Resolution shortlist for 2015

From the Federation Resolution Shortlist Selection Representatives, who attended the Resolution Shortlist Selection Meeting on 2 October 2014, they chose the following shortlist of resolutions:


The next 100 years
As we mark 100 years of the WI, we deplore the unacceptable level of gender discrimination that still exists. We call decision makers to remove barriers preventing today’s women and future generations reaching their full potential.


Plant a tree for the future
The NFWI urges Her Majesty’s government to start a continuous national broadleaf tree planting programme to replace vital woodlands lost in previous decades. WIs in consultation with their local councils and community groups will be asked to plant trees in celebration of their centenary and to benefit future generations.


Public access defibrillators
There is an urgent need to widen public access to defibrillators to significantly increase the survival rate following a cardiac arrest. This meeting urges WI members to work with their communities to install public access defibrillators.


Failing to care – assessment of need in long-term care
This meeting calls on HM government to remove the distinction between nursing care and personal care in the assessment of the needs of individuals, in order to advance health and wellbeing.


Cutting back on food waste
Everybody loses when good food is thrown away. We call on WI members to reduce their own food waste and all public and private sector organisations to do more to minimise food waste and protect our finite resources.


Ending FGM
This AM welcomes the progress that has been made towards ending Female Genital Mutilation. We call on political leaders and the UK public to maintain momentum behind all efforts to eradicate this abuse of human and child rights.


To curb the use of antibiotics
In view of the problem of increased microbial resistance to antibiotics, this meeting urges HM government to work with health professionals and the public to raise awareness of, and encourage the appropriate use of, antibiotics in human and animal healthcare.

Stokey WI invite The Boobettes to talk about breast cancer awareness. 

The Boobettes are a group of young women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 35, have had a breast cancer scare at a young age or a strong connection to the disease. Using their stories, they inspire other people to think differently about their lives and bodies, educating about the importance of getting to know your boobs now and making it a life-long habit. We are very happy that they are able to come and talk to us about the importance of self-checking and guidance on how to do this. They will also be sharing their own personal stories and answering any questions you might have. (Free for members, £5 for visitors).

If you cannot make it on the night, feel free to make a donation to Breast Cancer Care via their website and to The Boobettes.

We look forward to seeing you there!


Stokey WI

P.s. we will be opening up memberships for next year in October so if you are interested in re-joining or becoming a new member for 2015 feel free to speak to us about it. If you join in November you get December for free, that's 13 months for the cost of 12!

11th August meeting

11th August meeting: Join us for a talk with artist Lucy Sparrow about her exhibition 'The Cornershop', an installation of a shop made entirely out of felt.

Each item - from the bean cans, to the cigarette packets and chewing gum - will be made entirely out of felt: each item meticulously hand sewn, stuffed and priced. Artist Lucy Sparrow will be coming to the Stokey WI about the exhibition, bringing samples of some of the felt items as well as giving an insight into the meaning of the high street and the cornershop.

About Lucy Sparrow

Working at the intersection of contemporary art and craft, Lucy Sparrow’s work sets the agenda for textiles within the urban art scene. She works mainly with felt and wool, creating over-sized soft versions of existing objects and major art works The aim of this ‘feltism’ is to question, playfully, the politics of artistic production and to tackle (often collaboratively) some of realities of contemporary living, dealing with issues concerning the politics of consumerism, social exclusion, gender, and neurological diversity.

She has advanced her arts practice and social agenda through her own solo shows (“Imitation”, 2012, Hoxton Gallery, London; “Softcore”, 2013, Crocus Gallery, Nottingham), and her work has been shown alongside notable street artists, including Banksy, in the “Urban Take-Over”, the Victoria & Albert Museum’s touring Street Art exhibition and in the “Urban Art Show” (Louise T Blouin Foundation, 2013). She also have works in private and corporate collections in the EU and the US. As part of the strategic vision she has for this field of practice, she curated the “Craftivism” Group Show (W3 London, 2013), reflecting critically on the intersection of fine art, craft, politics and social change. She has been an invited contributor to over 35 group shows, including the annual Modern Panic exhibition (2009-2013) and the City Art Institute of Mental Health Exhibition (Nottingham, 2013-14). Alongside her gallery based practice, she has developed a series of participatory high profile public art projects, including activist work with Greenpeace, and “mini-structures’ a six month long commission for Time Out.

In August 2014, Lucy will unveil an 8-month long project to create an entire cornershop out of felt for a month in Bethnal Green, London. It will then move to Brighton in October 2014.

Free for members, £5 for visitors

Summer drawing class with Stokey WI President Bridget Chetwynd. Plus Wool Against Weapons.

The class will be a simple project of drawing a still life, flowers in a vase. Anyone can have a go and learn to draw if they simply arrive with an open mind so enjoy it!

About Bridget Chetwynd

Bridget Chetwynd trained in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art and has always painted and drawn from life throughout her artistic career. She also does private 1:1 tuition in painting and drawing at her studio. She has also taught BTec design courses at Westminster College.

She learned to paint and draw with the painter Sargy Mann who taught at Camberwell School of Art, and she has continued to be influenced by his enthusiasm for observing and looking and seeing the effect light has on what see and translate onto paper.

She has designed sets and costumes for many plays and operas, worked as a project manager at Cameron Mackintosh and had exhibitions of her paintings, and designed best selling greeting cards for Camden Graphics. 

In 2010 Bridget also cofound Bee & Tea, a homeware business with her sister Natasha Chetwynd,www.beeandtea.co.uk with designs based on her botanical watercolours from life. Bee & Tea are stocked in Heal’s & Sublime as well as in France and abroad. She also has a paintings website which can be reached on the painting tab or for examples of her work, www.bridgetchetwynd.co.uk

Also, join in for some knitting! http://www.woolagainstweapons.co.uk/

Charity Tea a great success

The Bee & Tea Charity Tea last Saturday went really well, we managed to raise £500 for the Refugee Women's Association

based in Dalston Hackney and had 40 guests for tea. Cath & John played beautiful live piano and violin which wafted out the windows onto the patio where people sat in the sun drinking their tea and eating delicious cakes and sandwiches prepared by the stokey WI volunteers.

A Fab occassion and thanks to all who helped, and made it as I know how busy Londoners are and how many different events there were going on that Saturday including the Stokey Literary festival.

Thank you to the Stokey WI ladies who cooked such delicious cakes including chocolate and guiness cake, ginger cupcakes, coffee cakes, marmalade cake, teacake and helped out with serving teas on the day Bridget :)

Look forward to another successful Charity Tea in aid of the refugee women's Association ">http://www.refugeewomen.org.uk/

Join us for an evening of wine tasting downstairs at HOMA - 9th June

Aromas....the bouquet, fancy yourself as a modern day Jilly Goolden? This month's meeting opens it's doors to an in-house sommelier at HOMA's Sotto Bar on Church Street where you can sample a variety of wines to test them for their 'in mouth sensations'!

Bee & Tea at Made in Clerkenwell Open Studio Event

Bee & Tea at Made in Clerkenwell Open Studio Event

RWA Chairty Tea

Thanks to all who came to the WI Meeting on 12 May was very positive and interesting:




We heard Jasmina and from the refugee Women's Association, local Charity in Hackney see below for more information, talk a bit about their experience of helping refugee Women as a first point of contact with many of the issues they face ranging from prostitution, retraining as doctors in the UK and improving their English.



ESOL classes and help with translation and learning English help remove barriers from all sorts of potential improvements in their quality of life here, from communication, to being signposted to the right help and advocacy regarding their entitlements, retraining in the professions they qualified in in their countries they have had to leave etc.



Setareh Roohi talked a bit about how being a member of the RWA's book club for Refugee women doctors had helped increase her confidence in English to retake the English exams necessary to re qualify as a doctor in in the UK.



Jasmina Dimitrijevic

Project Manager



Refugee Women's Association

The Print House

18 Ashwin Street

London E8 3DL






Website: www.refugeewomen.org.uk



Also many thanks for those of you at the meeting who gave me your names and contact nos to make cakes and help out on the day at the Chairty Tea on 7th June



I will be in touch shortly



Best wishes



Bridget

President

Stokey WI 

12th May – Stokey WI – Join us for a talk by the Refugee Women's Association + AGM

At HOMA 71-73 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0AS

Come and join us for a talk with the Refugee Women’s Association in the lead up to our charity bake sale on 7th June in aid of the charity. If you would like to bring cakes and biscuits for the charity sale in aid of the Refuge Women’s Association on the 12th they would be very welcome!

Click here to attend the event.

The Charity Tea on Sat 7th June 2014 will be held at Community Cafe, St Peter’s De Beauvoir, Northchurch Terrace, London, N1 4DA

The event on 7th June is £10 per ticket includes full tea, homemade cakes by local WI ladies, sandwiches accompanied by live musicians songs and piano with Bee & Tea goodies and homeware for sale.

Come and have a fabulous relaxing tea and donate to a good cause for only £10 per ticket.

Stokey WI on the airwaves

Stoke Newington President, Bridget Chetwynd and Secretary Gemma O'Brien talk to The Shoreditch Sisters on their Longwave Ladies radio show

The lovely ladies at The Shoreditch Sisters WI invited Stokey WI President Bridget Chetwynd and Secretary Gemma O'Brien to talk about the Stoke Newington WI on their monthly radio show hosted by hoxtonradio.com.

As part of an hour long show, featuring The Shoreditch Sisters' recent choir meeting, member spotlight and agony aunt Mamma Mia, Bridget and Gemma waxed lyrical over some tea and biscuits about why they stepped up to their roles at the Stoke Newington WI, what the WI means to them and some information about events that will be happening in the future.

Fancy a listen? Tune in at 43:33 for the interview segment:

Longwave Ladies Show TEN by Longwaveladies on Mixcloud

Stoke Newington WI celebrate International Women's Day

Photos of the banner created by Stoke Newington WI to celebrate International Women's Day

The Stoke Newington WI had a great evening on 3rd March where they got crafty creating a banner to celebrate International Women's Day. You can see the results below - the banner now hanging in Albion Parade. If you're passing by, make sure to take a look.

Treasurer Anna Kidd (left) and President Bridget Chetwynd (right) standing in front of the banner on Albion Parade.

14 April Stokey WI Meeting - Local author Debora Robertson

Local author, Debora Robertson, will talk to us about her book Gifts from the Garden: 100 homegrown presents. 

It contains a range of fabulous and varied ideas from pesto to soap, from bouquet garni to dog biscuits. As well as writing this beautiful book full of amazing things to make, Debora is an accomplished cook and has worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at the River Cottage.

Entry fee for non-members is £5. If you are not yet a member and wish to join us, we will deduct the entry fee from your membership should you wish to join.

3rd March meeting

Join us in creating a banner to decorate Albion Green for International Women's Day.

Every year, the world celebrates International Women's Day on March 8th. In anticipation of this day, we will be making a banner on 3rd March which will be used to decorate the green of Albion Parade. It's a time to get creative and to also celebrate the social, political and economic achievements of women whilst thinking about what more there is left to do.

We hope you will join us in creating a banner that will be seen by people in the local area. 

 

Entry fee for non-members is £5. If you are not yet a member and wish to join us, we will deduct the entry fee from your membership should you wish to join.

What's coming up in 2014

We thought since the rainclouds and winds persist in trying to keep us indoors, that we would let you know what's in store for our future events at the Stoke Newington WI and give ourselves something to look forward to!

All events are subject to change but reflect the current plans. Remember if you are not yet a member but would like to find out what being a member of the WI is like, feel free to join any of our events below. Events are £5 for non-members, which can be taken off the membership fee if you join before the end of March 2014.

• April 14th - Local cookbook author, Debora Robertson who has worked on River Cottage to talk about her passion for cooking. Event booking page here.

• May 12th - Bring and Buy cake sale in aid of Refuge Women's Association.   

  June 9th - Drawing from still life with Stoke Newington WI President Bridget Chetwynd  

  July - Wine/cocktail tasting with a sommelier.   

  August - Hackney artist talks about her recreation of the Cornershop in felt. Marvel at the recreation of a soft-knitted newsagents in Hackney.  

  September - Artist workshop  

  October - Breast Cancer awareness  

  November - All about chocolate ...

December - Christmas party

• 
  

Past events:

• February 10th - The Invisible Life of a Puppeteer by Susan Beattie. 
• March 3rd - Craft night to create a banner to decorate Albion Green for International Women's Day

February meeting - The Invisible Life of a Puppeteer by Susan Beattie

Monday, February 10, 2014 from 8:00 PM - 10:30 PM 

A local Stoke Newington resident, Susan Beattie, has created the wonderful puppet show at the Little Angel Theatre based on interviews with various people who didn't believe in a God. The show asks their views on what happens, if anything after we die.  
Susan is also a puppeteer for the PG Tips Monkey puppet which you may recall features the voicework of comedian Johnny Vegas!

Susan will talk a bit about her work and career with the aid of some slides and film footage. She will also bring a couple of puppet examples for us to look at. 
We look forward to seeing you.

£5 for non-members which can be discounted from your yearly membership if you join before March this year.