December started with our Christmas lunch at The Grand Piano cafe in Godmanchester after which we all sang carols accompanied by Anne Potter on the grand piano.  

Then our choir, Lyrical Voices, were very privileged to be able to sing at the Ely Cathedral and Papworth Hospital Carol Service. The Cathedral was beautifully decorated for the Festive Celebrations, the dominant feature being the very large Christmas Tree. 

Our monthly meeting was a relaxing social evening, a particularly enjoyable gathering of good friends – for that is what we have become – with a dastardly Seasonal Challenge (it is surprising what can done with packs of dried spaghetti, jelly babies and gift ribbon!), a fantastic spread of refreshments and our special Christmas Raffle.  Throughout the evening we were entertained by the friendly and informal Folk duo ‘Silver Lining’, during which Helen impressed us with her playing of her recently purchased hurdy-gurdy (I doubt many of us had seen one before) and we were encouraged to join in singing many of the songs and carols.  

Our choir were busy again on the 17th when they enjoyed visiting the Field Lodge home in St Ives to sing Christmas songs for and with the residents.  

So another WI year comes to an end but we have lots of exciting plans for 2016 and look forward to welcoming new members and visitors.  We start on January 20th with what we hope will be an informative and even slightly challenging French Evening with a talk, a quiz, Fete des Rois gateau and an opportunity to exercise any latent French language skills!

To find out more about what is going on in our W.I., you can log on to our website at www.papwortheverardwi.org.uk or, even better, if you are 18 or over come along to one of our meetings at 7.15 for 7.30 on the third Wednesday of each month in the Studio next door to the Library. The visitor’s fee is £4.00 including refreshments. You can be sure of a very warm welcome.