October's meeting- Love your breasts!
Local GP, Zoe, taught us how to check our breasts for lumps as well as what other signs to look out for on our breasts that might indicate a health problem. We all learned something new and the neighbours close by to The Prince must have thought it an odd sight when 30 women all stood up and felt their breasts in unison!
The knitted 'Boobie Beanie Hat' was demo-ed. It's a hat that looks like a breast to be worn by a baby while breast-feeding. Funny and confusing! Patterns or knitted hats are available frombabypdesigns.etsy.com
Rosanne from Rosa's Lingerie shop in Stoke Newington Church Street then demonstrated on a couple of 'volunteers' the mind-boggling differences that wearing a correctly fitted bra or a different design of bra can make.
We collected a whole Bra Bin full of unwanted bras for charity, and there was plenty of time afterwards for catching up with old members and meeting new ones.....all in all an informative yet important night for Stokey WI.
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The knitted 'Boobie Beanie Hat' was demo-ed. It's a hat that looks like a breast to be worn by a baby while breast-feeding. Funny and confusing! Patterns or knitted hats are available frombabypdesigns.etsy.com
Rosanne from Rosa's Lingerie shop in Stoke Newington Church Street then demonstrated on a couple of 'volunteers' the mind-boggling differences that wearing a correctly fitted bra or a different design of bra can make.
We collected a whole Bra Bin full of unwanted bras for charity, and there was plenty of time afterwards for catching up with old members and meeting new ones.....all in all an informative yet important night for Stokey WI.
August's meeting- 'Ready, aim, shoot'
We really took our photography to the next level and Learnt lots of tips from low light, composition and portraiture. There were practical bits, with us all taking photos,being the model and learning about our camera phones. It will was lots of fun and giggles.
Our speaker Catherine is a talented photographer who has shot an number of weddings and fashion shoots, she is passionate about portraiture and that everyone can take, and be in a great photo. Also that it does not take lots of equipment to produce good photos.
Catherine is a fellow WI Sister, from new group Gothic Valley WI, and we're super excited that she's coming along to share her tips and tricks for excellent pics! You can read her top 6 tips here
Claire-Louise Hardie- Secretary SNWI
June Meeting- Out and about with a "Women of Hackney tour
Not to be beaten by the great British weather, several of our hardy members braved the lashing rain and took the the streets of Hackney with Simon Cole From Hackney tours. Despite the rain, it was a great event, and we hope to enjoy one soon in more clement weather!
May Meeting - Meet Aggie MacKenzie- Good housekeeping Guru and cookery author
Wow, what a fantastic opportunity we had to meet and chat with Aggie MacKenzie a local stokey resident who became a household name on Channel 4's How Clean is Your House? Aggie's work covers a broad range: apart from TV and radio presenting, she writes a food page every month in Good Housekeeping, tests kitchen gadgets every month in Delicious, and writes a weekly page in Best
Aggie shared some of her top tips for cooking, cleaning, and life in general. We loved that she admitted to not being a "clean freak" Aggie says a home should be clean enough to be healthy, but dirty enough to be happy. Here's a couple of the tips she shared with us-
Copper bottomed pans-
This would be one of Aggie's desert island utensils, and she can't do without her trusted and well loved pan
An Aerolatte whisk-
This inexpensive device is great for creating barista style Lattes at home without sacrificing valuable space for large coffee maker machines. Combined with a stove top perculator, you'll never want to nip out to a starbucks again!
Green fairy Liquid washing up liquid-
This inexpensive product is a the ultimate pre wash solution and de-greaser. Forget expensive pre-wash stain treatments and get back to basics with a readily available product. Washing up liquid is designed to cut through grease, so is great for grubby collars, oily spots on clothes and even works on tomato stains!
Aggie is the proud Mother of 2 sons, and her eldest is currently training as a chef, cooking must be in the blood! We spent a lovely hour with Aggie, and would like to thank her for generously giving up an evening to be with us
March meeting- A fabulous Virtual tour of the WSPU exhibition of 1909.
Nigel Shephard, a local composer and film maker has been researching the suffragettes for over 5 years, and has a film on the topic ready to go into production. Nigel joined forces with Naomi Paxton, an Actress and PHD student researching the Actress Franchise league. Together they presented rare photos, and insights into this amazing event.
I personally knew little of the suffragette exhibition, and was taken aback by how "modern" the women's faces seemed. It was like looking back in time to see contemporary women in "costume" almost. For the first part of the talk, we enjoyed a slide show that showed floor plans of the exhibition, witty anecdotes from attendees of the exhibition, and saw many wonderful images. Throughout the slide show, both speakers talked us through the images, their relevance and gave us some glimpses into a little seen part of the suffragette history.
There were bands in attendance at the exhibition, milliners selling extraordinary work and all number of tradeswomen selling their wares at the exhibition. My favourite image was the suffragette giving self defence demos, whose partner had fallen ill, and used a policeman as a stand in!
This little video, in no way gives the full experience of the night, but if you couldn't attend then it's a wee taster!
The Women's Institute's history is wrapped up with that of the suffragette movement, and Nigel is reaching out to the WI for help. Getting a movie made in the uk is expensive, and with the arts council cuts recently, it's becoming increasingly hard for independent film makers.
There are over 250,000 members of the WI in the uk, and if each of us gave a pound towards the making of this film, Nigel would be able to get it off the ground.
Stokey WI has donated a pound for each of our members, and we're looking to spread the word! Nigel and Naomi are available to give this presentation to other WI groups, so do get in touch if you'd like them to speak at your meeting?
Fabulous February's Rings and Rosettes for International Women's day
Wowee.....
February's meeting was Monday 13th Feb at our regular meeting place upstairs at the Prince Pub. We had asked for ladies to bring old fabrics and carrier bags in the colours of the suffragette movement- Purple White and Green. The response was over whelming and joined by members of the Stroud WI and N1 WI we made over 25 wreath rings and 14 rosettes!
We started with a mount of bags, wire hangers and fabrics including old dyed sheets, unwearable clothes and scraps. We set upon the piles below with scissors and pliers and got to work.
So, as they say a picture tells a 1000 words...
February's meeting was Monday 13th Feb at our regular meeting place upstairs at the Prince Pub. We had asked for ladies to bring old fabrics and carrier bags in the colours of the suffragette movement- Purple White and Green. The response was over whelming and joined by members of the Stroud WI and N1 WI we made over 25 wreath rings and 14 rosettes!
We started with a mount of bags, wire hangers and fabrics including old dyed sheets, unwearable clothes and scraps. We set upon the piles below with scissors and pliers and got to work.
So, as they say a picture tells a 1000 words...
The rings will be used for our annual International Women's day action in March.
This year's IWD event will now be called TEXTILE GRAFFITTI and we're hoping that the event will be a combined Mega-WI meeting with lots of other North London groups joining us
Beat the January blues with Burlesque Life drawing- Jan 9th 8 pm
We were excited to have a night of life drawing with the excellent and very talented Burlesque performer and model Kirsty Gilmore AKA Honey wilde.
Local art teacher Gail provided the art materials and excellent instruction. There was much laughter, and all of us got something down on paper, although some ladies were definately better than others!
A night of 1940's Christmas cheer- Dec 12th 8 pm
This was a super Christmas party with a fabulous game of pass the parcel, a glorious raffle filled with a delicious array of prizes donated by local businesses sprinkled with some 40's festive cheer and mulled wine
The AGM was on Monday 14th November, at the Prince pub 59, Kynaston road Stoke Newington N16 OEB
We held our AGM and re-elected a new committee
stokenewingtonwi@gmail.com
We'll also did a spot of "Speed Networking" to get to know one another, and had a book swap, all books that don't find a home were donated to the library
Old School October!
We held an "Old School" cheese and wine night with a talk from Roberta Wedge about Local feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.
Mary Wollstonecraft was an unknown and unpublished school teacher when she moved to Newington Green in the 1780s. The people she met here radicalised and encouraged her, and she went on to write the world-changing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). The Newington Green Action Group, responsible for revitalising the green itself within the last decade, has set up a campaign called Mary on the Green, to create a fitting memorial to one of England's first feminists.
Roberta Wedge, who blogs her own Wollstonecraft interests at A Vindication of the Rights of Mary, will be telling us about the campaign. There will then be a short pub quiz on related areas.
Save our library September!
We supported the WI 'Love your Libraries' campaign by making our very own love your libraries bunting,
A tip of the hat to July!
June's stitched up!
Claire-Louise Hardie (aka the Thrifty Stitcher) will be joining us at our new meeting venue - The Tea Rooms on Church Street - to give you all the tips and tricks you need to be your own tailor and do simple sneaky alterations to your clothes, saving you time and money too. Plus she's brimming with ideas for "upcycling" clothes into something new!
May Day, May Day!
We Slipped on our tea dresses and wellies and wielding watering cans and trugs gave Albion Parade on Albion Road some TLC, with a "Guerilla Gardening" session
