NOTES FROM THE ANNUAL MEETING OF PENARTH PEERS WI - MAY 10th 2023
An Annual meeting with a difference— Our 2022-2023 Annual meeting preceded our King Charles 111 Coronation party.
Our WI advisor, Vivian, was present to oversee and ensure that we conducted the meeting in true WI fashion.
President Julie welcomed everyone and introduced the meeting. She told members that the purpose of the AM is
1. To summarise our WI year.
2. To elect a committee for 2023-2024
3. To elect a President
Julie thanked the committee and officers for their hard work-in arranging a varied programme together with enhancement activities.
As our secretary is no longer with us, Rosemary read the summary of our very varied, educational and enlightening programme during the preceding year.
Rosemary then, as treasurer, read the financial report which had been approved by the auditor- who had commented on how well it had been documented by Rosemary.
Thanks were expressed to committee members who were stepping down and Julie was pleased to announce that 4 members had volunteered to join the committee.
Julie then asked members to retire to the party tables and use the craft materials to each make a crown to wear for the party.
Photos were taken to show what talented members we have !!!!!!
A sumptuous buffet was eaten and we just had enough time left for an oral Royal Quiz.
A good time was had by all.
Julie.Davies
Secretary's Report: April 2022 - April 23
It has been a very successful non-COVID interrupted year with a varied programme of meetings: At the AGM last April it was agreed that Julie and Linda would share the presidency, Rosemary would carry on as treasurer and Helen very kindly agreed to remain as secretary even though she had planned to finish. So a big thank you to Helen for helping us out but it won't be happening again!
In May we enjoyed our first taster evening comparing different items from three different supermarkets - Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons. Goods included chocolate (of course!), cheese, strawberries and biscuits. Some were own brands and some were big name brands. Members were asked to rank them in order of taste. As a result, some members decided to rethink their choice of shop.
At the beginning of June Julie hosted our Platinum Jubilee Party in her garden, where we enjoyed good food, good company, a royal quiz and a toast to Queen Elizabeth II. Thankfully the weather was kind to us.
At the June meeting three volunteers from Blood Bank Wales gave us a very informative presentation on the vital work this organisation does transporting blood products and samples, hospital equipment and baby milk, amongst other things. All the riders are volunteers and the charity rely totally on donations but it saves vital money for the NHS. One of our favourite speakers,
Rachel from Sweet Peony, came in July demonstrating how to fill a floral trug which was then raffled. The plan was to have a bowls evening on 18th July but it had to be cancelled - due to the heatwave!
We finally welcomed Lt Col (Retd) Caroline Whittaker in August for her talk “A Soldier’s Journey”, which had been postponed due to Covid in January. | think all would agree she was worth the wait. What an inspirational speaker and what a fascinating evening.
September’s meeting saw members having to earn their refreshments with some gentle exercises demonstrated by Gareth from Elderfit. On a very sad note, it was our first meeting after the death of Queen Elizabeth II and members stood for a minute’s silence.
More eating again in October when we enjoyed a talk plus samples from Blaenavon Cheese Factory. Members were also given the opportunity to do a bit of Christmas shopping. There was a visit later on in the month to Nantgarw China Factory where, as it was an educational trip, we were able to use funds for the transport costs. It was well worth the visit, once we eventually found it!
A very enjoyable Christmas craft evening was held in November and members surprised themselves by what they could achieve. There are a lot of nimble fingers in our WI. December saw two Christmas celebrations: a delicious lunch in the Star in Dinas Powys and a Christmas party for our meeting, entertainment provided by “Digger”, and food by our members. It was a very cold evening not helped by the church heating playing up, but the dancing helped! Members were extremely generous with their donations of Christmas items for the Tabernacle foodbank.
Our first meeting of 2023 brought two members of South Wales Police giving us advice on fraud and how we can protect ourselves from being victims of crime. They refused to take any payment so their speaker fee was donated to MND - a charity close to the hearts of several of our members.
In February Lt Col (Retd) Caroline Whittakerr returned, this time to teach us CPR and to explain how emergency defibrillators work. What an amazing, life-saving piece of equipment this is.
In March we were due to have a talk about GI brides in South Wales. Unfortunately, the atrocious weather conditions forced us to cancel the meeting amid health and safety concerns. The good news is that the speaker has been rebooked for June. Helen organised a very popular visit to the New Theatre this month, to see Mousetrap. An early booking ensured premium seats and a good time was had by all.
April's meeting welcomed back Debra John, freelance actress and storyteller. This time Debra’s topic was “Springtime”. She is so entertaining and cleverly covered the chosen theme with several tales, covering Welsh folk tales and Greek mythology.
Sally John has reinstated the lunch club which has met up twice since our Christmas lunch - at Ego and the Sully Inn. The next one is scheduled for Friday 5th May, at the Captain’s Wife.
Several book clubs continue to meet successfully and are benefiting from the library book club system.
We look forward to our trip to Stratford on 15th May and some of our members are joining the Dinas Powis trip to Tyntesfield two days later. A dozen or so members are also looking forward to POD’s production of Chess that same week.
Thanks must go to all our lovely members who have volunteered to be tea hostesses ensuring delicious refreshments at our monthly meetings. With a good number of attendees it is not an easy task so well done.
It has been a very successful year, but there is still more that we can do, so here’s to the next twelve months of Penarth Peers WI
An Annual meeting with a difference— Our 2022-2023 Annual meeting preceded our King Charles 111 Coronation party.
Our WI advisor, Vivian, was present to oversee and ensure that we conducted the meeting in true WI fashion.
President Julie welcomed everyone and introduced the meeting. She told members that the purpose of the AM is
1. To summarise our WI year.
2. To elect a committee for 2023-2024
3. To elect a President
Julie thanked the committee and officers for their hard work-in arranging a varied programme together with enhancement activities.
As our secretary is no longer with us, Rosemary read the summary of our very varied, educational and enlightening programme during the preceding year.
Rosemary then, as treasurer, read the financial report which had been approved by the auditor- who had commented on how well it had been documented by Rosemary.
Thanks were expressed to committee members who were stepping down and Julie was pleased to announce that 4 members had volunteered to join the committee.
Julie then asked members to retire to the party tables and use the craft materials to each make a crown to wear for the party.
Photos were taken to show what talented members we have !!!!!!
A sumptuous buffet was eaten and we just had enough time left for an oral Royal Quiz.
A good time was had by all.
Julie.Davies
Secretary's Report: April 2022 - April 23
It has been a very successful non-COVID interrupted year with a varied programme of meetings: At the AGM last April it was agreed that Julie and Linda would share the presidency, Rosemary would carry on as treasurer and Helen very kindly agreed to remain as secretary even though she had planned to finish. So a big thank you to Helen for helping us out but it won't be happening again!
In May we enjoyed our first taster evening comparing different items from three different supermarkets - Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons. Goods included chocolate (of course!), cheese, strawberries and biscuits. Some were own brands and some were big name brands. Members were asked to rank them in order of taste. As a result, some members decided to rethink their choice of shop.
At the beginning of June Julie hosted our Platinum Jubilee Party in her garden, where we enjoyed good food, good company, a royal quiz and a toast to Queen Elizabeth II. Thankfully the weather was kind to us.
At the June meeting three volunteers from Blood Bank Wales gave us a very informative presentation on the vital work this organisation does transporting blood products and samples, hospital equipment and baby milk, amongst other things. All the riders are volunteers and the charity rely totally on donations but it saves vital money for the NHS. One of our favourite speakers,
Rachel from Sweet Peony, came in July demonstrating how to fill a floral trug which was then raffled. The plan was to have a bowls evening on 18th July but it had to be cancelled - due to the heatwave!
We finally welcomed Lt Col (Retd) Caroline Whittaker in August for her talk “A Soldier’s Journey”, which had been postponed due to Covid in January. | think all would agree she was worth the wait. What an inspirational speaker and what a fascinating evening.
September’s meeting saw members having to earn their refreshments with some gentle exercises demonstrated by Gareth from Elderfit. On a very sad note, it was our first meeting after the death of Queen Elizabeth II and members stood for a minute’s silence.
More eating again in October when we enjoyed a talk plus samples from Blaenavon Cheese Factory. Members were also given the opportunity to do a bit of Christmas shopping. There was a visit later on in the month to Nantgarw China Factory where, as it was an educational trip, we were able to use funds for the transport costs. It was well worth the visit, once we eventually found it!
A very enjoyable Christmas craft evening was held in November and members surprised themselves by what they could achieve. There are a lot of nimble fingers in our WI. December saw two Christmas celebrations: a delicious lunch in the Star in Dinas Powys and a Christmas party for our meeting, entertainment provided by “Digger”, and food by our members. It was a very cold evening not helped by the church heating playing up, but the dancing helped! Members were extremely generous with their donations of Christmas items for the Tabernacle foodbank.
Our first meeting of 2023 brought two members of South Wales Police giving us advice on fraud and how we can protect ourselves from being victims of crime. They refused to take any payment so their speaker fee was donated to MND - a charity close to the hearts of several of our members.
In February Lt Col (Retd) Caroline Whittakerr returned, this time to teach us CPR and to explain how emergency defibrillators work. What an amazing, life-saving piece of equipment this is.
In March we were due to have a talk about GI brides in South Wales. Unfortunately, the atrocious weather conditions forced us to cancel the meeting amid health and safety concerns. The good news is that the speaker has been rebooked for June. Helen organised a very popular visit to the New Theatre this month, to see Mousetrap. An early booking ensured premium seats and a good time was had by all.
April's meeting welcomed back Debra John, freelance actress and storyteller. This time Debra’s topic was “Springtime”. She is so entertaining and cleverly covered the chosen theme with several tales, covering Welsh folk tales and Greek mythology.
Sally John has reinstated the lunch club which has met up twice since our Christmas lunch - at Ego and the Sully Inn. The next one is scheduled for Friday 5th May, at the Captain’s Wife.
Several book clubs continue to meet successfully and are benefiting from the library book club system.
We look forward to our trip to Stratford on 15th May and some of our members are joining the Dinas Powis trip to Tyntesfield two days later. A dozen or so members are also looking forward to POD’s production of Chess that same week.
Thanks must go to all our lovely members who have volunteered to be tea hostesses ensuring delicious refreshments at our monthly meetings. With a good number of attendees it is not an easy task so well done.
It has been a very successful year, but there is still more that we can do, so here’s to the next twelve months of Penarth Peers WI
Treasurer's report | |
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