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18 ladies and 1 man went to London to see 9 to 5 The musical at the Savoy Theatres. Most amusing and everyone came out with a smile on their faces. Bonnie Langford was superb and can still do the splits. Brian Conley was so funny especially when he was dressed up in bondage gear and hung on a wire from the rafters!! Had a good lunch at Zizzi's in the Strand. |
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16 ladies from our WI went for afternoon tea at Esseborne Manor House It was a great afternoon in lovely surroundings. Food was scrumptious and plentiful, (even gave us doggy bags to take home). Lots of chatting and laughter which is alway compulsory with the WI |
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11 of us had a great tour at Williams F1 today. Very interesting and a great informative guide. As you can see Glenda and Pauline were agile enough to get into the cars -such a tight space but what fun! |
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31 people had a great day in Brighton. Glorious weather, arranged by Liz. Visited Brighton Pavilion where there was also an incredible hat exhibition. After the visit some of the ladies walked the lanes, others walked on the seafront, some just sat taking in the view and sunbathing and some did a little retail therapy! We then had a cream tea at an Italian Restaurant next to the Pavilion. All in all a great day out. |
14 of us travelled up to Strawberry Hill house on Monday 18th in a Mini Bus driven by Keith. We first stopped at a Garden Centre in Twickenham (apparently the first Garden Centre in the country) for a delicious lunch then on to a great visit at Strawberry Hill where there was a special exhibition - first time in 170 years. Weather not so good, but we were mostly in doors which certainly didn't spoil our day.
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15 of us went to Culham on the evening of 13 February for a guided tour of the facilities. We had a very interesting introductory talk and then were given a guide and assistant who took us to see JET and MAST. Both guides were extremely knowledgeable, full of enthusiasm for the projects and their jobs.
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Several of our ladies kicked the new year off early with a trip to London to see Kinky Boots. A great story and a fabulous show. Lovely lunch in Zizis. |
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Twenty four ladies and seven men went to see "Tina" the Musical at the Aldwych Theatre in London. Once again another great Theatre trip. The coach driver Steve did a small detour round London so we could take in some of the lights which were very festive. |
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7 of us went to Windsor Castle to see Meghan's dress and have a look around the Castle and St. George's Chapel. Young children from a local school were singing around the tree (in the picture) - just delightful. Meghan's dress was amazing but the train, beautifully hand‑embroidered around the edge, was truly stunning. We had a great lunch in Windsor followed in the afternoon by delicious cake in Madame Posh Boutique Café. Great day out. |
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The last “ Ladies what lunch” of the year. Six ladies enjoyed lunch at the atmospheric The White Horse at Woolstone. |
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53 people went - 37 ladies and 16 men. Fabulous display, with a light changing tree to music and a light show on the adjacent building which was quite spectacular. Lucky with the weather after 4 days of rain. All the displays were made on site - fabric wrapped around wire cages - incredibly talented people who designed and made such beautiful, colourful and imaginative flowers and animals. |
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This year Wantage WI celebrated its 9th birthday. The committee hosted a fabulous party and we were entertained by the 2 Kevins |
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Thirty one of us, including 8 men, had a wonderful trip to Scotland. We had great weather which definitely hadn’t been forecast! Our hotel was in a great location in the centre of Glasgow. On the way up we stopped at Trentham Gardens. Tuesday we went to see the Kelpies, the Falkirk Wheel and then on to Rosslyn Chapel. Wednesday we went to Edinburgh to the Royal Yacht Britannia and then on to the Edinburgh Tattoo which was fabulous. Thursday was a free day to explore Glasgow. Some even managed a trip to the Edinburgh fringe. |
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What a great evening we had in the lovely garden of our host Angie Bailey-Myers. About 30 ladies enjoyed the antipasti refreshment washed down with wine and soft drinks. There was lots of laughter and chatting as we all enjoyed being outside on this warm summer evening. |
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Forty seven ladies and 2 men had a great time in Bournemouth at the seaside. The weather was wonderful and everyone went off in different directions to do their own thing. There was plenty of chatting (no change there!), eating, walking, paddling, shopping, experiencing the big wheel, and even swimming. All in all, everyone had a great day out. |
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Luckily the weather this year for our annual afternoon tea party was hot, in fact perhaps a little too hot. Over 40 of us gathered once again in the garden of member Sandra Mitchell. Pots of tea and plateful of delicious cakes, sandwiches, scones were served. Looking around at everyone happily chatting away together made you realise what a great and friendly WI we have. |
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Our very own member Carol Doughty brought out the more creative side in 12 of our members when she led us in a flower arranging workshop. As you see, under her instruction, we managed to produce some beautiful baskets of roses and carnations. Thank you Carol. |
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Forty four of us took a trip to Cardiff to visit the royal Mint. We were an assorted group - members, their husbands and friends. The trip around the Mint Museum was fascinating and whilst no one left richer, we were all a little wiser. The afternoon was concluded with a trip to Cardiff where people went shopping, or visited museums and art galleries. A few even just went for lunch and had a glass of wine. Everyone had a fabulous day. |
The recently-formed walking group from Wantage WI met at the Plough pub in Hendred at 10am and enjoyed a walk around east and west Hendred which lasted around 2 hours. Afterwards they stopped for coffee at the pub. This was the second walk for the group - the first was around Ardington and Lockinge. Next month they are hoping to walk from Wantage to Childrey. |
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A group of nine enjoyed the splendid display of bluebells at Badbury clumps on the May bank holiday. Followed by a walk through the woods on a beautiful sunny day. Then on to a Highworth for a pub lunch. Perfect! |
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This was the Spring meeting of the Charn Group. Gabriella had travelled from Shropshire to entertain us. She brought with her several of her ukeleles to play, and accompanied us in the singing of Jerusalem at the start of the meeting - a first I suspect! She has been described as "happiness in a hat" - a very fitting description. She entertained us with her music and songs, and some very gentle teasing of some members of the audience! All-in-all, a very uplifting evening. |
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Seven ladies travelled to Arundel by car. The tulips were completely stunning. So many different varieties and every colour of the rainbow. Water fountains, a stumpery, kitchen garden and vine house and many more areas – something for everyone. We visited the chapel and the castle, which were both really interesting. A great trip and we will book it again for next year. |
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A group of 24 ladies enjoyed a great lunch at The Chequers in Charney Bassett. The tables were decorated appropriately with red and white flower arrangements kindly organised by Liz Dickins. During the lunch we heard the news that Kate Middleton had given birth to a baby boy! |
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On the hottest day of the year so far (82 degrees by the afternoon) 21 of us had a tour of the Wimbledon grounds which took around an hour and a half. Our superb tour guide gave us a fascinating insight into behind the scenes preparations for the tournament. Our tour finished at the Centre Court (only used for 13 days a year!) and then we had lunch before visiting the Museum and seeing the trophies. A fabulous day out! |
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Wantage WI began their events very early in the year when 30 members and 4 husbands took a coach trip to Londons Dominion Theatre to see "An American in Paris". A fabulous production that converted even the most sceptical of musical critics!! |
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Members of Wantage WI thoroughly enjoyed a Christmas Lunch at The Comrades Club in Wantage. We had delicious three-course carvery meal provided by Terry the caterer and his staff. As usual, the noise levels were, as usual, very high due to lots of chattering! It was a really nice start to the Christmas period. |
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40 members and 11 husbands enjoyed a trip to Kew Gardens on the 8 December to walk the 2km woodland walk which had been decorated for Christmas - truly magical with an amazing light show over the lake. |
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42 people went to Waddesdon Manor to see part of the house decorated for Christmas and see the light show in the evening. There was a fabulous craft fair in the grounds – lots of goodies to buy, food to try and lots of mulled wine!! We were also treated to a glass of wine (free) in the shop and a discount on anything we purchased! The part of the house that was decorated was the bachelors wing which is not usually open during the summer months. |
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Eleven ladies enjoyed themselves immensely colouring our silk scarves to our own design and colour and we also made a greetings card using silk and glitter. In the afternoon ten of us coloured silk scarves the same as in the morning then we made them into necklaces. Had a great teacher – Mary Day – very creative and made the day so much fun for us all. |
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Around 60 members attended our 8th birthday party. Where has the time gone? We were treated to a lovely meal which was prepared by the committee members and were then entertained magnificently by Ginny Davies. She had been a barrister before entering the world of comedy. The title of her talk was "The Fringe and Beyond". She told us how she had put on a very successful show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, achieving one of her ambitions. A truly inspiring lady whose message to her audience was to follow your dream wherever possible. Rita, our President cut the scrumptious chocolate birthday cake. |
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Our members were thoroughly entertained by Phil Spectre, famous in Oxfordshire for his ghost stories. In an atmospheric candle-lit room he told some of his stories - you could hear a pin drop! As you can see, there was audience participation, and some amazing, unexplained things happened!! Phil is a brilliant storyteller who kept everyone motionless in their seats throughout. His superb storytelling skills are extremely rare in the modern world. |
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On 22nd September 2017 we challenged East & West Hendred WI to an Aunt Sally match. This was held in the beautiful garden of one of our members. As a group of novices it was a low scoring game with the result being a draw. Rita offered to play another round against Jenny (their President), but Jenny said let's leave it at that it's so nice. The game was followed by tea & cakes. Everyone agreed it had been a really fun afternoon with much laughter. |
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This event was to be held in a member's garden, but thanks to our glorious weather, plans had to be quickly changed. In view of the washout, and in true WI fashion, members rallied round and tea was served in the Masonic hall. A nice time was had by all. |
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Fabulous day out to 2 factories.. how different where they?? Amazon amazingly hi tech, clean and extremely health and safety conscious. It was extremely interesting and a real eye opener! This was followed by a trip to Frogmore paper mill and it was the antipathies of Amazon! You have to see it to believe it! A thoroughly enjoyable day!! |
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A lovely morning was had at Bourton house gardens. Some brooding black clouds but the rain held off. The gardens were quite small and we had coved it in an hour but in true WI fashion we managed to find tea and cake! We followed this by a "field walk" to walk off the cake!! |
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Around 20 members went to The Volunteer pub at Grove near Wantage for a Spring Lunch. It was organised by our Secretary, Dianne Monnery, who also made some lovely table flower arrangements with co-ordinating place names and serviettes which gave it a sense of occasion. As usual with WI ladies, there was a lot of chatter and a good time was had by all! |
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A fabulous day was had by all at Denman College designer day. It was attended by 35 members of our WI and whilst the reflexology workshop had mixed reviews, the silk scarf printing and jewellery making went down a storm. These pictures show our WI ladies wearing their scarfs and jewellery along with some close up shots of a scarf, necklace, bracelet and earrings made by one of our ladies. The cards were made from the silk remnants the ladies used to test out their colours before baking the scarves in a microwave. |
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At the Annual meeting, Liz Dickins, who had been our President for the last three years, stepped down from the role. Feeling a little sad, and with a few tears shed, Liz received tokens of our appreciation for all that she has accomplished during her term of office. Rita Hetherington, who had been a committee member for the last five years, was voted unanimously into the role. We are looking forward to having Rita as our President, and wish her every success. |
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Members of Wantage WI thoroughly enjoyed a Christmas Lunch at The Comrades Club in Wantage. They had a delicious three-course meal, which included a carvery. As usual, the noise levels were high due to lots of chattering! It was a really nice start to the Christmas period. |
Pictured here is member Elizabeth Davison, who has not only just celebrated her Diamond Wedding Anniversary, but has also celebrated 60 years as a WI member! Elizabeth received flowers from the WI and is also seen here proudly showing her congratulatory wedding anniversary card from HM the Queen. Many congratulations Elizabeth! |
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We find it hard to believe that Wantage WI is now 7 years old and going stronger than ever! We had a lovely birthday party at our usual meeting place, the Masonic Hall in Wantage. The committee all worked very hard to produce wonderful food for us, we had a lovely cake, baked for us by one of our members, and we were very well entertained by a group called "Short Drag Roger" who sang some very lively sea shanties. Here's to the next 7 (at least) years! |
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The ladies of East and West Hendred WI challenged the ladies of Wantage WI to a rounders match to coincide with National Sports Week. It was a very hot afternoon, and our ladies won with a final score of 51 to 43. A great time was had by all, and East and West Hendred WI have now asked us to set them a challenge! |
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The committee arranged for us to have an afternoon tea in the garden of Sandra Mitchell, our Treasurer. They worked very hard and served us delicious sandwiches, cakes and scones, and, of course, tea. The weather was glorious and the noise levels of chattering ladies enjoying themselves is something we have come to accept at our WI gatherings! |
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A celebration of summer at one of the member's homes. As usual, lots of wonderful food, fun and good company! |
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A number of ladies had a very special lunch at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons at Little Milton. |
A lovely day was had in Mottisfont. The weather was kind despite large black clouds hovering above. In the morning we walked around the beautiful walled rose garden. The recent rain seemed to have enhanced the glorious scents. Intoxicating! We had lunch at the Stables Cafe and in the afternoon we went on a most interesting and fascinating guided walk around the wetlands before obviously finishing off in true WI fashion with tea and cake.
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Over 40 members attended the Christmas lunch at the Bear Hotel in Wantage.
As you can see by the smiling faces, a good time was had by all! |
President Liz Dickins and WI Adviser Sheila West
Acoustic Duo "Anno Domini"
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Members thoroughly enjoyed the Wantage WI 6th birthday party at the Masonic Hall. The cake, decorated in WI colours, green and purple, was baked by BBC's "Bake-off" quarter-finalist, Christine Wallace. Our special guest was WI Adviser, Sheila West, who helped set up our WI six years ago. Liz, the current President, and the committee, provided us with a delicious lunch and looked after us all very well. We were entertained by a local acoustic duo, "Anno Domini" who were brilliant, and played a wide variety of songs - something for everyone! This party was the culmination of yet another very successful year for the Wantage WI. A very fitting end to the WI centenary year!! Well done everyone!! |
The "Dazzle" Ferry 'cross the Mersey. The famous ferry, "Snowdrop", has received a dazzling makeover by courtesy of Sir Peter Blake. Couldn't miss this in the fog!!
A few of us outside the Cavern Club one evening after dinner. Such a part of Liverpool history - we did pop in for half an hour to listen to the music. |
Pictured in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight. Founded by William Hesketh Lever and dedicated to the memory of his wife Elizabeth.
The gallery houses one of the UK’s finest collections of fine and decorative art. One of Antony Gormley's sculptures on Crosby beach. The installation is called "Another Place" and consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore. |
The speaker was Julie Summers who spoke to us about her grandfather, who was a prisoner of war in Burma. Her talk also included memories of her grandmother who was a member of the WI during the war and how it was her saviour following his return from his time as a prisoner of the Japanese. Her stories formed the basis of her ITV series "Homefires". Julie is pictured here in the centre, along with Helen Evans (right)(host for the evening) and Tracy Strain. The Denman Dip was won by Jenny Forrinton of Wantage WI. The enjoyment was made complete with the provision of delicious cakes!! |
Twelve people went on the Oxford Ghost Walk. It was led by Bill Spectre, a trained actor dressed in full Victorian undertaker's outfit. Starting from Oxford Castle we were led down the cobbled streets with dim lighting to add to the effect. Bill was magnificent and included the history of many of the Oxford colleges. He used several props with fire and fake knives etc. A great night. |
The day started with a visit to the Botanical Gardens and thankfully the weather stayed pleasant for us. This was followed by lunch at The Chequers, after which we went to the Harcourt Arboretum where we did the Acacia Walk. The day was rounded off nicely in true WI fashion with tea and cakes at Notcutts Garden Centre!
The ladies who went were Angie Bailey-Myers, Lynda Andrews, Pauline Walters, Jean Gerrard, Jenny Forinton and Diane Monnery. |
Christine delighted us with her amusing stories about being on the BBC TV programme "The Great British Bake-Off". She told us about how she had been persuaded by her niece to enter and the selection process that she went though. At each stage of the competition she thought it would be her last, but she went on to be a very successful quarter-finalist. It has been a life-changing experience for her and she has gone on from strength to strength. Christine baked a cake for the members to raffle, and the lucky winner was Lesley Wilkins, shown here on the right hand side of the picture. |
The centenary baton started its journey in LlanfairPG where the first WI meeting took place in 1915. It is travelling through all 69 WI Federations in the UK, ending its journey at the Annual Meeting at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2015. Each Federation has the baton for one week and celebrations surrounding its journey are planned. An afternoon tea was held at the Wantage Museum, and Wantage WI took the opportunity to display their splendid new banner which was made by some of their members. |
Can anyone think of a better way of spending a dull Monday afternoon in March, than having a tour of the Bombay Sapphire Distillery in Laverstoke, Hampshire? Originally a paper mill, making bank notes for over 225 years, the mill is now a state of the art distillery. It is now the only place where Bombay Sapphire gin is made from the ten beautiful botanicals (eg, juniper berries, angelica, coriander, etc) shown in the specially designed glasshouses designed by Thomas Heatherwick. The tour ended with a tailor-made gin cocktail for our ladies. We went home very happy!
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At the April meeting, several members volunteered to be models at a fashion show organised by the committee of Wantage WI and a local ladies' dress shop, Opal, based in Newbury Street, Wantage. President Liz Dickins gave the commentary. We were shown a wide range of quality fashionable clothes at very affordable prices. The event was a huge success. |
Wantage WI have been meeting at the Masonic Hall since they formed in November 2009. Recently Wantage WI members were asked to join the members of the Loyd Lindsay lodge at a dinner following one of their masonic meetings. Prior to the dinner, Jean Stirrup, President, was asked to give a short talk about the WI which took place in a very impressive masonic temple. The evening was a great success and a considerable amount of money was raised for charity. Pictured here are Jean Stirrup with Alan Cottrell, the Worshipful Master of the Loyd Lindsay Lodge. |
A group of ladies enjoyed an afternoon guided tour of Christchurch Cathedral. Originally a monastery, the Cathedral is the College Chapel for the College as well as the cathedral church for the Diocese of Oxford. Following the tour, our group had afternoon tea at the high table in the dining room which was rather special. At 6pm our WI were given a warm welcome to the Evensong service in the cathedral. A truly lovely experience. |
A very happy bunch of ladies enjoying an interesting day out to the Isle of Wight. Coach to Southampton, ferry to East Cowes and then on to visit St Mildred's Church at Whippingham where Queen Victoria and her family worshipped. On to Osborne House, now run by English Heritage. A real insight into the family life of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their family. Also a trip to the beach to see the "bathing machine". Alas the gardens were not shown at their best in the rain! |
The Jane Austen House Museum
Members visited the Jane Austen House Museum in Alton. Jane Austen is one of the most popular and important novelists England has ever produced and it was here that she wrote most of her mature novels.
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The Lavender Fields
The owner of the 24 acres of Hartley Park Farm told us about the production of the different types of lavender grown here, how it is harvested, and the products that are made from it. We also had a delicious cream tea there.
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Click on the picture to enlarge
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In October, Wantage WI members and their guests had a very interesting tour of the BMW Mini Plant in Cowley, Oxford. The tour took around an hour and a half, and we saw how the latest technology plays such an important role in the manufacture of these vehicles. Our guides, shown here, were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. |