oo la la - French Style Quiz to celebrate Twinning

Hollingbourne WI's French Style Quiz  to celebrate the Twinning of 

Hollingbourne with Templeuve in France, was a huge success.

The scorers Madame Hilary and Madame Valerie -  and Rita - ' Miss France 1963'  the Quiz mistress, 

made sure the evening was 'Magnifique'. 

These two itinerants  suitably dressed were clutching each other before they started drinking!

 and the Winners  - Team Les Escargots - celebrated their win with a Bottle of French Plonk each.

The losers - Team Les Burgandy -  had to make do with a wooden spoon each. 

The prize for the joint winner of the  'Best Dressed French Man'  (Norman Dabbs)-  was a French Style kiss on three cheeks by Miss France 1963 - with the other BDFM  (Alan Williams) - looking on.

The Twinning agreement between the two Villages was signed in Leeds Castle on 11th March and in Templeuve Old Town Hall on 18th March this year.  The Hollingbourne Village fete will be opened by Luc Monnet the Mayor of Templeuve on 15th June - BE THERE!

KNIT-IN FOR CHYPS (HOSPICE)

West Kent Federation of WI's has 178 Institutes.

West Kent is 95 years old this year and we have been challenged to do lots of 95's.

The WI's are divided into Districts - Our District,  'Northdowns'  has 9 WI's and we decided on a

 'Knit-in' - to make 95 knitted squares and to combine them into a blanket for a charity.  

The Charity is chYps - Children and young peoples Services - A unique organisation as it is a hospice at home. Children with life limiting and life threatening conditions receive clinical care and support in their own home.   Marion Smith their fundraiser came to receive the blankets and tell us more, with the aid of slides.  Marion is in the middle (red cardigan) and our knitters around her.
 It certainly is a worthwhile cause and their contact is 01322221315 marion.smith@chyps.org

We had a lot of fun on  the day - even when a 'knitter' was given her enormous allocation of wool, she still smiled.

Here are some blankets we prepared earlier -  the magnificent one in the middle has a crochet border and should raise a lot of money when it is auctioned. 

Please contact Marion if you want to help the Charity, or Hollingbourne WI if you want to join any institute in our District.

Bearsted Green, Bearsted and Thurnham, Detling, Stockbury, 

Roseace, Madginford, Leeds, Willington,  Hollingbourne. 

SHROVE TUESDAY 2013

Pancake Day saw snow on the Downs - but so what! 

 We were out to enjoy ourselves, had made around 150 pancakes in advance and we knew the Ralph Baldock ( Headmaster)  was bringing along the whole of his school to take part. (100 plus)

 The pancakes were inspected and the pans tried out

 Owen Scorey had obviously missed out on breakfast!

 RACE 1, and the winner was SCARLETT PARK

 RACE 2, winner was  JANET DEBANZIE

 RACE 3, Winner was  FINLEY LODGE

 RACE 4 , Joint Winners were OWEN SCOEY, and MASON PAYNE

 RACE 5, Winner IMOGEN SIMS

 RACE 6,  Winner JAYDEN LODGE (eating his Pancake)

 RACE 7, Winner WILLIAM DIXON

 RACE 8, Winner GEORGIA CHATTENDEN

 RACE 9, Winner CALLUM SHERIDAN

 RACE 10, Winner CELESTINA MENESES-BANTESTA

 RACE 11, Winner LUKE MICKLEBROUGH

 RACE 12, Winner  FREDDIE WEADON

 RACE` 13, Winner OLIVIA WALSH

 RACE 14, Winner LAINEY-MAY BUTLER

THE  HOLLLINGBOURNE SCHOOL STAFF RACE  

was won for the second year running by 

VANESSA WILSON

There were some FAST WOMEN challenging in the MOTHERS' RACE

and coming from the back CLAIRE BUTLER was the Winner.

 PAUL DIXON  won the mens' race

 and finally Sadie Curtis from Leeds WI won

a) The GRANDMOTHERS' RACE

b) THE WOMENS INSTITUTE RACE and

c) Put the rest of us to shame being the most senior lady on the field.

We all had a great time, and were fed Hot Cross Buns and drinks by Joyce, Sue and Hilary

We were also very impressed that the  Winning Children were able to spell their own names  (some of them being very long) - there is obviously no literacy problem in Hollingbourne School.

(Apologies if WE have mis-spelt the names)

SEE  YOU NEXT YEAR

Boxley Hand Bells

We had a great evening in January 2013,  

Sylvia Coomber the leader of Boxley Handbells came with 11 ringers 

and their dog Toby , who behaved impeccably 

Some ringers even had to play 3 bells.  They played a good selection of tunes which were all recognisable and some we even sung along with.

Finally after tuition and a tutor at our sides

it was over to us!

Adriana and Jean soon got into the swing of it - in this picture the bells are at rest - note the gloves.

Here Margaret and Val's bells  are 'ringing' as they are flicked down with the wrist, somehow Margaret was expected to use two - Maybe because she kept asking questions all through the demonstration. 

They play at Boxley Church it would be worth going to hear them

HAPPY CHRISTMAS .... with lots of laughter

LADIES OF LAUGHTER - was the name of the morning that 5 members attended in Bearsted on 8th December. -  Laughter releases endorphins (what are they?), inhibitions (wow can't wait) and a lot else besides.   The workshop showed us how it increases internal jogging and helps to boost the immune system whilst reducing stress and tension.  We practiced eye contact, pretend laughing and silly singing. The message is that laughter is good for you - even fake laughter - 

and surprise surprise  'Women smile more than men'

As an outsider this picture tells me -

1   Joyce was trying 'pretend laughing',
2   Mary was doing  'internal and external jogging',
3   The Ho Ho HO's in the middle were the tutors  and are wearing the wrong socks.
4   Janice had released her endorphins - and is looking slimmer as a result.
5   Val is about the start 'silly singing' and
6    Jane's inhibitions were slowly dissolving.

It is just as well it only lasted a few hours or the ramifications could have been catastophic.


Our Christmas Party on the other hand was a much more sedate affair - though as you can see the bottles were on hand to ensure a good time. We had  a delicious meal of shepherds pie and roasted vegetables with a choice of sweets,  and a few husbands volunteered (maybe that's not the correct word) to do the washing up. A lovely evening with guests from other WI's -  our physical exercise was a progression dance ( where some did not progress), and we finished off with a selection of carols to exercise our lungs.

On  January 15th 2013,   the Boxley Handbells will be entertaining and encouraging us to 'have a go',  so come along and join in. The meeting starts at 7.30 with the Bells at 8.15. See you then.

WHITE CHRISTMAS ?????????

No  -  it's only 5th December, and we were visited by a three toed friend today -

A pheasant out for a morning stroll.

There has been so much to get involved in over the last couple of weeks. - Next year is the 95th Birthday of the WI in West Kent and we have been challenged to do lots of  "95's"-
 this one was to make 95 cup cakes - which we then sold at the Hollingbourne Christmas market.

We then had a fun evening of Darts with High Halstow and Bearsted Green WI's

 at The Sugar Loaves Pub  Hollingbourne.

We made Christmas Wreaths. - Sarah in the middle, is a very smiley person usually, but  whenever the Camera appears she is as determined to be serious, and not smile -  Next time we must think of something funny to say at the appropriate time.

We took a trip to Stalephurst nurseries to see their Poinsettias which are fantastic at this time of year. 

A visit to Dobbies in Ashford was also available with a Cream tea to make it really worthwhile.

The District Carol Service at Holy Cross Bearsted drew members from our 9 local WI's and a chance to meet old friends and hear the Christmas story once again.

Tuesday 11th December is our Christmas Party, and we would love to see you there so please ring 01622880433 to make arrangements - Bring with you - one Christmas card, and a 8 inch table decoration for the competition,  your  beverage of choice, and we will provide the food and the fun.

                           Happy Christmas

Just one more thing  -  when ever our advertising notices appear and say 'OPEN TO ALL'  - that is exactly what we mean - male, female, children  and or aliens - see you there.

Tea with Henry VIII

West Kent WI's arranged a colourful afternoon for all its WI's

Eight of us went off to Hildenborough village hall on Monday 5th November to have "Tea with Henry VIII".  Tony Harris was dressed in costume and looked very impressive.  He trained at  'Henry School' Hampton Court Palace, where he worked for 2 years as a guide to visitors, all dressed the part as Henry.  His talk told us of Henry VIII's efforts to produce an heir and he then spoke about each of his 6 wives in turn and in great detail.

After the talk we had a delicious cream tea.  The drive there and back took us through some lovely Kent countryside and the weather was good.  No rain that day!.  It was a lovely afternoon.  A big thank you to the WI ladies who worked so hard to make sandwiches, cakes, scones and cups of tea for the 90 ladies that attended.

(Thanks to Sarah Cheetham for her words and picture)

Fabric Fir Cones.

Last Christmas  at one of our 'crafty' sessions we made cards , this year we tried fabric fir cones.

everyone was successful and many decided to make more to adorn this year's Christmas tree. Sarah was even on her way to pick up a Christmas tree she had found on the internet, so she will at least have one decoration for it.  - By the Way Val did NOT make two, she was displaying one that Joyce had made.

These were the prototypes -  made after checking various internet sites.   Each cone requires around 50 triangles of fabric, numerous pins and some ribbon to hang them.  The silver and red one was made using  one inch ribbon only, and the others using two inch squares of Christmas fabric.  We now have 9 months to think of the craft for Christmas 2013.

We are having a Christmas wreath making session on 2nd December if you want to join us  - see you there.

From Malaya to Spain, for a tasty treat.

Our October Malaysian chef  Sok-Tin Wild had to go into hospital unexpectedly,  so at 4 days notice

Steven Parks stepped in the breach and demonstrated Spanish cooking for us.

 We were not disappointed.  Steven,  a lover of food, a cook and raconteur  gave us an engaging and tasty evening.  He told us stories of his time on TV's  ' Come Dine with Me' and prepared a wonderful meal cooked from start to finish on his Camping Gaz stoves.

 First the Paella -   the contents were - Meat - Chicken, chorizo sausage, prawns, mussels and squid  plus Vegetables - onions, garlic, red pepper and green beans and of course rice.   Then fish stock, water, salt and saffron were added and bubbled away until it was ready to eat.

At the same time he showed us how to make a real Spanish Tortilla.  Chopped Potatoes  and a few onions simmered in oil for 15 minutes  and then when drained, lots of eggs from his three chickens were added. ( One who does not lay, one who had a cyst on her chest - which in fact left one chicken to do all the hard work.)  Delicious food, and enough for 31 of us to share.

It was a very good evening with  7 guests  who all seemed to enjoy themselves, and we wonder whether the TV  producers will  introduce a new follow up programme to 'Come Dine with Me' called   'Come dine with me Outdoors', or ' Come camp with me'  to promote cooking outdoors.

If ever a speaker has to cancel ,we shall  keep Steven's number handy for more culinary treats.

Leeds Castle......... from a distance.

Continuing our friendship with the Members of High Halstow WI, Sadie Curtis  of Leeds WI led a walk around Leeds Castle Grounds.  Starting from Leeds Car Park, through Broomfield where we stopped at the Church.

 

 The verger Derek Hadlow kindly unlocked the Church for us to have a look around this historic building.   From there we walked  to the bottom of the hill, through woodland and into Leeds  Castle Grounds where we continued on the public footpaths.    Sadie had arranged for a friend of hers, a Leeds Castle guide to tell  us some of the history of   "the loveliest castle in the world".  Our walk took us to the far side of the great lake,  and back up past the cricket ground to Leeds Churchyard.  Finally along the road to The George Public House where a ploughman's lunch awaited us.

It was an amazing day to be out  in the open, with blue sky - though mud underfoot after the previous day's rain.  Fred Lucette amazed  us all by completing the whole walk and Peter Kelly was on hand to take photographs.  There were 11 walkers from Hollingbourne, 10 from High Halstow and 2 from Leeds - we enjoyed the weather, the scenery and the company.

Out to Lunch

A new place to try for lunch - The Apprentice Restaurant

at Mid Kent College Maidstone Campus.

Oakwood Park, Tonbridge Road, ME16 8AQ

12 of us were there by reservation, but you can just turn up between 12 and 1 on a weekday.
The apprentices  are at the early stages of their course to become proficient  restaurant cooks, waiters, wine waiters and receptionists, and did their best to make us feel welcome.

A three course meal with an interesting and modern menu to choose from.   Having tasted soup, tempura fish or quiche;  Chicken Ballentine, Trout or Gammon we are now at the final stage with
Eton mess and Treacle tart in front of us.   A good meal for £6.00  and smaller tables of 2 or 4 were also on offer.

Wine, soft drinks and tea or coffee are on the menu  and you can book and find out 'today's menu' from 01622 625873 or Angela.akhlaq@midkent.ac.uk