Christmas Lunch at the Tap House, Ann's Well Place  Smisby

We normally chose a date in December but Tuesday November 26^th was decided on and at the Tap House, Anns Well Place, which is a hamlet in Smisby.  When deciding on a new  venue and date  it's always a worry that we may not get a good response, but this choice proved a winner with thirty-seven members signed up.

The Tap House had placed us in their garden room, which was lovely and warm.  Christmas carols were playing in the background and a display of three decorated Reinders in the corner. The tables looked amazing, with crackers, holly and mini-Christmas trees.

We had ordered two courses which was certainly enough for some of the members as the portions were rather on the large size. 

Lunch over, then answers to the quizzes were given out by Lynn, our resident quiz master. Then a couple of poems ( we always try to find a Christmas poem) were read by Julie our President. Jean and Suzanne was thanked for organising the event, then Julie finished with a poem about an exploding pig, it was obviously one she used to read to the children at school.

A great lunch, great company, the Chef and waitresses looked after us amazingly, we will more than likely be back next year if they will have us.

90th Anniversary Afternoon Tea and a fashion show with Notty Hornblower

 A big thank you to everyone who came to our afternoon tea on Friday, and of course to the "catering ladies" who did a wonderful job of making up seven loaves of sandwiches in record time. The cakes were amazing, and they looked superb on the cake stands.
Of course we did have a bit of a hiccup again, Notty Hornblower had planned to be at the village hall for 12.30 for a 2.p.m. start. Unfortunately, Notty and her three models got very lost and arrived at 1.45. After a quick re-think, out came the sandwiches, cakes, Bucks Fizz, Pimm's, and everyone tucked into the afternoon tea a little early but I think was very welcome.
The clothes that Notty Hornblower bought along ranged from 1930's and 1940s to some beautiful dresses from the 1960s & 70s. Lots of lovely hats, handbags and shoes, and a genuine land army outfit. The photos show a group of members about to enjoy sandwiches and cake, Notty with her amazing bird hat and Sue, who just had to try it on and have her picture taken. 
Thank you to everyone who came early and helped, and also those who cleared up at the end. You gave your time to make the day a success and an excellent start to our 90th Birthday Celebrations. 

Middle Temple, Inns of Court Visit September 2024

Excitedly arriving at Middle Temple, after a long coach journey, it proved initially to be difficult to get into the building. Lots of knocking on the doors by the guides: high security! We were split into three groups, and each guide started their tour in a different room. Our guide took us to the landing overlooking the great hall. We were amazed at the enormous hammer beam roof, and I think we all took pictures. The guide explained that the hall had escaped being bombed, apart from the small annex whereof the landing was a part. There was a picture on the wall of the hole in the wall near to where we stood – that whole extension was rebuilt using the bricks from the original (as were the bombed buildings nearby). The lovely stained glass had been removed in 1938 due to someone’s prescience.

Along the side walls of the great hall are sixteenth and seventeenth-century stained-glass windows that celebrate many of the notables in the history of the Middle Temple. Next to each other at one end are two window panels dedicated to one Jekyll and one Hyde – our guide speculated that this is where Stephenson must have found the two names in his famous novel. At the end behind the top table are portraits of Elizabeth I, most Stuart monarchs, and the first Hanoverian (George I). Omitted from the places of honour are James I and Mary II (wife of William of Orange – he made it there though). James’s smaller portrait is in one of the passages. Oddly, Charles the First’s picture is central, much larger than the other paintings, in the place of honour.

Our guide talked about honorary Middle Templars known as benchers. Many famous figures from history were included, like Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Francis Chichester (there is a small display linking Drake and Chichester in one of the rooms). Her majesty Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) was a recent royal bencher – the most important one of the time. There is an impressive painting showing a celebratory dinner after WW2 in the late 1940s with King George VI to one side of the top table, as bencher of Inner Temple, and his wife as bencher of Middle Temple a few seats away. It was decided that a painting would record the glittering occasion better than a photograph – though I’d have liked to see the photographs the artist must have worked from. There is a room dedicated to the Queen Mother, with a beige and pink carpet with a repeated design representing aspects of her history, like her Scottish ancestry and coat of arms. In that room there is a portrait of her as a beautiful young woman. Every passageway and every room were lined with portraits, with coats of arms, and with history.

The sight of the tables set for lunch was impressive. The hall is where the table mentioned by Simon Michael was found – or rather not found by many of us, it turns out – the one where the top is the hatch from Drake’s ship The Golden Hind. It was hard to see as the caterers had placed a plastic covering on the top of the glass cover, and were storing boxes on it. The table has a carving of a golden hind on the side. It turned out that the three tables reserved for ‘Smisby Woman Institute’ [sic] were just under the top table. And when we went for lunch there were two senior members of the Temple eating there – so we did see judges or senior barristers, but they weren’t wearing wigs. We were not allowed to take photographs at all during lunch so I don’t think there are any of the table.

After a lengthy lunch (everyone I spoke to enjoyed the food) – we were nearly the first in and we were the last out at somewhere near 2.30 – we had some free time to wander around. Many of us went to the Temple church where there were more signs of its Knights Templar past than I saw of the two Inns of Court that share it now. There are signs of the Lamb and Flag (the motif of the Middle Temple) and the Pegasus (the motif of the Inner Temple), but by that stage of the afternoon I couldn’t focus adequately on what I was seeing. Apparently the church appears in The Da Vinci Code… though I’m unsure if any of us recognised how and where it appeared. After a quick stop at the café on the way back to the coach we set off for home. It was a really interesting trip!

Click on thumbnails to enlarge:

Saltaire Mill Visit 30 May 2024

The day began with skies echoing”dark satanic mills” but it stayed fair for us and we had smooth journeys both ways, so a great day was had by all.
There was plenty for us to see with the Hockney galleries, other art and craft exhibitions, retail opportunities and the sheer scale and majesty of the whole area.
Titus Salt was certainly a philanthropic man of great vision and determination as well as a shrewd businessman. He was determined to give his workers more than a job living in the slums of Bradford and created a whole village with houses, church, school, park etc all in a wooded valley with handy canal river & rail connections.
As you can see from the photos, everything was built to last - unlike some of todays architecture. 
Many thanks to Julie and her helpers for organising such a lovely trip.

44 of us went off to Saltaire, very comfortable on our coach trip. Saltaire takes its name from the founder, Sir Titus Salt, and the river Aire which runs through the village. Thanks to its preservation as a model village, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
Our first venture was into the former textile mill, now an art gallery, shopping centre and restaurant complex. The art galleries feature over 400 works by local artist David Hockney. One of his latest works is a 90.75 metres long frieze recording the changing seasons in and around his French garden. Vibrant and joyful!
We also enjoyed the catering facilities especially the Yorkshire Scoundrel/Rascal/Scamp. Recipe available.
We then took a tour round the town which is built on a grid system, the lower paid workers were housed in the centre and the increasingly bigger houses , where the more senior workers lived, were further out. All still habitable. School buildings, meeting halls, alms houses, hospital block and a church were also built for the working community. Some of these were open for visitors. Some of the original shops are still open to trade too. However there was not enough time to visit everything and the weather wasn’t kind enough for us to visit the beautiful park or venture to the canal side or railway sidings.
It was an interesting day. Saltaire -well worth visiting again and again, the coach was very comfortable and the company always the best.

 Visit to Sinai House, Burton on Trent, May 2024

Had a fabulous morning at Sinai House (after an adventure for some to find it, then to open the gate, then get chased by sheep and finally park without going in the moat!)

Simon Michael, Barrister and Author, April 2024

At a recent group meeting Simon Michael gave a brilliant talk about his career as a Barrister and his change in role to an author. Members were so impressed he was added as an extra speaker to our local programme, so that all Smisby members had an opportunity to listen to him.  

So on 12^th April 2024, we invited Simon Michael to talk about his life as a Barrister and his later role as a successful author, published in the UK and USA.  Thirty-six members enjoyed a shared supper kindly donated by those that attended on the evening.

Simon's family came to England in 1492 as refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, and remained in the East End of London for the next 450 years. He told us about his humble beginnings, just going to an ordinary secondary school.  He studied Law at Kings College, London University and paid his way thorough University by working as a labourer for the London Borough of Barnett. His background was completely different to other Barristers at that time.

During Simon's time as a Barrister he prosecuted and defended a wide variety of villains at a time when there was extensive police corruption too. This experience provided the background to his thrillers. He read an extract from his Charles Holborne series, which is set in the dangerous gangland streets of 1960s London.  His talk kept us all enthralled, as we learnt about his work in criminal law, prosecuting and defending murderers, armed robbers, and con artists, which of course gives him plenty of ideas for the nine books he has written.

Thank you Simon, everyone thoroughly enjoyed hearing your talk and also learning about the history of the Middle Temple and about the Knights Templars.

Christmas lunch at the golf club 13/12/23 

We had a superb lunch at the Golf Club on Tuesday.  The tables were decorated beautifully, the black table clothes really made a statement as you walked into the dining area. The food and the service was certainly excellent. Members appreciated the tasty starters, well cooked vegetables and meat, the bread and cranberry sauces and the excellent puddings. The only negative I heard from a few, was a plea for sprouts next year!

Thanks Lynn P. for the two quizzes which kept us guessing, well done to those who won the boxes of chocolates. Thanks to Julie who read out the poem "I'm fine thank you" ; yes, we can all relate to some of the lines that Julie so beautifully read. Then it was our resident pocket rocket (Jane M.) who led us in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" a must to end our Christmas Lunch and the end of another WI year.

Thank you, Jean, for once again organising and liaising with the golf club.

Our Christmas party in the village hall, 7/12/23.

Thursday 7^th of December was a very busy day for some of our members. In the morning we had a craft session led by Josie Renshaw, one of our talented members who showed us how to decorate a candle stick with foliage out of our gardens. With a lot of help from Josie, fifteen members had great fun decorating and making the candlesticks look truly amazing. There is a method in our madness as they were to grace our tables for the party on the evening. Once the tables were laid, it was off home to get our party frocks on.

For our Christmas party we always try to find something different to entertain us, this year the Peter and Iris “After Eight Quartet” were booked for the evening. Peter introduced themselves as the After Eight Quartet as they only sang after eight. That was a joke of course, and it set the tone for a superb evening of singing and a couple of jokes in between, especially the parrot one. Their repertoire was so diverse with Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, The Beech Boys, On Ilkley Moor bar t’At and the wonderful sacred Christmas carol sung in Latin, “Gaudete” meaning rejoice. Overall, a truly superb night of entertainment with Peter, Iris, Christine & Ben.

The members once again supplied a superb buffet to enjoy, accompanied by mulled wine and low alcohol drinks, a great night enjoyed by everyone a lovely finish to 2023.

Belvoir Castle November 2023

The subject always comes up at one of our committee meetings about where to go for our Christmas outing.

After much discussion one of the members suggested Belvoir Castle to see the “Twelve Days of Christmas”. This is one of our best loved Christmas carols, which we as a WI always sing to conclude our Christmas lunch, at the Golf Club in December. So, it was up to Jean, our outings coordinator to wave her magic wand and sprinkle the fairy dust and get us booked on this magical tour of the castle.

Tuesday 21st of November was a bit overcast, we had all prayed for it not to rain, and it worked. It was a bright cool day as we started off on our journey with the weather getting better by the hour, as that’s how long it took us to get there.

 Approaching Belvoir Castle, it looked resplendent perched on a hill in the middle of an otherwise flat Leicestershire landscape. Walking in through the front door a row of Christmas trees guided us to the hall where we were greeted by a beautifully decorated tree and a very welcome blazing open fire. This certainly set the trend for the displays that we were to see in twelve beautifully decorated rooms in the castle. As we walked through the rooms, we were travelling through a living storybook blending the magic of Christmas present with Christmas past. Thank you to all those at Belvoir for the superb displays everyone thoroughly enjoyed their time with you, the problem is where will we go next year!

Remembrance Day   

Pat and Suzanne made the poppy display on the front lawn of the village hall and finished just before it started to rain. The purple Poppies are  to remember  the horses that were used in the First World war, and the White Poppies signify Peace".

Coffee Morning on 26th October 2023  to support this year’s local Charity

What a fabulous morning we had yesterday in aid of the local Parkinson Charity group, suggested by Delia. The weather was dire, so we never expected such a wonderful turn out.
The counter in the kitchen was heaving with cakes so kindly donated by members, and the bag,   scarf, jewellery and raffle plus other donated items to sell were doing a roaring trade.
There was standing room only in the hall, with more people eating cake and having tea in the kitchen.
Janet our speaker told us about her journey with her husband’s Parkinsons problems, whowas a Detective Superintendent in the Leicestershire Police force, and the tips and information she gave out I know will have been of some help to some people present.
A BIG thank you to Chris Newman for her unstinting time in the kitchen, Chris you are a star! Thanks to the people who came early and helped to set up the room,  and to those who helped at the end. Thanks to the people who donated cakes, scones, sausage rolls, etc and to everyone who came and gave money for a very worthy local cause.
Thank you to everyone who came and supported the coffee morning, please if you see any of your friends who came tell them how much money we raised, and thank them.
Sonia our resident photographer did a sterling job introducing Janet and giving the vote of thanks and even had time to take photographs.
I have saved the best till last we raised the magnificent total of £712.

Canal trip 28th September 2023

Summer Outing 27 July 2023

Broadway and Sezincote House in the glories Cotswolds was the chosen destination for our 2023 summer outing.

The day dawned bright and clear although the forecast was rain so we dressed for all eventualities with umbrellas at the ready.  

After a very pleasant journey to Broadway, it was time to have a look round this iconic Cotswold town with its wide thorough fare and beautiful town houses and shops lining the road. It has many tea rooms and antique shops as well as the Gorden Russell Museum and the famous Lygon Arms Hotel which was known for its association with the arts and crafts movement.

Three hours gave us enough time to meander around the shops enjoy a coffee and cake and lunch before finding our way back to the coach for our journey to Sezincote House where a guided tour had been booked.

Sezincote House is a Mughal Indian Palace set in the Cotswold Hills created by nabob Charles Cockerell in 1805. The house is surmounted by a copper dome and minarets and is set in a picturesque water garden with pools waterfalls, a grotto, temple, Persian Garden and a curving Orangery where afternoon tea is served.

Our party was divided into two so whilst one group was being shown around the house the other members could visit the garden which was so beautiful, we really needed more time to appreciate its beauty.

The Guided tour of the house was excellent with a very knowledgeable guide, as the house is lived in by the family we were limited to a few rooms, but a lovely cup of tea and excellent cake in the Orangery made up for the lack of rooms to see.

The weather was very kind to us just the right temperature we didn't need our umbrellas, no one got lost and we all arrived safely back at Smisby. The feedback from members was superb they all enjoyed the day; thanks go to our outing's organiser Jean and for ordering the perfect weather.

 Gill Thomas visiting the St Helen's Heritage Centre

Jill has run this years (2023) London Marathon and as she is not a natural runner it was a big deal for her. She raises money for REACH, a charity that helps limb different children and their families navigate many of the challenges they face. Nine of our members were inspired by Gill, a fantastic talk given by a very inspirational person. 

Charles II

Dr Gareth Evans, in the persona of Charles II, gave a  fascinating description of HRH Charles II's life. This history dovetailed into Nell Gwynne's recollections, which we heard in March.What a wonderful way to learn about our history!  Dr Gareth Williams told us about King Charles  early life as a young boy, the civil war, the political situation with Europe, his conquests with the ladies of the court, and his interest in science and the many Royal Societies he founded.

Nell Gwynne visits Smisby, 30 March 2023

Making an eagerly awaited, return visit to Smisby, Lesley Smith presented Nell Gwynn’s story. The village hall was packed, as nearly every member came to see another brilliant performance by Lesley, who is a local historian, specialist in Tudor medicine and curator of Tutbury castle. Members provided a wide variety of refreshments and so a delicious supper was also enjoyed. Lesley also gave members the opportunity to learn about the authentic clothing which she wore. Everyone had a highly entertaining and very enjoyable evening.

After learning about Nell, mistress of Charles II, we are now looking forward to the visit by Lesley’s husband Dr Gareth Edwards, who will describe the kings life history as part of our Coronation celebrations for Charles III. 

 A night with the stars. 14^th March 2023

Christmas 2023 Activities 

On 15th December we had a fabulous morning packing the bags for the elderly people who will receive them on Christmas Day.  Fifty-five bags were filled to the brim, we just could not get anything else in them, thanks to everyone who provided the amazing number of items. 

Remembrance Day Display

Members decorated a tree at the village hall ready for Remembrance Day

Our Jubilee Celebration, Sunday June 12th 2-4.p.m.

What to do for the Queens Jubilee celebration for our members? We knew that there were several street parties being organized by the surrounding villages which our members would go to. So not to interrupt local community celebrations, we decided to hold our celebrations a week later.

Next, what to do, have a speaker or play games? A speaker was the voted option, but who? The Baroness of Bolsover was recommended by a local WI, so she was  invited to our afternoon tea; appropriate as her talk was “Afternoon Tea Etiquette”.

Village decorations were made. Then finger sandwiches, cakes and savory items  were prepared for the afternoon tea and the tables laid beautifully decorated with flowers and menus. Buck's fizz or Pimms were served on arrival and after the talk a cup of refreshing tea with the delicious food.

The Baroness did not disappoint, she told us the Victorians were the first to start the  afternoon tea tradition. Finger sandwiches were only the size of a finger and to be nibbled, Battenburg cake was always served which was named after Queen Victoria’s beloved Alfred, and tea always served in a beautiful China cup. We of course had all three items for the members to enjoy and members were able to practice their tea party etiquette.

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It was a superb afternoon, in  the hall which had been beautifully decorated by the village hall committee and all members wore their best frocks and hats. Click on photos to enlarge.

Loughborough Bell Foundry Visit, April 2022

On Thursday 28^th April twenty-eight members which included husbands made a very enjoyable visit to the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough.

From 1784 members of the Taylor family operated the business, and in 1839 it moved to Loughborough on condition that they recast the parish church bells. The factory moved to its present site in 1859 and is now proud to operate the largest bell foundry in the world and the only remaining bell foundry in the UK.

After a short video on the history of the foundry we had a guided tour of the workshops. The foundry is famous for making the Great Paul Bell which took eleven days to transport to St Paul's Cathedral in London were it still hangs today. Bells from the foundry go all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.

Carillons and Chimes, with many European and American customers, were extensively developed by Taylors. Their pioneering, innovative design and tuning has perfected the modern Carillion. 

A fascinating tour with two knowledgeable guides which made the visit worthwhile.

Lockdown Activities Wall Hanging

Smisby members, and all WI  members up and down the country, have memories of the covid 19 pandemic and the effects of the lockdown on society. Now that we at Smisby WI are meeting in person and arranging outing, our President Julie felt that we should remember that lockdown time. Members were asked to portray what they did during all those months without meeting fellow members.

Felt was donated by one of our members and those who wanted to set about transforming the six-inch piece of felt into their special memory of the past fifteen months.  This collage now hangs proudly in our village hall, for not only our members but for all village hall users to enjoy.

Special March 2022 Meeting: Sex and the Tudors, Lesley Smith

Smisby members have thoroughtly enjoyed several talks given by Lesley Smith, including a visit to Tutbury Castle. So the committee decided, as a special treat for members, that we would invite her back to talk about  “Sex and the Tudors.” 

This additional meeting was possible at no cost to members as a result of our very successful fund raising ventures and also support from the village Parochial Charity.

 Forty-two members enjoyed a  hilarious evening.  We had an hour of history sprinkled with anecdotes, laughter all the way and a superb evening and supper all washed down with Buck’s Fizz.

Many thanks to Lesley Smith for another brilliant performance and thanks to the committee for organising this treat. 

Christmas Lunch at Willesley Golf Club

Thirty-one members enjoyed an excellent  Christmas lunch at Willesley Golf Club on 16 December 2021. Jean and Barbara had arranged the table seating, to make the catering service easier. After the meal we had a quiz put together by Lin P, followed by two Christmas songs with Julie as the conductor, and we finished with "The Twelve days of Christmas"; actions ably demonstrated by Jane M. Thanks to the Golf Club for once again making us feel very welcome

The next event will be Crafts on the 6th of January so look out for the details.

Happy Christmas to you all. 

Christmas Party 2021

Thirty-seven members attended the Christmas party  on the 9 th of December 2021, which was held in the village hall. We were welcomed with mulled wine. and entertained by the Roots Community choir, with music, singing and poetry.

The choir was under the guidance of their musical director Willow. Three of our WI members President Julie Cooper, Jane Mack and Jane Reynolds are in the Choir  which added to the interest! The twenty strong choir sang some beautiful carols as well as folk songs.  They were accompanied by  the director on guitar and keyboard, two members playing fiddles, another on a flute and Jane with her ukulele. Barbara gave the vote of thanks, and we were asked to put our hands together to give a very appreciated clap for the Roots Community Choir.

After the entertainment, members and the choir enjoyed a supper of sandwiches, assorted wraps, profiteroles, mince pies and macaroons. The tables were beautifully decorated with the lanterns made by the crafters in the morning. Also the village hall decorations  and Christmas lights made it feel very festive. Supper was followed by a free raffle, with each member being given a ticket and many members  left with a super prize.

DFWI Show 2021 result

Margaret Boyd and Marie entered art into the DFWI “Fruits of the Earth”  show, encouraged by Suzanne. This show replaced the normal WI competitive classes at  both the Derbyshire County Show and the Bakewell show for this year.

The show was held in October at the DFWI headquarters in Sherwin Street, Derby. Marie was delighted to win the "Harvest mouse in watercolour" class and Margaret came second. Marie also entered and won the acrylic painting competition with the theme of “Fungi” and the photographic class with the theme "Preserves”. 

Tea Gowns and Tea Time with the History Wardrobe.

After a long postponement, due to Covid resrtrictions, Smisby WI finally welcomed Lucy  Adlington from the History Wardrobe to afternoon tea.

 Julie, the Chairman, welcomed the 44 Smisby WI members and 30 guests from neighbouring WIs.  They all enjoyed the scrumptious tea provided by the WI committee under the direction of Secretary, Suzanne.  Menus for each table had been designed and made by Hazel.

Lucy, owner of History Wardrobe, specialises in dress history, with a particular interest in Edwardiana and the 1940s. She gave a very amusing, expert  and entertaining talk about 1940's ladies fashions.

She is also an author and was very excited to tell members that her latest book, "The Dressmakers of Auschwitz", had made it onto the New York Times best sellers list. Information about her other presentations and books can be found on the History wardrobe web site.

Some pictures of the events can be seen below

Owls at Rosliston Thursday 23rd September 2021

What an experience we had with the Owls at the Rosliston ARD Birds of prey.

Alice who has worked at the centre with the owls for many years and has now taken over the running of the business gave a wonderful display with owls flying across the room. We were allowed to have the owls on our gloved hands, hold the owls and even touch and stroke them.

Alices's father talked for the whole two hours telling us everything about the birds we were holding where they came from, their habitats, how they can hear a mouse's heartbeat, so much information!

A wonderful night and I'm sure we all ended the night a bit wiser about owls. 

 Tutbury Castle meeting Mary, Queen of Scots

On 4th September, thirty-four members met Mary Queen of Scots at Tutbury Castle, aka Lesley Smith. What a fantastic afternoon it was!

The surroundings of the castle and hall where we sat, plus the talk about Mary's childhood, marriages, and ultimate be-heading had us all riveted to our seats. Lesley's talk transported us back to the time of Mary's often tragic life,  not a sound was heard until the applause at the end. 

Because everyone who attended enjoyed the afternoon so much the committee are looking at inviting Lesley back to Smisby to do another one of her characters in the New Year, and later we will pay another visit to the castle.

85th Birthday Celebrations Thursday 15th July 2021.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic we like others were unable to celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and to have a family wake for loved ones who had passed away. This also applied to our 85th birthday celebrations which we would have had in July last year.
Lesley Smith the Chatelain of Tutbury Castle and historian was booked to give a talk on Peggy Knight a WW11 SOE spy in 2020. Lesley appreciated that everything had to be cancelled so with a heavy heart we decided to re-arrange the party for 2021 and hoped that it would be able to go ahead.
Restrictions were starting to be relaxed with more people being able to meet indoors as well as outdoors, the date was fixed, food arranged emails sent out and thirty-three members enjoyed a fantastic night with Lesley as Peggy Knight.
The evening started with Pimm’s or Bucks Fizz, and then Julie introduced our speaker for the evening.
Lesley, dressed in a green suite, snood and curled hair told us about the life of Peggy, who was born in Paris to a Polish mother and French father. Her first language was French and then English. The family moved to England where she worked for the Asea Electric Company as a shorthand typist. In the early spring of 1944, she was in a café and was overheard speaking French, she was immediately recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE). She was rushed through a two-week training course, during which she did one practise parachute jump from a static balloon and was then sent behind enemy lines in Vichy France to establish herself as a secret British courier with code name of Nicole. She crossed back and forth between battle lines several times carrying intelligence messages and information. She also participated directly in an attack by the French resistance upon a German military convoy. Peggy narrowly escaped capture and execution later in 1944 when she and a group of resistance fighters were betrayed by one of their number to the Nazis.
After the war for her wartime activities Peggy was awarded many British, French, and American honours, including and OBE the Croix de Guerre and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by the United States.
During the talk you could have heard a pin drop we were all so wrapped up in Peggy’s story, Lesley was emotional as was many of our members, a fabulous talk, finishing by singing happy birthday to ourselves and enjoyed sandwiches, and cupcakes that were made especially for our birthday.
A superb birthday meeting with many requests to have Lesley back to give another talk one day. 

SMISBY WI AGM & Resolution Meeting

Held on July 1st, 2021, at Smisby Village Hall at 7.15. p.m.

Julie our President opened the meeting by welcoming nineteen members to the AGM and introducing Kirsty and Ann from the Bank House Community Hub based in Swadlincote. Bank House in run in partnership with South Derbyshire Mental Health Association and support a wide range of people who come for help with filling in Benefit forms, support then with appeals and tribunals, housing issues, liaising with energy suppliers, find the service users jobs, College placements, and the support of just being able to talk to someone.
Kirsty and Ann where so enthusiastic about their rolls within the organisation that we all decided to ask them back again and hoped we would be able to offer Bank House more help in the future.
After their talk Julie presented Kirsty and Ann with a cheque for £418 which was raised at our coffee morning on Monday the 31st of May.
We then proceeded with our AGM all the committee wanted to continue, Julie as our President, Suzanne Secretary, and Muriel Treasurer.
We now come to the resolution which had been put forward by Kathy Heathcote a WI member from Hampshire who lost her daughter-in-law to ovarian cancer. After members watched a superb video outlining the for and against supporting the resolution, we at Smisby voted to support the resolution to make women aware of the signs and early detection of ovarian cancer.

The meeting finished with coffee and biscuits, not our usual cheese and wine. 

June 2021 Report

Like many WIs, Smisby has embraced zoom to enable us to keep in touch with members. Every month we had two evening guest speakers and twice a month a coffee/craft morning. Invitations were sent out to local WI’s to log onto the evening talks, and they were well supported.

At one of the coffee mornings, it was suggested we crochet, knit, paint sunflowers to attach to trees in the local woods surrounding Smisby. After a long discussion Julie our President suggested we put them on the railings around the village hall, make a feature of it and have a coffee morning to raise money for a charity. Several dates were made but had to be pushed back for covid reasons, members were busy making Sunflowers of all descriptions to decorate the railings with over one hundred and fifty made.  Three of our members are Trustees of the village Hall and as we have complied with all covid safe regulations we could allow people into the hall and treat it as if they were entering a restaurant, contact numbers taken and face masks had to be worn until they sat down where they were served by members.

May 31st Spring Bank holiday Monday, a glorious day, cakes were made coffee and tea at the ready, book stall, plants, and bric-a-brac sold outside everyone felt really pleased to be part of the community and doing something “normal”. £418 was raised for a local mental health charity which will be presented at our AGM in the village hall. It was time to take down the display but not before taking a picture of several of our ladies with some of the sunflowers made for the occasion. Click on image below to enlarge.

Special Report May 2021

At last things seem to be progressing well with the Covid vaccine roll out with many of our members having had their second jab.

The Trustees at the village hall have worked extremely hard getting the hall deep cleaned and putting in the signage and the covid cleaning schedules to comply with government legislation. That means that as a WI we can meet in the village hall in groups of six with no more than thirty people at any one time.

At our first face to face committee meeting many decisions were made and dates planned.
The walking group has gone from strength to strength, and it was decided that we would now have two walks a month, the second Thursday of the month will be a 4-5 mile walk still calling ourselves the Striders, and on the 4th Tuesday of the month it will be for members who can only walk 2-3 miles and they will be the strollers. All dates and walks plus not forgetting where we will be having lunch will be sent to members via email and advertised on the notice board.
Some of the Tuesday dates may vary as we have booked some outside activities, Stone carving and Wood Turning plus we are looking at a day at making a willow basket.

Our first meeting in the village hall will take place on Thursday 20th of May the speaker Ian Reston giving a talk on The Pennine Way, all guidelines will be followed, if the restrictions are lifted in June we will have a “normal meeting” with a speaker on June 24th.

We are coming up to the Spring Bank holiday, Monday May 31st and our crafters have been remarkably busy making Sunflowers out of various mediums to decorate the village hall railings. We will also be serving coffee/tea and homemade cake in the hall, outside there will be a bookstall, brick-a-brack table, plus a plant stall and raffle, with all money going to a local Mental Health Charity. The weather looks promising, so we hope for a good turnout of local people.

Our 2021 AGM and Resolutions meeting will be on Thursday 1st of July in the village hall lets hope for a good attendance.

The craft mornings will start again on Thursday 3rd of June with Jane Reynolds and “paper crafts”. Julie and Jane have put together an exciting number of different crafts for us try in the coming year so look out for the dates and the crafts on offer.

The committee would like to take the opportunity to thank all the members who have once again paid their membership and shown their commitment to Smisby WI, four members have left for various reasons, but we have filled the places with four new members who had been on the waiting list.

Special Report January 2021

January 2021 and another lockdown has been brought in that means we are unable to have our planned meetings for at least four months. We have therefore decided that we will have two coffee morning meetings on a Thursday and a zoom meeting in the evening with a speaker.

Our coffee mornings before Christmas went down very well, we were all a bit hesitant at first in getting on to zoom but we seem to be old hands at it know.

It was decided to try to do some crafts via zoom and having never done anything like this before it was all a bit strange, but we got there in the end and achieved some exceptionally good results.

In October Suzanne showed us how to make paper poppies which most of the members who had the packs (which we had got ready as we thought we would be in the village Hall for a craft morning) completed and sent in photographs of their achievements.  

November, Dorothy kindly showed us how to make paper rose, everyone making an incredibly good attempt at them and of course many photographs were sent in to show how well they had done. December was our Presidents turn, and Julie showed us how to make paper book Angels and a Christmas Trees. It is something new to demonstrate via zoom, but we got there in the end.

No Christmas parties last year or a meal out at the Golf Club how we have missed them and the friendship that goes with meeting up with fellow members. However, members had a Christmas zoom meeting.

As we have said before, meetings will be via zoom, chatter and natter every other Thursday morning at 10.30.a.m.  There will be  a speaker on a Thursday night 7.p.m. for a talk amongst ourselves and the speaker will begin 7.30.p.m.

January 14^th Chris Baker Historical Fiction “ The girl who sewed parachutes”.

January 21^st  Carol Burnett “Deadly Weeds or beneficial beauty.”

February 4^th  “Hearing dogs for the Deaf”  TBC

February 18^th Wendy Freer “A step on the Ladder”

March 4^th  Barbara Lawson-Reay “Founders of the WI”

March 18^th Rachel Lundy “Cycling across America with eight Strangers”

We have not planned anything for April, just hoping we have all had our injections and are out of lockdown.

SEE ANNUAL REPORT 2020 CLICK HERE

SEE SPECIAL REPORT, SEPTEMBER 2020, BELOW

Smisby WI meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month, 7.00 pm for 7.15 pm prompt start. The 2020 programme is now available on the programme page and has details of some new events.reports about past activities can be found on the Past events page.

All meetings normally in Smisby Village Hall, Main Street LE65 2TY at 7pm for a 7.15pm start.  In addition, monthly craft sessions and walks are organised on the first and second Thursday of each month respectively. There is also weekly canasta/card games on a Wednesday afternoon and a keep fit class on Tuesday afternoons.

WI Annual Membership is £43. Refreshments are £1 per meeting.

Guests (carers exempt) maximum of 3 meetings per year

A waiting list is now in operation for new members who live outside of Smisby parish.

Secretary;  Mrs Suzanne Jones 01530 415346

We are part of the Derbyshire Federation

DFWI Headquarters

“Derbyshire House”, Sherwin Street,

Derby, DE22 1GP

Telephone 01332 342596

Special Report September 2020

The last paragraph of the annual report said we are looking forward to resuming our meetings in the village hall in September, although at a very reduced capacity due to government guidelines.
On the 6th of September we had a committee meeting to arrange meetings for the rest of the year, a day later it was all change, we would not be able to use the village hall once again due to restrictions.
We had already arranged at BBQ on the 10th September which could go ahead as it was outside. We were due to have the AGM on the 17th September, but it was hastily rearranged to the night of the BBQ as Jean our President wished to retire and Julie agreed to take on the position of President.
The BBQ at the Trough Café at Grangewood, was attended by twenty-two members and several husbands. The AGM went ahead as all information was sent out to all members via email, Jean was thanked for her time as President and Julie presented her with an English Lavender plant for her garden.
We have, as reported in the Annual Report, kept up with the walks twice a week Tuesday’s and Thursday. They have been very well attended as you can see from the many photographs that have been taken.
Last May, eight of us were due to go on a stone carving workshop we eventually managed to attend on the 9th of September, and you can see from the finished carving we are quite a talented bunch. Nine members and two husbands thoroughly enjoyed Croquet at Moira it was another outdoor pursuit and we concluded with lunch at the YHA Moira. The next venture will be “football golf” at Coalville, it sounds fun and once again outside for all to enjoy. The next workshop will be wood turning in November at Greenwood Days Staunton Harold. Peter Wood the tutor will be taking two classes and we will hopefully be coming away with a three-legged stool. Look out for the photographs.
Zoom will be our next adventure, as some of our members already use it for Pilates or Keep Fit. I am sure we will have an audience and try to keep our members interested with the many zoom speakers we have managed to obtain.
Will we be able to meet as a group very soon? we doubt it, it looks like our Christmas meal and party has been canceled, so we must make the most of
the technology that is now part of our daily life, meet for walks and hopefully finish with lunch at a local restaurant.

                           __________________________________________________

Visit to Sharpe’s Pottery Museum and the Magic Attic: 27 Feb 2020

Twenty-three members and two husbands had a very enjoyable afternoon at the Museum in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire.

The museum contains items of pottery that had been made in the local area over thee past 150 years when Swadlincote was at the heart of the pipe making industry. Not only was it famous for making pipes, and toilets but many local firms like T.G.Green made beautiful decorative household  items  such as  vases and table wear which were on display in the museum.

The Magic Attic was also open for us to look around the archives that were stored there dating back to the early 19th century. The guides were very knowledgeable and helpful, and it was amazing the amount of information that had been gatherers about the local area.

An hour really was not long enough in the museum, but the afternoon tea booked for 3.p.m was ready to be served.  Members loved the exhibition by Ashby Camera Club, which  was being held in the cafe. Everyone agreed the sandwiches and cakes were excellent, Roberto the owner and his staff could not be more accommodating, a very good afternoon well supported by the members and several said they would be returning for a longer visit.

Smisby WI visit to Elford Community Gardens June 2013

Harper Crewe Group Carol Service 6 December 2018 St James, Smisby

The carol service was a great success last night with over sixty people attending.  A big thank you to our readers of the poems, and to the members who were persuaded to make Mince Pies. There were many comments saying how lovely everything was, which makes it all worth while.  Pat, thank you for once again making the mulled wine and ensuring the Mince Pies were warm when served.

The collection raised a total of £122.20p, a superb amount, raised for the Betel UK charity which helps restore lives for local people or families with drug/alcohol or homeless related problems. Also thanks to Sue and Ivor Betteridge who put the service together and to Georgia who sang with Sally on the Clarinet,  Ivor was also the organist for the night.

WI Christmas Lunch: 19th December 2019

Our Christmas Lunch at Willesley Golf Club was supported by forty-five members who enjoyed a superb lunch. The room was beautifully decorated with festive trimmings which put us in party mood.

After lunch a quiz organized by a committee member was given out, and after much deliberating one table was the eventual winner and the box of chocolates was soon eaten.

 A lovely way to  end 2019 and we look forward to 2020 and to our 85^th Birthday year with many more celebrations to follow.

Thanks, to Jean and Barbara for organising the event

WI Party: 13th December 2019

The party was re-scheduled to the Friday because of the election the day before. Entertainment was provided by the Melbourne Bell Ringers.

Harewood House Visit : 30 November 2019

Where to go for our Christmas outing this year, Chatsworth was our destination last year and we really did not want to go again, Harewood House in West Yorkshire near Leeds was suggested and to go on a Saturday to give those who work the opportunity to attend.

What a good suggestion that turned out to be, the house sits in the heart of Yorkshire and was built in the 18^th century by Edwin Lascelles 1^st Baron of Harewood, who was a plantation and slave owner in the West Indies. The house has an Art collection to rival the finest in Britain, and rare birds and exquisite gardens.

It is only the second time that the house has opened for Christmas and had been dressed by creative director Simon Costin. The house came alive with pictures talking, table ornaments singing, plates talking to one another, statues having a gossip and a ceiling that lit up, it was fantastic and this was all set against a backdrop of superbly decorated Christmas trees, a lovey log fire and sofas and chairs to sit on.

Everyone agreed it was a super day out even though it took two hours to get there, we had no hold ups on the motorway going or coming back and the Roberts new coach was a very smooth ride.

Buxton Visit 23rd to 24th Sept

The overnight trip to Buxton, staying at the Old Hall Hotel, was a great success.  The rooms and hotel meals were excellent. The weather allowed the walk from Hollinsclough to Chrome Hill  

as planned. It was interesting that October's Derbyshire Life had an article about this area, which provided some additional information and history. The walk was followed by lunch at the High Peak Bookstore Café before travelling the few miles into Buxton to our comfortable hotel. Depite the weather on the foll0wing day we managed some Buxton sight seeing and some went to visit the nearby natiional trust property , Lyme Hall. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Children's Friday craft mornings

Suzanne organised two Craft mornings  5 to 12 year old children and their carers, on 2 August and 23 August.  Here is her report and some photos.

In June, Barbara and I attended the National Federation of Woman's Institute AGM in Bournemouth. On one of the stalls there were leaflets advertising the Craft Council of England,  they were promoting various crafts like knitting, crochet and sewing to be taught to children, as these are very rarely taught in schools. After reading the literature and some provided by the NFWI it gave me an idea. Here at Smisby we have a very active  craft group and  the committee thought it would be a wonderful opportunity do some very basic crafts with members grandchildren.

After getting the go ahead from the committee, four members were roped in to help, Hazel who runs a craft for mental health people, Ann who has been on the Leicestershire craft committee, and Pat who just loves cooking. We got together and for the first morning butterfly cakes were made, cards with trains, cats or dogs or aCinderella coach, and in the "mucky corner" they had to glue pieces of material to a flower pot and then planta sempervivum or house leek in it.

Our second session was even more challenging, dinosaurs, cats, dogs gingerbread men, and stars cut out of pastry, whilst the cookies were being cooked the children then went on to make rocky road cakes, high light of the morning was  licking the remaining chocolate out of the bowl. At the sewing table the girls and boys made  a rabbit  from a glove, and on Hazel's table Hedgehogs were constructed out of books and decorated,  the tree of friend ship was the next project where they could let their imagination run away with them.

At the end of both sessions there was a tray of mixed fruit put out which was soon  eaten, photographs were taken and all the children took home something to remember the morning. Two superb morning were had by nine children on both mornings, we insisted that the grandparents had to stay with the children to help them with the projects, 

The feed back I received from the grandparents was that they enjoyed it just as much as the children, and when are we going to  have some more craft mornings for grandchildren.

Charity Strawberry Tea July 2019 

Annual Monthly Competition Trophy 2019

Cynthia's Retirement from the WI Committee

Forty years ago, after she came to live in the village, Cynthia Massey joined Smisby WI. Previously she had been a member of Woodville WI and taken on the roles of President and Treasurer. When she attended her first Smisby WI AGM, by the time she left that evening she was their new President.

Ever since then Cynthia has been on the committee and acted as Treasurer and also taken on the role of President several times.

1985 was the Golden Anniversary,  past presidents were invited to the celebration and a visit to Stardust was arranged. The first photograph shows Cynthia as President and Secretary Marion Baily cutting the anniversary cake with former President Madge Hewitt on the left. The second photograph shows members at Stardust. (click on photo to enlarge)

Cynthia also hosted the Strawberry Tea Garden Party at her home for Smisby WI’s Diamond, see the third photograph. The third photograph shows Cynthia with some of the guests around Sheila Heaps Anniversary cake.

 At our AGM in May 2019, two of our newer members were voted on to the committee. Cynthia has said over the past few years she would like to retire and so this was her opportunity. We could not let this occasion pass without giving her a small reminder of our appreciation of her years of commitment as a committee member and also for the use of her house and garden for committee meetings,  Christmas and garden parties.  Jean our current President presented Cynthia with a ceramic planter containing golden patio roses and  violas (see fourth photo above).  

Thank you Cynthia for all your hard work and commitment to Smisby WI, we will miss you at our committee meetings.  Time now to enjoy being a member without the responsibitlies of office!

DFWI Centenary Events 2018

Benefit to the Local Community Challenge

All WI's in Derbyshire were set  a "Benefit to the Local Community Challenge". to celebrate 100 years of the Derbyshire Federation of WIs.   The project could be a number of things either for the local hall, a small local charity, or in the village or area where we could see a  need.

Smisby is an ancient village recorded in the Domesday Book and  St James Church Smisby  will be celebrating 950 years in July. There are frequent walkers passing through but no information about the village it's self, so the Smisby WI decided to do rectify the situation by providing a village and a chuch interpretation board.

 This project has taken twelve months to plan, research the history of Smisby, and come up with ideas to raise money to pay for the project and finally to find local sgnwriter, Robert Lewis, to make the boards,. The East Midlands Airport Community Fund was approached and a wonderful donation of £750 started the fundraising. This was supported by quiz nights, a murder mystery night, and a lunch for our ladies and partners to reach the target of £1,300.

Many people from the WI, village and church, to numerous to mention, helped to put together the two interpretation boards; one outside the village hall and the other at the church. The boards were unveiled on Saturday 26th July 2018 by Mr Micheal Stanton Chairman of South Derbyshire District Council and his wife. Local residents were invited to the unveiling , and bacon butties and homemade cakes were on offer. Local history photographs taken by member Jean Statt were also displayed. The morning was a great success.  Smisby WI hope these two boards help explain the historial associations of Smisby village and will be enjoyed by residents and the many walkers and visitors to Smisby.

The photo shows Mr and Mrs Michael Stanton with our President Jean in the centre, by the village interpretation board, beneath the village notice board.

DFWI Centenary Fabric brick 2018

We at Smisby WI are very fortunate to have within our membership two very talented ladies who between them have made this 2018 centenary brick.

Pat Barnes designed the art work. with Angela Regan using her talents on the embroidery machine.

The design depicts St James Church Smisby, the anvil and hammer represent the Craftsmen of Smisby who undoubtedly forged work for the occupants of Ashby de la Zouch Castle.

The books tell us that Smisby is named in the Doomsday Book of 1086 (spelt Smithsby or Smidesbi)

Sir Walter Scott is believed to have visited Smisby where he got the idea for Ivanhoe, and of course we must mention the Women’s Institute. 

The brick will be sewn on to a large wall hanging and displayed at Federation meetings and the county shows and are a unique record of W.I.s in the Federation.

There have been two previous wall hangings which were completed in the 1980's and the year 2000.

DFWI Centenary Tea Towel Competition 2018

Marie and Suzanne designed a commerative tea towel  for the Derbyshire Federation showing every WI on a map and a selection of activities ( see pictutre). However, it was not selected for printing but the art work will be on display with the other successful and unsuccessful entries at the Autumn Council meeting.

November 2017  WI Life Magazine

Laura was interviewed and photographs  taken of her with the Alpaca, and the article appeared in the November WI LIfe.

25th Jan 2018 First Aid and De fibrillator training by East Midlands Ambulance Service.

We have had a Defibrillator outside the village hall for some time now and the committee agreed that we need to know how to use it.

We approached the East Midlands Ambulance Service and Ben Ryrie. the trainer for EMAS kindly agreed to come along and show us how to  operate it. Ben gave an interesting and entertaining talk to an audience made up of the WI,  village hall users and villagers.

Ben told us that we must first assess the situation before approaching the casualty, and not to put oneself in any danger.

Call 999 if the casualty is unresponsive and not breathing

If the casualty is unresponsive to voice and collar bone taps and does not seem to be breathing, then phone for an ambulance immediately, by calling 999.

 If the person is not responsive and not breathing, then their heart has stopped working and they are having a  cardiac arrest. ( You can check if the casualty is breathing  by placing your face close to the nose to detect air movement and watching for any chest movement)

If necessary clear the airway, using the rescue position to drain the mouth. Tilting the head back puts the tongue into place.

If the casualty is not breathing start CPR   Ben demonstrated CPR on Annie the demo body. 

CPR can be done with just chest compressions or with chest compressions and rescue breaths.

CPR using chest compressions

Place the heel of your hand on the breastbone at the centre of the person’s chest. Place your other hand on top of your first hand and interlock your fingers. Position yourself with your shoulders above your hands.

Using your body weight (not just your arms)  press straight down by 5-6cm (2-2.5 inches) on their chest.

Keeping your hands on their chest, release the compression and allow the chest to return to its original position.

Repeat these compressions at a rate of about 100 times per minute until an ambulance arrives or you become exhausted.

Using the defibrillator

Do not stop the CPR.  Someone else must fetch the defibrillator

Remove the defibrillator out of the box, and the defibrillator will talk you through the operating instructions. This involved placing  two sticky patches,  as directed  and the instructions were very clear and easy to understand. The machine checks the casualty’s heart and decides whether to administer a shock or not.  Everyone must stand clear if it tells them to.

Everyone learnt a great deal in that hour and a half and hopefully can help someone in an emergency if required.

Visit by National WI Chair, Lynne Stubbings

Lynne Stubbings, the new chair of the WI, was invited to Smisby WI in October 2017.Lynne Stubbings does not live too far away from Smisby and so was able to accepy our invitation to speak. 
As Smisby is on the border of Leicestershire and Derbyshire we invited clubs from both areas.  We had representatives from Blackfordby, Netherseal, Newhall, Ticknall, Melbourne, Ashby Castle, Swannington, Ravenstone  as well as Smisby,  and Chrissie Booth  and Christine Gardener from the DFWI.
Lynne’s  talk was titled "Opportunities for All".  Lynne began by showing a short video of the centenary celebrations at the Albert Hall with Jerusalem being played in the background, Lynne told us how she became involved with the WI and the opportunities that we as members could take part in.
After Lynne's talk members had an opportunity to ask questions on various topics, and because of Lynne's thirty-seven years in the WI, all questions were answered to members' satisfaction.

Barbara, our vice chair, presented Lynne with a DVD of Smisby's activities over the past year, and a bowl of Kalanchoe plants as a reminder of the event and thanked Lynne and everyone else for attending.Please click on the photograph of Lynne and Barbara to enlarge it. 

Open meeting Sept 2017

Once a year Smsiby WI have an open meeting where husbands, partners and friends are invited to join one of our monthly meetings.  For September 2017, our speaker talked  about the wonderful work,  done by the volunteers of the Derbyshire Mountain Rescue service. This was a topic whichwe knew this would appeal to the audience and, Kevin the training officer for the charity did not disappoint. He gave a superb talk on the many rescues they have undertaken within Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire, he also gave a very good insight into the intensive training the volunteers have to take in order to be part of the team.

Christine Gardner ,the publicity officer for Derbyshire WI , joined us this evening as Smisby is to be featured in the December  issue of Derbyshire Life Magazine. Some of the photographs taken are shown below ( click on each to enlarge. A great night was had by the members and visitors who also enjoyed a buffet supplied by the Committee.

Uttoxeter Ladies Day July 2017

As you can see from the photographs it was wet and windy but in true WI spirit we carried on with a fabulous 'bring and share' "posh picnic", and some had the classy option of the restaurant.We had a great day with many of us going home with winning, for some of us it was another tick of the bucket list.

Please click to enlarge the photos

Smisby is part of the Derbshire Federation of WIs and the Derbyshire Federation centenary is in 2018.
 

Planning for the Derbyshire Federation of WIs Centenary in 2018 

To celebrate the centenary of the WI in Derbyshire many events have been organised by the Trustees, and we have been set many challenges.

* On the 12th May 2018 at the Winding Wheel Chesterfield there will be a day of activities and fun, which will include a fashion show, musical acts, quizzes, treasure hunt and significant characters from the WIs past and a whole lot more to show case the WI.

* In the Autumn there is to be a variety show where members can come along and sing, perform a short play, or play a musical instrument. Dates and more details are to follow.

* Could we design a new Badge Federation? That’s one for our talented artist’s, any volunteers?.

* Benefit the local Community?

What can we do to give some benefit to Smisby Village?  That took some thought, but we came up with providing two interpretation boards for the village, one to be attached to the notice board outside the village hall, the other at the St. James Church.

Our fund raising has been helped by a very generous contribution from the East Midlands Airport Community Fund, a bacon buttie morning, quiz night and a lunch for the walkers, will all go to help pay for the project.

The interpretation board at St James Church will give information on the history of this beautiful Norman Church, the notice board will be repaired and painted. At the village hall the board will give the history of the village and it’s connection to the Harpur Crewe’s of Calke, it will also be painted and made good.

We have many visitors and walkers pass through the village and we intend the boards to give them a brief history of the village.

When both boards are in place next year we will have a short dedication service by Cannon David Edwards and photographs taken to be included in the local paper.

To commemorate the Centenary in 2018 every WI in Derbyshire had the opportunity to design and make a “fabric brick” depicting their WI and could also enter a competition to produce a commerative tea towel. Smisby entered both commerative events.

Derbyshire County Show WI Art and Photographic competitons 2017

Smisby entered the WI Art and Photogrphic competions  and obtained third places in both competitions. The theme this year was wonderland and the photo shows Marie's and Chris's paintings.

Pie making visit Sept 2016

On the 13th of September 2016 nine members and one husband had a very enjoyable evening at Brockleby's Pork Pie 

manufacturers. After being greeted by David we had to put on aprons and of course the very fetching hair nets in order to have a tour of the factory. David gave a very informative talk about the company and the range of pies that they make all being free range and sourced locally.

Now to the best bit, making the pie! David first of all showed us how to make the base with prepared pastry, wrapped around a wooded block after putting the meat in,  the lid was put on but only with five indentations to attach the lid to the base.

A fantastic time was had by all, all ten pies looked totally different, but Sybil's pie was chosen as the one that looked most like a Brockleby's Pork Pie. 

Repton Walk. Thursday 17th August 2016.

For many years Smisby WI have had a June evening walk with husbands or friends around the local area. As we have a very thriving walking group that meets every second Thursday of the month we are finding it difficult to find walks that all members can participate in. We have been to the lime yards at Calke and of course not to be forgotten the horrendous weather we had on our canal walk at Shardlow last year.
The walk took place in August this year due to the availability of our Blue Badge Guide Mr Keith Blood. 33 members and husbands met at the Repton Tea Rooms for the start of the guided walk. Keith went first to the ancient Market Cross in the centre of Repton, before moving on to St Wystan’s Church.
The church had been opened especially for the tour and we were also very privileged to be allowed to go down into the crypt. The crypt was constructed in the first half of the 8 th century. Perhaps as a baptistry, later converted to a mausoleum. It is a small chamber built of stone which became the final resting place of several Mercian Kings. St Wystan’s church takes its name from the grandson of King Wiglaf who was murdered in 840 AD. Following Wystan’s death his shrine became a place of pilgrimage.
From the church, there was a brief look round the school cloisters and then a short walk back to the tea rooms for our evening meal. Barbara gave the vote of thanks to the proprietor of the tea rooms for opening especially for us and providing us with an excellent meal, and to Sonia and Rebecca for organising the very enjoyable evening.

Beaumanor Hall Visit on Thursday 28th July 2016

Eighteen members and six husbands enjoyed a morning visiting Beaumanor Hall a stately home and park in the small village of Woodhouse on the edge of Charnwood forest.

We were greeted by Margaret who was our guide for the morning, Margaret told us that the hall has been in the Herrick family since 1595 when Sir William Herrick was a government official under Elizabeth 1 and later a member of parliament for Leicester. There have been three halls on the site but the present hall was built over a seven-year period by William Railton (who designed Nelson column and Grace Dieu) between 1842 and 1848 in the Jacobean style. The floors were constructed using stone from Derbyshire and the floors of marble from Ashover.

Just before the Second World War in 1939 the Herrick family owned the park the hall and 6,500 acres of land, Beacon hill the Hanging Rocks and many more workers houses and cottages. In 1939 the War office requisitioned the estate when it became a listening station where encrypted enemy signals were intercepted and sent to Bletchley Park by motorbike for decoding. Beaumanor for the duration of the war was the home of the War Office Y group.

Please click to enlarge the photos

After a very comprehensive tour of the hall, kitchens, and cellars we made our way via the Victorian School Room to Morse Cottage which is where some of the morse code was intercepted, and passed to Bletchley, the huts on the estate that had to be camouflaged from enemy planes as a row of cottages, greenhouses, a cricket pavilion and stables.

The Hall and some of the park is now a Conference and Education Centre run by Leicestershire CC.  Coffee and biscuits were a welcome break half way through the tour, but we also enjoyed a very nice lunch at the Curzon’s Arms in Woodhouse Eves, where the service was very slow but the company and food was excellent. Everyone said how they had enjoyed the visit and we will be going back to learn more about the Hall’s help towards winning the second world war, and of course we will have to have afternoon tea at the hall. 

Houses of Parliament and the London Eye Visit on Friday 20th May 2016

Forty-one WI members and friends boarded the bus at Smisby for the journey to London. As we wanted to miss the traffic hold ups on the M1 we started out at 10a.m and it proved to be the right decision as there were no hold ups to our first stop for lunch at a garden centre near St Albans.

After a very enjoyable lunch at the garden centre it was back on the bus for our journey to the London Eye.

As anticipated the going was slow due to prayers finishing at the London Mosque in Regents Park and of course the lunch time London Traffic, but we arrived in plenty of time for our 3.30.p.m slot on the London Eye. This wonderful piece of engineering is quite magnificent and many in our party had not been before so it was quite awe-inspiring for them as we travelled at a very slow speed to view the London skyline.

Twenty minutes later we walked to The houses of Parliament with time for a quick coffee and cake, then into the magnificent Westminster Hall to meet our tour guide. We were told that the Hall is the oldest building on the Parliamentary estate, having been built in 1097 by the son of William the Conqueror, and completed within two years, and to this day survives almost in its original form.

The hall has seen many historic events, from the trial of King Charles 1st the coronation of James 11 and the lying in state of many notable people.

From there we were taken to the House of Lords the second chamber of the UK Parliament which works with the house of Commons, questioning Government and debating issues and policy. Three days before our visit the Queen had opened Parliament and when you see the house of Lords on TV it looks quite large, but we were all surprised at how small it was when we were standing there. (We could not sit down in either the Lords or Commons)

The tour guide was very informative about all the various rooms including the House of Commons, and gave us a good in site into the daily working of this magnificent building.

After a very good journey home we arrived back in Smisby at 10. 15p.m having had a wonderful day enjoyed by all.

Photograph supplied by Pat Barnes.

Smisby WI gratefully thanks the Parochial Charity for the grant which made this visit possible

Smisby Successes 2016 

Although the Deryshire County Show was cancelled in 2016 because of the waterlogged field at Elvaston castle, the Derbyshire Federation  still ran the WI competitions from their headquarters in Derby. The theme was Midsummers Night dream and Marie won the art competition with her painting, see picture

Shardlow Walk and Supper 2016 (provided by Shardlow WI)

For a number of years Smisby WI has had an Open June evening walk in the local area with refreshments afterwards.

As we have a very thriving walking group that meets every second Thursday of the month we are finding it difficult to find walks that all members are able to participate in. We have been to Calke Abbey and had a talk about the Lime Kilns, and a tour of Smisby Church with supper at the village hall.

This year ( 2016), an open walk was organised to visit Shardlow an inland port just a few miles from Smisby. The visit was arranged with Shardlow WI,  to tell us about the history of the village and canals, finishing with a light supper. 

All thirty-three of us duly arrived at Shardlow village hall looking very warily at the weather as it had been a dreadful week weather wise, see photos and click to enlarge.

We set of in small groups with our guides and gathered round as they started to tell us about the history of Shardlow and how it was to become a unique place in the history of the country. The 18th century canal port, with all its associated wharves and warehouses, developed greatly with the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1770 for the transfer of goods from wide boats on the River Trent to narrow boats on the canal, where goods could be shipped to other parts of the country. We walked past warehouses, houses and the old Methodist Church (no longer in use) to the new bridge over the canal and then the heavens opened. The various groups dashed to shelter under trees and the bridge and there we stayed, as the rain thunder and lightning raged all about us, and the roads and pavements flooded.

Our guides were very good and tried to keep our interest but the weather was just getting worse and after thirty minutes it was decided to make a dash for the village hall.

Once at the hall we were greeted by the lovely Shardlow WI ladies who had prepared a supper of sandwiches and homemade cakes, and of course a very welcome cup of tea or coffee.

After we had dried out we thanked the ladies for their wonderful hospitality and the evening finished with a short quiz on the Tudors and even though we got completely soaked it was a night we will always remember. 

 Thornton Chocolates visit

 In May a small group of members visited Thornton's chocolates, see photo. Click to enlarge.

Latest Visit: Button maker and Jewellery Museum

The WI travelled to Smethwick to visit the last remaining mother of pearl button factory in April and enjoyed an entertaining talk by the owner and the opportunutiy to buy some of his beautiful jewellery made from shells. The museum in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham was visited too.  Click to enlarge the photos.

Archery

The Derbyshire Federation and the Harpur Crewe Group occasionally organised sporting evetns for members. Several of the Smsiby members took part in the Archery taster duing 2015.

Visit to Charlecote Park

On 12^th September 2013, Smisby WI visited Charlecote Park, a beautiful Tudor house.

The visit was supported the Parochial Charity.

Our coach journey took us through some out of the way places and pretty hamlets. The weather held and members enjoyed the house, gardens, interesting outbuildings and Victorian cookery demonstration.

A delicious tea was provided by a local WI before we set out for home.

 Visit to Hough Mill

On 22 August 13 members, with family and friends met at the George Inn.

A 2 mile walk included some of the historic mining sites in the Swannington heritage old mining  area. We then met our guide Bill Pemberton at Hough Mill.

Bill gave us a fascinating guided tour of this Swannington heritage trust site, explaining how mining has changed through the ages. This tour included the rare heathland in the Gorse field, once heavily mined in medieval times; the remains of the Califat colliery and the partly restored windmill, Hough mill.  We were able to go inside the windmill and learn how it used to operate.

A short walk back to the George Inn  was followed by a delicious lunch.