Happy 5th Birthday WIER!

We had a great evenining at Otto's celebrating, with a magician and a talk about Morrocco.

Here's to many more years to come and a big thank you to our founders Sue Tormey, Shirley Theasby, Hilary Jackson, you have helped to create some wonderful friendships and memories.

Hilary gave us a brilliant ode to WIER which is here again for those who missed it or want to hear it again!

An Ode to WIonER

5 years, Sue Tormey, Shirley Theasby, and I formed a group on Ecclesall Road with the WI

We've had many good times, I'd like to say

With group nights out and weekends away

We've had garden, book and crafting clubs

And what is more

Learned many new skills by the score

Making jams, jellies, cakes and bread making classes

But gin tasting was the best as we all raised our glasses

70 members we now hold most dear

Any thoughts or suggestions what to do next year?

Now calendar girls is not my forte

And joining the running club is far more sporty

Anything else we just might do

Just remember we are the Womens Institute through and through!

Birthday cakes displayed by Judith

The magician provided some great entertainment

Luna Cinema - Top Gun

The weather was certainly kind to us when we ventured out to the Luna Cinema at Sheffield Amphitheatre to watch Top Gun!  It was a bonus to watch the sunset over the city too.

Sunday Stroll - Grindleford to Dore

Thank you to Sue Hughes, Caroline and Kate for organising and guiding us on a lovely sunny walk from Grindleford back to Dore.

We took the train from Dore station to Gindleford, walked up through Padley Gorge into Longshaw...stopping for refreshments at the cafe!  Fully refreshed we carried on to Blackamoor and into Dore, where we had a well earned drink!

Botanical Gardens Visit

Angela organised a lovely and informative visit to the Botanial Gardens.  Very nice time had by all!

Gin Tasting - Porter Cottage

We had a great night gin tasting organised by Martin the landlord at the Porter Cottage Pub in conjunction with the Wine Rack at Sharrow Vale and James from the Pointing Dog and Trippers Lounge Bar. 
James was great, and gave us a very enthusiastic and honestly... educational talk on gin, and even those amongst us not into gin were converted! 

Sheffield Round Walk 4th June

Caroline kindly organised our 3rd Sheffield Round Walk where member's and their families can join for part or all of the 15.5 mile walk around Sheffield.

This year 27 took part, and 2 dogs, 9 people completed the full circuit.

The weather was good, staying dry until the last few miles and then brightening up again for the pictures at the end.

We enjoyed lunch in Endcliffe Park, ice-creams at Forge Dam, and a drink outside at The Norfolk Arms.

June Meeting - British Surnames

At our June members ran meeting, Roy Yates gave us a fascinating insight into the origins of British surnames.

The categories were Relationship, Occupational, Descriptive and Geographical.

These were then looked into further, linking with some of the surnames of WIER member's.

Roy then went through all of our surnames alphabetically, explaining the origin.

July Meeting - Jenny Robertson from 'The Corner'

 Jenny Robertson from 'The Corner' - a young people's substance misuse service came to tell us about the service, which the majority of us had not heard about. She gave us information about and quizzed us on our thoughts about drug misuse and the  myths and truths about them. The allocated one hour soon passed in a whistlestop blur of alcohol, inhaled, injected and ingested substances - legal and not so. 

Although Jenny has worked for the service for a number of years working with young people, families and friends, we were her first WI meeting. I think she enjoyed herself a much as we all enjoyed her talk. It was a fascinating evening, over all too soon but great to hear Sheffield has such a wonderful service.

Lyme Park National Trust Visit

Hilary arranged a day out at Lyme Park - a lovely National Trust stately home near Disley , Stockport.  A small group of 5 went along and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. The house and history was incredibly interesting but the thing that caught our attention was being able to dress up in Victorian attire - it was great, take a look at our photos. Unfortunately Mr Darcy didn't put in an appearance today.

The Houses of Parliament Visit

It was a year in the planning by Cath who did an excellent job despite many obsticles to arrange for ten of our members, and a guest from another WI, enjoyed a tour around The Houses of Parliament in May.

There was no photography allowed inside, which is a shame as The House of Lords is absolutely stunning - so opulent and grand. This is in contrast to the House of Commons which was very plain indeed, as it was rebuilt after bomb damage in WWII and there wasn't much money around for gold leaf and fanciness.

We learnt so much, and being in places we have seen so often on the television was slightly surreal. It was definitely a day to remember, and if we watch the State Opening of Parliament we will know exactly what's going on, and where, and will be able to say - "I've been there!"

Thorpe Hesley Heritage Walk

We had a fab evening at Thorpe Hesley doing the Heritage Walk, we were 1st team back, didn't win but had a lovely evening

Cutlers' Hall Visit & Afternoon Tea

Anne Kober organised a lovely visit to Cutlers Hall, followed by afternoon tea in a fabulous setting.

Heritage Walk - May 2017

Four teams took part in the Hertage Walk. Although it was, the cold wind suggested otherwise!

After answering questions and following the map, the teams made their way to the Banner Cross pub for a drink...a hot drink and a fire would have been welcome at this point!

Judith is deep in thought contemplating the tie break quesion that all teams were asked to complete prior to marking.

Congratulations to the winning team, Team JSJ, with a very impressive 28.5 out of 30

April Meeting - The Hat Stand

Thank you to Amanda, Imogen and Siobhan from The Hat Stand who gave us a great talk on millinery and showed us their beautiful hats and fascinators at our April meeting. 
Don't forget you can see the team again at the The Pop-Up Shop, Winter Gardens on 1st to 29th June.

Salsa & Tapas Night

We had a great night learning to salsa at Revolucion de Cuba with Ivan Rodrigo Garcia. 2-4-1 cocktails before certainly helped to warm us up! By the end of the evening we could all mambo-ish!

Kwick Fit Car Maintenance

Shirley organised a great evening at Kwick Fit, the team gave us an introduction to car maintenance, we learnt lots, got to wear overalls and great fun was had by all.  Thank you to the Kwick Fit team!

Ernest Wright & Sons blade makers

We had a fascinating tour organised by Laura at Ernest Wright & Sons blade makers. It was great to see how our steel city makes blades, an essential tool at our craft evenings!  Thank you to the team at Ernest Wright.  To visit their website, click on the link www.ernestwright.co.uk

March Meeting - Howard Middleton from Bake Off!

We had an excellent talk from Howard Middleton about his 'bake off' experiences and life since then. There were a few nerves as he sampled the March members' cakes but he was very complimentary!

FoPV Easter Ducks March 2017

We're knitting ducks again! We worked hard at  the Needles and Natter evening last week (helped by a glass of wine)  Here is our first flotilla of 25 ready to swim off to the 'Friends of Porter Valley' duck race. Buy them (with treats inside) in the park cafes or at the race on Easter Monday in Endcliffe Park.  http://www.fopv.org.uk/

Archer Project - The Star

We featured in The Star this week, when Sue presented Tracy Viner at the Archer Project with our 2016 donations. Click on the link to read The Star - WIER Article

February Meeting - The Eyam Plague!

David Bell gave a fascinating talk on The Eyam Plague and the treatment of everyday ailments 350 years ago.

It was an entertaining account but not for the faint hearted! By the end we all felt very relieved to be living in the 21st century!

Majestic Wine Tasting 02/02/17

I am trying to think back to Thursday and looking back through the pictures I can see some of us went wine tasting at Majestic (hiccup)!
We were hosted by Karl (vintage since 2006), who gave us an insight into French wine. We tried pink champagne, various white and red followed by a desert wine, some tasting had canopes which really compliemented the taste.
Thank you to Karl and the team for making us feel welcome, and sharing his passion for wine.
Majestic do offer wine tasting events which you will find in store at Majestic on Abbeydale Road and have a tasting station free at any time to try different spirits, beers and wines.

Assay Office Visit 27/01/17

25 member's of our WI attended a captivating visit kindly organised by Julie Lockwood.

We sat down for a fascinating presentation professionally delivered by Emma Paragreen, Curator/Librarian and Archivist.

We learned about the history of hallmarking, and why it is indeed called 'hallmarking'

To 'assay' means to test and assess the precious metal content of an item. 

We were informed that it is impossible to tell the precious metal content of an item just by looking at it. Gold, silver and platinum are too soft to use alone for making jewellery, cutlery and other goods. They need to be alloyed with other, baser (and cheaper) metals for manufacturing.

The talk was followed by a tour of the area where the testing and hallmarking takes place, supporting the knowledge that we had now gained

January Meeting

January meeting

thursday 12th january 2017

Katie Pruszynski

Public speaking with 
Katie Pruszynski

Katie gave us a fascinating insight into the perception of women in public life, and her time at Westminster. We also got some great tips on public speaking, including that going red happens to everyone!

Marlene B presents Hannah with quilt for Baby Basics

Marlene B held a craft evening making a fantastic quilt for Baby Basics, which was presented to Hannah.