Blewbury WI. News

November already! We had a fabulous day at Denman, (the WI college at Marcham), we are so lucky to have this practically on our doorstep, we had a cookery demonstration in the morning, with a theme of easy entertaining with a gluten free theme, lunch, then a talk on the reassures of the Ashmolean, afternoon tea, a walk in the gardens and a visit to the WI shop!

November Calendar

• Monday 4^th Coffee at Style Acre Tearooms 10.30am; with Eileen
• Lyn’s walk, Wednesday 6^th, meets at 9.30 am village hall, for a walk from either Wantage or Wallingford, depending on rain beforehand! All welcome of course!
• 1^st & 14^th; RAL lectures at Harwell

Wednesday 27^th, at Blewbury School, 7.30pm, “The Loneliness of The Long Distance Cyclist” with Chris Penny. Chris cycled over 4,000 miles across America in 2010, with his brother, and has also cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats, and all over Europe!

We are also planning a trip to a Christmas Market, probably Winchester

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381.

Karen Brooks

October kicks off with an Autumnal feel, with Lyn’s walk; everyone is welcome to join us, partners, friends & the odd dog!

The resolution being discussed at our national AGM is on the state of our town centres and shops, how to support our local traders, and how to keep customers buying in our own shops instead of the internet etc.

• Lyn’s walk, Tuesday 1^st October, meets at 10 am village hall, for a flat walk with a few stiles, coffee & cake at Style Acre tearooms afterwards, All Welcome.
• Coffee at Style Acre Tearooms 10.30am; with Karen
• Monday 7^th; our “Day at Denman”, at the WI college at Marcham
• Monday 14^th; Scrabble at Susan’s.
• Weds 16^th National NFWI AGM
• Weds 23^rd; Destination India, a day event at Southmoor.
• Wednesday 23rd; Loraine Ferguson on Self Publishing , Blewbury School 7.30pm
• Monday 28^th; Day of Dance
• Wednesday 30^th; our Group Meeting; with Carol Bunyan

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381.

Karen Brooks

Blewbury WI. News

We welcome visitors, (male & female) to almost all of our events, if you are not a member, and fancy joining us for an outing, walk or talk, please ring Judy, we are very friendly, and love to meet new people!

We kick start our autumn with a supper on August 28^th, when we are off to The Waterfront at Benson, a chance to catch up on our adventures over the summer!

• Coffee at Style Acre Tearooms; 10.30am with Joan
• Lyn’s walk, Wednesday 4^th Sept, meet at 9.30 am, village hall, for a flattish circular walk via Harwell, bring pennies for coffee, All Welcome.
• Thursday 12^th; trip to Kew Gardens, on the train, lunch etc
• Tuesday 17^th; trip to Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court
• Wednesday 25^th ; The History of Witney Blankets, Blewbury School 7.30pm
• Friday 27^th, WI Murder Mystery evening in Didcot

I have heard the lady who talks about the blanket industry in Witney, it is very interesting and a fascinating insight of the social & cottage industrial history, which turns into a huge industry, sadly now pretty much gone!

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381.

Karen Brooks

We are all “festival-ed out”, and would like to thank Pat and all her team for a fabulous fortnight, we are looking forward to the Ashbrook House dance, and are bringing our gazebo, picnics & chairs, and are ready to dance round our handbags!

Dates for July & August

• Tuesday 2nd; Lyn’s walk, 10am village hall,. All welcome!
• Monday 8^th; Coffee at Style Acre tearooms, 10.30am with Maggie
• Saturday 13^th; Ashbrook House dance
• Sat 20^th, trip to BBC Birmingham
• Tuesday 6^th August; Coffee at Style Acre tearooms, 10.30am with Susan
• Wednesday 14^th; Garden Meeting at Chapel Orchard

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381.

Karen Brooks

We are planning to attend lots of events for the festival, so our diary here will not be so long, as we can’t fit everything in! We will be hosting our evening with desserts on the 12^th, building a scarecrow, making a banner, putting in a quiz team and dancing the night away at the disco, come and join our group if you are on your own, or your other half doesn’t want to go!

Dates for June;

• Wednesday 5^th; Lyn’s walk, (with Sandra instead) meet at the village hall at 9.30am, for a circular walk to Chilton, with coffee stop. All welcome!
• Wednesday 12th; Blewbury Village Hall, 7.30pm, Festival event, Jason Prior tells us about what it’s like to be the architect for the London 2012 games. Delicious desserts & wine or juice. Tickets from the Post Office.
• Summer Auditions.
• Friday 28^th; RAL lecture, “The Universe and how to Explain It”

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381.

Karen Brooks

We have a new President, Joan Robertson has agreed to wear the natty brooch for a year, and Maggie & Karen are vice presidents, while Judy & Sue have been persuaded to be the secretary and treasurer respectively! We all thank Maggie for her hard work as President over the last 3 years, and wish Joan well in her new role! We welcome Liz Sweet & Joanna Davis onto the committee.

Dates for May,

• Friday 3^rd, RAL Lecture “Our Dynamic Sun”
• Tuesday 7^th; Lyn’s walk, meet at the village hall at 9.30am, sort out cars etc, for a walk near East Ilsley with lunch at Swan afterwards.
• Monday 13^th; outing to Adam Henson’s farm.
• Weds14^th, coffee & cake at Style Acre tearooms, 10.30am with Joan..
• Wednesday 22^nd ; Blewbury School Hall, 7.30pm, we discuss the NFWI resolution for this years AGM, and welcome Jo Lakeland for a brief talk on “Sustainable Blewbury”
• Thursday 23^rd; Garden & House visit to Nuffield house & lunch.
• Weds 29^th; Sound of Music in Oxford

Our love and best wishes to Ann & family at this sad time.

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381.

Karen Brooks

Spring & Easter are almost here; time to think about getting out and about again, please feel free to join in with “all welcome” events, this includes non members and men! We have quite few chaps who join us! My step dad has helped set up a WIWI club in my old village, this stands for Women’s Institute Widowers Inc, who on Mum’s WI night, meet in the pub for a couple of pints!

Dates for March;

• Tuesday 5^th; Lyn’s walk, not sure if this is happening yet, Lyn has broken her wrist, contact her please! All welcome!
• Also 5^th, Group Spring Meeting, John Eriksson, Brightwell, (wiwi’s in Red Lion!)
• Friday 8^th; RAL lecture; “Inserting Dinosaurs into Synchrotrons” with Dr Phil Manning, (ring Judy for tickets)
• Mon 11^th; Round 1 of WI quiz
• Tues 12^th; Blues Brothers @Oxford
• Weds 20^th, lunch @ The Cherry Tree, Steventon..
• Wednesday 27^th; Annual Meeting & Social Evening @ 7.30pm in the School Hall. Hostess’ are Wendy Beabey & Lyn Page

Date for Coffee at Style Acre Tea rooms not set as we went to press,

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381. Future events are also listed on our “Facebook” page, Blewbury WI.

Karen Brooks

We are all looking forward to a bright & busy New Year at the WI, we have lots of outings, talks, gardens and activities planned, which will keep us all busy!

Our activities for February are here:

• Weds 5^th ; Lyn’s walk, catch the bus at 9.49am at the Load of Mischief or later at other stops, for an easy but stunning walk around Ladygrove lakes & hills, with coffee. All welcome, inc non members!
• 5^th; Scrabble at Graeme’s house.
• Friday 15^th; RAL lectures “ Science Circus”
• Sunday 17^th; Snowdrops at Swyncombe Church, meet at Village Hall car park, with some cars please to car share, 1pm, small entrance fee charged & homemade teas available, all welcome, inc non members.
• Tuesday 19^th; coffee at Style Acre Tearooms, 10.30am, with Joan.
• Wednesday 27^th; a talk by Dave Talbot on “Modern India”, 7.30pm in the School Hall. Visitors welcome.

Forthcoming events also include “The Blues Brothers” in Oxford, a visit to Adam Henson’s farm in May, and lunch at The Cherry Tree.

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381. Future events are also listed on our “Facebook” page, Blewbury WI.

Karen Brooks

For many of us, Christmas is such a busy time, a time when family and friends get together over the festive season, our WI is no different, we have several events where we catch up with each other, and take a well earned “time out” from all that rushing about!

Our activities for December are here;

• Monday 3rd; Christmas songs at Oxford Town Hall
• Tuesday 4^h. Lyn’s walk; Catch the 9.49 bus at the appropriate stop, for a walk around the north “rivers” side of Didcot, coffee stop somewhere too! All welcome! (Bring your bus pass if you have one!)
• Weds 5^th; Scrabble at Lyn Page’s
• 7^th, RAL lecture on “The Higgs Bosun……”
• Tuesday 11^th Christmas lunch 12.30pm
• Tuesday 18^th; Christmas get together 10.30 am, at Chapel Orchard.

For more details, or to join the Mah Jong or Scrabble group, or if you wish to join us, please ring Judy on 850381. Future events are also listed on our “Facebook” page, Blewbury WI.

We send all our love to Edna & Peter, and also Mrs Gardner.

Karen Brooks

Blewbury WI meets next at 1930 on Wednesday July 27^th at The “Clubhouse” – note change of venue. This is the nice new building on the right hand side of the main road as you enter the village. Just take a right opposite Savages and you’ll see the car park on your right.   We will be hearing about “The Philosophy of Hairdressing” from Mark Creed who has salons in Oxford, Witney and Abingdon. He will be doing a demonstration on one of us and also answering questions on hair care.

August finds us taking a trip to Windsor including a guided tour round Eton School. Then two theatre visits for the future – "Sister Act" – a divine musical comedy in late October, and also "Cinderella on Ice" with the Russian Ice Stars in mid November.

We are pleased to welcome a new member from Upton – I was beginning to lose hope in the ladies of Upton – we would welcome you all with open arms!!

If you need a lift ring Judy on 850381 and something will be arranged.