| Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed decoupaging coat hangers at the April meeting, took away a couple more to create at home, and now have some bright decorative hangers in your wardrobe with some sweet smelling lavender bags hanging from them to keep those dreadful moths away. Our next meeting is on Tuesday 21st May, will be an action packed presentation by Lucy Allen, a stunt woman who has featured in many well known films that I am sure you have watched in the cinema and on television series. No doubt she will reveal some interesting stories. Putney WI is having a tea party on the 8th of June, fund raising for Wandsworth Community Transport, a charity that supplies the minibuses we use for our outings. Book your ticket directly and please tell me if you are going as it would be good to go as a group, I intend to go along. There is a poster about it below, the ticket includes afternoon tea, entertainment and a glass of prosecco. A reminder about the NFWI new learning hub, which has a huge variety of very good sessions, many of which are free to members. You need to be logged in to access the sessions for free. NFWI Resolutions updates can be found at the end of the newsletter as well as information about podcasts to listen to and petitions to sign. As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are taking part in the Edenbridge & Oxted Show in August, please do think about what you may wish to enter, be it a photograph, cake, preserve, artwork, knitting, there is all sorts of entries. It isn’t mandatory ofcourse, but a good number of entries would be excellent. The main upcoming dates are: Saturday 11th May – Biba Exhibition Outing Wednesday 15th May – Eltham Palace & Gardens Outing May Meeting 21st May – Highs & Lows of a Stuntwoman Monday 3rd June – Evening Races at Windsor Saturday 6th July – Sissinghurst Castle & Gardens Tuesday 23rd July – Hedgerows and Herbs Walk- Brockwell Park There is a lot to read about, and many activities to take part in, I will definitely see you at quite a few of them. Enjoy a lovely Bank Holiday weekend Very best wishes Rosemary President Battersea WI E: presidentbattersea@surreyfedwi.org.uk      Tuesday 21st May – Lucy Allen The Stuntwoman: The Highs and Lows of a Stuntwoman’s Life This talk is all about the thrills and spills of being a Stunt Performer. It is quite personal as Lucy explains her own backstory and how she got into this exciting profession, one that sometimes requires you to put your life on the line! The talk aims to educate people about the work Stunt Performers do, discussing what a ‘Stunt’ actually is and why Stunt Performers are such a vital part of the Film & TV industry. She talks about the ‘Highs’ and ‘Lows’ of her chosen profession, which she has been doing for over thirty years now and shares her experiences both scary & hilarious at times, doing the job she loves. Lucy Allen will start the talk by presenting her Stunt Reel, so everyone gets to see her in action. Please be aware that this talk comes with the warning: DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! EDENBRIDGE & OXTED AGRICULTURAL SHOW  Battersea WI hopes to be entering a number of items in this year’s Edenbridge & Oxsted Show, this is where the Surrey Fed WI’s show their stuff ! Be it knitting, artwork, photography, preserves, cakes, all sorts, we have some very talented members and the Battersea WI are going to win a few prizes. The schedule of entries is HERE. It should be a good day out and we are hoping to that members well win a a few pf the classes, the other WIs from Surrey Fed did well last year, and so can we ! Battersea WI can do it too.   Art Group – Saturday 4th May 10.30am Battersea Bookends Book Group – Monday 13 May 5.30pm Chapter One Reading Group – Tuesday 14th May 7pm Coffee Group – Wednesday 8th and Thursday 23rd May 11am Exhibitions Group – 1st May pm Film Group – Monday 20th May Foodies Group – Thursday 9th May 6.30pm Foraging Group – Knitting & Cochet Group – Wednesday 29th May 6.30pm Swimming Group – Photography Group – Wednesday 7th May 6.30pm Walking Group – Friday 3rd May am    We had a fantastic outing to Crossness Pumping station this month. 14 of us are now experts on the issues facing a growing city and will be more appreciative each time we “pull the chain”. The building of the embankments along the Thames at Chelsea and Westminster and Crossness Pumping station were part of Bazalgette’s solution to the polluting of the Thames and the cholera epidemics that afflicted London in the 19th Century. It was the largest public engineering feat in Europe and London became the first city to have a purpose built public sewage system. It has lasted so long as Bazalgette anticipated and designed for the continued growth of London. The problem for us now is that he designed one pathway for both sewage and rain and the sewers can no longer cope with the increased rainfall as well as the increasing population. His sewers’ longevity is due to his meticulous eye for detail and insistence that the new and more expensive Portland cement be used, as this hardens and continues to harden under water. The Victorian’s language of flowers can be seen in the decoration of the pillars, which include little figs and senna pods.    For our April Friday morning walk fourteen of us and two dogs met up on the towpath at King’s Cross, to check out the eastern section of the Regent’s Canal. Heading eastwards towards to Islington, we made a short detour to inspect the delightful modern mosaics in Shepherdess Walk Park. At around six miles this was a longer walk than we usually do on a Friday morning, so after that we paused midway in Haggerston for a canalside coffee at welcoming Cafe Route before heading onwards past Victoria and Mile End Parks to Limehouse Basin. We finished up at the welcoming Yurt Cafe next to Limehouse station where we were able to enjoy a delicious, relaxed lunch sitting outside in the sunshine before we set off home again. This is an interesting, picturesque route which we’d definitely recommend to other members —though do be aware that it can get very busy at weekends.   The Battersea WI Supper was held at The Table in Battersea Rise. It was an evening of chat, place swapping, good food and lots of wine. The main courses provided options from salmon to lamb koftas to all manner of burgers – a bit of an indulgence! Discussion turned to where to go for our next WI Supper in July, an Italian option proved popular and we hope to see even more of you then.   In April we discussed ‘As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning’ by Laurie Lee: a memoir of a journey through Southern England and Spain in 1936. It provoked a diversity of responses. Some disliked it intensely finding it tedious. Others, whilst noting that the book reflected the time in which it was set, found the writer’s attitudes and behaviours towards certain people, especially women and girls, unacceptable. There were more positive views about the quality of writing and the insight into life at that time. The book describes the tensions leading to civil unrest. We talked about how we sense the change in atmosphere when violence emerges and shared personal experiences of being in Clapham Junction during the 2011 riots.   The photography group went to The Photographer’s Gallery to see the Deutsche Bourse prize exhibition. It was very conceptual photography. We then saw an exhibition of the work of Ben Hardy who had worked for The Picture Post. Many of his images were very familiar.   Challengers is a 2024 American romantic sports drama film directed by Luca from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes. It follows a professional tennis champion (Mike Faist) who plots a comeback with the help of his wife (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy who retired after an injury, as he goes up against another player (Josh O’Connor), who also happens to be his former best friend and wife’s former lover. The film successfully jumps back and forth in time, giving an insight into the relationship between the 3 main characters, which is just as competitive as the match. Members all really enjoyed the film, feeling we were part of the tension of the tennis match.   The Exhibitions group went to The Gilbert & George Centre off Brick Lane to see their exhibition of London works. The gallery opened a year ago with another small annexe with an interesting film about the artists. The works viewed as a whole reflected the artists’ preoccupation with how London is portrayed in the media, using headlines from newspapers as the starting point for their work and grouping them in topics, police teens murder.   Art Group spent a sunny Saturday morning drawing and painting the trees on Clapham Common. The Horse chestnut blooms weren’t quite out, we had hoped to capture them draped in their beautiful pink flowers in the sunshine. We had a jolly morning in any event, with lots of people walking past to have a chat and see what we were up to. In mid April some of the Art Group went to Morocco to enjoy sketching, in search of bright colours, intense light and deep shadows to make for some good interesting compositions. The weather was mixed, we spent some sunny days drawing & painting in the streets of Asilah, sitting on the terraces of our riads, and one rather rainy day visiting a country house to sketch the plants and animals. There was a trip to Cap Spartel to draw the lighthouse and palm trees and another outing to Tangiers where of course we visited the souks and enjoyed mint tea at the famous Cafe Hafe, whilst taking in the spectacular views out to sea. The photos below are a small selection which shows us sketching and drawing and give a taste of some of the artwork created.       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 The NEW WI Learning Hub You can find more information about the new Hub HERE The WI Learning Hub will provide WI members with access to a range of online courses, and the majority of them will be free. There will be a small number of specialised courses delivered by external providers that will require a small fee, but these will be kept as low as possible.CURRENT WI CAMPAIGNS THINKING DIFFERENTLY SEEKING AWARENESS OF AUTISM AND ADHD IN WOMEN AND GIRLS SEE THE SIGNS CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE SUBTLE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF OVARIAN CANCER STOP MODERN SLAVERY THE CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF MODERN SLAVERY IN THE UK OTHER CAMPAIGNS Please remember there is lots more information about events with the NFWI, the current campaigns and activities on their website HERE . |
