Aldeburgh WI celebrated their birthday with fish and chips lunch, followed by a talk by Mr Ted Wheatley on Memorable Meals. A splendid birthday cake was made by Dana Taylor.

First the necessary bit ~ the paying of our subscriptions. Then Denise Ward showed us the items, which we had helped Aldeburgh Surgery purchase, through our various fund raising activities,  they are:-

24 Hour Blood Pressure Monitor & additional cuffs and accessories,
Classic Blood Pressure Monitor
Wheelchair – large
Paediatric and Adult pulse Oximeter – for measuring blood oxygen
Otoscope – for looking in ears
New Practitioner Diagnostic set

This was followed by a thoroughly enjoyable cream tea, with home made scones from the committee.  Some of the members hobbies were on show, these included dolls houses, bookbinding and paintings. Shirley Maunder won the Robinson cup for competitions and Jean our president, was presented with a delightful cake made by Dana Taylor, in celebration of her 50 years with Aldeburgh WI.

For more pictures of the meeting please click here

A Christmas Lunch was enjoyed by many Aldeburgh WI ladies, with the stalwart committee members working hard in the kitchen to provide a delicious meal.  Everyone received a small gift and lunch was followed by a Christmas singalong.

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A fascinating talk about a journey to Tromsø and beyond.  Tromsø is 200 miles within the Arctic Circle, it has snow on the ground from September to April.  Plus it has very long days and very long nights (twilights) depending on the time of year. It is one of the best places to view the Northern Lights, though as Chris explained getting a photograph of the lights is not that easy.

During the talk, we learnt about heated pavements, avalanche fences, underground road systems, shopping on skis and dried fish.  I definitely want to visit to Norway after such an interesting talk.

On the 26th July a fund raising lunch was served by the WI committee. This was in aid of a second blood pressure monitor at Aldeburgh Surgery. Over seventy people attended the lunch in the Church Hall and with the additional help of a tombola stall, we managed to raise over £600. A great selection of quiches, cold cuts and salads was on offer, followed by a wonderful array of desserts. To see more images, especially of the hard working committee, please click here

Judith Geater a WI from Leiston came to speak to us about a resolution concerning Charity Shops. Her resolution concerned the selling of new items in charity shops, items that weren’t from Fair Trade or that didn’t connect directly with the charity for example bought in Christmas Cards.This she felt this was unfair to other traders, especially as charity shops get preferential rates, we gave her our unanimous backing.

An absolutely fascinating talk by Elizabeth Taylor, on the subject of felting. The first thing I learnt was that felt was the oldest known textile. Evidence of a kind of pre-felt having been found on Mummies in the Taklamakan Desert in north west China dating to ca. 2000 BCE. To read more about these Mummies, please click here and here. Elizabeth went on to describe her various visits to a Felt master in Eastern Turkey and a Felt Mistress in Kyrgyzstan. She explained the different methods of making felt and showed us some examples she had brought back from her travels. Elizabeth also showed us some of her own work including an amazing jacket made from felt,  the picture below shows Elizabeth modelling the Jacket. And finally, for all the craftspeople out there, Elizabeth recommended the Knitting and Stitching show, for information please click here.

To see more images of felting please click here

Aldeburgh WI held a coffee and cake morning, to raise money for another blood pressure monitor at the surgery. The morning was very well attended and the cake stall was almost emptied of its fare.

To see larger versions of these images please click here

Marcelle Heath reading the 2014 resolution, this year the WI want to encourage people to make their wishes known regarding organ donation.

“The NFWI notes that three people die every day whilst waiting for an organ transplant. We call on every member of the WI to make their wishes regarding organ donation known, and to encourage their families and friends, and members of their local communities to do likewise.”

This was followed by a talk by Lynn Walker about the Aldeburgh Town Plan, Lynn explained the ideas that have so far been put forward. What did we think of the ideas and did the WI have anything to add to the discussion. Some interesting and amusing ideas were expressed, not all of them legal or practical.

Jenny Scott receiving a cheque for £50 from Lynn Walker, as a thank you, for WI members providing the teas at an Aldeburgh Town Plan meeting. The money will go toward Aldeburgh WI’s chosen charity, which is for the purchase of an additional blood pressure monitor, for Aldeburgh Surgery.

A fascinating talk about the history of tea by Mr Peter Booth-Smith. Where the tea came from, how it was grown and how we became such a tea drinking country. Quite a few interesting teapots were brought for the competition. See the images below. For more photographs click here.

The WI birthday lunch was much appreciated by all, good food and excellent company. It was followed by a very amusing and entertaining talk on Magic by Colin Hopper, all about chinese wands, headless ducks and magic string. The afternoon ended with tea and cake, the cake  made and beautifully decorated by Dana Taylor.