Happy birthday SHWI!

Our beloved WI turned 8 last month, and we celebrated in style with member Di's Famous SHWI Pie (quite literally, it's in a nationally available cookbook), which lasted all of about 3.5 minutes.

Before and after...

There was also plenty of delicious cake of course, it was our birthday after all! And obviously there's no way I'm passing up the chance to share a Colin the Caterpillar photo...

Birthday cake!

Business as usual came first, and it was a big one this month as at the start of the meeting this year's wonderful president Grace handed over the baton to the fantastic and enigmatic Laura B-H. Grace has done an absolutely amazing job and we all wish her lots of love as she steps down from the presidency. We're all excited to see what Laura will bring to the role though and I have a feeling it's going to be a corker of a year!

VP Rachel and Grace

On to the meeting activity which this month was led by our very own Bex, who taught us all about the history of Dorset buttons, a crafted style of button originating from the county of Dorset, would you believe! We learnt that one of the most popular buttons amongst our 18th century contemporaries was the Dorset knob (also, amusingly, a rare type of biscuit).

Unsure which of these, if any, is a knob...

We then had a crack at making our own brooch version of the Dorset button, with varying degrees of success it has to be said - me personally needing 4 different people to get me as far as having a threaded needle (it had been a long day) but with many others around the room creating beautiful and delicate designs which looked stunning once finished! So simple once you get the hang of it but a very effective little craft and a well-timed lesson for us to all get going on some unique stocking fillers. Thank you Bex for your fun, informative and very patient tuition!

Here's to another brilliant year with this amazing girl gang!

Laura Rangeley
Communications Co-Ordinator

All Hallows' Eve and birthday cake

October saw the 7th birthday of the birth of our lovely SHWI, but also bought with it some spooky goings on…

The meeting kicked off with a final address from our long-serving Vice President, Jen Marsden-Lambert who is one of the founders of SHWI and has decided to step down and take a break from committee responsibilities. Jen received much love and a bottle of Japanese whiskey to enjoy in her new relaxed role as SHWI member!

To celebrate another year of this wonderful girl gang, our member Nicky Campbell had baked the most incredible SHWI fist cake, which Jen sliced ceremoniously before it was demolished by ravenous members. White chocolate buttercream icing? Yes please! 

Nicky with her delicious cake

Founding member Jen cuts our birthday cake

It being the month of October and All Hallows Eve being one of the most fun times of year (following closely behind Christmas and Great British Bake Off months) members had come dressed in their best spooky head wear for a creepy competition. There were sparkly witches, Brexit themed horror crowns, crocheted pumpkin patches, skeleton ladies and a pumpkin tea cosy worn as a hat….ARRRRRGH!

Finally, our terrifying troop of ladies were seated to enjoy our speaker for the night – Jo Johnson-Smith who entertained us with tales of Sheffield past. We cringed at the stories of cannibalistic paupers reminiscent of Sweeney Todd and shuddered at the tale of the black dog, who haunts people on the urban streets at night. The legend of the naughty thug, who runs through town, knocking people into the road sent a shiver down the collective spine. One thing we learnt? Sheffield’s ghoulish history is more petrifying than we imagined……

Jen awards Mary with her spooky prize

And so at the end of the meeting, Jo kindly judged the haunted headwear of our members and ruled that Mary Beckinsale’s disembodied hand veil was the ultimate winner of our Halloween hat-off.

Happy birthday SHWI! Here’s to many more! 

Grace Escott-Tebbutt

President

Seven Hills WI on Sheffield Live!

On Tuesday 11th November, Kirsty, Laura and Vicky were invited to local TV station Sheffield Live! to talk about Seven Hills WI, the groups recent 5th birthday celebrations and to dispel some myths about the women's institute. 

SHWI turns five and waves goodbye to Lindsay and Kim

October’s always a special month for Seven Hills WI. It’s a time for partying as we mark the anniversary of our official forming meeting and this year it was a little sad too as Kim and I addressed the group as President and Secretary for the very last time.


Our October meeting saw us celebrate our fifth birthday (five! Time flies!) with a birthday social, pot luck supper and cake competition. We had an abundance of food from crisps to pasta salad, mackerel pate to sausage rolls, and everything in between! And then there were the cakes. Special mentions go to Anna P’s Kinder egg cake with photos of me, Jen and Kim, and Vicky’s M&M and Maltesers dairy-free cake. After a gruelling taste test (it’s a hard life!) we chose Sam’s sponge piñata cake with a hidden filling of M&Ms as the winner. Well done Sam and thanks to everyone who entered the competition or brought food for the buffet, you are all brilliant! 

Sam's piñata cake

In true kid’s party style we played a round of pass the parcel although we had to draw the line at musical chairs; we’re still scarred from the musical chair incident of 2010…
It was a lovely night and great chance for members to have a chat in a more informal setting as we marked reaching the grand old age of five. It makes me so happy to see how far SHWI has come in the past five years and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next five hold. 

Members with the winning birthday cake

October was also a time for goodbyes and hellos as six members of the current committee stepped down, one new member joined the committee and roles were swapped around. As you will no doubt already know, after founding the group with Jen back in 2009 and being officers for the past five years, Kim and I decided to step down from our positions of President (me) and Secretary (her) as from November’s committee meeting. Kim and I will continue to be SHWI members and are looking forward to being able to fully enjoy meetings without worrying about organising them! Other committee members to step down this year are Ruth, Katie, Chelle, and Louise – thank you for all your hard work ladies – while we welcome Sam as a new committee member. 


We are very pleased to say that current committee members Kirsty and Laura will be taking over as President and Secretary so you’ll be hearing more from them soon. Good luck K-Bo and Bainbridge!

Lindsay (centre) with Kirsty (left) and Laura (right)

Kim and I were overwhelmed with the thank you cards and gifts our lovely members bought for us and would like to say another big thank you for everyone’s kind words. So many people told me at the meeting that through founding the group we had changed their lives for the better and that’s something I will continue to be proud of for a very long time.


I look forward to seeing you all at meetings and thank you to each and every member, past and present, for making SHWI such an amazing group to lead.

With love,


Lindsay x

President of Seven Hills WI