At March 2012’s meeting we had the honour of having Tracy Mackness to speak to us about her life story and how she came to set up the Giggly Pig company – it was a fantastic meeting full of laughter, life lessions and, of course, sausages!

We also had a inaugural competition – marmalade making – and we had the pleasure of tasting nine varied and delightful preserves!

We thought it would be a good idea to share activities our members are doing for good causes, outside of the WI membership. Sally and Jacque are hosting a charity event at Jacque’s house to raise money for Marie Curie and Macmillan Nurses and they have invited WI Members. It is on Wednesday 7th March between 10am and 4pm at Jacque’s house – 1 The Court, Cascade Avenue, The Rookfields, N10 – and there will be tea, coffee and a variety of cakes as well as a few books to take, in exchange for a donation to the charities.

Rebecca Kane, MD of Ally Pally Trading Ltd spoke about the commercial future of our beloved Alexandra Palace.

On Sunday 22nd May 2011, a group of 9 Alexandra WI ladies visited the Wallace Collection at Hertford House in Manchester Square. Tucked behind Oxford street like a highly-prized jewel, it is protected from the usual hustle and bustle of the busy West End of London.

Thanks to the WI Committee we were fortunate enough to have a high quality guided tour arranged solely for our group.

We learned that the Wallace Collection is a national museum in a historic London town house.

In 25 galleries there were displays of French 18th Century furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings, miniatures and an armoury. These were all collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by the 1st Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace (son of the 4th Marquess).

It was bequethed to the British Nation by Sir Richard’s widow, Lady Wallace, in 1897. Her bequest stated that it would be a closed collection, where nothing was to be added or taken out. One could quite easily spend an hour or more in the Main Gallery itself, where we were introduced to the ‘Laughing Cavalier’ by Hal, as well as works by Ruben, Rembrandt and Titian.

The collection also housed paintings by Canalletto, Velasquez and the cheecky Boucher, who used the the subject of ancient myth and legend as an excuse for frequent nudity! Some of us particularly liked the blue-papered round room which displayed a portrait of Madame De Pompadour.

In other rooms we also admired the wardrobes with turtle-shell inlay, created to impress. The story behind several exceptional pieces of furniture was explained to us. Through protective glass cabinets we inspected the exquisite snuff boxes and beautiful pottery.

We learned about Marie Antoinette and the Sun King. And that also, after the French Revolution, many of their belongings were sold off by the the revolutionaries. Some of which have found their way into this collection, with their docket number still on the back!

The entire group enjoyed a pleasant lunch in the Courtyard Cafe, which was a lovely light and airy space. Definitely one to visit again!

Great news for all knitters, we have managed to book the waiting room at CUFOS on the 3rd Tuesday of every month  from 8-10pm.  The cost is £1 to members and £3 for non-members. Keep coming regulars, and welcome to newcomers.

Lots of ideas flying around and paper patterns to share. We always have lots of wool for everyone to use and at the last meeting we had two knitting bags and several packs of needles donated.

Skill levels range from total beginners to very competent, and of course, we have Dani to make sure our skills develop rapidly!

15 members assembled at the Foundling Museum at Coram’s Fields on a chilly Sunday morning. The London Foundling Hospital was opened in 1739 by a group of charitably minded men led by Thomas Coram and benefactors included Handel and Hogarth. They were appalled at the numbers of “exposed and deserted young children” abandoned in London and the Foundlings of Bloomsbury soon became a fashionable cause.

We were given a guided tour by one of the Museum‘s volunteers. The original building, was erected near Brunswick Square, which at the time was not a built up area of London and considered to be full of fresh air! This was knocked down in 1928 when the hospital moved to Berkhamsted and the current building was used as Foundation offices before becoming a museum.

The children were segregated in separate wings, one for boys and one for girls. The babies were put out to wet nurses for the first four or five years of their lives and then returned to the hospital where they received a basic education until they were old enough to go out to either domestic service, apprenticeships or enter the army or navy. At the end of the tour we had some free time to explore the exhibits.

After a light lunch in the Coram café we then visited the exhibition called “Threads of Feeling”. When a mother left her baby at the hospital her name and that of the baby were not officially recorded. Instead, it was the usual practice for a token, anything from a button to a pebble (some of these are can be seen in the permanent exhibition) to be left and kept with the registration form. Very often a small piece of fabric or ribbon was left instead. It was important that if, in the very rare, case a mother was in the position to reclaim her child due to improved circumstances, she would be able to identify her child by this token or piece of material. This exhibition displays some of the original swatches and ribbons which have been bound into books and cover the period 1740 – 1770. It was a very affecting and heart breaking display and it was evident how much trouble some of the women had taken to leave a meaningful piece of material.

This month was our first proper meeting as The Alexandra WI and what a meeting it was!

First, the members were updated about the proposed Foundling Museum Trip to be organised early next year, the progress of our Knitting sub-group and the December Christmas Party. Maggie also gave us an idea of the speakers that are lined up for 2011 and it sounds like it should be an exciting one!

The main event of the evening however was a talk given by the founder of Shea Alchemy, Sally. She discussed the motivations she had for setting up the natural skincare company, how she developed her business and gave our members tips for business success. She also gave us some of her indepth knowledge of the cosmetics industry and the ingredients that make up many of our face creams!

It was great to hear from a local woman making such a success of her business idea and it was lovely to test all the natural pampering products.

October 2010’s meeting saw the Alexandra WI being formally constituted by representatives from the WI Essex Federation. We are now official!

The members of the committee, the Secretary and Treasurer were confirmed and nominations were taken from the members for the Alexandra WI’s President. We are very happy to announce that the President is Victoria Weatherby.

A number of ladies bought along some divine culinary treats, together with their recipe, for one of their favourite tasty but easy dishes. We were treated to banana and white chocolate flapjacks, Florentines, meringues, divine eggless chocolate cake, Jamaican patties and chocolate brownies to name but a few! Thank you so much to all those who shared their recipes with us!

In the spirit of getting to know each other better we whiled away the rest of our meeting chatting together and learning about all the plans afoot for the Alexandra WI. There is a lot of interest in a proposed trip to the Threads of Feeling exhibition at the Foundling Museum and our first sub-group, the Knitting Group, looks to be hugely popular!

So watch this space and please look around the website for further information on any of the activities of The Alexandra WI.

 

We had our inaugural meeting at CUFOS on Tuesday 7 September and over 60 interested potential WI members came to find out about The Alexandra WI.

The ladies from the Essex Federation told us more about the WI and what every member can expect from their membership.

It was great to see so many people at our first meeting and we can’t wait for our next meeting!