Hello!
April brings us blossom and lighter evenings. There’s nothing like a sunny day to feel inspired. We’re really looking forward to our BWI (belated) celebration of International Womens’ Day/Month on 10th April, 2pm at BAC. We’ve popped a link to the programme below. There are lots of great activities to take part in. If you’ve not signed up yet, you can drop us a line to say you’re coming and/or if you plan to bring a friend. If we have spare places we will open up the day to friends for a donation of £5
Our speaker this month is Chiara Cadei from WRAP who will be talking to us about sustainable fashion and plastics. The statistics with regard to this aspect of the fashion industry are mind boggling. Please either wear or bring upcycled clothing/items. A reminder also, if you have access to Netflix, the 2024 film “Buy Now: the Shopping Conspiracy” is a very interesting watch. Plus, Fashion Revolution Week falls in April, from 22-28th.
In 2025 we are celebrating 110 years of the WI. As part of the celebrations, NFWI is encouraging WIs and Federations to join in the celebrations through a few activities, from tree planting and having a ‘party in the Park’, to a free WI Webinar session on the Learning Hub. Please send in your ideas to any of the committee and help us get the ball rolling.
I look forward to seeing you all very soon
Jane, President Battersea WI
E: presidentbattersea@surreyfedwi.org.uk
| PROGRAMME FOR BWI AFTERNOON CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY/MONTH 10TH APRIL 2PM AT BAC download the programme here |
In your April 2025 Newsletter:
- Your BWI Groups
- Coming up – meet up dates at a glance, what’s on in April and forthcoming speakers for 2025
- Offshoots – activities inspired by BWI groups
- Surrey Federation
- NFWI news and information
Your BWI Groups
 Keep up to date with BWI group activities via our Instagram feed. |
Art
Sketching in the V&A Ceramics Gallery
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Book Groups – what we’ve been reading
Bookends update by Clare G
The Romantic is William Boyd’s picaresque whole-life novel charting the roller-coasting fortunes and globe-trotting adventures of Cashel Greville Ross (1799-1882). Boyd’s fictitious protagonist is a true Romantic, forever following his heart and encountering plenty of real-life nineteenth-century events and celebrities as he goes. It’s long, but written with great assurance, and most of us found it a real page-turner: an exciting story, intelligently and sympathetically told.
Boozy Books update by Amanda
None of this is True, Lisa Jewell. Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair, who is also celebrating her 45th. A few days later, they bump into each other again outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie says she thinks she would be an interesting subject for Alix’s podcast. Alix agrees…and before she knows it, Josie has cajoled her way into Alix’s life – and into her home. The book lives up to its title as by the end we didn’t know what to believe! Voted crime novel of 2024 by the Sunday Times, the book is shocking and creepy yet keeps you reading …. we discussed it for a long time at Book Club especially when we found a bonus chapter had been added to confuse us even more.
Chapter One Reading Group update by Jane
One of the great things about a book group is that it encourages us to read a variety of books including some which we might never have chosen ourselves. Sometimes we don’t all like the book but that’s part of the experience. Our March book excelled by being the book none of us liked. In fact no one read it all the way through. Some read a few pages, some a few chapters but we all agreed that it was too unpleasant to continue. The Diceman by Luke Rhinehart is promoted as a cult bestseller but should come with a warning that it’s horribly shocking and misogynistic.
Coffee Morning
Craft Group
On 16th March we visited the Blueprinting History exhibition at Morden Hall Park and enjoyed a very interesting talk by the artist, Cathy Corbishley-Michel. Cathy explained the process and inspiration behind her cyanotypes, as she celebrates 25 years of quilt making. The exhibition is free and is on until 27th April.
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Looking ahead, the Carry on Crafting Festival will take place at the South of England Showground on 12th and 13th July – if you are interested contact Elaine. I’m planning on going on the 12th. If we have enough interest I will look into hiring the Community Minibus. Tickets are £12.50 for one day, £20 for the weekend. Here is a selection of workshops which will be running. Some of them are beginning to sell out so if you do fancy coming, you might want to book sooner rather than later.
Exhibitions
A group of us went to see the egregiously over the top Leigh Bowery exhibition at Tate Modern. Bowery was was a performance artist and fashion designer known for his costumes, makeup, and live performances. He was considered flamboyant, outlandish, and controversial. Active in the Club Scene, he appearied on television, in numerous magazines. There was a lot to see, an abundance of flamboyant and colourful outfits, videos, interviews, letters, photos of friends and antics at the Taboo Club. It is an extensive exhibition, certainly something very different and entertaining, we enjoyed it and were in there for quite some hours.
Film Group
Our film for March was Black Bag, a 2025 American semi comic spy thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp. The leads are played by Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as husband and wife George and Kathryn, Intelligence Officers in an MI5 type organisation based in Westminster. George is tasked with investigating a list of possible traitors, one of whom could be his wife. Overall we thought it was ‘watchable piffle’ – there are plenty of twists and turns as we try to work out who is betraying who and you have to pay attention as the action moves along at pace, and with the needle of suspicion changing direction rapidly, it would be easy to miss a vital clue.
Foodies
Our March Foodies meet up coincided with the festival of Holi, the festival of colours. The spring festival symbolises the victory of good over evil and marks the end of winter. People light a bonfire, smear or spray friends and family members with colour and water, and feast on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion. At Foodies we did our bit with a wonderful Indian banquet with everyone having second helpings.
VE Day 2025
This month for our recipe of the month, we want to draw your attention to the Official WI VE Day 2025 cake recipe. This is in recognition of Britain’s women’s incredible effort during WWII. The recipe dates back to this time and is a batter mix.
Battersea WI Bring and Buy sale as part of our celebration of International Womens’ Day: 10th April from 2pm Battersea Arts Centre.
Calling all! Please bring along a cake, cupcakes, scones, pastries or biscuits for our celebration. To enable us to safely sell food items please avoid all nuts and seeds in your cookery. If you do make anything that is dairy or gluten free a label to this effect would be very helpful.
Knitting & Crochet
The group has been making Easter ducks and bookmarks ready for the 10th April IWD celebration
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Photography
Themes were Winter Walks and Fluids. Here is a selection of our favourites. Photos by Alessandra, Rachel, Elaine, Sarah, Jennie, Rachael, Rosemary, Nathalie, Joan, bartender.
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Walking
We had a good turnout of 13 members and two dogs on a lovely sunny morning for our 7 March walk. As it was the day before International Women’s Day, we travelled up to Hampstead to walk around some picturesque parts of the Village and the Vale of Health, admired the view from the Heath, and took in various sites associated with notable women – highlights included plaques to Lee Miller, Daphne du Maurier and local flower-seller Maggie Richardson, as well as a postbox in the High Street set on fire by Suffragettes in 1914, and the pub outside which Ruth Ellis shot her lover on Easter Sunday 1955. Finally we visited Burgh House, where some of us checked out displays celebrating the work of local illustrators Helen Oxenbury, Kate Greenaway and Helen Allingham, and we all enjoyed coffee out of doors in the pretty garden.
Coming Up
Full details of group meetings are listed in our members’ monthly newsletter.
Guest Speaker for April
Chiara Cadei from WRAP will be talking to us about sustainable fashion and plastics. WRAPworks globally to promote the Circular Living model to transform the systems that provide the products we consume. Circular Living means using our precious resources more intelligently by accelerating the circular economy, future proofing food, preventing problem plastics and transforming the way textiles are made, bought and used. This in turn will help tackle climate change, protect nature, and reduce inequality. Chiara’s talk links perfectly with our trip last year to Western Riverside Waste Authority and Earth Day on 22nd April. For this meeting, it would be lovely if members either wear or bring in upcycled clothing and the stories that go with them. If you have access to Netflix, the 2024 film “Buy Now: the Shopping Conspiracy” is a very interesting watch.
Speakers/events coming up in 2025
Subject to change if the speaker cancels:
- May 20th Fools Gold – History of British Saffron by Sam Bilton
- June 17th Lady Poisoners of Victorian England – David Allen
- July 15th Mudlarking – Jason Sandy
- August – Summer outing TBC Possible Folkstone
- September 16th Fermentation – Clare Heal
- October 21st Lighting the Pyre – April Lewis
- November 18th AGM – Get ready to vote for your new committee for 2026.
- December – Christmas Party Bring and share seasonal food
Surrey Federation
The Surrey Federation website has all the latest news about events and links to their monthly newsletter. This month they have introduced a random member bursary – each month someone will be selected to attend the workshop/event/course of their choice! For a full list of workshops and to enrol click here.
National Federation
The WI campaigns on a huge range of issues – from promoting women’s rights and fostering health awareness to encouraging sustainable development and building a fairer society. For more information about Campaigns please visit the My WI section of the NFWI website
110 years of the WI
As part of the celebrations, WIs and Federations are encouraged to join in the celebrations through a few activities, from tree planting and having a ‘party in the Park’ to a free WI Webinar session on our Learning Hub. We hope you will be able to participate in as many activities as possible!
Please click here to read more about the various ways you can celebrate the anniversary. We would encourage you to share photographs and any videos with us to publish in WI Life or on the WI Webpage by emailing the Events Department – events@nfwi.org.uk. If uploading any pictures/videos to your own social media accounts, don’t forget to use the hashtag #WI110years.
Thank you for reading. If you would like to join Battersea WI, please use our contact form and someone will get back to you very soon.