WI Subcription 2018

 The subscription for 2018 is £41.00

•   The WI subscription year runs from January to December
  
•   New members joining the WI for the first time, i.e. who have not previously been a member of any WI in the past 10 years, will pay a pro-rata subscription
  

depending on the quarter in which they join. The rate per quarter is shown in the following table

Date of joining	Total subscription due
1 Jan-31 Mar	£41.00
1 Apr-30 Jun	£30.75
1 Jul-30 Sep	£20.50
1 Oct-31 Dec	£10.25

•   WI members can belong to more than one WI, by paying the full membership fee to the first WI, and a further £20 to any additional WIs at any time of the year. There is no pro-rata rate for dual membership
  
•   WI subscription and dual fees are paid directly to the WI/s you wish to join. 
  

Marko - Drawing workshop.

Our W.I. meeting on 13 Sept was full of fun & laughter.  We had a second visit from the amazing cartoonist 'Marko' who makes cartoons come to life with very simple lines. We were all provided with paper & pencil & Marko took us step by step to make our very own cartoon character.  We have a refreshing cup of tea with biscuit & general chatter.  Do come along if you are feeling lonely & give us a 'taster' - free for two sessions.  We are a small friendly group who have our meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 2.30 pm in Ditchingham Village Hall.

         
          Our next meeting will be on October 11th - our speaker will       be Tracey Hargreaves - Timeless Florals.    


         
         Pam Lack

          

Wednesday 9th August Ditchingham W.I. had their 99th Birthday party. We had 78 guests from other institutes, including from over the border Suffolk.  Our guest speaker was Linda Scoles.  Did we have a laugh.  Her talk was about 'where have all the characters gone' -  so humorous.

This followed a superb, excellent tea with delicate sandwiches, cakes galour, & then an amazing raffle.  All supplied by a team of 20 friendly ladies, organised by our outstanding leader, president Sue.  If you feel  like joining us, for a happy afternoon, fun & friendship through out the year our meetings are held on the 2nd  Wednesday of every month at 2.30 pm in Ditchingham Village Hall.  Why not give us a try if you are feeling lonely.

Our next meeting on September 13th is Marko - Drawing Workshop.

Pam Lack
Blog Editor.

Codes Ciphers & Engima.

At our W.I. monthly meeting we were pleased to welcome a very interesting speaker, Joyce Kimber, talking about Codes Ciphers & Engima.  She had our brains working trying to decipher a secret message or word in code.  She then went on telling us about the best kept top secret site, Bletchley Park where code breakers worked to decipher enemy messages during World War 

Two.  The Enigma Cipher. Perhaps the most famous cipher of recent years is that used with the Enigma Machine. It was developed by Arthur Scherbius in 1918, but gained widespread notoriety when it was used by German Intelligence during World War II, and subsequently cracked by the team at Bletchley Park.

We  always welcome new members being a friendly group of ladies, for a chat, cup of tea & always a varied programme of topics from speakers.  Why not give us a try, on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 2.30 pm in the Village Hall, Ditchingham.

The month of August is our Annual Garden Party.  

Our next meeting on September 13th is Marko - Drawing Workshop.

Pam Lack
Blog Editor.

The Wonderful World of Stinging Nettles.

At our monthly W.I. meeting today we had a young woman speaker named Faye Jones who was quite humorous & who really new her subject 'The wonderful world of nettles'.  The first picture showed a caution sign 'Nettles may sting'!  There are two native nettles Urtica urens & Urtica dioica both favoured by butterflies, especially the admiral .  Nettles are useful plants ie general tonic, making tea, the top is edible & many more uses.

Nettles are often underappreciated and much maligned but their many uses and merits will surprise you - from their wide variety of associated invertebrate life and why dock leaves are useless, to their first recorded use in prehistory and into the modern-day kitchen. And what exactly does happen to nettle tea when you put lemon juice in it?

 She finished off by showing us a poem about nettles by John Clare. Do give us a try if you feel like some good company with plenty of laughs, a cup of tea & biscuits.  Our meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 2.30 pm in Ditchingham village hall.

Our next meeting on July 12th is Joyce Kimber - Code - Ciphers and Enigma.  

Pam Lack
Blog Editor. 

Sue Sursham - Trans Siberian Rail Journey.

Our W.I. mtg this a/noon was well attended & we were enthralled by our speaker, Sue Sursham, a W.I. colleague from Lodden, giving us an excellent/fascinating  talk with a wall projected video on her Trans Siberian Rail Journey, train called the 'Golden Eagle' on 14 Feb to 1st Mrch 2009, with her elderly mother, which was on her bucket list!  & probably wanting to go back, but in the summer time now!  This journey started in Moscow & ended in Vladivastok. The non stop travel takes about 7/8 days, but one can exit in several destinations to explore. Especially Lake Baitkal, the largetest & deepest freshwater lake in the world.  There was plenty of chat & laughter over tea & biscuits.  If you feel lonely, this is the place to come to where we are all friendly & welcoming.  
Our next meeting on May 10th is Jenny Gibbs - Turkey House restoration. 
Mtgs held on 2nd Wed of every month  at 2.30pm in Ditchingham Village Hall.

Pam Lack
Blog Editor.

   

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Wi Group Meeting. 

WI members from several local WI groups attended the Group Meeting held at Broome Village Hall on Thursday March 16th.

The speaker was Mark Mitchels -Classic Children's Authors hosted by Ditchingham WI, Sue welcomed a very full hall of members who throughly enjoyed Marks excellent talk.  After tea the competition which was a member dressed as their favourite childrens book character was judged by Mark.

Ditchingham was very pleased to come second, Pam was dressed as Bert a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, well done Pam.

Maria Pennington. Pearls are my Passion

On Wednesday 8th February at Ditchingham W.I. meeting, we had a fun afternoon along with a very delightful & interesting lady speaker, named Maria Pennington whose topic was 'Pearls are my passion'.  She had been in the jewellery business for 37 years, but loved pearls.  We learnt about natural, cultured & fresh water pearls.

Maria said that a Pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shell, like the shell a pearl it is made up of calcium. The ideal Pearl is round and smooth but many other shapes of pearls occur. A "natural pearl" or "wild pearl".is one that form without any human intervention at all. There are also Freshwater and saltwater pearls, may sometimes look similar but they come from different sources like lakes and rivers.

Maria also said these days most pearls come from "pearl farming"  This limits the number of pearls at a harvest period as usually only one is grown at a time. 

Our meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month between 2.30 - 4.15 at Ditchingham Village hall, where you will be most welcome.  Why not come & give us a try.  We are a friendly, happy, bunch of ladies.

Our next meeting, on 8th March is a 'Scrabble Day'.  So if you fancy a game of scrabble (nothing serious) with lunch, do come along.

Pam Lack

Blog Editor.

From Uni to international Netball Umpire.

Our meeting today, the first of the New Year, included a talk by a young man named Gary Burgess, talking about his career journey whose dream passion was to play sport for England, but didn't quite make it & then trained  as a  PE teacher & became deputy head for 3 yrs in Bedfordshire & then came to Norfolk, decided to change his career & now is an International Netball Umpire & now, believe it or not, is liaising with our Federation to set up 'walking netball' teams.  Anything to try & keep us fit!  Well, we did have a laugh.

 We are a small, relaxed & happy friendly bunch of ladies.  Why not give us a try, come & join us if you are feeling lonely.  We meet once a month on the second Wednesday at 2.30 in the Ditchingham Village Hall why not come along to our meeting in February when we have Maria Pennington - Pearls are my passion., we would love to see you join us as a guest to see if you enjoy our meeting.

We can also be contacted via our blog at ditchinghamwi@gmail

Pam Lack

Press Editor. 

Ditchinghams AGM 2016

The November meeting was the last time we meet at the Village Hall this year.  It has been a very busy year for the WI in its 98th year.  We have had some good talks 
Including a Experience of a Paramedic, Jenny gave a very interesting on how she came to live in a rual village in Turkey and Helens very warm and funny talk about her love of cows which has resulted in her setting up a business called Wavaney Dexter Beef. 

For our final meeting of the year we will all be going out for a Christmas meal.  At the November meeting we also held our AGM as all committee members were standing again everything stays the same.  On a personal note Sue our President said she would like to thank all the members for helping her through the year. Sue added we are now looking forward to our 99th year.

Our January meeting on the 11th is Gary Burgess - From Uni student to international Netball Umpire Competition. 

Our W.I.  meetings which are on the second Wednesday of every month are very informal.  

Interested? Why not come along as a guest on the second Wednesday in the month at 2:30pm in the village hall, we would love to see you. You can also  contact us by email at the following address:

ditchinghamwi@gmail.com

Press Blog Editor

Pam Lack.

   Talk by Helen Reeves - My love of cows. 

We had our monthly W.I. meeting on Wednesday 12th October  held at Ditchingham Village Hall.  Our speaker was Helen Reeve who is behind Waveney Dexter Beef.  Helen gave us a very interesting light hearted talk about achieving her child hood dream of working with cows.

Helen Reeves  is a determined young woman. Not one

to give up in the face of adversity, she fought hard to build a successful business
without land or capital. And she did it all from just one heifer.
“I knew from the age of 11 that I was going to work on a farm of some sort, preferably with cows,” said
Helen whose passion for the animal came from helping her dad count the heifers on the marshes when she was younger. “my parents tried to put me off the idea of farming but when I dug my heels in they were very supportive.”
so supportive that they bought Helen her first Dexter heifer when she was just 14, which has kick-started her herd of Waveney Dexters – named after the nearby Waveney river. Helen now has a miniature breed of 38 pedigree Dexter cows, chosen she says because she is only 5ft1 herself, and is hoping to sell the beef in the Waveney Valley and beyond. “Dexter beef has quite a unique taste and texture,” said Helen.

It’s that enterprising spirit that has earned Helen two awards so far – the Chris lewis Award in 2009 that came with £3,000 prize money and last year she picked up the Norfolk Young Farmers’ Clubs’ Growing Business Award and a £5,000 cheque.

“To get recognised is quite an achievement and something I’m proud of but it has all been hard work, blood, sweat and tears. 

Our. December meeting is a Christmas meal for members only. 

Our W.I.  meetings which are on the second Wednesday of every month are very informal.  

Interested? Why not come along as a guest on the second Wednesday in the month at 2:30pm in the village hall 

Press Blog Editor

Pam Lack.

   Claire Richards - From Nun to Mum to UNICEF

We had our monthly W.I. meeting on Wednesday 13 July held at Ditchingham Village Hall.  Our speaker, Claire Richards, gave us an interesting, serious, talk on her life. She was madly keen on sport & became a P.E. teacher, becoming a nun which wasn't her father's wishes.  Marrying a priest, then adopting baby Colombian twins, then becoming a volunteer for UNICEF.  We had light hearted banter with our tea & biscuits afterwards.

Our next speaker will be Talking about the "Petting Zoo" on Sept  14th.

Our W.I.  meetings which are on the second Wednesday of every month are very informal.  

Interested? Why not come along as a guest on the second Wednesday in the month at 2:30pm in the village hall 

Press Blog Editor

Pam Lack.

June 8th - Ann Newmeir. 

W.I.Ditchingham had a real treat on Wednesday afternoon.  Our speaker was Ann Newmeir on holiday humour 'My suitcase, my patience and Him'  She kept us in fits of laughter  with packing a case of medicenes & things just in case, including 2 toilet rolls!.  It was a delightful/amusing/hilarious talk on her holiday antics abroad on land & stories about her many cruises.  She displayed more than 25 caps from different destinations & showed us a gorgeous display of table clothes she had collected.  Why not come & join us.  We are a friendly bunch of ladies & you will be made to feel welcome.

We have tea/biscuits, & the meeting is light hearted & nothing too serious. The get together is on the 2nd Wed  of the month at  2.30pm at the Ditchingham Village Hall.

       
           Pam Lark
           Blog Press Officer

May 11th. John Newmeir - Experience of a Paramedic.

We had a relaxed & pleasant Wednesday afternoon at our Ditchingham W.I. village hall monthly meeting whereby our speaker, John Newmeir, gave us a talk on 'Experiences of a Paramedic'.

Well his stories weren't at all what one might expect to see on T.V. , but 'the other stories' that are 90% comical & true which were amusing, hilarious & making us all laugh.    A real tonic for us ladies.  We ended having tea & biscuits & a good old natter  together.  If you feel lonely, why not come along.  Only once a month.  We are a truly friendly bunch of women.  Next month John's wife, Ann is speaking on 'holiday humour' my suitcase my patients and him.  Should be funny.  
Interested? Why not come along as a guest on the second Wednesday in the month at 2:30pm in the village hall Ditchingham.

Pam Lark
Blog Press officer.

Jenny Gibbs - April 13th.

Our speaker today was Jenny Gibbs dressed in traditional clothes as a Turkish lady from the Rural village she lives in.
Jennys life in her rural Turkish village is full of humour and packed with unusual and surprising stories of a culture so different from our own.  Embarking on her new life of adventure at the age of fifty, meeting the man of her dreams, Jennys talk trace her arrival in her village in 1994 through to the present day. 

Setting up home in the village and buying an ancient farmhouse in desperate need of restoration, Jenny quickly became an integral part of this close-knit community, where time seemed to have stood still, but which is now on the cusp of change. She arrived just in time to experience this age-old culture before the inevitable change occurred.
The Hills around Jenny' village  are smothered in olive tress, millions upon millions, some hundreds, even thousands of years old, pickers line the road verges making their way to their particular groves, donkeys and mules picking their way behind. 

Every man over forty wears an old suit jacket and every woman, of whatever age, wears colourful (enormously) baggy pantaloons. The olive groves, for the most part unploughed for centuries, are havens of wild flowers. In February anemones carpet every grove in a riot of rainbow colours, when they finished they are replaced by snowdrifts of  daisies and endless blush pink asphodels, with their tall, spiky flower 

Jenny also brought along with her various embroidery and handicrafts for sale after the meeting which had been made in the traditional way.

Jenny still lives in her beloved village and farmhouse, but she spends a few months each year in England.

Our next speaker will be John Newmeir on May 11th, Experiences of a Paramedic. Our W.I.  meetings which are on the second Wednesday of every month are very informal.  Why not come & give it a try.  We are a friendly bunch with young at heart ladies.

Pam Cooper for Pam Lack.
Blog Press officer.

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