July 2018
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November 2017:Smells and How They Affect Us
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Members of Woodchurch WI welcomed two crafty sisters to their June meeting. Roz and Judy Balchin have become “the sisters who love to felt” and aim to create designs in wool which make you smile. Their production base is in Maidstone and from there they run demonstrations and workshops all over Kent. Both have a background in crafts and design as well as the world of publishing. The history of felting goes back a long way and examples from 6,500 BC have been found; felting appears to be the oldest textile craft. During their demonstration Roz and Judy told members of the two ways of felting – Wet and Needle (Dry) methods. Wet felting relies on water, heat, soap and friction to bind the wool particles together to form a felt. Alpaca, merino wool and silk are ideal sources but not plant or synthetic “wools”. Roz took us through the dry felting process and showed how, with a fine barbed needle, a foam pad and coarse Norwegian wool, 3D animals, people, faces could be sculpted. In Needle felting, a bundle of wool is compacted into a solid shape; the fibres are bound together by piercing the wool with a special needle.. |
This binding and shrinking together of the wool fibres transform them into a dense cloth or shape which can be used to make garments or sculpted into figures. Roz and Judy then use these ideas, combined with appliqué, knitting, embroidery and other embellishments, to create wall hangings, pictures and animal/people doll making - each with its own personality. Initially inspired by a workshop, they went onto become The Woolly Felters, experts in their field of felting; their wonderful woolly world includes an Etsy Shop on-line sales outlet, writing books, creating felting kits, making props for new-born baby photography, Face book, Twitter, even more information can be found at their website - www.woolyfelters.com, they also make appearances at local craft fairs. Roz and Judy concluded with an explanation of the work involved in setting up their Woolly Felters business, from finding a brand name and image, designing letter headings, business cars and sources for their wools. This was a truly inspiring talk and many of us were just itching to get started on our own creations. Thank you again for such an informative and colourful presentation. |
June 2015:Growing Old Disgracefully
June Faulkner was the guest speaker at Woodchurch WI’s July meeting. June had a wealth of amusing anecdotes to recount from her long career as a warden of an old folk’s complex and House-keeper at a variety of Residential Homes for the elderly. She began by providing a list of suggestions for knowing when you are growing old such as putting on glasses to find your glasses, it’s also when your children begin to look middle aged and when your knees buckle but your belt won’t! Now she also is over twenty-one June says she has three men in her life – Will Power who takes her to all sorts of places, accompanied by Arthur Ritus who goes with her from joint to joint and the third is Percy Verance! June told us of her many residents and their foibles and peccadilloes, sadly some suffered from Dementia and one particular lady would have afternoon tea ready at three o’clock in the morning, believing her husband and sons would soon be home from Cricket. One lady, already aged over 90 had need of a new coat, and, when taken to the shops for some retail therapy was scornful of modern coat fabric saying it would certainly not last her 20 years as her current coat had! We were to discover that June was a great fan of both Gervaise Phinn and David Prowse and she had found some particularly witty but at times quite poignant poems and yarns from these writers. WI members may recall David Prowse poem about Ada and the WI Calendar “Keep your Clothes on Ada” along with the young lad who told the school Inspector that the Nativity was cancelled as the Virgin Mary had nits! Finally June reminisced of her time as a child evacuee WW2 and spoke of the fund raising efforts on behalf of the Evacuee Reunion Association, to have a bronze statue erected at the national Memorial Arboretum for children lost during war. Thank you June for a very humorous presentation, laughter is a great thing – no matter what age you are. |
Tuesday 12th August: Cream TeaTuesday 8th July At our July meeting speaker Sheila Boyd’s topic was: - “HOW TO MARRY AN ENGLISH LORD”. She told how, in 1860, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) visited America. His charming manners and polite attentiveness charmed the daughters of the nouveau-riche. Due to the advent of industrialization, the Gold Rush in 1848, property and armament development as well as stock broking, America was creating its own wealthy society, but without an aristocratic backbone. Mothers and daughters of this new prosperous class copied their European counterparts with the Grand Tour and made a Mecca of Paris and London for 19th century retail therapy. Meanwhile in Britain the aristocracy, along with the titled upper classes, was suffering somewhat from financial embarrassment. Many a fortune had been lost on the spin of a dice or turn of a card. So, between 1860 and 1910 we had the ideal situation – rich American heiresses looking for a titled husband; and impoverished titled gentlemen looking for a financial input to rescue their stately homes. During this period somewhere in the region of 450 well-heeled American heiresses married into the British upper crust bringing with them their father’s fortunes – dowries ran into millions of dollars. Sheila went on to tell the stories behind some of these alliances, beginning with perhaps the most famous – that of Jennie Jerome. In 1874 this daughter of an American stock broker married Lord Randolph Churchill, Dike of Marlborough and became the mother of one of our most famous statesmen - Sir Winston Churchill. The Marlborough family had fallen on hard times and had been asset stripping, selling off land and paintings, until the family fortunes were rescued by American money. Consuelo Vanderbilt also married into the Marlborough family. Consuelo Yznaga daughter of a Cuban merchant married the 8th Duke of Manchester. Frances Work also can from a stock broker family her dowry paid off her husband’s gambling debts before she divorced him and married a horse racing trainer. Frances was a distant relative of Princess Diana. The Leiter sisters, Mary and Daisy, brought over $33million to their marriages. Mary married the Viceroy of India Lord Curzon. Sheila ended her long list with Pauline Whitney whose dollars came to Kent with the purchase of Leeds Castle. Sheila went on to explain that it wasn’t just titles which were snapped up but around this time property and residencies also became popular American acquisitions. Cliveden, Floors Castle, Blenheim Palace and homes in wealthy locations such as Belgravia, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge and Park Lane were well sought after. However, this golden heyday was soon to come to an end. The death of Edward VII in 1910 saw the demise of the socialite scene and life at court became very dour and far less exciting to be a part of; until of course in the late 1930’s when that most famous marriage between another Prince of Wales and American divorcee Mrs. Wallace Simpson took place. But that as Sheila pointed out is another story. |
Many thanks to Sandra, who generously hosted our cream tea. Unfortunately the weather didn't play ball...but it was great anyway!
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