Kibworth & Smeeton WI – September 2024
Members have been busy throughout the summer. In late June, we installed our “Afternoon Tea in the Summer Garden” yarn bombing at the library. It drew many lovely comments and was enjoyed by people of all ages. Children played with the knitted animals and some were busy counting the birds and creatures in the tree and on the benches.
Hovis – an inspirational dog
At our July meeting Rachel Greaves explained how her Airedale terrier, Hovis, inspired her to begin writing children’s stories. Hovis loved to sit looking out at their garden which gave her the idea to paint him there and at the seaside, watching the boats. That, plus connections who worked at the Grand Central Railway, inspired her to write about the adventures of an Airedale, which she called “Ruffle the Rail Dog”. Rachel often bases her stories on her own dog’s adventures and illustrates the books herself. She had a friend who printed small A5 sized books, plus a larger colouring book.
Rachel began giving talks in schools and to WIs and other organisations. She also works with charities by producing books to help them. For example, using Ruffle to educate on issues such as giving first aid. To make her talks and school assemblies more appealing and to bring her books alive, especially for children, she created a hand puppet of an Airedale, which children think is real! When a carpenter friend made a model of a steam train for her, she added features to it and made a stationmaster out of household items. This included a four litre milk carton for the body and carved wooden spoons for hands! Rachel has sold well over 40,000 books. Many of which are for older children to read and share with children of any age.
A 100th birthday celebration!
On 8 August many members gathered at The Crown, Tur Langton, for our annual Birthday Supper, which nowadays we prefer to hold in August rather than on a darker April evening. We were delighted to welcome Celia Pemberton as our guest, as she celebrates her 100th birthday this year! Until recently, Celia was a long-standing member of our WI. After enjoying a very tasty meal in a friendly atmosphere, our president, Beverley, challenged us with quiz sheets to solve at our tables, which caused lots of discussion and scratching of heads. Members on the winning table each received a beautiful begonia table decoration.
Our WI doesn’t have a meeting in August, but a garden visit was arranged to Green Wicket Farm, Bitteswell. The garden is very pretty, informal and contains many unusual varieties of plants, trees and shrubs and there were some plants and small shrubs on sale. The hostess is very friendly and welcoming and because the weather was cool and windy she invited into her conservatory and kitchen to enjoy hot drinks and delicious cakes. We all agreed it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
As we head into autumn we’re looking forward to “Sound Therapy” with Petra Galligan on 12 September. David Price will entertain us with “Kicks and Frills, Story of the Can-Can” Thursday 10 October, 7.30 at KCH
Pat Sharman & Teresa Bottomley
Kibworth Beauchamp Parish Council
