Meetings

Meeting 25th April 2024 Our speaker was Elizabeth Scott who gave us a talk about Living History at Blickling Hall.  She started off as a character called Kath, a scullery maid at the Hall inthe 1930's.  She told us what it was like to work and live there interacting with our members.  Lord Aster made an appearance as well.  Then Elizabeth explained the history of the house with a slide show.  How the original building was associated with Ann Boleyn's parents and the current building was built in 1616 in Jacobean style by Sir Henry Hobart.  The National Trust took it over in 1940 and they now have demonstrations of how the kitchen was run in the 1930's with the food of that time.  It was an enjoyable evening and lots of fun and laughter.

Annual Meeting 22nd February 2024

It was “Show & Tell” at Old Buckenham WI following our annual meeting.  Six members revealed their passions outside the WI and they could not have been more wide-ranging.  From the diversity of eggs from her smallholding, to the tradition of crocheting a beautiful blanket for grandchildren, a revised version of a knitted blanket created for a son and now a grandson, some of the 456 gardening books, beautiful applique on clothing, extraordinary patchwork and the newly discovered talent for sewing, it showcased the talent in our WI.

A new committee has been voted in and we look forward to another year of activities, demos, talks and competitions and outings and of course those lovely home-made cakes and biscuits!

Meeting  27th July 2023

English Country Dancing/Open Evening - Chris Davis

Lots of fun and laughter was had as we tried to dance to Chris's instructions.   A very enjoyable evening.

Meeting  22nd June  2023

Medieval Toys and Games:  Speaker - Rosie Wilkin

Our speaker was dressed as a medieval Inn Keeper’s Wife which was based on a 14th Century Costume with lots of layers and a headdress. We started off playing a medieval game called ‘Nine Men’s’ Morris’.

Rosie explained in detail about what it was like in the ‘tavern’ which in those days started off in a room in a house before it evolved into an ale house.  People drank beer instead of water as the water was not very hygienic.  The beer was brewed with yeast from the air and stored on bushes!  This was then used to make the beer or bread.  Mead was made from honey.  These ale houses supplied a meal and entertainment, sometimes of dubious reputation.

We were shown lots of toys including dice made from clay and knuckle bones which were used in ‘Jacks”. Balls made with fabric, dolls made from rags, table top skittles, quoits, spinning tops and whipping tops and lots more.

Then Rosie explained how her costume was layered and made so that she could ‘squat’ to go to the toilet which is what people did in those days!  The outside layer was a surcot which had slits in so that she could reach her purse inside. The next layer was a kirtle and the chemise is against the skin.  Then she demonstrated her headdress and took off the layers to show us.  These were worn by all ladies after Christianity evolved and reminded us of what a nun wears on her head.  A really interesting interactive talk.

We then went on to have tea and cake and carry on with the business of the WI.  A very educational evening!

27th April 2023 

Woodglue and Masking Tape: Refurbishing a Doll’s House

We had a really interesting evening listening to Viv Carter talk about her doll’s house and how she refurbished it from a damaged and run-down building.  It was an amazing talk about all the ups and downs of her journey and how she became jack of all trades to make fittings and accessories to fit the scale of the house. She brought along some of the items she made and it was interesting how small some of the items were.

She was given the doll’s house when she was 4 years old and it lived in the bottom of a wardrobe for many years.  She started refurbishing it in 2019, working through lockdown and finishing at the end of last year.  Because the scale was not a standard one she made most of the fittings and accessories herself.  She became an electrician, carpenter, roofer, builder, painter and decorator amongst many other job roles.  Her sister even made some of her ‘carpets’ for her in counted cross-stitch and needlepoint.  Lots of recycling of materials including a brooch with a watercolour inside used to hang on one of the walls.

A very enjoyable evening.

Meeting 23rd March

We had a lovely evening at our last meeting on 23rd March being entertained by Amy Warren, who is a Ghost Writer.  She gave us an explanation of how she started writing books for herself, four of which have been published by Penguin Books.  Then she talked about her role as a ghostwriter and what is involved.  Really enjoyable and she convinced us that we all had it in us to write a book!  That could be really interesting!

We are looking forward to our Christmas Lunch in December at the Gamekeeper.  Our next meeting will be on Thursday 26th January 2023 at the Village Hall.

Birthday Party 27th October

A good time was had at our birthday party where we enjoyed a buffet meal and desserts (members bringing a plate of savoury items).  The Committee made the desserts and supplied the cheese and biscuits afterwards.

We had visitors from other WIs and some members brought a friend or husband.

Then we were entertained by the Cringleford Singers with a whole range of songs accompanied by a piano and one song with a French Horn.  We had sing-a-longs  including Magic Moments, What a Wonderful World and Que Sera Sera, finishing off with a raffle.

Meeting Thursday 22nd September 

We started off our meeting with our speaker for the evening, Joy Tunmore who demonstrated some flower arrangements.

She started off with a table arrangement consisting of green foliage including rosemary and conifer and other types using different colour greens.  Then she added white chrysanthemums, roses and alstroemeria and the arrangement was placed on top of a round glass bowl.

Her second arrangement was called ‘Charlie Dimmock Water Feature’ layering large leaf foliage and spotted laurel then adding lilies, aspidistra leaves, million stars and roses.  She added some copper pieces to set the arrangement off.

Joy’s third arrangement was in memory of the Queen using ferns, spotted laurel, prunus, rhinegold, aspidistra leaves with gold, stargazer lilies and red roses.  She added a crown and orb she had made a while ago and an embroidery to make an impressive display.

She then used up the leftover flowers to make a bouquet.

All of these arrangements were put in the raffle at the end of the meeting.

Joy gave us a lovely talk about what she had done in the past and the history behind the arrangements and it was a really enjoyable evening.

We then had a tea break and got down to business for the rest of the meeting.

Sheila Young