Coming up in September

 

Coming up in September: Nature and history in Stoke Newington, a literary look beyond beige, and cake with a side order of knowledge

Our monthly walk: Abney Park Cemetery, Saturday 14th September, 11.00 am

Meet at the entrance on Stoke Newington High Street, near Stoke Newington Overground station and bus stops.

It'll be a return visit for some. But with the main entrance recently reopened, restoration and a new café open, there's plenty to explore after our walk around this beautiful cemetery, "one of the 'Magnificent Seven' Victorian Gothic garden cemeteries, all within a 9 km (5.5 miles) corvid flying distance of St Paul’s Cathedral. They provide some of the few substantial areas of woodland, scrub and rough grassland close to central London and all are managed to some degree for their wildlife."

See the Walkers’ WhatsApp group for more info on the day.

Our monthly talk: Thursday 19th September, 7pm for 7.30 – Sylvie Boulay, author of Beyond Beige

“Unflinching, honest, and relatable, this illustrated book is neither a celebration of nor a complaint about old age. It is the simple, unadorned truth of a life. Fully illustrated throughout with cartoons and drawings, this fantastic new title shines the brightest of lights on ageing as a woman.”

There will be a chance to look at a copy of Sylvie's recently published book and to buy afterwards, online or at your favourite bookshop.

Our monthly coffee and meet-up: Friday 27th September –Mary Ward Centre Café, 275-285 High Street, Stratford E15 2TF. Meet between 10.30 and 11.00 am

We are reassured that the cafe will be open for this visit!

Some of our members have signed up for taster classes at the new Mary Ward adult education centre on Stratford Broadway.

If you haven't explored its courses yet, you'll be able to see what’s going on for yourself.

Sketches by Lydia, drawn in a break at the last Mary Ward Centre taster day

Our August meeting

A picnic in the park – our August meeting

This August, in place of our usual meeting, a merry band of East End WI members met for a picnic in the lovely Victoria Park, where the In the Neighbourhood festival was open for the local community and beyond.  

Christine reports: "It was a rather blustery evening of weather but it did not dampen our spirits as we enjoyed shared fizz, nibbles and chat."

We'll be back at St Margaret's House for our September meeting – look out for our coming up blogpost for more information.

Pictures by Christine

Our monthly coffee and meet-up: the Gallery Café at St Margaret's House, 21 Old Ford Road E2 9P. Meet between 10.30am and 11.00am

An opportunity to meet for a chat over a coffee and to view the latest exhibition at the Gallery Café – Aquatic Art, Explorations of Flow.

New to East End WI? Come and say hello at our stall at the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Summer Fair, on Saturday 31 August from 12 noon to 5pm.

Our August walk

Ballet, boats and singing bowls – Trinity Buoy Wharf, our August walk

The thing about London, we all agreed, was that even on a return visit somewhere, there's always something new to see. So our walk to the wharf was full of interest, taking a look at SS Robin, on a pontoon at the dock for restoration, playing the musical artwork Floodtide, enjoying Andrew Baldwin's kinetic sculptures and, because none of us had ever been into the lighthouse, climbing the stairs to look and listen to the Longplayer artwork (Gamely, Christine climbed all the way to the top). 

We all bring our wonderfully varied walks of life too, this month's chat including the higgledy-pigglediness of the new skyline, education, signwriting, craft as a meditative thing, unfinished projects and much more besides.

Coffee was at Layers bakery-café.

Fancy joining one of our walks? Look out for our monthly coming up posts and if you're a member, join our walkers' WhatsApp group.

Pictures by Lydia and Christine

Coming up in August

 

Coming up in August: a walk to the wharf, a picnic in the park and a gallery coffee

Our monthly Walk: Trinity Buoy Wharf, Saturday 10th August. Meet at Canning Town station, City Island exit, 11.00am

This month’s walk has again been suggested by the walking group themselves.

In 1998, Trinity Buoy Wharf was an empty, derelict site. Now it is a place with studios for people in the creative industries, workspace for people who work to provide transportation on the river, classrooms for education, and indoor and outdoor spaces for arts events and a wide range of activities. For some of us this will be a return visit; for others an opportunity to experience one of our interesting  local venues. SS Robin is currently at the wharf for restoration and there's a new café nearby, Layers Bakery, on Orchard Place.

If you're a member, look out for more info on the day on the walkers’ WhatsApp group.

Our monthly Meeting: EEWI summer supper picnic.Thursday 15th August, from 6.00pm*, Victoria Park (West-side) meet near The Pavilion Cafe

We are planning an informal meeting this month in the glorious Victoria Park. You might like to bring along your picnic supper or nibbles and choice of drink.

*Please note the change of meeting time this month

Our monthly coffee and meet-up: the Gallery Café at St Margaret's House, 21 Old Ford Road E2 9P. Meet between 10.30am and 11.00am

An opportunity to meet for a chat over a coffee and to view the latest exhibition at the Gallery Café – Aquatic Art, Explorations of Flow, in which our own Lydia has a piece.

Our July coffee morning

"The chat is so important"... Our July coffee morning at Bàrd Books
 

You might notice in the pictures above an absence of – well – people. That's because this month's coffee morning was so chatty that pictures went by the wayside. It's fitting that words should take centre stage when a coffee morning is at a bookshop, this, a new arrival on the Roman Road.

Heather writes: "Who... remembered the visit to the Para Olympics 2012? Who has a car with an unbelievably low mileage? Who is giving a talk at Tate Britain on Weds at 11.00? Who was off to a shift at Tate Britain? Who dashed from WFH to have a sunshine break? Who remembered the EEWI at the weird Hauser & Wirth immersive 'Community Centre' at St James' Piccadilly? Who recommended Shetlands so highly as a holiday? Who was off to the coast for the weekend? And more!" 

There were recommendations aplenty too: "A lovely morning at Bard, worth a visit for those who didn't make it.  Not just coffee, books as well." "And wine and chocolate!" "I liked the shop and café." "a lovely spot - time for a good natter and catch up with our equally lovely EEWIs! Prices reasonable and the friendly staff had been very helpful with advice on books for different situations. An interesting Community notice board, too. Highly recommend it."

"Join the conversation next time!" Look out for our coming up blogpost for news of our next coffee morning.

Find Bàrd Books here.

Pictures by Lydia, who had a coffee morning for one to take them. And no, she didn't have a conversation with herself...

Our July meeting

 

Knowledge and know-how – the WI Learning Hub and other online learning platforms

This month, our very own Sally took us through the WI Learning Hub and other options for live and pre-recorded classes and activities. It was while convalescing that Sally discovered that online learning could be of enormous value in bringing interesting activities in when she couldn’t get out. 

Sally started with some alternative platforms that she uses in addition to the WI Learning Hub:

The RVS (Royal Voluntary Service) runs Virtual Village Hall, which is free to join. There are live sessions and a library to choose from, with new sessions added regularly.

Rest Less, a platform for people over 50, is a subscription-based service at £6.99 per month. It has exercise classes, crafts, history talks and Sally showed us The Soothing Season, a session of relaxation and art making. Visit the events section of the Rest Less website to find out more.

The WI Learning Hub evolved from Denman College, which was a physical space for courses. Now, the Hub offers live courses, including crafts, exercise, talks and National Federation training, with recordings available for a week afterwards. Sign-up is free for WI members; there is paid access for non-members. To register, first register in the main WI website under My WI (there’s a video guide to registration). When registered, back on the WI Learning Hub website you can book onto courses via online form and confirmation email (initially, the booking shows a fee but for members, this reverts to zero on checkout) and you receive a weekly email update.

Our Federation, Middlesex, runs Dabble Days. These have a fee and are for WI members only. There’s also a free weekly craft get-together on Zoom, at 19:30 every Monday. Look out for news in your Federation newsletter. 

As ever with our meetings, we all had recommendations and news to contribute: U3A, the Mary Ward Centre, the Idea Store, the Guildhall Library, Bishopsgate Institute, free weekly film nights at Victoria Park Baptist Church and community activities from Sadlers Wells, which will be opening locally at East Bank in the Olympic Park.

So much to do, so little time! Now back at work, Sally’s preference has shifted to recorded activities to watch when she can – and we agreed that what we need changes with our circumstances, whether that’s in-person classes, live courses or a library of online learning that we can visit. 

A massive thank you to Sally for a great session, and to past President, Heather, for standing in for Celya to introduce the meeting.

Our July coffee morning: Friday 26th July – Meet between 10.30 and 11.00 at Bàrd Books, 341-343 Roman Road, London E3 5QR

This is a change of venue from our original plan, the Mary Ward Centre – we hope to return in term time.

Our July walk

A journey through time (with a bonus corgi) – our July walk

There's a new London-themed sculpture trail dotted through central London from Victoria to the Strand. So we joined the throng of visitors to find a few of the pieces and enjoy the many interesting diversions along the way.

Tracking down the teapot quickly, we strode out in search of the telephone box, enjoying the view of the beautiful Westminster Cathedral while we were there. The Guard was a little more challenging to find – it was away for repair – but thanks to the police on duty by Buckingham Palace, we followed the sound of a military band to watch the Belgian Cenotaph parade.

St James's Park delivered a crown and two herons, then, in search of the pocket watch, we happened on a bonus corgi, part of another trail, of corgis that had been installed as part of the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The postbox sculpture brought us to the Supreme Court, for a pause to admire its architecture and wonder at the frieze of Tudor characters (a bit of post-walk research has revealed that it's the Duke of Northumberland offering the crown of England to Lady Jane Grey).

On our way to find the rain boots in Victoria Tower Gardens, we passed the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst. Next, along the Embankment for the top hat and near it, a tree with long seed pods which we found again in Embankment gardens – an Indian bean tree was the guess and it turned out to be right.

In search of the tea cup, in need of an actual cup of tea we peaked a little early – but it was found and along the way, a curious plaque. Most of the statues we had seen along the embankment commemorated the work of men, some with women in allegorical roles (the weeping woman is on the monument to Sir Arthur Sullivan) but the plaque to Henry Fawcett was placed there by his "grateful countrywomen". The UK Parliament website lists Henry Fawcett as liberal MP for Hackney from 1865 and a supporter of votes for women.

Before our tube journeys home from Temple, there was time for a quick look at the art terrace The Artist's Garden – including a twirl of Lucy Gregory's kinetic sculpture It's all kicking off, a row of cancan legs. 

Photos by Alison, Christine and Lydia.

Fancy joining us on one of our walks? Look out for our monthly Coming up blogposts or if you're a member, the monthly e-newsletter.