Our June meeting

Vintage fashion, vintage games, objects with stories and birthday cake – our Summer party

It had all started with Carolyn’s 1925 WI booklet of party games. Then there were hats, gloves, a 1940s veil, Crimplene, rock cakes, Tunnock’s tea cakes, Victoria sponge, beetroot hummus, Pimms… 

But first, there was a touching tribute to the late Michael Mosley, whose Radio 4 programme Just One Thing had often come up in conversation at our meetings and walks. We shared tips we’d taken up: squats, walking backwards, cold water swimming and poetry for breath work. A documentary about his work was recommended, available on BBC iPlayer.

In a neat hop to the games in the book, many 'too familiar to mention', we launched into the brain-stretching ‘My grandmother went to Paris’, adding with each person, in alphabetical order, a fictional thing that she had bought. She was quite a shopper, it turned out – her purchases included an aardvark, a fiddle, a Harris tweed suit, an iguana and a kaleidoscope. Next, a 1920s version of Grandmother’s Footsteps, where we made our way stealthily across the hall, freezing whenever Natasha turned to see if anyone was moving. Then ‘Blind man’, where someone with her eyes closed was turned around, held a stick out, spoke a phrase or made a sound and when it was copied by the nearest person, had to guess who it was. Finally, one for the mathematically-minded, ‘Buzz’, a counting game about the number seven.

We were ready for some birthday cake after that – the magnificent Victoria sponge, with candles.

Our party was rounded off with a show and tell, of objects with stories or that had particular meaning for us. 

Dawn, who had become interested in gemstones when her daughter took up silversmithing and had long wanted to learn how to facet one, was just back from a workshop in Newcastle and showed us a beautifully cut Rose de France amethyst. Dawn explained that the workshops were run to help keep the craft alive in the UK.

I [Lydia] told the circular tale of an embroidery hoop that I had bought with my pocket money when I was 10, and many years later used, with embroidery books the same age, to turn notes from our writing and harp workshop into a sampler.

Carolyn, who has a keen interest in Bakelite, told us about her collection of quirky Bakelite birds and brought a particularly cheery example. Researching it, Carolyn had found that it was made by the Old Street company Henry Howell, which also made pipes, and this little bird was featured in the History of the World in 100 Objects. 

Heather brought two things: first, from when she worked in Sudan, an incense burner made by a neighbour and friend. Which presented a logistical challenge in getting it back to the UK – people returning were allowed to carry very little. The second object was a photo of two dalmations, much-loved family pets and friends in testing times.

Natasha brought a pearl necklace, once her grandmother’s, on loan when she had hoped to wear it for her wedding but eventually coming her way – and told a John Singer Sargent story of the painting Mrs Carl Meyer and her Children.

Along the way, there was chat about haberdasheries, circular knitting and the human things that make an object of value to us as it passes from generation to generation.

A big celebratory thank-you to everyone who baked, cooked, brought and joined in with the fun and games, a wave to those who were on travels or otherwise unable to make it and a round of applause for Celya, for her first meeting as President.

Our monthly coffee morning: Friday 28 June, meet at Tate Britain Djanogly café, 10.30 - 11.00

Join us for coffee, chat and a chance to see the exhibition of women painters of the last 400 years. There will be complimentary entrance tickets for our members courtesy of some of our members who volunteer their time to Tate. Tate Britain is near Pimlico underground, walkable from Westminster underground, and there are various bus routes.