Lunch at the Hare and Hounds

On a wonderfully sunny, spring day a large group of members enjoyed a fantastic meal and shared good company at the nearby hostelry the Hare and Hounds in Hoyland Common.

 

 

After pre-ordering our meals we were rewarded with prompt service and were soon tucking in to a wonderful array of food.

Jean's description of Dorothy's meal of Liver and Onions as Mount Vesuvius was apt!!

 

Don't the puddings look great - good job Sheila's got Zumba tonight!

 

Mmm!  The Meringue looks lovely!

 

Well done to Sybil yet again for organising the lunch (and especially for reminding those of us with poor memories of what we'd ordered!!)

 

Visit to Rotherham Town Hall

 

Despite the rain a small group of members enjoyed a conducted tour of the Town Hall, visiting the main council chamber,  the meeting rooms, the Mayor's parlour as well as learning about the Office of Mayor and the Mayorial Insignia in Rotherham.

 

A warm welcome in the entrance hall

 

Ruth and Jean enjoyed examining the Mayorial Chain of Office which dates back to 1881.  It is made of 18ct gold and the links are formed by 13 heraldic shields engraved front and back with the names and years of earlier Mayors of the Borough.

 

 

The Civic Mace precedes the Mayor on all Civic occasions and is a symbol of Royal Authority.  Council meetings can only take place when the mace is in place.



Our group in the Council Chamber with Mayor Councillor Maggi Clark

Wonderful Silverware on display

Meeting Room 1

Enjoying a rest in the Mayor's Parlour

 

After a really interesting tour of the building as well as a talk on the history of the Borough

and discussion on the workings of the council we then enjoyed tea and cakes with the Mayor and her Consort, husband Peter.  Both are obviously really proud to represent their town and 'show off' the Town Hall in all its glory to the people who it represents.

 

A fantastic visit - and one we would all thoroughly recommend!!

 

Thank You from Shiloh

Since Jonathan Lang visited our WI meeting giving a presentation on the work SHILOH does helping the Homeless and Disadvantaged adults of Rotherham our members having been incredibly generous.  At every monthly meeting donations of food items, clothing and bedding are brought to the Trinity Centre ready to be taken to the refuge.

The volunteers at Shiloh as well as the guests want to say a big thank you

for the support given.

 



Donations from the March meeting

 

 

 

 

March Meeting - DNA and Forensics

 

The evening started with a most wonderfully informative and entertaining presentation by Adrian Eggleston (ex South Yorkshire Police Force).  After a brief introduction to the structure of DNA and its discovery by 'Watson and Crick' working at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, Adrian went on to talk about the infancy of 'forensics' in detecting crime and the sophisticated methods now used.  He mentioned some cases we were familiar with and also showed us how the use of DNA fingerprinting had helped solve previously unsolved cases.

Margaret Atter, who gave the vote of thanks, was right when she said how much we had all learned.  The phrase 'getting away with murder' certainly isn't true any more!!

 

 

Adrian kindly offered to judge the 'Easter Bonnet' Competition and as you can see it was certainly difficult to pick a winner ......

Winner and runner-up 

Aren't they impressive .... the hats I mean!!

We then had the business part of the meeting before we were able to enjoy the most wonderful refreshments provided by Angela and Pauline  -  thank you.  Sue Dunigan was the lucky raffle winner.

 

Simnel Cake ....... cheese and biscuits ....... trifle ...... mmm!!

 

 

February Meeting - 'My Journey' by Revd Lynn Broadhead

After a rousing rendition of Jerusalem,  the business part of the meeting outlined the many activities on offer in the weeks ahead before our guest speaker for the evening was introduced.

 

Holy Trinity's new Incumbent the Revd Lynn Broadhead took us through her journey from growing up in Kirby Stephen in Cumbria, her unhappy schooldays, to joining the Army as a Nurse then becoming an Army Wife and mother to two children.

After settling in Wincobank in Sheffield, Lynn became active in her local church before she trained as a lay reader and then as a Priest.  She was very honest about the difficulties and set-backs she faced at times but it was obvious she felt 'called' and 'supported' in her journey by God.

 

Revd Lynn with Sheila enjoying a well-earned cuppa

We all really enjoyed her open and honest presentation and learned a lot - both about Lynn herself and the Church of England.  The vote of thanks was given by Sue Dixon.

                  We enjoyed our refreshments as we sang Happy Birthday to our two birthday girls Elsie and Gwen.

 

New member Angela then thanked us for the silver frame given to her from the WI on the birth of daughter Elythia and we enjoyed looking at the photos.

 

Another really enjoyable evening!

 

 

 

January Meeting - Happy New Year!!

New Joint-Presidents Jean and Mary welcomed everyone back after the Christmas break as members caught up on each others news before settling down to a very entertaining presentation by Andy Foster from the local charity Lifewise.

 

 

Andy's presentation gave us lots of 'common sense' ways in which we could protect ourselves from being targeted by fraudsters either on the doorstop, on the phone or via the internet.  A number of us were also keen to visit the 'Lifewise Set' in Hellaby in the near future to pick up more ideas.

 

After a short question and answer session we were all keen to pick up our 'freebies' from Andy as a way of reminding us to keep ourselves safe.

 

Wonderful refreshments were served by Jean and Sheila before the business part of the meeting commenced.  We voted for WI Resolutions and discussed future events both as an individual WI and as part of the South Yorkshire Federation. 

 

January 'babies' received their birthday wishes and Elsie was a happy raffle winner.  Alison collated the last of the pennants for our Centenary Banner which should look fantastic when finished.

 

A very Happy Raffle Winner

After paying our subs Peggy gave us a 'healthy' treasurers report and we look forward to another year of  well-planned evenings by our hard working committee.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AND BEST WISHES FOR 2016!!

 

Rockley Carol Service

Many thanks to Wath WI for a wonderful Carol Service at their Parish Church and to the Revd Sue Hobley for officiating.

 

Sue reading on behalf of our WI



Candles lit on behalf of each WI group



 

Christmas Wishes to all.