WI do DIY

We did DIY (photo by Lorne Campbell)

So SHWI took the annual Summer break in July meaning that understandably our members were practically scratching at the doors of the Women’s Construction Centre in Burngreave eager to get back to some serious SHWI action. We dutifully turned up in our scruffs, builder’s mug in hand ready to roll up our sleeves and learn some fundamental DIY skills. 

Jen, Lindsay, Kim and Louise get tiling (photo by Lorne Campbell)

We got the business section of the meeting out of the way so we could up tools. This mainly involved us all getting rather excited about our involvement in the upcoming Sheffield Food Festival in the form of a classic WI Bake Stall and Best in Show competition and hearing the latest exciting instalment of the debate that rages on about the exact dimensions the shell box entry should be at The Autumn rally.

Kay the glamorous plumber and her troupe of talented tradeswomen had done a fantastic job of organising an informative and most definitely fun evening of learning the basics of some cleverly picked DIY disciplines. A lot of thought had clearly gone into which skills we would be most likely to use ourselves once we got back to our homes. There were taster sessions of painting and decorating where we looked at different paint effects – one of these being frottage which apparently has two meanings (the urban dictionary or Sarah Willoughby will fill you on the alternative meaning of the word should you be interested...). We also had a Q&A session. I’m not sure if this was necessarily part of the plan but we (ok, it was me) had a lot of questions on various projects at home.

Di and Anna learn about light fittings (photo by Lorne Campbell)

We learnt how to change a light fitting, which only highlighted to me how little I listened in my physics classes at school.

Kay demonstrated how to isolate and take a radiator off the wall for when you’re decorating. Pretty useful stuff I’m sure you’ll agree. Not as complicated as you may think.Well when you know how.
There was also a session on tile cutting as well as bricklaying. I for one was inspired, as only this weekend I have wangled a re-pointing masterclass with my neighbour to sort out my raised beds. WICAT we salute you for inspiring us to take on jobs that are traditionally seen as man’s work.

Oh and how I could forget the ever so tiny detail that photos from our meeting and quotes from our very own Lindsay featured in the Guardian the weekend after our meeting. All in a day's work at SHWI! Some of the photos taken can be seen in this post, big thanks to photographer Lorne Campbell for allowing us to use them.

WICAT offer some tremendous courses that are fantastic value for money. See www.wicat.org.uk for further details. We’ll be filling you in on what they can offer us at the next meeting. 


Anna Tebble
SHWI Committee Member

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)

Seven Hills WI visits Denman College

We've all heard lots about the WI's very own residential college in Marcham, near Oxford, and we were intrigued to find out more. So, just before Christmas eight Seven Hills WI members set out on a trip to Marcham to attend a New Wave Weekend - a chance to sample the delights of Denman College and meet women from other WIs across the country. 

In the sewing class with May Martin (centre)

We all had our reservations about what it would actually be like but we are pleased to report that it was wonderful, we loved it! Okay, so it might not seem the cheapest weekend away at first glance, but when you add it up it's really quite good value for money. We got two nights' accommodation, welcome drinks, breakfast, lunch and three course dinners, loads of tea and coffee, the best shortbread we've ever tasted, and three workshops for just over £200 each!

 
The workshops were great, I made a charm bracelet, some Christmas decorations and a door wreath (gave the latter to my mum, she loves it!) and I was impressed with the quality of the tuition. Our sewing class was taught by the fabulous May Martin who will be appearing on TV in March as the Mary Berry-style judge in new programme The Great British Sewing Bee!

We also met some lovely women from other WIs (hello Clare and Becki from Birchgrove WI, India from Gloucester Road WI, Meryl from Old Dalby WI, the ladies from West Ealing WI and our wonderful college host Sally!) and it gave us a great chance to talk about our groups and pick up tips and advice from other branches.

Now we've been to Denman we can see that the charm of it really is the old house and gardens (it's like being in Downton Abbey, seriously!) so the news that the national federation are looking at selling the house and gardens, and just retaining the new part, is really sad. 

There is lots of history to the college which you can find out about here, but basically the house dates back to the 17th century and was the former manor house of Marcham. It was bought by the WI with money raised by each WI branch throughout the country contributing £10 over three years - seems reasonable to me! 

Denman College, named after the first chairwoman of the WI, officially opened in 1948 and has been a big part of many WI members' lives since then. Each of the bedrooms in the main house are decorated by federations so each is unique and just being there really makes you feel that you are part of something.

We would love many, many more of our members to experience Denman College but we feel this experience will be much poorer if the house and gardens are sold. The national federation are currently consulting on the future of the college and we'd urge all WI members to complete the short online survey before 11 January. 

Kim on the beautiful Downton-style landing!

You can also help Denman College by attending courses there. It is open to anyone, not just WI members, and there really is something for everyone, see www.denman.org.uk  for more details or email us at sevenhillswi@live.co.uk if you have any questions (I'll try and help!).

Lindsay
SHWI President