New Year, same us!

Hello, just a little reminder that January is a great time to try out the WI.

Now I’m not saying it should be a New Year’s Resolution or anything like that, I don’t tend to make them or keep them, but just something nice to do in the depths of January hopefully to lift the spirits and maybe start something new.

Traditionally, we have always had an active meeting in January with a gentle exercise, martial arts or dance session: For January 2023 we will be dipping our toes into some Afro-beat Kuduro House choreography with Julie and Paulo. (Wednesday 11th January 2023, 7.30pm start)

Your first trip to City WI is always free, after that we’ll ask £4 a session or you can become a full member. Our membership year now starts in April so there’s no rush to decide straight away; membership in 2023 is £46 and you pay nothing else for your meetings.

Most of our sessions are held at the MCO centre on Beaumont Street in Sneinton which can be a bit tricky to find; there’s usually someone who can meet you to walk down, or just give us a shout and we’ll come and find you. There is parking, but we share with the other centre users. Our Summer meetings will be outdoors depending on the activity, and we have one online meeting planned this year so that we can have an excellent speaker who lives further away.

Our Craft Club will also be returning in the new year, in an online format – perfect for a bit of social interaction without venturing out in the cold weather.

If you would like to hear more about the group or the WI, please get in touch – we’ll answer as soon as we’re able to.

Happy 2023!

Vicky x

PS I’ll be on BBC Radio Nottingham next Wednesday afternoon to talk about the group – eep!

We’re still here . . . a bit about us!

Hello! My name is Vicky and I’m President of Nottingham City WI, have been for four years now – been in WI for 6 or 7 years now (I think!).

I started off attending meetings with a friend who is still a member too, joined the Committee to help run things and then became President. Obviously two years of my tenure were over the pandemic which was undoubtedly hard for everyone, but we carried on valiantly by learning to do meetings on Zoom and sometimes just being there for a chat was enough. We won’t dwell on that too much but I can only think that we’ve survived this long because our members love the group and we offer something special; friendship, loyalty, solidarity, learning, fun and joy ;). That might make it sound a bit ‘culty’, but we’re essentially a group of friends who meet monthly for an activity or talk and the rest is bonus material!

A bunch of joyful women hold up the Nottingham City WI pennant

We just happen to be a small cog in the well-oiled machine that is the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) which also allows us to be part of national campaigns suggested by members on the issues important to them.

The WI is for women and anyone who lives as a woman over 18, if you’d like to come and try us out please do!

Your first visit is free, so if you find that we aren’t your cup of tea there’s nothing lost. Most WIs will let you visit for free to try them out so you can find your perfect group. You can actually join as many as you like, if you have the time that is! Meetings are once a month, but there’s usually something else happening like book clubs, craft clubs and outings.

If you’d like any more information, why not email us at citywi@ymail.com or have a look at our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/nottinghamcitywi/)

It’s a February Festival!

It’s been a flurry of performance shenigans in February for the City WI massive!  First up was Nottingham’s Light Night, when we pitched up to the Curious Parade at Sneinton Market and Vicky and Laura tag-teamed it as the Curious Peacock!  It was a totally magical night and sooooo busy with thousands of Nottingham families out on our streets to enjoy the illuminations!

Then, at February’s meeting, Nikki from Artbeat put us through our Samba-style drumming paces with a fabulously fun workshop!  None of us had really drummed before, but Nikki was fantastic and we ended up creating an awesome, rowdy rhythm in the room (I’m sure the Capoeira group upstairs were delighted!)
   
The beginnings of the most wondrous WI carnival troupe, we’re sure!

So long and thanks for all the cake…

The end of the Manton era was signalled on International Women’s Day, Wednesday, 8th March 2017, when after two joyous years, I stood down as President of Nottingham City WI.  It’s been a whirlwind since I took office from our incredible founder President, Kerry Edwards-Kelsall, of jam (marmalade) and Jerusalem, Suffragettes and stitching, marching and martial arts, camping and cream teas, cheese and wine (and tales of the night), books and beer, flowers and frocks, quizzes and the Queen and oodles of fabulous, inspiring women… and tea… and cake!

           

It was  a beautiful day to end on, joining with members of City, Gedling and Netherfield WIs to present a bench to Gedling Country Park in commemoration of International Women’s Day in unison with Cllr Roxanne Ellis.  The inscription on the bench is a quotation from James Oppenheim’s poem, ‘Bread and Roses’, an anthem for women around the world “As we go marching marching, we bring the greater days, for the rising of the women means the rising of the race”.

With the WI Centenary Garden Party at Buckingham Palace and being commissioned to papercut the WI’s official birthday card for Her Majesty the Queen, I’ve got closer to royalty than I could ever have anticipated!  But it is you, the ladies of Nottingham City WI and our Women’s Institute sisters around the globe who it’s been an honour to work alongside, as President.  It is to my utter delight that our new President will be the sublime Mrs Lucy Petford!  The official Presidential bell has been handed over and I’ll be her loudest cheerleader from the committee bench (you can look forward to THAT!) – good luck, lovely lady!

~ Manton xx

April Meeting

We’re digging deep into our Pocket Park planning for our April meeting, ladies!  Our lovely friends from Maber Architects will be visiting to help us put together our perfect pollinator planting plan and it’ll be all things compostable with Anna from The Urban Worm – time to flex our creative muscles and help Verna Poppy come up with a beautiful design for our very own Urban Worm compost bin for our park!

~ Manton x

February 2016 Meeting

This month’s meeting (on Wednesday, 10 February) is all about spending less time on hair and make-up, but looking fabulous whenever we feel the need!  We will be joined by a mistress of make-up and a teaser of tresses and learning to create bewitching eyes and stylish and speedy ‘up dos’!

Perhaps we could use our newly discovered free time to make a lovely green heart in your chosen medium – stitchery, beading, paper, knitting or maybe crochet – to wear on Valentine’s Day to show our love for the Climate Coalition?

Don’t forget, it’s also time to renew your WI membership – a mere £37.50 for a year of fun and frolics with fabulous friends!  Your membership fees ensure that our group thrives and contribute to the main WI funds, supporting the tremendous lobbying work of our organisation.  If it’s your first visit to the group, there is no charge – just come along and see if it’s for you! 🙂

~ Manton x

 

 

WI Centenary Celebrations

We had a marvellous time celebrating the first 100 years of the inspirational women of the Women’s Institute at Riverbank Bar & Kitchen on 16 September 2015 – so proud to be part of this extraordinary organisation! … Here are a few photos of a happy and memorable evening, courtesy of Vapour Trail Photography (cheers, buddy!) … Here’s to the next 100 years, ladies! 😀 x

September Newsletter

Mmmmm… sugar and cakey goodness, mists and mellow fruitfulness – you can feel Autumn in the air, can’t you?  We were treated to all kinds of confectionery joy at our last meeting and have a multitude of celebrations, outings and campaigning to look forward to over the next few weeks.

If you missed out on this month’s meeting (and it was a biggun – 38 ladies!) or just need a reminder of what’s happening and when, then here’s our WI sept newsletter (thanks, Antonia!) with some reminders and if you need any further info, just get in touch by email at citywi@ymail.com or through our Facebook page and we’ll be happy to help.

In the meantime, enjoy the remaining sunshine, wrap up warm and hone your jam-making skills!

~ Sarah M x

Sweet Treats for Autumn!

After the Quiz and Games night antics at our August meeting and the bus trip to the WI Centennial Fair, it’s time to discuss the hard stuff!  Our meeting on Wednesday, 9 September 2015, will show us how to make delicious foodie gifts!

The wonderful Liana Stevens, local food blogger and cake fan, will spend the evening showing us how to make quick, easy, and inexpensive food gifts such as cakepops and bakeaway jars (intriguing) and we’ll be decorating our own cookies!… Yummilicious!

Don’t forget, we’ll be collecting for Trussell Trust Foodbank once again this month, so please continue with your fabulous generosity.  The Shopping List is here – Trussell Trust ShoppingList

We’re also only one week away from the official WI Centenary on Wednesday, 16 September 2015 – City WI will be donning our gladrags and chinking our glasses in a toast to WI members of the past, present and future at Riverbank Bar and Kitchen.  For only £10 per person, we will be celebrating in style with pizza and prosecco!  We’ll be taking payments from everyone who has already signed up and any other ladies who would like to join us, at our September meeting on Wednesday – please let us know you’re coming on our Facebook event page – *here*

Looking forward to spending some fabulous cakey and celebratory time with you this September! 🙂

~ Sarah M x

All of the purple petals!

A massive thanks to the lovely (and vanilla-scented) Leighanne for providing the petals of purpality!  We had an excellent evening making ourselves some lovely floral name badges and getting to know each other a little better.  I’m more than a little behind with the virtual life of the WI and will be uploading June’s newsletter shortly (thanks, Antonia) to be swiftly followed by July’s (courtesy of Abbie and Jenny).

In the meantime, here are some photos from Wednesday evening’s meeting, when 7 new members signed up (hooray!), there was an ace haul of non-perishable foods for our Trussell Trust foodbank drive and a mighty fine time was had by one and all!

      

~ Sarah M x