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On Saturday 16th of August, Max kindly hosted an evening of Cocktails in her garden. Lots of our members came along to enjoy delicious, and often non alcoholic, cocktails.
The 28th June saw a group of our members visit the Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square. The museum is close to the site of the original buildings of the Foundling Hospital founded in the 1730’s by a merchant named Thomas Coram who was distressed by the number of abandoned and neglected children in London. Among the early supporters of the hospital was Handel whose Messiah had it’s London debut as a fundraiser for the charity.
Our Catford Extra, on the 15th July, was a picnic in the grounds of the Pavilion where we usually meet. Being the WI there was a generous selection of food brought by members and a relaxed and sociable meeting was enjoyed by all.
We had a very relaxing evening when we welcomed Richard Gillingham who led us in a session of SOMA breathing. He taught us deep breathing techniques and chanting to music. A perfect session before our summer break.
A group of us joined John Baker and Alex McMillan to practise dowsing, searching for water, in Greenwich Park…. some of us even succeeded! We also found the remains of the Roman Villa which once stood on the site.
On the 26th June in Mayow Park the first group of our members tried their hand at playing croquet, this proved to be the first of several taster sessions run by the Sydenham Croquet Club. Many thanks to them for leading the session.
Was a very lively evening as Clara from Planet Hoop led a session teaching us how to exercise with Hula Hoops. As you can see everyone laughed a lot and some found hidden hooping skills!
On the 7th June we joined Maria from Hersterical Tours for a guided walk around sites linked to the criminal history of women in London. As ever the talk was illustrated by Maria bringing to life the women whose lives she was describing in a very funny but often poignant way.
On the 31st May the sun shone for our Four Bridges of London Treasure Trail. 12 Teams including 10 from other WI’s joined Catford for a day of unravelling the clues to find the treasure across the Bridges and everyone received a prize at the end. Thanks to Mike Candy and Kay for organising and devising the event
This took place on the 13th of May and we were joined by our WI Advisor Sue Boner. Caroline gave us a report of our very full year of activities, Sue updated us all on our, healthy, financial situation and, as we were meeting close to VE Day, Alyson talked about the amazing wartime work carried out by the WI across the country. The committee was re-elected for a further year. We had refreshments using wartime recipes and our raffle was called by Fiona in her full Union Jack outfit.
On a beautiful day, 14th May, we visited the Riverhill Himalayan Garden, a visit originally postponed due to Covid in 2020! It was worth the wait. Our guide told us about the history of the garden and the work involved in maintaining it’s magnificent state.
On the 15th April we learned about the art of Zentangle, a relaxing art form creating patterns on paper squares with fine pens. Although the techniques were the same, the results were beautifully original. Thanks to Kusam who led the class.
On April 12th our members met for a guided walk with Kate Walsh through Canada Water and Southwark. An area with a fascinating history which has seen enormous change over the years. From the working docks, through the work of social campaigners like the Carr Gomm family who gave London one of its earliest public parks to the birthplace of London legend Sir Michael Caine. Including beautiful Southwark Park and the Norwegian Church.
In April we had a craft session, creating lots of decorated eggs for Easter
This month we had a presentation from an Agatha Christie Expert, Debbie Bridge. Debbie gave us an illustrated talk about Christie’s life and times and her extraordinary success as an author and influencer of so much of today’s crime fiction.
On 8th March, Kate Walsh took us on a guided walk through Marylebone. She showed us a number of sights and, as it was International Women’s Day, referenced a number of places significant in Women’s history.
On February 21st a group of us visited the Bow Street Police Museum. Our guide Alan, was interesting, informative and fun. He brought alive the history of Bow Street and that of the Metropolitan Police, from its origins right up to 2006 (when Bow Street was closed).
We were delighted to welcome the amazing Cherry Bombe aka Lindsey Barrell. She told us about her life and how she became a WI Burlesque superstar. She also had us on our feet learning to bump and grind like the best of them!
On January 21st, 11 teams competed for the honour of winning the 2025 quiz. Questions set, as always, by Phil Welch, everyone had a great evening exercising their brains after the Christmas excesses. The wining team were the Odds and Sods
At our Meeting on January 15th we celebrated our 15th Birthday with a special party. We were joined by Andrew Kelly who’s close up magic had us all amazed. We had a wonderful cake which was cut by three of our original members. We also had gifts of engraved micro torches to mark the occasion.
CATFORD WOMEN'S INSTITUTE