The Hollingbourne WI’s 94th Anniversary

The 11th October 2019 was the 94th anniversary of the first Meeting of Hollingbourne WI. This historic meeting took place in The Institute which was in Eyhorne Street on the site now occupied by The Pavings (a three house development constructed in 1970) next to the old Methodist Chapel, now known as Chapel House.

To celebrate the annual occasion the WI met up in the fading light as near to the original site as possible for a photo shoot.

After the photographs everyone headed to Jean Talboys house for refreshments.

Annual WI Barn Dance in the Village Hall

John Sweeney was the caller

Our August outing to the Kenward Trust at Yalding

It was a lovely drive through the country on a warm sunny day. We sat outside with a coffee before seeing the alpacas and walking through the nearby wood.  We then went inside the house to enjoy a scrumptious afternoon tea followed by a look through the charity shop for bargains!

A very pleasant afternoon spent with friends and lots of laughs.

WI News June 2019

At our May meeting we first of all discussed the two resolutions which the National Federation of WI’s would put forward to the Government. Sue Roberts guided our consideration of 'Don't Fear the Smear', which was passed unanimously. Hilary gave us an inspiring presentation for the call against the decline in local bus services. She cited the social and independence benefits of using our Number 13 Bus. Again, a unanimous vote which Jane D, as our delegate, took to the NFWI ACM at Bournemouth.

The annual elections for the committee saw Barbara and Sue returned as Joint Presidents (can be seen on the PC website at our stall at the fete). Janice, Mary and Jane O have stepped down, but will be on hand to help with all the projects in which they have previously been involved.

Six of us sang our hearts out with the Hazlitt Choir at the Proms in the Park on 25th May. Rumour has it - the best ever performance yet.

The North Downs District AGM was held in Leeds Village Hall. Eight WIs, and a new WI which has started at 'This Art of Mine' at Hucking, enjoyed hearing about other groups' events and speakers. We are very proud that Penny's flower arrangement, 'A Storm in a Teacup' won the competition. It came complete with lightening and rain!

And the winning continued with Best Dressed Stall at the Fete. Appropriately, given the weather, the 'Hook a Duck' game enjoyed great success. The winner's prize was another Penny special —a 'Hook a Duck' cake, complete with dabbling ducks and waterlilies. Our thanks to the Parish Council for not giving up with the weather.

Latest TV Appearance — you may have seen Mary, Janice, Jane O and me tasting tea on Channel 5's 'Shop Smart Save Money'. Yorkshire tea came out as the most popular, but my money always goes on Pluckley Tea, available at Christopher’s!

Never short of dining opportunities with Hollingbourne WI… Jane Deaves organised five members to enjoy the annual Stockbury WI Lunch with Rickwood's famous pies, salads and desserts, followed by some farm shop retail therapy. Sue W took the members to Spadework near Offham, a garden centre run by disabled staff, which also serves great lunches.

Our July meeting is for members only, when we will welcome 2 new members, recruited at the Fete. Was it that hat, Sue?

Diary note: Tuesday 17 September 'Working in Monet's Garden'

Val Williams
Secretary, Hollingbourne WI

A Midsummer Night's Picnic (In the Meadows)

A huge thank you to everyone involved in the WI picnic for making it such a brilliant evening. As usual the food was fantastic and even the weather was kind.

It was lovely walking to the WI Tree with Mixed Blessings joining in with Jerusalem, it was very moving.

Thanks to the Meadows Trust for all their hard work in setting up the Marquees, fire pit etc. 

Thanks to Andrew for his bird walks and thanks to the talented “Mixed Blessings” for a lovely end to the evening.

 Allan Smedley checks out the bar

Jane Deaves

 Penny Smith and Sue Woodhouse

Janice Butler

Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” for Jenny Cox (Far right)

Ben Williams (Meadows Trust Director) 

and 

Shellina Prendergast (Kent County Councillor)

The Speakers

Shaun Cardwell (Meadows Trust Director)

Barbara Gibbs

Jo Horton

Alan Williams

Keith Pockett

The WI Tree

 Singing Jerusalem around the WI's tree

Mixed Blessings

Medway River Cruise

Sue Woodhouse organised our trip on the Kentish Lady on Wednesday 12th June. Unfortunately, typical of this June, another rainy day! We enjoyed fish and chips and a cup of tea on board while travelling to East Farleigh through the locks. 

We just managed to get under the bridge, due to the high level of the river.  As we were not going to get under any further bridges the boat turned around and travelled back to Maidstone and along to Allington Lock.

Despite the weather it was a very enjoyable afternoon with good company and commentary from the Captain.  We saw Kingfishers, swans and their signets.

Thank you Sue for another lovely day out.

Jenny Cox, Jane Deaves and Penny Smith

 Just managed to get under East Farleigh bridge

 Val Williams, Janice Butler and Jill Wills braving the weather and sitting outside.

Hollingbourne W.I. At The 2019 Fete. “The Hook A Duck Stall”

 Busy decorating the stall.

 Our new Joint Presidents, Sue Roberts with her decorated 'Duck' hat!

 The actual Duck Hat.

The wonderful Duck cake presented to the highest scorer of the day and made by our Treasurer Penny Smith (note the duck, bottoms up!!). Despite the frequent downpours on the day we managed to break even with a small profit!!  The ducks didn't mind getting wet and we all got wet with them.

Tea Tasting Session for Channel 5

On 20th February 20 members of West Kent W.I.’s were invited to a Tea Tasting session to be filmed for Channel 5's "Shop Smart: Save Money" presented by Gaby Roslin and Alexis Conran.  Janice Butler, Val Williams, Jane Orgill and Mary Henderson represented Hollingbourne.

We were given the task of choosing between well-known brands and supermarket own brands, without knowing which ones we were tasting.  

The result was Tetley (4 votes) v Tesco Original (16 votes), Yorkshire Tea (14 votes) v Sainsbury Red Label (6 votes), PG Tips (10 votes) v Co-Op (10 votes).  It was filmed on Thursday 6th June.

Mary and Janice

Mary, Janice and Jane (with the West Kent President Annette Smith on the right)

Annual Quiz Night 2019

It was a very successful night with the Quiz Master Cat Brown who produced very different thought searching rounds.  There was a lovely atmosphere all evening especially in the Music Round when we all joined in together singing Que Sera Sera by Doris Day.  Lots of Raffle Prizes were won and we are looking forward to repeating it again next year.

 Some of the brilliant results from the Creative Round. Each table was given sheets of newspaper and selotape to create a Punch or Judy.

 Jim Nicholls from Culpeper wins as best Punch.

And the overall winners of the Quiz - Ian Harmer's table.

Hollingbourne W.I. 9TH Pancake Race

Hollingbourne WI marked Shrove Tuesday by organising their 9^th Pancake Race, held on the Lance Memorial Field.   The Head Teacher organised twenty racing groups plus the staff race which was very popular with the pupils.   The 6 school ‘VIP’s, year 6 pupils, ensured that the Race rules were followed, returned all the pans to the start and escorted each winner to collect their rosette.   

The WI held their own race which was won by Jane Orgill – again.  

The start of the WI race with (from left to right) Mary Henderson, 

Lynn Fletcher,Gillie Taylor, Val Williams, Jenny Cox and Jane Orgill.

And the winners.

It was good to see the Parents’ race so competitively run.   The under-fives took part enthusiastically and were the stars of BBC South East News that evening and the Kent Messenger.  Our team in the Cardwell Pavilion served drinks and buns for the pupils and visitors. The event ran very smoothly thanks to the generous help from Keith, Alan and Tony plus volunteers from our District WI's.

The WI followed the guidelines to avoid food waste: greatly helped by the pupils who kindly ate the unused pancakes and the Hollingbourne hens and birds who finished off the ‘used’ ones.

Thanks to all the visitors from the village who came along to support this terrific event and Shellina Prendergast who ‘volunteered’ to take photographs for us.

WI News February 2019

Our meeting in January ‘Wild about Birds’ was very popular with members and visitors alike.   There were so many simple ways to attract birds to our gardens – Water, Food and Shelter are the key areas to target – and to do it NOW - was the message.   At this meeting Jane Deaves started the Bookstall for members to swop books; this will be an ongoing project.   New members have joined, bringing with them their different interests and talents to share with us.

Sue arranged for 15 members to dine at the Sugar Loaves to start the Lunch Club calendar, with different venues organised throughout the year.

Despite possibly the worst weather of the winter so far, Hilary, Marie, myself and Alan attended the Maidstone Bus Pilot Consultation held at Leeds Church on Monday 4th February, travelling on the 13  Bus.  There will probably be a trial run of the new shuttle suggestion for the 13 and 59 buses.  For full details contact the Parish Council or www.kent.gov.uk/maidstonebuspilot.   We had plenty of time to discuss the implications of the proposals with KCC staff who explained the complex organisation and funding of local transport over a nice cup of tea.

On Friday 8th February, together with Ben and Shaun from the Meadows Trust, 5 of us enjoyed Lunch at County Hall with Shellina Prendergast, our County Councillor.   We discussed our Midsummer Celebration and our plans for June 22nd this year.   We all realise what a wonderful asset the Meadows project is for growing our community.  And if you have never eaten at County Hall with the Genuine Dining Company, who cook an inexpensive and wonderfully varied lunch menu, you are missing a treat.   You simply need to sign in (for security) at reception.   Lunch is served from noon weekdays.

Val Williams
Secretary Hollingbourne WI

WI News January 2019

It seems a long time ago since we were enjoying our Annual Christmas Party in December 2018.   We invited our friends and the many people who helped us throughout the year to ‘keep the show on the road’.   A hot supper and delicious desserts were served and the six washer uppers made the dirty dishes disappear.   We were entertained with the superb sound of Mixed Blessings – all the pictures taken by Adriana, including a video of the concert, can be seen on hollingbournewi.blogspot.com.  Shaun Cardwell read his poem dedicated to Hollingbourne WI, which we all loved and Jean Talboys finished the evening with her reading of the traditional Christmas Eve poem: A Visit from St Nicholas.

Nine members attended the West Kent Federation 100th Anniversary Carol Concert at All Saints Church Maidstone where the beautiful wreath which Rosemary Pollock made was hung on the end of the pew.

We also enjoyed the lovely village activities which were arranged around Christmas including the revived Carols on the Greens organised by Beccy and the Boxing Day walk with Malcolm and Ben and the Meadows Trust.

We have distributed our programme of speakers and other events to each house in the village which we hope will encourage everyone, not just ladies, to come and listen to our exciting range of speakers and join in the various social events throughout the year.

We cruised through the final Darts match in Round 1 of the West Kent Tournament – sitting by a log fire in the Sugar Loaves and enjoying a nice lunch!  Our opponents did not turn up – so it was a bye!  Not a dart was thrown – so easy!

Our February meeting is for members only – Hat and Chat – a social evening when we will wear a hat which will be the clue to a story we will tell.

Val Williams
Secretary Hollingbourne WI