WI membership gives you eleven months of meetings, with one month to be used as a break or as an informal meeting. 

Last year August was our month off and we met in the park on Dovecote Lane for a picnic.

This year, member’s voted to move our informal meeting to December for some wining and dining at Amores restaurant, which meant that August was left open for member’s to suggest an event…

Thanks to everyone for chipping in with your ideas! (Ba dum dum chh).

August Meeting

“Quiz and Chips”

There are three main things you need to know about the meeting this month:

• Don’t have a big dinner beforehand;
• Make sure you’re on time so you can put in your order for some chips. We need to confirm numbers by 7.45pm. If you know you’re going to be late, we strongly recommend sending an email to thehivewi@gmail.com before the day to reserve a portion for yourself if you want one.
• We’re having chips!

What could be more British than “proper” fish ‘n’ chip shop chips at a Women’s Institute meeting? (Possibly the addition of Morris dancing but we will all be far too full for that kind of malarkey).

The chips will be served with a quiz rather than fish, and – because the vote for this was equally as popular as the one for chips – there will be strawberries and cream, too! (You’ll be adding your own cream so don’t worry if you only want the strawberries).

As this is quite a food-y event, please be reminded that you are very welcome to bring alcohol or other kinds of drinks with you. Tea will be 50p as usual from the kitchen.

The money for the strawberries, cream, and chips will come from the funds we usually pay for a speaker, so food will be served at no additional cost to you.

Strawberries are in place of the cakes this month, so cakes won’t be on offer at this meeting but will be back on the menu in September.

We will be putting in a large order from a local chip shop based on how many people want them on the night so, again, please let us know if you can’t be there to put your order in by 7.45pm.

Please remember your name badges if you can.

See you there!

Chip chip hooray!

This Month’s Top Tip

Don’t forget your deposit!

We’ll be taking payments and deposits for our Christmas meal at Amores. The deposit is £10 and the full payment is between £21 and £26 for 3 courses (not including alcohol or a tip).

There will be another chance to pay in September.

The meal is on the 11th of December at 19:30.

The Hive WI Library

It’s closed!

Our swap shop will be closed this month, but don’t worry – it will be back open in a month’s time!

Other News

Last Chance to Win £300

Bursaries for Denman 2019/20

Denman (pictured above) is a WI institution. Based in Oxfordshire, it offers hundreds of courses. Its cookery school has been named one of the top 10 cookery schools in the UK!

Every year, Denman welcomes over 10,000 students who visit for a few hours, learn for a day, enjoy the overnight experience, or stay for weekends.

NFWI

There are 18 bursaries for first-time attendees to Denman worth £300, and a special bursary of £500 for full-time carers. The latter includes a two night residential course plus care costs and travel. Bursaries are available to WI members only.

The closing date for application is Friday 16 August 2019. Please approach our secretary Sally at the next meeting for more information, or email us at thehivewi@gmail.com or go to denman.org.uk.

Our Best Meetings

We want to know!

Our committee team would love to know which meetings you have enjoyed the most in 2019 so far. This will help us to put together a roaring programme for 2020 informed by your preferences.

The top three responses on our Facebook poll are “flower arranging” followed by the “talk on bee keeping” and “Kitchen Dancing”.

We will be asking you more about this at the next meeting. What did you like the most and why?

• Beekeeping and our 1st birthday celebration;
• Kitchen Dancing (pictured);
• Organised Well;
• Flower arranging;
• Resolutions debate and badge making;
• A Taste of Jamaica;
• Dragon River Tai Chi.

Honey Money

Vote at the next meeting

All Women’s Institutes need to raise funds just to keep going. Our question to you is whether you want to put on more fundraising events next year (like the Health and Wellbeing Fair), and, if so, how do you want to use the money that is raised?

As well as raising money, these events give us the opportunity to show our stripes (ahem) in the community and raise our profile.

They are a group effort, though – the committee can’t do it without your help, so it is important to know whether this is something you’d be interested in.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

All Booked Up For Summer

Join us at our new location

Due to the closure of The White Lion on Middle Street, our book groups have changed their locations to the pub next-door. The Star Inn is a popular pub with a large garden and, we’re told, specialises in homemade pizza.

If you want a slice of the action, the Tuesday Book Group meets every third Tuesday at 20:00, and the Thursday Book Group meets every last Thursday at 19:30.

Newcomers are very welcome and there is no pressure to have read the books if you haven’t been able to.

Tuesday Book Group Reading List:

• 20 August: The Island by Victoria Hislop
• 17 September: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Catherine Morris
• 15 October: Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Kathryn Levine Osborne
• 19 November: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• 17 December: One Day in December by Josie Silver

Thursday Book Group Reading List:

• August 29: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
• September 26: How to Find Home by Mahsuda Snaith
• October 31: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
• November 28: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• December 19: Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Be Our Guest

How you voted last month

At our meeting in July, we discussed and voted on who you want to officially invite to our subgroups.

You voted in favour of Hive members being able to bring a female friend with them if they choose, and that there would be no limit placed on how many times Hive members can bring any particular friend or friends.

You also voted in favour of opening the subgroups to women who are considering membership to The Hive WI. You voted that this invitation should be consistent with our policy of inviting non-members to come to a main meeting three times before being asked to consider joining The Hive WI officially. As such, you voted that guests will be invited to come to each subgroup three times before being asked to join as a member.

Thank you to everyone who was able to vote on the night. One of the fantastic things about The Hive WI is how we’ve created a space where we can voice our opinions and listen to the opinions of other’s even though we might disagree.

We will now be able to include this information in our welcome pack, which will be given to new members and guests when they attend a Hive meeting for the first time.

The welcome pack is still in the planning phases and getting your approval on this particular issue was vital in order to take it forward.

Save The Date!

Who will be “crowned” the winner?

Our first pub quiz at The Crown Inn is next month. We will be meeting at 20:00 on the first Thursday of the month from September. Thank you to our members Trish and Jen for making this happen!

Crafty Plans

Help us reach our goal

This weather does not at all make you want to think of Christmas, but we have an update on our Christmas community craft event Bee Crafty For Christmas.

Bee Crafty was approved by Hive members by vote at one of our general meetings earlier this year. The event’s primary aim is to raise funds for our craft subgroup. The subgroup relies on us being able to cover the fee of hiring a suitable room for the wide variety of arts and crafts that members bring.

Attendees will have the opportunity to have a go at up to six different Christmas-themed crafts, browse a small selection of stalls (including our Hive WI stall of handmade crafts – more on this below!), partake in a raffle, and enjoy refreshments on sale.

Both Hive members and the wider community will be invited to join.

Bee Crafty For Christmas is set to run on the 16th of November between 2pm-4.30pm.

As with the Health and Wellbeing Fair, we need your help. Currently we need help in two main areas: donations of craft supplies, and donations of handmade items to sell on our stall.

Donations of craft supplies: We’d be extremely grateful if you can donate any of the following:

• Printed Christmas card stock
• Ribbon loops off clothes – any colour
• Beading needles
• Sharp sewing needles
• Needle threaders
• Gold and silver card – any size
• Standard paperback books (minimum 150 pages)
• Rings from a curtain rail

Donations of any of these items will help to lower the running cost of the event, so please get in touch if you have any to donate. You can bring them to one of the monthly meetings or request them to be collected from you at another time. 

Donations to our stall of handmade crafts: To make this event really special, we want to hold a stall of handmade items made by Hive WI members. We appreciate the time and effort that goes into these crafts, and how personal they are.

You can submit any kind of craft but we can’t accept food. You’ll need to add your own prices. Any unsold items will be returned to you.

Nearer the event we will be looking for volunteers to set up and run the event, as well as to make cakes to sell with tea and coffee.

On behalf of all of us on the setup committee, thank you!

Regular Information

This Month’s Volunteers

Busy bees

We have no bakers this month so please don’t bring any cakes.

Hayley L and Michela D will be helping out in the kitchens.

Sue E will also be helping with setup and cleanup.

Thank you so much to our August team!

Refreshments

Cups of tea are 50p.

If you’d like refreshments before we start, please come for around 19:15.

We will break for refreshments again later in the evening (do bring change!).

Please do not bring a cake if you have not already signed up to do so.

Bring your own cups if you can to save on washing up (though cups will be provided in case you forget), and wine if you would like it.

Time and Location

Our main monthly meeting is every second Wednesday of the month at 19:30 to 21:30 in the church hall on Foster Avenue, Beeston (opposite the library).

Parking and Transport

There is parking just outside the church hall as well as across the road next to the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Beeston’s transport interchange is excellent for regular trams and buses.

The interchange is just by Tesco and a four-minute walk from where we meet.

Non-Members and Guests

We’d love to meet you!

Guests are very welcome but you must reserve your place before coming.

There is an optional visitors donation of £5 to our charity.

Guests can come to up to three monthly meetings each year as a guest before being asked to join officially.

Guests can also come to many of our subgroups as a plus one.

If you sign up for membership that evening or in the seven days following the meeting, your donation will be refunded.

The Hive WI’s August Calendar

What’s on and when

• Sunday 4, 13:30 – Walk ‘n’ Talk
• Wednesday 7, 14:00 – Cafe Society at The Bendigo Lounge
• Wednesday 7, 19:00 – Craft ‘n’ Chat
• Wednesday 14, 19:30 – Main Meeting: “Quiz and Chips”
• Saturday 17, 14:00 – Crafternoon
• Monday 19, 19:00 – Walk ‘n’ Talk
• Tuesday 20, 20:00 – Tuesday Book Club: The Island by Victoria Hislop
• Wednesday 21, 19:30 – Supper Club: Lobster Pot
• Thursday 29, 20:00 – Thursday Book Club: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Reoccurring Events

Your shortcuts to the subgroups

• Walk ‘n’ Talk: Every first weekend and third Monday
• Craft ‘n’ Chat: Every first Wednesday, 19:00-21:00 at the Methodist Church in Beeston
• Cafe Society: Every first Wednesday, 14:00 (various locations)
• PubQuiz: Every first Thursday from September at The Crown, 20:00
• Main Meeting: Every second Wednesday, 19:30-21:30
• Tuesday Night Book Club: Every third Tuesday, 20:00 at The Star Inn in Beeston
• Saturday Crafternoon: Every third Saturday, 14:00-16:00 at the Methodist Church in Beeston
• Supper Club: Every third Wednesday, 19:30 (various locations)
• Thursday Evening Book Club: Every last Thursday, 19:30 at The Star Inn in Beeston

Find Us Online

Keep in touch!

• Email: thehivewi@gmail.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/thehivewi
• Facebook group (members only): facebook.com/groups/thehivewi
• Twitter: twitter.com/thehivewi
• Website: thehivewi.com

You can also search for us on Google Calendar using our email address.