Kibworth & Smeeton WI – June 2024
On arrival at our meeting on 9 May, members were invited to look at photo albums, minute books and some of our more recent yearbooks, including one which recorded our different life during the Covid
pandemic and two special, ornate yearbooks celebrating Leicestershire and Rutland Federation’s and our own centenaries. Some of the minute books and the photographs are decades old and it is so interesting to read about those meetings and to note the more formal style of reporting. For example, members were addressed as Mrs… or Miss…
We began the business of the meeting with this year’s Resolution. In the past, this involved presentations of a number of suggested campaigns to present to the Government, and then members voted for their favoured resolution. Nowadays, the process is much simpler. Members can access information online or in the national WI Life magazine. The top resolution is presented to WIs and they vote either for or against. This year’s resolution is ‘Dental Health Matters’ which urges the Government to address the chronic shortage of NHS dentists and to ensure that everyone can access an NHS dentist, wherever they live.
Pat Sharman updated members on the progress of our knitting and crochet projects. Due to a rather dubious weather forecast, we now plan to delay installation of the summer yarn bombing until 20 June, in time for the library’s Make Music Day on Friday 21 June. Anne Holtum had prepared sewing kits with fabric for members to make simple shoulder bags for hospital patients so that they could carry heart monitors and other equipment more easily around with them. All of the kits were taken, so we look forward to seeing the finished bags. Betty Elloy will take the bags to Glenfield Hospital as a thank you for treatments received there by Betty and others.
Jane Gibbons brought along a stunning quilt which is being raffled for charity. Jane belongs to a Harborough U3A group called the Quilty Pleasures who hand made and hand knotted the quilt with over 12,000 hexagons, which took 30 months to complete. Proceeds from the raffle will be split between LOROS and Cransley Hospice in Northamptonshire.
Business concluded, members organised themselves into tables of four and the rest of the evening was spent enjoying a Beetle Drive. This was a lively affair with members circulating and socialising around the hall. Of course, our meeting would not be complete without the tea, coffee and delicious cakes provided by this month’s hostesses!
We will welcome Rachel Greaves, author of ‘Ruffle the Rail Dog’ to talk to us on 11 July at 7.30 at KCH. Members can look forward to our Birthday Supper on the 8 August. There is no meeting that month. A garden visit is also being planned.
Pat Sharman
Rotary Club Charity Golf Day – June 2024
