BOWES BELLES WI Newsletter October 2013 Welcome to Bowes Belles WI Thank you to all of those who attended our September meeting. We’re sure you will join the committee in offering a great big thank you to Shirley Raad for her willingness to step up and share her experience with us at last months meeting . Unfortunately our planned speaker cancelled at short notice and Shirley saved the day. We enjoyed hearing from one of our own ladies and the experiences of her work with Macmillan! Thanks Shirley

Tonight’s meeting:

At tonight’s meeting we are joined by, and offer a warm welcome to Des Bains and Andy Muter from HMP Frankland in Du rham . They bring with them some very special guests, their highly trained and skilled dogs Marley and Tigger.

Together they will be demonstrating the work the handlers and their dogs do within the prison service. Highly trained dogs are used in the prison service to sniff prisoners, visitors and hiding spots .They can smell drugs and other substances from several metres away. Tonight we will be learning more about their marvellous work. A dog handler needs patience and confidence. They need to be comfortable working on their own. They also need to be able to judge a situation accurately and react instantly.

Well Done Bowes Belles WI !

At last month meeting, prior to the main session we held a cake sale in aid of Macmillan - we raised a whopping £115!! Amazing in such a short time frame.

All about you! Thank you all for your continued support!! We are a fledgling group and seeing so many of you at each meeting is immensely encouraging. This section is for our members , so if you have an event to shout about , have a trade to share , have a big celebration in the offing ,have an idea or suggestion , or have a request for help then please let Jo or Danie know. We can even share across the federation.

A special request – from Judith R and Katherine W – any old jam jars, washed and de-labelled would be gratefully received!

Get to know the WI ! WI Life Magazine

Your monthly magazine is a great source of information to find out what’s happening across the Women’s Institute. As a paid up member you should receive this each month. In this month’s magazine there’s some fantastic articles and some yummy recipes ! Would Bowes Belles like to form a recipe exchange? bring your favourite recipes along and we will create a file .

Meditation and Mindfulness th A fellow WI member , Annette Jeffrey-Crummack will be running meditation and mindfulness sessions starting on Thursday 17 October , 7:15pm for 5 weeks. Annette is a member of the Ewesley Road WI. The classes are small and friendly and are held at St Johns Church , , classes last 1hr. There’s a poster in our members folder with contact details should you fancy going along.

Board of Trustees There are a number of vacant seats on the board, if you would like to take on this role and discuss the requirements further , then

please contact our federation office

2014 Membership subscriptions 2014 subscriptions will be £34.70 and will be collected in January. . Discounts on Theatre tickets In 2014 we will be looking to secure discounted tickets for both the Theatre Royal and Empire. We will receive discounts of group bookings for 10 or more tickets. There’s lots on from ballet to musicals, comedy to operas.

Do we have any keen knitters ? The apostleship of the sea are making an appeal for knitted woolly hats, we have a pattern for anyone that’s interested and when done you can donate them to Sr Scholastica – 0787 605 0530.

Dates for the Diary As member of the WI you are able to access events, workshops and exhibitions that are held by the regional and national federations. Here is what is coming up both for the WI and the local community. These are only a few of the key future events; you will find many more on the Tyne & Wear South Federations newsletter and also on www.bowesbelleswi.co.uk 17th October – Autumn Ramble An autumnal ramble around Monument and park. Lunch will be provided by Old Penshaw WI and the event will cost £5. Please let us know if you wish to go along . LAST CALL

23rd October - Autumn Council Meeting The meeting will be held at the Stella Washington at 10:30 am, the competition will be homemade Halloween masks !

25th October – Ladies that lunch The next gathering of this popular event will be held at Hylton college in Sunderland and the guest speaker will be Ian Gillard who will speak about the ghastly crimes of Mary Ann Cotton. Please sign up on the form provide if you would like to go! Tickets are £11.

22 November – WI Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show Following last years successful visit, another visit is being organised to the show in November. Tickets will be approximately £10 although the correct price will be advised in the next newsletter once tickets go on sale. The cost of the bus will be £13.00 and the trip is open to members, family and friends as well as those who only want to spend the day in Harrogate. Please let a member of the committee know if you want to attend, and if you require tickets for the show. – LAST CALL !!!!!!

23rd November – Christmas Shopping trip to York A day trip to the York St Nicholas Fayre and Christmas market - £15 per person. The coach will have various pick up points and will provide a day of fun , including a welcome bucks fizz, on board bingo and raffle. Please use the forms provided to sign up., PLEASE SIGN UP AT OCTOBER MEETING, FEES PAYABLE NO LATER THAN NOVEMBERS MEETING.

26th November – WI Festive Cookies A hands-on class will be held in Thomas Hepburn Community School in Felling between 6 - 8pm and will cost £12 per person which includes all materials and equipment. We are required to submit numbers by the end of September so please let us know if you wish to attend . LAST CALL !!!!!!

28th November – South Federation Christmas Party The 2013 Christmas party will be held at the Stella Club, Washington at 7pm. The theme this year will be Abba and a prize will be given for the best dressed !! Jeff Wright will also provide entertainment prior to and after ABBA. The cost for the evening is £10 including a buffet , raffle , abba , jeff and disco ! Sounds like a good night!

30th November – Christmas Carol Service A Christmas carol service will be held at st Mary’s Bridge St , Sunderland , tickets are £2 and seasonal refreshments will be available.

7th December – Wrekenton Methodist Community Church , Coffee and Carols Bowes Belles will be manning and partaking in leading carols at this event . We will be looking for volunteers to come along on the day to sing festive tunes , run a cake stall , make donations and promote the WI. We are grateful for the use of the facilities at the church and we are sure this will get the Bowes Belles ladies in the festive mood !

11th and 12th December – Trip A trip to Edinburgh , with an overnight stay at the Mercure hotel on Princes Street. You will have time for some festive shopping and a chance to visit the Christmas markets. The cost is £75.50 per person. The Lion King is also playing at the Edinburgh Playhouse should you wish to see this fantastic musical.

Digital Bowes Belles The Bowes Belles Committee have taken advantage of the power of the internet and the social media sites. We are now out there! You can find us on Facebook, twitter and we have our very own web page! It’s a great way to keep up to date on what’s going on in the group and also across the federation.

Website : www.bowesbelleswi.co.uk Twitter : @BowesBelles Facebook: Bowes Belles WI group Email : [email protected]

We also have a member’s information folder available at all meetings; this will include all correspondence to the group, annual reports and copies of all our newsletters.

Next months meeting

th Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 12 November . At the next meeting we will be venturing out on a ghostly and grisly tales walking tour of Newcastle . The tour starts at Grey’s Monument , and finishes at the castle . There are no / steps and the route is fairly flat . We suggested a slightly earlier meeting time from 6pm for a hot drink at our regular venue before venturing out at 6.30pm . To make events smoother at the November meeting we will be collecting meeting fee’s at Octobers meeting . We will also be finalising transport . We look forward to seeing you all next month! Wrekenton Methodist Community Church, Springwell Ave, Wrekenton, , NE9 7JL

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