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Luton Women's Aid
Our president welcomed the members and after the business meeting we welcomed our guest speaker. Jennie Moody MBE who founded Luton Women's Aid a charity that offers a refuge for abused women and their children.
Jennie is a retired social worker who came into contact with abused women during her professional life, and after retirement started a campaigned to set up a refuge for women living in Luton.
Women of all ages and from all walks of life come to the refuge. The youngest that has been helped was 16 years old and the oldest 83. They may be any colour, creed or religion but they have two things in common, they are female and they feel abused.
Jennie told of the various cases she has encountered during her time with the refuge and of the women who have been helped to break away from their abusive situation.
Jennie stressed that the refuge enables women to have a safe place to stay. Meeting others and often forming friendships, which help them to move on and create a new life for themselves, and their children.
The members presented Jennie with a box of essential items and treats for her to take back to the refuge.
The December meeting will have a seasonal theme, and or Christmas Charity is 'Treats' for our soldiers serving in Iran and Afghanistan.
Our next meeting is on Monday 1st December at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall.
New members and friends are very welcome. Contact Sheila 01525 221185.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI October Meeting
The President welcomed the members and the minutes from our previous meeting were read and signed as correct.
There are several social occasions coming along during the next few weeks for members to participate in and in November Eaton Bray Women's Institute are celebrating their 84th Birthday.
The Dunstable and the Villagers WI Christmas Evening will this year be hosted by Houghton Regis WI on 5th December.
All our members agreed that we would purchase a Poppy Wreath to be place on the War Memorial on Remembrance Day.
It has yet to be decided which charity we will be supporting this Christmas, with business finished we welcomed our guest speaker Anna Conti. Anna gave a very enjoyable talk and demonstration, on the intricateness of designing and making stained glass windows and panels.
Our November speaker will be from Luton Women's Refuge.
The next meeting will be on 3rd November at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall.
Friends and new members are always very welcome.
For more info. Contact 01525 221185.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI Report
Our President welcomed the members and one visitor to our September meeting, and apologies were received from several people who are still on holiday. The minutes were read and signed. Jerusalem was sung before we got down to business.
Our summer coffee morning raised £125 for our funds, and the summer outing to Wisley Gardens was thoroughly enjoyed by all who went on the trip.
Several social evenings are planned one will be our harvest supper in October, followed by the Dunstable Group autumn meeting which will be hosted by Dunstable Downside WI.
An invitation has been received from Studum WI for Eaton Bray to join them for an autumn outing and canal cruise.
The WI Croquet tea party held at Hockliffe raised £600 for the McMillan Nurses.
We welcomed our speaker Mel Rees. Mel is an author, who, over the past nineteen years has written and self published four titles three of which have been autobiographical and one a novel and has also written and narrated a 'look at life' talking book, he has been giving talks for the past six years that look at the characterisations and situations from everyday life in a very humorous way.
Mel was very entertaining and extremely funny with his observations of people and everyday situations his talk was chatty and light-hearted and similar in style of the TV show 'Grumpy Old Men'.
Our next meeting is Monday 6th October at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall friends and new members are always very welcome for more information contact (01525) 221185.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI Report
At Eaton Bray WI's March meeting the members welcomed guest speaker Mr Runnalls Davis who gave an interesting talk and slide show on the work carried out by women operating canal narrow boats during the Second World War.
Little is known of this branch of the war effort' in carrying out vital work, transporting essential supplies along the canal systems from 1939 until 1945.
On learning that many narrow boats had been 'tied up' because of the lack of men to operate them, a group of young ladies, most of them from very affluent families, decided to man the boats. Volunteers were recruited mostly from their friends, and despite their lack of knowledge on how to do the work they received permission from the ministry to operate the boats.
The traditional canal boat families watched the volunteers' many mistakes with much glee!
However by the end of the war the women had earned the respect of the boating families.
There has never been any formal recognition of this work; all the women were ever issued with was a badge stating they were on National Service IW (inland waterways). But some wag had given them the name Idle Women, thus the title of the talk!
The next meeting is on Monday April 7 at 7 30pm at Eaton Bray Village Hall. Friends and new members are always welcome.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI Report
Our President welcomed the members and two visitors to the November meeting, and our 86th birthday celebration with wine and birthday cake. Three members also had birthdays and received birthday cards.
The business consisted of plans for our Dunstable Group Christmas Evening, in which Eaton Bray will be performing 'our version' of Snow White.
Our vice president will lay a Poppy wreath at Eaton Bray War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday and also place a poppy cross on the Edlesborough memorial.
We will be supporting Luton Woman's Refuge as our Christmas charity, and items for this will be required at the December meeting.
With business finished we welcomed our guest speaker Rusty Goffe who spoke to us about his lifetime in show business. Rusty was born a dwarf and explained that there is still no medical explanation why this happens; adding that his brother is over six feet tall and both parents were a normal height. After leaving school, Rusty's ambition was to go into show business and he joined a band show performing at the end of Southsea Pier. On entering a talent competition, he was invited to join a variety show in London and worked in many of the West End theatres. Rusty started to audition for films in 1970 and landed his first film part in "Willy Wonker and the Chocolate Factory"; he went on to work alongside Hollywood stars in film blockbusters "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter". Also having roles in the TV comedies " 'Allo 'Allo" and "Are You Being Served?" Rusty is currently working in a Saturday morning children's TV show, and will shortly be performing in his thirty seventh pantomime - but alas not in our area.
Our next meeting is on 3rd December at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall members and friends are always very welcome.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI Report
Our president welcomed the members to the October meeting, and apologies were received from several members still enjoying late summer holidays.
A number of social events are on our calendar, starting with a harvest evening, the theme being 'Scarecrows'. This will be followed by a visit to Hitchin and a guided tour of the British School Museum.
After the business, we welcomed our guest speaker Ann Parsons who gave a very interesting and humorous talk entitled Royal Connections. Ann's father was a member of the late Queen Mothers' household, and her family moved around with him when the royal household travelled to Balmoral and Sandringham. Ann spoke of her many happy memories of playing with the royal children and their friends.
She also recalled how much the London servants looked forward to going to the country estates, and what great fun they all had with parties and dances held in the village halls.
The Queen Mother enjoyed dancing and often came along to the dances. Her royal highness made a point of dancing with all the men servants!
Ann's memories gave us an insight into a less formal royal family than their public image.
Our evening concluded looking at the royal memorabilia that Ann's father and family had been given over the 50 years he was in royal service.
Our next meeting is on Monday 5th November at 7.30 pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall friends and new members are always welcome.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Happy days with the Royal Family
Eaton Bray WI's president welcomed the members to their October meeting, and apologies were received from several members still enjoying late summer holidays.
A number of social events are on the calendar, starting with a harvest evening with the theme of 'Scarecrows'. This will be followed by a visit to Hitchin and a guided tour of the British School Museum.
After the business, the institute welcomed guest speaker Ann Parsons who gave a very interesting and humorous talk entitled Royal Connections.
Ann's father was a member of the late Queen Mother's household, and her family moved around with him when the royal household travelled to Balmoral and Sandringham.
Ann spoke of her many happy memories of playing with the royal children and their friends.
She also recalled how much the London servants looked forward to going to the country estates, and what great fun they all had with parties and dances held in the village halls.
The Queen Mother enjoyed dancing and often went along to the dances, making a point of dancing with all the men servants!
Ann's memories gave an insight into a less formal royal family than their public image.
The evening concluded looking at the royal memorabilia that Ann's father and family had been given over the 50 years he was in royal service.
The next WI meeting is on Monday November 5 at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall. Friends and new members are always welcome.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 16 October 2007
Dogs taught to help the disabled
Eaton Bray WI welcomed their guest speaker Diane, from the charity Dogs for the Disabled, at the July meeting.
Diane spoke about the work of the charity accompanied by Venny, a beautiful chocolate Labrador. She told how the charity helps disabled people to increase their independence, by training specially selected dogs to live and work with them.
The group learnt how Frances Hay had founded Dogs for the Disabled in 1986. Francis suffered from bone cancer and noticed that as she became more disabled her Belgian Shepherd dog helped overcome some of her physical problems and seeming to know instinctively when Francis needed her.
Dogs are trained in practical tasks such as opening and closing doors, helping a person dress, taking laundry out of the washing machine and switching lights on and off to name but a few of the tasks.
The next WI meeting will be on Monday September 3 at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 17 July 2007
Eaton Bray WI Report
The vice president took the chair at our June meeting, and apologies were received from our president who was unable to come along due to illness.
The members expressed their best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Our business consisted of finalising arrangements for our summer outing in August, and planning a coffee morning to be held in July. The proceeds from this being part of our continuing support for the refurbishment of Eaton Bray village hall. There are a number of social outings and activities taking place through out the summer months. Our guest speaker, Lorna Salmon, gave us an interesting humorous talk about '50 Years on the Fiddle'.
Lorna took us back to her childhood in Edinburgh, when at the age of 12 she took up playing the violin. Her father gave her the first full size violin, and mother had visions of Lorna becoming a concert violinist. Her parents were very strict and ensured, that violin practice took priority over any other childhood activities. It was under the tutorship of her teacher, a stickler for practice, that Lorna was introduced to the wonderful world of classical music. Lorna's father had a knack of volunteering her to play at local events that were usually Scottish dancing evenings. Her career progressed and reached its pinnacle when she played at the Edinburgh Festival, but alas never became that concert violinist her mother dreamed of. Lorna's career was in teaching children the violin, until she developed a genetic problem and lost her sight, thus ending her teaching career. However Lorna still has a wide musical repertoire, and finished her story entertaining us with a selection of Scottish reels, songs from the shows and much more.
Our next meeting is on Monday 2nd July in Eaton Bray Village Hall at 7.30pm.
New members and friends are always welcome
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI plan to hold a coffee morning in July to raise further funds for the village hall refurbishment.
The group has also finalised plans for its summer outing in August as well as scheduling a number of social outings and activities throughout the summer months.
Guest speaker at the meeting was Lorna Salmon talking humorously about `50 Years on the Fiddle'.
Lorna took the group back to her childhood in Edinburgh, when at the age of 12 she took up playing the violin. She told how her father gave her the first full size violin, and mother had visions of Lorna becoming a concert violinist.
Her parents were very strict and ensured that violin practice took priority over any other childhood activities.
It was under the tutorship of her teacher, a stickler for practice, that Lorna was introduced to the wonderful world of classic music.
Lorna's father had a knack of volunteering her to play at local events that were usually Scottish dancing evenings.
Her career progressed and reached great heights when she played at the Edinburgh Festival, but alas never became that concert violinist her mother dreamed of.
Lorna's career was in teaching children the violin, until a genetic problem caused her to lose her sight, thus ending her teaching career.
However, Lorna still has a wide musical repertoire, and finished her story entertaining the meeting with a selection of Scottish reels, songs from the shows and much more.
The WI's next meeting is on Monday July 2 in Eaton Bray Village Hall at 7.30pm. New members and friends are always welcome.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 12 June 2007
Salty speaker takes the WI on a 50-year cruise
Eaton Bray WI members put on their sea legs for the November meeting.
The land-lubbers got the tang of sea air in their nostrils when they welcomed guest speaker Captain William Wells, who had enjoyed a career aboard ship lasting almost 50 years.
A master mariner and former ship's captain, he has for the last 35 years been a licensed commercial marine pilot, ending his career as the Snior River Pilot in the Port of London.
Captain Wells, a New Zealander by birth, gave Lord Nelson as his hero and inspiration for a boyhood dream of going to sea.
He went on to tell the group about his life at sea as a harbour pilot in the Middle East, working at the large oil tanker terminals - oftern in war zones.
Captain Wells saw many changes taking place as a river pilot on the Thames, from the demise of the busy port of London to the building of Canary Wharf and the new development replacing the commercial docklands of the city.
Institute business consisted of the members voting that their Christmas charity would be to support the work of the "Mercy Ships".
They will be celebrating the WI's 85th birthday in mid November with a dinner at Priory House, Dunstable.
The next meeting is on Monday December 4 at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall.
New members and friends are always very welcome.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 14 November 2006
WI and the Mercy Ships
Guest speaker at the Eaton Bray WI October meeting was Anne Giles who is a volunteer on "Mercy Ships" that sail along the west coast of Africa, assisting very poor countries with medical help and other skills to improve the quality of life for the citizens.
Ms Giles took along slides of her trip to Liberia and explained that Mercy Ships only sail in to a port at the invitation of the country's goverment whose only obligation is to agree to provide free moorings, water and the removal of rubbish.
Mercy Ships are a Christian organisation whose crew is interdenominational and has nationals from 40 different countries, all are volunteers and the spoken language is English.
The volunteers work alongside the village elders in helping to set up schools and sanitation projects in areas that have often been devastated by years of civil wat.
Ms Giles is a trained nurse and her husband works as a surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, both took early retirement to join the Mercy Ships and spend around six months each year around the coast of west Africa.
Eaton Bray WI has a lively autumn programme with several social events starting with the annual Halloween evening in mid October.
A vote was taken to buy and lay a poppy wreath at the Eaton Bray War memorial in November and the Christmas charity project is to support the work of the Mercy Ships by donating toiletries and stationary items for Ms Giles to take on her next trip to Africa.
The group's next meeting is on November 6 at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall. Friends and new members are always welcome.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 17 October 2006
Body language is very revealing
"Body Language" is a more important form of communication than most people realise - in fact only 30% of our communication to others is verbal.
This was the subject of guest speaker Mr Vic Botterill's interesting and humerous talk to the September meeting of Eaton Bray WI.
As an ex police inspector his work gave him many years of observing other people's body language.
He demonstrated some of the various signals that we all use in different ways when communicating with other people, and the reactions to these depending on the relationship with the person we are communicating with.
Animals have the ability to instantly recognise our human body language and know if they are to be fed or go out.
Mr Botterill highlighted the signals our body language conveys to others when our personal space is invaded, by demonstrating with members, causing a great deal of laughter.
Included in the monthly business was a request for members to help in promoting our local WIs on special promotion days at local garden centres. This is part of a national WI scheme that is taking place throughout September.
Members were sad to hear of the death of Joy Cuss after a long illness. Joy had been an active Eaton Bray WI member and supported for many years, and sympathy was expressed to her family.
The next meeting is on Monday October 2 at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 12 September 2006
Yellow sets the fashion
Eaton Bray WI held a themed yellow colour evening, and demonstrated some very original decorative ideas on hats and dresses. The evening raised money for the Pasque Hospice, which the group has supported for a number of years.
Business was kept to a minimum, and details were finalised for a members and friends' day trip to Stratford on Avon in August. Dates were noted of various other outings and activities during the summer.
The guest speaker was Mr Parry, who gave a very insteredting talk on "Paxton and the Great Exhibition".
Paxton designed the Crystal Palace building, which stodd in Hyde Park and housed the great exhibition of 1851.
He was a "local lad", born in Milton Bryan of humble origins, who rose to great heights in the Victorian age.
The Duke of Devonshire invited him to manage and develop the gardens at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, which included designing a model village for the estate workers.
It is said that a greenhouse was the inspiration for the Crystal Palace with the original drawing doodled on a piece of blotting paper!
All that remains in Hyde Park of the Crystal Palace are the entrance gates. A fire destroyed the building in 1936.
Eaton Bray WI's next meeting is on Monday September 4 at 7.30pm in the village hall. New members and friends are always welcome.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 18 July 2006
Eaton Bray WI Report
Our president welcomed the members to the June meeting. Among the items discussed before welcoming our speaker, were the summer walk and our outing to Stratford on Avon in August.
An invitation has been received to join with our Dunstable WI friends for a back stage tour of Covent Garden Theatre, and the Eaton Bray Methodist Church has invited us to a service and afternoon tea on 15th June.
A national WI membership promotion is to take place later this year and discussion took place on how we can participate.
Our guest speaker was from the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals, the largest animal charity in Europe. Their aim is to provide free care for animals of people who live in deprived areas and cannot afford veterinary fees. They also aim to promote responsible pet ownership.
The founder Marion Dickin opened a clinic in Whitechapel in 1900, the first hospital opened in Ilford Essex.
The PDSA Dicken Award is given to dogs of "outstanding deeds". The most recent recipient was Buster, an explosives dog in the Gulf war.
The PDSA annual budget is £37 million with 47 Pet Aid Hospitals and 329 practices who provide one and a half million free treatments a year. All the veterinary staff are professionals and the charity is the biggest employer of veterinary nurses. The charity receives no government or lottery money and relies entirely on fundraising and donations with income from PDSA charity shops.
Our speaker concluded in revealing that the most common pet ailment is obesity!
The next WI meeting is at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd July in Eaton Bray Village Hall, new members and friends are always very welcome.
Source: Eaton Bray WI
Eaton Bray WI
Our President welcomed the members to the March AGM meeting. A review of the past years activities was read by our minute secretary and the financial report given.
Various WI matters were discussed with debate on the proposed NFWI subscription increases and changes for next year.
The Committee members were re elected and we welcomed a new member on the committee. Many thanks were given to Dorothy Bradbury who is hanging up her WI committee hat after a 16 year tour of futy. Dorothy was presented with a large potted Hydrangea and a thank you card, for all her past work and support.
A successful coffee morning raised money for WI funds. Eaton Bray WI hosts the Dunstable Group evening later on this month.
With business completed the members thanked the committee for their past years work. The meeting concluded with a social evening of games and delicious nibbles.
Our next meeting is on Monday 8th May at 7.30pm in Eaton Bray Village Hall. Friends and new members are very welcome.
Source: Focus, May 2006