Welcome to 2018!

After the success of our January 2017 meeting – we decided to do the same thing again! A relaxed crafty catch-up allowing new and existing members to say “hello”, grab a cup of tea and a homemade bake, then settle down to their chosen workshop if they were feeling crafty.

It's fair to say the start of the meeting wasn’t as smooth as usual due to a mix up with room bookings and some issues with the floor being freshly glued down – but the committee pulled it together and made it work as they always do!

Once we’d settled down and covered “the business” (local and national federation news), this year saw us make a new batch of bunting for SHWI. We still have our bunting banners which members made at a meeting a few years ago and they get used at a lot of our fundraising events. But you can never have too much bunting! So I prepared a load of fabric triangles and invited members to bring any crafty bits and bobs lying around at home to make our bunting look extra fabulous. Meeting Host and sewing guru Cat was in charge of our “bunting station” and has very kindly offered her skills to string them all together.

Fundraising and Events lady Jodie taught members how to “finger-knit” necklaces out of t-shirt yarn – which looked rather fiddly, but plenty of ladies were sporting a new handmade necklace by the end of the evening. Maybe it was just me who couldn’t find the patience to get one done!

Secretary Bex set up a mindful colouring in station for anyone who didn’t fancy getting arty with fabric.

I was supposed to be running an introduction to crochet – but ended up running around all meeting sorting things out and nosying at what everyone else was doing – so big thanks to SHWI members Liz and Holly who stepped up and took over with the teaching.

As President, I feel totally okay saying this meeting really was an example of SHWI at their best – all members working together to get things done, a lovely buzzy but friendly atmosphere and the creation of beautiful handmade things. What a wonderful way to start the year! Here’s to an awesome 2018!

Laura B-H

President

Ooh la la! Wine tasting with Le Bon Vin

Our SHWI May 2017 meeting saw Patrice from Le Bon Vin come and talk to us about WINE! And give generous tasters. And told us how attractive we are. And got distracted by a moustache on a cup. And had quite a strong accent and so was difficult to follow at times.

Needless to say, the meeting went swimmingly. The wines we tasted were as follows:

• 8 Secco Prosecco (2016, £12). A fresh tasting bottle of fizz from Italy. Patrice gave us the lowdown on the history of Italian wine, and what a laborious process it is to make fizzy wines such as Prosecco! Patrice advised that we have to drink it quickly so you don’t lose any of ‘ze bubbles’. He described this wine as ‘like a good French man, you burst and you go’(!) It was light, fruity and flowery, and we agreed very tasty for the price.
• Juno Chenin Blanc (2015, £9). A tropical tasting Chenin Blanc from South Africa, with bonus points for being Fairtrade. It was smooth and well rounded, and Patrice talked about the Goddess of Love, Juno. The wine was fairly strong for a white at 13% but still very drinkable.
• Carlos Series Crianza Rioja (2013, £9). An oak-aged rich Rioja. By this point, Patrice complained that the microphone he was holding was too heavy. He advised us that with regard to reading official tasting notes you should ‘tell yourself it and you will find it’. And he recommended that if you don’t like the taste of this wine you need to drink more of it because the tannins will go away and the flavour will improve. The evening was getting silly!
• Outback Jack Cabernet Merlot (2015, £8). A solid Cabernet Merlot from Australia. We heard about how the huge wine industry ‘down under’ started because of a need to serve wine with mass, and Patrice gave a convoluted explanation of brewing wine and developing cooling apparatus. This was a ‘stick your lips together’ kind of tipple with flavours of plum and oak. He just had one final question for us… ‘Would you prefer a good screw or a bad cork?’.

I’m not sure that we were the most attentive of audiences but we certainly enjoyed ourselves - huge thanks to Patrice and Le Bon Vin for keeping us entertained!

Charlotte Wright
Committee Member

Kicking ass and taking names: SHWI do self-defence

Another fantastic meeting with the Seven Hills ladies in March, this time with added kick!

I actually mean that quite literally as we had the wonderful Radek Kalas who came to see us and teach some pretty punchy self defense in the style of Krav Maga. Long gone, it would seem, are the days of handing over your purse and being nice about it, its all kicking ass and taking names these days.
The meeting kicked off with our annual vote for our charity of the year. Judy Kelso from SAYiT, our previous charity of the year was there to explain how they would be using the money we've raised. It was great to hear how we have made a difference to this small charity and she even brought along some of the young people who will benefit from the funds raised.

Treasurer Vicky with Judy and some of the young people from SAYiT

Then we heard a bit about the charities our members had nominated to become this year's charity of the year. All of them were worthwhile causes and it's a shame we can't support them all but we feel like it's important to have a concentrated effort each year for one charity.

After counting all the votes, it was announced that our charity of the year for 2016-17 will be Sheffield Light. Sheffield Light is a small local charity run by volunteers providing support across Sheffield to families affected by perinatal mental heath illnesses, including post natal depression and anxiety. We can't wait to get cracking and help support this worthy cause. 

Then we moved onto our activity - self defence!

Members with instructor Radek

Anyone who happened to be walking past might have been forgiven for being a little nervy -after hearing some of the shouts and seeing a lot of the punches and kicks going on in there I was a little nervy myself! I wouldn’t have wanted to get on the wrong side of most of the ladies that night after hearing rowdy agreements to the instructor suggesting you put your thumbs in the attackers eyes and ‘touch brain’. How splendid. I’m not sure the uninitiated would believe the WI could be quite so rambunctious. Tea, cakes and elbows to the crotch!

On a lighter note, everyone seemed to have a fantastic time - nothing like a good workout and pad pummeling to get the endorphins flowing. Plus, everyone is settling really well to the new venue, feels like we’ve been there a lot longer than a few months. Thanks for another great meeting. Same time again next month everyone?

Jodie Winters
Committee member

Shelley Richmond talks about Rain Rescue and how photos can save furry lives.

November is always an exciting month, as it's our group Annual Meeting….. Which means we get to sing Jerusalem. Our youngest attendee Polly also joined us in song which was wonderful, a future member indeed! 

Kirsty took us through her first presidential address. Laura took us through the highlights of our year which were many. It's so great to look back over the last 12 months and see what we've achieved in our Centenary Year with both a new President and Secretary. Vicky took us through our financial statement and we have a healthy bank balance once again meaning that we can continue to offer the very popular Denmark bursaries. 

After a quick break we were onto our speaker. We were joined by Shelley Richmond, although not to craft with felt as per the programme, but instead to talk about her work with Rain Rescue. 

Rain Rescue are a Registered Charity founded in 2002. They are dedicated to supporting the local community by ensuring the provision of a reputable rescue centre to help pets in true crisis. Rain Rescue has saved the lives of thousands of dogs and cats from crisis situations in and around Yorkshire. Primarily savings dogs due to be put to sleep in the stray kennels and cats abandoned on the street who have no one else to care for them. Shelley showed us some images which were upsetting to some (I may have been squeezing Zoe and Anna's hands a bit tight… sorry about that!) and a few moist eyes dotted the room. 

Shelley’s passion and love for dogs was clear as she told us about a few cases, Colin in particular stuck in my mind. He was in a bad way when Rain Rescue picked him up, with awful injuries inflicted by heartless people. Rain Rescue has nursed him back to full health and Colin is also one of the stars featured in the Rain Rescue calendar which Shelley has taken photographs for. 

Photo by Shelley Richmond

The meeting ended on a high note hearing the recovery stories and seeing the ‘after’ photos. We also got to know about Shelley’s mission to change how people feel about the Staffy breed and their owners through a series of beautiful photos. Thank you to Shelley for her visit and to her and Rain Rescue for all they do for vulnerable animals. 

Sarah Willoughby
Committee member

Happy 6th birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEVEN HILLS WI!

Wow what a great night! As a relative new comer to SHWI I wasn't sure what to expect from a birthday party for a WI. Would there be party hats and cake, pass the parcel or singing birthday songs to each other?

Birthday cake!

Well, there was definitely cake amongst the vast array of yummy food everyone brought for the pot luck. I spotted a few fancy hats too, including a fascinator made from tights, very WI I must say.

After the usual business, we all formed a very orderly polite queue for the food - then could be seen shovelling in Guinness brownies, stilton bread, onion tartlets and sticky toffee things to name but a few. As we quietly stuffed our faces, we were ushered into a semi-circle ready for the next portion of the night.

Just some of our party food

This was in the form of Dotty Winters, a fabulous women with a penchant for telling fibs and poking fun at herself and others. In her defence, she did admit to the fibs after she'd lured us in so convincingly with her comedy act so I think we can forgive her. To be honest, I think we can forgive anyone who can pull off wearing a cape to do their weekly Tesco shop. This, I hasten to add, was not a fib as she brought it with her to prove it while giving us a warm and funny insight into her life as a female comedian. It was both refreshing and sometimes a little gritty to hear of her experiences as a women in a male dominated world, which is surprising to say in 2015. But her lust for the centre of attention and passion for making others giggle soon had us rolling in the aisles.

Jodie, Chella, Dotty and Jen

All too quickly the night came to an end with huge rounds of applause and leftover food snaffled up, we all went on our ways after a great night, looking forward to what the next 12 months will bring.

Jodie Winters
SHWI Member

President's blog: Being a guest judge on the Great British Menu

It was the day after our former President Lindsay stepped down that I got the call from a researcher about possibly appearing on the Great British Menu. Talk about starting with a bang!

In case you haven't seen the show before, chefs from different regions around the country compete to have one of their dishes at a special banquet. The theme for this year's banquet was the WI's Centenary and the producers of the show were looking for different members to appear as guest judges. Seven Hills WI would represent the so-called 'New Wave' WI - more recently established groups, mostly in cities that tend to have younger members and participate in with less traditional activities. They were looking for a President from a particularly foodie group and we fitted the bill.

To say I was nervous about taking part would be an understatement. To be honest, I had no desire to be on television. But I knew that I couldn't turn down the chance to take part. The role of President requires you to represent the group at a national level and our group deserves to be recognised for the hard work we put into Sheffield Food Festival and our love of all things culinary. Plus Anna P, fan of the show and committee member would actually kill me if I didn't part (a vegetarian herself, she told me that if I got to take anyone to the banquet, she would forego her dislike of meat and try everything).

My role would be to judge the two finalists of the North East region heats. Three chefs from the region had been cooking all week and the top two went through to Friday. On Friday, the judges eat all the dishes and the winner is the one who scores the best. The winner then goes through to finals week.

So after a conversation over the phone with a researcher asking me some questions, a couple of days later said researcher was meeting me in person at my workplace and interviewing me on a camera. Later the next week, I got an email to say they'd love me on the show if I could make the filming dates. I tried to put it all out of my mind until after Christmas. I was told to keep it a secret too - which wasn't too hard as I was so scared about it!

The filming took place on January 30th. I got the train to St Pancras the night before where I was met by a very smart eastern european driver in a suit with an earpiece, leather gloves and a black Mercedes. It was like being in a spy film. He took me to a very nice hotel in Marylebone where I spent the night in a MASSIVE king size bed. Oh the hardship! I had to be really careful not to fill up to much on the breakfast buffet - but it was really not to tuck into all the pastries, fruit, breads, cereals etc. There was even an egg station! At 8am, I had another driver whisk me to the studios in Kentish Town.

I was greeted by the production team who were totally lovely and looked after me all day. They tried to put me at ease and explain the day's filming. The chefs who we were judging were Michelin starred Tim Allen and Leeds-based Michael O'Hare. There was real anticipation in the air about the food and the team told us we were in for a real treat.

After hair and make-up by the brilliant Heather, I was taken to the judging chamber. The chefs were already busy in the kitchen and they would take it in terms to plate up their food in order of starter, fish course, main course and dessert. I was introduced to the judges - Oliver Peyton, Prue Leith and Matthew Fort. All three were really nice and asked me lots about questions about my WI. They had a great sense of humour and a real interest in the food and the chefs.

I ate some fabulous food - highlights included Tim's delicious starter (I can still taste that ham and egg), Michael's fish (like nothing else I'd ever seen) and beautiful main course, and Tim's gorgeous pudding.

Tim's pudding

It's not all glam and gorgeous food though. It was a really long day. You have to wait for each course to be served and there's a lot of shots to set up and repeat. These shots don't take up a lot of screen time but they are essential to show the food presented correctly. It's also important not to scoff the food down quickly. I had to take my time as we'd be talking about the food for a long time and because only certain snippets would be aired, we needed to keep food on the plate as long as possible.

Michael's fish course

After lunch, I was taken into the kitchen to meet the chefs and talk to them on camera. I had to tell them a little bit about myself and how the judging was going - without giving much away! I could tell they were both quite nervous about the result so it was hard to tease them. But they were both such nice guys who clearly enjoyed being in each other's company and the friendly competition between them.

Michael's main course

When it came to announcing the decision, it was quite nerve-racking. We were asked to score them after every dish and then the points were added up. I was given a few lines to say on camera after the result had been announced based on my thoughts and criticism during the judging. The chefs were brought into the room facing the judges desk and we had to stare at each other for what felt like years as the camera set up the shots. Finally, Matthew was able to announce that Michael had won. He had only one chance to get this right or the surprised reactions would be lost. Luckily, this went ok and I then said my line.

Michael's dessert

After filming, I said goodbye to the judges and was whisked away in a car to the station and back to Sheffield. But just before this happened, the Producer asked me "Would you like to come back for finals week?". To be continued!

Tea and Tents 2015

Avid readers of the SHWI blog will know that I usually write the posts after the SHWI Getaways at Currer Laithe and I felt it was only fitting for me to do the same for another getaway comprising of WI fun. However, typically, I write the post within about 24 hours of returning because I am pining so much and trying forlornly to relive the memories, sobbing quietly onto my sofa. Well, this time, I am looking back on the event a whole fortnight after returning. You slacker, Pilson, I can hear you all tutting. However, I have good reason. The delay is due to the fact that I have spent approximately 23 hours and 45 mins of each day following my return (sleep’s for the weak, dude) on the Tea and Tents Facebook page conversing, commiserating and chortling with my many new WI sisters across the country…

So let’s get back to the weekend of wonder itself. With school being out for summer, I excitedly headed towards the wilds of Walesby to participate in Tea and Tents 2. This belter of a camping trip was first organised last year and attended by several SHWI members, whose amazing feedback made this year’s event THE hot ticket for many SHWI-ers (apart from Keighley of course). So 19 of us descended en masse to a campsite usually reserved for scouts! After setting up our tents (thank you

Sarah and Bex for saving an ace area for us), we headed to the main tent for the fuddle. Can you imagine the cornucopia provided in that tent by the cooking of 500 WI members? AMAZING! However, it was quite difficult to get to the food given the organisation of the tables in the tent, so sadly I was unable to participate – this may be my only SLIGHT area for improvement of the whole weekend – next time perhaps have food on all of the tables and everyone eat al fresco. Luckily, we had a guerrilla fuddle at SHWI camp HQ and I was ‘forced’ to abandon my #veganlifestyle by Liz’s

divine mackerel pate. It was a real hardship I can tell you…

Once we were Christmas Day-style stuffed, we welcomed around 30-40 women from other WI’s to Laura’s beer swap. It proved so popular that we had to break into 4 groups. We organised the beer by ABV from weakest to strongest and supped to our heart’s content, sharing opinions on the booze and generally chatting about our WIs. Although I met lots of lovely ladies in my group, I must give a special mention to our nearby neighbours, Youlgrave WI, whom we will definitely visit soon. Despite

us making a valiant attempt, there was so much beer left that many ladies took a bottle home with them and Laura was left with a beer pyramid for her own personal consumption. I imagine it lasted

approximately 2 hours…

Saturday was a day full of activities for all – some more sedate than others. Carolyne and Liz got the  ball rolling (quite literally) by participating in a game of Quidditch! It’s not just all tea and cakes in  the WI you know, well at least not until the afternoon! Other activities across the weekend included Pilates, crochet, flower crown making, paper cutting, self-defence, a market, best in show competition, quiz, afternoon teas, yarn bombing, sports day (special mention to the UK WI Egg and

Spoon champion Liz Mitchell here!) There was a myriad of talks, including one by the fabulous Joanne Croxford of the Daisy Change WI. I mention this talk in particular because we are lucky enough to have Joanne coming to talk to us at our Centenary Mixer on Saturday September 26th about how the WI changed her life and about setting up the country’s first WI at a psychiatric unit – members, you should come! Tickets only £1! Also, there was a particularly competitive game of Rounders. Did you know that our president, Kirsty Bowen, whom we trust to lead us with dignity and valour, is actually a ruthless Rounders cheat? A victory is not a victory when gained through pernicious means…(Editors Note: Kirsty in no way cheated and is in fact a Lincolnshire district rounders runner-up champion 2002 - KB).

Some of us also chose to take part in Walesby’s standard scouting activity programme, with lake- based frolics or an action-packed activity course. Liz, Bex and I braved the mosquitoes of Walesby by trekking through the forest down to the lake to participate in body-boarding and kayaking. The body boarding basically consisted or jumping headfirst down a ‘slip ‘n’ slide’ on a hill into the lake. It was great fun, unless you let go of the body board and end up sliding down the rocky ground on your belly. As Liz discovered, you may not get to the bottom with everything intact. Don’t worry, she wasn’t hurt, but let’s just say that she gave the young gentleman overseer a treat that he wouldn’t get from the Scouts! On Sunday morning many ladies blew off the cobwebs with a brisk session of axe throwing, zip wiring and climbing. SHWI ‘sensible is my middle name’ Secretary Laura Bainbridge had been very well-behaved up to this point over the weekend, so OF COURSE she had to leave the  latter activity with a suspected broken wrist! It certainly made the Sunday night a bit different for  myself and Becky, who accompanied her to Bassetlaw A and E for an X-Ray (thank you to Theresa and Rachel who patched her up in the meantime, and fear not - it turned out to be a sprain). Who’d  have thought that ACTUAL HEALTH AND SAFETY PROFESSIONAL Laura would sustain a  NON-ALCOHOL-RELATED INJURY? Mindblowing.

Members from other WI's enjoyed dining dining with us for a curry feast!

Luckily, she soldiered on long enough for us all to enjoy Sarah’s curry feast – who else could cater  for 30+ people on a camping stove and make it quality better than most Indian restaurants? We  welcomed ladies from several other WIs and I must admit I got a bit teary-eyed sitting round and eating that curry (and not because of the spices). It was just such a wonderful example of the do it yourself, everyone muck in, everybody welcome spirit of the WI. Jeez Willoughby, wasn’t making half the crowd cry by beginning a rendition of Jerusalem when we were taking an aerial photo of the group emosh enough for you?!

Finally, I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there and tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air. But, alas, that’s another story. Instead, I’d like to take a minute to thank some of the people who, in particular, made the weekend so special for all of us. Thank you to all of the volunteers who helped run the site and activities programme so smoothly (including Becky, Cat,

Holly and Vicky of the SHWI-ers). Secondly, thank you to all those who gave their time to run workshops, deliver speeches or organise activities – it’s a cliché, but there really was something for

everyone.

Thirdly, thank you to my own personal hero and SHWI camp mother, Sarah Willoughby. This women organised our shopping, hired various pieces of equipment (including a van), had a hand in various erections (oo-er) and catered for 20 plus people all weekend (I haven’t even mentioned Saturday’s AMAZING paella) – without your amazing efforts the weekend wouldn’t have been what

it was. Next year, try to do a bit more work though, yeah, Willoughby? I’m sure you sat down for at

least 3 minutes over the weekend… Fourthly (is that even a word?), thank you to the generosity of all participants who through simply having fun, have raised £3000 for the charity Refuge, as well as providing donations of food, bras and crocheted daisies for various other worthy charities. Last but

most certainly not lease, the biggest of THANKS must go to the organisers: Sue, India, Claire, Meryl

and Rebecca, who have basically done a full-time job organising T&T on top of their own work and family commitments. It was certainly no mean feat and I know that there are around 530 women who owe you a massive debt of gratitude.

So to sum up - Tea and Tents? More like booze and banter, cakes and crochet, FRIENDSHIP AND

FUN! Until the next time, campers…

Anna Pilson

Committee member

Ready? Ok! SHWI does Cheerleading

I am sad to say that I haven't made it to many SHWI meetings this year and I was especially gutted to miss Sam Cleasby last month. Yet, I'll also admit that I wasn't totally psyched about cheerleading; it's hard when you're as badly coordinated as I am! But, as usual, I had a brilliant time. And I'm pretty sure everyone else did too.

We started the meeting with the usual updates from Laura.  That really doesn't do the "Bainbridge News n Views show" justice at all as she manages to make the announcements intriguing and enticing and hilarious all at once. We are really lucky to have such an entertaining secretary! Before we began working up a sweat (and I really did, sorry!), we sang Happy Birthday and Jerusalem for Winnie - a lady in Sheffield with few family or friends who is about to turn 100! Happy Birthday Winnie!!

But alas, the time had come for me to flail my gangly arms and legs about out of sync and in the opposite direction to everyone else. It wasn't so bad at first as we did a nice little warm up; a bit of marching on the spot and some arm and neck stretches but then we had to clench and unclench our fingers quickly with arms outstretched - that's a lot more tiring than it sounds! So far so good though - I hadn't whacked anyone else or fallen over and everyone else was ready to start learning our cheer routine, and shaking pom poms.

The routine was set to the classic 90s rave song The Key: The Secret - great choice! We started with some basic footwork - got that. Then we did some arms - got those (forgot the name of the move though). Then we did them together - aaaaand that's when it all went wrong for me! Ha ha ha. But, everyone was having a great time and I didn't care! I was glad when it was our turn to move to the back so that other people could get a good view of the moves though.

We soon added some windmills followed by steps forward with arms and jumps backwards and then some sidesteps with turns and pretend pom pom shaking. It was all broken down into manageable chunks (phew!!) and then we got to practice in small groups with the pom poms!!!!!!!!! We were a little bit excited!

But, it didn't end there. We added some more moves - getting into a line and doing a coordinated arms up and down hands shaky thing and then stepping out on alternate sides before another spin and a snazzy finale of pom pom shaking. Once again, it was time for the pom poms but this time we had to shout "Ready! OK!" before we kicked off. We had to do our routines in three groups but that was great as it meant we all got to watch and cheer each other on (and I got to watch it again to try and remember everything!). I had to concentrate quite hard when it was my turn but I was very lucky to be stood behind the wonderfully coordinated Alice so I followed her lead. Obviously, we all nailed our routines!!!!

We had such fun cheering with Jessica!

By the end of all those moves I had definitely worked up a nice sweat and was very glad for the lovely warm down and a big glass of water.

Goooooooo SHWI!!

Leanne Sunter
Assistant Treasurer

We raised £1024 at Sheffield Food Festival 2015

Anna, Jen, Kirsty, Grace and Chelle help on the stall

We're very happy to say that our stall at this year's Sheffield Food Festival raised an amazing £1024 for our charity of the year. Our members worked really hard to bake some delicious treats and volunteer on the stall all weekend. Committee member Sam made two beautiful rainbow pinata cakes for us to raffle on both days. Thank you to everyone who helped, bought a cake or raffle ticket from us!

All the money we raised will go to SAYiT Sheffield. They provide support for young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) or who are affected by HIV.
 

One of Sam's incredible pinata cakes

SHWI Mad Skillz makes pizza at Craft & Dough

SHWI Mad Skillz is one of our spin-off groups organised by Di and Anna T. They organise bespoke sessions where SHWI members can learn a new skill in a smaller-sized group. This time, a group went to Kelham's Islands latest culinary hotspot, Craft & Dough for a spot of pizza-making. 

Craft & Dough, The latest member of the Milestone group opened in November 2014 after a successful series of ventures, including their takeover of both the Wig and Pen and Fancie, which came on the back of winning the best British Restaurant category in Gordon Ramsey's Best Restaurants. The idea for Craft & Dough came when the Milestone group's founder decided to capitalise on the well-known fact that beer and pizza are a marriage made in heaven. Building on some of the pizza dishes served up at the Milestone and using bakery produce made across the city at Ecclesall Road's Fancie, Craft & Dough source many of their ingredients directly from Italy, even the flour, and grow their vegetables super-locally at an allotment at Kelham Island. Their array of beers, which take up a whole wall of the restaurant, come from all over the world with fruit beers, IPAs and more, including a Canadian import stocked nowhere else in the UK and a sell-out Nigerian, wine-like Guinness.

For the pizza prep and tossing, we had our own personal area reserved (#shwivips) and a table full of fresh ingredients including dough balls, basil plants, home-made tomato and herb passata and mini blocks of mozzarella from which to create our own Margarita pizza. Chef demonstrated how to handle the dough (pressing, stretching and gentle manipulation) while we tried the techniques for ourselves. At no time during this process did anyone eat copious amounts of cheese directly from the bag. Oh no. Ahem.

Hannah and her dough

Unfortunately for some of us (i.e. me, Anna P) it was more a case of craft and D'OH, as it seems that even manipulating a piece of pre-made dough into a flat circle is beyond my meagre skillset. I have no idea how I turned it into a phallic shape, I bet I couldn't do it again if I tried! Some people may have THOUGHT they witnessed a tantrum, but what they were ACTUALLY witnessing was a cunning ploy in action. My ineptitude resulted in chef having to step in and leave me with a professionally-handled base, winner! 

Luckily, everyone else was able to demonstrate more than adequate prowess and we took it in turns to decorate our bases, before they were whipped away by chef to be cooked in the pizza oven. Our SHWI chefs were in their elements, with stuffed crust creations, ad hoc additional ingredients such as chilli oil and, er, cheese mountains, demonstrating their invention. Gregg Wallace and Monica Galetti would be proud.

Shaping the dough

Of course, the proof of the pudding (well, pizza) is in the eating and I can safely say that nobody was disappointed (as you can see from the pictures, we quite frankly nailed it). I unfortunately missed out on the recent SHWI Eats visit to Craft and Dough, and all I can say is if my own amateur creation was that tasty, how good must the 'real' pizzas be? (Pretty damn awesome, I am reliably informed by other SHWI-ers).

The Mad Skillz crew

Once again, I massive thank you to Di Coupe for organising for us a pizza-the-action (boom boom) and of course, to Craft and Dough for hosting us.

Mad Skillz - we salute you (with a double chest thump, of course).

By Hannah and Anna

SHWI Members

Making new friends

It can be hard walking into a room of 80+ people for the first time. Three years ago, we wanted to make meetings seem a little less daunting by having a New Members Evening - an opportunity for ladies who have just joined the group to meet others in a smaller, less intimidating room. Our meetings are anything but formal, but there does seem something a little bit more relaxing about meeting in a nice pub with a glass of wine.

Our third New Members Evening took place in the University Arms and we had a good turnout of approximately thirty ladies ready to chat. We'd prepared an ice-breaker to get people started that was totally non-compulsory. The idea was to find a person who had the characteristics on the bingo grid.

SHWI Bingo photo from our Instagram profile @sevenhillswi

Some of our committee members were present to answer any questions and a few organisers of our popular spin-offs to encourage new members to join our craft, book and running groups. We hope the women who came had a good time and will hopefully find someone to sit with and catch-up with at the next main meeting.

If you're a new member, we'd love to hear your feedback from the event or if you're from another WI, tell us how you make newbies feel welcome.

Finally, a big thank you for committee members Anna P and Jen for organising the event. 

Kirsty
SHWI 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

SHWI Mad Skillz: Pretty Girls Make Shelves

SHWI Mad Skillz is one of our spin-off groups organised by Di and Anna T. They organise bespoke sessions where SHWI members can learn a new skill in a smaller-sized group. Last week, ten members went along to Sheffield City College for a night of furniture making. Committee member Kirsty tells us all about it....

The last time I was let loose with a band saw was my year 9 design and technology class and to be honest, I spent most of the lesson in the toilet swapping notes with my mate who was doing IT next door. Making furniture was just not a priority at 15. But now, I'm 27 with my own home and I need to know the right way around a power drill. So I was really up for a night of furniture making. 

The Women's Workshop is nearly 25!

Anna and Di had organised Sheffield City College teacher Anna Childs to give us a one-of taster session of the course that she runs in the Women's Workshop there. Due to numbers, the courses in the workshop are now open to men too. Liz Kettle from WEST (Women in Engineering Science and Technology), a voluntary organisation that encourage women and girls to take up careers in non-traditional roles in Science, Engineering, Technology and the Built Environment, was keen to show us the facilities.

Liz and Anna met us on a rainy Wednesday night and supplied us with plenty of tea, coffee and tunnocks biscuits (just what some of us needed after the horrific traffic). They introduced the course, how WEST can help women with bursaries and outreach work and then it was down to what we were making - shelves. 

Anna explains what we're going to do

Anna took it step by step - explaining how we would go about starting the project then letting us do it ourselves. It was scary to be let loose on the big machines like the drill and sanders but Liz and Anna were very encouraging (and nobody lost a finger, so yay!). Using her example, we measured, sawed, drilled, screwed and sanded our wood into something that looked a lot like a set of small shelves!

I must say that there was some more talented members in the group than me - Chloe and Carolyne took so much care in sanding and smoothing their shelves that they were left with something very professional looking. Mine on the other hand was a bit rough and ready but acceptable enough to go on my bathroom wall. 

Anna and Liz were so generous in their time and resources and we were so grateful to have the opportunity to play with all their tools and create something really worthwhile. 

Our finished shelves!

If you're interested in one of the furniture making courses, have a look at the page on the Sheffield City College website. 

Kirsty Bowen

SHWI Committee member

September meeting - Badge and mirror making

Our September meeting saw us getting nifty with glue and scissors, with Crafty Jackdaw helping us to design badges and mirrors.

As members and guests gathered in the club area at Electric Works, Crafty Jackdaw were already busy setting up the conference room into three long tables with a finishing station at one end.

Kim, Lindsay and Vicky started the meeting by going through WI business, including news of the upcoming Don Valley Rally, Autumn Council and our fabulous limited edition Christmas cards (which we’re selling for £5 a pack in aid of our charity of the year, Young Women’s Housing Project).

During the break, while we were all quaffing tea and cake, Crafty Jackdaw put out all the bits and pieces we needed to make our badges and mirrors. Following a brief explanation, members set about using the templates to create their designs out of everything from comics and children’s story books to sheet music and vintage fabric. 

The ladies from Crafty Jackdaw press our badges

Members could make various different items, which saw even the creatively-challenged (that’d be me) engrossed cutting and sticking. Crafty Jackdaw were kept busy all meeting, as members queued to have their inspired designs made into badges or mirrors, so that everyone got the chance to take home a unique keepsake they’d made themselves.

I found it quite therapeutic and enjoyed doing something that meant we could chat while we had a go at doing something new!

Some of Laura's badges

Next month we will be celebrating our 5th birthday with party games and a pot luck supper. Remember, to bring a dish a long to share and if you fancy getting your bake on you can also enter our birthday cake competition!

See you soon,

Jennifer
Vice President

WI Resolutions - Making a difference on issues that matter to you

Every year all WI members are given the opportunity to suggest issues as 'resolutions' for the national organisation to campaign on. This is a chance to take forward a personal concern and develop it into a national campaign once adopted at the NFWI Annual Meeting.

It's the time of year to put forward resolutions so if you have great idea for a resolution or would like further information, please read on…

What makes a good resolution?

·         Is it topical and does it fit with current areas of public interest?

·         Does it have clear and realistic targets?

·         Would the change bring a meaningful and sensible outcome?

·         Does it reflect the current situation?

·         Is it based on accurate data?

·         Is there an opportunity to obtain positive media coverage?

·         Does it fit with the overall WI vision?

If you need some inspiration, here are details of other campaigns the WI is involved in...

• Time to Talk about Organ Donation
• SOS for High Streets and Town Centres
• More Midwives
• The WI Great Food Debate
• Love Your Libraries 
• Care Not Custody
• Country of Origin Labelling (COOL)
• SOS for Honeybees

Support is available through your WI group, our local Federation and Federation Resolution Advisors.  The deadline for submission of resolutions is 12 September. Full details and submission forms are available here.

Any questions please email us 

Kim x

SHWI Secretary