it's all a bit of a blur

You had to be there to understand.

Scottie from Swing Patrol* was a marvellous teacher - charming, patient and beautifully turned out.

And we tried really hard to shimmy. Feet flying, arms variously akimbo and up in the air.  When Julie sent me the photos she took she said they were a bit blurry, but I  don't think it was the light levels, we were just moving so fast. And it's still a bit of a blur. I mean, which foot went forward first, and when exactly did you have to put your arms up?

That was only one of the things we got our feet round in September. We served tea and cakes at Tea Dance in Queen Elizabeth Park with Laura and Adzove from  Forest Gate WI*. It rained, but as we were inside a pod made of recycled materials we only got wet when we ventured out to join the few intrepid dancers who managed to find us in the deluge.

We had a tea stall at Park Life where they just about managed to parade the lovely dogs before it rained again.

On the quiet days, we had coffee at Stepney City Farm, a lovely bookclub evening at Annie's, some knitting and nattering at the Coborn.

And then, we worked our socks off baking all week and running the tea stall  for two days at Countryside Live where we sold gallons of tea and mountains of cake until by late Sunday afternoon...

Massive thanks to everyone who made September so memorable, even if it went by in a flash - to all our talented and hardworking bakers and tea makers (you know who you are);' to Scott and Swing Patrol; to Sophie or inviting us to the tea dance; to the Friends of Mile End Park and the lovely chaps at Park Life who shared their power with us; and to the fabulous Lee Valley staff  - Naomi, Amy, and Tom who drove me home to get more cake - who shared dancing sheep and pretty otters with us on Leyton Marshes on such a fine September weekend.

So, on to October - see our next post coming right up.

* If you fancy learning how to dance, you'll find Swing Patrol at Royal Inn on the Park, Victoria Park

** There's an inspiring article in the latest WI Life about Forest Gate's efforts to save the High Street

ladies with aprons

Jenny Edbrooke's hard work paid off. She made us do a lot of thinking, and dancing, and working together to pull together our short performance at Chisenhale Dance Space's"Homelands" Festival. Were we nervous? Only a little. Did we enjoy ourselves? I think the photos speak for themselves.

We were... ladies with aprons.

And we celebrated afterwards with some very special cakes, courtesy of the lovely Jenny.

homelands and hotcakes

Do come along and see our wee performance at Chisenhale Dance Space on Saturday November 7th at 6.30 pm at the Homelands Dance Festival. Our slot is fairly short - around 10 - 15 minutes - which is probably enough for us! We can promise you that it is strictly not come dancing, although it certainly took some of us into places we had not visited for a while. It's been fun trying out something new and Jenny Edbrooke who has been running the sessions has been an enthusiastic and supportive guide along the way.

You can also try some taster workshops during the day, but you must book in advance for these and the performance. Call 020 8981 6617 for your free tickets. They are going like hotcakes!

Hope to see you on Saturday.

conquered

This is how Richard Reynolds, Guerrilla Gardener, summarised our meeting last night: Friendly diverse conversation with East End WI: breast painting, marathon pelvic floor exercises, Burmese refugee mushroom houses and walnut cake.

I'm not sure tthat here is much more to add. Other than Morsbags. Lots more stunning Morsbags.

I am a completely conquered by Guerilla Gardening and loving the scent of from my South London grown and made Lavender bag. Also contemplating the dance project - still time to sign up if you email us. And giving some thought to the mushroom houses at Hsa Thoo Lei Learning Centre in Thailand. If you missed the talk, here is some more info on the Centre:

Hsa Thoo Lei Learning Centre provides a free education for 700 children, and is home to about 200: these are children whose parents are dead or who are still inside Burma. Whether the children live in Hsa Thoo Lei or with family or friends outside, they are all in desperate poverty. The school tries to provide two free lunches a week when funds permit (not at all this calendar year) because for some children that is the only proper meal they ever eat. The children learn all the usual subjects but additionally learn languages - Burmese and Karen, the tongues of their homeland, Thai which is the language of their country of residence, and English, which many hope will one day be a passport to a better life elsewhere.

The Burmese migrant children in these schools are vulnerable to malnutrition, especially since the schools’ income is very much below levels required to fund regular school lunches. The Thai children’s Trust with help from partner organisations aims to ameliorate this situation by promoting the introduction of mushroom houses.

A mushroom house grows mushrooms in pre-prepared spore bags, placed on racks in a hot and humid hut. Regularly tended, the spore bags will produce mushrooms over a 3 month cycle. For most of the cycle there will be mushrooms available to supplement the diet of the children in the school. At the peak of the cycle there will be mushrooms for the school to sell.

Many thanks to all our speakers for such stimulating and thought provoking talks.

Comments welcome!