Two great events in a matter of two weeks, what could be better?! Firstly we had our Annual Council Meeting and then the Literary Lunch.
Attendance at the Council Meeting was lower than usual and maybe some are still unwilling to go into larger group settings and unfortunately the heating caused a lot of concern among members this year. However, those who attended enjoyed the meeting and the feedback was positive. You all enjoyed the Whistle Testers and their wonderful song, created by them and gifted to the WI. It was a great way to end the morning session of the meeting. The highlight of the afternoon was our entertainer, Adam Smith who gave us a history of the birth of musicals and sang well known songs from many of them along the way. My highlight was when Jenny had asked Adam, who hails from Yorkshire, to do a final Yorkshire thanks to me as Chairman. It was definitely a meeting I won’t forget.
Our Literary Lunch was superb with over 120 ladies in the Banqueting Suite at Hexham Mart enjoying a fabulous three course lunch followed by a marvellous speaker in crime writer Mari Hannah. We will definitely be repeating the Literary Lunch format and hopefully at Hexham once again so keep an eye on the Newsletter.
Now, to the next few weeks before Christmas (there we go I have mentioned the C word). We have the Tiara event at Cresswell House as well as the Craft Day and Christmas Beetle Drive also at Cresswell House and of course our official start to our Christmas, is the service of Celebration at St Nicholas Cathedral on Thursday 1 December. The service planning is now finalised but we have been asked to ask our members not to arrive too early as there is a morning service in the Cathedral and then the staff have to move the seating around to accommodate our members. The Board and I look forward to seeing many of you there all in good voice and seeing friends from other WIs.
Finally, as you all know I wrote, on behalf of the members of Northumberland Federation, a message of condolence to His Majesty King Charles but I also wrote to Sandringham WI as they were mourning the loss not just of a beloved monarch but also of their own WI President. Their new President has sent a lovely handwritten card thanking us for our kind words and in it they enclosed a wonderful photograph of her late Majesty at the January 2019 meeting of Sandringham WI which will be a treasured part of our Archives and has been reproduced below.
Time to get the hats, scarves and gloves out ladies.
Marj x
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