W.I. Newsletter January 2015

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Mention was made last month of the Centenary Baton which is making its progress through England, Wales and the Islands culminating in its arrival at the Royal Albert Hall on 4th June. Well it passed through our corner of Hampshire on Saturday 17th January, but blink and you missed it! Despite all the pleas for ideas to use extraordinary forms of transport, some of which included owls, vintage buses and the like, it actually arrived at Goodworth Clatford in a car. Most of us didn’t even realise it had arrived and we certainly never saw it leave. Nevertheless, several of our members were present to get a glimpse, and in some cases a touch, of this once in a lifetime object and there is photographic evidence in our archives now! Whilst it was an opportunity to meet up with members of other Anton Danebury Group Institutes and enjoy the ubiquitous cup of tea and, of course, slice of cake, it wasn’t quite the event we had anticipated. Seriously, though it is easy to comment, but none of us in Abbotts Ann put up our hands to help plan the event and members of GC WI did sterling work on the day, especially catering for the unknown number of ladies attending. Other groups have certainly been ingenious in their choices of transport.

Our own events here in Abbotts Ann, included our post-Christmas dinner in the village hall, which those of us attending enjoyed very much. As usual the food, courtesy of our favoured caterers, was delicious; we caught up with personal Christmas activities and stretched our minds with a short musical themed quiz, but with no actual singing involved. It is easy to get caught up in traditions and we did ask at our January meeting for feedback and whether we need to re-think the format.

On the 10th January the walking group met in Goodworth Clatford for a short stroll, and naturally adjourned to the Royal Oak for an enjoyable lunch. At the end of the month a reduced lunch club journeyed to The Black Swan which has recently re-opened again.

At our meeting this month, we had a re-cap of events planned for 2015 and an update on all our in-house clubs’ plans for February followed by Lynne Lucas giving us some tips and advice on our own personal image. Lynne has previously trained as a Colour Me Beautiful Consultant and has experience of working in Selfridges as well as Marks & Spencer in Camberley, but she is no longer a practicing consultant. However, Lynne has plenty of experience of advising customers when she had her own ladies clothing business.

Whilst previously we had been encouraged to think in terms of the four seasons and colours were described as being spring, summer, autumn or winter, the trend is now to talk in terms of dominant tones. That is, are we cool, soft, warm, deep or light? It all depends on our hair colour, skin tone and eyes and is not always easy to interpret, because as we mature these all change, with the exception of the eyes of course, and some of us confuse the issue with trying to disguise the encroaching grey hairs for as long as possible.

No doubt, Lynne was subject to more audience participation that she had anticipated, as she draped multi-coloured scarves of varying tones around the necks (not too tightly) of her various models, as the watching members were very vocal in giving their opinions.

Lynne was very patient with us all and, hopefully, we will think twice before we make our future wardrobe purchases – giving more thought as to whether the item is in the right shade or tone to suit us individually and it is not only the style and colour we should consider, but the fabric as well.

Next month it is memories and if you wish to share yours, then please come to the Village Hall on 26th February at 7.30 p.m.

Diary Dates:

12 February – Supper Club
14 February – Walking Group
17 February – Reading Group
20 February – Coffee Morning
26 February – Monthly Meeting 7.30 p.m. in The Village Hall – Memories
28 February – Lunch Club
Sharon King