ever since 2500 BC. Egyptians and Romans used them often in many ways. Angela then went on to describe the wide range of perfumes available today, how it can take 7 years to develop a new one and layering (using the full range of scented products) is the best way to make an impact with your scent.
AFTER THE BREAK
The Lou Gardiner Craft award was presented by Judy Gardiner (Lou’s mum) to winner Cherry Dolden. Cherry’s “Book Club” square for the Fulshaw WI tablecloth was voted the overall winner by members at the April meeting.
Pat Pinnock updated the members on her campaign to get Cheshire East to repair the potholes on Chapel Lane. Cheshire East have met with Pat and promised some action. Pat will keep members updated.
Jane Rawlings thanked members for their dental donations which will be given to Bare Necessities for distribution, for the neonatal knitted hats and the contributions to the magazine swap.
Four winners were drawn in the raffle, the winners were Sandra Holmes, Diana Boswell, Helen Lederer and Emma Smallwood. Jane thanked all members who had helped to organise the meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th MAY 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings opened the meeting and Jennie Palin welcomed new and returning visitors. Julia Parr gave details of a knitting pattern, that will be circulated with Fulshaw Focus, for premature baby hats. They will be distributed to baby units in local hospitals.
Lucy Simmons directed members through 2 votes ready for the NFWI AGM. The meeting voted in favour of Dental Health Matters resolution (1 vote against, no abstentions) and also voted in favour of allowing our delegate to agree to minor changes to the wording made at conference (no votes against, no abstentions). Fulshaw WI will have a collection of dental products in support of Bare Necessities at the June meeting.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker Nicky Patterson who is an Air Traffic Controller at Manchester Airport. Her talk was informative, lively and entertaining with members asking many questions after the talk and through the tea break. We all feel confident about flying to and from Manchester airport knowing Nicky works there!
During the break a jarbola and treasure map hunt were being run to raise money for the restoration of Lindow Moss. A display of items from the WIld in Flyde camp were on display.
AFTER THE BREAK
Diane Atkinson, one of our two Climate Ambassadors, talked about what we could do to mark June as a green month and what we could do to reduce climate change. She suggested that we switch car journeys for walking or cycling. We should record how many less miles we drive in the month and report the total for Fulshaw WI. If you already walk or cycle you cannot count those journeys.
In November, at the AGM, some committee members will be standing down so we need new volunteers to come forward. Amanda Stevens asked all members to consider getting involved. If you are not sure then read about the committee roles and responsibilities in Fulshaw Focus, talk to members who are currently on the committee or come to a committee meeting to see how we work.
Jennie Banfield talked to the meeting about the course she attended, paid for by her bursary. It was a garden planter course run by Sarah Raven.
The raffle was won by Pat Kelcey, Paula Petitt, Helen Clarke and Jennie Palin (plant) and Jane thanked all the members who had helped to run the meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th APRIL 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed new members and gave H&S information including fire evacuation instructions and advice that photos will be taken throughout the meeting. Jane welcomed our new members. Jane reported that at the start of the membership year, 1/4/24, Fulshaw WI had a balance of £3500 excluding subscription fees and advance payments for events. The committee felt this was an acceptable level of reserves.
Jennie Palin welcomed visitors.
Vice President Jane Holland gave information about our regular activities and events. She encouraged all members to read the monthly online newsletter “Fulshaw Focus” and the accompanying events listing for more information. Jane introduced the speakers from 2 local charities.
SPEAKERS Hannah Grahame is a fund raiser for the Childrens Adventure Farm Trust based in Millington. On their 10 acre, farm and woodland site they offer free breaks, adventures and respite care for children living challenging lives and their families. Members were offered opportunities to assist with fundraising, to volunteer or to take information for a child they know leading a challenging life.
Jennie Palin and Amanda Stevens are opening their gardens on Saturday 20th July (bad weather reserve Sunday 21 July) and serving tea and cake as a fund raiser for the Farm Trust.
Pauline Handley talked about the work of the charity “Friends of Lindow Moss” (FOLM) to restore our local wildlife area Lindow Moss. The work will take years to complete but is crucial in our efforts to tackle climate change. A healthy peat bog is a carbon sink. A dry, damaged peat bog gives off CO2. FOLM have a programme of activities planned for this summer to mark the 40th anniversary of the discovery of Lindow Man. Helen Battilana gave details of the activities which include a dawn walk on 1 August to the site of the discovery. Sign up early because places on the walk are limited. During the tea and coffee break members can help raise funds for FOLM by supporting the Jarbola and the Treasure Hunt. Member Wendy Morris is Vice Chair of Cheshire Federation WI (CFWI). She gave details of the recent CFWI Board of Trustees election and a “Monopoly Trail” in Stockport on Saturday 22nd June.
OTHER BUSINESS During the extended break members voted for entries in the “Lou Gardiner Craft Award” competition. Over 30 squares had been created by members to decorate our WI tablecloth. Amanda announced the winners and Judy Gardiner (Lou’s Mum) presented the prizes.
3rd place Grace Brearley. Her square illustrated the craft activities of WI.
2nd place Emma Smallwood. Her square portrayed the gardening activities of WI
1st place Cherry Dolden. Her square illustrated our Book Club.
Jane Rawlings presented a certificate to Jennie Palin. Jennie had created Fulshaw’s entry in the CFWI winter photographic competition and had won joint first prize. Jane also presented a prize to member Cathy Wallace. She had written a 300 word press release to promote WI membership and had won first prize in the CFWI competition. Finally, Jane presented a prize to Jane Holland. Her limerick had won 1st prize in the NECG competition linked to the Spring meeting.
There were four raffle winners this month. They were Alison Etheridge, Sarah Ervine, Diana Boswell and Jane Holland. The President thanked the committee and refreshment team for all their hard work. It had been a very busy meeting and could not have taken place successfully without other members stepping in to help with welcome drinks, setting up and running the Jarbola and the Treasure hunt, the raffle and the technical support. Thank you one and all.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 18th MARCH 2024
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed everyone and said how pleasing it was that 84 people were in attendance.
She read a thankyou letter from Helen Battilana, on behalf of Wilmslow Wells for Africa. With WI members support the Soupaday had raised £1190.
Jennie Palin welcomed four visitors from our waiting list.
She also gave details of two NECG events. NECG Spring Meeting 10th April 7.30pm in Poynton (Speaker Judith Holder). NECG Summer Outing Llandudno 10th July.
Jennie also thanked members for signing up on the gardening rota.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland introduced the speaker, Alice Walker. Alice explained that quizzing had been part of her life since childhood. She had taken part in several TV quiz shows leading up to her greatest success, Mastermind Champion 2022. She said that Mastermind had been running since1972 but that she was only the 13th woman to win.
Carolynne Powell gave information about a trip to the Wilmslow Green Room to see “Ladies Unleashed” on May 15th. Benita mentioned that there are seats available on the coach to Liverpool on April 24th.
Alison Hampson, Anne Kerr, Morag Bristoe and Dee Waugh served us with drinks and delicious cakes.
AFTER THE BREAK
Jane showed a beautiful, machine embroidered cushion cover that she made whilst watching a course run by the WI Learning Hub.
Benita Kassas gave details of how she spent her bursary money to fund a course with textile artist Mister Finch who makes 3D models of animals. The mouse that Benita made was exquisite.
The raffle winners were Angela Powell, Val Drake, Cathy Hessner and Kate Bryant.
Jane thanked all the members who had stepped in to help committee members on the drinks, raffle, technology, catering and locking up.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2024
WELCOME
Members were welcomed to the meeting by President Jane Rawlings. She extended a special welcome to the President and Treasurer from Bramhall Village WI, Lynne Grant and Shirley Jones.
Carolynne Powell welcomed visitors from our waiting list.
Jane pointed out the photos on the OHP. They had been compiled by Jennie Palin to form Fulshaw’s entry into the CFWI Winter Scavenger Photographic Competition.
Jane also let members know that, in the coffee break, there would be an opportunity to sign up to make cakes for the Wilmslow Wells Souper Day on the 9th March.
SPEAKER
Detective Constable Andrew Kevan delivered a powerful talk about cyber crime and how we rarely considered the risks despite owning and using mobile phones for more than 20 years.
He shared tips about sensible precautions relating to our data on social media, the most frequent scams that people fall for, the use of three random word passwords and never storing bank card details on shopping websites. A list of useful websites has been forwarded from Andrew to all members via the Speaker Secretary Jane Holland.
EVENTS
Wendy Morris gave details of Fulshaw Flickers, a WhatsApp group set up to enjoy films together. Members should contact Sheila Parker if they want to be added to the list.
Wendy also gave details about the WI online Learning Hub launched because of the closure of Denman. Courses are free to members and £5 for non-members. Remember to sign up using the email address that you use for WI communications.
Benita asked members for expressions of interest in a possible coach trip to Liverpool on 24th April.
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Linda Prinsloo gave an informative and thought-provoking talk about the Samaritans organisation and her role as a volunteer since she retired.
FULSHAW WI BUSINESS
Jane explained that in 2021 Fulshaw WI had a reserve of over £8k which was unnecessarily high and unacceptable for a charity. At the time members approved the following changes to address the surplus.
- Scrapping the £3 charge for refreshments at monthly meetings
- Offering 4 x £150 bursaries each year
- Increased subsidy for the Xmas party
- Increased maximum fee that could be paid for a speaker.
- Free tea and coffee at some events
- Generous support for charity fund raising events.
- From April 2024, £2 will be charged for refreshments at monthly meetings. To be collected at the door.
- Bursaries should be suspended. The launch of the WI Learning Hub offers ALL members a chance to learn new skills.
- Stop free tea and coffee at events.
- From April raise the visitor fee from £5 to £10. This would include their tea and cake.
RAFFLE
Four winners were drawn: Carolyne Powell, Chris Lee, Mary Beckett (plant) and Pam Harrop.
THANK YOU
Jane thanked the members of the committee and the refreshment team Moira, Dee, Helen B and Janet C.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th JANUARY 2024
1. Welcome: Jane welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2024
2. Visitors: Jennie introduced the 6 visitors for the evening: Mary Finch, Irene Forrest, Margaret Byers, Sue Whittle, Stella Martin and Cynthia Carsberg
3. Tablecloth: Jennie gave an update on the progress and praised the members on their squares. Squares are still available if members want to complete a design
4. Wine Appreciation Group: Donna and Lydie announced the formation of this group. A themed tasting will be offered 6 times a year. The first tasting will be at Donna’s house on March 21st, interested members were asked to pay £10
5. Questionnaires: Jane thanked members for their replies. 88% liked the friendliness of the group. Nearly half stated liking the speakers and lots mentioned us being a lively group. Cakes and location also got mentioned. Several said they are willing to help but didn’t give add their name, names were requested
6. 2024 Charity: Jane announced that we will be raising funds for a sign board which will be installed along the new Lindow Heritage Trail. The aim is to launch the trail in July 2024, just weeks prior to the 40th anniversary of Lindow Man being discovered. This was an important historical event for Wilmslow. About 10 information boards are envisaged along the route to describe key locations, and sponsorship towards the cost of these is being sought. Fulshaw WI has been accepted to be one of these organisations. A target of between £1000 and £2000 is the range of expense being publicised. The committee have started discussing some fundraising.
7. Bursary: The winner was Benita Kasass. Alison Hampson talked about spending her bursary on a French polishing. She showed photos her of chair and table before and after polishing (the table was on display).
8. Resolution Voting: Full members were given a penny on arrival and asked to make their vote. Lucy announced the votes - Dental Health Matter - 24 votes, Impacts on poor housing conditions – 17 votes, Say ‘no’ to gambling advertising – 15 votes, Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System – 6 votes. All the votes will be passed to CFWI for inclusions in the NFWI numbers.
9. Raffle: The winners were Katy Hatton, Dot Bracegirdle, Angela Powell and Marie Masson.
0. Tea, Coffee and Cakes: Delicious cakes were provided by Jacquie Rabone, Susan Handley, Alison Etheridge and Helen Clark.
11. Speaker: Jane Holland welcomed Rajeev Gupta a Bhangracise instructor. Rajeev told us that Bhangra music and dance is traced back to the region of Punjab in North India. Bhangra originates as a folk dance performed by farmers. He was part of the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, working with Danny Boyle, he also taught Neil to dance Bhangra on Strictly: It Takes Two. He taught us our very own routine, building it up in stages and introducing us the sounds of the performance. Christine managed the music brilliantly and our performance can be seen on our Facebook page. It was great fun and a good way to warm up and work off the cake.
12. Vote of Thanks: Grace warmly thanked Rajeev.
13. Ending: Jane thanked the committee and members for their help during the evening and the ladies for the delicious cakes. Meeting ended at 9.30 pm.
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RECORD OF THE CHRISTMAS PARTY: MONDAY11th DECEMBER 2023
1. Welcome: Jane welcomed us to the 2023 Christmas party. Members had been asked to wear something relaxed and to be ready for dancing! There were lots of cowboy hats, fabulous checked shirts and jeans! We had welcome drinks and nibbles and sat down at the beautifully laid tables. The welcome drink was mulled cider or non-alcoholic mulled wine. The quizzes provided by Cathy Hessner were already on the table for us to work on through the meal.
2. The meal: Dee Waugh had cooked a delicious meal for all 80 of us – a choice of pulled pork in buns or a vegetarian meal and her own yummy puddings or fruit. Each table had a bottle of white and red wine and soft drink provided.
3. Entertainment: Jane Holland introduced our Line Dancing teacher for the evening Carol and her assistant. After the main course we were all invited into the adjacent room to learn some basic line dancing routines. The room was full and we all tried hard to follow the routines with mixed success! Some members were brilliant and soon got the routines and the rhythm. Others one by one dropped out to watch as they found the routines a bit too tricky. There was much fun and laughter and the music was infectious. Pudding followed and then we were split into two groups to dance again to reduce the density on the dance floor. This time everyone caught on very quickly and the dancing to music was excellent. Dancing finished at 9.35 and Jane H thanked Carol for her excellent instruction. We all gave them a very warm round of applause.
4. Quiz: Cathy went through the quiz answers with us. Fulshaw WI has some really excellent quizzers and the scores were very high. Chocolates were awarded to the winners. We all agreed that Cathy’s quizzes were excellent.
5. Raffle: The names of the winners of the 25 gorgeous hampers were drawn: - Barbara Death, Moira Rayner, Margaret Whitley, Helen Clark, Pamela Clements, Christine Kennedy, Diana Beech, Linda Brisbane, Helen Hosker, Linda Prinsloo, Jane Holland, Christine Lee, Kate Bryant, Lydie Donald, Grace Brierley, Val Drake, Sarah Irvine, Sally Hildrup, Pat Pinnock, Cathy Wallace, Penny Bowker, Jan Murray, Pauline Handley, Gillie Hanna & Sandra Ferrugia.
6. Thanks: Jane thanked the committee for all their hard work getting the party ready. A special thank you went to Dee for the wonderful meal and all the shopping she had to do to dress the tables and buy and cook the food. One lucky person on each table went home with a magnificent Poinsettia plant sourced by Dee.
7. Finish: The party ended at 10.00 pm and everyone helped to clear up. It was unanimously agreed that we had been treated to a really excellent and hugely enjoyable party. We felt lucky to be a member of Fulshaw WI!
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RECORD OF THE ANNUAL MEETING MONDAY 20th NOVEMBER 2023
1. Welcome: Our president Jane R welcomed us all to the Annual Meeting and introduced our WI advisor Angela Britland and teller Linda McDowell from The Heatons WI, to oversee the re-election of the committee and president for 2023-24.
2. Meeting Organisation: Julia gave out badges and organised the questionnaire, Carolynne took the register, Jackie and Nicola served Bucks Fizz, Margaret sold raffle tickets, and Val and Cathy were on events and selling party tickets. Christine K operated the projector and events slides, helped by Diane A. Seating was café style. Stalls were put on by Dee, Grace, Marita and Benita. Helen B sold Wilmslow Wells Christmas cards. Members were asked to fill in the tea rota for 2024.
3. Peaches Cheque presentation: Peaches Womb Cancer Trust was our chosen charity for 2023. Jane H thanked members for making cakes, volunteering, and donating lots of great tombola prizes. A physically huge cheque for £1,760.00 was presented and Dr Eleanor Jones accepted the cheque on behalf of the charity. Some of planning committee (Carolynne, Jennie, Dee, and Gillie) and the President assembled for a photo.
4. Treasurer’s Report: Val Drake summarised the accounts for the last financial year (October to September 2023). We have a healthy bank balance of ~£6000. Money was spent on a variety of events and activities, e.g. £600 on bursaries, £559 on activities and £411 on insurance and general expenditure. Visitors contributed £210. The net raffle income was £628. Members were asked to be sure to pay next year’s subs into the Fulshaw WI Nat West bank account and NOT the old RBS account which will be shut. Report proposed by Wendy M and seconded by Jean H.
5. Secretary’s Report: Julia (in Amanda’s absence) reviewed our many successful and varied activities and events held in 2023. Jane R (President) writes our informative monthly ‘Fulshaw Focus’ and Sheila is in charge of the WI website. ‘Talks’ included a mock court room, a cookery demonstration and a real WI Calendar Girl. Visits and activities included tree climbing, forest coastal riding, archery, netball, bowling, walking and cycling. Some of our WhatsApp organised groups are crafting, book group, bowling, board games and the very popular art group. Julia asked members to come forward with suggestions for days out that they are prepared to organize. The WI garden is looked after by members through the year, Green Tips for the Focus were provided by climate ambassadors Pauline and Diane. Julia emphasised our continuing focus on many aspects of sustainable living e.g. sharing lifts and recycling. Report proposed by Jane H and seconded by Jennie P.
6. The Presidents Report: Jane explained that we have had another very successful year and we now have 110 members with 40 on the waiting list and 16 more ladies waiting to go on the waiting list! At least 70 or more members attended each meeting this year (maximum 83 and minimum 66). In detail; 8 attended all 11 meetings, 78 have attended 6 or more. Leaving 32 who have attended 5 or less, of which 3 have not been to any meetings so please tell them what they are missing! Jane said ‘The WI vision is to create a world where women come together to learn, share skills, and work together to become active citizens, influencing change to improve lives in their local, national and global communities. I am proud of the way you embrace this vision. There have been lots of examples of skill sharing this year: baking, sewing and craft workshops, bowling tuition and art talks. Many of you have been involved in working together to help at the meetings, at our fundraiser or with leading events. You have responded to our requests for help (lots of you have baked cakes for charity) and have participated in our activities. You have given Fulshaw WI, your time, donations, loyalty, expertise and ideas. I love the vibe that we have at our meetings; we have become a group of friends who want to do good things together. You have also been encouraging and enthusiastic, making the role of President so much easier. Thanks to all of you who have helped with Fulshaw WI this year. Your committee this year has been hard working, supportive of each other (especially of me) and supportive of you the members. Committee meetings have been long, but fun, with plenty of laughter. Everyone has been willing to help at meetings and come up with lots of ideas to carry on the great work of Fulshaw WI. Thanks to you all. I would like to thank Sheila and Pauline who are leaving the committee. They will still be fulfilling useful roles, just not attending committee meetings. We are pleased to welcome Lucy Simmons, one of our newest members and Wendy Taylor onto the committee’.
7. Election of President for 2023: Angela Britland (our WI advisor) explained that we would be nominating the committee member who we would like to be president. Angela also told us that Jane was willing to stand again for president. However, Angela emphasised that during 2024 members must be looking for someone to replace Jane as president and that we should all consider if we would like to stand for the committee next year and possibly for president at the same time. Angela explained the NFWI rationale behind the voting procedure. All committee members stood on the platform and introduced themselves. We then made our nominations for president, and these were counted Linda McDowell (teller) and Angela. After tea Angela announced that Jane Rawlings was re-elected to be Fulshaw President for 2024.
8. Museum of Things: 12 members brought along old treasures to show us and Jane Holland organised the event. Members stood up to show us their ‘treasure’ and explained the story that went with it. Fascinating stories emerged – and we loved hearing them. Jane Holland started us off with an excellent old painting of the old ‘Circus’ at Belle Vue and had us in stitches with her description of the flea circus she vividly remembered from her childhood. Then followed: - Scholl Sandals (Jennie P), Lacrosse stick (Jane R), Textile Mill instruments (Grace), an army kitchen knife (Julia), a Teddy bear (Wendy M), well-travelled binoculars (Helen H), Mary Quant soft scrub (Diane A), Edwardian dressing table set (Morag), Silver bullet game (Pat P), and lastly Donna’s first cookery book. The stories of family members and events evoked by these items were very moving and entertaining.
9. Kitchen Rota: Dee issued thank you vouchers to all the tea ladies for 2023 who lined up on a very full platform and requested that members sign up to do cakes and teas next year.
10. Best preserve competition: Jennie P organised this event and 9 preserves had been tasted and judged during the evening. The winners were: 1st Sally Hildrup’s lemon curd: 2nd Amanda’s blackcurrant preserve (WI garden bush!): joint 3rd were Jennie P and Emma Smallwood also lemon curd. Jane presented them with prizes.
11. Raffle: prizes were won by Morag (basket of fruit) and Moira Rayner, Diana Boswell and Helen Clarke (vouchers).
12. Christmas Party: to be held on Monday 11th December at 7.00pm in the URC. (NB not at the Methodist Church) and come prepared to Line dance if you feel energised…
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16th OCTOBER 2023
1. Welcome: Jane welcomed everyone and congratulated members on their Halloween costumes! She gave a big thank you to Carolynne and her Committee who organised the very successful Peaches Charity Fund raising event which generated £1,400 on the day. The meeting voted to contribute another £167.00 donation from WI funds. The final sum raised overall was £1,650.Jane warmly thanked everyone who donated cakes and Tombola prizes and who helped on the day
2. Visitors: Jennie welcomed the visitors for the evening: Mary Lewis, Irene Forrest, Paula Pettit, Liza Hackney, Pat Lee & Carolyn Yardley.
3. Sewing machine workshop: Jennie offered two more places on 31st October at 2.00 pm.
4. Speaker 1: Jane Holland welcomed our story teller for Halloween, Adrian Palmer, who had entertained us last year. Adrian had an assistant with him to play atmospheric background music to augment his story telling. Adrian dramatically acted out the Strange Tale of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson using different voices for different characters, Adrian’s voice and personality filled the room for 55 minutes and everyone was very attentive indeed, applauding him enthusiastically at the end.
5. Vote of Thanks: Amanda warmly thanked Adrian for his spell binding Halloween story.
6. Speaker 2: After the tea break Pauline Handley introduced Sally Potts from the Mersey Rivers Trust who talked to us about her work on the BEACON project (Bollin Environmental & Conservation) about their efforts to investigate and improve the Bollin water quality. Sally gave us an excellent 15 minute PPT presentation which very clearly summarised the work she does with farmers and United Utilities. She also worked with microbiologists at the MMU who did a short project quantifying the faecal bacteria in the Bollin water at 5 different sampling points along the Bollin flowing through the Carrs on one day in August 2022 when over 100 people were playing and bathing in the river. The bacterial counts were very high on the sampling day so that the advice would be ‘not safe to bathe’. But there is no way to communicate this to the public and the counts are likely to vary greatly from day to day depending on whether there had been a sewage overflow event at the water treatment works. The microbiology has not been repeated and Sally has no funds to carry out more testing. Other volunteers regularly monitor the chemical levels e.g. phosphate that come from farm land and fly fishermen near Prestbury monitor indicator insects. Sally encouraged us to try the new App ‘The Big River Watch’ which anyone can do to record visually river conditions and wildlife present at one particular place and time.
7. Vote of Thanks: Pauline thanked Sally for her excellent talk which was both worrying (bacterial counts) and encouraging (ongoing monitoring). Sally was very warmly applauded.
8. Tea, Coffee & Cakes: delicious cakes were provided by Pat Pinnock, Christa Rodwell, Jennie Bordolli and Nicola Coleman.
9. Bursary: Julia Parr won and will find a Knitting Course.
10. Raffle: the winners were Mary Beckett, Barbara Berry, Pat Kelcey & Emma Smallwood. The meeting ended at 10.00 pm.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 18th SEPTEMBER 2023
- WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting. Our speaker Sally Potts (part two) presenting on River Bollin water quality had to cancel due to COVID. She will be invited back in October.
- Visitors: Jennie Palin welcomed and introduced the visitors:- Amanda’s guest Judy from Brisbane, Sue Wightman, Sue Henfrey, Sue Whittle, Melanie Davy, Linda Tinkler & Fiona Haji-Michael. Jennie requested that ladies on the waiting list, invited to be a visitor, should reply as soon as possible to Jennie’s invitations. Quite often people don’t respond in time for Jennie to ask someone else on the waiting list. This means that others on the list who could have come never got an invitation. Visitors who are enthusiastic and reply promptly will always be invited whenever possible.
- Speaker: Julia Parr introduced Judith Townsend who gave us a talk about her life as ‘The Bin Baby’. Judy gave us her inspirational life story about being discovered as a baby dumped in a sack on a rubbish tip in Malaysia in 1949. A man had found her on the tip and taken her (very much alive) to the local hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Judy was ‘lucky’ as the Matron looked after her and then took her to the orphanage where two New Zealand missionaries cared for the children. Judy went from school to school but she was always very angry and unhappy. She was given no love. She would ask ‘Who am I?' Judy survived huge emotional deprivation and at age 17 she got a job with a family as a Nanny at the naval base & she was taught to cook. Eventually she applied to be a nurse in England and she trained at the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary becoming a district nurse. Along the way she was married and had two daughters who are successful in their own careers and now Judy has five wonderful grandchildren. Judy told us that she overcame her dreadful unhappiness at age 17 by becoming a Christian and finding faith and peace and now eventually she is very happy learning the real meaning of love through her grandchildren.
- Vote of thanks: Judy was very warmly applauded and Amanda gave the vote of thanks. The tea break followed
- Peaches fund raising coffee morning: Thursday 5th October at the URC. Amanda asked more members to sign up for making cakes, and helping on the day. More Tombola prizes are needed. MEMBERS AND FRIENDS ARE ALL WARMLY WELCOMED TO THIS IMPORTANT FUND RAISING EVENT.
- Tea & Fizz Ladies: Tea, coffee and cakes were generously provided by Alison H, Anne Kerr, Cathy Wallace & Viv Marr. Fizz was served by Dee and Jacquie.
- Raffle: Margaret Whitley drew the raffle and the following members won £15 vouchers: Pat Kelcey, Elaine Ockleton, Helen Hosker & Marjorie Mellor won a large potted Crysanthemum plant.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th JULY 2023
WELCOME
Members were welcomed to the evening meeting by the President, Jane Rawlings and guests were welcomed by Julia Parr.
THANK YOU DAY
The meeting started with a rendition of “Thank you for being my friend” to acknowledge and thank all the WI members who are carers for relatives and friends. The singing was led by a small but plucky group of members who had sung the song at the URC as part of a national initiative to thank carers.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland gave a very warm welcome to the speaker, Tricia Stewart.
Tricia is one of the original WI calendar girls and entertained us with a behind the scenes stories of the journey from the first suggestion of a tasteful nude calendar through to the success of the film, stage play and musical. She talked about how honoured she was to be played by Helen Mirren in the film, how exciting it was to promote the fundraising all over the world and how proud she was that they have raised over £6m so far for Blood Cancer UK.
Vote of thanks by Amanda Stevens.
EVENTS
The events table was manned by Cathy and Wendy. Tickets were on sale for our charity coffee morning, 5th October at the URC and members could sign up with Amanda, as helpers and/or cake bakers.
“YOUR GARDEN IN A JAM JAR COMPETITION''
Members were issued with 1p coins so they could vote for their favourite flower displays. There were 10 entries, the standard was very high and the results were as follows.
First - Pat Pinnock
Second - Gail Jackson
Third - Alison Boddington
CFWI MEMBER SURVEY
Cheshire Federation had asked all member WIs to consult on the following questions. Fulshaw voted by show of hands.
What name would you prefer to call the Head of the Federation and the Head of each Sub Committee? Currently named Chairman.
Chair - 61 votes
Chairman - 1 vote
Chairwoman - 8 votes
Abstention - 1 vote
NB. Members asked why Chairperson was not an option.
What would you prefer to call our subcommittees?
Sub committees - 62 votes
Teams - 9 votes
CFWI are looking for venues that seat 500+ and have ample parking. If anyone could recommend places please speak to Amanda Stevens.
WRITING COMPETITION
Fulshaw WI had run a writing competition to encourage members to write a piece that can be submitted for the NFWI competition. Our winner was Jane Rawlings.
BURSARY
Ann Kerr talked about using her bursary to take 1 day courses in furniture up-cycling and upholstery. She recommended the up-cycling course run by a woman from Pear Mill.
Carolynne drew the bursary winner for July. It was Lesley Wilson.
RAFFLE
The raffle was drawn. The winners were Chris Lee, Janice Mead, Jane Holland and Sally Hildrup (hanging baskets)
Jane thanked the committee, Margaret for organising the raffle, and the tea ladies Alison, Gail, Maureen and Sally for excellent refreshments.
Jane wished everyone a happy summer break.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 18th September.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 19th JUNE 2023
WELCOME Members were welcomed to the member only evening meeting by the secretary Amanda Stevens.
TABLECLOTH
Amanda talked about plans that the committee had to create a Fulshaw WI tablecloth. This would be used at each monthly meeting on the table on the stage. Alongside the cross-stitch banner already made by members it would help create a WI focal point for our meetings. No design features have been finalised, but any member interested in contributing to the project should speak to Amanda in the tea break.
SPEAKER
Amanda introduced the speaker, Olivia Potts.
In April 2020 we were unable to meet in person due to Covid. The President at the time seamlessly introduced Zoom meetings and 78 members signed in to watch Olivia make 3 types of bread all without yeast (a scarce resource in London at the time). She was working in her own, tiny kitchen and doing her own filming on her mobile phone. The presentation was so well received we agreed to invite Olivia back in person.
Olivia’s latest book is all about butter and her talk was designed to share her passion for this versatile ingredient with the audience. She made butter from double cream and browned butter to make a delicious sponge cake and icing. Samples were enjoyed by all.
Vote of thanks by Margaret Whitley.
THANK YOU DAY
Carolynne Powell talked about the national “Thank you Day” on Sunday 2nd July. This is an opportunity to thank carers, and this year in particular, carers for people with dementia. The WI is supporting Tony Christie in a public rendition of “Thankyou for Being my Friend”. Anyone interested in joining in can learn the words and tune on a webinar with Tony Christie on Wednesday 21st June. Why not join Carolynne at her house for the webinar and a glass of wine? See Carolynne in the tea break.
EVENTS
The events table was manned by Cathy and Val. Jane asked all members to note the new events email address and bank details as outlined Fulshaw Focus.
GREAT BIG GREEN QUIZ
A short climate change quiz had been prepared by Pauline Handley and was presented by Diane Atkinson. It was based on carbon footprint information from the book “How Bad are Bananas?” The message was that we should all be aware of our carbon footprint and take reasonable steps to reduce our impact. We were urged to talk about this with our friends and family.
RAFFLE
The raffle was drawn. The winners were Maureen Nicholson (fuchsia), Sarah Cooke, Viv Marr, Cherry Dolden (vouchers) and Helen Hopkins (book).
COMPETITIONS
Entries for the writing competition should be forwarded to Jane for judging.
Jane thanked the committee, Marita for supporting the welcome team, Margaret for organising the raffle, the tea ladies Rosemary, Emma, Janet and Jean for excellent refreshments and Pauline and Diane for a thought-provoking quiz.
Tables need to be taken down and chairs set out to church style so members were asked to help.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 17th July. Tricia Stewart, One of the Original Calendar Girls
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 15th MAY 2023
1. WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting.
2. Visitors: Jennie Palin welcomed and introduced Jenny Sangway, Di Featonby, Gill Paulson, Anne Ball, Jackie Stanley, Linda Snape, Carolyn Yardley & Sue Whittle. Jennie explained that we have been able to add 10 new names to the waiting list, it remains at 40.
3. Speaker: Jane Holland introduced Kerry Daynes who is a consultant Psychologist, chartered Scientist and member of the Science Council. She is one of the UKs best known psychologists, working in her field for over 20 years. Kerry spent the first part of her career working in forensic mental health, including the Prison Service. She also worked in the NHS and the public health sector secure psychiatric services. She acted as a psychological specialist in major police investigations. Kerry has published two books on Forensic psychology and one, ‘The dark side of the mind’ was a Sunday Times best seller. At 21 Kerry began her career at Wakefield Prison (‘Monster mansion’) working with sex offenders and murderers (e.g. Bellfield, Shipman & Bronson). However, the main topic of Kerry’s talk was about the many years she suffered from debilitating on-line stalking and abuse from an unknown male. He had bought up all the ‘Kerry Daynes’ domain names and proceeded to insult and abuse her and her reputation online. Eventually she took him to Court at great expense but always she was failed by the police who let the man go free. Her whole life and behaviour was badly affected due to the permanent threat. The stalking got worse but finally as she said ‘I got angry’ and she went on TV and joined with other victims of stalking and the Susie Lamplugh Foundation. Kerry has been influential in getting a stronger law on stalking through Parliament. Just this week she heard that Cheshire Constabulary has been awarded a grant of £3 million to set up a multidisciplinary team to fight stalking and prosecute offenders and tag them.
4. Vote of thanks: Kerry was very warmly applauded and Grace Brierley gave the vote of thanks. The tea break followed.
5. ‘Thank you day’: The NFWI is proposing to have a day on Sunday 2nd July to remember and celebrate ‘unsung heroes’ around the UK. Carolynne Powell told us about the event and explained that singers were being requested from WIs around the country to act as ‘flash mobs’ in churches or supermarkets etc. The song would be ‘Thank you for being my friend’. This would only work if there are enough members volunteering to sing. Anyone interested in organising this event and singing in it should email Carolynne at [email protected]
6. Volunteering opportunities: Following on from the Coronation Bank Holiday Monday ‘help out’ events around the country, Julia Parr suggested that our WI members might want to volunteer locally. She introduced a new feature to our meetings where our members have the chance to share their experience of being a volunteer.
a. Quarry Bank Mill: Morag Briscoe is a volunteer at Quarry Bank Mill and she told us about her work with visiting school children groups at the Mill. She tells them all about life for children in the Mill and the hardships they had to endure in their mill work etc. Morag also does crafts with the children showing them how to make things. E.g.dreamcatchers. Gardening and archive volunteers are also welcome at the National Trust at the Mill. Contact Quarry Bank Mill directly for joining details.
b. Wilmslow Library: Kate Sibthorp told us about a new group she is setting up with the Library where anyone can go along for a social experience including people with learning disabilities (Kate’s own daughter has learning disabilities). Activities such as adult colouring & various crafts would be done. This relaxed social event would be on a Thursday between 10.30 and 12.00 am. Members should email Kate on [email protected] if they are interested in helping Kate run the group.
7. Tea Ladies: Tea, coffee and cakes were provided by Diana Beech, Rosie Reid, Jennie Banfield, Pam Harrop, Benita Kassas & Heather Christiansen.
8. Raffle: Margaret Whitley drew the raffle and the following members won £15 vouchers: Jennie Palin, Sandra Holmes & Elaine Ockleton with Christine Lee winning a large pot of lilies.Meeting ended at 10.10 pm and the next meeting will be on Monday 19th June.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th APRIL 2023
1.WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the 1st meeting of the membership year. She told us that seven ladies have left so ladies will be being invited from the waiting list. Jane told us the excellent news that Wendy Morris has been elected deputy Chairman of CFWI. Also, that Dee Waugh had won the competition for making a gavel with her fabulous chocolate cake and block at the NECG meeting at which the Auctioneer Adam Partridge spoke.
- VISITORS: Jennie Palin introduced the visitors for the evening: - Sue Henfrey, Liza Hackney, Helen Clark and Sue Wightman. New members Marjorie Mellor and Lucy Simmons were also introduced.
- SPEAKERS: Jane Holland explained that this is our annual charity evening and there would be three speakers talking to us about three very different groups:-
- Emmaus: Ian Lloyd-Jones told us about the fascinating history of this South Manchester charity that started in France after WWII. They support people in the community and homeless people. Emmaus needs donations of good quality furniture and they have a furniture store that we can all visit. https://emmaus.org.uk/south-manchester .
- Save Danes Moss Campaign: Gordon Richardson told us about this precious peatland nature reserve on the outskirts of Macclesfield that is under serious threat from a huge Cheshire East Council housing development. A group of 10 trustees are running a campaign to save Danes Moss peat bog for wildlife and people to enjoy. Very importantly it would be a natural carbon sink capturing many tonnes of CO2 if restored to a healthy mossland. We were asked to sign a petition to ask the Council to discuss saving the mossland from development: https://savedanesmoss.com
- Peaches Womb Cancer Trust: Dr Helena O’Flynn spoke eloquently about the aims of the charity and how it was set up in South Manchester hospitals. Helena explained the two main types of womb cancer and the symptoms that women should be aware of in order to get medical advice and treatment. Often symptoms go unrecognised for too long. https://peachestrust.org. Peaches is the Fulshaw WI chosen charity for 2023 and we will be fund raising for it later in the summer.
- Amanda Stevens gave the votes of thanks to all three speakers who were very warmly applauded.
- LOU GARDINER AWARD: Lou is a nationally renowned contemporary embroiderer and Amanda explained about our WI Lou Gardiner craft award. Seven entries had been received for the 2023 ‘New Beginnings’ competition and members voted during the evening for their favourite. The three top scorers were: - 3rd. Jane Rawlings: a ceramic new birth gift. 2nd. Grace Brearley: a hand sewn multi-coloured quilt. 1st: Benita Kassas: a child’s floppy rabbit (winning by one vote!). Amanda presented her with the trophy, she also has a cheque for £50. Julia handed out pennies and counted the votes.
- NFWI ANNUAL RESOLUTION; Clean rivers for people and wildlife. Jane asked members to vote to allow our delegate Ann Booth to vote for NFWI to adopt the resolution at the Annual Meeting. Also, to allow Ann to approve slight changes to wording. Both were agreed unanimously.
FINANCES: Fulshaw WI currently has £9,818 in the bank and after subtracting the costs for the rest of the membership year we will have £4,833 remaining. Fulshaw WI is in a healthy financial situation. - BURSARY WINNER: Donna told us about her recent win and the new skills she acquired including BBQ cooking and navigation training. The Bursary winner for this quarter was Jennie Banfield.
- EVENTS: The events table was manned by Cathy Hessner and Val Drake who were taking bookings and payment for the Adventure golf and lunch, Coach trip to Wedgewood and Trentham gardens, intro into Padel tennis, Clayton Hall Living History Museum, Staircase House and Stockport Heritage Trail, tree climbing at Capesthorne Hall and an Archery session at Goyt Mill.
- RAFFLE: Voucher winners: Sue Henfrey, Jane Holland, Nina Merrick, and Gail Jackson won the fruit box. Emma Smallwood declined the fruit.
- REFRESHMENT TEAM: Gillie Hanna. Penny Bowker, Helen Hosker and Katy Hatton.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th MARCH 2023
1)WELCOME. President, Jane Rawlings, welcomed members to the March meeting.
Secretary, Amanda Stevens welcomed visitors and a new member.
2)SPEAKER. Jane Holland introduced the speaker Sue Holden. Sue, a retired solicitor, gave an intriguing, illustrated talk about all the little known factors that conspired to cause the sinking of the Titanic on 15th April 1912.
3)ANY OTHER BUSINESS. Following a vote of thanks for the speaker the meeting took a short break to enjoy tea and cake, to book events at the events table and to check out the book swap.
4) BUSINESS
Thank you letters from:
• the February speaker. Her fee and our collection raised £109.60 for Cancer Research and
• Wilmslow Wells for Africa who had raised £1462 at their souperday with help from cake makers at Fulshaw WI.
Bare Essentials coffee morning raised over £1,100, this event was supported by several members.
RESULTS : 2023 RESOLUTIONS CFWI (NFWI)
Save our water - every drop matters : 940 (8045)
"Women to Women - turning over a new leaf in the lives of women tea workers" : 428 (23,326)
Online gambling harm: time for action : 1,187 (25,164)
Clean rivers for people and wildlife: 1,439 (36,736)
NFWI Board of Trustees has put forward the top resolution for the Annual Meeting in May.
RAFFLE The raffle was drawn after the break. The winners were Morag, Sue H, Moira and Dee (plant).
The President reminded members to pay their Annual Subscription before the 31st March if they wanted to guarantee their membership for the coming year.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th FEBRUARY 2023
1. WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting.
2. VISITORS: Jennie Palin introduced the visitors for the evening: - Irene Forest, Stella Martin, Evelyne Gerard, Margaret Byers and Linda Brisbane.
3. SPEAKER: Jane Holland introduced Jane Thomas who told us about the history of the Pearly Kings & Queens in London. Jane trained to be a dress maker in London. Her first job was in the Old Kent Road, and she became fascinated by pearl buttons. Through this fascination Jane met some of the Pearly Kings and Queens which has given her a lifelong interest in all their meetings, activities and family histories. The history of the ‘Pearlies’ is part of London’s social history and Jane told us about the links between the Pearlies and the music hall in particular. The families raise money for charity as part of their activities. Jane showed us many pictures of the amazing jackets and trousers they wear to this day. Jane gives all her speaker fee to cancer research and the proceeds from selling us some lovely pearl button holes. Amanda Stevens gave the vote of thanks and we warmly applauded Jane.
4. FULSHAW FOCUS ‘GREEN CORNER’ : After the tea break Pauline Handley introduced the monthly Green Corner feature that she and Diane Atkinson write (they are both Cheshire WI Climate Ambassadors). Pauline asked members to calculate their personal carbon footprint (see: footprint.wwf.org.uk ) and then follow the green corner suggestions from her and Diane over the year to try and reduce it. The focus will be on ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’.
5. FULSHAW WI LOU GARDINER AWARD:
a. Amanda won this last year with her knitted jumper. When she was in Australia visiting family recently Amanda did a course in leather work and made a beautiful belt. The theme this year is ‘New Beginnings’ and the deadline for entries is the 31st March.
b. Also, Amanda asked members if they would like to embroider ‘a flying acorn’ to be part of Lou Gardiner’s commissioned embroidered cloak art installation to be exhibited by a Scottish art collector.
6. TRAUMA TEDDIES: Dee Waugh asked volunteers to knit trauma teddies for the Wilmslow Fire Station staff to give to children if they have been emotionally affected by a fire or accident. This followed on from the very successful recent visit made by members to the station. Jennie Palin has provided a pattern for those who are interested. Click this link for details: TRAUMA TEDDY. Dee also advertised her Cup Cake Bouquet workshop (4-6 people at £45 per head). Please let her know if interested.
7. WI SUPPORTERS: Wendy Morris referred us to February's WI Life, telling us about the NFWI promotion of new ways to join the WI without being full members (also open to men): WI Supporter (£5 per year) and WI Supporter + (£18 per year + WI Life and 2 online Denman courses.)
8. EVENTS The Events Table was manned by Cathy Hessner & Julia Parr who were taking bookings and payment for the NECG meeting, Coach trip to Wedgewood & Trentham Gardens, Footloose by Tempo, Colour Me Beautiful workshop & These Shining Lives at WGR.
9. TEA AND CAKES: Refreshments were prepared and served by Barbara Death, Jackie Rabone, Helen Battilana & Dee Waugh
10. RAFFLE: The four raffle winners were: Christine Lee (Camelia plant) and three John Lewis vouchers went to Joan Kershaw, Dee Waugh & Carolynne Powell.
11. NEXT MEETING Monday 20th March 2023.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 16th JANUARY 2023
1. WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed 73 members to the meeting and told members about the safety procedures.
2. VISITORS: Jennie introduced the 5 visitors for the evening – Vivienne Marr, Majorie Mellor, Helen Clark, Mary Lewis and Sheila Fitzgerald.
3. SPEAKER: Julia Parr welcomed Lynn Moores and Nick Sheardown from Manchester Magistrates Court who explained the workings of a magistrate’s court and who then went on to hold a mock trial with participation from several Fulshaw ladies. Unfortunately, Carolynne P, the Defendant was found guilty by the presiding Magistrates Anne K and Rosie R after listening to evidence given by Marita. Diana Beech, Benita and Alison Hampson also took part. Grace gave the vote of thanks.
4. NEW EVENTS: Benita updated members on a couple of talks and a trip to Trentham and Wedgewood, events arranged by the Fulshaw Art Group. Dee gave further information about the visit to Wilmslow Fire Station.
5. RESOLUTION: VOTING: Jean Hill explained about the process to vote for the 2023 Resolution and congratulated CFWI on their presentations. Pauline Handley helped to collect the votes during the break. The votes cast were as follows: Save our Water 19 (now 20), Fair Pay for Tea Workers 13, Online Gambling 30, Clean Rivers 15. There were no Abstentions.
6. EVENTS: The events table was manned by Val Drake and Cathy Wallace who were taking bookings and payment for the visit to Wilmslow Fire Station, Rode Hall, Footloose and Viet Bowl
7. TEA AND CAKES: Refreshments were prepared and served by Anne Cichoki, Annmarie Lambert, Alison Etheridge and Kate Bryant
8. BURSARY: The bursary for this month was won by Jackie Wortley. Dot Bracegirdle told us how she had used her bursary to attend a bread baking course.
9. RAFFLE: The four raffle winners were Janet Saxton, Alison Etheridge, Emma Smallwood (JL vouchers) and Sally Hilldrup (fruit basket).
10. NEXT MEETING: Monday 20th February 2023
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21st NOVEMBER 2022
Welcome: Jane welcomed us all to the Annual Meeting and introduced our WI advisor Angela Britland and teller Sue Johnson from The Heatons WI, to oversee the re-election of the committee and president for 2022-23.
- Meeting Organisation: Irene gave out badges & organised the charity vote, Wendy Taylor took the register, Julia Parr and Jackie Wortley served fizz, Emma Smallwood and Margaret Whitley sold raffle tickets, Wendy Morris sold party tickets, & Val Drake took payment. Christine Kennedy ran the projector and PPT slides, helped by Diane Atkinson. Seating was café style. Stalls were put on by Dee Waugh, Grace Brearley & Marita Pearce.
- Treasurer’s Report: Val Drake summarised the accounts for the last financial year (September to September). We have 110 members (5 joint members) and a healthy bank balance of ~£7000. Money was spent on a variety of events and activities, e.g. £675 on bursaries, £740 on activities and £417 on insurance and general expenditure. Visitors contributed £215. Report proposed by Jane Rawlings & seconded by Margaret Whitley.
- Secretary’s Report: Julia Parr reviewed our many successful and varied activities and events held in 2022. Jane Rawlings (president) writes our informative monthly ‘Fulshaw Focus’ and Sheila oversees the WI website. ‘Talks’ included chocolate tasting, storytelling, and a self-defence evening. Visits included Jodrell Bank, a Dairy & Gorton Monastery. Activities included bowling, cycling, book group, and our summer garden party to celebrate 100 years of the CFWI, raising £600+ for Christies Macclesfield. Our inaugural Lou Gardiner craft award was won by Amanda. The WI garden was looked after by members through the year, Green Tips for the Focus were provided by climate ambassadors Diane & Pauline. We donate to Bare Necessities and raise money for Wilmslow Wells. Report proposed by Jane Rawlings and seconded by Christine Kennedy.
- The Presidents Report: Jane thanked the committee for all their hard work and the many members who help at meetings and in so many other ways e.g. leading walks, organising meals out etc. Irene is retiring from the committee and Cathy Hessner has joined. Jane ended by saying what a pleasure it is to be the president of Fulshaw WI.
- Election of President for 2023: Angela Britland (our WI advisor) explained that we would be voting for the committee member who we would like to be president. All committee members stood on the platform and introduced themselves. We voted for president and votes were counted (by Sue Johnson (teller) and Angela). Angela announced that Jane Rawlings was re-elected to be Fulshaw President for 2023.
- Christmas Taste Test: Sheila organised a taste test for members. Each table was given 5 plates of food containing crisps, smoked salmon, Panettone, mince pies and Stollen. On each plate were products from 3 supermarkets. Members ranked these with 3, 2 and 1 points. The winners were surprising Aldi (crisps), Lidl (smoked salmon), Asda (Panettone), Iceland (mince pies) and Waitrose (Stollen).
- Voting for our Annual Charity: Irene announced that the winner by two votes was Peaches Womb Cancer Trust.
- Christmas Market at the Rugby Club: Ann-Marie promoted her stall supporting the Wilmslow Animal Sanctuary on Saturday 10th December from 11-4.0pm.
- Bursary: Cathy Wallace received a bursary before lockdown, and she decided to create a website to promote her writing. Cathy wrote an inspiring piece called ‘The WI: you are kidding’ which she read out, explaining how and when she joined and about all the many amazing experiences she has had and all the friendships she has made with Fulshaw WI.
- Vintage Wardrobe Items: 30 members dressed in their oldest article of clothing and Jane Holland organised the event. Members stood up to show us their vintage outfit and explained the story that went with it. Fascinating stories emerged – and we loved hearing them! The winner (the oldest item) was Sandra Holmes who wore a fabulous faux fur jacket that had been lent out to friends for many weddings over many decades.
- Kitchen Rota: Dee issued vouchers to the tea ladies for 2022 and requested that members sign up to do cakes and teas next year.
- Raffle: prizes were won by Susan Handley, Nicola Colman, Alison Hampson, Marie Masson & Kate Bryant.
- Christmas Party: to be held on Monday 12th December at 7.0pm in the URC.
- The meeting ended at 10.20pm
RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2022
1.WELCOME: President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting and told members about the safety procedures. Members were asked to avoid being in photographs taken by Wendy Morris if they did not want to be on the WI social media. Jane read out a lovely letter from Jill Ollerenshaw who has moved south but who really enjoyed her time with Fulshaw WI where she made many friends. Adam George from the Christie Macclesfield wrote to thank Fulshaw WI whole heartedly for their donation of £615 raised at the summer tea party.
2. VISITORS: Jennie introduced the visitors for the evening who were unable to come to the cancelled September meeting due to the Queen’s funeral: - Jenny Sangway, Di Featonby, and Linda Tinkler. Jennie also welcomed our new member Doranne Bide.
3. SPEAKER: Jane Holland (Speaker secretary) explained that the speaker for the last cancelled meeting of a Mock Magistrates Court had been rebooked for a meeting next year instead. Jane then introduced our speaker for the evening - Jayne Shaw from Cocoa Nut Grove chocolate. Jayne had been an English teacher for 9 years and decided to give it up and learn how to make and sell chocolates. Jayne won a ‘Great taste’ award for her chocolates but has now had to close the business for financial reasons. However, Jayne still made lots of yummy chocolate to share with the Fulshaw members for our chocolate tasting evening. Jayne had brought six delicious chocolates along for us to taste and she told us their composition and explained the favour and how she had applied the exquisite transfer sheets for decoration. The gold/red/green transfers were beautiful. Members were able to buy Jayne’s delicious chocolates in the tea interval. Grace gave the vote of thanks
4. SUMMER PHOTOGRAPH COMPETITION: Christine had prepared a PPT loop of the photographs that had been entered for the competition on the theme of summer. Members watched them during the tea break and then when we had all reassembled the winner was chosen by a show of hands. The outright winner was by Alison Boddington of a bumble bee taking nectar from the flower head of a chive.
5.EVENTS The events table was manned by Wendy Morris, Anne Kerr and Val Drake who were taking bookings and payment for the Christmas party, Manchester Art walk, the Musical ‘The Christmas Carol’ at the Leisure Centre and names for Buzzy Bee Bakery. Pauline collected pledges for encouraging more wildlife into our gardens.
6. TEA AND CAKES: Refreshments were prepared and served by Barbara Death, Rosemary Bradley, Jackie Rabone and Pat Kelcey.
7. BURSARY: the bursary for this month was won by Dot Bracegirdle.
8.RAFFLE The four raffle winners for October Ann Cichoki, Gillie Hanna, Sarah Ervine and ANO. Prizes for the cancelled September meeting were also drawn and four vouchers were won by Caroline Sacco, Ann Cichocki, Benita Kasass and Jackie Wortley. A lovely autumn flower arrangement made by Jackie Rabone was won by Pauline Handley.
NEXT MEETING Monday 21st November will be the Annual Meeting.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 18th JULY 2022
1. WELCOME
Our President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting on the hottest day of the year! Member hosts were Gillie and Marita. Jenniewelcomed a few visitors and explained that every member must provide an ICE (In Case of Emergency) name and number for the WI records. This is to enable the WI to contact a close friend or relative who would be ready and available to come to the assistance of the member in case of an accident or emergency during a WI event. On behalf of member Jacqui Rathbone, Jennie asked if anyone would like to look after a delightful cockapoo from the 12-22nd August (with pay) while the owner is on holiday (contact Jacqui). Dee gave the members details of our games and lunch event on 2nd August.
2. SPEAKER Jane Holland (Speaker secretary) introduced our speaker Alison Utting to talk about the life and work of Eglantyne Jebb (1876-1928) who was one of six children born in Ellesmere, Shropshire. Eglantyne was a British social reformer and she set up Save the Children at the end of the First World War to relieve the effects of famine in Austria-Hungary and Germany where living conditions for children were appalling. She wrote the document that became the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child’ which is still adopted worldwide by every country except the USA. The Jebbs were a well off family with a strong social conscience and commitment to public service. Alison is a passionate advocate for Eglantyne and her family, particularly her mother and sister Dorothy. Alison told us Eglantyne’s life story in detail. Eventually Eglantyne took a degree in history, tried to be a teacher (class of 60 juniors!) which she hated, changed to research about charity work in Cambridge thentook a dangerous journey to Macedonia to deliver cash (in person) to a relief fund. She then translated and published news during the war from German newspapers that showed how starvation and suffering was rife in Europe; infinitely worse than in the UK. This experience led Eglantyne and Dorothy to set up the Save the Children fund which has gone from strength to strength. Alison supported her talk with numerous family photos of the Jebb family and we felt by the end that we had met for the first time a very brave, influential, important woman who very few of us had ever heard of. Thank you Alison! Grace gave the vote of thanks.
3. EVENTS The events table was manned by Sheila and Val. Booking was for a tour of Gorton Monastery on Monday 3rd October, NECG Autumn meeting, Mezze meal and L4P day out in Chester.
4. TEA AND CAKESMaureen Nicholson, Alison Boddington, Grace Brierley and Dee Waugh served our refreshments. Cakes were also provided by Sally Hildrup who tested positive for COVID a few hours before the meeting.
5. THE BURSARY DRAW was won by Annmarie Lambert.
6. RAFFLEThe four raffle winners were Anne Shaw, Lydie Donald, Jane Rawlings and Moira Rayner.
7. CLOSURE OF MEETING Jane thanked the committee, especially Christine and Diane for the slide shows. She also thanked the members, Cherry, Marita and Grace for their contributions. Jane encouraged members to send in a photo of Summer for the September competition and to knit bobble hats for the Christmas tree.
8. NEXT MEETINGMonday 19th September: Lynn Moores: Mock Magistrates Court. There will be a zoom premeeting on 5th September at 7.30pm on How a Magistrate court works. Zoom link in Focus and on the website.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 20th JUNE 2022
1. WELCOME President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting. Member hosts were Diana Beech, Benita Kassas and Rosie Reid. Jane congratulated Wendy Morris who has been appointed member representative on the NFWI Training & Development committee. Jane reported that the committee are considering increasing the membership from 104 to 110. The members voted overwhelmingly to support this motion. Jennie Palin welcomed the visitors.
2. REPORT FROM THE NFWI AM AT LIVERPOOL Jennie read out her excellent report on the recent AM in Liverpool. A group of three Fulshaw members had attended, staying for the weekend in a hotel. Jennie said how wonderful and uplifting the whole experience had been and that she thoroughly recommended members to think about attending the next meeting in Cardiff in 2023.
3. SPEAKERJane Holland (Speaker secretary) introduced our speaker Malcolm Macfarlane to talk about Great Musicals of Stage and Screen. He delighted us with recordings of great show tunes going back to Show Boat in 1927 and onto the present day. He encouraged us to sing along and we did try. Luckily it did not matter if we only partly remembered the words. Malcolm played songs from well over 20 musicals and it was a cheerful happy way to spend the meeting. Grace gave the vote of thanks.
4. EVENTS The events table was manned by Sheila who was taking bookings for the National Arboretum trip, Salford Art Gallery, Jodrell Bank and the Arley Hall Sculpture visit.
5. THE OLDEST FOOD ITEM IN THE CUPBOARDMany members brought items along with lots of different ‘best before’ dates on them, but the winner was Diana Beech with a packet of Arrowroot from 1983! Julia presented her with some chocolates and encouraged her to consume them before the end date.
6. TEA AND CAKESRefreshments were prepared and served by Chris Lee, IreneNottingham, Sandra Holmes and Carol Casting (a visitor). Meet the committee slides were shown on screen.
7. RAFFLEThe four raffle winners were Pat Pinnock, Sheila Parker, Dee Waugh and Julia Parr.
8. NEXT MEETINGMonday 18th July: Alison Utting on the Life of Eglantine Jebb; founder of Save the Children.
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 11th APRIL 2022
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to a new WI year and explained that 9 members have left so this allows 9 from the waiting list to join Fulshaw WI. Jane welcomed 2 visitors who are looking to set up a new WI. She also went through the H&S arrangements. Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list and new members. Member hosts Alison Boddington, Sally Hildrup and Maureen Nicholson were thanked for their support.
SPEAKERS
Jane Holland, Speaker coordinator, introduced our speakers. It was our Annual Charity Evening where we welcome local charities to talk to us. Wendy stood in for Sheila to talk about Open Kitchen in Manchester. We welcomed Sue from Macclesfield to talk about making blankets for the homeless from crisp packets, and Heather from The Christie, to talk about the new development in Macclesfield. Fascinating and inspirational projects. Vote of thanks by Grace Brearley
DONATIONS & DISPLAYS
Dee’s winning handbag cake from the NECG competition was admired. Members brought used stamps (for Leprosy charity) and toiletries bags (for Bare Necessities). Jennie’s version of WInnie, the corgi was on display. Material was available for making bags for Bare Necessities.
EVENTS
The events table was selling tickets Fulshaw afternoon teas.
RAFFLE
The 4 raffle winners were Emma Smallwood, Barbara Death, Christa Rodwell and Irene Nottingham.
BURSARY
Jill Ollerenshaw won the bursary draw.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 16th May - Self Defence
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RECORD OF MEETING MONDAY 21ST MARCH 2022
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting and explained the H&S arrangements. Jennie Palin welcomed visitors from our waiting list. Member hosts Wendy Morris and Pauline Handley were thanked for their support. Jennie also spoke about signing up to maintain the WI garden
SPEAKER
Jane Holland, Speaker coordinator, welcomed textile artist Lesley Bull. Lesley gave us a brief history of Venice and the Venetian Carnival. She brought along five of her dresses and talked about their creation and the making of masks. Costumes modelled by Anne Crawford and Donna Johnstone. Vote of thanks by Grace Brearley
DONATIONS & DISPLAYS
Members brought used stamps (for Leprosy charity) toiletries and toiletries bags (for Bare Necessities). The Lou Gardiner craft award and Jennie’s version of WInnie, the corgi were on display. Material was available for making bags for Bare Necessities.
EVENTS
The events table was busy selling tickets for the NECG and Fulshaw afternoon teas.
RAFFLE
The 4 raffle winners were Helen Battilana, Pat Pinnock, Morag Briscoe and Pat Langan.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 11th April – Local Charities.
__________________________________________________________________Monday 21st February 2022
WELCOME
President Jane Rawlings welcomed members to the meeting and explained the H&S arrangements. Jennie Palin welcomed 8 visitors from our waiting list. Member hosts Cathy Wallace and Pat Langan were thanked for their support.
SPEAKER
Jane Holland, Speaker coordinator, explained that the booked speaker had been forced to pull out at the very last minute. Lady Wildflower lives in Hebden Bridge where flooding had led to disruptions in public transport.
Actor and storyteller Adrian Palmer volunteered to stand in and was very much appreciated by the audience. He had them mesmerised with 2 stories, “The Ant and the Grasshopper” by Somerset Maugham and “The way up to heaven” by Roald Dahl.
DONATIONS
Members brought used stamps (for Leprosy charity) toiletries and toiletries bags (for Bare Necessities) and knitted cream egg easter chicks (Francis House Hospice). They also signed up to make cakes for Wilmslow Wells for Africa Souperday and to tend the WI garden.
EVENTS
The events table was busy just like it used to be before covid.
RAFFLE
The 5 raffle winners were Jill Ollerenshaw, Dee Waugh, Janet Saxton, Sandra Scott and Diane Beech. The 5th prize, a bonus for this month, was a Burlesque colouring book in honour of Lady Wildflower.
BURSARY
Dee Waugh displayed examples of the characters she has learnt to make on her cake decorating modelling course. This course was part funded with her bursary win. Rosie Reid was the winner of the delayed January Bursary draw.
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Monday 17th January 2022
WELCOME
Jane Rawlings welcomed everyone to her first monthly meeting as President. She explained the emergency fire procedures and asked members to wear their face masks when not drinking or eating. Visitors were welcomed including NECG Chairman Alia el Asmar.
Jane thanked our first Member Hosts Diane Atkinson and Helen Hopkins who made sure that solo members were not on their own.
SPEAKER
Professor Sarah Bridle from York University entertained the meeting with her discussion about the CO2 emissions associated with the production, processing, packaging and distribution of many of the foods that contribute to our diet. She clearly demonstrated the need for us to reduce our consumption of meat-based products to help reduce our impact on climate change. Sarah provided samples of dried mealworm and crickets, both low CO2 food stuff, for us to try with our tea and cake!!!!
RESOLUTIONS
Members were encouraged to complete, and post in the box provided, a voting slip for the NFWI 2022 resolutions.
FINANCE
Net expenditure for the first quarter of the financial year was £1,259, leaving a bank balance of nearly £7,000. The party food and drink were subsidised by £81 and £698 has been paid off from last year’s liabilities.
RAFFLE
The four raffle prizes were won by Morag Briscoe, Pauline Handley, Wendy Morris(vouchers) and Pat Parker (plant).
EVENTS
Upcoming Fulshaw events were advertised; walks, walking netball and 10 pin bowling. Also, a NECG walk and a CFWI virtual event. Members were encouraged to take part in RSPB birdwatch. Members were asked to make suggestions for future events.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 21st February 2022. Speaker Lady Wildflower
