Our October talk

The Queen Bees – our October talk by Esther Coles

The Queen Bees is a podcast by Esther Coles, our October speaker, with her friend Jane Horrocks. Also at our meeting were producer Claire, a friend and former patient of our president Sally, and her daughter Eve. Claire had introduced Jane Horrocks to Esther after she had suggested making a podcast about her bee-keeping project in lockdown, as Jane had an allotment nearby. The podcast ran for three years and guests included Paul Whitehouse. They currently promote the podcast and bee welfare through talks, recently at Somerset House and Kew Gardens, and workshops in candle rolling and candle dipping.

This month, bees are seeking out ivy, the last nectar source of the year, so plentiful that it can make enough honey to store through winter. The ivy bee, which lives in tiny burrows in the ground and eats only ivy pollen at this time of year, is being out-competed by honey bees. There is a movement towards replacing European honey bees with British black bees, which produce less honey but are smaller, sturdier and well adapted to our natural climate.

When bees collect pollen they get it all over their body hairs, groom it off and put it in their knee pockets to take home, They also eat it, secreted as wax to build the cells. In early spring, one of the main jobs for bees is to collect water from puddles. They also circle the hive and cool it with their wings.

Honey bee keeping became popular cities, particularly in London through a campaign called Plan Bee, led by the Co-Op sixteen years ago, which is how Esther got started. There are now too many hives and too many honey bees for the forage available.

Esther advised us not to buy squeezy honey from the supermarket – it is watered down with sugar syrup for mass production – but to look for local honey instead. Esther's honey, from her Crouch End hives, had a distinct, delicious lime flavour from her local linden trees. 

We tried Zandax honey from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, which had a strong smell of caramel. Arbutus honey had a bitter flavour and a smell that some thought like disinfectant – it is being tested on cancer cells. Honey has historical uses in medicine, usually as antibacterial dressing for wounds. Sally had seen this in action, and said that while it's incredibly effective, it also stings a lot. Esther mixes a bit of honey with vodka when she has a sore throat. 

There was also a jar of propolis – the glue that sticks the hive together. This too has antibacterial properties. 

Esther explained the structure and use of the hive and the spinning machine used to pour out the honey from all of the frames at once. We heard about common practices to maximise production and things Esther allows – swarms, and wax moths, considered an infestation but in the wild they help clear out the wax in the hive without hurting the bees. 

Esther's local gathering place for bees is the Alexandra Palace golf course. The drones and queens meet for mating in late summer, before late August - September when the drones are dragged outside by the workers and killed before winter. 

Through winter, the colony forms a ball around the queen to keep her warm and the beekeeper needs to check and rearrange frames to keep them close to the bee ball in winter. 

Once fertilised, the queen produces around two thousand eggs a day. The larvae hatch in their cells and are fed by the workers before being shut inside with a wax plug to transform into a bee. A worker bee’s first job is to clean out the wax from its cell, ready for another egg. In summer the life cycle of a bee is about thirty-six days. The queens can live up to eight years, although most professional beekeepers kill their queens after two years, when their egg production slows.

Bees can produce new queen cells simply because they don't seem to like the current queen, or they produce multiple queens, usually because the colony is too big: they swarm to increase odds of survival while looking for a new site. 

Bees may ball around an unpopular queen and overheat her until she dies, or a new queen may challenge her. During the fight, the other bees will produce a high piping sound. When queens die accidentally, beekeepers can allow an 'emergency queen' to develop or order one through the post. Signs of a declining or unpopular queen can be increased aggression – if bees are flying around you near your eyes, ears, mouth or nose, or in your hair, they are considering sensitive areas to sting you and you should inform your local beekeeper. Esther had an aggressive hive in an allotment area that she had to rehome.

A hive has a shared pheromone for identification, though bees separated from their colony are sometimes allowed to join another if they give a snack of pollen to the guard drones. The hive is very dark inside. The bees communicate, usually about the best new sources of pollen, by standing on the combs and waggling their legs about, producing vibrations. They will argue, drowning each other out, secreting stronger pheromone or pushing each other off the combs. 

The Queen Bees is available on Apple Podcasts. 

And perfectly timed for our talk, our member Christine had received in some change that morning a new pound coin – featuring honey bees.

A big buzz of thanks from East End WI for a fascinating (and delicious) talk with a chance to try some candle-rolling.

Thanks also to Hannah for this month’s notes and to Christine and Heather for pictures.

Our monthly coffee morning and meet-up – Café Crème

Friday 24th October, 10.30-11.00, 566 Roman Rd, Bow, London E3 5ES, bus routes 339, 276, 488 or No.8.

It's back to one of our favourites this month. The welcome is always so warm here.

Our October walk

 

A Whitechapel walk seasoned with stories

We had a map: one of Graham Barker's East End walks packed with interest. We also brought our stories – family tales, childhood memories and the places we've called home. 

We paused at the Albion Yard brewery, its cobbles still ready for dray horses. We looked up at The Blind Beggar's pub signs, through the railings of the Trinity Green almshouses and we were treated to a peek into a hidden row of cottages where there were glorious Autumn colours. 

We heard the story of the Spiegelhalter jewellery shop punctuating what was once Wickham's department store. There were the two statues, facing each other, of William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army. Across the way, the passageway in to East End institution Rinkoff bakery and the gates where Captain Cook set off. 

Towards Stepney Green we admired a ghost sign and walked on to Dunstan House, once home to the marvellously named anarchist Rudolph Rocker. Then, the clock tower commemorating Stanley Atkinson, local councillor and guardian of the poor, and a water fountain with a touching tribute to Leonard Montefiore.

A walk through Stepney City Farm (its goats striking a pose) led us to St Dunstan's and All Saints Church, the church of the high seas. At the pretty Mercers' Cottages, we had fascinating insights from one of the residents on their layout and history, social housing for over 300 years.

On, then, to our final stop for the day, the Ragged School Museum's café.

Fancy joining us for a walk? Look out for our next coming up blogpost.

Coming up in October

 

Steps in Stepney, Queen Bees and a warm welcome – coming up in October

Our monthly walk – Whitechapel to Mile End

Saturday 11th September, meet at 11.00 outside Whitechapel Station (the old entrance on Mile End Road)

Though close to home for many of us, Graham Barker’s route reveals some fascinating facts about the area. A copy of the route and info can be found here.  

Our monthly meeting – meet the Queen Bees

Thursday 16th October, 7pm for 7.30pm at St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PL, entrance via the gate to the left. (If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road.)

Queen Bees is a passionate initiative dedicated to educating adults about the fascinating world of bees through interactive workshops and engaging talks.

Their sessions are designed to inspire and inform, covering essential topics such as:

• The vital role of bees in ecosystems
• Pollination and its impact on food production
• How individuals and communities can support bee populations
• Sustainable beekeeping practices

...and these busy bees are going to teach us the art of rolling beeswax candles.

Our monthly coffee morning and meet-up – Café Crème

Friday 24th October, 10.30-11.00, 566 Roman Rd, Bow, London E3 5ES, bus routes 339, 276, 488 or No.8.

It's back to one of our favourites this month. The welcome is always so warm here.

Our September coffee morning

Coffee in the greenery at Clarnico Club 

First, find a way through the cheese plant... Our September coffee at the cheerily unhurried Clarnico Club, opposite V&A East Storehouse in the Olympic Park, came with added foliage.

Our chat covered transport apps, creative adventures, London haberdasheries, cold water pods, swimming, quilting, theatre, the Academic Archers, the Storehouse, the building of neighbourhoods and much else besides before we headed off to the rest of our wonderfully varied Fridays. 

Fancy joining us? Look out for our next coming up blogpost.

Our September meeting

Bystanders can be lifesavers – our September meeting

A heart sign with our hands: trickier than it looks! It's a sign of support for the national WI campaign Bystanders can be Lifesavers.

We were very lucky to have the knowledge and real life experience of our president, Sally, a breast cancer nurse, for an evening learning the basics of cardiac massage and defibrillator use.

Sally started by introducing our inflatable 'patient' for the evening... and the WI campaign. The theory is that even if you don't feel physically able to do it – cardiac massage is exhausting and in a healthcare setting, done in relays – you can instruct somebody else.

There are around 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests per year. The recovery rate is very low: about 7% survive against 27-28% in hospital.

Sally talked us through what a cardiac arrest is: a problem with the electrical impulses in the heart. Anyone who has had a cardiac arrest is likely to be unconscious and probably not breathing.

What holds people back from doing cardiac massage?

"Am I going to hurt them?" is often the biggest worry. Sally explained that you can't make them any worse than they are. Yes, we would probably break ribs but breaking the sternum would be much less likely. There's fear of legal action but it's obvious that someone has been in dire need. Fewer people are prepared to try and resuscitate a woman than a man because they're worried about taking a bra off (for defibrillator use, metal is best removed so belts and jewellery should be taken off too). 

During the pandemic, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was phased out, because of infection risk and advances in knowledge, that the most helpful thing is to keep the heart pumping.

Sally took us through the main steps:

First, talk to the person. If no response, squeeze the top of the shoulders. Having ascertained that the person is not well and needs some help:

Shout out for help. You, or they, call 999 and ask for an ambulance. The first thing the ambulance service will ask is, "Is the patent breathing?" 

Tell them where you are. They give you the address and code for the nearest defibrillator that's registered with the ambulance service. There is also a website, The Circuit, which tells you where the nearest defibrillator is.

A lot of defibrillators are in settings such as schools and care homes where they are not accessible to the public. There is pressure at the moment to make them accessible. Stations have them – Waterloo has 100 – and most fire stations. Each defibrillator has a guardian, who does the upkeep and registers it with the ambulance service. But where they are, how accessible and which are registered is very patchy. 

Back to the steps: once on to 999 with someone collecting a defibrillator, the best next thing is to start cardiac massage. It can be helpful to have your phone on speaker so that the ambulance service can talk you through what you need to do.

Sally demonstrated the best hand positions for cardiac massage, on adults and on children, the speed – 120 to the minute – and depth of 6cm.

Then, with our dummy defibrillator, which has all of the equipment but no electrical charge, Sally took us through how to use it and the importance of keeping people clear while it's shocking. The reusable pads, for adults and children, had diagrams of where to place them, and the machine talked us through as it analysed the heart rhythm, shocked, then if no rhythm, told us to resume heart massage.

Sally explained that if there is no defibrillator, or you are alone, you just keep going with cardiac massage as long as you can. But "You're not quite as alone as you think you are" – the ambulance service would stay on the line, we should feed back to them and they would tell us when it's safe to stop.

There was chat about the messiness of a real situation. That the person is likely to have poor colour with ashen skin, they may have been sick, they might be slumped in a chair and need to be got onto the floor, or need to be rolled onto their back. And then there are hairy chests. which can be hard to stick defibrillator pads to – there are razors in defibrillator packs now.

Sally told us how sophisticated training dummies are now in hospitals, even programmable with different heart rhythms.

Some of us had a go at cardiac massage and role playing the things we needed to do.

How would we know it's worked? Sally explained that people do cough and splutter, then you know they're better again. 

And what next? A lot of people go back into the community without enough knowledge of what they've experienced, so cardiac rehab is becoming available.

Sally's closing tip: "It's quite easy to forget to ask for help."

A massive thank-you to Sally for an interesting and engaging evening full of practical information and advice. And a special mention for our 'patient', who's welcome at a meeting any time, even if she was looking somewhat deflated at the end of the evening...

Our monthly coffee morning and meet-up: Clarnico Club

Friday 26th September 10.30-11.00, Clarnico Club, 1 Tandy Place, E20 3AS, opposite V&A East Storehouse

388 bus, a five minute walk from Hackney Wick station (Mildmay Line), or from Stratford International DLR, a walk across the Olympic Park.

Our September walk

Mellow fruitfulness, canalside industries and bustling café life – our September walk from Three Mills to Hackney Wick

Christine writes:

"The few intrepid EEWI walkers were treated to a welcome burst of blue sky and sunshine this morning. Starting at Three Mills we headed towards Hackney Wick. There was evidence of the changing season along the way (autumn blackberries, emerging ivy berries and who knew there was a row of old fruit laden apple trees canalside of the busy A12!). With talk of long lost canalside industries we passed the old Bryant & May match factory (remembering the women workers exposure to phosphorous causing the disease 'phossie jaw'). Arriving at bustling Hackney Wick our coffee /lunch stop was at Burnt Umber cafe. Thank you, fellow walkers for a lovely morning."

Fancy joining us for a walk? Look out for the next coming up blogpost for information.

Pictures by Christine

Coming up in September

A Three Mills walk, CPR and defibrillator basics and a cuppa at Clarnico Club – coming up in September

Our monthly walk: Three Mills

Saturday 13th September, meet 11.00 am at the bridge by the Tesco Bromley by Bow car park adjacent to Three Mills

A lovely suggestion this month from one of our walking group: we could perhaps walk up the Lea Navigation to Hackney Wick with its buzzing café scene, or have a recce around the new Sugar island area and possibly head down to Cody Dock.

Our monthly meeting: Bystanders can be Lifesavers

Thursday 18th September, 7 pm for 7.30 at St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PL, entrance via the gate to the left. (If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road.)

At the 2025 NFWI Annual Meeting on 4 June, WI members voted in favour of the Bystanders Can Be Lifesavers resolution.

Only approx 7% of people survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest in the UK.

Early CPR (often known as cardiac massage) and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival.

With this in mind, our very own Sally, a cancer nurse, will introduce us to the basics of CPR and use of a defibrillator.

We provide the training defib but please bring a cushion each for practising the CPR – we won't be expecting anyone to practice on a dummy on the floor!

We also plan to take a look at the distribution of defibrillators in our own patch of The East End.

There will be a chance for those who weren’t at the last meeting to make their name badge. 

Our monthly coffee morning: Clarnico Club

Friday 26th September 10.30-11.00, Clarnico Club, 1 Tandy Place, E20 3AS

Our monthly coffee and meet-up.

Clarnico Club is on the 388 bus route or a five minute walk from Hackney Wick station (Mildmay Line), or from Stratford International DLR it's a walk through East Village and across the North part of the Olympic Park.

From Clarnico’s website: “Our main mission is to collaborate with young individuals with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, guiding them towards careers in the specialty coffee and hospitality sectors."

Our August coffee morning

All aboard for coffee at the Dialogue Express

We'd heard about it. Now all we had to do was find it... As we arrived at the bright and cheery Dialogue Express Café, in a train carriage, tucked behind Stratford Station, we shared our navigation stories, including friendly station staff and colourful footprints on the pavement.

But what's really special here is that this is a café run by Deaf people, with screens showing you how to order your drinks and snacks in British Sign Language. Having had a BSL workshop at one of our meetings, we were particularly interested to come along. 

There was chat about making, sketching, theatre, books, allotment produce, we had a returning member join us and a little 'un along for the ride. There was wonder as we spotted model trains on display in ceiling shelving. The son of a young family, engaging us all in conversation via his phone, summed it up nicely: he loved the café, he said, because it was unique. 

Fancy joining us for coffee? Look our for our next 'coming up' blogpost.

Our Summer picnic

 

Happy 110th birthday, WI!

Christine writes:

Our summer picnic celebrated 110 years of the WI. The capricious weather was too chill for the garden, but we were very comfortable in the hall. Our President Sally put us through our paces with a quiz about the WI, which lead to lots of interesting spin off chat. We decided to dispense with making  paper name badges at every meeting and crafted some decorative reusable ones. What a creative bunch we are!

Pictures by Christine

Our monthly coffee and meet-up: Dialogue Express Café

Friday 29th August, meet at 10.30-11.00, 96 Gibbins Road, Stratford E15 2HU

A chance to support an innovative local enterprise housed in an old train carriage... 

“Dialogue Express Café has a very strong commitment to social inclusion and change. We encourage our customers to order in British Sign Language to spark a conversation between visitors and our deaf or hard of hearing baristas." 

Our August walk

The Magnificent Seven and a four-legged friend – walking the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park heritage trail

While running the tea and cake stall at the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Summer Community Fair, we had spotted a new heritage trail map. So for this August's walk, we've set off to explore, a four-legged friend joining us for our wander.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is one of the Magnificent Seven London cemeteries, (the other six are Abney Park, Highgate, Kensal Green, Nunhead, Brompton and West Norwood) opened in 1841 in response to rapid population growth and overcrowded urban burial grounds. Now, it's a leafy place full of human stories.

We started at the Grade 2 listed Westwood monument, then paused at the Barnardo's memorial nearby, to three of his children and the many Barnardo's children buried in the cemetery. Beyond the Masonic graves was the grave of music hall artist and pugilist Alexander Hurley. There were anglicised names; seafaring stories; the victims of the Bethnal Green tube station disaster in WWII kept quiet at the time. In a row of carved angels was the monument to celebrated Poplar publican Charlie Brown, who had a proper East End send-off – on the day of his funeral, the pavements were lined six people deep. And we looked for the primary school teacher and settlement worker Clara Grant, who changed the way her school worked, providing hot breakfasts, clothes, shoes and 'farthing bundles' – tiny toys made from scraps. 

As we walked and chatted, we took a closer look at graves' text where it had worn away, wondered about the burials marked only by reference letters and dates, spotted wildflowers, berries, butterflies dancing and admired a magnificent tiger moth perched obligingly on an information board.

Our stop for coffee and delicious snacks was the Mile End Sandwich Bar, where the cheery member of staff coped admirably with the sudden arrival of seven of us.

Fancy joining us for a walk? Look out for our next Coming Up blogpost for news.

Our thanks to Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for publishing this new way to explore the park. Printed leaflets are available on its shop, or there are free PDFs of the map and text.

Coming up in August

Coming up in August: leafy heritage, a celebration in the garden and signs of coffee

Our monthly walk: Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Saturday 9th August 11.00, meet by the main gate near the war memorial.

While running our cake stall at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park's Summer Community Fair, we saw that a new heritage trail leaflet had been published. So this month, we'll be walking the trail. Download a free PDF leaflet with map here.

Meet by the main gate near the war memorial.

Our monthly meeting: a 110th birthday celebration

Please note – the date for our meeting has changed: now Thursday 21st August, 7 for 7.30pm at St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PL, entrance via the gate to the left.

(If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road.)

The WI is 110 years old! Groups are encouraged to celebrate with a party in the park. Thanks to the lovely team at St Margaret's House, we'll be in the beautiful garden beside our meeting hall at the back of the café. There will be quizzes, refreshments and something to make.

If you are able, please bring food that you might have as a picnic tea, to share, or if you have specific dietary requirements, you may want to eat your own. We will supply the drinks.

We also plan to discuss what we think should be the vision/s for the future women of the WI. The National Federation of Women's Institutes would like us us to consider:

"In the WI, we proudly stand on the shoulders of giants, the army of women who forged our path for 110 years, but what of the women who will come after us, the WI members of the future? What do you wish for for those women? Maybe it’s safety on the streets and in their own home, a planet that sustains them, or the confidence to be everything they want to be.  

Whatever your wish, we want to hear it. In these challenging times, when women still face so many obstacles to achieving their dreams, we ask: what is YOUR message of hope?"

We may share our suggestions with the National Federation afterwards.

Our monthly coffee and meet-up: Dialogue Express Café

Please note – the date for our coffee has changed: now Friday 29th August, meet at 10.30-11.00, 96 Gibbins Road, Stratford E15 2HU

A chance to support an innovative local enterprise housed in an old train carriage... 

“Dialogue Express Café has a very strong commitment to social inclusion and change. We encourage our customers to order in British Sign Language to spark a conversation between visitors and our deaf or hard of hearing baristas."

Our July talk

Wild tracks, pitches and micing up a dog... Our July talk, by audio producer Rose de Larrabeiti

When Rose introduced herself with a photo of her unexpected encounter with a cheery death metal band while making a programme about driving an early electric car around Europe, we knew we were in for an interesting evening...

Rose's first job was with Whistledown Productions, initially as an internship. She has worked on The Reunion, on Feedback, for Radio 3 Between the Ears, for the World Service, for Vice (with young people during Covid), for The Guardian and pitching her own arts and culture documentaries. 

Rose told of the challenge of gaining an Irish Traveller community's trust while making a documentary on their displacement for the Olympics, and on making a track with Traveller boys and Traveller girls, who tend to live separately.

We heard about her work on a podcast called Being, where a musician chats with strangers on a bench, writing a song about each encounter.

Rose asked what we thought an audio producer does. It involves a broad skillset, from pitching to writing to editing via working with collaborators and 'talent'. Rose has always been freelance, often working with limited budgets and there's no specific union for audio producers. We heard about the BBC's two big commissioning rounds in Spring and Autumn, where community guidelines are sent out and a guide to what they're looking for. We heard about the work that goes into pitching, with an average programme fee £8,000 including the presenter. Challenges include AI, deepfakes eroding trust and the proliferation of podcasts.

Rose talked us through the process of making a programme, once she's come up with the idea and got it commissioned. She'll cast it, finding the best possible contributors. She'll draft the script, the format of which varies from presenter to presenter. As well as the voices, she'll record a 'wild track' – the sound of the place you're in – which is the 'glue' that makes edited sound fit together. There's editing, editing and more editing, to a time limit. Next, there's mixing with music, sound design and putting the final programme together. Then, the next step: "Hate it!" 

How did Rose get into sound editing in the first place? Well, she originally wanted to be a photojournalist but an accident injured her arm, which stopped her using a camera. So she wondered about audio and joined a community radio station.

We were treated to behind the scenes stories on dealing with 'talent' – or in some cases, getting hold of people in the first place, as was the case on The Reunion episode on New Labour, where Rose had also been keen to have the female voices in the room that had been important parts of its success. 

Rose's favourite work is on location. In Iceland, she worked with nature sound recordist Chris Watson on Jules Verne's Volcano, retracing the route and talking to people. They recorded geysers, mud pools, put a hydrophone into a creaking glacier...  and had to deal with an unexpected drop down a crevasse.

We had the delight of hearing an explosives dog at work, thanks to Rose's work micing the dog up so that listeners would hear it sniffing.

Tipped off about East End WI's interest in The Archers, Rose brought pictures of her visit to its set – including its collection of doorbells and the huge soundproof chamber needed to make actors sound as though they're talking in a field.

Rose rounded off her talk with a clip from Adam and Joe on Radio 6 commenting on the amount of sighing in The Archers. So they took an episode and removed everything except the sighing.

Much laughter...

"That's the power of editing!", said Rose.

A massive East End WI thank you to Rose for a fascinating and engaging talk.

Our monthly coffee and meet up – Root/25, 116B Bow Road, E3 3AA

Friday 25th July, meet at 10.30-11.00

A chance to revisit one of our favourite cafés and maybe browse their marvellous selection of pre-loved books.

East End WI at the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Summer Community Fair

Sunshine, teamwork and sparkly cake 

There were cakes to bake that wouldn't melt on an extraordinarily-hot day. There were the logistics that make our cake stalls work. There was teamwork, bustling around each other to serve visitors at the lovely Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park; swapping in and out to give each other a breather; declaring a tea break to keep us all going. There were potential members to chat with about what we do. There was even sparkly cake...

A huge East End WI thank you to everyone who baked, helped and was there in spirit and thanks to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for having us.

Pictures by Christine and Lydia

Coming up in July

 

Stall, sound production and snacks... coming up in July

No walk this month as we will be at...

Our cake and refreshment stall at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Summer Community Fair

Saturday 12th July, 12-5pm, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Southern Grove, E3 4PX

There will be baking... and if you're new to the WI and you're interested to find out what we're all about, come and say hello.

Our monthly meeting – Rose de Larrabeiti, audio producer

Thursday 17th July, St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Rd., London E2 9PL, 7 for 7.30pm, entrance via the gate to the left

(If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road)

Rose sent us this snapshot of her exciting work:

"I’m an audio producer, which means I make audio documentaries and podcasts and I have now for over 15 years! I’ve made programmes for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3, the World Service and the Guardian among others. It’s a job that has taken me to all sorts of exciting places: into the heart of the Great Pyramid in Giza; driving an early electric car around all of Western Europe; a huge dog refuge in Costa Rica and perhaps most excitingly… inside The Archers studio. It’s also led to a few strange encounters with Peter Mandelson… but more of that to come when we meet!"

Our monthly coffee and meet up – Root/25, Bow

Friday 25th July, meet at 10.30-11.00

A chance to revisit one of our favourite cafés and maybe browse their marvellous selection of pre-loved books.

Our June coffee morning

Chat, music and art in Bow – our June coffee morning, at the Nunnery Café 

Karen writes:

Vast and varied conversations, as always. From lack of water and overnight rain to funerals and travels and everything in between. A lovely setting with a soft guitar accompaniment in the background. Superb company as always. Apologies to Clare, I should’ve taken another photo when she arrived!

As we were in the vicinity, some of us browsed the Bow Open show in the gallery, an eclectic mixture. 

Great company as always. 

Pictures by Karen

Our June talk

From management to civil celebrant – our June talk by Ruby Warnock

East End WI member Christine writes:

Our June meeting saw an engaging talk by Ruby Warnock, civil celebrant. Ruby changed career from corporate events management to celebrant, as helping people is important to her. 

We learned that celebrants began in Australia and started in the UK in the 1980s with humanists. Unlike registrars, celebrants' events do not carry legal status (for example, a legal marriage would be needed before a celebrant wedding). Celebrant events are therefore free to be bespoke and unique. 

Ruby told us about her training and the skills needed. Celebrations can include community rituals, one of which, 'handfasting', was gamely demonstrated by our volunteers Natasha and Heather!

Pictures by Christine

This month's coffee morning: The Nunnery Café, Bow Road (Bow Arts Trust), Friday 27th June 10.30 - 11.00am

One of our favourite cafés and a chance to continue the art theme of our June walk with a look at Bow Open: Connections. 

The Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, E3 2SJ, nearest stations: Bow Road tube and Bow Church DLR, plentiful buses nearby.

Our June walk

Hampstead Heath, Kenwood House and Sargent – our grand June walk

What a contrast... our last walk on the Heath had been on an icy day, Parliament Hill views obscured by mist; June saw us striding out in lush greenery and dappled sunshine. 

Our walks being chatty, we covered all manner of topics as we wound our way through woodland and grassland.

We were heading to Kenwood House for our café stop and for walkers who hadn't seen it, its exhibition Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits. 

In 2022, East End WI member Natasha, a Tate volunteer, had given us a tour of John Singer Sargent's portraits in Tate Britain's Wertheimer bequest, a rare opportunity to hear from someone who's related to the people in the paintings. On our walk, Natasha gave us the back-stories of some of the women in this exhibition, who included the UK's first sitting female MP. 

Those of us heading on to the exhibition (via a look at Kenwood's restored bath house) were fascinated by the freshness and modernity of the drawings and how his loose brushstrokes described cloth and drapery.

Two of us stayed to explore the house; one got interestingly lost – which presented an opportunity for a reprise of the view from Parliament Hill. It's nice when that happens.

Fancy joining us for a walk? Look out for our coming up blogposts or if you're a member, for the monthly e-newsletter.

This month's coffee morning: The Nunnery Café, Bow Road (Bow Arts Trust), Friday 27th June 10.30 - 11.00am

A chance to visit one of our favourite cafes and to continue the art theme with a look at Bow Open: Connections. 

The Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, E3 2SJ, nearest stations: Bow Road tube and Bow Church DLR, plentiful buses nearby.

Pictures by Lydia and Christine

Coming up in June

A grand walk to Kenwood, a civil celebrant, coffee at the Nunnery and exhibition news – coming up in June

Our monthly walk: Saturday 14th June, Hampstead Heath and Kenwood

Our walk takes us a bit further afield this month. Meet at Hampstead Heath station on the Mildmay line at 11.00am.

Then we’ll take a stroll across the Heath to Kenwood House for refreshments at its lovely café and a diversion if we wish to the John Singer Sargent exhibition Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits. On the Kenwood section of the English Heritage website: 'the real stories behind the fascinating American women who crossed the Atlantic to marry British aristocrats in an exchange of money for titles. These women include a war-time nurse, a helicopter pilot and the first sitting female MP.'

Our June talk: Ruby Warnock, Civil Celebrant, Thursday 19th June, St Margaret’s House 7 for 7.30pm

(If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road)

For this month’s meeting we welcome Civil Celebrant Ruby Warnock:

“My name is Ruby and I am a Civil Celebrant for all of life’s celebrations. I want to make sure every milestone is honoured in a way that truly reflects who you are, whether it is a wedding ceremony, a funeral service, a baby naming, or anything as outside the box as an office opening or a divorce! I love to work with clients, couples and families in depth, crafting bespoke, personalised ceremonies – from the style to the content – that mean no one will ever have the ceremony that you do, it’s yours.”

This month's coffee morning: The Nunnery Café, Bow Road (Bow Arts Trust), Friday 27th June 10.30 - 11.00am

A chance to visit one of our favourite cafes and to continue the art theme from our walk earlier in the month with a look at Bow Open: Connections. Bow Arts writes: 'work from our studio holders and artist educators, providing a snapshot of some of the most exciting art being made in east London today.'

The Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, E3 2SJ, nearest stations: Bow Road tube and Bow Church DLR, plentiful buses nearby.

In other news

Our new Secretary Janet, who gave our talk on The Archers in April, has her fabulous quilts on show in the upcoming London Quilters exhibition Quilts at the Library, at Swiss Cottage Library, 88 Avenue Road London NW3 3HA, 3 June to 3 July. 

Our May coffee morning

An East End adventure – our May coffee morning at Saffi

Heather writes: 

"A very enjoyable meet up.  For some it was an interesting and possibly challenging opportunity to explore a different part of our patch – using the DLR! The cafe was spacious and had a good range of goods. The staff were very helpful and welcoming.

The usual good chat – how to combat textile moths with cinnamon balls and sticky triangles (and where to get them). Updates on the outdoor swimming venues. News from the allotments and stories of joy and alarm, from produce loved – rhubarb, or not – kale. Clare gave an excellent recipe for the latter, which can be found here. Exhibitions of quilts [Janet, in London Quilters Quilts at the Library until 3 July] and Lydia's fruit and veg sketches [in her show Hello, Petal, at Springfield Park Café until 11 June] connected to this thread. We shared the current advice on health and safety re: the current enormous strawberries. The warning is that they are too big to go all in your mouth at once!  Take care...

And so much more..."

Fancy joining us for coffee? Look out for our next 'coming up' blogpost or if you're a member, our monthly e-nwesletter.

Our 2025 AGM and meeting

 

Steps, sets and a chorus – our AGM and Morris dancing

This year's Annual General Meeting has been full of gratitude – to outgoing President Celya for opening our eyes to new possibilities, keeping us on track and setting a wonderful example; to Treasurer Natasha for looking after the finances; to our membership, where everyone has contributed over the year in some way; and to Sally, our new President, who will have the full support and help of our marvellously collaborative Committee.

A round of applause too to Liz, this year's adviser from Middlesex Federation, who oversaw the business of the AGM and organised the vote for President.

AGM business concluded, New Esperance Morris treated us to some Morris dancing history and a chance to learn some steps.

The earliest records of Morris dancing were in a tapestry from 1448, possibly related to courtly dancing, and a stained glass window. The three-hole pipe and tabor we see are designed to be played at the same time, New Esperance Morris's pipe a modern carbon fibre version.

Nobody knows why it's called 'Morris'. One theory is that anything strange was referred to as "Moorish". But it caught on. There were local games called 'Olympicks', with prizes, and cachet for being good at dancing. Rail enabled people to travel to competitions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it went in and out of favour, then between the wars, the Morris Ring was formed. In the early 1970s, a few groups of women formed Morris sides and to perform, they fought to be exempt from the licensing act.

What most people think of as Morris is Cotswold Morris, typically six dancers in a set and quite complicated. In a club, there's a Squire, a Foreman who teaches the dances, a Bagman, a Fool and a Beast – New Esperance Morris, being a London side, has a pigeon.

In the North West there are processional dances, more like clog dancing. The North East has a version with various types of sword dancing, using long and 'wrapper' swords. Wales has Border Morris, whose painted faces have become popular in modern sides. East Anglia has stompy steps and dances in patterns.

But where did women's Morris start? Well, in Victorian England, well-to-do women would spend time doing good works and in 1895, Mary Neal started what became the Espérance club, for seamstresses in King's Cross. They learned folk songs and she approached Cecil Sharp to arrange for folk dancers to visit the club – Cecil Sharp had only collected the songs but Mary Neal considered the dances a national art. She invited more dancers to teach the girls, who went on to teach others, here and in the States. They taught male sides as well, including the Morris dancers in Thaxted.

The New Esperance group was formed in 1973, initially in Edwardian costume, then in trousers, which proved easier to dance in. The modernity of their costume now is a large part of their appeal to younger dancers. They perform from a range of traditions and will write a dance to a tune. An early photo showed dancers processing around a milkmaid's garland on May Day – Islington was a dairy centre and decorated with tools of the trade, it was a mark of pride in the cleanliness of the work. What had started as urban had travelled to the country and come back to London.

We had an opportunity to learn four sets and a chorus of a Morris dance, right down to how to hold a scarf to hang on to it. Much fun was had by all. A big scarf-wave of thanks to New Esperance Morris for giving us such an interesting and active session.

Fancy a go? New Esperance Morris meets on Wednesdays and welcomes new members. Find out more here.

Our monthly coffee and meet up: Friday 23rd May, meet at 10.30-11.00 – Saffi Cafe, 63 Violet Road, E3 3FW

Nearest DLR: Devon’s Road.

Coming up in May

Stepping out and gathering in – coming up in May

There is no walk this month as many of our walking group members have exciting things on, including Hackney History Festival talks, a weekend stay at a stately home and Lydia's 'meet the artist' on 10 May at her Springfield Park Café exhibition Hello, Petal, on 'til 11 June.

Our monthly meeting, Thursday 15th May 7pm for 7.30pm – AGM followed by Elizabeth Hancock on the history of women’s Morris dancing

St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Rd, London E2 9PL, entrance via the gates

We will be holding our AGM, at which we will elect/re-elect committee members and President for the coming year.

We’d love to invite members to consider standing for the committee. It's not too onerous a task as we are a friendly and supportive committee, sharing tasks out fairly and helping each other when needed. We just ask that you try and attend our quarterly meetings on Zoom, where we plan the programme, our fundraising events, speakers and any other business.

Following the AGM we'll hear about the history of Women’s Morris dancing – and if we're feeling brave, we might even try a few steps.

(The picture above, we should note, is not of a female Morris dancer. We're waiting for permission to use an archive image; meanwhile, these are the legs of actor William Kempe, who, in 1600, Morris danced from London to Norwich. As you do.)

If you are coming to one of our meetings for the first time, please contact us for more details on access to our venue.

Our monthly coffee and meet up, Friday 23rd May, meet at 10.30-11.00 – Saffi Cafe, 63 Violet Road, E3 3FW

Nearest DLR: Devon’s Road.

In other news

We've served refreshments at the always-lively Tower Hamlets Tea Dance, this time a combined VE Day and St George's Day event. Pictured here is our very own fashionista Heather.

And looking ahead, we have bigger exhibition news: Janet, who gave our April talk, has quilts in the upcoming London Quilters exhibition Quilts at the Library, at Swiss Cottage Library, 88 Avenue Road London NW3 3HA, 3 June to 3 July. 

Pictures of the tea dance by Alison and Karen

Our stall at the Old Ford, Bow Festival

 

Tea and cake with The Geezers – our stall at the Old Ford, Bow Festival

Local history sleuthing is hungry work... so busy was our tea and cake stall at the Old Ford, Bow Festival that after the first day, our kitchens were a whirl of activity to restock for the second!

A community festival organised by our very own Carolyn Clark, author of Tales from Old Ford and Bow and staged by local club The Geezers, the Old Ford, Bow Festival featured The Geezers' history and photography project, games, music, art workshops, pearly kings and queens and a warm welcome.

It was a joy to be part of it. A big East End WI thank you to Carolyn and The Geezers for inviting us. Thanks to all of our members who baked and helped. A special thank you to Clare for coordinating and looking after us all, and to Natasha for technology wrangling.

Pictures by Christine, Karen, Pam and Lydia 

Our April talk

Ambridge in Bethnal Green – Janet Beck on The Archers

Our very own Janet Beck had an enthusiastic audience... so popular is The Archers that comedian Billy Connolly once suggested that its signature tune be used as the national anthem. The signature tune was one of the papers at last year's Academic Archers conference, more of which, later. 

The Archers started on Whit weekend in 1950 but its official start was in 1951 and it's our longest-running radio series, with its own archivist.

Janet became a listener somewhere in the mid-1960s, in the school Summer holidays. Janet's father was looking after her. He would usually switch off the radio after The World at One but this time they listened on – and they were both hooked. There was an Archers-based school rebellion, which resulted in Janet's radio being confiscated. In a year in Germany without access to it, Janet would get letters from her father telling her what was going on – with a bit of family news as a 'by the way'.

Janet entered a competition for the most extreme place in which someone had listened to The Archers: in the Royal Free hospital, while being induced...

Before she worked for Hansard, Janet's job was producing radio commercials and they would try and get Archers actors. 

Janet has been in the Eddie Grundy fan club – and in the winning team at a fan club quiz. Janet spoke of how the show connects people; how its characters feel like mutual friends. That was demonstrated in the lively chat at our meeting, of characters, plot lines, actors, unfeasibly fit and active elderly characters, loves, dislikes, accents and their role in being able to tell characters apart, how characters have been written out, biscuit varieties (we were split on the Garibaldi), bell-ringing protests, influence, disability and how topical stories such as inheritance tax and domestic abuse find their way into the series. Family came into our chat too, whether people gathered round the radio or Archers-listening was part of our family folklore.

The Academic Archers started when two women met at an academic conference, found a shared interest in The Archers, put a call-out for papers and held their first conference in London. The papers are peer reviewed. Janet has been to conferences in London, Sheffield, covered by a Telegraph journalist (Janet has a mention in the piece, pictured above) and during Covid, on Zoom. This grew – they met on Saturday mornings to watch a paper being presented. This grew to in-person gatherings. Janet suggested a conference centre where she went regularly on sewing retreats. Last year, the Saturday group and sewing retreat coincided and the two groups got on well. One of the most exciting papers has been from someone who has been in Afghanistan, on insurgency in The Archers.

There was a question about whether anything similar existed in other countries. The Reardons was mentioned, in Ireland. Australia and New Zealand seemed likely candidates. New Zealand had The Archers, but some years ago, stopped broadcasting. There was outrage... but listeners found other ways to tune in. More on where the show is broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 The Archers FAQ.

Could listeners tell who had written an episode, as crossword regulars recognise the setter? Yes, said Janet, with some insights into writers and into the layout of a script – to the side, with space for notes.

And what about the authenticity of the stories? There are advisors and consultants, including for the 'bury your Y-Fronts' storyline (we are not making this up – it's for soil testing).

The WI gets bad press in The Archers – there are regular complaints about hall use and competing stalls...

New listeners are brought in with current storylines and younger characters. But what of future storylines? Even the actors who know can't tell.

A massive East End WI thank-you to Janet for a very popular, lively meeting. See Janet's quilts in the upcoming exhibition Quilts at the Library, at Swiss Cottage Library, 88 Avenue Road London NW3 3HA, from 3 June to 3 July. 

Our April coffee morning: Friday 25th April – Targa Green Cafe, 137 Tredegar Road, E3 2EU, meet between 10.30 and 11.00

A welcome return to Targa Green Café, conveniently on the 339 bus route or a short walk from the No.8 stop on Parnell Road.