Village news from Helen Price – 18th July 2019
Published 15 July 2019
Kings Bromley WI
On Thursday evening in the newly refurbished village hall, Kings Bromley WI held their ‘Swishing Evening’. By way of explanation, members were asked to bring two quality, clean garments and exchange them for two others, and if there was anything else they liked the look of, the item price was just £2.
The evening went well. The ladies were very impressed with the refurbished hall, using the toilets as changing rooms. The kitchen works very well for teas and coffees, which came out on time. What more could the ladies want? The WI members are very grateful for all the hard work the village hall committee and everyone else involved has done.
The meeting opened with the singing of Jerusalem, minutes and any other business was completed, then the ‘Swishing’ began. It was manic, never have so many ladies, swished around so many clothes. It was great to watch. When it all died down, most of the clothes had gone and the rest were donated, indirectly, to the village hall fund.
Ladies were reminded that the WI stand at the Kings Bromley Show on the 13th needs help and cakes to sell – here’s hoping we have good weather this year.
The next event will be our ‘Kings Bromley Bake Off’. Everyone can be involved. It will be on Saturday 10th August, from 2-4pm. Cakes for entry in the competition should be brought along for 1pm – any sort of cake will be welcome. We shall be serving afternoon tea, cake, scones, tea and coffee all for £2.50. Visitors will also get to taste each cake entered and judge them – it is up to the public to decide the winners. First prize will be £25, second £15.00 and third prize £10. A trophy will also be awarded. There will be a number of author-signed cooker books too.
Everyone is welcome to come along – where else can you get afternoon tea for £2.50? For a donation of £2 why not have a glass of prosecco?
Gardening Guild
At the June meeting, Members were able to appreciate the newly refurbished Village Hall and the Chair, Allan Howard, talked about the opening of the Hall the previous Saturday, as part of the Open Gardens weekend. Unfortunately, the weather was a little wet over the weekend, but a number of people enjoyed walking round the nine open gardens.
The speaker at the meeting was Kevin Reynolds, talking about ‘Garden Birds’ from a historical viewpoint and explaining how our attitudes to birds have changed over the centuries. Five hundred years ago most people did not have gardens and birds were seen as a source of food or as a pest which ate the farmers’ crops. In the 19th century the SPCA (later RSPCA) was formed and children were encouraged to be kind to animals; the RSPB was set up by three women to discourage people from shooting birds, collecting eggs and particularly from using birds’ feathers in hats. The Victorians were keen on feeding birds in their garden, but attitudes changed during the two World Wars when birds were seen as the enemy, eating food needed for the local population.
However, after the Second World War, people took up gardening for pleasure, more houses now had kitchens overlooking the garden and the first book on ‘Garden Birds’ was published in 1945. Bird tables, bird baths and feeders were installed in gardens, and a bird-feeding industry started to get established. Kevin finished a fascinating talk by looking at the recent bird ‘invaders’, such as the collared dove and the ring-necked parakeet, and wondered about the effects of pollution, climate change, decline of insects and the prevalence of cats on ‘our feathered friends’.
The meeting on 15th July will be an evening visit to Paul Shum’s garden in Yoxall.
