Annual Spring Council Meeting

On Thursday, March 22nd eight of our Members attended the Annual Spring Council Meeting in Llangollen.
The speakers in the morning were:
Colin Evans - North Wales Deaf Association
Christine Dukes - Income Generation Manager, Llangollen International Eisteddfod
and Helen Carey - Keeping WI Records

March update

Here we are middle of April already. I hope you all had a lovely Easter break.
Apologies everyone for not updating the blog for quite a few weeks, but here I am, better late then never.
0n the 12th March we went for an evening meal to the Princess Arms in Trefriw, for our St David's Celebration. The food was great and everyone had a good time. We had a raffle on the night and the overall results for the  monthly competitions 2011 was announced :
1st Barbara Evans with 16 points     
2nd Chris Thomas with 11 points
3rd Ann Hopkins with 9 points
The result for the March competition and with that the start of a new competition year was:
1st Christine Fisher
2nd Lis Stedman
3rd Mairwen Jones

Program 2012/13

• March 12th -  St David's Celebration
• April 16th -  Boots Beauty Counter
• May 14th - Resolutions - Quiz night
• June 11th - Oriana Flower arranging
• July 9th - Outing to be arranged
• August - No Meeting
• September 10th - Computer crafts
• October 8th - AGM - Cake decorating
• November 12th - Sea glass Jewellery
• December 10th - Christmas party to be arranged
• January 14th - John Jones, Antiques
• February 11th - Blethyn Hughes talks about his travels  

Committee for 2012/13

• President               Mairwen Jones

• Vice President       Menai Moore

• Secretary               Ann Hopkins

• Ass. Secretary       Averil Jones

• Treasurer               Barbara Evans

• Ass. Treasurer       Chris Thomas

• Press Secretary     Megan Lloyd Owen

• MCS                       Kathy Roberts

• Sales Table             Eve McKenzie

                                        Iola Lewis

Mondays meeting

On Monday evening we had member Kathy Roberts do a cookery demonstration. She prepared some quick and easy to make dips, followed by salmon served with couscous and a chicken stir fry. As a treat she had baked some chocolate cupcakes with ingredients like mashed potatoes, courgettes, mint and green tea.
Different, but all very tasty.
The competition was for an unusual cooking utensil.
1st Christine Fisher
2nd Lis Stedman
3rd Ann Hopkins

The March meeting will be our St David's Day Celebration. We will go for a meal to the Princess Arms, Trefriw.
Next months competition is a keyring.

February Meeting - Change of date

Just to let you all know that we had to change the date for our February meeting. It will now be on the 6th February at the usual time of 7pm. 
We will have a cooking demonstration by our member Kathy Roberts and the competition is for an unusual kitchen/cooking utensil.

Last night President Mairwen Jones welcomed members to the first meeting of 2012.
After the usual WI business, members were ask to suggest venues for our St David's celebration in March.
It was decided to get menus from Lle Hari and Plas Maenan.
Mairwen then introduced Alan Pritchard, who gave us an insight into his work as a Snowdonia National Park Warden.
This Months competition was a picture of a tree
1st Barbara Evans
2nd Chris Thomas
3rd Jo Reeves

Winning entry

First Meeting of 2012

To start with I would like to wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. I hope it's going to be a good one.
Our first meeting of 2012 is on Monday the 9th of January and the speaker is Alan Pritchard, Snowdonia National Park Warden. The competition is a picture of a tree.
The new programme for the year ahead will be out next month with some interesting speakers.
And I would like to remind everyone that subscriptions are now due. It is £31.50 for the year.

Christmas Lunch 2011

Well, this was the last meeting for 2011. 

Vice President Menai Moore welcomed members and guests to this years Christmas Lunch at the Maenan Abbey Hotel. 

 

After a lovely three course meal, coffee and mince pies we drew the raffle. A big thank you to everyone who donated a price.

The competition, a tree ornament, was judged by David (manager).

1st Ann Hopkins

2nd Liz Steadman

3rd Barbara Evans

The next meeting is on January 9th, the speaker is Alan Pritchard - Snowdonia Warden and the competition is a picture of a tree.

And now I want to wish you all a very

Merry Christmas
and a 
Happy New Year

Last meeting of the year.

Our next meeting and the last one of 2011 will be our Christmas Lunch on Monday the 5th of December at Maenan Abbey.
The competition is a Tree Ornament.

WI food range

As you may have read in the latest edition of WI Life, the WI started their own food range. Well, their website is up and running and if you would like to take a look please click on the following link: http://wifoods.co.uk

WI Foods is the closest thing to home made – inspired by the heritage of the WI and crafted by British independent family producers.

November Meeting

To our November meeting we welcomed John Griffiths from Tal Goed Nursery. He brought along a lot of plants for use in pots and baskets that will tolerate the cold temperatures during the winter month and houseplants like poinsettias,cyclamen and azaleas to name a few. He planted up a hanging basket and tub and gave us some useful hints and tips on how to care for your outdoor and indoor plants.

The competition, a small vase, was won by Chris Thomas, 2nd Barbara Evans and 3rd Averil Jones.

TV: Kirstie's Handmade Britain

If you like Kirstie Allsopp from TV programmes like "Location, Location Location" or "Kirstie's Homemade Home",then you might like to watch her new television series"Kirstie's Handmade Britain" in which she joined Disparate Housewives WI, Hampshire and it follows her entry into a heavy schedule of craft and baking classes in some of the nation's most prestigious county fairs and shows. 

And if you like to read more about Kirstie, her interview "On with her show" is in the latest issue (39) of WI Life.

AGM

On Monday the 10th of October 2011 President Mairwen Jones welcomed members and WI Advisor Lea Oram to this years AGM and election of the new committee for 2011/12
First on the Agenda were the reports by President Mairwen Jones, Secretary Ann Hopkins and Treasurer Margaret Begley, who after 8 years of being the Treasurer of Llanddoged WI decided to retire.
Next on the list was the voting for the new committee. 
The result for the 2011/12 committee is
President Mairwen Jones
Secretary Ann Hopkins
Assistant Secretary Averil Jones
Treasurer Barbara Evans
Assistant Treasurer Chris Thomas
Press Secretary Megan Lloyd Owen
MCS Rep Kathie Roberts
Sales Table Eve McKenzie and Iola Lewis
After the official business, member Barbara Evans had prepared a craft session where everyone could decorate a mini book, made from a 12 x 12 piece of scrab book paper, to take home. All the members had a lot of fun. Shame I didn't have my camera with me. 
If you would like to make a mini book yourself click on the link:
http://youtu.be/QRSdd-P8AZ4 
it will take you to the tutorial by Tim Holtz.
The competition was for a small handmade item:
1st Chris Thomas
2nd Barbara Evans
3rd Barbara Evans

Welsh Meeting

On Wednesday September 28th, seven members of Llanddoged WI attended the Welsh Meeting in Llangernyw. For members that didn't understand welsh a translation service was available by Menter Laith.
Federation chairwoman Anwen Hughes welcomed fellow members  and invited Llanddoged WI president Mairwen Jones to say a few words. She then introduced Jan Wilson-Jones, Winner of the S4C Television Cookery Series "Chez Dudley". Jan prepared for us maroccan style lamb burgers with couscous and two desserts, a dark Chocolate Amaretto Mousse and a white Chocolate Baileys Mousse.
The refreshments after the cookery demonstrations were provided by Llanddoged WI.
And here are the recipes that Jan used:

Monday, September 12th

At the first meeting after the summer break we welcomed speakers Janet and Dawn, two nurses from the Special Care Baby Unit, Glan Clwyd Hospital.They gave a talk and slideshow about the 2009 Women for Women Cycle Jordan Challenge, which they took part in, to raise money for the Genesis Research Trust.
Genesis Research Trust raises money for the largest UK-based collection of scientists and clinicians who are researching the causes and cures for conditions that affect the health of women and babies. If you like to find out more about the Trust and future Women for Women challenges please click on: www.iogt.org.uk

The baby photo caption competition was won by
1st Chris Thomas
2nd Trefina Roberts
3rd Liz Steadman

September meeting

The next meeting after the summer break is on September 12th, 2011. It's an open meeting so anybody is welcome. The speakers on the night are Janet and Dawn, nurses from the Special Care Baby Unit at Glan Clwyd Hospital. They give us a slideshow and talk about their charity cycle ride through Jordan.
Tea Hostesses on the night are Jo Reeves and Chris Thomas.
The competition is a caption for the baby photo that has been handed out at the last meeting.
If you didn't get a copy of the photo, please let me ( Barbara ) know and I will send you one as soon as possible.

Do you love libraries?

The WI's library petition has just gone live at http://bit.ly/oSYuEJ. Sign it and pass on the link to your friends. Help us reach 100,000 signatures to secure a parliamentary debate.

Blueberry Cake with Streusel Topping

With all these lovely blueberries in the shops, I think it's time for a cake recipe again. So here it is, a blueberry cake with  streusel topping.


Streusel Topping:
⅓ cup (45g) all purpose flour
⅓ cup (65g) granulated white sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup (56g) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Monday 11th of July, Rufus Adams

At last nights meeting, Rufus Adams gave us the second talk about the later years of David Lloyd George.
After his talk we carried on with WI business. Menai told us about the AGM in Liverpool last month. The vote to save local libraries was passed with a majority of 97%, but no vote was taken on the issue of granting planning permission for large-scale factory farms.

The competition was for an item with or a picture of a historical building:
1st Barbara Evans
2nd Iola Lewis
3rd Christine Fisher

There is no meeting in August.