Don Valley Carol Service

We organised a special carol service last Saturday for the Don Valley Group of WI's in Sheffield in collaboration with St Andrew's UR church where we meet regularly.

A big thank you to our events team who organised the event and all the members who volunteered their time and baked for the event.

It was bitter sweet as we are leaving the Don Valley Group soon to form a new Sheffield group of WI's - the Sharman group. More details to come! 

Christmas meeting and cocktails

December is always a special time for us SHWI-ers. Secret Santa and our Christmas quiz always gets us in the festive mood. However, this meeting was to be our last at Electric Works and we wanted to celebrate. 

Our last meeting at Electric Works - December 2015

Electric Works has been great for us. It’s allowed us to expand to 135 members. We’ve been able to accommodate disabled members and guests easily. We’ve had a ceilidh, cheerleading, crafting, parties and a market. But it’s time for us to move on, but not before one last go on the helter skelter!

Our main entertainment for the evening was Ed, Cocktail-Maker-in-Chief at The Broadfield and all-round spirits connoisseur. He showed us how to make three cocktails, the history behind it and we all got to taste. Hiccup!

Ed shows us how it's done

I also put together my annual Christmas quiz which this time was a picture round of clips from Christmas films. Congrats to the winners!

Winners of the quiz

Secret Santa is always popular with our gang. Members who want to take part bring a wrapped gift worth £5 and get to take away one themselves. I saved mine until Christmas Day and was thankful for some special festive beers. Thanks Santa!

Our Secret Santa presents

We also invited Jo and Theresa from the Young Women’s Housing Project to have a photo with the big cheque totalling all our fundraising from 2014. They gave us an update on where they money we raised has gone and how this has benefitted the women and children they support. We’ll be inviting our charity of 2015, SAYiT to do this same early in 2016. 

Jen and Kirsty hand over the cheque

I was very emotional to see the big pile of food we collected this month for local food banks. Members really dug deep into their pockets (and cupboards!) and brought Christmas puddings, mince pies, stuffing and gravy to make sure the vulnerable people in our community had a great holiday too. This month, I took the donations to St Thomas’ Church in Crookes and they were very grateful so thanks to everyone who helped. 

Our donations to the food bank

Here’s to a successful and happy Seven Hills WI in 2016 at our new home!

Kirsty Bowen
President

Christmas market raises £368 for the Young Women's Housing Project

We're proud to announce that our Christmas market on Saturday 15th November raised an awesome £368.

The market featured stalls from local WI members and local businesses such as Crafty Jackdaw and Abbeydale Road beer shop, Hop Hideout. Cakes and refreshments baked by Seven Hills WI members raised over £200.

All money raised will go to our charity of the year, the Young Women’s Housing Project. The project helps young women aged 16 to 25 who have been affected by sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or sexual/domestic violence.

Vice President Jennifer Marsden said: ‘I'm so pleased we could raise £368 for Young Women's Housing Project. They make a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable women in South Yorkshire. A big thank you to everyone who supported the event and our super talented members for baking cakes.'

Some of our cakes baked by members

Seven Hills WI Christmas Market

On Saturday 15^th November, we will be hosting a fabulous Christmas Market with a chance to buy handmade crafts, homemade food and gift ideas galore from both WI members and local traders.

The Market will run from 11am and 2pm and is being held at Electric Works, Sheffield.

Interested in taking a stall?

For full information, download our Stall Holder Application Form and Guidance 

Please be aware that completing an application form does not mean you will automatically be given a stall. We will prioritise WI members and local people that make or design their stock themselves, or that sell unique products and vintage items. We will also try to ensure that we have a variety of different types of stall.

Able to help out on the day?

We are looking for willing WI members to volunteer to bake, help set up, look after stall holders and serve refreshments. If you can help, please let us know by emailing SHWIChristmasMarket@outlook.com

Venue

The front entrance to Electric Works can be found on Sheaf Street, conveniently located in front of Sheffield Interchange and on the opposite side of the road to Sheffield Railway Station.

Poster

Can you display a poster? If you have somewhere you can share our poster, such as your workplace noticeboard or in a window, we’d be really grateful.

Lastly, we’d be delighted if you could share this post on social media using the icons below. Thank you!

Merry Christmas, Love SHWI

It's sometimes hard to avoid Christmas, with tinsel being made available in October and fizzy cola flavoured beverages making adverts that manage to whip up the majority of TV watchers into a frenzy in November. But when it's actually December, then I'm more than happy to get into the festive spirit! Praise be then, that SHWI had not one, but THREE festive events to enjoy. 

First up was a Christmas Coffee morning for the Don Valley Group - a selection of Sheffield based WIs - at SHWI HQ Electric Works. All the ladies were encouraged to bring cakes and bakes, with Glee Bah Gum making a return appearance (they were our guests at the September meeting) to treat us to some carols. It didn't take long for the ladies to join in, with members of Crosspool WI and Norton Lees singing away to some festive favourites. 

Cakes and bakes at the Don Valley Group Coffee Morning

Next up was the SHWI Christmas Party - a rather less sober affair than the coffee morning, it has to be said.  Electric Works allowed us back in to take over our usual meeting room, but this time with funky red lighting and DJ K-Bo (aka committee member Kirsty) providing some banging tunes. A delicious buffet was provided courtesy of SHWI member Blanche (of Coco Catering), treating the ladies to arancini (giant crumbed balls of luscious risotto), pork pies, moreish dips, beautiful brownies and much more.  

Blanche and Vicky enjoy the party atmosphere

Thankfully it didnt get too messy - it was a school night after all - but the photos taken that night might suggest otherwise....

Last, but by no means least, was the December monthly meeting. We kicked off proceedings with the now traditional Christmas Quiz - compiled and hosted by president Lindsay.  

New members sign up and get ready to quiz!

Last year I was lucky enough to be part of winning team 'Specs and Tits', and this year we were determined to keep our title. Team Captain Anna P rallied the troops and put in some revision, by scouring gossip columns and looking at the biggest news headlines of 2013. All that work paid off, as Specs and Tits were victorious and no doubt determined to win again at the 2014 quiz.

After all that excitement, it was time for our guest speaker, SHWI member Liz. She was here to give us a confidence building class and did so in a friendly and encouraging way.

First she gave us tips on how to set goals and the best way to achieve them - by being realistic and believing in yourself. Next we were asked to compliment our fellow SHWIers and learn to accept compliments graciously. This was a little funny at first, but once we got going you could feel the love in the room. There might have been a few tears shed... But it was all good! I've kept my list of compliments to give me lift when I need it.

Finally it was time to swap Secret Santa gifts! Another festive SHWI tradition - if you bring a wrapped up present (£5 budget) you can swap it for another! Picking one to take home is more stressful than buying one for a random lady!

Some of our Secret Santa presents

All in all, December was a great month for Seven Hills... But now the 2014 programme is out I'm looking forward to seeing what the new year brings! 

Laura Bainbridge, SHWI committee

SHWI say it with flowers

Tracey from Campbell's Flowers demonstrates

Even though we’re hurtling towards Christmas, it’s the start of the new year for Seven Hills WI! We’ve entered our fifth year (I know, I can scarcely believe it either) and that means that the third Thursday in November saw us hold our Annual Meeting. It also saw members queuing in droves to renew their membership. We began the meeting by naming those members interested in taking up committee roles – and much to the relief of our willing volunteers, there were no objections!

Exciting news about our all our upcoming events, including the fabulous-sounding Christmas party followed. We also heard that our charity calendars are selling like hot cakes which was fitting since Robin Jeeps, trustee of our chosen charity, came along. Robin was kind enough to share with us why PACT is so important to him and to other parents whose children have battled with cancer, as members listened attentively. Then our photographer, Laura Bainbridge, snapped away as he accepted a cheque for the money we’ve raised so far this year. 

Kim, Vicky and Jen give Robin from PACT our cheque

In our looking back at the past twelve months, we remembered our meetings, outings and first sighting of the helter skelter at Electric Works! Then, all the women in the room stood and joined in for that great WI tradition – a rousing rendition of Jerusalem.

Next, Tracey from Campbell’s Flowers was introduced and explained that she’d be showing us how to complete a hand-tied bouquet, before giving us all the opportunity to make our own wrist corsage. The room hushed to complete silence. Believe me, this could-have-heard-a-pin-drop atmosphere is a rare occurrence at SHWI and a blatant sign that we were utterly engrossed as we watched Tracey work. The result was a natural-looking, vintage-inspired bouquet of seasonal flowers – and a round of applause for Tracey. The lucky winner of our raffle got to take the bouquet home, but none of us went empty handed. We had a demo on how to make a simple-looking wrist corsage, followed by Tracey and her daughter dishing out flowers and ribbons so that each of us could have a go. Some women were undoubtedly naturals, whilst others (me included) could probably do with a tincy bit more practice.

Our members make some lovely wrist corsages

As we all prepared to head out, adorned with our corsages, we were reminded that next month, people on the waiting list can also sign up for membership next year. It’s a meeting not to be missed - and not just because of Secret Santa or President Lindsay’s infamous annual quiz. WI member and force to be reckoned with, Liz Mellors, joins us to talk about the award-winning women’s development programme, Springboard.

Right, I’m off to write my Christmas card list….

Jennifer (Vice President)

Willow weaving, 42 new members and farewell St Matt's...

Goodbye St Matt's

One member of Specs and Tits!

Our final meeting of 2012 was a busy one as always! We were delighted to welcome 42 new members to Seven Hills WI, taking us very close to our 2013 member limit of 125.

As has become tradition, I hosted my annual Christmas quiz and the winners (it had to go down to the tie break...it was tense) were the delightfully-named team 'Specs and Tits'. Well done ladies!

We then got to have a go at willow weaving as the lovely Sue taught us how to manipulate the willow and make pretty Christmas decorations with it.

Jollity aside, it was a meeting tinged with sadness as it was our last at St Matthew's Hall, which has been our home since October 2009. As much as we love St Matt's, we have outgrown it, and we are so looking forward to our first meeting in our new home - Electric Works - on Thursday 17 January. It has a helter skelter, what's not to love?!

Eye poking inevitable...

We're looking forward to a new year filled with more SHWI fun, making new friends and learning new things and I'd like to thank all our members for helping to make our group so successful. 

A huge thanks must also go to our wonderful committee who work so hard to make sure things run smoothly - thank you ladies! Here's to 2013!

Lindsay, SHWI President

Photos by Laura Bainbridge

December meeting: festive fun and 101 members!

Our last meeting of 2011 was a busy one...we opened membership up to everyone at the meeting and were shocked by just how many new people turned up to sign up for 2012 - We signed up more than 40 new people at the meeting taking our member total to 101! The bad news is that makes us full so we can't sign up any more members this year. We've been overwhelmed by the continued interest in SHWI and from the amount of emails and messages we've had, we could probably have signed up 200 members this year but unfortunately our venue is just not big enough!

For those lucky people who managed to bag a space, we've got an exciting year planned, starting with 'A Brief History of Knickers' talk on Thursday 19 January.

As last year, we are operating a guest list for non-members to attend, this costs £3.50 per meeting. We have limited space due to venue capacity restrictions so can only offer a spot to those on the guest list, email Katie at shwiguestlist@live.co.uk to get a place on the list (we operate this on a first come first served basis). NON-MEMBERS: PLEASE DO NOT COME ALONG TO A MEETING UNLESS YOU HAVE A CONFIRMED GUEST LIST SPACE, IF YOU DON'T HAVE A SPACE YOU WILL BE TURNED AWAY, SORRY!

As well as signing up all our new members (good work Vicky and Leanne!) we had mulled wine and mince pies, my annual quiz and secret Santa, a great way to see out 2011!

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas and I look forward to seeing you at a meeting soon.:)

Lindsay
President