Fancy a WI-filled weekend away?

Some SHWI members at Denman in December 2012

Denman College Trip – New Wave Weekend

Friday 21 to Sunday 23 November 2014

This November, members from Seven Hills WI are heading to the WI's very own residential college in Oxfordshire for a 'New Wave Weekend'. This is a Denman course especially aimed at new wave WIs, giving us a chance to get away with the girls and experience a selection of workshops at Denman such as drumming, vintage corsage making, biscuiteering, meringue-making, bollywood and burlesque dancing as well as textile decorating.

Having been before, I can speak from experience and say that it is well worth making the trip. A few SHWIees went to the New Wave Weekend in December 2012 and we absolutely fell in love with the charm of the place. The building and grounds are stunning, with each room adorned with handicrafts from the different federations of WIs up and down the country. As well as a choice of workshops and two nights' accommodation, we were also treated to welcome drinks, breakfast, lunch and three-course dinners during our stay! 

The cost of the course is £255 for members or £295 for non-members - which we are sure you will agree is an absolute bargain once you've been and enjoyed the classes, the food and the accommodation. 

We have made arrangements to make a group booking with Seven Hills WI for 15 people. After this, any additional people who sign up will be subject to Denman having spaces remaining. If you would like to come, please bring £50 deposit to our next meeting on Thursday 18 April.

Come and see me (Jen) at Thursday's meeting with your cheque (payable to Seven Hills WI) or cash to make sure you bag a space! We will also need your name, address and contact details so if you bring this on a piece of paper that'll make it quicker and easier. 

Some practical info:

• Prior to the course, students will be contacted to choose three workshops from Drumming for Fun - Heather Summers, Make a Vintage Style Corsage - Louise Simmonds, Biscuiteering - Natalie Green, Making and Decorating Meringues - Kelly Mauger, Dancing Bollywood and Burlesque - Annabel Brash, Textile Decorations - Pat Lumsdale 
• To make administration easier, cheques should made payable to Seven Hills WI and we will make payment to Denman College for the whole group. 
• The remaining balance is payable by September’s meeting at the latest, this is Thursday 18 September  2014. 
• If at least 10 people sign up there will be a 5% discount
• You are responsible for travel costs to get to and from the College, and for any spending money you need whilst you're there (this would not be much on this course as all meals are included in the price. You would just need money for any drinks at the bar or things you might buy in the shop). 
• We will make arrangements for travel nearer the time. Last time, we arranged car shares and we split the cost of petrol, so you can expect something similar.

Jen (VP)

10 Things SHWI learnt about Cuban women

For March, SHWI gave its members a taste of Cuba and in the spirit of the theme also revolutionized its meeting format. Armed with delicious mojitos and limeade coolers from Blousey’s Bar we kicked off the meeting and sat down for ‘other business lite’, the new streamline version of our monthly updates. The draw for the coveted Denman bursaries was also announced, and five lucky ladies won £200 towards a Denman course of their choosing!

After a short coffee break/topping up of cocktails it was on to the main event: an insight into the lives of Cuban women entitled ‘Ten Things You Might Like To Know About Cuban Women'. I must admit, until now I knew very little about Cuba. If I had to list 10 things I knew at the beginning of the night, it would have ended after cigars and flip-flops. And then I’d have had to cross off flip-flops because it transpired Havana is actually the capital, not Havaiana. 

As it turns out Cuba is full of surprises, both good and bad. Patricia Daniel from the Sheffield Cuba Solidarity Campaign first introduced us to the history of Cuba and the events leading to the revolution. Surprisingly women played a significant role in the revolution itself and in the running of revolutionary Cuba alongside Fidel Castro. During this time the women’s platoon was established, and they also became organised nationally in a federation that dwarfs the WI, boasting a membership comprising 85% of all women over the age of 14 in Cuba. They hold equal proportions of positions in public sector jobs and have a life expectancy inline with women born in the UK. Along with supportive legislation and free healthcare, this all helps to rank Cuba 15th in the world on the gender equality index (which is above the UK!). 

Ladies from the Sheffield Cuba Solidarity Campaign

Just as I was considering a bit of swift emigration, we were hit with the cloud beneath the silver lining. Due to the embargo placed upon Cuba by the US half a century ago Cuba has struggled to build an economy, an effort that was further hampered after the dissolution of the USSR, who previously supported Cuba. They have very limited medical supplies and food is hard to come by. To try and boost the deflated economy the government decided to increase tourism to the island. This created an imbalance in the socialist society Castro forged, and has fuelled resurgence of the prostitution industry around tourist hotspots. No matter your opinion on the sex industry, where there are prostitutes there are pimps and in a society that condemns and stigmatizes sex workers this invariably leads to the abuse of women.

By the end of the talk people were bursting with questions, and the topic seemed to spark intense debate, always a sign of an interesting presentation. It was a great introduction to the complicated and contradictory world of revolutionary Cuba. Not to mention the tasty world of Blousey’s cocktails.

To learn more about Cuba’s struggle or get involved with the Sheffield Solidarity Campaign, contact them at cscsheffield@btinternet.com.

Emily Strong
SHWI member

SHWI Mad Skillz kicks off with Self Defence

It's a cold, dark, drizzly Friday evening in Dronfield. My friend and I have just pulled up outside S18 gym. Since we're early, too nervous to go in, we sit in the car luxuriating in the heated seats until the clock shows 18:00. We approach the gym - I can see a caged off boxing ring and a well built man punching the heck out of something. I pull out my phone and call Anna T. I have no idea what I'm doing and she's the one who's organised this. As soon as I hear her excited, friendly voice, inadvertently informing me I've come to the wrong entrance, I feel reassured. Because, we weren't here to start an illegal fight club. Nope, this was the inaugural session of the latest Seven Hills WI spin off group - SHWI Mad Skillz. Unlike other spin-offs that focus on one particular interest (see Book Club, SHWI Crafts, Walking Group etc.) Mad Skillz is all about finding new and interesting activities. First up was an introductory self defence class with Mixed Martial Arts trainer Andy of the aforementioned S18 gym. Once I'd shed my work gear in favour of leggings and a 15-year-old Pulp t-shirt, I went to join the other ladies. There were only six of us, but this meant we got a lot of one-on-one action (ahem). After strapping on some gloves and wondering if beautifully manicured nails (not mine, I hasten to add) would make it through the evening, we got into the "cage" and were given a lesson in throwing punches. I may have the upper body strength of a day old kitten, but I'm pretty sure I could give a decent clout if required. We then went on to cover kicking, falling over safely, wrestling (yes, really!) and then finally combining the whole lot to take on Andy in the ring. I'll be honest, this was half self defence, half an introduction to Mixed Martial Arts, but it was BLOOMIN' BRILLIANT. We weren't pushed into doing anything we didn't want to, everyone was really supportive and encouraging (even when trying to wrestle you to the floor) and the buzz afterwards made me see why people get involved in this sort of activity. Also, it was HILARIOUS - self defence is clearly a serious matter, but if you can have fun whilst learning, why not? Anyway, it's hard not to laugh when a grown man is telling you to grab his shoulder as you knee him in the gut. The next day, I did look like I'd been in a scrap. My hands were covered in delicate purple bruises and I'd managed to graze a knuckle. But they didn't really hurt, not as much as my arms and stomach, and that's only because I'd been using muscles I didn't know I had. So would I do it all again? Hell yeah! Bring on the next one... (Note: no ladies were harmed in the making of this blog. SHWI Mad Skillz will also be offering classes in more genteel pursuits - check out the Facebook group for more details.) Laura Bainbridge

How to make an apron from a pillowcase...

SHWI ladies with their aprons

June's meeting was a crafty meeting. It seems, to me at least, that SHWI can normally be a bit of a foodie haven, but when there is craft, everyone really enjoys it.

Jen in Blue Peter mode!

When I got there, there was a rather delectable quiche made by Laura Bainbridge, (bacon and blue cheese, if you were wondering), and moreish, to the point of indecent, strawberry cupcakes, made by Julie Grigg.

The meeting's activity was headed by the lovely Jennifer Marsden, who had discovered the genius idea of 'pillow pinnies', a way to create a pretty apron very easily, out of a surplus pillowcase. 

One can never have too many pinnies, indeed, some of the ladies have specific 'baking' and 'serious cooking' aprons; here's looking at you, Vickie Riley!

Jen had, in true Blue Peter style, come with three ready-made versions with different levels of difficulty. Duly, the women of Seven Hills WI came equipped with ribbons, trinkets, buttons and knick-knacks with which to decorate their creations. 

The first version was simply a pillowcase turned lengthways with the opening at the top, with the top corners folded inwards, so the apron had a trapezium shape. It was all secured by a running stitch, so even the most fledgling sewer could take part. You could make this a little more jazzy by adding a pocket, by sewing across the pillowcase, creating an open compartment. Then, to make it into an apron, you just had to sew ribbon around the top, for the neckline, and then halfway down the pinny for the back-straps.

The second was a skirt pinny, using the pillowcase sideways so it created the more traditional shape. Sophie Harrold's included fabric inspired by the Hungry Caterpillar, so very apt for an apron, I think!

The third used two pillowcases; one longways, one sideways, to create a full length pinny in a butcher-style. That was my favourite way, as it would cover up any splashes!

As always, the night was full of laughter, chatting and catching up with everyone. It was also the night when I went on the helter skelter for the first time, and I screamed all the way down and fell over when I landed; smooth. I'll do it again though.

There's no meeting in July, but we had the calendar photo shoot and picnic in the Botanical Gardens on Sunday 7 July and for once had amazingly sunny weather!

Zoë Loveday

SHWI member

Photos by Laura Bainbridge

Danny Bryden and The Great SHWI Bake Off

Anna adds another GBBO star
to her photo collection!

Laura Bainbridge's 
chocolate and cherry cake

April’s meeting was the first time since we moved to Electric Works that the Helter Skelter sat unused and forlorn. After all, who needs slides when you have over 20 different cakes?!

This month’s meeting saw Great British Bake Off 2012 semi-finalist, the wonderful Danny Bryden, come to speak to the group. And with a baking expert at hand, it seemed appropriate to host our own SHWI Bake Off with Danny as judge. As I am already a great friend of the Great British Bake Off Stars (see April 9th’s blog post!) I was obviously very blasé and nonchalant about this particular SHWI Meeting. Er, yeah RIGHT! I had been dreaming about this meeting for months and excitement had reached fever pitch over the few days prior to it when we started getting hints dropped by SHWI members about their impending cake creations. There were two categories to enter – upside down cakes or flourless. And yet again, SHWI ladies showed their fantastic imaginations and mad skillz in the kitchen. The entries were as follows:

Upside Down Cakes

Pina Colada Sandwich Cake
Pear and Walnut
Orange and Lemon
Pineapple, Lime and Chilli
Cherry and Almond
Banana
Pear and Nutmeg
Salted Caramel, Apple and Pecan
Rhubarb and Ginger
Pear and Chocolate
Apple and Cinnamon
Pear and Pistachio

Flourless Cakes

Rose and Raspberry mini loaves
Cherry Bakewell
Lime and Passionfruit Drizzle
Raspberry and Chocolate
Fig, Pecan and Maple Syrup
Lemon Polenta
Vanilla and Strawberry Rainbow Battenburg
Carrot Cake
Hazelnut and Praline
Clementine and Almond
Cherry and Chocolate Brownie Cake

Louise Worn's amazing
rice flour rainbow Battenburg

Drool, cakey goodness… Sorry, back to business! Committee member Grace had done a wonderful job of organising the 23 entries into their relevant categories and walking round the corner to be faced with the display was quite frankly like walking into utopia – SHWI has some very talented members. The table was laden with beautifully presented cakes of all flavours and types (more of which to follow). Danny was to judge them based on three criteria – appearance, texture and taste. With my mind already boggled by the amazing array of baked delights, I decided to channel my inner April O’Neil (the journalist from the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, non-80s kids) and make notes about all the cakes on display so I could remember them all and note some of Danny’s comments. I wish I had the time, space and superlatives to describe in detail every cake, but actually I think I’ll let the accompanying photos do the talking. Danny’s first job was to judge on appearance so that Grace could slice up the cakes for the taste and texture judging (and also to feed the hungry hordes come break time). I can exclusively reveal (get me!) that she gave a special mention in terms of appearance to Sam Cleasby’s Pear and Walnut upside down cake – she loved the rustic presentation and thought the glazed pear decoration was a fantastic touch.

Danny's next job was to judge taste and texture. She approached this with slight trepidation as 23 slices of cake is a lot in anyone’s book. However, it says something for the quality of entries that she told us she enjoyed every single bite! She was bowled over by the brilliant concepts and beautiful presentation, but as the cliché goes, the proof of the pudding (or cake) is in the eating. She thought the Clementine and Almond cake was beautifully citrusy, the Cherry and Almond had very clean and distinct flavours and she loved the gorgeous home-made marmalade on the Orange and Lemon Cake, these are just a few of the many, many positive comments she made. 

As you can probably guess, the judging was EXTREMELY tight and faced with the prospect of ties, Danny asked myself and Grace to give her a second and third opinion on the taste of her favourite few. It’s a hard life. It just so happened that we were unanimous in our opinions and so after an hour of cake scoffing, the judging was over…

SHWI members enjoying cake!

The next part of the meeting was Danny’s talk and what a captivating talk it was! It was her first time speaking to a WI group and she had planned her speech around the assumption we’d want to know about her Bake Off experience and baking in general – she certainly knew her audience! Firstly she explained how entering the competition had been, in her words, ‘a bet that got out of hand’! She had first developed an interest in cooking at school thanks to her inspirational Home Economics teacher (and of course Delia) and also due to the fact that she wanted to be able to eat things she liked and nobody else in her family was particularly interested in cooking. She has always cooked and baked, especially at Christmas, and was renowned for her skills amongst her family, although she stressed it was not something she did avidly. Danny is not much of a TV watcher herself but her sister is a cookery show fan but not much of a cook herself (something I can definitely relate to). She and her husband encouraged Danny to enter GBBO because they felt it was the most suitable show for her, as she is a vegetarian and shows like Masterchef generally involve a lot of meat and fish cookery.

Upon submitting the LONG application form, Danny was selected to progress to the next stage of a lengthy application process. She had many phone interviews, spot tests on baking, screen tests, techinical challenges and more! Danny says she felt confident about these tests and attributes this to her job as an Intensive Care Consultant, where her medical training conditioned to jump professional hurdles and look for the next. Perhaps it was this attitude (as well as her amazing food!) that got her into the final 12.

Danny then let us into a few secrets behind the filming of the series which we couldn't possibly tell! 

Danny and SHWI

However we can tell you that TV isn’t all glamour and fun. The 6am starts and long hours left the contestants feeling exhausted and Danny admitted that she was happy to get to the semi-final as it had given those who had invested time in supporting her so much pleasure to see her progress, but that personally she was more than ready to go. 

All the contestants got on really well and many keep in touch still – Danny recently had lunch with Brendan and is working with James on a medical article about comparing medical feedback with the feedback you get on TV. SHWI Vice-President Jen was also able to pass on a message to Danny from fellow contestant Cathryn who told us to say hello to Danny after we met her at Manchester’s Cake and Bake Show recently! Danny said that although she doesn’t intend to pursue baking as a profession she has gained a huge recipe library and has infinitely developed her baking skills so that she has the confidence to tackle difficult recipes with gusto and was proud to be able to bake her Mum’s 90th birthday cake recently.

After her amazing talk, Danny proved again what an all-round inspirational lady she is by promoting a charity close to her heart, the Sheffield Hospitals Charity's new initiative, Charity Chef. This encourages charity supporters to host a dinner party and ask their guests to make a donation to the Charity in return for their food. For more information on how you can get involved with Charity Chef go here. 

The final act of the night was announcing the winners of the Bake Off. And (drum roll....) the prize winners in both categories were as follows:

Upside-Down Cakes:

1st Blanche Spataro’s Cherry and Almond cake

2nd Sam Cleasby’s Pear and Walnut cake

3rd Jen Marsden’s Pina Colada cake








Flourless Cakes:

1st Caryl Carson’s Carrot Cake

2nd Samantha Duffy’s Chocolate and Raspberry Cake

3rd Amy Grange’s Hazelnut and Praline Cake


Well done ladies! Although all entrants should be very proud as it was a VERY tough decision! The prize winners were presented with rosettes to mark their accomplishments. A fitting end to a fabulous night! And, of course, the icing on the cake (boom boom) for me was adding a picture with Danny to my burgeoning collection of GBBO contestant photos!


Finally – SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT! If this blog post has whet your appetite, why not come to the next SHWI Dining Club event on Friday 24 May at the Showroom cinema?! 

Notice that I used the word ‘event’ rather than meal – because we are having a TUDOR BANQUET! A bespoke menu has been created for us and in the words of the Tudors themselves, you’d be a massive fopdoodle to miss it! Look here for more details.

Anna Pilson

SHWI Committee 

Photos by Laura Bainbridge

SHWI gets crafty

Our March meeting saw our first craft session of the year and we welcomed Yvonne of Make and Made to lead us in making a jam jar pincushion. (Make and Made is a new shop on Leopold Street - check it out!).

It was a busy one with over 80 members and guests rocking up to Electric Works, mini jam jar in hand, to learn how to turn it into a pretty pincushion. We also had a photographer from Prima magazine visiting us to take photos to go with a feature they are doing on the WI in June - exciting!

Yvonne brought lots of lovely material and ribbons for us to choose from and our members set about sewing the mini cushion together, stuffing it, sticking it to the lid of their jam jar and decorating. It was quite a simple project to do, but really effective, and everyone did a great job of making something lovely!

It was a fun meeting and it was lovely to see lots of new guests attending. 

See you next month when we will be visited by Danny Bryden, semi-finalist from the last series of the Great British Bake Off! 

Remember, if you want to take part in our SHWI Bake Off (which Danny will be judging), you need to register via email by 17 April. Details of the categories can be found here. 

See you soon,

Lindsay
President, SHWI

(Photos by Laura Bainbridge)

SHWI does International Women's Day

The SHWI Cosmo..made with jam, of course!

International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8 March and to get involved, Seven Hills WI decided to hold an IWD event a week later on 15 March, at our home in Electric Works!

Now, I like to think that every monthly meeting we have is a little celebration of womanhood but the IWD event was open to EVERYBODY (even men!) allowing both members and non-members to see what SHWI was about and support some good causes in the process.

Grace and Hugh at Blousey's Bar

There were various stalls for people to peruse, one providing info on SHWI and the NFWI, a table of fabulous raffle prizes generously donated by various local businesses (there's more on that later) and another stand set up for Oxfam to show how they support women and raise some money.

SHWI committee member Grace brought along her boyfriend Hugh and their new business venture Blousey’s Bar along to treat the attendees to some scrumptious cocktails: a super gin-tastic Tom Collins and the fabulous, not to mention incredibly popular, SHWI Cosmo! (which was invented by Hugh for a SHWI meeting a couple of years ago). Of course, in the interests of fairness, I had to try both - and both were deliciously lethal. The drinks seemed to go down very well with everyone - which is a good job, since 10% of the money made went to Oxfam.

Another SHWI member (and past speaker) to 'set up shop' was Chella Quint with her 1913 Exhibition - celebrating 100 years since her grandmother was born. A timeline of personal and international events from a century ago was pinned up for people to check out - along with a piece on the zip! Invented in 1913 - the zipper is perhaps something we take for granted. Chella encourages people to count their zips and plot them on a board to see if there is pattern between age and number of zips worn. I prefer an elasticated waistband myself - it helps with all the cake and cocktail intake...

Speaking of cake - it wouldn't be a true SHWI event if we weren't flogging baked goods for charity! This time round, our friends at Oxfam benefited from money made selling homemade treats such as mini strawberry daiquiri cupcakes, chocolate chip muffins and slices of fruit cake.

As a WI - it’s all about supporting local charities that benefit women, which is why the proceeds from our ticket sales went to SWWOP - the Sheffield Working Women’s Opportunities Project which supports women involved in street prostitution. Perhaps some may think a slightly controversial choice of cause to support, but as we would soon find out, the WI has a history of radical choices when it comes to resolutions and causes they help.

Donna, Blanche, Lindsay and Kim with Jane Robinson (centre)

The main event at our do was the lovely Jane Robinson - social historian and author of several books relating to women and their battles with equality. She came to give a talk on two of previous books and arguably the book that held most interest for us SHWI members was 'A Force to Be Reckoned With - a History of the Women‘s Institute'. A lot of members have already read it and it featured in our Book Club a couple of months ago. I won a copy of this book on a SHWI raffle, and at first I wasn't that fussed about reading it, but when I actually bothered to pick it up - I found I couldn’t put it down. Never has a book affected me so emotionally - tears pricking my eyes as I learnt how much the WI had done during both World Wars, anger rising as read about the struggles the founding members had fought past and the warm glow that followed when I realised that I was part of something much bigger than our local Sheffield group. 

But Jane wasn't here to only acknowledge the WI - she also spoke of that book’s predecessor 'Bluestockings', a history of women’s fight for education. Her talk was illustrated by some great slides, and, as the group Photographer, it was fascinating to see pictures of WI ladies larking about in cornfields, or dressed up as Toby Jugs, and serious looking University students posing for class photos. 

Guests mingling in the club area at
our fab venue, Electric Works

I can’t have been the only one moved by Jane’s speech - a lot of women in that room will have benefited from a university education and some of those women will be members of the WI, both 'old' and new. It’s thought-provoking to find out what the women of yesterday went through to give the women of today the freedom to choose.

All-in-all, the night was a huge success! But we couldn't let Jane leave without a quick hurtle down the helter skelter and I was only too happy to take her - it’s becoming a bit of habit, me taking speakers down the slide!

Laura

SHWI Committee

(Photos by Laura Bainbridge)

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Message from Lindsay, SHWI President

We raised a fantastic £400 for SWWOP through our event and we'd like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who made that possible: Jane Robinson, Electric Works, Blousey's Bar, Chella Quint, everyone who bought a ticket and the SHWI Committee members who worked on the night: Kim Whelan, Jen Marsden, Katie Mountain, Anna Pilson, Anna Tebble, Vicky Porteous, Leanne Sunter, Blanche Spataro, Grace Tebbutt, Donna Yeates, Kirsty Bowen, Vickie Riley and Laura Bainbridge. 

While we're dishing out the thank yous, we can't forget all those lovely companies who donated raffle prizes. Here's a list of the prizes (pretty good eh?) and those brilliant people who gave them to us...

·       Beautiful flowers from Campbell’s Flowers (www.campbellsflowers.co.uk)

·       A chocolate chip cookie mix jar from Heather’s Cookies (auntieheathershomemade.wordpress.com)

·       Two sets of Our Tiny Bees British honey beauty products (www.ourtinybees.co.uk)

·       Afternoon tea for two at Martha Heritage, Millhouses (www.facebook.com/MarthaHeritageUK)

·       Two cinema tickets for the Showroom (www.showroomworkstation.org.uk)

·       A sewing class courtesy of Robyn’s Nest (www.robynsnestuk.co.uk)

·       Four tickets to see Bromheads at the Leadmill on 25 April (www.leadmill.co.uk)

·       A £20 voucher to buy a fascinator, hat or hair accessories from Imogen’s Imagination (www.imogensimagination.co.uk)

·       A voucher for a cut and finish from Boudoir Hair, Ranmoor (www.boudoirhair.com)

·       A voucher for Cocoa Wonderland on Ecclesall Road (www.cocoawonderland.co.uk)

·       Two signed books by Sunday Times bestselling author Milly Johnson (www.millyjohnson.co.uk)

·       A voucher for a meal for two at the Red Deer, Pitt Street, S1 (www.red-deer-sheffield.co.uk)

·       A cake from Tipple Tails (www.reallygreatfruitcake.co.uk)