Being a mum I’ve spent the last few years having life marked out by milestones, but only one involving a fun evening with WI ladies, cake and Prosecco! It was so lovely to see Thame Belles turn one in April, and we were in illustrious company with that well known WI member, Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 90th birthday on the same day. Thame, along with many other towns across the UK, had a beacon lighting ceremony outside the town hall which made our arrival feel very grand. If only we’d thought to get the Cadets to give our president an honour guard. We'll get that sorted for next year Jane!
We had a bumper crop of Belles, guests and members from some of our sister WIs in the area, come and help us celebrate our first birthday in the finest manner known, a quiz! Sue, our quiz maestro was on fire with a birthday themed quiz, including a craft round, where everyone got a chance to get their creative juices flowing and work their magic upon paper chef hats. There was an amazing array of ideas on show, my own work was sadly lacking and didn’t make it into the annals of Belles history with any photographic evidence, but these lovely creations show just how brilliant we all are! I'm afraid I have forgotten who won the quiz, but well done to the winning team and I hope your prize was delicious!
We also had the launch of our brand spanking new programme, chock full of amazing evenings of entertainment, education and horizon broadening speakers. It’s a wonderfully varied selection with guests talking about various topics, from health and nutrition with George Anderson in far off gloomy January to our very own Cathie Kidger sorting out our collective posture in August. If you are a member and didn’t get a programme to take home, please get one at the next meeting. And attached to your programme is a membership card and name badge, which can be liberated with judicious application of scissors and stick on badge back! And don't forget that the schedule for the year and special events are all available in the menu at the top of this page.
And it didn’t stop there! We have been awarded a £100 bursary to be used towards a day course at Denman WI College. As you know our esteemed treasurer Kelly is passionate about Denman and all the brilliant courses you can do there. We’re asking that members who would like a chance to win this bursary let us know, twitter style. In no more than 140 characters tell us why you should be the one to go and learn cheese making, beading, heraldry or anything in between. Send us a message via Facebook or email before our May meeting and we’ll announce the lucky winner then!
Some amazing ladies from Bread and Roses for Refugees came to speak to us briefly about the fantastic work they are doing. They were organising a collection of toiletries for CalAid, an grassroots organisation supporting those people living in what can only be described as abject conditions in camps in and around Calais. They had the most incredible response from the town, so thank you on their behalf to anyone who donated. If you want to find out how to help further, contact Bread And Roses for Refugees directly here.
So, it’s been an amazing year, and just looking at the programme for the next 12 months it looks like , in the immortal words of D:Ream, things will only get better.