hats off

Hats off to those who joined in serving tea at the St George's Day Tea Dance on Friday.  There is nothing like a large group of elders for testing your tea making competence.  We just about recovered in time to serve cakes on Saturday at the Museum of Childhood fun day in the company of Morris dancers, dragons, knights, Pearly Queens, May Queens and at least one Green Man.

Thanks for baking and helping out, ladies. The sun shone.  The cakes were lovely.  And as you can see, so were the hats.

floribundance

Jo C ran a strict class for us this week - if you weren't testing your brain with her killer quiz then you were exercising nimble fingers cutting and trimming and primping to make the prettiest little table tussie-mussies.  From the sidelines, it was a joy to see such absorption and everybody delighted with their creations.  

We are immensely grateful to Jo who put in such a lot of work to make our evening so successful - that word search certainly kept us quiet, and you've got to admit that takes some doing.  Congratulations go to the winners of Jo's quiz - what exactly do you have to do to remove pollen from your clothes?  Can someone tell me sometime, please?  Hopefully those who attended our coffee morning visit to the Geffrye Museum this morning are now experts on the art of flowers - and a good cafe experience - and will be front runners for any more quizzing.  

Thanks also to our bakers for their flower-themed cakes and biscuits (sorry to have missed out on the lavender shortbread, Clare).  We were very pleased indeed to have raised a very commendable £38 for cake break for MS.  You'll also be pleased to learn that a might haul of your old bras made the first stage of their journey to Africa when Niki dropped them off in New Cross!  And the abandoned cats and dogs of East London should be a little more comfortable with the supplies of blankets. towels and linen we collected and have now left with the Celia Hammond Animal Trust.  All in all, it was a wonderful end to our time at Chisenhale, though we will be popping in again to help out serving tea, coffee and cakes at their parent's morning in May.  

Don't forget, next month we meet at St Margaret's.  Exciting!

out and about

If the recent publicity associated with the V&A's quilt exhibition has whetted your appetite for all things quilty, you might want to go along to see the London Quilters Highlights exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library  (a short walk from Swiss Cottage tube station).  There are dozens of quilts on display, including this amazing piece of work by our own Janet Beck, with a range of styles exhibited.  The exhibition is on until the 29th May and is free.

You can find details about this and other events on our new events page.  And if you want to keep your diary up to date on where we'll be serving tea and cakes this summer, take a look here or click the link at the top of the page or in the sidebar..

april flowers

We are making the most of spring now it's finally arrived with a flower theme this month.  Our evening meeting on Tuesday 20th April will be a lesson in making a small floral display, given by our very own Jo Cass.  You'll need to bring a small jug, tea cup and saucer, tea pot for one or similar small container.  If you have secateurs or strong scissors to bring along, that would help.

We'll also be joining in Cake Break for MS, so if you are a keen baker, please bring some flower themed cakes to sell... and some spare cash if you can to buy some cakes to take home.   All proceeds will go to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.  Don't forget, this is our last meeting at Chisenhale Art Gallery - 7.30 for 8 start as usual.  Tea and coffee will be available but feel free to bring a bottle if you wish.

We're continuing with a floral theme for our coffee morning on Friday 23rd at the Geffrye Museum, 136 Kingsland Road, E2 so that we have the opportunity to visit their special exhibition A Garden Within Doors, a look at they way plants and flowers have been used in homemaking.  We'll also be able to take a look around their lovely herb garden which should be coming along very nicely by then.

Looking forward to seeing you there.