Hello
The daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops in bloom are a welcome reminder that Spring is only a few weeks away. We have plenty to look forward to over the coming months. International Women’s Day is on 8th March. Group leads met up to put together an initial programme for a BWI event on the afternoon of 10th April at BAC to celebrate, so save the date in your diaries! We’d love to see as many of you there as possible. The programme will include a book swap, tai chi, tea and cake and a raffle. More information to follow! Meanwhile, here’s an interesting article about Five Statues of Extraordinary London Women.
Our speaker this month is Paul Jagger, Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists – 100th Livery Company of the City of London. See ‘Coming Up’ for more information about him.
If you missed it in the recent WI Hub newsletter, 17-23 March is Neurodiversity Celebration Week. WI Wales is hosting an online event on 17th March, from 7pm – 8.15pm. See our NFWI section for more information, where there is also an update on the resolution going to the June AGM, ‘Bystanders can be lifesavers.’ It’s also that time of year when annual sub payments are due – you have until 1st April, information in the box below.
Calling Theatre fans! We’ve received great offers from ATG Tickets for group rates (min size is 10) for Evita (Palladium) – £60pp for Thursday matinees between 14th June and 6th September and The Devil Wears Prada (Dominion) Monday to Friday evenings and Wednesday matinees £47.50. We are looking for volunteers to co-ordinate, so please email me and I’ll send you the details and we’ll sort a sign up sheet at a future meeting once dates arranged.
As ever, any other suggestions or feedback from our members are always welcome, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with any of the committee. We want everyone to feel part of the BWI family.
I look forward to seeing you all very soon
Jane, President Battersea WI
E: presidentbattersea@surreyfedwi.org.uk
Subs for 2025/26
SUBS FOR 2025 – 2026 ARE DUE BY 1st APRI
Full Member £51.00/Dual Member £ 25.10 (if you are already a full member of another WI) Please ensure your payment is made before the end of March.
Any queries please contact Nadine or refer to the NFWI website
In Your March 2025 Newsletter:
- Your BWI Groups
- Coming up – March and April speakers
- 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
We visited the Turbine hall in Tate Modern with artists Isabella Lloyd-Mitchel and Martyn Blundell of Drawing Escapes to draw the Mire Lee Hyundai Commission, ‘Open Wound’ is a series of ‘skins’ – fabric sculptures – hanging from the ceiling on metal chains. For Lee, the complex histories of industry inspire her to consider the physical and emotional labour of people living in times of precarity and decline. The Turbine Hall has been reimagined as the inside of a body, transforming it into an eerie, fantastical factory. We used lots of different media, which produced different takes and a variety of styles. It was good to meet new people too. The next Drawing Escapes London adventure is 11th May.
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Book Groups – what we’ve been reading
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Bookends This month’s book, Dinner in Rome, by Andreas Viestad, is an interesting take on how the need for certain important food items drove the development of civilisation. Using a classic Italian meal that the author eats at a restaurant in Rome as his starting point, the author dives deep into the culinary archaeology of bread, oil, salt and various other ingredients, intent on proving that food is the secret driving force behind history. Even if he overstates his case at times, the book is engagingly written and we all found it a lively, illuminating read.
Boozy Books Butter, Asako Yuzuki, and Murder on Lake Garda, Tom Hindle: A double February whammy with a choice of two books as both books had the same number of votes in the ‘next read’ poll. Butter is the translation of a cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case. Those choosing this book were not enthusiastic and found it hard going due to the sentence construction. It is certainly a slow burn book. Murder on Lake Garda was an Agatha Christie type of mystery where everyone is desperate to know . . .Who is the killer? And can they be found before they strike again? Those choosing this book enjoyed reading it and it was certainly a page turner. However, as the book progressed, we agreed that there was little depth to many of characters and an almost farcical plot line. We all needed to find out the murderer though!
Chapter One Reading Group Tom Lake, Ann Patchett. This book is described on its cover as “a meditation on youthful love, married love and the lives parents lead before their children are born”. Set during the COVID 19 pandemic but telling a story that happened 30 or so years earlier it highlighted the inability to appreciate life as it happens. It begins in a quiet and unassuming style but develops into a story of characters, relationships and events with several viewpoints. Although quite folksy and sometimes sentimental there were issues to talk about and some puzzles around how it should be interpreted.
Craft Group
The Craft Forward and 575 Wandsworth Road community quilt project explored what ‘Home’ means over a series of workshops at Battersea Arts Centre. The finished quilt was on display at Battersea Arts Centre from 24-27 February. The photos don’t really do it justice, but hopefully give you an idea of the wide variety of objects that convey ‘home’ to the different contributors. We’ve really enjoyed being part of this amazing community project.
Exhibitions Group
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80’s London, at the London Fashion & Textile Museum, focuses on the legendary night club ‘Taboo’ opened in 1985 by designer and performance artist Leigh Bowery. We especially loved the hand painted garments and are inspired to run a Craft Group activity painting clothes in a similar fashion. There were many eccentric outfits on display. ‘Dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother’ was the dress code amongst the Taboo circle, sparking a scene that used the language of hedonistic excess to create fashion, art and popular culture.
27th Feb Luminous at St Paul’s Cathedral. We were out in force to see Luminous, a wonderful video projection illuminating the inside of St Paul’s Cathedral. Text and images, some from manuscripts, moved through the interior, growing and receding and moving you through the space of the Cathedral which was more than just a blank canvas as the projections incorporated features of the cathedral to great effect. We finished up at Côte on Ludgate Circus to round off a spectacular evening as you will see from the many colourful photos the group took!
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Film
It was Monday evening and a packed cinema. Bridget Jones clearly has a lot of faithful followers wanting to see the next chapter of her life, this time as a widow and single
mother. It’s the same story line, as she’s a singleton with two potential love interests, this time a toy boy 20 years her junior and her son’s science teacher (no prizes for guessing which one wins out). There were plenty of laughs and it was fun to see some of her old singleton crowd, though I would have liked more of those scenes. Hugh Grant appeared as her old friend and ageing Lothario, soon to be rivalled by his own son. One of the best scenes was where hunky Toy Boy emerges from a swimming pool in a wet white shirt, clearly referencing Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. The film segued between dealing with the grief of widowhood, stresses of single parentingto the heartache, obstacles and romance of dating. It was a hard balancing act, a little shallow at times, but it’s a light-hearted comedy, so it’s entitled to be. All round a fun watch that we all enjoyed seeing.
Foodies
In February we headed out to Battersea Power Station for the Light Festival and dinner at Tozi in the Art’otel. It was a freezing cold evening and we were grateful for the warm friendly ambiance of Tozi. The food was delicious with all of us choosing different things from the menu. They even provided boxes for those unable to finish up everything. We thoroughly recommend this restaurant.
Knitting & Crochet
Our crocheters and knitters excelled themselves, making 54 Easter chicks (including the odd bunny!) for Royal Trinity Hospice. The covers were filled with creme eggs and will be sold through shops and schools to raise much needed funds.
Photography
In January we visited the Photographers Gallery which was curating exhibitions by two female photographers who were contemporaries: the first was a tour and talk about the work of Deborah Turbeville (see right), a renowned photographer for Vogue and other magazines in the 70’s and 80’s, she deliberately avoided the “stereotypical ideal” of glamour. For her personal artistic creations she tore and cut her photographs then glued and pinned them together, often in a repeating pattern.
The other exhibition ‘Life, Love and Death in Sicily’ was a series of black and white photos taken by Letizia Battaglia. Her photography powerfully contrasts everyday life and the bloody reality of life in the shadow of the Mafia during the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. Reporting for the daily newspaper ‘L’Ora,’ she or one of her colleagues, was present at every major crime scene in the city over two decades.
Walking
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Our regular monthly Friday morning walk on 7 February took us into central London; ten of us and four dogs met up at Victoria Station, then walked through Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, winding up with coffee in Holland Park’s café before catching the Overground home from Olympia. It’s a wonderfully green and scenic route, even on a cold and sometimes wet grey day. We passed lots of famous London landmarks and even spotted some mounted soldiers in Hyde Park, on their way to Buckingham Palace.
Thirteen of us plus Tiger the greyhound did a more challenging extra morning walk on 12 February, catching the train to Crofton Park to tackle the five-mile Brockley Three Peaks circuit. Although it was yet another cold grey day, this time it stayed dry at least and the three peaks (more accurately two hills and a bump) all offered good views of the City of London and Canary Wharf. As we enjoyed coffee near the end at the lovely community café in Hilly Fields, we agreed that it’d been a great way to explore a less-familiar area of London.
Coming up
Meet our Guest Speaker for March: Paul Jagger
We look forward to welcoming Paul Jagger to our meeting on 18th March. Paul is Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists – 100th Livery Company of the City of London. He will be telling us all about the Customs and Ceremonies of the City of London. He has written several books about London, including Secrets of the Square Mile and Songs & Music of the City of London. He has been awarded for his work in promoting awareness and understanding of the City of London and its Livery Companies. Paul is a member of many heritage and history bodies including The Arts Society, London Historians, the National Trust and English Heritage. He is a member of the City Livery Club and the Farringdon Ward Club. For further information visit
website.
April 15th meeting – speaker preview
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.
Offshoots
International Womens’ Day
International Womens’ Day on 8th March is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The first IWD gathering was in 1911, supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organisation specific. The NFWI is also marking the day – this year is the 110th anniversary of the WI, see the NFWI section below for more information. Battersea Library is celebrating by hosting a concert on 7th March featuring Helen McDonald – for full details see right
Diesel Spill in the Wandle
Thames Water and the Environment Agency have hard at work cleaning up, but as Jack Hogan from the South East Rivers Trust said: “The real danger comes over the coming days, weeks and months, if not years, where this diesel breaks down into smaller particles and sinks down into the water. It’ll start binding on to fish’s gills, attaching itself to sediments, soaking into vegetation and banks, and diesel is highly toxic in those situations.” He added: “Until we really understand the scale of the impact of this, the best thing people can do is stay as far away as possible.” If any members would like to donate, the South East Rivers Trust has created a crowdfunder
If you would like further information about Battersea WI, please complete our contact form
Surrey Federation
The Surrey Federation website has all the latest news about events and news in our neighbouring WIs. Their Annual Council Meeting (ACM) will be held online this year, on Saturday 29th March 2025, so that many more members can attend.
For further information about these and other SurreyFed events, visit the website Noticeboard page..
NFWI
From the NFWI Instagram page: International Women’s Day on Saturday 8th March is a powerful reminder of the achievements of women worldwide and a call to action for gender equality. This year, our 110th anniversary, we invite members to make an impact by participating in exciting events, sharing messages of inspiration and sharing your views and experiences of misogyny so that we can make the case for change. Explore the opportunities on My WI and take part in the WI’s celebration of progress, resilience and possibility.
Feed your brain at the WI Learning Hub. Courses are available to all – but as a member, access is free when you log in to your account. Check out the NFWI site, including the Learning Hub.
If you would like further information about Battersea WI, please complete our contact form