In March we held our annual meeting where we re-elected Sally as our president!

The meeting combined reflecting on the past year, looking forward to a new programme of event and discovering unknown things about each other! As usual, the time went quickly and we were having so much fun that we forgot to take any photos!

We also collected Easter eggs for Forget Me Notts which were much appreciated by the charity.

In February we were delighted to welcome Ruth Watkin! Ruth is a costume maker based in Nottingham, she has been passionate about sewing since childhood and specialised in costume as part of a Theatre Design degree course. Ruth has worked for several theatres and museums, as well as private commissions and her particular interest is in historical costuming.

Ruth talked about her work including the process she goes through when making a costume and bought some examples of her work for us to take a closer look at. We were fascinated to learn about some of the things she has made – who knew that producing costumes for a film can be so complex and so many had to be produced for a single character!!

Dance sessions have always been popular at The Hive and, despite it being a very cold evening, this meeting followed the trend with 30 members and 3 visitors venturing out! We were joined by 4 members of the Bonnets & Breeches Society, in period costume, who took us back in time, to teach us about the etiquette of the dances during the Georgian, Regency and Victorian periods along with a few dances. Everyone had great fun learning the dances (or watching from the side-lines)!

We also had a food bank collection for Hope House in Beeston

In December (back by popular demand) we were joined by the lady Historian Mildred Freeman (aka Milly Lawson). Mildred joined us in full Victorian costume to teach us about ‘A Victorian Christmas in Nottingham’ which included singing, props, history and her trademark humour. This was Mildred’s 2nd visit to The Hive and she did not disappoint!

We were also joined by 10 visitors!! We hope the friends of members enjoyed the evening and are interested in joining us again – a visitor can attend up to 3 meetings before they must join – check out our ‘how to join’ page for more information.

November

We started getting ready for Christmas with members enjoying an evening of crafting along with the essential social chatter! At the end of the evening members took home a Christmas card and 3 decorations made from ribbon, wooden beads and re-cycled cards.

October

As this was Breast Awareness month we took the opportunity to learn about the importance of wearing a well fitting bra. We were joined by Janice Rose Lingerie of Sutton on Trent who provided a very informative talk on everything about the fitting and wearing of suitable bras. Members brought along their ill-fitting, uncomfortable good condition bras to be sent to women and girls in African countries where not wearing a bra can make them more vulnerable to physical abuse. Funds were raised by a raffle and donations totalling £235 in memory of a special friend and member for Maggie’s at City Hospital.