Guided Walk - Roman London

On September 7th Kate Boyle led a walk around the remains of Roman London

Our October meeting

was a presentation by Piers Storie-Pugh from the Commonwealth War Graves Commsion who told us about the creation and development of the organisation and the work that continues to ensure that the graves of those who fell during many conflicts are kept beautifully and remembered.

St Andrews Christmas Tree Festival

November 24th - We decorated our tree as part of the Festival at our local church

Our November meeting

on November 12th we had a craft evening led by Sue B where we signed and made our own Christmas cards

Drawing Wolves

On April 16th we were joined again by Lee Moore who taught a group how to draw a wolf in pastels on velvet paper

Strictly Catford Dancing

Our April meeting was more active than usual as a salsa dancing Session was led by our very own Kay and her friend AJ who put us all through our paces. It was both exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure!

Murder Mystery Evening

Catford WI have always been keen to try something new and writing and producing our very own murder mystery was a definite challenge! The AGM of the Upper Chattering WI in Deepest Kent was the setting and the members of the committee all had their reasons for murdering their President! An audience of Catford members and guests all entered into the spirit of the evening and made their guesses as to who the culprit might be. Our thanks go to the members the College Park Players who helped the production and a grand evening was had by all.

Our March Meeting

At our March meeting we had a very interesting presentation from Alieda Moore Berry. Alieda is a senior manager at the Bank of England responsible for the future of money, that is the continuing availability of cash. Alieda spoke about the challenges she has faced as a young black woman working for a very traditional organisation but also the work she is doing to improve diversity and accessibility. She highly recommended a tour of the Bank which we are planning for later in the year.

Our February Meeting

Following our January session with Tidylicious we decided to have a ‘Swishing’ session at our February meeting on February 13th. Many members brought items to swap and some went away with new wardrobe items to love.

Caroline organised a Beetle Drive for the meeting which became quite competitive as the evening went on!

Quiz night

Our now Annual Catford WI Quiz night took place on January 16th what a great night it was with 11 teams entered.

Phil and Caroline organised a great quiz, which got the ‘little grey cells’ working!

Willetts Wonders won the quiz with the Wooden Spooners coming in last and getting the now famous engraved wooden spoons.

The table quiz was won by Wing and a Prayer.

A big thank you goes to Julie and Hilary for putting together a very tasty buffet and to Jan for her amazing Chilli.

Last night was a team effort and thanks goes to Kay, Jo, Fiona and Max for making it all go so smoothly.

Our January Meeting

Our first meeting of 2024 was a talk by Hester van Hien from Tidylicious who gave us very good advice on storage methods and wise ways of assessing our possessions for storage or discarding allowing the Marie Kondo method of holding on to things which spark joy! . Many of us have been inspired to do some sorting since the session.

Lullingstone walk and Christmas Lunch

Om a rather rainy day we went down to Lullingstone Country Park and Visitor Centre for our annual walk and Christmas lunch. An intrepid group went out in the rain and were rewarded with a glimpse of a Kingfisher. We heard about the world garden at Lullingstone Castle and about the work of the rangers in maintaining and preserving the country park. Lunch, as always, was excellent and a great end to our WI year!

Our December Meeting

We celebrated Christmas, of course, but we did it with a ‘retro’ theme. Kay brought a tree which her parents had bought in 1960 which we used for members to hang baubles in memory of friends and family. We had a quintet singing traditional carols and songs. Members brought toys from their youth for a fascinating display, astonishing how many items had been saved. Our buffet included cheese and pineapple on sticks and vol au vents. The evening was rounded off with a quiz about events from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and our raffle.

Our November Meeting

November brought a burst of creativity with the invitation to ‘bling’ your Christmas Wreath. The results were very impressive!

Treasure Hunt

October 14th was the date of the Catford WI Treasure Hunt. 13 teams raced around The teams were tasked to find the many clues, crack the many cyphers, which in turn lead them to the various stations on the London Underground and ultimately to the final destination and the treasure (in this case a medal to commemorate taking part and bag of tasty treats). We had teams from Petts Wood, Lee Green and Chelsfield WI’s as well as our home grown teams.

Bermondsey Walk

On a train strike day in September a group of members, led as ever by Kate Boyle, learned the history of Bermondsey on the south bank of the Thames. An ancient part of London, an early Railway Terminus, the heart of the docks in the Port of London and now a newly developed part of modern London.

Our October Meeting

We were reunited with our Hampton Court Guide, Sarah Slater, when she visited for our October meeting and gave a fabulous presentation, in costume, on ‘The Secrets, Scandal and Salacious Gossip in the Royal Courts of the Stuarts and Georgians’ We heard about directories of London courtesans and reusable condoms!

Watercolours

At our September extra meeting we had an art class learning to paint with watercolours with some beautiful results