Monthly Archives: May 2017

Papworth Everard WI May 2017 Report

Speaker:

Our speaker this month was Geoff Lamberts from the charity Medical Detection Dogs, along with Buddy, his lovely personal dog who is used, not as a detection dog, but as an ambassador for the charity. Buddy was adored by all present but was not impressed at all as he slept through most of the talk!!!

Geoff gave a lively and very informative talk describing how the amazing work the dogs do is simply based on smell!   He took us through the whole procedure of where the dogs come from, how they are socialised in a normal home environment with a voluntary ‘socialiser’ for approximately a year, and then how they are trained, again by volunteers, to recognise certain long term life illnesses such as type 1 diabetes and certain cancers and then finally matched with their owner.  Geoff then answered many questions raised by the members and finally a pot was passed round for anybody to make a donation – which many members were happy to do.

The Lonely Bouquet Campaign Nationally the W.I  has been involved in collaboration with the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies  (NAFAS) in promoting the Lonely Bouquet campaign on National Flower Arranging Day, Friday 5 May.  The idea is to spread joy by leaving a small bouquet or just a single bloom for a stranger to find – last year 60,000 bouquets were left.  One of our members was lucky to be the recipient of a pretty bouquet as shown here – a truly wonderful idea that I am sure brings much joy to anybody receiving such a surprise – no doubt this is something we will be thinking of doing next May 5th.

Lunch: Earlier this month, several ladies travelled to the Royal Oak at Potton and enjoyed a delicious lunch and, of course, a good natter.

Next Meeting:Our next meeting will be held on 21st June when our speaker will be Stephen Hearn from Tring Auction House.

To find out more about what is going on you can log on to our website at www.papwortheverardwi.org.uk or if you are 18 or over just 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.  You can be sure of a warm welcome.  The visitor’s fee is  £4.00 including refreshments.

 

 

 

April 2017

A busy and exciting month for our WI starting when residents and visitors at Field Lodge Care Home in St Ives enjoyed a musical afternoon on 5th April with our Choir, Lyrical Voices, performing to them.  They sang many popular songs, followed by a medley of wonderful old songs including Lullaby of Broadway, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, If You Knew Susie and more.  Many in the audience sang along and the final song, The Lambeth Walk, finished with a resounding ‘Oi’ !!  Afterwards members of the choir chatted with residents over a cup of tea and everyone appeared to have a good time.

 The Colours Fashion Show and Pop-Up Shop took place on Thursday 6th April and attracted over 200 people from Papworth and the surrounding areas making the occasion a tremendous success.    On arrival we were served ‘sparkling wine’ then took our seats for a great evening of fashion modelled by two young ladies who looked great in every item of clothing.  There was something for everybody, including skin-tight black leather-look leggings!!  Halfway through the evening a raffle took place and there were numerous prizes, many of which were kindly donated by local traders in and around the village.   At the end of the show, there was a sale of all the items modelled, and more, in all sizes for the customers to try on and buy.       Our thanks goes to the people of Papworth and surrounding areas who turned out to support the Show together with the Parish Council for their kind donation and to the following local traders who generously gave to the raffle;

TLC Hair & Beauty Papworth); Nisa Store (Papworth); Shilpa Indian Restaurant (Papworth); Norfolk Street Deli (Papworth); The Cambridge Belfry,(Cambourne); Prince of Wales Pub (Hilton)

We are delighted to announce that a cheque in the sum of £1400 will be given to the Papworth Surgery at the Patient Link AGM to be held on 16th June at the North Hall, Papworth Village to be used to buy equipment for the Surgery to enable the Practice to continue to provide an excellent service to the community.  A fantastic achievement.

 

Trauma Teddies:   Members of our WI, together with other ladies in the community,  have been busy knitting ‘trauma teddies’ to give to children who are sick or distressed following an accident or injury at A & E Hinchingbrooke and also the Bedfordshire Fire Service.  These are sure to bring a smile and cuddles to all the children who receive one.

 

Dinner: Some of our members enjoyed a delightful meal recently at the Black Bull  Godmanchester.

 

 

 

 

Speaker: Our April meeting started with the most brilliant speaker, Lucy Lewis, who spoke of her ‘Life in the Army’ and how she became the first female Bomb Disposal expert. Lucy described what it was like training at Sandhurst, firstly to become a Soldier, and then an Officer..  Her tales of the escapades and rituals that took place at various social events, and how the ‘ladies’ were expected to behave and judged following such occasions were hilarious.  Lucy described her various postings to the Gulf, Northern Ireland, Germany and  even Ecuador where her training skills were put to the test.  Lucy then joined the Military Police and completed her career as Colonel and was present at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland in 1999.  We were indeed privileged to have Lucy present at our meeting and she answered many questions from the members following her talk.

Next Meeting: 17th May  our speaker for the evening will be Geoff Lamberts from Detection Dogs

To find out more about what is going on you can log on to our website at www.papwortheverardwi.org.uk or if you are 18 or over just 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. You can be sure of a warm welcome.  The visitor’s fee is  £4.00 including refreshments.