Our monthly lunch was held on the 1st of October at The Grand Piano Cafe in Godmanchester.  Eighteen of our members enjoyed the wide variety of food on offer and were particularly impressed with the attentive service from the friendly staff.   

As attendance at our monthly lunch outings is limited to those members who are available during the daytime, which usually precludes those who are working or who have daytime caring responsibilities, we are planning a dining out evening so that others have the opportunity to join in what is always a most pleasant event.

Festival of Choirs

Lyrical Voices, the Papworth and Elsworth W.I. choir, hosted a Festival of Choirs in which five other W.I. choirs from across Cambridgeshire and from as far afield as Norfolk, totalling almost 100 participants, took part. Having worked towards the Centenary Choir Competition for the past two years it was felt that it would be great to invite choirs for an afternoon of music and song in Papworth’s newly renovated Village Hall. The whole event was a big success and it is hoped that the event will be repeated sometime in the future.

The Choir section contains more information and photos.

At our October meeting we were in turn entertained, informed, amused and at times horrified by the dramatic story of The Lady Juliana, the first Convict Ship for women, that sailed to Australia in 1789. The speaker Ann James, who is an enthusiastic member of the Huntingdon Family History Society, gave a colourful account of the day to day life on board the ship as well as a detailed history of several individual women who went on to become the ‘founding mothers’ for the new colony of Australia.  Altogether a fascinating and interesting evening.

Towards the end of October over 300 daffodil bulbs, that had been donated by W.I. members, were planted on our behalf by the Cambridge Unpaid Work Team outside the Library in the grass verge in front of the W.I. Memorial bed. They should provide a cheery display to welcome the Spring and, if successful, we hope to add to their numbers over the coming years.