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. 

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 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. 

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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!

QUIZ 2015

Once again Rita Moon had prepared a great set of questions for our Quiz - this time with a Castle Theme.  Each team name was a castle in Kent

 With 14 tables booked (but not paid for),  we kept our fingers crossed that all would turn up on the day as many were old friends and previous competitors. Fred Lucette seemed the only  one to choose his table early.

 We were not disappointed, with the tables full and raring to go by 7.30.pm. This year Val Williams was our a question Master with Rita and Janice as the 'runners' collecting and distributing question papers, and Hilary and Margaret keeping the scores.    There was a buzz  of conversation throughout and Val was glad she had a microphone.

Halftime and the Ploughman's supper of Cheese, Pate, Tomatoes & grapes accompanied by Baguettes from Christopher's shop went down a treat.   

 After a second half with close scores,  the winners collected their prizes of a Bottle of Red  Wine each - Pam  led her team to victory but hid her head as she wanted no publicity. 

The losers, looked quite happy, as they received two chocolate cream easter eggs as a consolation prize.   Many thanks to all who helped. 

Excellent speakers - as usual at West Kent W! AGM

There were queues outside the Assembly Halls Tunbridge Wells yesterday -

and although the adverts outside were for 'The Full Monty' and 'Sex and Suburbia'  we were in for a much better show.

We started with the usual details of the last year's events and interesting new ones,  and plans to celebrate 100 years of the National Institute of Womens Institutes.

Before lunch our singers were the Farleigh Ladies choir, who  had won the County Federation choir competition and sang light and enjoyable songs ably conducted by their pianist 

We then were in for a treat - or a double treat come to that. 

 Our first speaker was Julie Summers an author.  - sound boring ? definitely  not.
For a start her Grandfather was the Officer whose was in charge of the soldiers who  built the Bridge on the River Kwai.  Her great Uncle was Sandy Irvine who was lost on Everest with George Mallory in 1924 - and her Grandma was a member of the WI.

 She has written several books, some of which are based around WW2.  She deals with subjects not so far thought about.  - WHEN THE CHILDREN CAME HOME is about the evacuees and what happened when they came home, and JAMBUSTERS covers the life of women at home during WW2.  The resilience, independence and practicality that they had.  It also covers the WI and how it supported the whole country following directives from the War office to make Jam, can fruit, knot string gloves, collect herbs to be used for medicines and many other initiatives.  She also dealt with the difficult time when men who had been away for up to 6 years came home - to a wife and children who hardly knew their husband or father. It seems that while attempts were made to help the men to adjust, nothing was done for the women.

NEWS - Jambusters is being made into a 6 part  ITV series called HOME FIRES and will be on TV in a few weeks time at 9.00 pm - a prime time slot.   The writer of Lewis, and the producer of Foyle are involved so look forward to a good programme (For a change)

Our afternoon speaker was Mandy Hickson. Ex RAF Tornado Pilot

Seen here in the front of her aircraft.

She told us of goals when she was in school, and when she started in the ATC women were not allowed to become fighter pilots.   Of her difficulties in moving on in her career.  - She was certainly able to fly fast jets, but not all the exams were passed first time (apparently later found to be because women's answers to questions were different to men's )

She also told us the time when she and  her colleagues rode bicycles in a Hanger to learn the various moves required in a jet. - with excellent results.

She flew missions in Afghanistan having to carry bombs and do in-flight refuelling, and finally of the time when leading a formation of 4 Tornados a missile was launched against her plane.   Luckily the navigator's eagle eyes saw it launched and immediately advised her,  so she could fire flares, and take avoiding action - seeing the missile hit the flares and explode.  Finally two  of team bombed the base that the missile had been directed from. A good job well done that day!

Then she was made redundant! - It happens to the best, especially when the Defence Budget is tightened.   She retrained as an airline pilot, but realised it wasn't for her and became a Motivational Speaker - and I can tell you, we were all motivated - however I don't think the RAF is looking  for several hundred over 65 year old fighter pilots.

A Great day.

St.Patrick's Day & the McMannigan Dancers.

St Patrick's Day was well and truly celebrated by Hollingbourne WI this year. 

We were lucky enough to have McMannigan's Irish Dancers to get us in the mood. 

12 dancers whose energy and expert movements left us amazed.  Due to the speed of their dancing and twirling, the camera couldn't cope (so apologies for the blurring)

We saw them

from the front

 from the back

 Big ones

 and small ones

 a trio

and always in time, and together.  

Their trainer Nula McMannigan has danced with Michael Flatley, 

and some of our dancers had come 6th in world competition recently - we were so lucky to have them

you can find their website on  www.irishdance.co.uk

As you can see we decorated with Flags, balloons, and Bunting, and even wore Irish headgear .-

and the piece de resistance was 'Guiness cake' made by Val Williams. 

'The beautiful game' - Football for a Fiver

One of our members, Christine, is a Season Ticket holder  at Charlton Athletic and suggested a new
way to spend our Saturday(s) - Football for a Fiver - plus free transport in her car.
Christine, Rita, Janice, Mary and Val went along. (A new experience for some and rekindled memories for others)

 To ensure we really got into the spirit of things we made our own knitted hats and Rita went mad with her needles and completed a scarf as well.   We were welcomed by the Stewards and had to enjoy a Giant Burger before the football began.   The Programme gave all the details we needed to fully enjoy the match - as well as a mention of Hollingbourne WI's visit.

 We had good seats and the atmosphere was very friendly with a packed stadium of over 25,000 fans

There was terrific support for Charlton Athletic - lots of singing and shouting and applause for good play, which was good to see - a sign of family friendly ambiance which the club works hard to encourage.

 The result was a fantastic  3 - 0  WIN against Huddersfield

What a day - We were worn out with the shouting and singing at the end of it.   A Great day out, thank you Christine for taking us.