Novembers meeting- all that glitters....

November saw the prince pub disappear under a ton of glittery craftiness!

We were delighted to welcome Momtaz, the author of 101 things to do with glitter

The book is a must for crafty fans, and makes a perfect pressie for crafty pals! It's split into 4 sections and contains surprisingly 101 projects. You can pick up a copy here

Momtaz brought a huge selection of materials and members got stuck in and made some fabulous stuff!

 Here are some Committee members taking the evening very seriously!

 Here's a couple of the projects you could make from the book

Glittery supplies can be bought locally from William Gee on Kingsland road or online from Josie Rose

Go on Get glittery for Christmas!

CL Hardie- Secretary SNWI

A rainy june meeting- braved and enjoyed!

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!

Claire-Louise Hardie- Secretary SNWI

A big thanks to Aggie Mackenzie, Stoke newington's queen of clean!

May  Meeting- 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
Claire-Louise Hardie- Secretary SNWI

A fabulous virtual tour of the WSPU exhibition of 1909

Our March meeting was 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?

Brilliant night of burlesque Life drawing at the Prince Pub

Any back to work blues us ladies may have felt, were swept away at January's Burlesque life drawing class. Over 30 ladies attended,  many of them new faces eager to get drawing and have some fun.

A big shout out to Gail, who teaches art at Stoke Newington School for leading the session. Another big thanks to the fabulous Mary, who generously collected and brought along all the loaned art materials from the school. They were heavy, and she kindly drove everything to the event. Finally a fabulous big thanks to our model for the night Honey Wilde aka Kirsty Gilmore who is a fabulous political burlesque performer, a life model and a sound engineer, and who brought a touch of glamour to the evening.

The evening started with some blind drawing techniques, and much laughter!
Kirsty was delicately laid across a table....

The second technique we learnt was using charcoal, and i regretted sitting between a professional costume designer, and a milliner, who both rendered some fabulous drawings.

Finally we worked with water soluble pens, and used washes of water to create shading and texture in our drawings. 

What amazing pics everyone did!

Kirsty our model regularly performs across london and the UK as a comic, political burlesque model. If you'd like to catch one of her shows you can check her schedule here http://www.honeywilde.co.uk/

We're super lucky that in Stoke Newington we have a couple of great places to take life drawing classes. So if you fancy having some fun drawing, or want to improve your skills in a super cool chilled bar with a cheeky cocktail, then check out the Baby Bath House candlelit class on Thursdays.