Category Archives: Uncategorized

Visiting the Met Police Museum, February 2024

A group of 10 members went on a visit to the Police Museum which is found in Marlowe House in Sidcup.  It is a very small museum housed in one room but we were given a guided tour by the very informative Edward Smith, the Met Police’s Curatorial Assistant.  He told us about the start of the Police in 1829, when Robert Peel’s Police Act was introduced and how people were sceptical and thought they might be a variation of the red coats or the Army.  To begin the tour we saw artifacts that were used to define the beats that the police walked – they had to be close together so that they could hear each other blow their whistles calling for help.  We saw parts of uniforms, the originals being dark blue so not to be confused with other groups and with top hats so that they looked more like the public and were approachable.  The top hats were rigid using a cane structure so that the policeman could stand on it and see over fences or crowds if needed.  We learnt about the roles that women had since 1919 and that they were not given the power of arrest until 1923.  Their uniforms at one point were made by Harrods but their wages were docked until the uniform was paid for.  They were given long laced up leather boots that were left over from the land army.  Women were eventually integrated in the main structure of the Met with equal pay in the 1970s but still had the prefix ‘W’ until 1999.  We saw medals and rewards and finished with A set of drawings done of defendants and others in court.  It was a great visit and Edward hosted us well and managed to answer all of our questions.

A Visit to the Vagina Museum, January 2024

A small group went on a visit to the Vagina Museum in Bethnal Green.  It was previously a pop-up museum and has recently moved into its permanent home under the railway arches.   The museum is dedicated to vaginas, vulvas and the gynaecological anatomy and the idea is to improve knowledge about the variations, conditions and… Continue reading

Qi gong with Drew Sinclair – Our January 2024 meeting

What a great start to our new WI year as Drew introduced us to qi gong, gently breathing, stretching and balancing our way to perfect calm!  A wonderful way to start or end the day, to de-stress and take time for ourselves.  We also learned that: Qi means ‘Life Force’ and Gong means ‘to cultivate… Continue reading

Our 2023 Christmas Card

The Committee really enjoyed putting together the photos for this year’s Christmas card which featured many of the meetings and events we enjoyed over the past year.  The photos were taken from the many taken and shared by members on the Make Do and Meet Whats App group so a big thank you to all… Continue reading

An author among our midst!

              Some of you will remember Liz Murphy was recently awarded Highly Commended for her article submitted to the Lady Denman Cup competition. That was just the start, now Liz is a published author – massive congratulations to you Liz from all of us at Lee Green WI. Such… Continue reading

2024 Meeting Dates

The dates for our 2024 meetings are listed below so you can add them to your new diary as soon as possible.  We will be adding full details for each meeting in Upcoming Events. Thursday 18 January Thursday 22 February Thursday 21 March Thursday 18 April Thursday 16 May Thursday 20 June Thursday 18 July… Continue reading

Carol singing, December 2023

A very joyous and festive evening was had by all on Friday 22 December when about twenty of us including our friends and family  sang together on local streets to raise money for Crisis.  An amazing £282 was raised on the door and subsequent donations increased the total donation we made to a wonderful £450! … Continue reading

A golden evening – our December 2023 meeting

  Thank you Lucy Anne for a gold themed evening of gilding!  Our Christmas trees and decorations were even shinier this year with the addition of the gilded stars and snails we made at our December meeting.  We glued and brushed our way to success learning new words (skewings*) and having a jolly good chat… Continue reading

Make Do & Mend Banner Repair, November 2023

                Many of you will be familiar with our banner which was selected by the National Federation of WI to be displayed as part of a project with Anya Hindmarch to celebrate the rich history of the WI. Work on our banner began in 2018 and it features… Continue reading

Lee Green Open Studios, November 2023

A huge thank you to all our wonderful cake bakers, sellers and buyers at this year’s Open Studios event.  Based in Lochaber Hall, we were delighted to support this great community event again. We … “… sang Happy Birthday to one visitor, heard a poetry recital from a lady recovering from a stroke and had… Continue reading

The Queen’s Police Officer – Our November 2023 meeting

We enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining evening with Richard Griffin who served in the Metropolitan Police from 1970 to 2013. Richard brought along lots of medals, letters, invitations and photographs from his time working with the royal family and had  many excellent stories and anecdotes to tell us about his years looking after the late Queen… Continue reading

Sherry tasting with Carolyn, November 2023

  Following last year’s enthusiastic chat about sherry on our Make Do And Meet WhatsApp group and to coincide with International Sherry Week, our very own wine educator Carolyn hosted this sherry tasting event.  Carolyn presented an informative talk about the different sherry styles and the methods of production and then we got down to… Continue reading