Category Archives: Meetings

An evening with Vicky Fleetwood – Our July 2024 meeting

We welcomed Vicky Fleetwood to our July meeting.  Vicky made her England rugby debut in 2011, playing in the World Cup winning side in 2014, with the World Cup finalists in 2017, and in the winning Six Nations team in 2019.   She has made over 75 appearances for England, playing at hooker or in the back row of the pack.   Vicky is Director of Rugby at local club Old Colfeians RFC and is also a personal trainer.  Vicky spoke about how she began to play rugby, her career and its ups and downs, as well as her transition into coaching and training following her retirement as a player from competitive rugby.  Vicky brought some of her medals for us to see and put us through our paces with some exercises we could do at home. Many thanks to Vicky and also to the refreshments team for an excellent feast! A really enjoyable evening!

“Lovely talk tonight.”

“Great speaker! I enjoyed the exercises too!”

“Enjoyed the talk tonight … interesting, informative and fun!”

 

Mudlarking – Our June 2024 meeting

              Christine Webb from the Thames Explorer Trust presented a fascinating talk about mudlarking and some of her finds.  Mudlarking is searching the banks of rivers, in this case the Thames, for the artefacts that are revealed when the tide goes out. Objects from the thousands of years of… Continue reading

Singalong with Richard & Mark – Our May 2024 Meeting & AGM

This month we welcomed back Richard Gregg and Mark Andrew for some vocal fun.  After a few warm up exercises to get the best from our voices, Richard and Mark took us through a medley of songs from The Sound of Music as well as telling us little known and fascinating facts about the musical… Continue reading

Women in Advertising – Our April 2024 meeting

We were treated to a fascinating talk by Lizzie Broadbent about ‘Women in Advertising Between the Wars’.  In 1913, one of Britain’s women’s magazines told readers about the opportunities presented by this ‘new, vital and growing vocation’ and that year women working in the industry came together to form their own network, the Women’s Advertising… Continue reading

British Sign Language – Our March 2024 meeting

Tying in with British Sign Language week 18-24 March, we were delighted to welcome BSL translator Shahbana Aslam and her two colleagues Sandra and Charlotte for our meeting on 21st March.  Shahbana talked with such passion and enthusiasm about the challenges and joys of her work with the deaf community for over 25 years.  She… Continue reading

Tidylicious with Hester van Tien – Our February 2024 Meeting

Following the chat on our Whats App group about sorting out our lofts, sherry glasses, bags, clothes and photos, a visit from professional organiser, Hester Van Hien from Tidylicious was obviously very timely!  Hester had lots of tips about how to declutter and save space in our homes without being minimalist and while recognising that… 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

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

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

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

We hit the floor Strictly style – October 2023 Meeting

Really had a misconception about ballroom dancing!  Who needs a man to lead? Katie Durant returned to Lee Green WI in October for a night of dancing, Strictly style.  Warming up with basic steps from the waltz, cha cha and samba, we went on to take our partners and trip the light fantastic while perfecting… Continue reading

Practical First Aid – September 2023 Meeting

  We welcomed Julie Durston to our September 2023 meeting to talk about first aid. A really useful and practical session as Julie covered how to help if a casualty is unconscious and deal with bleeding and choking.  She reminded us how to give CPR and showed us how not to be scared of using… Continue reading