Centenary Follies = West Kent Federation celebrating 100 years of WI in Britain.

All WI's in West Kent were asked to  'do a turn' for this event held in the large hall at Ditton Kent. As usual Hollingbourne decided to put forward an 'Act'

Ably choreographed and coached over many months by our Mary Henderson - this was our team

plus of course many umbrellas  - and  our music was 'Singing in the Rain'

We practiced in the village hall, with a good line up

This is the finale.

Of course the actual event in Ditton saw us on the stage - and again - Don't we look good!

We were the opening Act.  - Umbrellas up- left and right

to the side, with a partner

Splashing in puddles

We all remembered the sequence of events - except Margaret's umbrella, which refused to close at 

a crucial moment. In the end she had to squash it closed with both hands, and kept it firmly under control in the closed position for the rest of the dance.

this was followed by sketches, poems, reminiscences,  etc ; LINE DANCING - Nashenden

The Swinging Sisters- Matfield - as you can see the bald heads were not WI Members, but WI husbands who had come along and really enjoyed the evening. 

Horsmonden -Four girls bright and beautiful looking for a Man-

One of these 4  very different 'girls' would appeal to any man surely?

At the end the  The Farleighs choir sang and we all joined in and sang Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory (coincidently it was the Last Night of the Proms) and we waved flags and the committee did a 'walk down' in a cross over pattern.

SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING - 

this was the event of the night.  The Farleighs - 4 ample ladies dressed in colourful victorian swimming costumes entertained us with crawl, backstroke, legs in the air, (one nearly drowned) 

It was so good and so funny that unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

However - trolling the Internet I came across the photo below of 3 WI Presidents who took part in a Dry Synchronised swimming event earlier this month of 100 ladies, to celebrate the 100 years of WI

Jag Picknett of Bingley, Fiz Pimperton of Saltaire and Sara Mogford of Baildon.

Now you know NOT ALL WI LADIES have passed retirement age!

see www.Thetelegraphandargus.co.uk  13632529 28.8.15

A FALLEN WOMAN

This is a post script to our earlier post of  'A Busy July' showing

Hollingbourne's naked Calendar Girl on display at Lullingstone Castle.

Having not been able to visit on the Special Day, I managed a visit around 4 weeks later.

It may not be apparent from the photograph but the post on which she was displayed had fallen to one side and she definately looked  'a fallen woman'  especially as the glue on the flower garlands had given way and rather more of her figure was on display than intended 

We had thought we would be the only ones using a naked lady, but not by any means -the one above showed two ladies, one on the left with rather big 'buns' and her companion sitting behind her was in full Victorian dress.

This was another two part design, the lady with the large sunflower was wearing only an apron,and her companion behind was again in demure dress - each with a picnic related to their age.

 This energetic member was no worse for wear in the 4 weeks, and looked ready for a jog.

 A happy WI Member

A flappy WI Member

 a School Mistress W I Member

and finally this rather lovely Suffragette WI Member.

There were so many more, and well worth the effort to make and to see. 

HOLLINGBOURNE WI - 90 YEAR COOK BOOK - NOW SELLING - £4 each

We are proud to present '90' our Cook book to celebrate 

90 years of WI in Hollingbourne.

A Full Colour publication with a recipe for each year of our  'reign'.  You will find delicious easy recipes for starters, main courses, vegetables, puddings, drinks, jams and pickles together with  a pictorial history of Hollingbourne WI and its members.

At  only £4 each , these will make great Christmas presents and momentoes of Hollingbourne.
Available at the Safari Market - Cardwell Pavilion on the  12th September, and later by contacting 01622 880497 or by email to hollingbournewi@hotmail.co.uk

Marion Pring - Long time member

Everyone in Hollingbourne knows Marion Pring. 

She has enjoyed membership of so many village organisations, 

as well as working hard to ensure their success.   

She has been president of Hollingbourne WI twice and for many years was a very effective treasurer. 

She may not be in the best of health at the moment, but celebrated her 80th Birthday in style with a summer party in the Garden and a drink in her hand.  She had a lovely day with friends. 

A Busy July - Doddington, Lullingstone & Scarecrows & Strawberry Cheesecake.

 Each  year Doddington Place  in Kent hosts a wonderful event with stalls featuring local food and craft, plus of course the lovely gardens.   Good weather brought the crowds out, so it was much busier that  our last visit.  Unfortunately it meant a long wait for our cream teas!

 Towards the end of the day we were treated to a fascinating falconry display where we appreciated the  beauty and skills of the birds and their handlers. 

.............

 On 1st July, Kent Federation of WI's arranged an event at Lullingstone Castle to celebrate 100 years of WI Nationally. It is a lovely venue, only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays usually. There was the castle and the 'World Garden' to see, plus of course displays by the WI.

 Each WI had been asked to make a display entitled 'OUR WI" - inside a box frame. 

We decided the feature each member's face in a flower, and each member was involved with cutting out the flowers, while others put it together with much glue!  As you can see we have inspired women since 1915, - 90 years for Hollingbourne WI- and we shall be having our own celebration in October.

                                            

WI's were also asked to make a Scarecrow based on the idea of 100 years of WI - This one was features in Adverts - maker unknown.  

 Our Scarecrow started life as a plastic garden stake and a few rolls insulating Polythene lagging. 

 She ended up as a Calendar Girl, naked except for an assortment of fabric flowers. 

and her rear was the envy of many a member!

Janice and Val had to erect the Lady the day before the event and found she was not alone, over 80 others dotted the grounds and are to be seen for the next month at the Castle. 

...............................

At our WI meeting this month we were lucky enough to have a return visit from Julia Davies. She is a wonderful cook and demonstrator.   She gave us ' Easy Summer cooking'.  - Humous, Smoked Mackerel Pate, Stuffed Peppers, Butterbean and tomato salad and STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE.
We all had tasters and the cheesecake was so easy and delicious,  the recipe is given below.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE.
150g Digestive biscuits-  crushed
75g butter  - melted
2 lemons - grated rind and juice
100g caster sugar
350g cram cheese - full fat philadelphia
350 curd cheese - philadelphia light
142ml double cream
strawberries to decorate.

1. Mix the melted butter and digestive biscuits and use to line the base of a serving dish (She used a metal flan ring straight onto the serving dish, with the mix pressed down well, and no problem about getting it out of the tin later. )
2. Gently mix the two cheeses, add the double cream, sugar and juice and rind of the lemon.
3. Whisk slowly until everything is combined, then beat faster until a soft peak stage is reached.
4. Spread over the digestive biscuit base and chill.
5. Top with fruit.
The MAGIC thing was that the cheese mixture held its shape in less than 2 minutes.   She ran a clean knife around the inside of the metal ring, and removed the ring. It did not collapse!  It tasted delicious!  I imagine if it had been left to chill overnight it would have firmed up even more.

Thank you Julia.

Mid Summer's Evening 2015

On 21st June we were invited to a secret garden in Hollingbourne.  It was magical!  We started with a wander around to marvel at all the flowers and shrubs, each path leading to a different area.

 In the wooded part at the end of the garden we spied some Fairies playing near a large toadstool.  We had been told by the owner that if we saw any, we should not make a noise in case we frightened them off, so were very quiet!!

 We then sat outside under the lights of many candles and enjoyed a drink plus nibbles and strawberries.

 Several members then recited poems about fairies (well known and not so well known).  As we watched the sun go down we made our way home.  What a lovely enjoyable evening and many thanks to the fairies  and the garden owner for making us so welcome.

HOLLLINGBOURNE FETE

 Lots of stalls , sunshine and  lots of french people from our twin - Templeuve, who entertained us with a choir and joined in the food and the boules competition. 

As usual our Hook a Duck was what was on offer at our stall this 2015

 The Fete theme was the 60's and we had pictures of stars of the 60's and sheet music of the same period, plus some beetles paraphenalia - and of course the Union Jacks. 

The prise for the person achieving the highest score in one fishing session of three ducks was a fantastic cake in the shape of a duck. It was enormous and would have fed about 30 people. 

Here you see it in action.  This fisherman has been a frequent visitor to this pond in the last few years-all in all we had about 170 fisher men and women!

Magna carta - Libertea

People up and down the country were invited to have their own LIBERTEA, to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.  Maybe not quite the event that the Queen is going through at this moment, but nevertheless worth doing.

 We celebrated in style, members made recipes that will appear in our Recipe Book being published later this year - to celebrate 90 years of WI in Hollingbourne - such things as Salmon and Dill Pancakes, Thai Crab tartlets, Strawberry cheesecake, sausage plait and Lemonade scones to name but a few.

 Partners and friends were invite to Hollingbourne Meadows (The wonderful area belonging to the trust, which allows villagers to stroll and enjoy the peace of the area. Trees can also be purchased to dedicate to others, and it  also means that these areas will never be built upon)
We started with Rudyard Kiplings poem What say the Reeds at Runnymede? read by  Jim, Penny, Peter, Val and Alan.

and once the solemnities were over, we enjoyed the food and the ambiance and everything soon disappeared. Well worth the effort.

WIRE KNITTING

I wasn't reaally sure what I was in for when I signed up for this day class, though I had been told that we were to make a 'CUFF'

 We each chose a spool of wire and a bag of beads. Some people had brought their own beads,

 as I had - left over from the Bridesmaids dresses made last year.

 We then had to randomly slide all the beads on to the wire.

 THEN THE KNITTING!  Cast on , increase, but thankfully it was only plain knitting.

However - every other row we had to slip one of the beads up to the needle and knit it into the next stitch.   We were told to get up and walk around to decrease the tension in our shoulder and necks. 

Once we had done a few rows it got easier.

 and This was my final knitted cuff, before casting off.

We also had to make our own silver 'findings'  this was a home made hook and eye

You can just see them in the photo above.  Also the difference in the finished cuffs was amazing. - we each had 10  stitches in a row, but some knitted tightly and some loosely, and the colour of the wire and breads differed.  Each was unique  and we were very satisfied with our progress at the end of the day.

This was a necklace that the tutor had made earlier.

 She had also used the old fashion  knitting on a cotton real, making beautiful tubes of wire, some without beads.

 

and some with beads

Next winter I hope to persuade members of Hollingbourne WI 

to make their own Cuffs necklaces or earings. 

Culpeper Embroidery - District visit

Northdowns District of the WI is situated  to the east of Maidstone and consists of 9 WI's. Yesterday we visited a historic embroidery which 'lives' in our District, at Hollingbourne Church.

Members from 6 institutes took a morning to have a private viewing and also to quietly  investigate the  Church itself which has items dating back to the 14th Century. 

The Needlework which is the size of an Altar cloth or bedspread,  is reputed to have been made by the daughters of Sir John 'Colpeper' during their father's absence abroad for 12 years with King Charles 11 - in the commonwealth period. 

The cherubs and plants  on the needlework are all applied, and it is known that devices such as these were sold loose in London for such a purpose.    It is a unique item of needlework and is stored safely in an air controlled case to avoid any deterioration.   It is not on general display and the Churchwarden will need to be contacted for a viewing.

RITA MOON QUEEN OF CAKES

It is not just Mary Berry who judges 'Bake Ins' or Competitions.

A couple of weeks ago she judged a Charity Bake Off which was held in The Cardwell Pavilion in Hollingbourne.  There were three classes where supporters of the Charity could bring their cakes to be tried and tasted.

There were three able winners in the three classes -  ages under 9,  9 - 16, and over 16.

with the under 9 winner being a boy.

The charity website address is  ABIGAILSFOOTSTEPS.CO.UK

 a unique charity for Stillbirth Bereavement and worth investigating.

At the end of the day Rita told us that she never wanted to see or eat another cake

(however its been a fortnight and we are having cake at WI tonight ,

so maybe she will change her mind!