Murder Mystery Evening

Catford WI have always been keen to try something new and writing and producing our very own murder mystery was a definite challenge! The AGM of the Upper Chattering WI in Deepest Kent was the setting and the members of the committee all had their reasons for murdering their President! An audience of Catford members and guests all entered into the spirit of the evening and made their guesses as to who the culprit might be. Our thanks go to the members the College Park Players who helped the production and a grand evening was had by all.

Our March Meeting

At our March meeting we had a very interesting presentation from Alieda Moore Berry. Alieda is a senior manager at the Bank of England responsible for the future of money, that is the continuing availability of cash. Alieda spoke about the challenges she has faced as a young black woman working for a very traditional organisation but also the work she is doing to improve diversity and accessibility. She highly recommended a tour of the Bank which we are planning for later in the year.

Our February Meeting

Following our January session with Tidylicious we decided to have a ‘Swishing’ session at our February meeting on February 13th. Many members brought items to swap and some went away with new wardrobe items to love.

Caroline organised a Beetle Drive for the meeting which became quite competitive as the evening went on!

Quiz night

Our now Annual Catford WI Quiz night took place on January 16th what a great night it was with 11 teams entered.

Phil and Caroline organised a great quiz, which got the ‘little grey cells’ working!

Willetts Wonders won the quiz with the Wooden Spooners coming in last and getting the now famous engraved wooden spoons.

The table quiz was won by Wing and a Prayer.

A big thank you goes to Julie and Hilary for putting together a very tasty buffet and to Jan for her amazing Chilli.

Last night was a team effort and thanks goes to Kay, Jo, Fiona and Max for making it all go so smoothly.

Our January Meeting

Our first meeting of 2024 was a talk by Hester van Hien from Tidylicious who gave us very good advice on storage methods and wise ways of assessing our possessions for storage or discarding allowing the Marie Kondo method of holding on to things which spark joy! . Many of us have been inspired to do some sorting since the session.

Lullingstone walk and Christmas Lunch

Om a rather rainy day we went down to Lullingstone Country Park and Visitor Centre for our annual walk and Christmas lunch. An intrepid group went out in the rain and were rewarded with a glimpse of a Kingfisher. We heard about the world garden at Lullingstone Castle and about the work of the rangers in maintaining and preserving the country park. Lunch, as always, was excellent and a great end to our WI year!

Our December Meeting

We celebrated Christmas, of course, but we did it with a ‘retro’ theme. Kay brought a tree which her parents had bought in 1960 which we used for members to hang baubles in memory of friends and family. We had a quintet singing traditional carols and songs. Members brought toys from their youth for a fascinating display, astonishing how many items had been saved. Our buffet included cheese and pineapple on sticks and vol au vents. The evening was rounded off with a quiz about events from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and our raffle.

Our November Meeting

November brought a burst of creativity with the invitation to ‘bling’ your Christmas Wreath. The results were very impressive!

Treasure Hunt

October 14th was the date of the Catford WI Treasure Hunt. 13 teams raced around The teams were tasked to find the many clues, crack the many cyphers, which in turn lead them to the various stations on the London Underground and ultimately to the final destination and the treasure (in this case a medal to commemorate taking part and bag of tasty treats). We had teams from Petts Wood, Lee Green and Chelsfield WI’s as well as our home grown teams.

Bermondsey Walk

On a train strike day in September a group of members, led as ever by Kate Boyle, learned the history of Bermondsey on the south bank of the Thames. An ancient part of London, an early Railway Terminus, the heart of the docks in the Port of London and now a newly developed part of modern London.

Our October Meeting

We were reunited with our Hampton Court Guide, Sarah Slater, when she visited for our October meeting and gave a fabulous presentation, in costume, on ‘The Secrets, Scandal and Salacious Gossip in the Royal Courts of the Stuarts and Georgians’ We heard about directories of London courtesans and reusable condoms!

Watercolours

At our September extra meeting we had an art class learning to paint with watercolours with some beautiful results

Hampton Court

September 16th and we visited Hampton Court in glorious sunshine and had a fascinating tour of the amazing rooms of the palace.

Our September Meeting

For our first meeting back after our summer break we had an evening of games and quizzes, necessitated by an unavoidable last minute cancellation by our speaker nonetheless all agreed that it was a lovely way to meet up again.

AGM

Our AGM in May included a sock puppet competition with some very creative entries. It was won by Nicole with her Highland Cow!

Our July Meeting

In July we had the opportunity to learn African drumming with a demonstration from Souleymane who showed us a variety of techniques which we all tried hard to follow. A very noisy and fun evening

Summer Picnic

June 24th arrived with the summer picnic in Beckenham Place Park. Members enjoyed a relaxed afternoon in the sunshine

A thespian in our group

In June one of our members, Katherine S, was the star of a production at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley as the murderous Lady Clara in The Generals Daughter. A group of members went along to support her.

Backstage at the National Theatre

The 13th May brought a trip to The National Theatre on the South Bank for a tour of the backstage area. We learned that the brutalist design of the building, using an awful lot of concrete, has made it very difficult to achieve optimum sound in the theatres and a problem which has taken years to solve. We also learned that the fake beards used in productions are made from hair from the underbelly of Tibetan yaks!